[ Planet LSc-259-E-15 has stepped past 2 stars on the Cosmic Disassociated Civilization Scale. Commencing development sequence. Please, record what follows:
1. The potential ceiling of all living creatures in contact is increased to Rank-2
2. Dimensional gateway assimilation frequency is increased by 17.2%
3. Restrictions of alien technology will no longer be applicable
4. Restrictions on alien scouts will be lifted within six hours ]
For the whole day, those seven sentences had occupied the screens of every active electronic device on Planet Nen. Unlike the first time something like this had happened, the masses were not in a panic. Nor were all the governments on the planet wondering whether to pull out their nuclear warheads to prepare for the sixth world war.
Instead, every news outlet across the planet was churning out analytical articles and audio broadcasts, warning the population of twelve billion humans that the flow of history was about to undergo another massive shift.
While listening to one such podcast from his two favorite history analysts, Euri was quickly cutting through a dense crowd on the sidewalk of one of the busiest streets of Peacock District. For the common people, it was rush hour, and for the dimension divers, this whole week would be filled with a hectic workload. The cosmic notice had gotten them all sprinting through the district day and night.
The streets were packed with vehicles and beast rides. Shadowfoot Horses, Blood Wolves, Weightless Rhinos, Tank Bulls, and even a couple of Titan Elephants were visible in the block he was navigating through. Several winged beasts were flying overhead, carrying their superhuman owners to important sections of the district. Nobody in their wildest dreams would have thought that such a scene would be the reality even fifty years ago, when the Cosmic Civilization Development Bureau had made its presence known for the first time to their world and announced that their planet was about to enter the list of 1-star civilizations.
Unable to bear the stink of sweat and waves of noise in the big street, Euri made the big mistake of slipping into deserted alleyways to take a shortcut to his neighborhood. And only when his eyes fell on the ongoing crime in a dark corner of one such alley did he take off the headphones and recall all the special bulletins about the skyrocketing crime rate in the cities since the cosmic notice had appeared.
Three burly men wearing plastic masks had pinned someone to a wall. Two of them were brandishing knives at their victim, and one of those knives even had a trace of blood on it.
"Let's see what's in this bag... Looks expensive, doesn't it? What's it made from? Snowcroc hide? That should fetch some money, huh?"
The third guy was busy ransacking the victim's possessions, it seemed. All three had their backs turned toward Euri, and he wasn't stupid enough to make his presence known at a moment like this.
Turning around silently, Euri began to trot away as fast as he could. Just as he was about to go out of earshot, he heard the third thug exclaim, "Oh, look! A pack of birth-control pills! You've been on them on regular, right, Missy? Awesome!"
This was followed by a distinctly feminine shriek, and Euri's quick steps faltered at that mental image.
This was not the first time he had come across such an incident. Peacock district was a hotbed of crimes due to its lacking administration, and most kids in his neighborhood had grown up encountering all sorts of messy scenes in alleys, abandoned buildings, and the industrial plants near their homes.
But the last time he had ignored a scene like that, he had found himself staring at the mangled face of a neighbor's daughter on the evening news. He had not had the sincerity to confess to the weeping middle-aged man that he might have been able to save the little girl.
Euri didn't consider himself a good person, but he had lost weeks of sleep over that incident. In his mind, he had replayed the scenario thousands of times, bravely saving the girl in each simulation despite facing four armed, hardened criminals.
And yet, now that he was faced with the same crossroads of fate, Euri's feet didn't move as fast as they had in his imagination. He didn't rush over like a knight wrapped up in plot armor. In fact, his legs shook a little even as he turned around.
"What if it's someone I know?" He kept muttering to himself to suppress his protesting rationality. The cold facts told him that he'd be sending himself to death, or at least a beating that'd leave him crippled. If those three thugs were associated with any gangs, they were not going to leave his limbs intact. Fear was their greatest asset!
Still, the half-censored face of that little girl refused to leave his mind, and the pressure of seeing something similar became the final push for his feet to move forward.
Euri took off his backpack as the resolve set in. Although carrying sharp tools into school was prohibited, kids from sketchy areas never traveled unarmed. From a tiny inner pocket of his backpack, he pulled out the finger-sized bottle of acid he had stolen from the school lab a couple of days ago.
A dozen milliliters of acid would probably be just enough to seriously hurt one of those three thugs. Obviously, he would have to target either of the two armed thugs. Then he could act like there was some residue left in his bottle to frighten off the second guy. If he ran, the third thug wouldn't dare to stay!
The real trouble, however, would only begin from that point. Some people would definitely come looking to avenge their disfigured buddy.
Clenching the uncapped bottle in one hand, Euri took out his miniscreen and started a video call in a chat group. This wasn't an act to prove himself innocent if the law enforcement got involved. He just needed the thugs to think that many eyes were on them.
As he came out of the corner of the alleyway and approached the group, he shouted loudly in a thick accent that would give off the impression that he was a visitor from a distant district.
"Hey! There are people beating up a little girl! Heavens! I hope all of you are seeing this! Everyone, please report! Report! Report! You know my location, fans!"
His impersonation of a livestreamer was not bad. The three thugs who had turned around aggressively became visibly hesitant to approach him. Behind them, a sickly-looking girl was visible, trying to put on her jacket in a hurry.
"Although these guys are wearing masks, their physique seems distinct, right? Dear fans, please send some images to the police! The longer they stay in my camera frame, the better the chances of identifying them are!"
