Paradise of Infinity: 316

Title: A Tank Approaches

“Wait!” Eda smacks her glass on the counter, “You’re saying she just asked—‘Sex?’— and you were like—‘Sure.’” Bao fills Eda’s glass again, grumbling, “That’s one thing he’s quick about, eh? Figures. A lazy waiter and a quick nut.”

“He’s a whore,” Revy bottoms her rum out with an unusual flush on her cheeks, tapping the rim of her glass to notify Bao about another round. Meanwhile, sitting beside Nik and nursing a glass of whiskey, Shenhua notes, “A whore, yes? There’s no shame in that.”

“Thanks,” The corner of Nik’s eye twitches. Now that he thinks about it, his relationships mostly started from dubious origins. Michi cheated on her unloving Husband. Poppy was the same. June and Jin weren’t any better. Damn, Azula, too. And Ursa’s first ‘moments’ were Azula eating her out. Yue wanted some fun on the other side of the prison that confined her husband. And he had a threesome with Roberta and Revy not long ago. There’s also the night of the Halloween Party.

“Wait,” Revy slurs. “You’re a whore?”

“I told you about it,” Nik stares at her.

“I thought you were joking and trying to match up to my days as a Strip Dancer!” Revy stares back.

“There’s no need for me to do that,” Nik calmly sips his drink, “I’m definitely the better stripper.”

“A weird brag,” Eda stares at him flatly through her pink sunglasses. “Are you sure you don’t want to confess your sins? The church is still open.” She leans onto him, flanking Nik alongside Shenhua as her breasts teasingly rub against his shoulder.

“I’ll have to commit some sins tonight before I confess them,” Nik tilts his head. “Sins like seducing a nun from her pure path comes to the mind.”

*Thump*

Revy stomps her glass on the counter, attracting the remaining trio’s attention as she declares calmly despite being under the influence. “You won’t be committing any sins by fucking Eda. She’s a whore, too.”

“Ah, shameless,” Shenhua shakes her head.

“How is that shameful for me but not him?” Eda sighs. “Not that I’m a whore.”

“Yes,” Revy snickers. “Whores get paid. It’s a profession. She’s just a slut.”

“It’s alright,” Nik smiles warmly. “No shame in giving free samples and widening your customer base.”

“I will shoot the three of you right here,” Eda snorts, drinking her whiskey.

“No shooting in my pub,” Bao warns them while walking to the other side of the counter to deal with other patrons. If only he had two additional employees to cover the rush hour.

If only.

“So? You met her on your job?” Eda questions while observing Shenhua. “I can’t say I’ve seen much of you in Roanapur.”

“I stay away from pubs mostly,” Shenhua smiles. “I like tea more than drinks.”

Eda narrows her eyes, “And you’re in a pub because of Nik? Someone you met hours ago?”

“Meh,” Revy sits her chin on the counter, rambling, “Boss Chang must have sent her to keep an eye on Nik and Ray. Ray’s fruity, so the Yes-Lady settled for Nik.”

Nik and Shenhua glance at Revy as she smirks back, “What? Boss Chang is vile like that. That’s what I admire about him. So? How much is he paying you to get in Nik’s pants?”

Shenhua stares at Revy for another second before shrugging, “I no whore, Bitch.”

“So, you’re just a slut?” Eda snickers.

“Wow,” Nik mutters. “This conversation warms my heart.”

“Nobody cares about your heart,” Revy scoffs.

“I said before,” Shenhua muses. “I like clean boys. And I smell no drugs or blood on him.” Her slick red lips widen into a catty smirk. “But I like bad boys, too.”

“Uwagh!”

“Huaaak!”

Eda and Revy make gagging noises as Shenhua glances at Nik curiously, who interprets their reactions successfully, “They think you’re corny.”

“That’s bad?”

“I don’t think so,” Nik shrugs.

“Uwagh!”

“Huaaak!”

They make the same noises again.

“Would you stop that?” Nik barks at them in annoyance. “I feel like vomiting just hearing those noises.”

---

“I take it back, yes,” Shenhua sprawls over the counter, sipping her whiskey with contentment and a heavy blush. “You a bad boy. Why you sleep with so many women?”

*Snore*

Eda snored off, drooling on the counter while keeping an arm around Nik, her sunglasses tilted unevenly on her face. Meanwhile, Revy snickers drunkenly, staring in the distance while smacking the counter. “Not just that!” she spills. “He records ‘em!”

“Bad, bad boy!” Shenhua affirms with a smirk, stroking Nik’s face and staring at him with a half-lidded gaze. “You like to make girls drink?”

“Yep,” Nik deadpans. “Oh, and I like taking drunk girls around the back to help them with their hangovers.”

