Harem Streamer System: Every Crime I Broadcast Wins Me a Superheroine - Chapter 233

Chapter 233: Ruthless

━ Expressway, Meteor Hills ━

Jade Sniper kept hissing like some radioactive nightmare as he crawled forward on all fours.

He vibrated with hate and pain.

His alien body twitched and smoked. The burns were still raw from having his technophage ripped out like someone peeling an orange with their bare hands.

A guttural screech tore from his gagging throat.

The green technophage was already slithering back over his body as it effortlessly patched scorched plates and fused into place until his exoskeleton was whole.

But the SUV? It was already far away.

Jade Sniper’s HUD went active as his vision cut through the countless cars on the expressway until—there.

Lock. A quick scan confirmed the targets.

Scott and Adira Crowe.

His jetpack snapped open behind him with a blast of deadly green plasma, and a moment later, he shot into the sky like an emerald-colored missile.

･･･

Inside the SUV, Scott’s eyes were fixed on the road.

He knew Jade Sniper would’ve already recovered.

And now, with the SUV back under his control, nothing had really changed. He couldn’t just slam the brakes and step out to throw hands—fighting Jade Sniper here would get Adira killed and, worse, expose him.

“Oh jeez…”

He chewed his gum with an exhausted face.

Still, he was calm.

However, calm was the last word anyone would use to describe Adira right now.

She was breathing hard, like her lungs had given up on her, and her knuckles were white from gripping the door handle as if letting go would kill her on the spot. Her stomach bent with so much fear that she could barely swallow, never mind ask what Scott’s plan was.

Then her eyes saw something in the rearview mirror.

“No. No. NO──!!”

Her voice cracked.

Behind, Jade Sniper was flying straight at them, closing the gap like a heat-seeking missile.

She turned and gripped Scott’s arm as her manicured black nails dug into the fabric of his trench coat.

Scott’s jaw barely moved, just the side-eye, then his eyes went forward again.

He stomped the accelerator.

BBROOOOOM!!

The SUV shot forward like a bullet as the sudden speed threw Adira back against her seat.

Up ahead, there was a road construction zone.

“Wait—wait—WAIT! Can’t you see what’s ahead? Are you BLIND—!? WE’LL DIE IF YOU—STOP!!”

Her screams were drowned out by the roar of the engine as the construction zone rushed toward them.

Scott didn’t stop. Didn’t even twitch.

The SUV tore through safety cones and smashed barricades into flying splinters. Construction workers scattered in every direction, screaming as the black machine barreled through like a possessed tank.

Adira’s voice climbed to a panicked, childlike pitch.

“KYAAAAAHHHHHH—!!”

She tried shaking him off the steering wheel, but his hands might as well have been welded to it.

Every collision hit harder than the last.

GBIM—DUUUMM—CLAAAANG!!

The sound of parts being ruthlessly blasted off the SUV with each collision.

Adira felt she might faint from pure terror.

･･･

Above, Jade Sniper stopped his pursuit.

His HUD flashed numbers.

[Fatal Accident Probability: 95%]

He hovered and watched while his technophage repaired the last damaged plates of his armor.

･･･

Back in the SUV, Scott wrestled with the wheel and slammed the brakes as he tried to keep control, but the front end clipped a huge motor grader. The crash sent the SUV flipping into the air where it spun like a coin before smashing into the ground with bone-crushing force.

By the time it stopped, Nina’s sedan was skidding into the scene.

Jade Sniper barely glanced at them. Unimportant.

His right arm grotesquely morphed into a four-barreled plasma cannon.

The first shot lit the wreckage.

BOOM!

The second split the air like thunder.

BOOOOM!

Three. Four. Five. Six shots!

Each one was hotter than the last.

Until the SUV was a coffin of fire and broken metal.

Satisfied, Jade Sniper turned and vanished into the sky.

･･･

Silence.

Construction workers stood staring at the roaring fire as the heat forced them to step back. Adira and Scott’s bodies had to be somewhere under those flames—if there was even anything left.

No one needed to be told the truth.

Whoever had fired that plasma never left survivors.

Over the comms, Jake’s voice was breaking.

[SCOTT! SCOTT, ARE YOU THERE!? ANSWER ME, DUDE! PLEASE—NO, NO, NO!! DON’T DO THIS TO ME, MAN! SCOTT! SCOTT, PLEEEAAASE!!]

Nina was already out of the sedan.

Her hair whipped around like she was a mad woman.

“MADAM CROWE! NO! MADAM CROWE!!”

There were tears dropping from her sore eyes.

Her men grabbed her before she could get too close.

