Sato Kazuma stared fixedly at the number "20,000 points," his expression twisted, filled with grief and indignation.
What was this? A reward for a shameful play? Points earned from his, Sato Kazuma's, social death?
Sato Kazuma slumped beside a sour-smelling trash can, letting out a roar from the depths of his soul at the translucent panel before him.
Twenty thousand points of prestige sounded like a lot. But the moment he thought about how this "huge sum" came to be, he felt his stomach churn, the humiliation of social death washing over his fragile nerves like a tide.
This shitty system was absolutely mocking him!
He angrily swiped at the panel, trying to find something to comfort himself. Then, he saw the "Bond Summon" option.
Could it be—
A thought stirred in his heart, and he clicked into it impatiently. A row of avatars and names that made his PTSD nearly flare up popped out.
[Aqua — Prestige required for summoning: 5,000,000]
[Megumin — Prestige required for summoning: 3,000,000]
[Darkness — Prestige required for summoning: 3,000,000]
"—Huh?"
Sato Kazuma rubbed his eyes, confirming he hadn't misread the long string of zeros.
"Are you kidding me! Why is that useless goddess worth five million?!" He pointed at Aqua's avatar and cursed.
"Besides crying, getting into debt, and causing trouble, what else can she do? System, did you not wake up? This pricing is definitely a scam!"
However, as he cursed, his voice gradually grew quieter.
In his mind, he couldn't help but picture the scene where that blue-haired goddess, despite being stupid, could easily cast high-level healing and resurrection magic.
In this strange, seemingly dangerous World, a mobile fountain that could pull you back from the brink of death an infinite number of times—
"Damn it—it seems—it really is worth this price."
Sato Kazuma unwillingly admitted the fact. A walking resurrection coin, no matter how unreliable, was indeed a top-tier life-saving trump card.
He looked at Megumin and Darkness again. One was a blast maniac who could only fire once a day before collapsing; the other was a masochistic knight who couldn't hit anything and especially enjoyed being attacked.
Although they were also sky-high prices, compared to Aqua, they seemed "cheaper" by quite a bit.
But what was the use of that? Right now, he only had those 20,000 points of bloody prestige earned with his dignity. He couldn't even scrape together a fraction of the cost.
Thinking of this, huge sorrow engulfed him once again.
It was so hard!
In that damn other World, he had started as a novice adventurer, working hard, fighting with wits and courage, cheating and risking his life, only to finally build up his fortune, move into a mansion, and was just about to live the wealthy life surrounded by beauties he had dreamed of!
And the result?
He closed his eyes and opened them, and overnight he was back to before liberation. No, even worse than before liberation; at least when he first crossed over, he was wearing a tracksuit.
Now, he only had a towel that might fall off at any moment, and a belly with "Excalibur" written on it.
"What about my EX-level luck?! Is it region-locked? Does it expire when I change Worlds?!"
Sato Kazuma wanted to cry but had no tears.
No, he couldn't just sit and wait for death. The most urgent task was to get a set of clothes, then find a place to settle down.
He took a deep breath, tied the towel symbolizing his last dignity tightly around his waist, and confirmed it was secure enough so that the tragedy from just now wouldn't happen again.
Then, he activated his already proficient "Stealth" skill, stuck to the wall like a gecko, and carefully poked half his head out from the alley entrance.
People were coming and going on the street outside, and the Police sirens had disappeared. It seemed those two Police had given up.
"Phew—"
Sato Kazuma let out a long breath and was about to sneak out to find a clothing store to "borrow" a set of clothes using his "Steal" skill.
However, the moment he lifted his foot, a white shadow flashed past the corner of his eye.
That shadow rushed out from the street corner at an extremely fast speed, followed by shouts of "Stop! Freeze!" and two panting New York Police.
Sato Kazuma looked closely, and the whole person was stunned.
It was a man.
A man who, just like him, was stark naked.
