Chapter 442: Ecological Collision of Beasts
That afternoon.
To welcome his three visitors—old and new—General Zhang threw an impromptu
celebration at the main garrison. The compound echoed with laughter and clinking
glasses, a surreal pocket of revelry rarely witnessed in the gutters of The
Inside.
Zhang had conceded defeat, and no other challenger had dared step forward. In
other words: Ren Shiroki had conquered the Three Wolves sector.
Under normal circumstances, this would have sent shockwaves through the entire
Ward. But right now, nearly every perimeter checkpoint had been breached by
outsiders.
Toyo Electric, IDEAL, and The Worm were running their schemes in the shadows.
[THE DEVIL LANCE] Kuroki Gensai held the Six Insects gate; [THE MAJIN] Raian
Kure had painted Nine Spiders crimson; [MR. UNCHAINED] Biscuit Oliva had cracked
Ten Tokita wide open; and at Two Tigers, [THE WILD TIGER] Takeshi Wakatsuki was
moving with an agenda of his own.
The atmosphere in the Ward was like the quiet before a detonation. The moment
the fuses touched, an apocalyptic explosion would rock the city to its
foundations.
As the party wound down, another old contact from the surface arrived at Zhang's
camp.
The Soul Combat Hub's resident underground physician—Dr. An Sakurai.
She looked as lethal and eccentric as ever. Choppy white hair, an eyepatch over
her left eye, a black serpent-scale tattoo curving beneath her right eye, and
multiple facial piercings framing a bifurcated, split tongue. Part brilliant
surgeon, part manic freak—she looked right at home in the lawless city.
"Yo, Boss!"
An waved, dropping her medical kit onto a table. "I'm in the Ward on business.
Arisa-chan told me you were here, so I figured I'd drop by and give you a
tune-up."
Ren blinked. "...You take house calls in The Inside?"
"Every now and then," she replied, snapping on latex gloves. "The black market
here trades in high-grade, smuggled pharmaceuticals that you can't get on the
outside. The profit margins are fantastic."
"Medical boards revoked my license years ago anyway. I don't have access to the
clean channels guys like Kureha Shinogi or Dr. Hajo use. A girl's gotta hustle."
As she spoke, her fingers moved with practiced efficiency, checking Ren's
pupillary response, testing his joint play, and applying salve to his bruised
ribs.
It was an odd contradiction. Eating clean, getting eight hours of sleep, running
mobility drills, getting regular physicals—these were all acts dedicated to
preserving and cherishing the human vessel. Yet the men who obsessed over these
health routines were the exact same monsters whose life's work was dismantling
human anatomy with their bare hands.
To break bodies more efficiently, they treated their own like temple
instruments.
Human beings are weird, Ren mused.
Still, getting a hot shower, eating fresh steak, and receiving a private medical
assessment inside a lawless warzone was five-star VIP treatment. Ren felt like
an over-pampered heavyweight champion.
By the time An finished her diagnostics, evening had settled over the camp. The
crew spent another night resting under Zhang's roof.
Early the following morning.
Dr. An Sakurai departed first to handle a private consultation deeper in Three
Wolves, escorted by a squad of Zhang's armed men.
"Call me if you get your head cracked open, Boss!" she called over her shoulder.
That left the remaining trio: Ren Shiroki, Fusui Kure, and Himuro Ryo.
After wolfing down hot rations and bidding farewell to General Zhang, they
stepped out of the garrison to push into the interior. Dawn hadn't fully broken,
but a few early-rising locals were already setting up their black-market stalls
to claim prime spots along the avenue.
Ren looked left and right, hands in his pockets. "The Inside isn't really the
hellhole everyone made it out to be."
"Yeah, fair point," Himuro replied, exhaling into the cold air. "Some districts
are psychotic slaughterhouses, but people still live here. Life finds a way."
Compared to the two bare-handed brawlers, Fusui Kure was outfitted for
high-intensity warfare.
Dark sunglasses, a reinforced black tactical shirt under a leather jacket,
urban-camo cargo pants, and lightweight combat boots. A sidearm and a combat
knife were strapped to her belt, while her tactical rucksack carried
high-caliber rounds and a breakdown sniper rifle. It was heavy gear, but with
her elite Kure genetics, she moved with the silent grace of a ghost.
Still, something felt off to her. "Even if Three Wolves isn't the most dangerous
sector... the streets are way too quiet. It doesn't feel like a lawless zone at
all."
Himuro let out a dry chuckle. "That's because of your boyfriend."
Ren looked over. "Me?"
"You locked down the checkpoint and forced General Zhang to wave the white
flag," Himuro said, lighting a cigarette. "Those two feats alone are enough to
grant you god-tier status in this district."
"The law of the jungle here is simple: the ecosystem reshapes itself around the
strongest predator in the territory." He smirked. "In other words, the current
status quo in Three Wolves is officially 'Ren Shiroki Style'."
Ren nodded in understanding.
