"Aren't we supposed to be wearing a mask to cover our faces?"

  Julo whispered into Travestita's ears.

  "Don't worry, there's a power here that doesn't allow people to remember each other faces."

  She paused for a bit.

  "Unless you want them to know ,of course."

  Currently, they were walking in the black market. Well, that's what Julo thinks, in fact, he didn't know what this place was. From what he could observe and read, it was like a black market, so Julo assumed it was.

  It didn't really matter if this was a black market or not, since what he cared about was getting a weapon.

  He looked around and realized something.

  'Why do we need the black market to buy a gun?'

  A gun was illegal to own if you didn't have a license but since he was technically a employee of the government, he could get a weapon outside with no problem. Albeit, it might take a while for the store owner to check his ID.

  He looked at her and considered asking but after a while it was best for him to keep quiet. She wouldn't bring him here without any reason. Perhaps, buying a weapon here might have more befits than buying outside.

  She looked at a restaurant, the inside was nice, the waiter were carrying trays that had thin slices of meat in it with sauces.

  They were serving fugu, also known as pufferfish.

  In the past, people could cook fugu and sell them. However, due to multiple malpractice and people faking their license it was eventually banned.

  That didn't stop people from serving the fish. Fortunately, the the cook of the restaurant Travestita was looking at had a actual license to cook the fish. It wasn't some fake either since the black market still had inspection weekly by the international food agency.

  If they find malpractice or any other things that violates the policy then they would report to the government and the restaurant would be quickly be removed.

  As for why the government doesn't just take down the black market, it was because if they took it down then new ones would pop up in a unknown location that would make it difficult to find.

  It was easier knowing what the people in the market were planning on civilians by having multiple undercover cops and the market's security couldn't interfere since they had signed a contract.

  "Wanna eat there?"

  He looked at the restaurant and carefully inspected it.

  'Fugu?'

  He paused for a bit and answered.

  "Isn't it dangerous to eat at a unauthorized restaurant?"

  "Heh, don't worry. Restaurants here gets inspected every week"

  Julo looked at her and took a deep breath.

  "Who is the inspector"

  Travestita grinned a little before replying.

  "Who do you think?"

  Julo sighed and walked over to the restaurant.

  'So, the government knows this place and is actively spying on the people here' That was the speculation Julo came up with from Travestita's words.

  'Whatever, I have read enough novels to guess that even without her giving me the hint'

  Julo was a little disappointed. The reason being the market wasn't as secretive as he thought it to be. If the government didn't know then he would feel a little superior but it seemed like he was the last person to know this place.

  ***

  "You can buy bullets if you don't have any"

  "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind"

  With that, a customer closed the door and left. Opening a store at the black market was tough. There were many troubles to worry about here, a gang trying threat him in order to get a item for cheaper, people trying to scam him, and now there's a person sitting outside seemingly waiting for someone.

  He tried every method to get rid of her, he didn't want people to think he forcefully made the girl sit in order to attract customer. In fact, the previous customer even asked him if he hired the girl for help. Thankfully, it was a customer he had known for a while now. So he knew that he wouldn't do such a thing.

  So he just decided to let her stay, of course. Although he wasn't too happy about it.

  *ring ring*

  The bell rang as two people walked in. Currently, he was sorting out the weapons he had bought, so he didn't look at them.

  "Excuse me"

  He paused what he was doing and looked at the person calling. It was Julo. He continued sorting the weapons and after a while, he asked him.

  "What do you want? I have multiple weapons that might be to your liking"

  The person beside him suddenly spoke.

  "Hey, how you doing"

  He looked him, confused for a bit. Until he looked carefully.

  "It's you" he smiled.

  He couldn't remember her, however you could remember the shape and identity as long as you were in the market. Albeit, it was vague.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  He put his hands on the counter and said.

  "What do you want?"

  She looked at Julo and signaled him to choose a weapon. Julo looked her, wondering why she was looking at him like that. Travestita's expression quickly turned into something that said 'Are you serious?'.

