Several thoughts went through Alex’s head, mostly questions about what was going on. An alien woman was weeping on his chest, shaking. A hairless, black-eyed man was holding a blade threateningly. A juxtaposed to the look of shock he had on his face at Alex had spoken. The emotion passed and there was only a grim determination on his face. A small smirk hanged on his lips.

“Well, that'll make things easier. You, android, tie up this lizardman. You’re being repossessed and you work for me now.”

With more confidence than Alex felt he had any right to, the stranger turned around and started rummaging through the lizardman’s belongings. Alex himself had yet to move as he was still stunned by the unexpected turn of events. He was on the ground in a corner of the room instead of standing like when he logged out. He had also been stolen without his input. Honestly, this was a vast contrast to how he first started the game.

His thoughts were interrupted as a coil of rope was thrown into his lap. The lizardman pulled back away from Alex. Looking back up, the stranger looked to be non-so happy with Alex’s dilly-dallying.

“Well? Get a move on. I don’t have all day.”

With that, the alien went back to his thievery.

Getting up, Alex held the rope in his hands. Turning to face the lizardman, the woman was cowering in the corner, tears raining down her face. A shameful sight, but Alex didn’t have much of a choice. He stepped forward, losing the rope in his hands. If he didn’t want to get hurt, he’d have to obey the man’s orders.

You have to be calm and cooperative in these types of situations. One wrong move could lead to injury or worse. So, for now, the lizardman would have to just deal with the unpleasant situation. If he just listened to the mand, they could both-

Alex blinked. He looked down at his hands. The metal fingers were grasping an old rope, of sturdy quality but clearly aged. The ground beneath him was cracked and dirty, complete cleanliness not having been a priority. The ground itself was made of a material that Alex had never really seen all his life.

This juxtaposes to the common scenery he had seen all his life reminded him he was in a game. One where he was in control and not at the mercy of others. Either the world or his own body.

Why was he listening to this man? All he has is a knife. A kitchen knife of all things as well. And unlike the other person in the room, he was acting with clear hostility. he retaliated, there was a strong possibility of Alex losing or dying at worst. Obviously, going against him could end poorly since he had a weapon and Alex did not.

Inversely, staying with a clearly selfish person would not end well for him in the long run most likely. It appeared he saw Alex more as a tool than a person, something the easily agitated Alex. One that would be easily disposed of at the slightest inconvenience.

It came to Alex’s mind he was left at a crossroads where self-preservation or his own autonomy was at risk. A thought that made Alex’s grip on the rope tighten.

It wasn’t a hard choice to make between the two.

Seeing the Stanger still busy rummaging through a desk, Alex faced the lizard woman beneath him. Raising a finger to his lips, the universal symbol for silence, Alex tipped toed towards the other alien. He got within a foot of the man before he noticed Alex had gone quiet.

“Are you done? Cause if you are, I need you to-ack!”

His sentence was cut off as rope began to strangle his windpipe. Alex thought it poetic he was using the rope on the aggressor instead. He also found it incredibly hard to keep his grip. The stranger flailed, pulling at the rope while also trying to shove Alex off of him. They ended up slamming into some furnisher, Alex still managing to maintain his death grip.

When it looked like he had won, the aliens struggle going weaker, the rope snapped. Alex was thrown back by the loss of leverage, creating distance between the two. He was filled with irritation, not having expected his weapon of a choice to break so easily. Then he saw that the rope hadn’t been torn apart. It had been cut. By something extremely sharp as well. The alien turned, brandishing the blade he had been holding this entire time. Only now there was something quite different about the kitchen utensil.

The knife was covered in some black energy that seemingly absorbed all light around it. The man then gave a wild swing, one that Alex tried to avoid. He may be a robot, but he wasn’t an idiot. If it glows, don’t let it fucking touch you. His theory was proven right when after avoiding a strike, the blade went through a table like a hot knife through butter.

Nice to see even with all the realism of Death Galaxy there was still bullshit space magic lying around. Or equivalent technology that any old thug could get their hands on. Either way, he did not want to be cut by the damn thing.

It looked like both of them lacked any combat experience. A boon because the stranger would be unlikely to hit. A bane because Alex only needed to make one slip up to lose the fight entirely. Really it looked less like a fight and more like two people flailing around trying to hurt each other.

They circled each other for a time, Alex entirely on the defensive. Even with a clear focus on self-preservation, it wasn’t full proof. The stranger was managing to get a few nicks in. With how supernaturally sharp the blade was at the moment, those few nicks turned into gashes.