Himuro checked his smartphone's offline satellite map. "Now that Three Wolves
has rolled over, where are we headed?"
"Ten Tokita," Ren answered without hesitation. "A legend flew all the way from
the States, so it'd be rude not to say hello. I want to meet [MR. UNCHAINED]
Biscuit Oliva."
Himuro tapped the screen. "To reach Ten Tokita, we have to cut through either
One Dragon or Two Tigers. Normally, I'd take the long way around, but right now,
cutting through the border junction is fastest. Follow me."
With Himuro leading the way, they crossed Three Wolves without facing a single
hostile gaze.
Soon, they reached the tri-border junction connecting Three Wolves, Two Tigers,
and One Dragon. The area was a sprawling graveyard of abandoned industrial
warehouses and rusted factory lots. Because it was a border zone contested by
three different districts, gang skirmishes were constant; no sane civilian ever
settled here.
Pale morning light filtered through the cracked corrugated roofs.
Up ahead, seated against the crumbling brick wall of an abandoned warehouse, sat
a lone silhouette beside a dead campfire.
The terrain around him was completely pulverized.
It looked as though artillery shells had detonated across the lot. Deep,
web-like fissures spiderwebbed through the concrete floor and masonry, radiating
outward from heavy impact centers.
"—?!"
The trio stepped through the rubble. The figure looked up.
It was an old friend—[THE WILD TIGER] Takeshi Wakatsuki.
He wore a plain button-down shirt under a canvas field jacket, his clothes and
jaw stained with brick dust and dried blood. He looked like a man who had spent
the night waging a personal war.
"Oh... it's you guys," Wakatsuki grunted, rolling his broad shoulders as he
stood up. "I was trying to catch some sleep, but a local gang tried to jump me,
so we had a little exchange."
...A 'little' exchange?
Ren, Fusui, and Himuro surveyed the five-meter-wide craters in the walls. The
center of every crater was stamped with the unmistakable outline of a fist or a
boot.
There were dozens of them.
Calling that a 'little exchange' is criminal!
Ren's eyes narrowed with appreciation. Fifty-two times normal muscle density...
Superman Syndrome never stops being awe-inspiring.
Wakatsuki pulled a can of military rations from his pack, popping the tab. "I
came into the Ward to test myself. Getting into scraps like this is par for the
course."
Ren took a step forward. "Wakatsuki-aniki..."
Before Ren could finish, Wakatsuki smiled faintly. "You probably got the
briefing from Chairman Katahara, so you're wondering about the Two Tigers gate,
right?"
"You want to know who I met there that made me realize my own deficiencies?"
Ren grinned, nodding.
Wakatsuki took a bite of his rations, his voice turning quiet. "It was the
outsider who breached the Seven Ohma sector. He came alone."
Seven Ohma and Four Turtles—the two remaining blind spots on the map.
Wakatsuki's gaze grew distant. "The invader at Seven Ohma seemed to have locked
down his checkpoint almost immediately. He cut straight across One Dragon and
appeared at my gate."
"We traded a few blows. He had no intention of fighting to the death, but he
moved with effortless ease. I couldn't find a single clear path to victory
against him."
"To find the answer to that puzzle, I abandoned the gate and pushed deeper into
the Ward."
The 300-win veteran let out a soft sigh, his professional honesty on full
display. "From a certain perspective... I lost to the Seven Ohma invader."
"It wasn't a sanctioned match, but it was humbling all the same."
The trio leaned in, their curiosity stoked to maximum. "Who was the outsider at
Seven Ohma?"
Wakatsuki arched an eyebrow, keeping his cards close to his chest. "If you want
to know, why don't you go see for yourself? After all... you're bound to cross
paths with him eventually."
Ren tilted his head. "Bound to cross paths?"
Himuro understood immediately. "Of course. The ecology of The Inside is
currently warping around each invader."
"Once you monsters locked down your respective gates, your territories became
live biomes."
Himuro handed a backup tactical map to Wakatsuki. "Just like in the wild, when
you put apex predators in an enclosed space, their territories are going to
overlap. A collision is inevitable."
Himuro tapped the coordinates. "Three Wolves is peaceful now. If you're looking
for blood, the action is in Four Turtles or Ten Tokita."
Ren looked at the blonde giant. "We're on our way to Ten Tokita right now. Want
to tag along, Wakatsuki-aniki?"
"Works for me," Wakatsuki nodded, tucking the map into his jacket. "I'd like to
see how the other invaders are handling the Ward. Might pick up a few lessons."
The squad expanded to four: Ren Shiroki, Fusui Kure, Himuro Ryo, and Takeshi
Wakatsuki.
They left the industrial lot, slipping through the alleyways between tenements,
officially crossing the border into Two Tigers.
The ecosystem of Ren Shiroki had just brushed against the territory of another
predator.
If the strongest fighters on earth were wild beasts, then The Inside was their
primeval forest.
The Ecological Collision had officially begun!
☆☆☆
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