Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 216

Riding the Train (1)We had to find out where these drugs were headed. After sending the Security Captain away, Kairus immediately finished sorting the drugs before sitting across the table from the remaining three.

“What do you think?”

“It’s definitely suspicious. If this is headed to Bennett City? Then it’s practically certain.”

Irena declared firmly. It meant the one who received these drugs was the owner of Sopor.

“Can we trace the cargo route?”

“If we didn’t know what we were supposed to track, there’d be nothing we could do. But now we know.”

At Irena’s question, Kairus gave a simple answer. Every problem arose when you didn’t know what you were supposed to chase. If the target was clear, tracking it down was always possible.

“Nora, why haven’t you said anything?”

Nora had been spacing out the whole time. After remaining like that for a while, Nora suddenly spoke to Tanya.

“Unni, have you ever thought about working with Lunaseeker?”

Luck.

Many of the things Lunaseeker did rose or fell because of that absurd concept alone. No matter how much people prepared, there were countless times things failed because the timing didn’t line up, or because some incident happened at that exact moment.

Tanya Lysand had never been trained, and it was impossible for her to undergo the procedure now. But she was someone blessed with luck. It was impossible not to covet that.

“I’m sorry. I like things the way they are now.”

But Tanya rejected Nora’s offer. Nora looked disappointed, but she didn’t push further. Honestly, it didn’t seem like forcing the issue would accomplish anything anyway.

“How about you stop trying to recruit people and focus on the matter at hand.”

At Kairus’s words, Nora replied.

“What’s there to discuss? We just have to follow the cargo.”

The method had already been decided. There was no need to keep discussing it. All they had to do was board the train carrying the cargo and follow it all the way.

“And honestly, I’m probably the best person for this kind of thing.”

It was best for Nora to handle sneaking in and tailing them. Nora herself knew that well.

“Yeah, try not to suffer too much.”

“Alright. But I’ve got a favor. Can you lend me that norigae that produces water?”

It was something that was barely used anymore. But for Nora, who would need to move covertly for a while, the scorpion-shaped norigae that eliminated the need to find water separately would be incredibly helpful.

Kairus nodded at Nora’s words.

“Sure. Use it however you want until I ask for it back.”

That concluded the conversation.

“So Irena unni and Tanya unni are going back by ship, right? What about oppa?”

“No, I’ll be going separately.”

If they returned by ship, it would take too long. Since Nora planned to follow the cargo trail, Irena would handle Tanya’s escort when returning to the city. The ship passage had already been reserved, so all they had to do was pack up and leave.

Kairus had to fly back to Bennett alone ahead of them.

“Take your time getting back. I’ll head to Bennett first and work myself to the bone there.”

After saying that, Kairus finished preparing to leave the city. Nora was the only one remaining in San Paluche. If the cargo in question was headed for Bennett anyway, Nora would naturally end up returning to Bennett as well.

After everyone headed toward their respective destinations, only Nora remained in San Paluche.

“Ah, what a life.”

Muttering that to herself, Nora patted her waist a few times before standing up. What Nora had to do from this point onward was work that required patience.

Hiding itself wasn’t difficult. Lunaseeker moved around without being noticed by others as naturally as eating meals.

“First things first, time to change clothes.”

Nora pulled clothes out from the luggage she had brought and changed. The moment she subtly raised the output of her battle gear, the clothes she wore became mottled and discolored.

They were clothes whose patterns and colors changed to match the surrounding environment. It was necessary for staying hidden over long periods of time.

“And I’ve got preserved rations too.”

She checked the amount of dried seaweed and the square blocks made by tightly compressing grain powder with oil. If there was no need to secure water separately, this alone would let her endure for two weeks.

“And lastly.”

After checking several other things as well, Nora confirmed there were no issues and immediately concealed herself near the place where the cargo had been prepared.

And then…

Using the brain that had taken the place of her eye, she began playing chess inside her head. It was a feat only possible because she effectively had two brains. Of course, the auxiliary brain implanted in place of her eye had worse performance than Nora’s actual head, so Nora always won.

Still, it was incredibly useful in situations where she had to endure long periods while remaining hidden. She could even play word-chain games or tic-tac-toe with herself.

“Is this it? Check the quantity and make sure the contents match!”

How much time had passed like that?

Only after night fell did the voices of unfamiliar people echo out.

Nora stopped entertaining herself and slightly poked her head out to look toward the cargo. It seemed they were finally moving it.

‘Three Security Corps officers, 150 soldiers.’

The three officers were roughly as skilled as ordinary knights. But their role was merely to confirm the goods were properly stored and escort them to the train station.

Nora easily followed behind them before smoothly slipping beneath the vehicle assigned to transport supplies and hanging onto the underside.

“…”

With rattling noises, the automobiles rolled onward, and Nora spent the time hanging beneath the vehicle using her arms and legs.

‘The sky’s dark. Tonight’s a waxing half moon.’

A waxing half moon fully set around midnight. For now, the half moon would still be illuminating the sky. While Nora calculated various things in her head, the automobile arrived at the station and came to a stop.

Nora also stopped clinging to the underside and emerged outside. The clothes she wore changed their colors and patterns according to the surroundings, helping her remain concealed.

‘Looks like it’s heading to Norrington.’