The only difference was that this man was holding a wooden sword and a bundle of clothes that looked like a kimono. He had messy, naturally curly silver hair and a pair of dead fish eyes that seemed uninterested in the whole World.
Their gazes met precisely in the chaotic air.
Time seemed to stand still at this moment.
No words were spoken.
In Sato Kazuma's eyes was the shock of "Holy crap, you're also running naked and being chased?"
In the silver-haired man's eyes was the surprise of "Oh, there's actually a fellow traveler?"
Both of them unintentionally saw a sorrow called "social death" in each other's eyes, a vicissitude of "fellow sufferers at the end of the World."
Ah, it was the scent of a peer.
Almost simultaneously, Sato Kazuma saw a shimmering white scale pattern appear above the silver-haired man's head.
[Neutral Faction Player]
And that man named Sakata Gintoki obviously also saw the green shield logo above Sato Kazuma's head.
[Guardian Faction Player]
So they were players! And from different factions!
An inexplicable sense of intimacy and sympathy arose in Sato Kazuma's heart. He even wanted to rush over, grab the other's hand, and say, "Comrade, were you also screwed over?"
However, this touching camaraderie lasted less than three seconds.
Seeing Sato Kazuma, that silver-haired natural curly-head's dead fish eyes suddenly burst with brilliant light, as if he had seen an oasis in the desert and found a scapegoat in a desperate situation.
He didn't hesitate to lift the hand not holding anything, pointed fiercely at the alley where Sato Kazuma was, and used all his strength to shout at the pursuing Police behind him, with the tone of someone who had discovered a new continent:
"Hey! Police officers! Here! Here's another one! A full-naked man even more perverted than me! Come catch him! He didn't even take any clothes!"
"—"
The expression on Sato Kazuma's face went from shock, to dullness, to distortion.
He felt his sanity "snap" and completely break.
The two Police who were originally about to stop chasing looked in the direction Sakata Gintoki was pointing, and sure enough, they discovered an Asian face hiding in the alley, wearing only a towel around his waist.
The appearance of a new target reignited their fighting spirit.
"You motherf***er, have you no shame!!!"
A roar of grief and indignation was squeezed out of Sato Kazuma's throat. He no longer cared about stealth, turned around, and sprinted into the depths of the alley.
He swore he had never seen such a shameless person in his life! Were all players of the Neutral Faction like this? To save their own lives, they sold out teammates so cleanly and decisively!
"Ahahahaha! Buddy, thanks a lot! See you in the underworld!"
Behind him came the silver-haired curly-head's gloating laughter, and the sound of his footsteps as he took the opportunity to slip away.
"See you in the underworld my ass! You just wait! Next time we meet, I'll steal you until you don't even have underwear left! No! You aren't wearing underwear anyway, I'll pull out all your curly hair!!!"
While sprinting, Sato Kazuma was crazily cursing the silver-haired man's ancestors down to the eighteenth generation in his heart.
The Police sirens drew near again, and this time, there seemed to be even more than before.
Sato Kazuma couldn't care about that much anymore; he scrambled up from the ground and chased after that silver-haired natural curly-head.
The depths of the alley led to another street.
Thus, on the streets of New York, an even more bizarre scene unfolded.
A silver-haired naked man sprinting in front, a naked man wearing a towel chasing closely behind, and behind them both, a large group of panting New York Police.
"Why are you following me!" the silver-haired natural curly-head roared back while running, "You pervert, shouldn't you be running down another path?!"
"You have the nerve to call me a pervert!" Sato Kazuma was out of breath but refused to lose the argument, "If it weren't for you bastard, I would have already escaped! Want to shake me off? No way! Today, if we die, we die together!"
"Who wants to die with a guy who has 'Excalibur' written on his belly! Your taste is too bad!"
"Shut up! You idiot natural curly-head who can't even hold onto his own clothes! If you have the guts, don't run!"
Two men from different Worlds, in the worst, most pathetic, and most absurd way, were forced to form a "naked running" alliance on the streets of another World.