Zarek and Priya peeled down asphalt as the morning sun began to rise over the mountain ranges in the distance. The number of cars they came across was steadily increasing around them, obviously long since abandoned, some splayed out in scenery of their previous crashes, and some just left with wide, swung-open doors.
In the end, Zarek had left the Chance Gambling Hub and the C Class Godsfall Tear behind. There was no point in wasting time over there, hoping a Mutant would conveniently show up for him.
The Godsfall Tear was far underground, so its aura leaked slowly. And even Turned had limits to their perception.
The desert region was too barren to have a large population of Turned in the first place, and Zarek had a feeling that in the past, this Tear ended up being one of the many that ended up ignored and forgotten until it simply disappeared.
For now, Zarek could only focus on completing the third leg of his plan and securing his third Talent. After that, everything else could be negotiated in due time.
They were now about a two-day's journey from the C Class Godsfall Tear. There was no telling how long it would stay there, but regardless, if he came back, it wouldn't be a wasted trip due to the Hub.
Those with the perception necessary to use the Chance Gambling Hub at its current rotating speed were very few and far between. They'd be more likely to land on the black segments for sure.
Regardless, even if he was somehow so unlucky that he ended up with neither the items remaining in the Hub nor the C Class Godsfall Tear, that road was on the way back to he and Priya's hometown, which he would be returning to eventually anyway.
After all, he had left the Violet Enchantress behind for a very good reason.
"We're here."
On the horizon, a cityscape of silver began to appear. Columns of smoke rose up, mixing into the orange hues of dawn, and though they still had quite a ways left to grow, the moment they turned onto the main four-lane highway, the number of abandoned vehicles skyrocketed.
"This is Lonn City, right? I remember coming here before," Priya said. "It'll be dangerous…"
Lonn City wasn't their capital city; that was their home city, and the very city that they had just left, Bridgher City. However, it was Lonn City that was the greatest tourist attraction in the state, not their capital.
It was known as a party city, and with how many rich kids there were in their private school, taking a private jet up here for the weekend wasn't an uncommon occurrence.
Truthfully, even the drive was normally a one-day affair. If not for the variables, the clogged roads, the Turned they had to fight over, etcetera, it wouldn't have taken them three days to get here.
"You're right. The denser the population of people, the more Turned there will be. But the main problem with this city will definitely be the businessmen."
"Why?"
"There's a gap between being among the rich and being amongst the elite. Lonn City has a lot of people powerful in wealth, but not many powerful in influence. They're in a sweet spot where they were caught just as much off guard as everyone else. Some of them adapted well. Some of them died on the first day they forgot their credit cards don't work anymore."
"Are you implying there are powerful people who knew?"
Zarek smiled. "Well, I knew, didn't I?"
Priya pinched his waist. "Be serious."
"I am," Zarek chuckled. "As far as I know, there's a few wealthy people who are also Rebirthers. Well… you could say there's a pretty strong correlation between knowing everything that's going to happen in advance and gaining a ridiculous amount of wealth, don't you think?"
"And why aren't you rich, then?" Priya asked, teasing him.
"Well, I'm sorry I was too busy shitting my diapers to build up a stock portfolio."
Priya laughed, sinking her cheek into Zarek's back.
It was true that Zarek was quite young compared to other Rebirthers. But there were obviously those even younger than him, like that kid.
If he had really wanted, he could have built a substantial amount of wealth. But in his opinion… it wasn't worth it unless he planned to build an enormous net of people around him.
And that just wasn't his intention right now. Not for the moment, anyway.
Zarek suddenly slowed the motorcycle down, the amusement in his eyes fading. He had already expected something like this before it came.
A blockade.
There was a toll gate up ahead that had been completely taken over. There must have been at least 20 to 30 men, all of them wielding weapons of various kinds.
There weren't many vehicles on the road these days for obvious reasons, and with some of them standing on the bridging archways of the tolls, they had been able to see Zarek coming from miles away.
It was impossible to hide from this sort of thing, but it was also impossible to just accept it either. The weapons on Zarek's person were too valuable.
He scanned each one of them one by one.
'A few Skills here and there. Their Talents aren't much to write home about. The strongest of them…'
Zarek's eyes landed on a pair. They were the laziest of the bunch, clearly having already been graced with entry into elite life while loving every second of it.
But even so, each one of them only had one E stat, while their others ranged from F to F+.
"It's possible. Will probably piss off whoever's here, but…" Zarek's grin returned, but it didn't carry even the slightest hint of the same amusement.
He unholstered his gun.
"GU—!"
BANG!
The echo of the gunshot sounded, but the man it was aimed for had already slumped in his chair. He hadn't even looked up to see Zarek, still busy dreaming of all the women he'd get to indulge in when his shift was over.
The bullet whizzed through an open car door, out its windshield, before running right through the man's jaw and skull.
Blood splattered all over the man beside him, but he didn't even have the chance to feel it as the bullet ran through him next…
"Ready?" Zarek asked.
"You couldn't have asked me that first?" Priya replied.
"I'll take that as a yes."
He pulled out his Lurker's Whip. He really didn't want to waste such valuable bullets on people like this, but who asked him to be so weak right now?
Until he could reliably dodge bullets…
The only way was to overwhelm them with power.
"Hold on tight."
Priya had already wrapped her legs around him, holding onto her own desert eagles with both hands as her forearms strained against the weight. She balanced her elbows on his traps, trusting what Zarek said about not caring that his vision was obstructed.
She had hardly braced herself when Zarek's whip latched onto a tall highway sign above them. They were launched into the air with a pull of his arm as bullets suddenly riddled the location they had just been in.
Zarek's grin widened. This was what his evolved E- Strength felt like. He couldn't wait to get back to his peak.
The moment they soared high into the air, he and Priya had already aimed again, letting death rain down from above.