novelraw Chapter 199: There Are No Happy Endings In The City
Chapter 199: There Are No Happy Endings In The City
Lyra (Director of L Corp) POV
Lyra hated Jasmine.
Both of them used to be part of a large group of survivors.
The group was made so that people would work together and help each other.
There was no shortage of things that wanted to kill you in the City.
Berserk Cyborgs, Cursed Spirits, and Illegal Authorities.
By working together, the people in the group watched each other’s back, making sure they had enough to eat, a roof above their head and they could live to see tomorrow.
Even among the group, Lyra and Jasmine used to be especially close.
But then Jasmine betrayed Lyra.
A Mechanic had come from a Corporation, hoping to bring the group to a shelter as part of a welfare service.
Shelters under Corporations were protected by Corporations, meaning there would be no need to worry about Berserker Cyborgs, Cursed Spirits, and Illegal Authorities anymore.
They would get enough food to eat, and a permanent roof over their heads.
Just before the day the group moved to the Shelter, Jasmine beat up Lyra to the point Lyra couldn’t move and sold to Lyra to human traffickers.
Why?
Why did Jasmine do that?
Lyra didn’t know.
But for the first time, Lyra found herself praying.
’I hope you die a dog’s death.’
There was a famous saying in the City, one that Jasmine used to repeat a lot: [There are no happy endings in the City].
Jasmine used to say those words while laughing, saying she would prove it wrong, but now Lyra hoped the saying was true.
After all, Lyra had it happened to herself: just before entering a shelter, she was betrayed, kidnapped by human traffickers, and taken to a faraway Sector.
Just before she could’ve entered a path that led to happy ending, everything was destroyed.
Instead of drowning in despair, Lyra found herself clear-headed, and so she prayed.
’I hope you die a dog’s death.’
’I hope you never find your happy ending.’
’I hope the City swallows you.’
Never before had Lyra prayed for someone else’s fall with such pure, devoted hatred.
Lyra wanted to see Jasmine fall with her own eyes.
Fortunately, Lyra was able to escape the human traffickers.
From then, she began to live alone, no longer trusting her back to others.
Ten years passed like that.
Lyra met Jasmine again.
No, it would be more correct to say Lyra met the "cyborg" that had once been Jasmine.
Jasmine was now a Severity Level 3 Cyborg. She had no sapience, but could follow basic orders.
Joy. That was the first emotion Lyra felt.
Or so, Lyra had hoped.
Instead, what she felt was closer to melancholy.
The ten years they had spent separated were long.
Time had a way to heal all wounds, leaving behind only scars.
During those ten years, Lyra traffickers recalled how Jasmine would protect her when she was a young child.
How Jasmine would give up her food to feed Lyra.
How Jasmine would get beaten up for being caught when stealing food, but would never allow Lyra to steal food, because she was worried Lyra would be hurt if she got caught.
Why had someone who had been so kind to her betrayed her for a shelter?
In the first place, how had Lyra escaped human traffickers after Jasmine betrayed her?
Human traffickers were no fool.
They were used to working with people who tried to escape, and there was no way a frail and bony child like Lyra could escape them.
Yet Lyra had somehow, against all odds, escaped.
It was... as if the human traffickers let her escape.
The past was suspicious.
That’s why Lyra had sought out Jasmine, after ten years. To find answers.
And what she met was a mindless cyborg, who could no longer think.
"...."
Tears.
They were the first sensation Lyra felt.
At that moment, she realized.
The answers she had sought were something always known to her. She had just been looking away, trying to deny them.
Even now, she had no courage to look at the answers.
That’s why lived as if she was still searching for them.
But as they say: [There are no happy endings in the City.]
Jasmine has met her cursed ending.
Now it was Lyra’s turn.
She found the human traffickers who had kidnapped her during the childhood.
’Hmm? Aren’t you the lass from ten years ago?’
’You remember! Then, you must know about what happened back then. Was it really true that I was able to escape you guys?’
The human trafficker looked at Lyra with a confused gaze, wondering what gave her the confidence to come to their turf and ask questions like that.
Still, being bored, the human trafficker decided to answer.
’Escape? Lass, do you really think you could’ve escaped?’
’Does that mean—’
’We were paid by someone to take you far away from that Sector. Since we couldn’t be bothered to explain everything to you, it must’ve looked to you we were kidnapping you.’
The human trafficker laughed, recalling how she had run desperately from them, hoping to ’escape’.
Lyra did not pay heed to his laughter.
Her own mind was thrown into the turmoil.
The answers she was searching for—the answers she did not want to know—were being forcefully shown to her.
’It was Jasmine who paid the human trafficker to take me away,’ Lyra could tell.
But the questions rose anew.
Why?
Why do that?
There was an easy way to find the answer.
Join L Corp—Lich Corp—that had sent a mechanic to bring Jasmine and Lyra’s group to the shelter in the past.
Joining the L Corp was not hard.
Lyra had quite a bit of talent as mechanic.
That was why she could roam the city, and meet the human traffickers without fear.
She had powerful automatons defending her.
Her talent as mechanic had bloomed after she had decided to be alone when she was betrayed in the past.
No, perhaps, ’betrayed’ was the wrong word.
[Protected]
She was protected.
Lyra had to accept the truth after she joined L Corp and found that she had the potential to become a Saint.
Most Saint operations failed, turning the target into a mindless cyborg.
Just because someone had potential to be a Saint didn’t mean the Mechanic was talented enough to turn them into one.
Ten years ago, the L Corp had found out that one of the people in their area had the potential to be Saint.
The mechanic was sent to bring all humans in that area to shelter, where they would be tested to find the specific person with the potential.
Jasmine found about it while sneaking around to collect info, which she would later sell for money and food like the usual.
She knew Lyra’s life would be destroyed if she was operated on and turned into Saint.
Even if the operation somehow miraculously succeeded, Lyra would become puppet of the Corporations.
That’s why Jasmine hired people to secretly take away Lyra.
She put up an act of ’betrayal’ so that it would not be suspicious if she sent away Lyra and Lyra could not join shelter.
Jasmine had not warned anyone else in the group, even knowing they would all be turned into mindless cyborgs after reaching shelter.
Warning others would put the safety of Lyra in danger.
So, she let them ’die’ and ’died’ along with them.
All to protect Lyra.
"I hate you."
While Jasmine sacrificed herself, Lyra had prayed Jasmine died a dog’s death.
Lyra’s prayers were answered.
But the result left Lyra broken.
Jasmine was correct. There were no happy endings in the City.
And yet, Lyra refused to accept that.
She refused to be swallowed by the City. She refused to let Jasmine die after she sacrificed herself to protect Lyra.