5 Bloodhound Cartel

Various notifications appear each time Theo completes his exercises. With a body covered in sweat, he sits down while regulating his irregular breathing due to the workout. Theo sits on the available chair. His hand reaches for the bottled water on the table, and he takes a sip.

"It's really exhausting. But at least I'm getting used to all of this," murmurs Theo quietly. His hand gestures through the air, revealing the displayed system screen. On the screen, he quickly checks the total number of coins he has earned so far.

Theo falls silent with wide-eyed astonishment; he can't believe what he sees. "If my calculations are correct and the value of these coins is equal to my currency, then that means 315,580 coins are equal to 315,580 Dӱ. That means... I'm rich!"

Theo smiles broadly. He never expected to accumulate this much money just by completing exercise quests. 315,580 Dӱ is a significant amount. Even 1 Dӱ is equivalent to 3 Pound sterling.

The amount is even larger than Theo imagined, considering he only completed missions for three months. Now, his weight has dropped to around 78 kilos.

During these three months, many things have happened. Theo remained focused on losing weight and completing exercises to shape his body. Additionally, he adopted a healthy lifestyle and successfully changed every bad habit. Now, Theo has become a completely different person. However, his efforts to find his murderers were entirely in vain. When the police, who were asked to investigate the case, were close to capturing the culprits, they suddenly lost track. Not only that, but the car they were searching for also unexpectedly crashed, resulting in the passengers and the car owner inside experiencing a fatal accident.

The police didn't conduct the autopsy as Theo had hoped, citing insufficient evidence. Without the fingerprints found during Theo's robbery, it became challenging to confirm whether they were the actual perpetrators. Even the tattoos Theo observed seemed useless, as all the individuals who attacked him had identical tattoos in the same body locations. Although it was the only evidence convincing Theo that the accident victim also had the exact same tattoo, he remained certain that the person found by the police wasn't his killer. Unfortunately, Theo couldn't determine the victim's face, as it was charred in the accident.

Nevertheless, the only thing Theo could be certain of was the voice. He vividly remembered the voice of the man who stabbed him. If he could hear that voice again, Theo might be convinced it was the same man who killed him. Eventually, the case was closed, and Theo found no way out of the mystery.

Not wanting to dwell on stress and frustration alone with all that, Theo eventually sought a new part-time job and landed a position as a waiter at a nightclub. There was a reason why Theo chose to work in a place like that. He believed that clubs were generally frequented by people from diverse backgrounds, and by working there, he was confident that he could encounter at least one person capable of leading him to answers about the individual who intended to kill him.

<Ding! >

"Absolutely incredible. The money I've earned even surpasses what they stole from my savings. Moreover, if I save this money while working, it might take hundreds of years before I accumulate this much."

"Today, more people are coming than I imagined," mumbled Jim.

"Isn't that good? Our earnings will be higher today," replied Berta, leaning against the bar.

"But that means we'll have a tough time. You know, situations can get out of control if there are too many visitors."

"You're right," she responded. Shortly after, they shifted their attention to a group of men dressed in black with disheveled appearances entering. They had intimidating faces, with some sporting piercings on their faces, while others had tattoos on their foreheads and necks. With a slightly arrogant stride, they walked in.

Theo, who had just placed a customer's order, accidentally bumped into one of them. "Sorry."

Theo quickly apologized upon realizing the intimidating appearance of the man he bumped into. The man he unintentionally collided with remained silent without saying anything, choosing to walk along with the rest of his group. Theo fell silent for a moment; for some reason, their appearance reminded him of a group of people who stabbed him a few months ago. But from their eyes and aura, Theo was sure they weren't the ones. Having completed his task, Theo intended to return to his spot, but the group of men who had just arrived called him over, asking Theo to fetch drinks with a high alcohol content. Not just one, but they requested several bottles of different types of drinks. Theo promptly approached Jim, the bartender, who had been chatting with Berta during her break. There, Theo asked Jim to prepare the order requested by the recently arrived group of men.

Once Jim handed over the order, Theo hurriedly delivered it to the group of men. "I have a bad feeling seeing them here," muttered Berta suddenly as Theo returned to them to take a brief rest.

"What do you mean?" Theo furrowed his brow. From what Theo observed, the group of men there indeed had intimidating appearances. However, their response when Theo accidentally bumped into them made him believe they weren't troublemakers.

"That's because every time Infero Ravens is here, the Bloodhound Cartel will always come too," Jim replied.

"Infero Ravens? What does that mean?" Theo still didn't understand.

"The people sitting there. They're called Infero Ravens! One of the strongest gangster groups in the city." Berta pointed towards the group of men that Theo had served earlier. The man just nodded in response.

"Then who are the Bloodhound Cartel?"

"They are—"

Just as Berta intended to explain, her words were abruptly cut off when another group of men dressed in black appeared at the entrance. This time, they were well-dressed, in stark contrast to the Infero Ravens group already present.

"They're here," murmured Jim. Theo turned to look at what they were seeing, and his expression changed as soon as he saw their arrival. His body froze in place, his eyes wide open in shock.

Th-those... those people, Theo clenched both his fists upon seeing them.

"They are the Bloodhound Cartel," Jim whispered softly.

<Ding! >

<Quest: The Group You Seek!< p>

"In the shadows, hidden foes. Your greatest adventure is when you close.

Who is it that you seek?

Answer the riddle, secrets here peek."

Category: Main

Difficulty Level: D

Completion Requirement: Search and gather as much information as possible about the Bloodhound Cartel group that stabbed you from the people around you.

Time Limit: -

Reward: Coin reward will be calculated based on the amount of information you acquire. So, the more information you gather, the more coin rewards you will receive.

Note: Please avoid talking or conversing directly with them, as they might recognize you. Additionally, your fighting abilities are not adequate to face them if the situation becomes complicated!>

***

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