Tailed

[Item Quantity and Price:

1 Mixed-Berry Carpi-Fun 200ml - 14 Credits

1 Gyer Original Cup Noodles 64g - 12 Credits.]

Max stared at the holographic screen on the paying booth displaying the list of his brunch menu and their prices. His Iris' red indicator light blinked before he opened the device. A notification appeared on the screen. With a thought, he selected it, revealing a message.

[You wish to purchase items from GyerMart. Please check your item quantity and prices.

Are the items correct?

Yes/No.]

He selected yes, prompting another message to appear.

[General Credits Available: 1364.

26 Credits will be deducted from your account.

Proceed?

Yes/Go back.]

After selecting yes, the Iris message thanked him for buying from GyerMart and the holographic screen on the paying booth disappeared. He picked up his goods from the booth and headed out into the outer section of the convenience store. There was a counter on which several magic-powered machines were located, and that was where he headed next.

He approached a hot water dispenser, tore open the cup noodles paper lid, and placed it on the machine's platform. He touched the red mana conductor embedded on the side of the machine and sent a bit of mana into it. The stone glowed before the machine got to work. A few seconds later, hot water poured into the cup. As the water level neared the brim, Max stopped supplying the dispenser with mana, causing it to stop pouring water.

He picked up his cup noodles and headed toward a long table attached to the wall, on the way passing by a man powering a coffee machine with his mana. He pulled out a stool, sat on it, and waited until the noodles were ready.

He rested his cheek on his palm, elbow propped on the table. His eyes scanned left and right, searching for Nami. He had his soundwave sight activated, so he couldn't see Nami's mana-cloaked form at the moment. She had told him that she would always keep herself concealed with mana whenever they weren't alone. She didn't want to be seen by any other human, after all. 'Where are you?' he asked through their mental connection, which Nami had been keeping up the whole time, for some reason.

Her answer came in the form of a soft ruffle on his hair. She had apparently taken a nest on the top of his head. 'Hair, soft.'

Max's expression turned odd. His hair was most definitely not soft. He hadn't had a shower for three days!

Speaking of, he might have to head to a public shower after filling his stomach.

Max enjoyed the next fifteen minutes eating noodles and drinking his most favorite beverage. Other people may be addicted to coffee, beer, or soda. But not Max. He couldn't go a day without feeding his Carpi-Fun addiction. Mixed berry flavor, in particular.

After he was done satisfying his tummy, he headed outside. The morning bustle of the city greeted him, with the strings of sounds in his sight going wilder. He was at the rim of the Southern Metropolitan Area right now, since he did enjoy the convenience brought about by the combination of automation and magic. These services were scarcely available in The Null Zone, where most stores still required human interaction.

People going to work, sidestreet stores and restaurants 'closed' signs flickering and switching to 'open', the city was thrumming with all kinds of energy that brimmed with life. Buses and cars constantly hovered by. And for those who couldn't afford a car, they opted to single-occupant capsules. The street lanes were divided by two kinetic mana conductor lines, both ever-glowing white. These were mana stones that had been shaped and refined to be planted along the streets, constantly providing a lift for any vehicle above them. The vehicles were equipped with their own mana conductors, which would be powered by their drivers to maneuver the vehicles.

At night, the glow from mana conductor lines would light up the streets, but they paled in comparison to the actual street lightings. Long vertical tube lights powered by light mana conductors were placed every few meters along the sidewalks, their neon-like glows illuminating the entire city. In fact, these light mana-powered tubes were placed on basically any surface available on any kind of establishment and signs, creating a colorful view of neon-filled cityscape. It was as if everyone wanted to compete as to who could have the most colors lighting up their place.

Up above, along the sky train tracks, huge holographic screens were displaying all kinds of broadcasts, from commercials to live news. And on one of those screens, the scene of a rowdy crowd of people protesting in front of the Parliament building was currently being shown. On the bottom, the headline said 'The Revolutionaries Are Making Bold Moves'. The next scene showed a snippet of a video that had been circulating on social media. It was of a masked woman speaking about how the government was hoarding mana stones, monopolizing access to these raw resources, and unfairly increasing the price of mana-powered devices and services throughout the Republic.

Max looked away from the screens and started walking. Just as he was about to head toward a public shower, the hairs on his back suddenly stood up. He whipped around and quickly swept his gaze across the street, his eyes locked onto every person on sight. None of them were looking his way.

