081: What happened?
**Chapter 81**
“What?” When the phone rang, Tom woke up and ran out of the bedroom in his pajamas, which surprised his wife, Elise. When asked about the issue, his straightforward response was, “There has been an accident at work. I’m going there now.”
Tom departed his residence and arrived at the location where firetrucks were making every effort to contain the fire. However, the fire’s unrelenting spread was a testament to its immense size.
“Report,” Tom said in a low voice, but no one around him spoke. They all stood quietly as the fire spread throughout the surroundings.
“Report!” The person next to Tom didn’t say anything until Tom yelled.
“Someone called the fire department after noticing the fire from far away. When they arrived, they also found bodies inside. The crew members and everyone else who was here to finish the trade were all dead.”
“Everyone?” Tom asked as he gnashed his teeth.
“At present, we have been able to prevent the police from entering the area due to the ongoing spread of the fire and the absence of any IDs so far. There’s a good chance that our police contacts have their firearms and identification with them,” the subordinate replied.
After closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to gather his thoughts, Tom asked the most important question.
“And the shipment?” Tom asked.
“It’s...” The subordinate couldn’t reply. He was unable to respond, as he was too frightened to speak. Not only was he frightened, but everyone around him was also frightened of Tom, as he was breathing like a wild beast.
“Missing?” Tom asked.
“...Yes.” The subordinate finally replied after a brief pause. Tom took a moment to regain his composure before responding to the subordinate, “Find them. Find everything you can. If not, be prepared to offer your heads to the boss in the morning.”
When the word “Boss” was used, the men and women around Tom shook with fear. As everyone hurried to ascertain the information they could, Tom prepared to meet the Boss. There was no way the Boss hadn’t already heard about it after all.
~~
In the dead of night, Tom pulled up outside a still-open bar. Given its location in the heart of the city, one would anticipate a high volume of patrons, but it was entirely deserted. A group of people in black suits with guns surrounded Tom as he walked into the bar.
While Tom proceeded to the bar and sat down, one of them also took Tom’s jacket.
“What will you take?” questioned the bartender, who appeared to be slightly younger than Tom. He looked great with his black hair and beard, and he was in great shape. Tom looked at him as he replied, “Whiskey on the rocks.”
Nodding, the bartender prepared Tom’s order. Soon after, it was prepared and presented to him. It took some time for Tom to be joined by a growing number of men who entered the bar. Once there were four men in the bar and everyone had a drink, the bartender asked, “So? Where’s my merchandise, Mister Miller?”
“...” Tom remained silent. Neither he nor the other men could answer.
“You were correct when you said that I shouldn’t have let the police handle this,” the bartender said with a smile. “Look at what happened.”
“I was merely giving an opinion,” Tom replied.
“Well, not listening to your opinion has cost me a lot.” After saying that, the bartender moved on to another subject: “A fascinating discovery has been made.”
When he gave Tom a tablet, he showed him a video on it. Tom asked right away, “Doctored?”
“Highly unlikely. Every five minutes, the data is sent to the servers, so even if someone deletes it, we can still get the video from before the hard drives and cameras were destroyed,” the bartender said.
“Then do you mean to tell me...?” It was hard for Tom to find the right words to ask. He was watching footage that was simply unbelievable. Someone with the ability to make fireballs appear out of nowhere and move so fast that the camera was unable to capture what he was doing. Since the man was wearing all black, no one could see his face, but Tom knew it was a real person.
“In my entire life, I have never seen something like this.” The bartender’s demeanor was composed as he stated, “I would have been skeptical if someone were to describe the scene to me if I had not witnessed it firsthand. I would have shot them on the spot.”
Tom now understood why the bartender was so calm, even though millions of dollars’ worth of weapons had been stolen. He discovered something more interesting than weapons.
“Locate this... object, subject, or whatever term is appropriate for addressing the individual in the video. Spare no resources. We must have something like that on our side, even if it is absurd. And oversee the next shipment yourself,” the bartender said before he added, “It’s best to lose faith in the police.”
As the bartender stated this, one of the men on the far left bowed his head in shame, as he was the primary point of contact with the police. Tom nodded; he was well aware that it was a challenging task, but he had no choice but to do it because it was his job.
“Ah, that reminds me...”
Tom stopped as the bartender spoke. Tom looked at him and waited for him to continue.
“What about our expansion?”
“I’m trying to lure the boy. I don’t want to tell him everything just yet, so I’m using other methods,” Tom replied.
“Hmm...” After contemplating the situation for a moment, the bartender stated, “Given the boy’s extensive network, it is reasonable to assume that he is ambitious for his age. He would never turn down a chance like this one.”
Tom nodded, and when he got what it meant, he went off to make his plans. At least the problem of locating the missing weapons was resolved for the time being. If their boss had discovered an improved alternative, there was no need to be concerned about the repercussions of the missing weapons.
Despite his current composure, Tom left for home because he was afraid he might give away something to his family with all these secrets.
~~
I knew one thing for sure after this battle. I wasn’t strong enough to stop bullets. Even with my stats being so high, bullets still went through my body. The shots from smaller guns would only hurt, but the ones from an automatic rifle would go right through me.
And it fucking hurt.
I was still hurt, regardless of how much of a man I was. Fuck!
As I took the bullets out of my body, I really wanted to curse out loud.
I tried using the same move as Rox, where he would cover his whole body in aura to make his defense stronger, but mana didn’t seem to work the same way. I tried putting a layer on my body, but it broke after a few bullets, and the MP it used wasn’t worth it.
Instead, my eyes turned to the skills. Especially this one in particular.
[Mana Shield]
[Rank: C]
[Effect: Creates a sturdy shield infused with mana to cover the entire body of the caster]
[Duration: 3 minutes]
[Cooldown: 10 minutes]
[Cost: 1000 MP]
[Cost: 30,000 SC]
The skill was good and the duration was adequate as well. I wasn’t completely happy with it, but it was something. The only problem was the cost. After buying the Fireball skill, I had no coins left in my shop at all.
To get this skill, I would have to have sex thirty times, which was a lot even for me. Still, I was never going to treat sex like a chore, so I promised myself again that I would have the time of my life starting tomorrow.
Because I had left my blood at the scene of the crime, I had to burn down the whole building and everything in it. Of course, I took the weapons with me in the inventory. That was a chance I was not going to miss.
Anyway, as I was healing in my room and cleaning any potential blood stains, I heard a loud yell emanating from downstairs, followed by the clatter of the front door.
It wasn’t a very loud noise; my ears were just very sensitive to it. I doubted that even the girls were awakened by that. However, I was able to identify the sound’s owner, and it turned out to be my aunt’s husband, whose wife I had shagged twice.
I was worried about her, so I went downstairs and saw my aunt in her nightwear in the living room. She had a worried look on her face.
I approached her and asked, “What happened?”