41 41. Too Smooth
Hunter rushed out of the building and arrived at the street. It was empty and desolate; the heavy gunfire and the subsequent collapsing building were enough to warn and scare anyone nearby.
'Darn it.' Hunter heard the sound of police sirens from multiple directions, some even coming from the tighter alleys, likely the police bikes. 'I gotta lose them first.'
Using the road was the worst thing to do, so Hunter quickly rushed into the nearest alley that went downhill. But instead of traveling on the road, he quickly grabbed the nearest rainwater pipe and climbed toward the roof of the building.
The city sprawled out before Hunter, its rooftops cascading down the hill. He wasted no time and started running over them like a clumsy, freestyle runner. Jumping over the short walls, the various water tanks, and the small and large gaps of roads that appeared in between.
Hunter was relieved to see no helicopters hovering in the sky, potentially spotting him. He also noticed the distant wail of sirens fading away.
Yet, he was aware of the numerous security cameras scattered across the city, both private and public. So he continued to jump from neighborhood to neighborhood, and whenever he found an opportunity, he changed his clothes into a different shade of color and design.
Repeating it a few times, he eventually ditched his mask and entered a somewhat busy street. He quickly hailed a taxi from there and headed to his hotel.
'They ain't gonna suspect a random American,' Hunter knew that much. 'They'll reckon it's a gang war.'
Feeling some calm after hours of constant action, he closed his eyes to relax a little. Everything had gone wrong in this little trip of his, yet he couldn't bring himself to regret any of it. He knew gathering real trash would only fill up his storage with material that he could 'possibly' sell and get rich.
But dealing with human trash earned him instant Trash Points.
'This gives me two whole worlds to gather Trash Points and get stronger.' He pondered, but didn't ignore the issues with this plan, 'Revroth is easy with its quests, but here… I'm gonna get caught if I keep going after the big guys.'
Hunter had no delusions about his strength. If a bullet could still pinch him, he knew a missile would definitely kill him. Going after the gangs and criminals was one thing, but if a certain government was to get interested in him, his days could be numbered.
'And then there's this Eve.' He sighed in frustration and summoned the magical book. Being in the taxi's backseat gave him enough privacy to read it.
Right away, he checked the storage and read all the updates from his recent harvest.
[Cotton sheets - 189 Kilograms
Wood - 1,398 Kilograms
High-quality Gold - 59 Kilograms
High-quality Diamonds - 19 (2 Carat)
Plastic pellets - 890 Kilograms
Cameras - 12
Fish Food - 4,800 Kilograms
Steel - 1,280 Kilograms
View of the Sea at Scheveningen by Vincent van Gogh - 1
Antique Furniture - 230
Assault Rifles - 347
Pistols - 432
Shotguns - 39
Sniper Rifles - 3
Ammunition - 32,000
Grenades - 32
Trash CDs - 30
Trash Ledger - 1
Da Vinci's Lost Codex - 1(Title Reward)
Paper - 34 Kilograms
Clear Glass - 90 Kilograms
1964 Porsche 356 - 1]
'Now that's what I call a good haul.' Hunter exclaimed, excited at the quantity of gold and diamonds. They were going to come in real handy when buying from the store. 'That ol' painting ain't worth a lick. And that car? Ain't worth squat either.'
There was a limit to what he could sell. The car was easily traceable, and the painting was a treasure that would gain plenty of eyes. Since it was the original in this case, it was most likely stolen.
But he liked the guns, knowing he'd have to eventually use them on his further human trash eradication quests.
But what caught his eye was the fourth item from the last, 'Da Vinci's Lost Codex? What's that?'
Hunter touched the name, and instantly, a stack of ancient-looking papers appeared in his hands. They were not tied in any way, and even their edges appeared torn, or rotting. But the written material was clearly visible.
'Darn it.' Hunter couldn't read anything, sadly. 'It's Italian.'
Soon, the taxi pulled up at the hotel, and Hunter shifted his attention back to leaving the place as quickly as possible. He headed to his room, grabbed his bag, checked out, and hopped into the rental car.
But before reaching the airport, he prepared a large package, packing the CDs and the ledger inside after wiping his fingerprints off. Then, he addressed it to INTERPOL and dropped the package into one of the mailboxes.
Without delay, he made it to the city's airport and, from there, jetted off to the city of Rio de Janeiro to catch the earliest flight to Texas.
Besides that, Hunter had a secondary reason for going to that city. Since Annie had wished to see the statue of Christ the Redeemer, it was his duty to let her see it, albeit virtually. The number of messages she had sent him during the last two days didn't let him skip this one thing.
The flight wasn't too long, and Hunter soon arrived at the marvelous city. Since the peak tourist season had already passed, he easily got himself a taxi hired for the day with relative ease.
Midway, Hunter called his mom, "Where's Annie at? She ain't answering her phone."