Alex knew he couldn’t keep this up. He’d go down by a thousand cuts instead of just a rather critical one. And it didn’t help he’d been doing his best to make sure the attention was entirely on him. If the alien were smarter, he’d have gone for the lizardman. Either as a hostage or preemptive strike.

Alex couldn’t have that. That would have defeated the purpose of the whole fight. So as the fight went along, Alex had to settle for the facts as they were. He was going to lose. There was one gambit he had in hand, but it was very unlikely to succeed. But Alex didn’t really have any other choice. With grit teeth, he took the only out he could see for himself.

After one swipe, Alex overstepped. His foot had got caught on a piece of rubble. He lost his footing and left himself wide open for an attack. An opening that the alien didn’t miss. The stranger put his full weight in his attack as the knife went for Alex’s torso. He didn’t miss it.

As the blade sunk deep into his own guts, a lot deeper than Alex would have liked, the gray alien let out a cry of victory. Unfortunately for him, it hadn’t been an instant win. Alex grabbed onto the man’s wrist, holding him in place. The stranger was reminded about a rather important fact.

Alex was a god damn robot. Might as well use that to his benefit. So, he let the stranger stab him. What would prove fatal to anyone else would only be debilitating at worse for him. Best to take advantage of every opportunity he had, right?

With his other hand, Alex grabbed the man by the head and slammed it into the wall a couple of times. The stranger still refused to let go of the knife, which was gouging out Alex’s insides due to the struggle. He couldn’t feel the pain, but he didn’t think he would last long if this went on for any longer.

Alex went for a weak spot. Changing his grip, Alex shoved his thumb into the alien’s eye. There was a sickening pop as the eye socket began to bleed white. It was enough pain for the alien to let go of the knife finally. Throwing the man to the ground, Alex took the time to pull out the blade and reassess the situation.

Looking at his wound, there was a sizeable hole as the black energy had made mincemeat of his guts. The blade itself had lost this dark aura, apparently only being active in the other man’s hands. The room was in shambles, some furniture broken, tipped over, or cut into pieces. The lizardman was off in a corner, eyes full of terror as she had stood back and watched the fight.

As the stranger was writhing on the ground in pain, clutching the area of his crushed eye, Alex could see he was quite defenseless. The battle was over since he had the only weapon between the two and was the only one in a good enough condition to keep fighting. The smart thing to do here would be to restrain the alien for questioning or just to bring him to the proper authorities.

Alex wasn’t feeling smart. In fact, he was feeling something distinctly different. Something exceedingly... primal. Alex straddled the alien, knife in hand.

Looking into its alien eyes, there was still enough humanity in it to pick up on its emotions. Fear. Regret. Desperation. Even with only one eye, it was hard to miss all that information. He didn’t look anything like the confident thief that came to rob a lizardman from earlier. He looked like a man desperate to live, at any cause. An appearance Alex didn’t think would be too out of place on his face if he had been in the man’s situation.

Alex only paused for a moment. Then he brought the knife down.

Murder, as far as Alex could tell, was harder than it looked. It took a couple of swings before he hit anything fatal. An unlucky situation for the alien. The man screamed the entire time as his head was lacerated. Hits scraped past his skull, leaving only shallow wounds. Blood spilled out, covering the alien, the ground, and even Alex. He tried in vain to protect himself. Alex only needed to hold down an arm and kneel on the other to put a stop to that.

Eventually, Alex got it in the other eye, sinking deep enough that he thought he hit the brain. The alien stopped moving shortly after.

Standing up, Alex left the knife where it was. He stumbled over to the only still standing desk, falling to his knees when he got close. Seems a lack of pain didn’t stop the growing weakness wounds would give a person. At the very least he got some recognition for it.

A couple of windows popped into existence.

Class Skill Unlocked: Eye for Analytical Biology.

It takes practice to know which organ pumps blood and which organ digests food at just a glance.

- You have an easier time identifying and logically deducing the biological function of creatures.

- Knowledge concerning biology will be more easily retained and applied. Race Skill Unlocked: Android Durability.

When you’re made of metal, you can be surprisingly harder to kill.

- Fatal strikes will not kill you instantly if they lack sufficient to damage or miss the correct vulnerability.

- Replacing body parts with other materials and/or models will change overall durability appropriately.

So, Alex won his first fight and got his first set of skills. He was also bleeding all over the floor, the blue liquid probably is important. At least he earned some brownie points with the lizardman. Might also get some loot from the stranger. If he lived through this, would not have been that bad of a tradeoff. Now it was time to see if his class had anything to fix this problem.

“Hey, lizardman. You have any nanomachines?”