Kill the Lights - Chapter 8.1

A new law has been passed as part of the nation's measures to address the low birthrate.Rude women become livestock.Rebellious women become livestock.Women who commit crimes become livestock.In a world where common sense has been distorted, this is the story of women whose human rights have been erased.

It is an era of artificial superintelligences, interstellar travel, gene medicine, and virtual reality worlds. Far into Earth’s future, 15-year-old Gu Ding is a student of Cerulean Military Academy by day, and tavern waiter by night. His ambition: Become the space pirate with the highest bounty offered by the Universal Federation Government. With the help of Neptune, a neonate super-intelligence, Gu Ding finds himself thrust into a galaxy of shadowy organizations, political underdealings, and otherworldly forces that lie beyond human comprehension…

Zephany Draven is a shy, clumsy celebrity journalist who is constantly ridiculed for not getting the big scoops. She is soft-spoken and easily intimidated, so she looks weak. However, behind closed doors, she's Eclipse, an altogether tougher, loud-mouthed agent and quite ruthless and efficient.Kendrick Montclair is a gentle, positive artist who loves his family and remains optimistic despite his struggles. His gentle nature makes him easy to take advantage of. But secretly, he's Obscura, a cold, ruthless agent who is efficient and silent.Both work as partners in a secret organization that preserves hidden truths erased by governments, yet they remain completely unaware of each other's true identities.Their goal is to reach the highest level of clearance to access classified information. But just when they're on the verge of success, they fail.Then, a mysterious man appears with an offer—a contract marriage in exchange for the information they desperately seek. Trapped with no alternative, they sign the deal.But neither expected what would happen next.-------------Kendrick and Zephany sat by the glass wall, waiting for their food when a car suddenly crashed through. Kendrick pulled Zephany to safety just in time, but both got small cuts from the broken glass.“Are you okay?” they asked, checking each other.To their astonishment, the cuts healed before their eyes.Their minds raced. “Beside me, the only person I know who has that ability is.”“No! She can't be that loud, short-tempered woman!”“No! He can't be that silent, obnoxious man!”“Did I marry my secret partner in crime?” They both shuddered at the thought.

Life isn’t dramatic.

Takasugi Shinsaku once mentioned, “The mind to bring interest to an otherwise uninteresting world”, but if you’ll let me have my say, “An otherwise uninteresting world is also interesting”.

The world is just right with this level of boredom.

That is the conclusion to the results of my, Kagoshima Akira’s seventeen years of lived experience.

It’s not like anything’s ever going to happen.

I mean.

Witches from other worlds,

and cyber soldiers paying a visit from the future,

and psychics fighting under the instruction of research institutions

don’t exist, after all.