Martial Arts Worlds

Thick smog lingered over the dark city of Gothic City like a heavy blanket, obscuring the stars above and filling the air with a noxious scent of pollution and decay.

It used to be quite a beautiful city in the past, but after countless years of neglect and corruption, it had become a shadow of its former self.

Therefore, there was an eternal cloud of smog hovering over the city landscape, choking the life out of what was once a vibrant and thriving community.

Creak!

Swinging the door open, Kiernan entered his very own rented room at the local inn, taking in the musty smell and worn furniture.

Its paint had peeled off, revealing ugly yellowish walls behind that looked like they hadn't been touched up in years.

"How comfy…"

Kiernan pulled out his phone and texted his father that he had landed safely.

After telling his father about his surprising birthday present, he needed to convince him a little bit, as Karma didn't want him to leave for this crime-ridden city.

However, since he couldn't change Kiernan's mind, he wanted to join him here, but in the end, Kiernan convinced him to stay home and let him go alone.

Julian also wanted to come along, but with a conversation behind closed doors, Kiernan convinced him to stay behind as well.

This was something he needed to do himself, and he didn't need any distractions.

"The benefit of having a system is I don't need to carry anything with him as I have inventory for it."

Kiernan said and pulled out his interface, looking at his change of clothes and charger for the phone, but there was also something more sinister inside.

Dual knives, adorned with red hilts and sharpened to a deadly point.

'While I am an unarmed combatant, I know my way around weapons. I would've liked to get my hands on a gun, but these knives will have to do for now.'

BANG!

At the mention of a gun in his thoughts, a strange popping sound came from the alleyway.

"Huh?"

Kiernan jolted up, moved to the door, and peered through the peephole to see what was happening.

He saw the doors on the other side of the hallway opening, frightened people looking outside, and when they saw someone lying on the ground, they banged the door shut.

Kiernan looked over and saw a person lying on the ground with a bleeding wound on his chest, and he looked like he was gasping for air.

'Whoever shot that gun is nowhere to be found. Is it common for these murders to happen in broad daylight? That's crazy.'

At that moment, the innkeeper arrived at the second floor, looked at the dying man in annoyance, and then dragged him away, leaving blood on the floor.

'Well, that has nothing to do with me.'

Kiernan headed to his bed and took out a thick-paged journal from his inventory.

He had spent the last couple of days after acquiring the quest to know everything he needed to know about this Roah York guy.

The most important thing he had learned was that Roah York was already dead!

It happened about a week ago, so it made things much more difficult.

'The scene of his death must've been cleared already, and his corpse would be in the morgue by now. It makes finding any evidence quite difficult.'

Kiernan cracked his knuckles and decided to visit the place of death. It happened in Roah York's office at his home.

…

A dark-colored taxi rolled down to the side of the road, and the door at the back opened up.

Kiernan stepped out of the car.

"Appreciate it."

He tossed a light pouch of gold coins over to the taxi driver, who accepted it with a crude nod, and then drove away.

The taxi driver wasn't very talkative, and he was hidden behind a bulletproof window. He also had a gun stashed under his seat just in case.

'This is the place.'

Across the street, a three-story building loomed ominously in the dimly lit alleyway. It was tucked between two red brick buildings, and the only entrance was a timber door with a rusty doorknob.

Kiernan crossed the street and tucked one of his red-hilted knives into his boot, then smashed through the door with a swift kick.

It was loud, but he quickly entered the place and closed the door behind him.

The lightless house surrounded him with a musty smell and eerie silence. It was clear that something horrible had happened inside this house.

Kiernan went up the creaking stairs and arrived at Roah York's office, which still had some redness on the otherwise immaculate white walls.

'It is a crime scene, so no one has cleaned up the place yet, and I guess I can come to the conclusion that they left everything the same.'

Kiernan thought to himself.

He thought that the office looked quite tidy, except for the bloody walls and toppled-over chair. Otherwise, it didn't look like there were any signs of struggle.

In the newspaper it was already reported that it was merely suicide, which wasn't the most uncommon way of going out in Gothic City.

However, Roah York had some pull in the city council, so his death was reported as he wasn't some nobody.

Thousands of deaths happened every year, but only a handful of them were actually reported.

Kiernan quickly went through Roah York's paperwork, searched the rest of the house, and then left through the front door.

'Waste of time. I can't find anything useful in there, as I believe that one of the branches of the World Detective Association is near here.

'I know for a fact that they've also visited this place to see whether it was just a suicide. It was reported in the papers, and they came to the conclusion it was suicide.

'If even world-famous detectives can't tell anything is wrong, how can I?'

Kiernan wondered while standing on the sidelines, but at that moment, he noticed everything around him move in reverse.

With a frown, he raised his head and widened his eyes in surprise.

The day switched to the night. It then moved back to day and back to night.

The cars on the road moved backwards, people walked in reverse, and the world seemed to be spinning in the opposite direction.

Kiernan pulled out his phone and saw how the time was moving backwards!

At that moment, the strange phenomenon stopped.

He noticed the date on his phone, and it looked like he just time traveled a week to the past!

BANG!

A haunting gunshot came from behind him, from inside Roah York's house.