Euri's nasal, high-pitched voice ceaselessly echoed in the alley as he continued to spout bullshit, firmly planting the idea of escape into the minds of the thugs.
However, he may have overdone the act a little, because the unarmed thug whispered something to one of his colleagues, who immediately rushed towards Euri brandishing the knife in his grip with animalistic ferocity.
Euri immediately backtracked, hiding behind a pillar in the sharp corner of the alley. The moment his opponent rushed into view, he splashed the acid at his exposed throat and upper chest.
"AAAGHH-Huh?!"
Euri didn't expect the thug's reaction to being disfigured to be so underwhelming. In fact, it didn't even look like he was feeling any pain. The initial scream seemed to have come out of shock.
In a flash, a certain strand of thought surfaced in Euri's mind. When he was stealing that bottle of acid, he had forgotten to check what the label on top of the bottle was. It could have been highly corrosive sulfuric acid; it could have also been edible organic acid...
The thug had already recovered from the surprise. With two quick steps, he was face to face with Euri, and the knife in his hand was pressed into his neck hard enough to sting.
"Give me the miniscreen."
Snatching it from Euri's hands, he dragged him back to that alley where the other two thugs were waiting. The girl was struggling tearfully as one of them tugged her around by her hair, calling her every derogatory name under the sky for trying to escape.
"Oh, got him? Good! See, I told ya he wasn't streaming! Fucking daredevil, eh?" Coming close, the unarmed guy kneed Euri in the stomach while the other thug held him still, leaving him bent over, gasping for breath.
"But the video still reached a couple of people. Can't take it back now, can we? His friends might circulate it," one of them said in worry.
"Don't bother. He'll stop those friends himself... As long as he's in the same position as us, hehehe!" The unarmed thug, who seemed to be the brain of the group, cackled maliciously. "Hey boy, ever fucked before? Well, you're about to right now! Strip, strip! And you, slut," he turned around to face the crying girl. "Carrying around those pills and acting all pure, haha! If you want us brothers to be rough, just say it!"
Euri, who was still heaving on all fours, was grabbed by the hair, and at that very moment, he sprang up like a coiled snake and slapped his half-closed fist on the face of the thug behind him.
"Ow-! Son of a bitch!"
A kick sent Euri flying towards the closest wall. That slap had naturally not been able to do much damage... initially.
"Wait, Javi, look at my eyes! It hurts, dammit! Fuuucckk!"
Euri had never let go of the vial of acid. While he was on all fours, he had smashed the vial and grabbed the biggest shard. The slap had been a ruse for its target spot—the thug's eyes.
The thug started to yell in panic when blood began to stream down from his punctured eyeball while Euri digested the pain of the kick and slowly started crawling towards the second armed thug, who was busy trying to strip the girl again.
Just as he was getting ready to jump to his feet and strike at the hand holding the knife, Euri felt a searing sensation behind his head, followed by a dull thud that seemed to shake his entire being.
And then the world went out of his focus. Euri struggled desperately to keep his eyes open, but the darkness covered his consciousness swiftly.
When he regained his consciousness, he felt indescribably comfortable. The air was warm, the bedsheet under him was soft, and his body was like a ton-heavy frozen slab. For a minute, Euri couldn't even open his eyes without feeling like it would take every bit of his willpower.
A lot came back to him in that minute. How he had fought, how he had been knocked out, and then... how the hell was he alive?
He heard the sound of someone shuffling around near him, and that finally forced him to open his eyes. He was inside a hospital cabin, he realized. A pretty run-down one, with equipment that seemed long out of use. His head was wrapped up in thick bandage, but other than that, he couldn't see or sense any other injuries on his body.
Slowly, he managed to sit up on the bed. His miniscreen was right beside him on a table. A quick check answered the first question he had.
He had been unconscious for six hours. It seemed that the thugs had not given him "extra care" after he got knocked out. Was it because they thought he was dead already?
When he checked his messages, a flood of concerned texts greeted him, some from his classmates and some from his neighbors. The source of their concern, as it turned out, was a special bulletin covering the latest local crimes.
A censored picture of a corpse with a slashed neck took up the screen the moment he clicked on the news link. An unidentified teenage girl had been robbed and killed by three assailants. A bystander who had recorded the whole thing was also injured by them in an attempt to erase evidence. The news article also mentioned how unenthusiastic the police were even after knowing that they had enough evidence to identify the murderers.
Groaning, Euri was about to turn the device off, only to notice an odd detail at the corner of the screen. The application download bar was active, notifying him that the installation of [Sacred Ground Administrator] was a success.
"...What the hell is that?"
There was indeed a new icon in his list of installed applications. Euri didn't remember downloading anything like this. Someone must have fiddled with the device when he was unconscious!
Frowning, he tried to uninstall it. But when he clicked on the uninstall option, his screen went dark. A moment later, a loading screen appeared on it, with a message popping into view alongside the progress bar.
[ The role of an administrator comes with great responsibility! A chosen one cannot forsake his role! Hero, please finish what you started, and protect the sacred ground from all evil creatures! ]
"A malware-infested game?! Who the hell installed it in my mini?"
Euri was just about to turn the device off manually, but just then, the loading screen was replaced by the cartoonish image of a young girl.
She looked identical to the girl whose corpse he had seen on the same screen a minute ago.