Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 568: Never Ending War.

"Rose!"

"It’s Rose!"

"Everyone! Rose is here!"

No sooner had she stepped through the gate than a stampede of small feet rushed in her direction. Rose was quickly surrounded, and though it was a little overwhelming, the contagious smiles infected her before long, and she found herself grinning from ear to ear.

Visiting the Sanctuary has become a routine for her, so much so that she tried to schedule everything around it. Today, she happened to be entirely free, and instead of spending it on herself, Rose decided to make an extended visit.

"Hi~ everyone, how have you been?"

The excited replies she received warmed her heart and put her at ease. The number of those who came to meet her had increased since her last visit, and not because they had rescued more from Black Skull’s dungeons. More were feeling safe enough to come out and play, and from the looks of it, her frequent visits had earned her enough trust that they weren’t afraid to meet her anymore.

It never failed to surprise her how popular she was with the kids. Rose didn’t believe she was particularly good with children, seeing how rare it had been for her to interact with them. Still, getting along with them seemed to come naturally to her, and though she tried to ignore it, a certain primal instinct was growing louder and louder inside her.

After playing with the little children some more, Rose went inside. She made sure to change her smile to a more subdued one, not wanting to appear overly enthusiastic in front of the people she was about to meet. All of the children of the Sanctuary went through horrible experiences, but some had it worse than the others. It was better not to appear too cheerful in front of them lest it have the opposite effect.

Rose spent most of the day visiting those children one at a time. After everything they had gone through, some developed the tendency to isolate themselves, and getting them to break out of that shell was going to be a long and arduous process.

Patience was the most important factor when it came to this. Rose knew that all too well, and so she didn’t rush things and let everyone advance at their own pace.

Thanks to Dante’s support, they were able to get the children professional help right away. When he promised her that they would put an end to Black Skull, Rose had been tempted to treat it as nothing more than the declaration of an overly optimistic youngster who knew little about how the world works, but the past few weeks have changed her opinion.

In such a short time, Dante was able to achieve far more than she did in years. Not only did they strike Black Skull where it hurts, but they also freed more than two hundred of their victims and created a place where they could feel safe. Counting the dock incident, he did more to stop human trafficking on a global scale than most governments around the world had done in decades.

Rose was both astounded and grateful, but she was also afraid. Because she dragged him into her mess, Dante had been gathering enemies left and right. The matter has gone beyond Black Skull, and now he has people coming after his life, all because she asked for his help when she did.

Rose was well aware that he wouldn’t stop. She had seen it in his blue eyes time and time again. After coming this far, she was afraid that he would keep going, waging a never-ending war.

The burden of fighting evil wasn’t his to carry. Dante had his own battles to fight, and he didn’t owe the world cleaning the filth it let accumulate. Rose’s only solace was what he told her a while back. Even if they did more to save those children than the so-called heroes have ever done, in the end, they were still nothing more than killers. Their goal was to end their enemies, and Rose could only hope that he would stop once the enemy in front of them was dead.

After her visits ended, Rose sat down with her acquaintances from the Los Aros gang to discuss the recent development, as well as how to proceed going forward. They had already decided on the path they would take, so the meeting was just to confirm if everything was going well. The cops hadn’t bothered them in quite some time, and Black Skull couldn’t afford the thugs to harass them. The legal matters were progressing smoothly, so the Sanctuary was on route to becoming an official Rehabilitation center.

That leaves only one thing that still needs handling— reuniting the children with their parents.

It wasn’t enough to look at the missing person lists and contact the people whose children had been saved. In a lot of cases, children who end up trafficked turn out to have suffered abuse at the hands of their parents first, prompting them to run away from home. Some might even have been sold before they were old enough to understand what was happening.

Investigating the guardians of those children and determining whether returning them was the right choice was a very important step that couldn’t be skipped. Seeing as some of those children come from poor or war-torn parts of the world, it might be for the best if they stayed in Neo-Vatra. Though it might be a shit hole, it was still a safe place where they could live a relatively comfortable life and have a proper education.

The day ended, and before she knew it, Rose was already on her bike, preparing to return to the place she usually spends the night.

As she looked back at the housing complex, Rose felt the tightness in her chest grow worse. Years had passed since she stole back her freedom, yet she had yet to find a place she could call home. What if the same ended up happening to those children?

’... No...’

A face surfaced in her memories, and the smile he wore banished the darkness eating at her thoughts.

’It won’t be the same...’ With a twist of her wrist, the engine of her bike roared. ’I will never allow it...’