Oh, he isn’t getting laid tonight. One develops a sixth sense about these things. When getting buzzed out with June, he knew he had an instant connection. Here? These women just needed drinks and just a firm shoulder to rest on. Sure, it might not look like they needed it, but the trio did not desire sexual relief as much as emotional one. Nik also couldn’t just leave them and return to his Personal Space.

“Oooh~!” Revy smirks. “I bet you’ll hold our hair, too.”

“Exactly,” Nik sighs.

“And let us vomit in peace,” Eda mutters between her thin sleep, smacking her lips and sniffing crudely before embracing Nik tighter. “Damn, you smell nice, Nik~!”

“Yes to all of it,” Nik rolls his eyes, making Shenhua giggle.

‘Damn, I miss Roberta,’ He pouts slightly, sipping his drink and feeling slight effects. He’s bound to get drunk if he keeps his pace, right? No matter how resistant he grew to alcohol in the past months, he can never be immune to it. As Paradise states, immunity by itself is a Paradox.

“What you’re going to do, Big Boy?” Revy goads. “Three of us are too much, even for you. You gotta choose~!” And the dangerous yet waning look in her eyes warns him there’s only one correct choice.

“The three of you together won’t even amount to one,” Nik sighs. “Come on. I’ll walk you girls home.”

“What a gentleman,” Eda sleepily snickers while Shenhua coils her arm around Nik’s shoulder, “Fine! Let’s go home.”

“And who’s going to pay?”

“Ray’s tab,” Nik smiles.

“And what about your tab?” Bao frowns.

“I don’t have a tab,” Nik blinks.

“You think Ray doesn’t drink in your tab?” Bao snaps as Nik closes his eyes. Well, it was inevitable, really. “Fine, I’ll pay tomorrow.”

“You better!” Bao snorts as Nik easily slings Eda on his shoulder, more than pleased by the feel of her firm, miniskirt-clad rear against his cheek as she groans, “Ugh! I’m about to hurl!”

“Hold it in,” Nik orders languidly while helping Shenhua and Revy stand straight by their shoulders, leading them out of the pub and catching the next tuk-tuk for their transportation.

Eda lives in the Rip-Off Church with the head Nun, Sister Yolanda, and an apprentice, Rico. Meanwhile, Shenhua rented a small and surprisingly cozy apartment to herself. The woman drifted into sweet dreams the second she hit her bed as Nik covered her with a blanket before leaving. Revy wishes Nik slept in the same bed as her as most nights. But her alcohol-impaired senses failed to notice the car following their tuk-tuk the entire ride.

“Already leaving?” Benny questions as he’s the only one awake almost past two in the morning, binging a television series on his laptop.

“Yep,” Nik offers an exhausted smile. “It’s just an unfortunate night for me.”

“Been there,” Benny chuckles. “Just chug two energy drinks with vodka before work. It’ll either lead you to an early grave or keep you awake if we happen to get a job.”

“Noted,” Nik hums, exiting the already repaired building, thanks to Chang’s connections, and walking near a familiar car, the same one that stopped outside Yellow Flag one fruitful day.

The second he glances at the figure through the rolling windows, he smirks as all the exhaustion disappears from his face. Now, Nik isn’t a hopeless pervert constantly seeking physical pleasure. He HAS hope. But some prospects always delight a man.

For instance—

‘Correction. I’m definitely getting laid tonight.’

---

Boris quietly follows after the tuk-tuk as it stops from Rip-Off church to one of the apartments under the Triad’s influence. He would stop and stay out of the area if he was alone. He didn’t need to make things more troublesome for his Kapitan by engaging the triad. Not that their respective bosses on top can give two shits about the Roanapur Branches due to how turbulent the ‘outside’ world is.

“Sergeant.” Boris hears his boss humming while taking a deep drag from her cigar. “What do you make of that night? Nobody figured out how those brains mushed, did they?”

‘She’s still working,’ Boris sighs. He wishes Balalaika would rest, but he also understands that ‘Ghosts’ like them have nothing but work to their name. And much to their Kapitan’s frustration, the business does not seem to pick up for now, not with the entire world on high alert.

“No, Kapitan, we did not. But the intelligence showed a significant connection between ‘them’ except the highest bounty and the rogue Baba Yaga.”

“John Wick isn’t our concern,” Balalaika smiles while staring at her tablet with a pair of thick glasses on her face. “We didn’t kill his dog. That’s why Bosses shouldn’t bring children into their business. They get swept away by the products instead of conducting business.” She taps her cigar over the ashtray before smoking again.

“Three are gone,” Balalaika whispers with narrowed eyes. The screen reflects on her reading glasses, displaying images of three men of varying ages—from middle-aged to elderly. The trio looks distinguished at a glance, but Balalaika knows better. Whatever she is and represents, these three were worse.

