Grinning Mask
1740 Words
Deep in the night.
Wan Ning stared at the ceiling, wide awake.
The moment she closed her eyes, the scenes from last night flooded back.
The dark gun barrel pressed against her forehead. The contorted corpse of the mercenary. The wrist snapped at a grotesque angle. The dark crimson blood spreading across the floor.
Mixed with these images were tangled threads of confusion.
Was Ishikawa the mastermind? Or was there someone else?
Frustrated, she rolled over and touched the vertebrae at the base of her neck.
According to the memories, a professional-grade combat implant was embedded there. Her ribs were standard-grade, and her leg joints had basic modifications.
These cybernetics existed within her, feeling no different than flesh. But deep down, she resisted further augmentation.
After all, in her previous life, she had been a fragile corporate drone who got nervous even getting a shot. The thought of having so many "metal parts" inside her made her scalp tingle.
What disturbed her even more were the memories of Cyberpsychosis. Over-modification led to personality disintegration, turning humans into soulless killing machines.
But in this dog-eat-dog underworld, power was the only currency for survival. Without it, she was just a walking piece of meat.
With a groan of despair, Wan Ning threw off the covers and got up.
She slipped on a bulletproof vest, pulled a black hoodie over her head, and stuffed the pistol and the ear-hook virtual mask into her pockets before heading out.
Stepping out of the apartment, insomnia drove her to wander aimlessly through the neon-lit streets.
Holographic billboards cast harsh, flickering light. Drunks and trash littered the sidewalks. The sounds of gang fights echoed from the alleys.
In front of a skyscraper, she suddenly stopped.
The entire facade of the building was a massive screen. A virtual idol was performing energetically, her form shifting with the deafening electronic music.
Wan Ning stared at the screen, and a sudden thought struck her.
What if she recreated the songs and dances from her old world through virtual idols? Her heart raced.
Maybe she could test it out at the Twilight Bar first.
Lost in thought, she was interrupted by a series of muffled thuds and stifled sobs coming from a narrow alley nearby.
She followed the sound.
Four youths were beating a single person.
They looked about eighteen or nineteen, but their faces carried a savagery far beyond their years.
The one trapped in the center was a bespectacled boy, curled up on the ground. The attackers rained kicks and punches down on him while hurling insults.
"Who do you think you are? You dare come to Cyberway Academy? Get back to your rat hole!" The leader, a blonde-haired youth, viciously kicked the boy in the side.
"We don't want trash from the projects here," a fat kid spat.
A tall, skinny one chimed in, "Poor bastard! Working a part-time job? These two credits aren't even enough to buy that pile of junk you're wearing!"
The blonde leader crouched down, grabbing the boy's hair, his voice cutting like a knife. "Tsk, tsk. Look at these threads... Did your mom sell herself to buy these for you? Hahaha!"
"Shut up! Don't you dare talk about my mom!"
Enraged, the bespectacled boy suddenly exploded upward, sinking his bloodied teeth into the blonde's forearm.
"Ah! f**k!" The blonde screamed, shaking him off. The others swarmed in again.
His resistance was like a stone tossed into a rapid current—immediately swallowed by a larger wave.
The blonde stomped his foot down hard on the boy's face, grinding it into the filth.
It was as if he were trampling a piece of garbage.
A short kid with purple hair pulled out a plastic bag. Inside were several capsules glowing with an eerie fluorescent light. His malice was undisguised.
"Boss, look what I got. 'One hit and you're hooked for life!' Let's give him something special."
"Oh? Where'd you get that?"
"Who cares? Think about it, Boss. Give him one, and he'll be on his knees begging us forever! How awesome is that?"
The blonde's smile twisted with a fanaticism for controlling others' fates. "Force it down his throat."
The purple-haired kid pinched the glowing capsule with one hand, while the other hand clawed at the boy's jaw, forcing his mouth open.
The boy stared desperately at the approaching capsule, letting out muffled whimpers of terror, unable to break free.
Just as the capsule was about to enter his mouth—
Crunch!
A silver-gray mechanical hand appeared out of nowhere.
It clamped down on the purple-haired kid's wrist. The fingers tightened, and bones shattered instantly under the metal pressure.
"Argh!" The kid let out a shrill scream.
The capsule dropped to the ground.
The sudden turn of events left the others frozen in shock.
A figure in black stood there, a virtual mask covering their face.
The mask displayed a yellow face with a grinning, toothy smile. It flickered eerily in the dim alley.
It was Wan Ning.
She hadn't intended to intervene, but seeing that capsule ignited a rage in her chest. She quickly switched her mask pattern and charged in.
The blonde's face turned serious. He pulled a dagger from his lower back, shouting to his crew, "Get him!"