  "Your the one in need right?"

  Julo looked back at the owner and replied.

  "Yeah"

  "Choose"

  It was then he realized what she was trying to tell him. Embarrassed, he quickly walked over the section that had a large amount of guns hanged on the wall. He looked around and choose the most good looking one.

  He pointed to the wall and looked at the owner.

  "This one"

  The owner's expression was also like Travestita's a few seconds ago. It wasn't because the gun was bad, it was because it wasn't cost effective.

  There were plenty cheaper options but he just choose the most non cost effective.

  He will admit the gun's feature were pretty cool but it wasn't anything note worthy in a life or death battle.

  The gun only had two feature unlike other guns in the same price tag.

  One being a taser which was decent for him if he doesn't want to kill and one was an AI assistant that helps you aim the gun. Most of the times, the gun would just try to shoot the handler because it has a problem telling the difference between the enemy and the allies.

  Still, he didn't question his decision, he might not even know the gun's feature let alone what was cost effective. He wasn't going to tell him either since he was still a salesman

  "Alright, that'll cost you 20k"

  Julo took out the card that Gino gave him and gave it to him. The price was outrageous, however, since it was for self defense he had to get the best one he could think of. Not that he knew anything about self defense and cost effectiveness. It didn't really matter since a gun is a gun, he could protect himself from plenty threats but even if he couldn't, he was better off having a gun anyway.

  He grabbed the gun and gave it to him. Julo looked at him and frowned for a bit, his face was full of delight, like a salesman that had managed to sell something and made a huge profit.

  'Wait a minute, is this guy scamming me?'

  He knew way too much about how they acted when someone gets scammed by them. In fact, he had the victim multiple times until he stopped being naive and think for a bit before making a decision.

  He looked at Travestita, signaling her if he's a scam. Fortunately, she shook her head. Julo sighed of relief and walked towards the exit.

  The store owner watched both of them leave and calmed himself down. He was worried that he might think he's a scam and try to return the gun. He could technically refuse since it was already paid but it was terrible to see a customer be mad at him so he didn't.

  He looked outside to check the girl outside, she was gone. That means he doesn't have to worry about the sliver hair girl ruining his reputation.

  He walked back to storage room to restock when he froze in his step.

  'Sliver hair?'

  He quickly took out a pen and a paper from the storage and drew her.

  'You gotta be kidding me'

  There it was. The girl outside the store was on the paper. He could remember the girl's features.

  Sweats were pouring down his face when he mumbled.

  "Unbound?"

  ***

  Julo exited the market with Travestita. He was quite in a good mood since he had got a cool weapon to defend himself with.

  Currently, he was reading a note that came with the gun.

  "A taser and an AI?" He mumbled unconsciously.

  "Pretty neat, huh." She however heard the mumbled and replied.

  Julo flipped the paper to read the back side.

  "Warning. The aim assist AI may shoot allies or yourself?! Then what's the point." Julo said angrily.

  As they talked, Julo went into the computer hardware store in order to buy things for his AGI. If things goes well maybe he might be able to transfer the AI to the gun itself, this way it would be more useful it is currently.

  "Why do you need this much ram?"

  She asked while he grabbed the ram sticks. He walked for a bit and then replied.

  "I'm making something"

  "What are you maki-"

  A muffled scream suddenly came around the area. It was like if a person was trying to scream while they were being choked.

  Julo didn't hear it, of course. However, Travestita, unlike Julo, was an Uncoiled and had her body enhanced. So she could hear it.

  She placed her finger on his lips, signaling him to be quiet, Julo might not be able to read signals but since this one was simple he followed it. Although he was confused.

  She listened closely and waited until the sound was moving a little to the left.

  A loud sound echoes in the store. It was Travestita kicking a shelf that had the hardware in it. The kick was so fast that Julo could barely see it.