It wasn’t going to Bennett City. But she had no intention of stopping the pursuit here.

‘The bastard holding Sopor also knows oppa is searching for him.’

Which meant they couldn’t simply load it onto a train and send it straight to Bennett.

As Nora hung from the station roof like a bat and looked down below, soldiers rushed out and began loading the crates onto the train.

“Ah, fuck, this is heavy as hell. What the hell’s even inside?”

“No clue. They just told us to move it. Since it came from a pharmaceutical facility, it’s probably medicine or something.”

While talking like that, several of the soldiers who looked like veterans placed cigarettes in their mouths and struck matches.

At the brief instant the match flared up with a scratch, Nora’s body suddenly darted forward and slipped straight into the train.

It was movement so silent not even the sound of wind could be heard, and the soldiers who had lit the matches were too busy exhaling smoke from their mouths to notice anything.

‘Ah, damn.’

Inside the train were hundreds of similarly packaged crates.

Fearing there might be pursuers, they had mixed in decoys together with the real cargo.

Only a small number of these crates actually contained the drugs. Even if someone successfully infiltrated the train, they wouldn’t know which crates held the real drugs, making pursuit impossible.

Normally.

And if Nora had been even slightly slower, that would’ve happened to her too.

But the soldiers outside still hadn’t loaded the real crates containing the drugs into the train yet.

Which meant all she had to do was remember the crates newly brought in from this point onward.

“You should’ve hurried then.”

This was what happened when they wasted time trying to smoke cigarettes that weren’t even good for them.

Nora once again relaxed and patiently waited for the soldiers to finish moving all the crates.

“…”

Bang!

Suddenly the cargo compartment door swung open, and someone carrying a light-emitting Add-On wandered through the cargo compartment.

It looked like they were inspecting the freight car for anything suspicious.

The Security Corps officer assigned to this role seemed fairly skilled. The officer inspected the cargo compartment quite meticulously.

But in the end, the light in his hand was the problem.

‘The places it doesn’t illuminate become even darker.’

It would’ve been better to either prepare an Add-On powerful enough to illuminate the entire cargo compartment or simply let his eyes adapt to the darkness.

Well, no matter what he chose, he still wouldn’t have discovered Nora.

Rather, Nora spent the time lightly testing him, deliberately standing behind his back for a moment, or slipping beneath his legs while he looked around.

‘Might’ve gotten rusty.’

Nora enjoyed constantly checking her own skills to see if there were any shortcomings. Since her goal was to live long and free of illness, she understood better than anyone that she only had one lifeline capable of protecting her in dangerous situations.

“No issues. Move them!”

And it was a success. Nora’s skills hadn’t rusted at all. Completely unaware of Nora’s movements, the officer ordered the soldiers to carry the crates.

Even while the soldiers moved the boxes, Nora’s feat continued.

Normally, when someone hid in secret, they had to stay motionless in some gloomy place without making even the sound of breathing.

But Nora leapt and slipped between the people carrying cargo in the darkness with movements like a ballerina.

Once the soldiers finished moving the crates, the officer who had inspected the cargo compartment earlier checked one final time for anything unusual before shutting the door.

“Ah.”

Nora became bored once again. The train let out a whistle as it began moving. Inside the rattling cargo compartment, Nora examined the stacked crates one by one.

“Food supplies. Well, I guess they’d need them.”

The people aboard the train would have to eat something too. But the weight distribution had been cleverly adjusted.

They prepared enough food supplies to match the weight of the medicinal ingredients, then filled the empty spaces with sawdust so the contents wouldn’t roll around.

‘Who exactly are these people?’

There were clear signs that they had put considerable thought into transporting important goods. It seemed they were people who did this kind of thing often.

“An organization specializing in smuggling?”

Just in case the pursuit failed, Nora continued making various deductions. The possibility was low, but if a situation arose where she had to stop chasing them, then everything she had seen, heard, and experienced here could become a clue for tracking the target.

“Ah, I’m curious.”

There was definitely documentation somewhere aboard this moving train containing information about where these goods were headed.

And that documentation would probably be held by the most skilled person on this train.

‘The strongest expert accompanying this cargo all the way until it reaches Bennett.’

If Nora succeeded in stealing the documents from that person, there would be absolutely no reason to continue this long journey.

“Hm.”

This was only possible because the train was moving right now. If the cargo were transferred onto a ship, she wouldn’t be able to attempt something like this aboard it.

Nora didn’t have gills, after all, so she couldn’t just leave the ship midway.

“First, let’s just take a look.”

Nora reached a decision. If the expert guarding the documents was a true master, then she’d have no choice but to give up. But if they weren’t at that level…

Then she could go all out when the time came.

Having reached her conclusion, Nora exited the train car and climbed onto the roof.

On the roof of each train car were ventilation shafts that used the train’s speed to circulate the air inside. Naturally, the vents were too small for a person to enter through.

“…Still, my head fits.”

Nora’s Lunaseeker procedure had become even more refined. She was no longer merely capable of bending her joints in unnatural directions. Excluding her skull, most of the bones in her body could soften like cartilage or harden again at her will.

Which meant that as long as there was enough space for her head to fit through, she could move through it.

Nora’s body squirmed and compressed itself into the tiny ventilation shaft.