17 Chapter 17: The Slayer Association

There was so much life…

…so much life to be devoured.

The chaotic mixture of instinct and thought raced in Zero's mind. He could almost taste life in the air due to the number of humans walking past him; everywhere he looked, there was life.

All sorts of scents moving straight to his tongue; the noises they make, echoing in his ears almost endlessly.

Chaos is life, and life is chaos. How the humans were able to live like this, Zero could only speculate– but one thing he does know…

…is that he shouldn't have come here.

Any more, and he would really lose himself to his primal instincts. Anymore, and he would have no choice but to follow his urge to devour and–

"Zero, here!"

And before he could completely lose himself, he heard his name– causing every noise that circled around him to dissipate; his eyes, now only focusing on the person that called him.

It was Sandie and the rest of the Wind Mafia, waiting and waving at him from the distance away from the sea of life that Zero found himself in. And finally, Zero was able to walk away, shrugging off the urge to taste the humans around him.

"Did you want to buy something from the market? Why'd you suddenly stop?" Sandie once again leaned closer to Zero as soon as he got near.

"...No. Just… distracted," Zero said as he once again glanced at the crowd. It would seem it was only crowded somewhere at the entrance of the Safe Zone… due to this thing called a Market.

[Reader of Fate: Frank, wants Zero to start infecting people.]

[Some of the Readers of Fate are telling Frank to chill.]

"Okay? We're thinking of heading to the Slayer Association now to avoid the rush hour, is that alright with you?"

"...Yes?"

"Good. By the way, what's your number so we can contact each other whenever we're in Safe Zones?"

"...Zero?"

"Pft, no," Sandie let out a giggle as she heard Zero's answer. The other members of the Wind Mafia didn't think it was funny… so Sandie was truly trying to hit on the stranger, they all thought. But from Anna's recount… Zero's face should be disfigured?

"I mean your phone number," Sandie continued to chuckle as she grabbed something from between her breasts and showed it to Zero– a small, thin, black box.

[Some of the Readers of Fate are wondering if Zero will have a harem in the future.]

"...That is a phone number?"

"No, this is a phone!"

Zero could only tilt his head; looking at the words that popped up in front of him, before focusing on the so-called phone that Sandie pulled from her shirt. It looked familiar, but he had no idea what it was supposed to be.

"Could it be… you don't have a phone?"

"...No?"

"What!? This is very important nowadays, especially now that they're finally bringing back the satellites in the chartered places! Do… do you want me to buy you one?"

"You're getting too desperate, girl," Gab could not help but pull Sandie away; rolling her eyes from Sandie's seemingly futile attempts, "Do you think men like him even have time for women? Maybe he's like Hector, who only thinks of the next adventure and shit."

"...I'm not like that," Hector heard the two even from afar.

"You're exactly like that, you old fuck!"

"What was that!?"

"..." Zero could really only follow the group as they once again started talking to each other. Do… humans do that a lot? Talk? He has seen it with every group of humans he has met– they never seem to stop talking.

Zero didn't mind, however. He was… learning a lot from them. And with the way they were talking, he seemed to still have a lot to learn.

Phones, Bubbles, satellites, Safe Zones, Slayer Association– everything seemed new to him, but at the same time, it was not. No, it was like that with everything.

Everything seemed new, but old at the same time. It… was a very weird feeling. Almost as if there was something crawling from his brain that isn't a maggot. The group continued to walk through Concretespire, and Zero could not help but be in awe of the difference from the outside.

Here, each building was being used– either as a home or some kind of… shop that the humans use to buy stuff. The odd thing was… that the shopkeepers do not seem to be rude like Zeni and are always smiling.

"You guys go buy us something to eat in the canteen, Zero and I will process the materials."

"Sure thing, boss."

"Sandie, come on. Stop sticking to the guy too much."

And finally, after a few more minutes of walking through the concrete jungle, they seemed to have arrived at their destination. And immediately, Zero felt a certain chill crawl throughout his entire body as he stared at the large building in front of him.

It was almost as if… the entire structure was alive. The scent that it was giving off was enough for Zero to feel uncomfortable– like a dancing flame that teased his senses.

There and then, Zero knew… that if he entered the building and someone recognized him as a monster, he would surely be extinguished faster than he could blink. But alas, almost like a moth to a flame, he stepped inside.

The inside wasn't particularly grand– the people, however, was a different topic altogether. A handful of the humans here… could probably kill him with a single finger.

And the strongest one was a woman… that seemed to be approaching them. There were a lot of eyes on them, but the only ones that mattered were hers; each of her steps, almost causing Zero to run away there and then… but then her next steps caused him to freeze.

His instincts were telling him to run, but his body could not.

And very soon, the woman was in front of Hector and Zero. She just looked normal, a face that Zero thought would probably be lost in the crowd on the Market. The aura she was exuding, however…

…was the aura that Zero felt before entering the building.

"Damn, quite a haul you guys got there."

And luckily for Zero, she didn't immediately attack him; instead, she looked at the materials that the other members of the Wind Mafia were hauling inside.

"Not ours, ma'am," Hector quickly answered the woman; the tone of his voice, quite different from the way he talked to the others,

"They belong to this guy, we're just getting a share for transporting it," Hector then tapped Zero… before gently pushing him towards the woman.

"Oh, who's this?"

"He's a B-rank Slayer… you don't know who he is, ma'am?" Hector looked at Zero for a few moments, before suddenly walking away towards the other members of the Wind Mafia,

"Oi! Wait for Zero before you sell everything!" He screamed, leaving Zero and the woman alone.

"..."

"..."

"You're… a B-Rank Slayer? Why haven't I seen you here before?"

"..." Zero could do nothing as the woman started to look at him from head to toe.

"Can you show me your ID?"

"I… don't have an ID."

"..."

"..."

Zero then flinched as the woman raised her hand; luckily for Zero, she just placed her hand on her chin.

"Well, we're not that strict here in Concretespire compared to the other Safe Zones. Come, follow me," the woman then just shrugged as she gestured to Zero to follow her, "Did you lose the card or you didn't have one in the first place?"

"...I don't have an ID."

[The Readers of Fate are telling Zero to learn how to lie properly.]

"I see. So…

…you lied about being a Slayer?"

And suddenly, Zero felt the weight of the whole world around him.