Chapter 28 – Uniform

Eventually, Nick woke up.

While everything had felt great, it was not so great that he would finish a whole night's sleep in the bath.

Nick wanted to scratch his nose but accidentally hit the breathing mask.

After that, he remembered where he was, and he quickly sat up in the bath.

The bath was filled with a liquid denser than water, which was why Nick didn't swim in it.

When Nick poked his head out, he saw one other person in the baths, but he didn't remember that one.

'The others probably already left.'

The next moment, Nick's eyes met with one of the employees, and the employee walked over.

It was a woman in a green uniform, but a different one from before. 

After a bit, the employee reached Nick's bath. "Please, take off the mask."

Nick did just that, and the woman looked at Nick's face.

A moment later, she wrote something down on a clipboard. "Do you feel pain anywhere?" she asked neutrally.

Nick moved his shoulders and legs around a bit.

"No, everything feels great," Nick said with surprise.

"And your nose?" the woman asked.

Nick's eyes widened, and he quickly touched his nose.

When he noticed that his nose was also fully healed, he was quite surprised. "It's healed?" he asked in confusion.

The employee nodded. "The healing liquid doesn't need to be in direct contact with the injured area. It also seeps through your skin and travels across your body."

She wrote a bit more on the clipboard before turning the clipboard around and holding it to Nick. "Sign here, and you can go."

Nick slowly and carefully stood up.

Surprisingly, the liquid was falling off him without leaving any stains or making him wet.

The next moment, Nick took the clipboard into his hand and started to read.

…

…

"Are there any problems?" the employee asked with a slightly impatient tone after over two minutes.

"Oh, no," Nick answered quickly. "I'm just not very good at reading."

The employee just rolled her eyes. "It basically just says that you feel healthy and that you want to leave."

Nick nodded. "Okay, but I still want to read it."

The employee got even more annoyed, but she didn't say anything.

After around three more minutes, Nick was finally done.

Luckily, there wasn't a lot written on the clipboard, and it wasn't nearly as hard to understand as the NDA Nick signed.

Eventually, Nick grabbed the pen on the clipboard and awkwardly signed.

He still wasn't used to writing.

Nick handed the clipboard back, and the employee quickly grabbed it.

"Have a nice day. You can go," she said curtly before walking away.

Nick just nodded and walked to the exit.

Luckily, there was a second door, which meant that he didn't need to pass through the room with the cleansing baths again.

Since Nick hadn't put any of his belongings away, he could directly leave.

While Nick was walking through the hospital, he looked around with interest.

His life was no longer in danger, which allowed him to appreciate the look of the hospital.

Everything seemed so… clean.

Nick had never seen anything this clean before.

It felt so alien to him.

Nick had lived in the Dregs for his entire life, and the Dregs were not the cleanest place.

When Nick reached the lobby, he only saw two people.

The receptionist and a boy.

The boy was standing at the side of the lobby with a stack of clothes in his hands, and he awkwardly looked around.

The boy was maybe 14 years old or something like that.

For a second, the eyes of Nick and the boy met.

The boy looked at Nick with anxiety and looked at his clothing.

Then, he looked towards the direction of the baths again.

"You searching for someone?" Nick asked.

The boy was surprised when Nick started a conversation.

"Yes, yes!" the boy answered nervously. "I'm supposed to deliver these clothes to someone called Nick."

Nick blinked twice. "That's me."

"Oh?" the boy uttered as he looked at Nick with surprise.

But then, his brows furrowed as he looked at Nick's clothing again. 

"But your clothing isn't dirty," he said.

"I bathed in my clothing," Nick said. "I presume these clothes are from Wyntor?"

When the boy heard Nick say Wyntor's name, he sighed in relief. "Yes," he said.

The next moment, he held the clothes forward, and Nick took them.

Nick couldn't see all of the clothes since they were folded, but he could see quite a bit of red and black.

That was when Nick's eyes widened, and he subconsciously gripped the clothes tighter.

"Is that… Crimson Fungus City's official Zephyx Extractor uniform?" Nick asked in surprise.

The boy nodded with a smile. "Yes, sir."

At this moment, it really hit Nick.

He was a Zephyx Extractor!

Nick had seen a couple of Extractors walking around, and they had worn a uniform just like this one.

Crimson Fungus City required all Zephyx Extractors to wear this uniform, no matter to which company they belonged.

Extractors had to wear the uniform when they were on duty, but they were also encouraged to wear it in their spare time.

While it wasn't mandatory for Extractors to wear their uniforms in their free time, it had become the norm after many lawsuits.

What if an Extractor uses their ability? Would they be on duty or not?

What if someone tried to steal from them and got incinerated by the Extractor's ability?

Of course, the city didn't care about the fate of criminals, but they very much cared about the criminals' bodies and blood.

Even criminals brought in blood and money.

Zephyx Extractors are allowed to kill people from the Dregs with a good reason. Otherwise, they would need to pay a fine of about 5,000 credits.

Extractors are also allowed to kill people of the Outer City, but only when the person tried to physically assault them first.

Because of the many unnecessary deaths, the city encouraged the Extractors to wear their uniform when going out.

Even in their spare time.

'And now, I finally have my very own uniform,' Nick thought as he looked at the uniform in his hand.

'I'm now officially a Zephyx Extractor!'