Outside the fight club.
Sampo was sprawled on the ground, looking utterly battered and exhausted.
"No way, this guy's gotta be faking it."
Given past experience, Ah Xian didn't buy for a second that Sampo was that injured.
It was just a few robots—acting like he'd fought the Doomsday Beast or something.
Sampo: "Family, I'm done for. Even Natasha can't fix my wounds. Please carry my last wishes and explore this—"
"Relax, good brother. Have you forgotten I'm a doctor?"
Leon cut off Sampo's words with a warm tone.
"I can use silver needles for acupuncture to treat your internal injuries…"
Sampo's eyes welled up with tears.
"Why didn't you say so sooner, good brother? You're like my living parents—I don't have to die now!"
The camera shifted to Stelle and March 7th.
Their expressions were strikingly identical.
Both looked utterly unimpressed, watching Sampo's over-the-top performance.
Obviously, neither believed his nonsense.
Who's on death's door and still wails loud enough to rival a slaughtered pig?
I'm supposed to play along, but I'd rather just watch from the sidelines.
Unexpectedly, the game transitioned into a cutscene.
"This gets a CG? The budget's insane!"
In the CG, Sampo looked worse than his in-game model.
Not only was he covered in dirt, but his eyes were swollen.
Sampo spoke pitifully.
"Good sister, you don't need to whack my butt with that bat anymore—it's already swollen beyond recognition."
Stelle showed pity: "You're really pathetic."
And she meant it.
Because she saw the terrifying thing Leon pulled out.
March 7th's eyes widened like saucers, her mouth agape as if she could fit a giant salted duck egg.
Leon: "No worries, it won't be swollen for long. Let me use a silver needle to promote blood flow and reduce swelling."
Hearing this, Sampo craned his neck to look at him.
"Good brother Leon, you're so reliab… le?"
Seeing the silver needle in Leon's hand, Sampo's expression froze.
Roughly estimating, it looked nearly a meter long…
"Uh… good brother Leon, that needle's so long—where's it going?"
Leon's left finger traced along the needle to its tip.
His right hand held the base, squinting his left eye to check its length, answering lightly.
"You don't want to know. Be good, close your eyes…"
The scene suddenly pulled up to the lower district's buildings.
Seconds later—
"Mm→↗↑Yow↓↘Ow—!!"
In the sunless lower district, a piercing wail cut through countless buildings, echoing endlessly.
It was heart-wrenching to hear, bringing tears to listeners' eyes.
The entire lower district seemed draped in a veil of eerie terror by that scream.
The scene shifted.
Sampo, hunched over with a bowlegged gait, limped into Natasha's clinic.
He found an empty stool and slowly sat down.
The moment his backside touched the surface, the cold sting mixed with lingering pain nearly sent him flying.
"Ah!"
At this point, any player could guess what had happened.
In quiet dorms, silent offices, and even some inappropriate settings, uncontrollable, infectious laughter erupted without exception.
Ah Xian laughed so hard tears fell, grateful she'd strapped on chest protection.
[God knows how much fun the recording studio had.]
[Sorry, if I hadn't seen that needle, I'd swear Sampo got wrecked.]
[That long needle—did it really all go in?]
[Wouldn't that pierce right through?]
[Probably just an exaggerated gag for laughs. If it went all the way in, he'd be dead, right?]
[Maybe it went from his butt through to his thigh?]
[Not impossible…]
[Poor Sampo, getting utterly owned by Leon.]
[Is Leon sure he's not from the Elation faction? He feels like a Masked Fool.]
[You can tell he loves stirring up fun, but he says he's not one.]
Natasha approached: "Sampo? What's wrong with you?"
Sampo's face looked constipated, shaking his head repeatedly.
"Nothing, just tripped and fell…"
Natasha didn't press further. Seeing Leon and the others return, her expression grew serious.
"You're back just in time. That upper-district girl slipped out while I was focused on a patient's surgery.
I'd advise you to find her quickly. If Wildfire spots her, it could lead to a fight."
March 7th said, somewhat exasperated:
"Sampo just told us that winning the fight club championship would get Wildfire's attention.
But we finished the match, and on the way back, still no Wildfire members approached us."
She shouldn't have said anything. The moment she did, Natasha shot Sampo an odd look.
Suddenly, she felt Sampo's words weren't entirely nonsense.
But it was a stretch to connect the dots.
Seeing Leon's smiling expression, how could she not understand?
For a moment, despite the tense situation, Natasha couldn't help feeling a bit of schadenfreude.
Messing around at the wrong time—now he's tasted pain, hasn't he?
Leon mused for a moment, then tilted his head toward Sampo.
"Bronya's rifle—it's still in your care, right? Time to return it to its owner."
Sampo instinctively wanted to play dumb, but meeting Leon's gaze, he shivered.
He obediently pulled out a finely crafted sniper rifle.
He'd thought he'd swiped it unnoticed in the chaos.
Turns out, this terrifying man just hadn't called him out on the spot.
Since when did the Astral Express have a guy like this?
It felt like everything he did or thought was seen through.
Scary.
Taking the rifle, Leon nodded to his companions.
"Let's go find her."
Stelle: "What about our guide, Sampo?"
Sampo nearly cried.
I'm in this state, and you're still squeezing an injured man?
This time, he was actually hurt.
Leon: "Let him rest for now. The pain should fade in about half an hour. Then we'll… have him resume guiding."
"…"
Sampo's eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
Done for!
Getting targeted by this fiend meant no good outcome.
[Terrifying sly doctor—Ah Xian, you like that?]
"Love it so much!!"
"Stupid stupid stupid suki!!"
"I want Leon to jab me with a needle too… Oh, sorry, how could my hubby be a needle?"
"Even if it's a needle, it's a planetary engine's ramming spike."
"Ram me to death—eyes rolling back, hands in a peace sign…"
[This stream's doomed.]
[What turned Ah Xian like this? Oh, it's Leon—never mind, I'm like that too.]
[Sisters generating power—even gods can't handle it.]
Whether Sampo was faking his faint, Leon didn't care much.
Ah Xian didn't either, immediately heading to the updated mission area to find Bronya.
From a distance, she heard a somewhat familiar voice.
???: "Missy, been living the high life up there all these years, huh? Pretty comfy, right?"