Empowered by her cybernetics, Wan Ning moved like lightning.
She kicked the tall attacker aside before he could even swing his blade.
The fat kid's punch was halfway through when Wan Ning's fist slammed into his gut, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying.
The purple-haired kid, with his good hand, fumbled for a gun, his hands shaking as he tried to aim. Wan Ning flashed forward, crushing his wrist with the same move she had practiced earlier.
Then, she snatched the gun away and delivered a kick straight to his groin for good measure.
The kid arched like a boiled shrimp, unable to even scream.
In an instant, only the blonde leader remained standing.
Wan Ning tilted her head. The grinning yellow face on her mask seemed to grin even wider.
The blonde turned to run. Wan Ning wasn't about to let him escape.
She lunged forward, her mechanical left hand clamping down on his right shoulder like a vise. c***k!The bone shattered, and his arm hung uselessly.
Before his scream could fully register, she grabbed his left arm and twisted. The blonde dropped to his knees in agony, both arms dangling like broken twigs.
Wan Ning held the dagger to his throat. With slight pressure, a thin line of blood appeared.
Forced to look up, the blonde stared at the grinning mask, his face streaked with tears and snot.
"P-please... don't kill me..."
His voice trembled uncontrollably. "I swear... I'll never do it again."
Wan Ning stared at the young face through the mask. He still had a few acne scars on his chin.
The dagger at his throat didn't push forward any further.
"Get lost."
The electronic voice, filtered through the mask's voice modulator, crackled coldly.
The thugs scattered like rats, crawling and stumbling over each other to flee down the alley. The blonde tripped, scrambled up, and bolted without looking back, vanishing into the shadows.
Wan Ning shook the blood off the dagger and prepared to leave.
Behind her, there was a rustling sound. The beaten and bloodied bespectacled boy struggled to his feet.
His broken glasses sat crooked on his nose, but they couldn't hide the brightness in his eyes. He offered a small, careful smile.
It was like a beam of light shining into a gutter.
"Thank you!" His voice was raspy but sincere.
"I'm Sheng Yu. May I ask... your name?"
Wan Ning stopped. Beneath the mask, her lips twitched involuntarily.
That smile was too familiar.
In her previous life, she had smiled just like that at strangers, without a hint of guardedness.
It had only been two days since she transmigrated, but she was already starting to miss it.
She didn't answer. She just gave a slight nod and turned away.
On the way back, Wan Ning took out two drunkards who tried to pick a fight.
She hit harder this time. Listening to them crawl away wailing, the inexplicable irritation in her heart finally subsided a little.
Maybe night patrols weren't such a bad idea. She had the hardware but lacked the software—the combat experience. The original host's memories were like watching a movie; she could see it but couldn't feel it. She needed real practice.
Anyway, the neon-lit streets never lacked for "sparring partners."
Each exchange made her body more coordinated. Those combat techniques were slowly transforming from "memories" into "instincts."
After dealing with the last drunkard, Wan Ning turned into a secluded dark alley.
She reached up and removed the Grinning Mask.
Back at Meile Park Apartments, she slept like the dead.
What Wan Ning didn't know was that her "good deed" that night was causing an uproar on a certain academy's internal forum.
[HOT THREAD] Shocking! Campus Bully Squad Gets Absolutely Destroyed by Mysterious "Grinning Mask"! Both Hands Ruined + Eggs Scrambled! (Pics & Proof)
Content: The squad got taught a lesson in an alley last night! Attacker wore a creepy grinning mask. Moves were fast and precise—the four of them didn't stand a chance! They're all in the hospital now~ [BlurryCrimeScene.jpg]
Attached was a very blurry half-body shot. The image was grainy, but one could vaguely make out a figure wearing a yellow, grinning mask, the pattern looking particularly eerie in the darkness.
1L [IQ Overdraft]: Holy s**t! Real or fake? No wonder I haven't seen those four in days. That mask is cursed! Seeing that at midnight would give me a heart attack [Shivering.jpg]
2L [Nitrogen Gas]: Real! Got intel from the hospital. Blondie's arms are in casts! He wants revenge on the Masked Freak! Purple Hair got it worst—heard he needs a new pair of balls! Hahahaha!
3L [Star Envoy]: Well done! Those bastards deserved it ages ago. Suggest we hire the Masked Freak as school security! Specializes in curing arrogance! [Grin.jpg]
4L [Brain Formatted]: Who does this??? Scrambling eggs is savage [Scared.JPG], but why do I wanna laugh so bad? [Grin]
5L [Physical Enlightenment]: Revenge? Laughable. With what? Waving their plaster casts around?
The thread's popularity skyrocketed. Soon, the "Grinning Mask" was known by every student in the academy.
- Writer