But he could've sworn someone had just had their eyes on him a second ago. He was certain of this; he did have sharp senses, after all. He felt a slight movement on the top of his head. 'Can you please watch my back as I walk?' he asked Nami. 'I feel like someone's watching me.'

'Okay.'

Max turned around and started walking again. Not even a minute later, he felt a gaze fixed on his back again.

'Man, black clothes, approach here. Slow,' Nami conveyed.

Max didn't try to look behind this time. He was obviously being tailed, but he failed to come up with an idea as to who would want to target him. He wasn't exactly a notorious person, and all he had done to warrant any attention was his occasional night job. But even that couldn't possibly land him in hot water, as he always made sure to be careful and that his client was always covering for him.

Could it be his client, then? He hadn't thought much about this, since the deadline for his job was still two days away. Maybe his client somehow found out that he had not only tampered with the promised item, but also stolen the content? He hadn't detected anyone watching him back in the alley, though.

Max decided to forget about having a shower and to immediately leave the Metropolitan Area. There were too many people here, and too many noises interfering with his vision. He could turn his soundwave sight off, but that would make him feel vulnerable, as he wouldn't be able to tell if anyone was approaching him from behind through their footsteps.

He made a turn and briskly walked along the sidewalk, ignoring the feeling of being followed as he marched toward The Null Zone. Ten minutes later, he saw the surveillance drone halting midair and flipping around, while the glows from many mana conductors were disappearing one by one. Until eventually, he officially crossed the border and arrived at The Southern Null Zone.

'Man, now two, follow us. Closer now,' informed Nami.

There were two of them now? Who were these people?

Max suddenly took off, hoping to widen the distance between him and them before making a turn toward a narrow alley. He must have disappeared out of their sight for now, but he didn't have long. He immediately jumped up the escape ladder of an apartment and climbed up the fire escape stair railings, arriving at the rooftop. He activated his gloves and created a void barrier.

'New technique!' Nami exclaimed.

However, Max was too busy concentrating on keeping the barrier up to pay her any mind. He ran at full speed before leaping off the ledge, landing on the neighboring rooftop with a roll. There were a couple of big neon letter signs on the building's front top, and that was where Max decided to take a peek through the scaffolding. He could now finally see the people who had been following him.

Two guys. Both wearing black leather jackets. One had a lanky build and a buzzcut. The other was a bit bulkier, his head was shiny bald. The latter suddenly looked to the left, toward the building Max was currently on. The man looked up at the same time as Max retreated.

It was a close call.

But he didn't know what to do now. Should he just wait it out on this roof until his pursuers gave up? But before he could decide on what to do, his soundwave sight caught a vibration to his left. That was when he saw a small drone popping up from below the roof's edge. Actually, it was not only small; it was tiny, and clearly not a government's drone.

He could tell right away that the drone's camera had homed in on his form. So he immediately canceled his void barrier and switched to lightwave viewing mode. His vision now was filled with all kinds of colors. Rainbow waves floating about in the air, making him slightly nauseous. This was why he didn't like turning on his lightwave sight.

However, he didn't have the time to make himself feel better. He focused on the lightwaves emitted by his own body and activated his gloves. His kinetic mana moved to 'refract' the lightwaves around his body before thinly 'dispersing' them to his surroundings. This way, the drone would lose sight of him, as his body had stopped reflecting lights. He was basically invisible at this point.

Max observed as the drone hovered in place, turning its front side left and right, as if searching for his form. That told him that he was now safe to move. And he had to move now, since it took so much mental energy to constantly manipulate the lightwaves. It was even trickier to perform than his void barrier. Though it was mostly because he wasn't as used to it.

Max immediately made his move. He didn't run this time, as without the void barrier, his footsteps would instantly alert the two guys below of his location. He decided to climb down this building, get them completely off his back, and then disappear among the crowds back in the Metropolitan Area.

However, before he even reached the roof's edge, his Iris notification system came to life. He frowned, thinking how bad the timing was. He kept walking while opening his Iris. But as he read the message he just received, his steps came to a sudden halt. He had chills running down his spine.

[Max, right? I don't know what you did to evade my drone's vision, but I'll have you know I've still got you in my sight. Not you physically, of course. I meant that I can still track your location. How do you think I was able to access your Iris?]