  They both looked at the other side where the shelf fell. There was a man laying there, beside the man was a woman that had a shocked expression. The shelf missed the woman when she kicked it. Albeit, barely.

  The woman looked at them and looked back at the man. The man in question was unconscious. It would be quite problematic if he was still awake.

  "Thank you" She barely managed to say these words, although it was still very quiet.

  Travestita reached into her pocket and took out a badge.

  "Ma'am your gonna have to come with us if you want to press charges and we will still press charges even if you refused"

  "Oh-o-ok" She seems like a introvert, seemingly not talking much and being anxious.

  Well, that was what Julo thinks. He might be a little stupid but Julo wasn't dumb enough to quickly make assumptions.

  He sighed and checked his bag to make sure he got everything. That's when someone called them.

  "Are you gonna pay for that" Julo suddenly straightened his back and slowly looked at the source of the voice.

  It was the owner.

  He quickly looked at Travestita only to find her pointing a finger at him.

  The owner looked at the badge in her hand and the situation. Albeit, she didn't look carefully.

  "God for fuck sack" she mumbled quiet enough for Travestita to not hear.

  "Just bring him to the station. The government will pay for the damages"

  Julo sighed a breath of relief and walked to the exit.

  "I didn't say you wouldn't need to pay for your items though"

  'Darn it' He thought she would let them go for free since she just said the government would pay. However, it didn't seem to be the case.

  She looked closely at Travestita's face and then frowned.

  "I'm kidding you can go"

  She knew how much of a pain was to deal with Travestita from her others visit. However that was not the only reason she let them go. Julo was right, she could just say that the missing hardwares were damaged and she would get paid fully for the said hardware. Although, she couldn't take it to the extreme.

  After watching them leave, she cleaned the place and closed the store.

  'I should probably give her some compensation for what happened'

  ***

  'Thank god, she let me go without paying' Although Julo had enough to pay for the hardwares, he was looking forward to having some extra money for himself.

  He walked into the building alone since Travestita guided her to the police station and had to stay there for a while.

  "It's getting pretty late" He mumbled. The sun was setting and the clouds were building up.

  He knocked on Gino's office.

  The door opened revealing Gino with black spots under his eyes.

  "Oh your here"

  Julo took out the card from my pocket and gave it to him.

  He looked at the card carefully. His mouth twitched, although, Julo didn't see it.

  "Hey, did Travestita touch this card?"

  'Why is he asking me that?'

  "Oh yeah, she touched it for a brief second in a restaurant"

  "Fuck" Gino closed the door.

  He didn't know why he was reacting like that since you'll have to give the card to the seller to use it. Well, that's what he thought, of course.

  It might very well be other matter he didn't know yet.

  He sighed and checked the clock.

  It was time to go home.

  'I think I could finish the AI today's

  With that he exited the building. However, he paused for a second, seemingly forgetting about something.

  *Drop*

  Drops of rain were pouring quickly on Julo. Before long, his entire clothes were wet again.

  "You got to be fucking me"

  ***

  *ring ring*

  Julo was ringing a bell. Specifically, it was the door of the woman Travestita saved.

  Gino asked him to give the compensation to her since he really didn't have any work to do even though he got picked as a receptionist.

  Gino told him that the building was disguised as a low quality detective department so they needed a receptionist in order not to look too suspicious. Which was fine for Julo since he could just sit and be lazy.

  *ring ring*

  'It's been a while'

  Julo looked through the window unsuspectingly.

  Julo's expression instantly tense up and grabbed the gun.

  What he saw was red liquid flowing, it was blood.

  He tried kicking the door down, however, since he was weak he didn't have enough force to kick it down. With only one option, he shot the handle and opened it.

  He rushed into the room where he saw the blood.

  He almost threw up, the skull of the woman was bashed into the wall, it was deformed. There were signs of struggling everywhere.

  He couldn't hold it in anymore and threw up.

  His vision was becoming blurry and he finally passed out.