“I’m sorry, Miss Nina, but you have to stay back. If you go further, you’ll get hurt—”

“I DON’T CARE!”

She screamed as she fought against their grip.

On comms, Jake’s voice cracked even harder.

[SCOTT, STOP! I KNOW YOU’RE JUST—PRANKING ME, RIGHT!? C’MON, MAN, SAY SOMETHING! PLEASE!! DO YOU THINK THIS SHIT IS FUNNY—!?]

Then, through the static—

“…Shut up… will ya?”

Jake froze.

[Scott…?]

From inside the wreck, Scott stepped out.

His Anti-Disaster Suit glowed faintly as he held Adira in his tired arms.

Every step felt like it was on fire.

『Fuck…! I wanna die…』

The plates of his suit were folding back into his body, and the heat clawed at his skin as the flames crept closer, but he kept moving.

“NGHK—”

He staggered.

For a second, the thought flashed in his mind—

Drop her, crawl out alone.

But he didn’t.

By the time he made it out of the flames, his suit was totally gone—just a shredded black trench coat and a torn-up bodysuit remained.

Blood covered him from head to toe, making him look like a gladiator straight out of hell. There was so much of it that his vision blurred, and he had to blink several times just to clear the blood from his eyes.

Adira was barely conscious as blood trailed from the side of her head, but otherwise intact.

She stared at him with wide, dazed eyes—half in fear, half in something else.

“What’re you—just… leave me…”

“Shut your fucking mouth.”

Scott growled, still somehow walking.

Nina saw them first and screamed with relief.

“Thank goodness… she’s safe…”

She was already crying.

“He survived that…?” one man muttered.

No one raised a gun.

No one wanted to test a man who walked through hell carrying someone else.

Scott doubled over with a harsh cough as black blood spilled from his lips as he dropped to one knee.

“I did it—”

“MOVE!”

He barely even noticed Nina crashing into him to shove him out of the way to reach Adira.

Her men lifted Adira immediately and urgently rushed her toward the sedan.

Her weak, unfocused eyes found Scott’s as her tired arm stretched toward him.

“Help… him…”

But they didn’t listen. She was their priority.

“Please… listen to me…”

Her arm finally fell.

And Nina placed her gentle hand on Adira’s.

“Forget about him for now, Madam Crowe!”

She nodded worriedly.

This was her own way of trying to convince Adira that her life was more important.

Scott just lay there in unbelievable pain.

His chest chest heaved as his eyes spun tirelessly.

This angered Jake so badly.

[I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS BITCH! FUUUCK!!]

･･･

A few minutes later, Adira was seated on a safety barricade and wrapped snugly in a thick blanket.

Someone had splashed water on her face to wash away the blood, and first aid had patched up her worst cuts. But she was still shaking, tiny shivers running through her like a child left alone in the snow.

After what she’d been through, her mind was still somewhere else entirely.

Nearby, two of Nina’s men approached the battered body of Scott still lying on the ground.

One of them carried a metal bucket.

Splasshhh!

The icy water slammed over him to wash away streams of blood and dirt. Scott’s body jerked like he’d just been plugged into a live socket, and a rough cough tore from his chest.

His voice came out raw with pain.

One of the men knelt and pressed two fingers to Scott’s bloody neck.

“I’m surprised he’s still breathing… what now?”

He frowned.

Another shrugged half-heartedly.

“Eh… maybe give him some first-aid, y’know?”

He didn’t sound confident—more like he was testing the waters. They all knew Scott needed more than just gauze and bandages. But suggesting they save the guy who’d just taken their boss hostage? That was the kind of thing that got you on Nina’s bad side.

Nina stood there, arms crossed, eyes closed like she was weighing something she hated to admit.

Finally, she exhaled sharply.

“Fine… take the bastard to the infirmary. Then prepare him for interrogation.”

Her eyes narrowed to be sharper than daggers.

“He claims to be a model, but he definitely has something to hide. And now that he’s weak, it’s the perfect time to squeeze the truth out of him.”

One of the men shifted uncomfortably.

Another straight-up looked away.

They’d seen enough to at least respect what the strange fellow had done.

One finally muttered—

“Miss Nina… don’t you think that’s a little—”

Nina’s eyes cut to him like a blade.

“What—? You have something to say?”

There was so much contempt in her tone.

The man froze and shut his mouth.

From the safety barricade, a weak, almost dreamlike voice whispered—

“Hospital…”

Heads turned toward Adira.

“Madam?” one of the men asked.

She blinked away some dizziness, then mumbled again.

“To the hospital…”

Nina stepped forward.

“Yes, ma’am, we’ll take you to the—”

Adira’s pale hand lifted as it trembled.

