Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 103
Jolene Cavendish stepped out of the carriage, and the night wind blew her painstakingly groomed hair into disarray again. It was still early morning, and the red lands of Olympus lay quietly asleep under the star-studded night sky, while those active at night had just woken up from their dreams.
Seven or eight black hovercars were parked in a row by the roadside, each car occupied by three or four men with grim expressions. The leading man, about thirty years old, had his light golden hair tied into a ponytail. Jolene noticed he had two guns at his waist.
“Are you Mr. Dominic?” Jolene walked towards the man and extended her hand.
“Yes, I am.” Dominic was a trusted subordinate of the Fairmonts, the family’s top assassin. He took Jolene’s hand and kissed it. “Mr. Fairmont asked me to kiss you on his behalf, madam.”
“Fortunately, Kepler isn’t here, or he would definitely throw a fit,” Jolene said in a conspiratorial tone. “Don’t tell him.”
“I’ll keep it a secret.”
Dominic’s green eyes then turned to the person behind Jolene—a silver-haired man dressed in a black coat like the Mourner’s outfit, with a white flower pinned to his chest. His eyes were dark as the night, but a ring of flame seemed to burn around his pupils. This was the “Abyssal Fire”, the purgatorial flames that burned all enemies to ashes.
Dominic nodded in greeting to him. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Mourner.”
“You too, Dominic Fourier.”
The two shook hands.
“When are we departing?” Dominic asked.
“We’re waiting for Mr. Kepler’s instructions.”
“Where is he?”
“At the New Zurich Bank.”
Kepler walked into the 24-hour lobby of the New Zurich Bank, where the teller, who always wore the same expression, looked up and smiled at him. “How can I help you, sir?”
“I have something to deposit.”
“Do you have an account with us?”
Kepler recited a string of numbers. The teller checked the computer for a moment and asked, “What do you want to deposit?”
“A small item.” The loan shark placed a thin chip on the counter, producing a faint sound upon contact. The teller put on gloves, carefully picked up the chip, placed it in a storage box, and called a colleague to take the box to the bank’s vault.
“The item you wish to deposit has been received. Please press your fingerprint.”
Kepler pressed his index finger on the fingerprint scanner, which lit up green. The teller handed him a paper receipt.
“That’s it?” The process was so simple that it surprised the loan shark. He had expected to be led into a small room and subjected to rigorous verification.
“Yes.” The teller smiled. “Do you need any other services?”
“No.” The loan shark folded the receipt twice and put it in his pocket, then turned and left the bank. He turned a corner and entered a large supermarket, pretending to shop while putting on an earpiece for his communication terminal. An AI and a super hacker were working in shifts, analyzing and organizing the collected data for him.
“The bank has sent a receipt of the item to the vault owner,” the AI Leonard said through the earphone. “Successfully hacked into the surveillance system. Two suspicious targets identified. Someone is following you, Kepler.”
The loan shark picked up a makeup mirror and saw two men sneakily watching him from behind a shelf. He put down the mirror and quickly walked into the supermarket’s public restroom. After a while, one of the men followed him in. Kepler pretended to wash his hands and, when the man walked up behind him, suddenly turned and punched him in the abdomen. The man screamed in pain, clutching his stomach. Kepler chopped the back of his neck, rendering him unconscious, and dragged him into an empty stall. The other man, who had been waiting outside, rushed in upon hearing the scream. Kepler knocked him out in the same way and dragged him into the same stall. After thinking for a moment, he pulled down their pants, closed the stall door, and walked out of the restroom.
A supermarket security guard heard the noise and approached. “Is everything okay, sir?”
Kepler stopped him. “No, nothing. Just two young men.” His face seemed to say, “You know what I mean.” The guard nodded knowingly. “Young people, they’re impulsive.”
“Indeed,” the loan shark agreed. He bought a towel and left the supermarket, then walked back to the bank. This time, he didn’t go directly to the lobby but waited quietly at a nearby corner.
A rustling sound came through the earpiece. “He’s here.”
A man in a black suit walked into the bank.
“Is he alone?” Kepler asked.
“No, he has two accomplices in the car. There’s a black ground vehicle at your two o’clock. Do you see it?”
“I see it. Buy me some time.”
“Okay. I’ll create a computer malfunction in the bank.”
Kepler pulled out the gun at his waist, attached a silencer, unlocked the safety, and confirmed it was ready to fire. He put it back in his pocket and walked towards the ground vehicle. The two people inside noticed a stranger approaching and immediately became alert. Kepler gave them no time to react. Once he was within shooting range, he drew his gun and fired. Two bright beams pierced through the car window and the two men’s heads.
“He’s got the item and is about to leave the bank.”
Kepler opened the car door and arranged the two bodies as if they were resting against the seatbacks, then hid on the other side of the car. After a while, the man who had gone into the bank to retrieve the chip returned. He gasped upon seeing the bullet holes in the car window. At that moment, Kepler leaped onto the car roof and used the momentum of his fall to knock the man to the ground. As he landed, he shot the man’s hands and stuffed the newly bought towel into his mouth as he screamed, muffling the sound.
“Don’t make noise, kid.” Kepler opened the car door, kicked the man inside, and fired two more shots at his legs before climbing in. He pressed the gun to the man’s forehead and said, “Now, I ask the questions, and you nod or shake your head. Understood?”
The man nodded frantically. The car was filled with a strong smell of blood, and the two companions in the front seat were already dead. He knew if he dared to resist, he would soon join his companions in the afterlife.
“Are you the assassin ‘Salesman’?”
Nod.
“Are you a subordinate of Duke Winnet?”
Nod.
“Is the Duke in Olympus?”
Shake head.
“Did you plan this absurd kidnapping?”
Shake head.
“You take orders directly from someone else—another subordinate of the Duke?”
Hesitation, nod.
“Is your ‘superior’ currently at the place where Alois Lagrange is being held?”
Nod.
“Can you contact your ‘superior’ now?”
Nod.
Kepler searched him for a while and found a communication terminal. “With this?”
Nod.
“I like honest kids,” Kepler smiled. “Now, goodbye.” He pulled the trigger.
Three bodies in the car posed a problem. So Kepler dragged the driver’s body to the back seat and drove to “Godfather” Fairmont’s territory. He would handle the three dead bodies perfectly, leaving no trace. The terminal taken from the “Salesman” was connected to Kepler’s terminal, and Leo was scanning its data to locate the “superior” and the place where Alois was being held.
Joshua smoked under the starry sky. He had borrowed the strong-tasting cigarette from Dominic, which he wasn’t used to. But with nothing else to do, he smoked one after another until a pile of cigarette butts formed at his feet.
“Joshua?” Leo’s voice came through the earphone.
The assassin threw away the half-smoked cigarette. “Have you found it?”
“Yes. I’m sending the analyzed address to you now.”
The enemy’s location was sent to Joshua’s communication terminal. Dominic leaned over, pointing at the holographic satellite map. “I know this place. It’s an unfinished building in the Takamagahara District. Although the building was never completed, the land remains privately owned and is usually off-limits… and no one wants to go there anyway.”
Joshua glanced at Dominic. “What’s the terrain like around it?”
“There should be an abandoned sewer left from the construction. Here.” Dominic pointed on the holographic map. “The entrance is here and leads inside the building.”
Joshua stared at the holographic model of the building, memorizing every room, staircase, and passage.
“Let’s go.” He stomped out the cigarette butt, grinding it into the red soil.
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