51 To Free Oneself From Inhibitors 1 (1/2)

F Country, within a remote part of Velvet City which was two hours away from West Alina.

The sound of a gunshot echoed throughout an abandoned warehouse. Accompanied by that was the thudding sound of someone falling on the ground after letting out a moan of pain. A second later, a swarm of rats and cockroaches hiding on or under some of the dirty stacked up crates from the side scurried out startled, the loud continuous sounds breaking the silence of the dark place.

The man wielding the handgun was wearing a large black coat over his body. He stood at the entrance with a hand holding the gun positioned in front of him, his lowered face was hidden by the black cap, but the eyes peeking out were brown and cold, emotionless even. It was like shooting down a live human was nothing but a walk in the park, natural and a matter of fact.

He strode towards the direction of the boy he shot down, intent on triple-checking if the person was truly dead or not. His steps were leisurely, but since his legs were long, it didn't take much time for him to reach the motionless body lying face planted on the dirty and dusty floor. The place was dark, but it didn't bother the man one bit. He could make out where the head, limbs and other parts were. That's all that matters. A bloody stench wafted over, assaulting his nose but it didn't elicit any reaction from the man. He merely lifted his left foot and stepped on the boy repeatedly. His actions were rough and full of strength. A sound of bones breaking made way to his ears but that seemed to not make the man any satisfied.

He raised his gun again and pointed it at the back of the boy's head. At that moment, his earpiece was ringing with another man's voice reporting that the police were coming. In reality, he could already hear the loud noises of the police cars nearing this place. Any minute they would be arriving. His current position was deep into the warehouse. The door was more than ten meters away. Once they infiltrate the place, he would be damned. But he didn't care. He still did things without feeling hurried.

”Bang!”

”Bang!”

Two bullets got planted into the boy's skull, causing the area to stink more of blood. He remembered earlier, aside from the sound of the gunshots, he seemed to have heard some watery stuff splashing or leaking out somewhere. That caused him to grin savagely as he reloaded the gun with bullets.

”Bang!”

”Bang!”

”Bang!”

Despite it being dark, some intruding rays of moonlight managed to illuminate their spot a bit, and he could barely make out some uneven or hollow surface on the boy's head. He crouched down, doing his best to avoid the pool of blood around the unmoving body. The man grabbed the other's hair and made it so that it would be convenient for him to test if the boy was really dead. He placed a finger before the other's nose and waited there for a few seconds.

'Not breathing anymore.'

'Faking it?'

'Should be not. I'm sure I didn't miss the mark, and it's actually stupid to think of missing when it's almost point blank.'

'Should be really dead.'

”Young Master!”

The man swung his head to the entrance as he heard the voice coming from there. He stood up unhurriedly, pocketing his two hands in the front of the black coat.

”George,” he said.

”The police arrived. Old Gil and the others are stalling them. Let's get out of here now.”

The unfeeling man threw one last stare at the corpse lying nearby before giving a nod to the newcomer. He began walking out of the warehouse with George following him.

A minute later, a shadowy figure appeared next to the corpse. Its form solidifying after five more seconds. By then, the two men could no longer be seen, and this figure who had just solidified into a boy was a duplicate of the person lying coldly on the floor. He looked out of breath, or someone who had held back his breathing for so long in fear of getting found out by the ruthless man. He huffed a few cold air, his eyes pinned onto his copy. The darkness of the place hid his very pale countenance and the few beads of sweat that formed on his face and neck. Under his black jacket, particularly at the back, cold sweat was also trickling down, silently testifying to how scared he had become.

”Dammit. I almost died...”

He staggered out of the warehouse, seizing the chance to flee while the police were still not here.

”That damnable demon! He nearly killed me! He's a devil! He's so ruthless! Just to make sure I'm dead, he shot my copy's head five more times! If that is me... Dammit!”

<System: It's your fault. You reap what you sow. Be thankful that you're still alive and kicking.>

”Son of a bitch. I'm of course happy to be alive. I'm so happy I can even host a party! You see, I survived the hunt of a demon like that? If not for me reaching level 3, and gaining that skill, I would be really dead! But what I want to know is how he knew where I am!”

