Universal System Hack! Becoming The Ultimate Cheat In A World Filled With Cheat Systems

Dark rainclouds blanketed the night sky. Occasional gusts of strong wind buffeted the dilapidated makeshift houses in a shantytown just outside a newly rebuilt city, heralding the coming storm. The city was once known as the capital of a south-eastern country in an age before The Great Blank. Now, however, it was just used as a trading port officially sanctioned by the Unified World Government. A heavy downpour started before long, drenching the cracked concrete streets.

Nary a soul wandered around outside. It was way past curfew after all. But hasty footsteps and the sound of splashing water soon rang out.

A small figure darted out from within a narrow alleyway. His dirty clothes, more akin to rags than anything, were thoroughly soaked. His ragged breaths came intermittently. His eyes betrayed the fear and panic he felt as he ran for dear life.

He inwardly cursed, using up all the profanities he'd encountered during his thirteen years living in the slums outside the old capital. He raced through the meandering paths of the shantytown with all his might, trying to shake off his pursuers.

He'd thought he'd finally gotten the opportunity to turn his life around. He was just one of the many orphaned kids wandering the streets as beggars and pickpockets in order to fill their bellies. He was a tiny kid with a scrawny build, so he often got bullied and cheated out of his share of the loot and was forced to settle for scraps in order to survive.

But a miracle happened. He woke up one day to find himself staring at a weird mid-air interface titled "The Ultimate Fighter System". At first, he thought he'd gone crazy from hunger. But a series of coincidences led him to beat the living daylights out of the local street rat boss a few days earlier. It was then that he finally realized it was all true.

He was ecstatic. Prize-fighting was one of the more lucrative jobs people like him, who came from less favorable backgrounds, could try to undertake. The system could potentially change his destiny and allow him to be granted official U.W.G. citizenship. He felt that all his dreams were finally within his grasp. He could live in a swanky new villa inside the Central District. Get more money than he could count. Eat more food than he could stuff his stomach with. Heck, maybe he'd even get to have a girlfriend… or two… or more.

The future looked extremely bright.

But suddenly, it all came crashing down.

He was very careful and tried not to stand out too much for fear of attracting unwanted attention before he was ready. The fight he was involved in was a scuffle between brats at most, so he thought it wouldn't raise any untoward suspicion. But he still chose to move to another area of the slums just to be sure. He then planned to hit up a local underground fighting gym and take his chances there. A lot of slum kids did it, so it wouldn't seem out of the ordinary. All that was left was to grind some levels and prepare.

He was practicing his moves inside an abandoned warehouse when "they" arrived. "They" came at him without warning. He first thought to defend himself using his newfound fighting prowess, but quickly gave up the idea.

"These guys are bad news," he thought.

He was no match for "them". Every fiber of his being screamed that his pursuers were extremely dangerous. He was absolutely no match for them at his current level. So his only option was to escape. He knew the streets like the back of his hand, so he used that to his advantage and engaged his mysterious pursuers in a frantic chase round the dingy back alleys.

After going through a series of cleverly hidden escape paths, the kid made a beeline for the nearest police station. Though he knew most of the officers stationed there had ties to the local criminal gangs, it was still the best bet he had in order to shake off his pursuers. The gangs wouldn't tolerate any outsiders making a mess on their turf. He planned to make a fuss to get attention and frame his pursuers to be part of a rival gang out to capture him for god-knows whatever reason. After that, he'll just have to improvise.

He hoped his pursuers wouldn't make a move in such a situation, earning him some breathing room at least.

Having determined his course of action, the boy mustered all the energy he could gather and sped towards the station.

But then—

"Huh?!"

Strange ripples reverberated around him, and his steps slowed down. His body felt extremely heavy as his strength left him. His panic reached a new high.

"What the hell?!!" he screamed inside his head.

His heart nearly jumped out of his skinny c.h.e.s.t as he felt someone draw near. His teeth chattered from the cold and fear.

A hand reached out from the darkness. And then, the boy's consciousness was no more.

***

A lone figure stood starkly within the ever-increasing downpour. Intermittent lightning flashes illuminated the silhouette, revealing a stern-faced man clad in an advanced military-grade night camo suit. His eyes were obscured by a night vision visor which doubled as a comm terminal.

"This is Hunter-1. Subject secured. Retrieval is successful. Requesting immediate extraction," the man reported after activating his visor's comm function.

"Copy that Hunter-1. Regroup with your squad and proceed to Point Echo. Good work." came the reply.

Another two figures quickly joined the man. One of them placed a small rectangular silver container on the ground, which expanded to a size able to fit a child. They placed the unconscious boy inside and closed it shut, and the three quickly disappeared within the darkness with the box in tow.