Her words make Boris contemplate certain matters.

Their car follows the tuk-tuk until it stops outside the Lagoon Company, where they observe Nik carry Revy in his arms instead of helping her walk and eventually enter the building.

“Give him 15 minutes,” Balalaika mutters. “If he didn’t notice us or ignored us despite noticing, call his cell phone.” Fortunately, that does not come to a pass, and her mood remains pleasant as a blood-drenched flower from war-torn lands when she finds Nik strolling in their direction before stopping beside her window.

She rolls down her window, offering him a short, knowing smile, “Were they too drunk?”

He smiles back, “Fortunately. What can I do for you at such late hours?”

“Getting in would be a start,” she rolls up her window as Nik enters the car from the other side, greeting the man on the front with a pleasant smirk, “Hey, Boris. You look good.”

‘Does he?’ Balalaika muses, matching Boris’ gaze through the rearview mirror until he looks ahead, keeping his response short like usual, “Pass, Kapitan.”

Nik scoffs, “Nobody likes a simple, well-meaning greeting in this town.”

She smokes without replying as Boris starts driving. Her car would smell like one smoking ass with how much she smokes if not for Boris keeping the window in the front open by a slit.

Balalaika continues reviewing the documents on her tablet while Boris drives silently through the bright and loud streets of Roanapur despite the late hour. Their City is simply the one that cannot afford a peaceful sleep. She can sense him staring at the tablet and going through the information more than her scarred bust with how it juts out when she leans back into her seat to read the contents of her tablet comfortably.

“Oh, you found him,” Nik muses, making Balalaika smile. She scrolled through the document until it revealed the image of a dark-haired, pale-skinned man with almost a chalk-like complexion and unsettling red eyes.

Lava-Head.

“He’s nicknamed ‘Dracule.’ And here,” she scrolls further, revealing the image of a young, green-haired boy looking no older than 13.

“Who’s the kid?” Nik muses, earning him a meaningful stare from the woman. “You do not know who he is?”

“Never seen him.”

She stares at him for a few more seconds before minimizing the document and jabbing her fingers over the screen to eventually load a video.

“This was caught by a security camera that saves its footage in the cloud.”

‘Woah, airbending?’ Nik understands he’s probably wrong, so he keeps his doubt to himself while watching the video of a green-haired boy traveling on a veritable ocean of ants and other insects as they devour every living thing in seconds. The especially chilling sight was the strange but small number of scarabs that would crawl out of his sleeves, and just these few would consume a dozen men at once by digging into their bodies and devouring them from within. Not once did the boy’s smile fade as he glanced into the said security camera before waving his hand.

Thousands of bees surround the camera as the footage ends there.

“You don’t want to send the ‘Dundies’ for a non-fatal assassination on that boy, right?” Nik chuckles nervously, rightly spooked. “I don’t think I can carry out an actual assassination, much less a made-up one.”

“Keep watching,” Balalaika slides her finger across the screen, dragging another video of ‘Lava-Head’ meeting the boy. The estate is similar to the previous video, but the camera captured the footage from a distance, forcing Balalaike to play a zoomed and slightly blurred recording.

But it’s undoubtedly ‘Lava-Head.’ Nik won’t forget his first confrontation with another Host for a long while. The duo in the video seem to quarrel for some reason before Lava-Head leaves in a pitch-black car.

“That boy is nicknamed ‘The Herd,’” Balalaika states after the video ends. “He ties with the mysterious disaster hitting the Military Bases around the globe for the second highest bounty in the Underworld of 10 Million Dollars.”

She narrows her eyes. “That boy ended three Crime Lords and their ‘legacies’ singlehandedly with those insects. You saw what they can do, right?”

She reopens the document from before, scrolls upward, and displays the image of three distinguished-looking men.

“The States are in shambles. All three were from the twelve leaders of the High Table, and now Uncle Sam doesn’t know what to do alongside the rest of the world.”

‘High Table,’ Nik muses. It’s insightful, really, how other Hosts affect the world. It might even explain the Primordial’s angst against hosts in their world if not for their primary motivation of keeping Mokshi hostage for an afternoon brunch.

‘And only two are acting in a high-profile manner,’ Nik muses. ‘There are 19 of us remaining, with someone called Jun-Sena-Ching dying early.’

“And while not captured on cameras,” Balalaika closes her tablet. “There are talks about a dozen men and women falling out from holes in the sky. It was before the moon shattered, so many believe these instances caused the shattering. The High Table and the World Council want information on men and women displaying strange abilities.”

Nik glances at Balalaika as she continues. “Dracule wanted something from you. There’s an undeniable connection,” she stares back while calmly smoking. “But that isn’t why you’re here.”

“I’m not? Didn’t he injure one of your men?” Nik questions.

