He questioned himself; a weird feeling he couldn't understand rose up within his chest, but when he saw the Odyssea Bar again, he shook it off. Any type of ambition has to be put on hold for now.

Now, he needed to just take a break from all the trouble of the day.

He barged right in and ordered a drink.

"Shit, can you put it on the tab first? I promise to pay you back after the upcoming mission."

"Aren't you the guy who just survived a shootout, gained a car, drove to another mess, and once again survived?"

Harold looked at him with a smirk.

"And that guy is planning to open up a tab; that isn't possible."

Axos has no energy to mess with Harold. He had been in too much trouble in these few days... Maybe he should relax while secretly earning money.

No, what he saw today showed him how dangerous the world is. Aside from money, he needed to have the personal strength to back it up.

'Should I really just turn into an upgraded?'

He thought as he jugged his drink. To upgrade his body to the latest cyberwars, he only needed money and not exp.

The easy way out... Just as he thought of that, like a reflex, a buried memory surfaced in his mind.

Axis's face couldn't help but darken as he gripped the glass hard, and a crack appeared. A deep, hidden anger rose inside him.

'No, there's too much uncertainty with an upgrade; there are too many downsides; it's better to just gain exp."

He concluded.

Having decided that, he sighed deeply and once again looked through the list of bounties.

--

"Hey brother, look at what I found."

"What?"

"Just come here..."

"Hold up, I thought you were going to take it easy these few days. Yet why do I hear you've been in a lot of shit lately?"

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Axis's face twitched as he couldn't help but also question what he'd been doing these few days...

It hadn't been peaceful at all!

In fact, there was so much trouble that Troy and Raze basically joined him in doing the bounty missions.

"It's not important anyway; check out what I found from one of the missions; you're going to like it."

Axis was assured as he placed a large box on the desk of their armory.

Yuri looked at him with a confused smile and approached the box. "What is it?"

"Open it; you'd be surprised."

Axis leaned to the side and waited for his brother to open the box.

Seeing his brothers smile, Yuri opened the box, and the first thing he saw was the word "Militech."

"Oh shit... Militech gear?"

Yuri exclaimed as he grabbed the gear inside. "A protective suit..."

He grabbed the black suit, then grabbed the other gear inside; it was a rectangular-like object. Yuri fiddled with it before realizing what it was.

He grabbed the object and split it in the middle, then put it behind his ears as it magnetically attached to his head. Then the gear decompressed, covering his face and back except for the top. It was protective headgear.

If Axis had a way to describe it, it was like the headgear a certain star lord used, except black. It can cushion the impact of bullets, making it a valuable piece of gear.

His brother compressed the gear again and put it back where it was before.

"Where did you find these?"

Axis, already prepared for this, said, "Remember the old veterans' place? Well, not exactly there; I did a search for something just later today, and I found it near the place. I waited for somebody to take it, but nobody came."

Then, like an excited kid, Axis went closer and grabbed one of the compressed head gears.

"I don't know who the dumb idiot was who left this, but it's ours now!"

Yuri looked at the gear with a concerned expression before a wide smile formed on his face.

"Well, it seems all that trouble paid off!"

"Hahaha!" Axis hides his awkwardness at hearing that.

"But I've got to check it with Vyk and the others first. Have the things checked in case they're traced."

Axis nodded and said, "That's what I thought too."

Unfortunately, he could only 'pretend' to find two sets of gear.

There was no time. Tomorrow he will do a dangerous mission, so he needed a reason to wear military gear.

"Come"

They both soon headed to the gang's technicians, and they checked the gear.

"You found this?"

"That's right"

"Damn, leaving thousands of credits just like that—who's the idiot that left them?"

Axis and his brother waited for the result for 30 minutes or so when David, the top technician and netrunner of the gang, came out with the gears.

"There is no problem with it; at least it isn't traceable. I've also removed the logo so people don't recognize it."

Both Yuri and Axis sigh in relief. Even though he had been wearing the protective suit this entire time.

"Something I found interesting, though."

Axis turned alert, as David probably noticed the gears had the same serial number or something.

"The two headgear pieces and protective suit both share the same production number and date... I'm guessing in production they accidentally created more than the quota, and a worker took advantage of it and took it away... It happens from time to time."

Hearing that, Axis was relieved. He really needed to be more careful in the future when duplicating items and selling them.

"It looked like you'd be well protected on your mission tomorrow."

Yuri said to him

'That was the plan," Axis thought.