With the first shot, the impact round pierced clean through a Sweeper’s skull. Texas didn’t hesitate—she immediately adjusted her aim and fired again.
This persona card… had definitely changed something inside her.
It wasn’t permanent, but right now, Texas could clearly feel subtle shifts in her personality. Something in her thoughts, her instincts… had bent in a direction she used to hate.
A desire for order. A willingness to submit to hierarchy. She could feel both urges stirring faintly in the back of her mind.
Aside from that… there was also the change in strength.
Technically speaking, this persona wasn’t even stronger than Texas’s usual combat form. In raw stats, it might actually be a bit weaker.
But what it gave her—was range.
Against Sweepers, that alone made it superior. Long-range engagement was leagues safer and more efficient than close combat. And besides, this persona card seemed to carry something else—something different.
For some reason, she got the distinct sense that this persona knew how to fight Sweepers. Every time she raised the rifle, a kind of instinct clicked into place—guiding her to aim at their weakest point, guaranteeing a kill with every shot.
A battle-honed reflex trained over who knows how many encounters.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t fully synchronized with the card yet. She couldn’t access all its power. And she had no idea what kind of life the original persona had lived.
But even so—this persona was incredibly valuable.
A firearm that didn’t require Originium Arts to operate… that was unheard of in Terra.
Texas glanced at the barrel in her hands, her own thoughts slowly turning over.
More than that, the persona offered her a powerful trump card. Imagine mid-melee—you’re locked in a blade fight—and then, boom, you slap a card to your chest and transform into a ranged unit on the spot. Just the thought was bizarre.
A damn solid ace in the hole. And here in the City… it had been handed to her just like that.
She exhaled, calmly pulled the trigger again, and let one final thought echo in her mind:
Fixers. Obsidian. The Well… No—this entire City. Just what is this place, really?
A sense of reverence started to creep into her heart. That reverence… extended, just a little, to Obsidian himself.
Sure, he was a bit scatterbrained. But still—he was her senior here, wasn’t he?
That thought lingered in her mind as she kept shooting—every bullet landing with lethal precision. Not a single Sweeper needed a second shot.
She was getting into it now—almost to the point of bloodlust. The only drawback of this persona was how easy it was to lose yourself in the rhythm of killing.
The horde of Sweepers thinned out rapidly. Texas’s eye caught something out of place—just behind her, near Obsidian.
There—standing behind him—was a Sweeper.
“Wait! Look ou—!”
She didn’t even finish the sentence. The Sweeper made no move to attack. Instead, it passed by Obsidian without a glance and walked straight toward her.
Texas blinked in confusion.
It doesn’t attack him?
Then again… he’d been here longer than she had. Maybe he’d already found some kind of deterrent—or maybe he was just that strong…
With that in mind, she refocused, aiming her gun and swiftly finishing off the last few monsters.
Meanwhile, Obsidian watched the bodies piling up with a grin he couldn’t suppress.
Jackpot. Absolute jackpot!
So many Sweeper corpses! That’s so much potential Madness!
Sure, the “first kill” bonus wouldn’t apply anymore—but if he played the numbers game, this kind of volume might still yield a solid return.
He already knew the well’s exchange system followed a curve: the more of one item you submitted, the less Madness you got in return. But with thirty-something bodies here? That should still net him two or three hundred Madness, easy.
Bringing Texas into the City had been the best decision ever.
Obsidian was practically glowing with satisfaction.
As for why the Sweeper hadn’t attacked him—well, the reason was simple. Fundamentally, Obsidian didn’t have a physical body.
He was the will of the City. And since Sweepers were part of the City’s ecosystem, they would never attack him directly. The only thing that could threaten him was the complete loss of human activity within the City.
While his thoughts drifted, the fight had already ended.
Texas exhaled slowly, lowering the barrel of her rifle as the final Sweeper fled into the distance.
That’s the last of them…
But Obsidian’s expression suddenly changed. He strode up beside her, serious now, and took her hand before she could ask what was going on.
Wait—what the hell is he doing?!
Texas’s pupils flared in surprise. But Obsidian didn’t explain. Instead, he gently raised her arm, aligning the barrel of her gun with the fleeing Sweeper, and said firmly:
“Shoot.”
The word came down like a command—sharp, irrefutable.
“Ah… r-right.”
Still stunned, Texas nodded and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew true.
The Sweeper dropped.
Only then did Obsidian breathe a sigh of relief.
“…Obsidian, what was that about?”
“Nothing major. Just—if you’re ever fighting monsters in the City, don’t leave survivors. If even one escapes, I don’t care how far they run—you hunt them down, no matter what. Got it?”
His tone was uncharacteristically grim.
“I figured this out a while back. Any monster that escapes a battle here will leave the City boundaries and show up on Terra ten days later. And when they do, they’re far more dangerous than before.”
He’d discovered it by accident. Once, while experimenting to see if he could collect Madness through indirect aggression, he’d provoked a few creatures without doing real harm. Ten days later, they appeared on Terra.
He hadn’t expected the system to log it as combat. And yet—there it was. Sweeper, exported.
“…Understood.”
Texas fell silent for a few moments, then gave a small nod.
The discovery had shaken her a little. But she quickly composed herself.
It made sense, in a way. If the City held this kind of supernatural power, then side effects were to be expected.
Still… there were more questions to ask.
As her transformation faded, Texas glanced down at the persona card in her hand and finally asked the question that had been building:
“So… what exactly are the Thumb and Fixers?”
—
This is a fan translation of 方舟，我成了移动城市，但月计都市 by 仲夏夜. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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