Bullets rained down as they shot at him. Axis covered his head. He heard Henrick's car start, and he couldn't help but think, 'Is he going to leave me?' If so, then he was in deep trouble. but then...

"Take this!"

He heard the old man shouting before suddenly...

Hingggn!!

A piercing noise and a blinding light erupted. Even without directly seeing it, Axis was affected, as he couldn't make sense of his surroundings.

He suddenly felt someone grabbing his arm and pulling him closer. He wanted to resist, but his instinct told him it wasn't dangerous.

He felt himself sitting on a soft but he felt some tears on them, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in the passenger seat of Henry's car.

"You could have warned me you planned to do that."

Axis complained, and Henrick merely shrugged. Then Axis sensed something, and the car suddenly jolted.

Axis looked back and saw another car had rammed into them. "Fuck, just great; this is way beyond the pay grade! Again!"

He complained loudly for Henry to hear. He readied himself to prop himself out the window.

Henrick pulled something beneath his seat and threw a blaster shotgun at him.

"Now this is better."

"Make the shot count! I don't want to see NOPs get involved in this," Henrick added.

Axis propped himself out of the window. It's only been a few days since he woke up in this world, yet it's already the second time he propped himself in the window of a vehicle while pulling the trigger.

Life sure was exciting...

Axis took a deep breath. He saw some silhouettes inside the enemy vehicle moving around, trying to do the same as he did, but...

'1 second," he thought. Then everything once again slowed down.

This time, he didn't have the leisure to observe everything as he determined his target. His finger touched the trigger, and when everything turned to normal,

Bog!

Borggk!

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He pulled the trigger, and the enemy's vehicle tire exploded as they derailed and hit a pole.

"Got ya..."

Axis mumbled as sweat trickled down his face. He propped himself back on the seat and looked at the old man.

"You really have a death wish."

Henrick, who seemed calmer than before, eyed him before returning his gaze up front.

"You're not half bad kid..."

"But your compensation is..." Axis complained: 'Why is it that every mission I take turns out more dangerous than I thought?'

"Relax... I'll reimburse you when we get back to my den."

"Oh, you will..."

The rest of the drive was peaceful, and there wasn't any news about the NOP appearing either. It was understandable that they were near the wall of the city, the outskirts they called, for the people who live in the inner city.

Soon they were back at the old man's home again.

They parked up front, and they both got out of the car. Axis followed Henrick inside his house while he waited for his compensation.

He saw the old man rummaging through his stuff before heading inside a room.

Axis waited for Henrick to go out, but...

Nearly 20 minutes have passed, and he still hasn't come up. "Don't tell me that old man ran away. Or did he kill himself?"

Just as Axis was about to enter the room, Henrick exited and put on a suprised expression seeing Axis...

"Why are you still here?"

Axis's mouth couldn't help but twitch. He couldn't believe the old man had just simply forgotten about him.

"My payment..." Axis gritted his teeth while looking at the old man.

"Oh yes, I forgot." Henrick acted as if it were a trivial thing.

If he weren't so old, Axis would have smacked him.

The old man then got something from the table and threw it at him.

Axis caught it and saw that it was a smart key.

"She's all yours." After saying that, Henrick went back to his room.

Axis stood there agape.

It took him a couple of seconds before he processed what the old man said.

He hurriedly ran to the front and saw the worn-out car parked. He went to the side of it and used the smark key to open the door.

The door opened, and he immediately sat in the driver's seat and held the wheel.

"Oh shit...." He didn't expect to obtain his first vehicle on this mission!

Newly common cars were worth at least a thousand credits, and a used or dilapidated car was half of that.

Though this one was quite a shabby car and quite worn out, still...

Vehicle obtained!

'I have my own car!'

He was thrilled.

----------------------------------------

"Yeah, I give you a month, two tops. She's quite old and worn out. And it's not worth replacing her parts; better to just buy a new one."

Vyktor, one of the gang's top mechanic, said after checking out his vehicle: Axis couldn't help but put out a sour expression hearing what he said.

"You're joking right? I drove her and she seemed okay to me."

"Then you don't know shit."

Vyktor spat while wiping his sweat; he chuckled seeing Axis expression.

"Still, you've got skills and balls, kid. You actually went into the den of eggies?"

Eggies came from the root word egg. People who shut themselves up while forgetting the world exists.

"It was the client's fault; he suddenly pulled the trigger and killed one of them."

"Well, you survived and got compensated at least."

"Yeah, with a vehicle that's about to expire in less than two months."

Vyktor closed the hanger and said to Axis, "Think of it this way: with your rate of improvement, it shouldn't be a problem for you to get another vehicle in the future."

That consoled Axis a bit; indeed, with his duplication ability alone, he could save up money and buy an expensive one. He just needed to be patient and careful.

Good things take time.

"Thanks for looking at it, Vyk."

"No prob, swing by if you have any problems with it."

Axis got inside the vehicle and drove off outside the warehouse.

A call came in, It was his brother.