"She complained about a headache, so I made her go take a little nap. What's up? Headin' over to the statue?" Susan asked.
Hunter's heart skipped a beat as soon as he heard 'headache', "Is she okay?"
"She should be. It ain't the first time she had it."
'But I'm hearin' about it for the first time.' Hunter muttered, realizing how much his mom hadn't shared with him. He didn't feel angry, since it was done with good intentions. But it made him panic a little. 'I gotta return to Revroth quickly.'
Ting!
[Return To Revroth In 2 Days!]
Hunter frowned, 'But I spent almost a month back in Revroth. I should get a month here, too.'
Hunter quickly summoned the magical book and found the notification on the last page of the Status tab. He tapped on it, and received an expanded version of the same notification.
[Return To Revroth In 2 Days - Contract terms to come into effect after signing.]
'So this trip will decide my days on Earth?' Hunter understood, a little annoyed, but not against it. The priority was to head into Revroth and find a cure for Annie.
"Hunter?"
"Ah, Mom, yeah, I'm listenin'." Hunter focused back on the call, "I'm just about at the statue. Just ask her once if she wants to see it. Shoot me a text with what she says, and I'll Facetime you when I get there."
"Alright."
As soon as the call ended, Hunter opened the magical book again and converted all the gold he had into shop coins to see how much he'd get. He only had two days to prepare for his trip into the deadly realm.
[Conversion complete: High-grade Gold 62.3 Kilograms = 6,230 Gold Coins]
[Conversion complete: Medium-Quality Gold 3.09 Kilograms = 154 Gold Coins]
'That looks good enough. Much more than what I had the last time.' Hunter heaved a sigh of relief, 'The rest I'll have to earn back in Revroth. Buying gold here makes no sense.'
Amidst his thoughts, the taxi finally pulled up to the final stop, and Hunter stepped out. The sun was shining bright, and the weather was clear. He paid for his ticket with cash and began ascending the stairs.
He liked that there were very few tourists than normal, making the scenery much more enjoyable.
'Damn, this is one heck of a view.' Hunter finally arrived at the top, and before looking at the statue, he looked left and right at the magnificent view of the entire city. The sea and the beaches in the distance, all the greenery surrounding the steep cliff.
The gentle breeze provided a welcome relief, tousling his dark hair. He strolled towards the end of the pathway, near the edge where he could see the front of the statue.
But he still just kept staring at the entire city and the sea, feeling a little sullen. 'Annie would've loved this view.'
Wanting to show the place, Hunter took out his phone and looked for any text messages.
"Hey, what's up, stalker?"
Hunter frowned at that familiar feminine voice and turned around, "You?"
"Small world, isn't it?"
Hunter wasn't hoping to see the chattery woman from the flight here again. Alice, he remembered her name. "I guess it is. Ain't many cities in Brazil for tourists to visit."
"True." She chirped, pulling out her phone camera. Her long blonde hair fluttered in the wind rather harshly, her attire a simple white t-shirt, and a jeans jacket, with similar colored jeans below.
"Where's your cousin?" Hunter asked, waiting for Susan's text.
"At the beach," Alice replied, clicking photos left and right like a typical excited tourist. "Can you snap a few pics for me?"
At the end of the day, Hunter was a Southern gentleman. He placed his phone in his pocket and grabbed hers, "Sure."
Quickly, Alice started to move around the entire place to make sure every part of the city came in the background. Then she gave a few sidearms raised poses to mimic the statue, the typical tourist pose.
Hunter entertained her enthusiastic personality, having nothing to do. But in the end, he found himself shocked as she kept taking pictures for almost half an hour.
"That was lit," she finally stopped, grabbing her phone back and checking out the photos. "You want me to snap some of you?"
Hunter shook his head and walked over to the edge, overlooking the cliff as other tourists got busy taking pictures. "No need."
"Oh, man, this is crazy steep," Alice blurted out as she neared the edge next to Hunter. "By the way, can I ask you something?"
Hunter felt a sudden change in her voice, a tinge of seriousness embracing her being. "Go ahead."
Alice gently bobbed her head, her gaze drifting downward from the cliff's edge once more. "If I try to jump off this cliff, would you catch me?"
"..."
"No." Shocked at first by her weird question, Hunter replied without hesitation.
"That was quick. I kinda feel bad now." Alice smiled suddenly, her ivory teeth visible, "But why? Isn't that the right thing to do?"
"It's a risk." Hunter scoffed, looked down at the cliff once, and then back at Alice's face, "And I don't know you much."
Alice smiled more freely, almost making it a smirk. Her sharp, icy-blue eyes pierced into Hunter's gaze for a short moment before she spoke.
"Then… would you like to know me?"
"..."
So smooth even Hunter had to agree he didn't see this one coming.
_________________
[A/N: See Alice here or on discord.]
Stone Monke To The Moon!
