Damn System

Chapter 148

Chapter 28 Human Hunting (2)

Lily Evans was too close to the US government.

‘It’s not in a cooperative state, but it’s cooperating at all.’

By saying that it is for the national interest, it means that there is a good chance of leaving the bounty hunter’s duty behind.

‘If it’s to the benefit of the United States, I can save the person who should be killed.’

That’s why I ruled out Lily as a bounty hunter candidate.

However, because of the situation, I couldn’t help but keep in touch.

“It’s been a while, Kay.”

As a result, Lilly showed off a flagship that flew from the eastern United States, where the CIA headquarters is located, to San Diego in the west, bordering Mexico, in three and a half hours.

‘Did you get on a jet?’

Given that she belongs to the CIA, it wouldn’t be impossible.

Realizing the power of public authority, I grabbed Lily’s outstretched hand.

“Yeah, well, it’s been a while.”

Since the day of our first meeting, Lily hasn’t tried to dig up any information on me.

So I have been treating her with minimal courtesy.

But even so, it was hard to say that Lily and I had a good relationship.

If I had to ask, I would have to say that I was constantly in a state of awkwardness.

This state of affairs was largely due to my being wary of Lily and keeping a distance from her.

First of all, the problem was that Lily’s background was too big.

For me, there was no need to be close to him with a burdensome and threatening background on his back.

It’s not like I have a personal intimacy with Ethan.

Of course, on Lily’s side, there was a movement to improve the relationship, such as talking to her first, showing favor and providing information.

Although such efforts did not see the light of day.

At this point, Lily and I are like strangers, not exchanging conversations unless necessary.

Lily, too, would not have been comfortable in this state.

“The person next to you… … .”

Maybe if you can’t look me in the eye and show interest in others.

Glancing at the sniper, Lily blurted out her words.

The sniper, who laughed at him with a whimpering sound, responded.

“Have you seen it a couple of times in Bihar?”

“It’s a sniper.”

The sniper has not been identified by the government.

However, he never avoided standing in front of Lily through the club.

‘I don’t know what they believe in and do that.’

It seemed that he had the confidence not to fall under the government’s search net.

‘Perhaps, the fact that there is a child suffering from an incurable disease could be a lie.’

I don’t care what kind of tug-of-war the sniper has with the US government, but I’m not happy about his personal safety falling into the government’s hands.

‘Because there’s no guarantee that I’ll get a suitable helper like Ethan.’

Selena, who is on the same boat as Edan, must support Edan’s bounty hunting activities to protect her own position.

But the case of shooters is different.

There is no guarantee that he will be able to create the same situation as Ethan’s when he comes under government control.

‘It shouldn’t interfere with bounty hunting.’

I thought it would be necessary to talk about this matter with him at least once.

I quickly gathered my thoughts and moved about half a step to the side.

It was a slight barrier between Lily and the sniper.

And then he straight away got to the point.

“We also found a warehouse where drugs were stored nearby, and the player is involved in that.”

There was still no way to know why this case was intertwined with the bounty mission.

Drugs have been part of human history for hundreds of years.

‘I don’t think it’s something that would come up as a bounty mission.’

While brooding over unanswered questions, I listed information related to this incident.

In addition to San Diego, where we are now gathered, Yuma, El Paso, and Laredo near the border, as well as New York and Washington.

The number of players evenly distributed across the United States was by no means small.

‘There are 11 targets displayed in the American bounty mission.’

And the origin of the mission set as the target for the remaining 17 people was Mexico.

But oddly enough, not all of them were in their own country.

‘There are actually 18 targets in the US.’

And the other 10 are in Mexican territory.

These specific figures were information that was not explained in chat.

Maybe that’s why Lily’s expression hardened a little when I finished my explanation.

“It looks like players from both countries worked together to cause an accident… … It was a lot of work, and it involved drugs, so I thought it was polite to inform them in advance and discuss how to kill them.”

It meant that there was no solution other than killing.

In response, Lily looked at me and the sniper in turn and asked.

“You’re pretty sure of the number of players involved in the matter. Did you see it with your own eyes?”

It is impossible to hide information about bounty hunting missions until the end.

“I didn’t see it, it was information displayed by the system.”

So, to some extent, I was honest.

“… … system? The system gave us information about the drug trafficking business?”

In response to Lily’s question, I chose what to say.

It was to properly distinguish the information to be delivered to her.

I have no intention of ever revealing that I can communicate with the system.

You need to be careful about what you say to convey only the necessary information in an appropriate manner.

“Do you remember? The entire notice that appeared during the first tutorial.”

A question flashed in Lily’s eyes. And that question turned into an exclamation in seconds.

“ah… … ! The continuation of mankind!”

The full notice, where most of the content was broken, only appeared to beta testers.

The main server opened and the selected players did not receive such a notice.

The first player, Yul Kim, and the second player, Yang Tae-ho, directly confirmed it.

After reminding me of the notice that only beta testers had seen, I continued talking with my eyes on the mission window that popped up in the corner of my field of vision.

“The system seems to see this problem as a hindrance to human existence. That’s why I launched a mission to kill the target.”

I added that this wasn’t the first time, and Lily, who looked back and forth between me and the sniper, hesitated.