“Comrade Ivan understands we’re not going to fight an ocean of human-eating bugs for a broken leg. He’s steadily recovering, after all,” she smirks. “At least not until we can nuke those bugs. Unfortunately, that’s not an option either. Someone debunked all of them. I’m guessing it’s the highest bounty who did it.”

They stop outside the Bougainvillea Trading Company’s main building as one of the stationed men walks to the car and opens the door for Balalaika.

“Come along,” she beckons Nik with a curl of her index finger. She walks ahead with Nik and Boris following her until the latter stands near her office’s entrance instead of following inside, closing the door after Nik.

“So?” Nik questions once he sits across Balalika on her sofa set. “Why am I here? Information?”

“Indeed, but not about what you might think,” Balalaika pours herself a drink.

“Over the month, the moon collapsed,” she takes a sip, “A president died, three Crime Lords eradicated, the light and the dark side of our world in chaos under the paper-thin mask of calm the Government wants public to possess, and our business is at an all-time low.” She chuckles as it steadily transitions into a full-blown laugh until the woman is leaning on her couch and cackling like a woman possessed.

“I don’t feel like a corpse anymore,” she gasps for air. Barely able to smoke, she places her glass down. “Nik, I only want to know one thing.” Her blue eyes invade him. “What’s the price of possessing such power? The power to ignore profits and these norms of Light and Dark!”

Nik thins his lips before stating facts, “Death, most likely.”

Everyone can’t get an executive, right? Nik feels other hosts are more like him than Ray.

“Did you die for it?” She picks up her glass for another sip.

“As a guy who got his ass whooped,” Nik groans. “Embarrassingly, yes.”

“What can you do?” The woman continues, unbuttoning her wine-colored coat.

“Not control insects, that’s for sure,” he snickers.

“But you can control rocks,” Balalaika narrowed her eyes, slowly unbuttoning her low-cut white shirt until revealing a pink bra covering her scarred bust. She smirks. “Don’t deny it. There ARE cameras in Roanapur, too—hidden ones that caught rocks flying and hitting those bastards waving RPG launchers.”

Nik works his jaws before questioning, “You got your answer, right? Was that it?”

She tilts her head, reaching for the switchboard not far from her seat before switching off the glaring ceiling lights, leaving a dim wall lamp lit.

“What do you think?” She spreads her arms back, crosses her legs, and unashamedly displays her disheveled state.

“I think you aren’t satisfied with information alone,” Nik glances at the table. “But I also don’t think you want that power for the sake of it.”

“Hmm?” She smirks. “And you know what I want? Do surprise me.”

“Do you think I have the words ‘dumbass’ written on my face to do that and ruin the night?” Nik grins. Like hell! He isn’t going to go philosophical with a lady waiting with such an inviting appearance.

Balalaika narrows her gaze, “Good, boy. But a word of friendly advice: these scars bite.”

“As long as they make up for it afterward, I think I’ll be fine,” Nik pushes his luck, like usual, as he slips out of his t-shirt.

***

Alternate Title: Eda: It’s So Simple? Fine, Sex? *Nik: No*; Shenhua When She Sees A Cute Playboy: Oh, My. Yes, It’s Good *Also Shenhua When She Sees Eda Acting Up: You Little Slut*; Nik Has No Sins Yet; Nik Must Confess In Eda’s Booth; The Drunken Comfort; Shenhua Likes Corn; Nik Has A Sincerity Rizz With Psychopaths; Nik When He Sees A Woman Who Can Kill Him In His Sleep: Hmm, Yes. I Can Fuck- Ehm, Fix Her; Nik’s Shady Dating History; Nik Smashes First And Dates Later, He Accepts It Now; Nik: Perhaps, My Path Starts With One Night Stands; Meanwhile, Ray Being Fruity As Ever; Shenhua Isn’t a Whore; Eda Isn’t Either, But She’s a Slut; Nik Glances at Them: I’m Both?; A Weird Brag; Sixth Sense of Laying; The Forbidden Tank; Ray and Nik Filling Each Other’s Tab; The Gentleman’s Behaviour; Nik Struck Out? *Balalaika Approaches With a Boss OST*; The Affiliations; Dracule and The Herd; Even Balalaika Hates Ants; No Nukes?; The Sum Total of Strangeness; Balalaika: We Have Cloud Storage *Nik: Bending a Cloud to See If He Can Store Food In There*; Walking Ghosts No More; Philosophy Kills The Mood Without Weed, Boy!; And Nik’s About To Play With The Scars; Nik: You Have To Die To Be Like Me *Balalaika: We’re Already Dead* Nik: That’s Cool. But I Mean Actual Death. Head Severed And All; Ray Chuckles In Executive Hire; The Invitation; Information; The Highest Bounty?; Three Crime Lords Gone