The pale boy, Floyd Cruz, alertly wandered his eyes around as he peeked out from the entrance before sprinting in full force. He didn't even dare look back. All he did was run to the opposite direction from where the sound of the police cars and gunshots were coming. He ran past many shrubs, and trees, and reached the place were small houses began appearing. As his eyes looked around warily, a reply came from the phone pocketed in his jacket.

<System: If you want to know why, 200 Points.>

”You useless system! Son of a bitch! Just deduct it!” He frustratedly shouted as he jumped over a two meters fence and crouched down at the backyard of a random house he had chosen. Behind him, he suddenly heard some frightening words and voices for a criminal like him. He reckoned somebody saw him from the last alleyway he turned to and then alerted a nearby or passing police to his direction. With reddening eyes, he charged towards the other side with his body lowered, and then immediately jumped over again to the fence to continue dashing messily on the web of streets.

Meanwhile, he listened to the system's report. Fury growing within as seconds and minutes passed. When his system finished, he felt so ridiculous that he wanted to charge back to West Alina City and kill the bitch that turned him, a rich and pampered playboy like him, into an almost cornered rat.

With raging heart and mouth, under the full-mooned night, he roared out, ”Damn you, bitch! Damn you, Gio! I'll surely make the both of you pay for this! I'll make the two of you wish for a quick death! Motherfuckers!”

<System: Can't you just shut up? If you can't, then why don't you just shout straightaway, 'I'm freaking here! Arrest me! Shoot me down, please!'... Oops, someone's in front twenty meters ahead.>

Floyd cursed under his breath and immediately changed directions. However, not even five minutes passed and his system once again told him someone was also manning the road ahead. The night's darkness seemed to become deeper, and every time he turned around or evade, no matter which way he chooses, a person dressed in blue or black would be waiting there. He grew tired every passing minute and his stamina which was higher than normal athlete gradually ran out.

”What's happening?”

<System: Ten meters ahead, there's another person again.>

Floyd was barely gasping for breath and the system speaking from his phone only continued to repeat the same message. How he hoped it just went crazy or glitchy because every word it said was bad news, but he knew it only spoke the truth. After all, he had consented to the auto-deducting of points for information about possible threats. But he was certainly unhappy about his current situation. Just an hour ago, he almost died. He had barely escaped from that warehouse which used to be his hideout. Now, he's been running for almost an hour, and he's still being cornered?

<System: Left, seventeen meters.>

<System: Left, five meters, right, fourteen....>

<System: You're running out of points... At the back, a police officer wielding a gun is running towards you... Distance is... cannot be calculated, not enough points. Sorry, dude.>

Floyd almost went crazy as he jumped again over a fence and barged into a window of the small bamboo house. He got into a small dark room, only his improved vision allowed him to spot a very narrow bed at the corner.

'Nobody's at home?'

<System: Scanning. Your remaining points are enough for non-threat inquiry. Nobody's at home. Mr. Horny, it seems this house is abandoned. Smell the dust in the air and you'll know.>

Floyd's eyes busily swam around, his brain also furiously planning. Knowing that someone out there could pinpoint his location and even tell it to the police and those men in black, he shivered. His eyes which could not be hidden by the darkness turned redder from madness.

'Should I hide beneath the bed?'

<System: Up to you.Hehe, they'll surely barge in here. Some of those people saw you running the street outside.>

'Damn. Then I'll just pretend to be the owner of this house.'

He began moving around and looking for a blanket or anything to cover himself with. After finding one at a cupboard on the left, he cheered within and celebrated that at least, his 15 luck was not that useless. He laid down the bed and then posed to be sleeping. In case somebody truly trespassed to look for him, he could pretend to be the owner of the house sleeping the night away.

To complete the story, he begrudgingly asked his system to apply the only system-rewarded Face Changer to himself, customizing his looks into that of a typical middle-aged and seemingly unmarried man. Now, only his clothes should be a problem. There was nothing he could about this though, given that he didn't have enough time to find any change of clothing in this room. He could only make sure to cover his whole body with the moldy and dust-smelling blanket. Floyd's heart was practically going wild from fear and worry as he lied on the bed with eyes closed.

'Heaven or hell, just make them go away.'