“why… … Would you have only sent the two of you on such a mission?”

To be precise, it’s like sharing with the sniper what was launched on me.

“well… … .”

I blurted out the tail of my horse as if catching my breath, and looked at Lily again.

I was curious about that too once.

The reason why the system left the question mark provided to the first place in the tutorial only to me.

And the reason why he constantly sends me messages, launches hidden missions, and pushes my back.

For a while, I pondered the question over and over again, and pondered over it every day.

After thinking about it for a long time, I knew from one day.

‘I decided that I would be the best.’

Of the thousands or tens of thousands of players the system saw, I was the one who seemed most likely to help achieve its goals.

In other words, the system judged that my use value was the highest among many players.

‘So instead of diversifying the investment to other players, it must have been unfair to me.’

I haven’t disappointed that judgment yet, so the characteristics of capitalism remain.

Of course, I have no intention of repaying those expectations, and I am not happy with the one-sided investment in the system.

I just use him as much as the system uses me.

“Perhaps they judged that I would contribute more to the continuation of mankind than they did.”

It was a frank comparison of her situation and my situation, both tied to the United States.

Lily’s expression hardened even more as if she understood what he meant.

That reinforced the idea that Lily was not suited to be a bounty hunter.

“Tell me in advance. These guys must die.”

I have repeatedly declared that there is no compromise on this issue.

“So think of a way that causes the least damage on your side.”

Otherwise, it will launch an indiscriminate attack without considering the circumstances of the United States.

It was a warning and a threat that I would not have dared to give in the past.

From the U.S. point of view, what I said may have sounded like a warning about terrorism.

In terms of results, Lily came up with a solution as soon as the sun went down that day.

It’s not that there weren’t any attempts at compromise, but there would have been no other way because I dismissed all attempts.

Thanks to that, around 10 hours have passed since the massive bounty mission occurred.

In San Diego, an explosion in a building near the border led to a US terrorism alert called Code Orange (terrorism alert: high risk, security authorities taking extra vigilance at various public events, armed forces and law enforcement agencies coordinating security operations). possible)’.

* * *

The scenario Lily brought was simple.

The conflict between players in San Diego is packaged as a conflict between drug cartels.

‘After that, I just have to go to Mexico and complete the mission.’

It is to declare war on drug cartels by citing civilian casualties that do not exist and to pretend to carry out a cleanup operation.

Of course, in the process, I was asked to be careful not to reduce the amount of drugs entering the United States too much.

It was a really shocking condition, but I could understand it after thinking about it calmly.

Reducing the amount of drugs in circulation in the United States is not a simple matter.

‘If the supply is drastically reduced, the price will rise.’

The social problems that will be caused by it will never end as one.

This means that the entire American society, not the individual, will bear the blow that will occur as the distribution volume decreases.

It would be nice if the country’s policies and decisions were determined only by right and wrong.

‘Reality is not an ideal.’

Pretending not to be shocked, I calmly nodded my head at the condition Lily conveyed.

After midnight, a bomb of moderate power was detonated in an empty building.

A play full of lies has begun.

10 minutes from the first explosion.

Me, the sniper, and Lily were all in full gear, waiting with our mana stored in the core.

“You don’t seem to want to come out?”

The sniper next to him murmured.

I, who was watching the fire not far from him, turned my gaze to the map.

‘There are four of them in San Diego.’

All of them are not moving from their respective positions.

As the terror alert was raised, the police were dispatched and all civilians in the vicinity began to evacuate, which contrasted with that.

‘The map isn’t 3D, so I’m not sure.’

Instead of evacuating, the player in question seemed to have entered the same tunnel the drug was brought in.

“You must be confident.”

He seemed to think that even if a terrorist attack really took place, he would not be in danger.

“Well, we’re thankful that we’re in the same place.”

I nodded my head calmly at the sniper’s words.

“It seems that the civilians are also missing, are you going in?”

“Don’t kill me right away.”

“I know, I know.”

After calling in the others, they had already reached an agreement to catch them at once.

There was no choice but to fight without limiting the location because the property damage on the San Diego side would increase.

So, I decided to push it just enough to get the sniper to go in first and call for support.

‘They were designated as targets for the same mission at the same time, so they must have their own network.’

Since it is possible to communicate through game chatting without modern artifacts, it is possible to form a network more quickly and freely.

It is clear that they are in the same area at the same time.

It was a plan to take advantage of that and bring them back to one place, confine them in a barrier and annihilate them.

So, I picked the one in the middle of the scattered ones in the first order.

“Well then… … .”

It was the moment when the sniper pressed down on his hat and took just one step.

Quaang!

A blast rang out from a building about three blocks from where we were standing.

It was a warehouse with another target due to its location.

The sniper and I suddenly looked back at the place where the explosion had occurred, and the eyes of the sniper landed on Lily.

Lily, who was standing one step behind us, shook her head urgently.

It was something I did not know, and it was an unplanned incident.

So I checked the place where the explosion occurred again.

‘What is that guy?’

Just in time, the shadow of a certain person rose from the flames that bloomed with the explosion.

However, the target displayed on the map is not moving.

What that meant was obvious.

‘It’s another player.’

A third player, unrelated to the bounty mission, appeared.