“No… not me…”

She spoke with a cracking voice and deep sadness in her heavy eyes.

“This is not how you treat a man that saved me? Take him to the hospital already…”

It was so faint, yet there was genuine urgency.

You could even call it fear.

Nina stiffened. “Madam?”

Before Adira could answer, a sudden gust of wind rippled through the street. Papers flew, dust swirled—and in the next blink, there was a brown-haired woman crouched at Scott’s side and sobbing helplessly.

“Scott… no, no, no…”

Her voice trembled and her throat hooked as she placed her shaking hands on him.

She sounded like she’d been crying on her way here.

Her lower lip quivered.

It almost split from how hard she bit it.

“J-, Jake called me… he said you were here… I don’t— I can’t even— what happened to you?”

Her voice broke into sobs as she covered her mouth.

Nina’s eyes went wide and her rage bubbled.

“Who is she—!? Where did she—”

Adira’s voice cut through like a whip.

“I told you to get him to the hospital—are you deaf!?”

Every ounce of her remaining strength went into that furious shout.

Nina was stunned—not because she’d been yelled at, but because she saw the panic on Adira’s face and the tears in her eyes.

It was like Adira was terrified of losing him.

“Yes… ma’am…”

Nina finally said quietly.

━ ━ ━ ━

Darkness.

A memory from years ago.

Little Scott sat cross-legged on the floor of his room as he pieced together plastic molecule models and labelled each element accurately.

The house was quiet. Too quiet.

He peered toward the open doorway and watched Martha fold laundry.

She didn’t look up.

He turned back to his work—until heavy footsteps shook the floor.

Maxwell was coming.

His father’s face was twisted in pure fury.

Something deep inside told Scott to run.

He didn’t make it far.

Maxwell’s hand shot out to yank him up by the collar.

“S-, Sir…?”

Scott’s voice shook.

He didn’t even notice the damp warmth spreading down his shorts.

He was THAT scared.

Maxwell’s glare burned through him.

“Did you touch my super suit?”

Scott shook his head so hard it looked painful.

Maxwell’s jaw flexed.

He took a long, steady breath like it was the only thing keeping him from snapping in half.

“I’ll ask you again. Did you touch. My. Super suit?”

Scott’s eyes flew past him, looking to Martha for help.

She didn’t even glance up—just kept folding.

Back to Maxwell.

The man’s grip was already choking him.

Scott nodded, terrified.

“Y-, Yes, sir… I… I’m sorry…”

For a second, Maxwell smiled.

“Ahaha… you silly boy, that’s fine. I let Scottie touch it too. Do you know why?”

Scott shook his head, too scared to speak.

The smile vanished like a light being snuffed out.

“BECAUSE SHE ACTUALLY HAS SUPERPOWERS!”

With monstrous strength, Maxwell hurled him to the floor so hard his small body bounced.

The belt came next.

First across the face, then the neck, then the face again.

Each merciless strike stung like fire and stole the breath from his lungs.

With how ruthless Maxwell was, you’d think he was punishing a thief, not his own son. His eyes were filled with pure disgust and hatred, and he didn’t seem to care that his super strength—and the belt in his hand—could easily kill the boy.

“You useless idiot!”

WHIP──CRACK.

“How many fucking times do I have to tell you you’re not my son—!?”

WHIP──CRACK.

“Don’t touch my stuff, you stupid little shit!”

WHIP! WHIP──CRACK.

Scott screamed until his voice broke.

Martha didn’t flinch. She folded a towel.

Next, Maxwell’s foot slammed into him, again and again as it drove the little boy into the wall.

“I hate you! I hate everything about you! Can’t you just die already—!? DIE!”

Harder and harder, he stomped on Scott’s face.

It reminded him of Martha.

With each stomp, Scott’s smallish limbs grew weak and his eyes lost their strength.

“I’m sorry…”

He sobbed out an apology.

But Maxwell kept stomping and lashing him.

It was so bad that specks of blood splattered around.

“DIEEEEEE—!”

･･･

Scott’s eyes snapped open.

White ceiling. Sterile light. The smell of antiseptic.

“Fuck… that dream again…”

He muttered with a painful groan.

He tried to move—but the cold bite of steel cuffs locked his wrists to the hospital bed.

“Wait… what the fuck…?”

He pulled against them uselessly.

A lanky man in a black suit rose from a chair in the corner.

He pointed a shaky finger at Scott.

“Don’t try anything funny…”

Then his face twitched, remembering what Scott had done back at Crowe Manor.

His tone softened fast.

“Uh… uhm… please don’t…”

“Eh? (๑•̌.•̑๑)”