Chapter 91: Chapter 74: Chrysanthemum, Blade, Phantom Dream_3
When he arrived at the scene, he found only Clafu’s corpse in the alley piled with trash.
The lottery ticket had also vanished.
That guy died quite miserably.
First beaten and coerced, then shot to silence.
[Mission Objective Updated]
[Find the killer. (Incomplete)]
John squatted beside the corpse, holding a gun.
Messiah’s Eye has a scene analysis function.
He saw footprints, walked to the alley entrance, and faint brake marks were highlighted.
John’s cybernetic eye flickered again.
He accessed Silver Rider 577 remotely through the Atlanta Virtual Network.
This place wasn’t too far from Dan Street.
The supercar had been repaired, came to a steady stop, and the doors opened automatically.
John had previously run missions for Damascus.
The rewards included a badass plugin specifically for vehicle track tracing, originally Alonna’s, but repurposed on John’s Eisenberg after War Mother’s car was wrecked in a camp battle.
He activated the software.
The street was grid-mapped, projecting a faint vehicle phantom.
John tracked it to the destination.
He was now very close to the city center, where skyscrapers housed multinational corporate offices.
Police patrols and hovercar flights were doubled.
John walked into an alley.
Several people were gathered around the car.
John pulled out his rifle and headed straight in.
He didn’t greet them; as soon as they exclaimed and drew their guns, he fired immediately.
The smart rifle emptied half a magazine.
No one left standing in the alley.
The sound of electromagnetic bullets was quiet, and the Zebra GUB’s non-lethal mode wouldn’t immediately end them.
John walked forward slowly.
The burly man raised his hands in defense, quickly begging for mercy.
"Hey, wait... John, right? I fucking recognize this car, heard your name."
John put away the rifle and pulled out his Vodka revolver.
"Then you’d better fucking explain why you slaughtered my employer? Someone named Clafu, the body’s not even shitting itself yet."
"What?"
The guy with the shoulder wound looked more shocked than he did.
"That dumbass could afford you?"
"Are you playing dumb with me?"
John punched him in the face with his gun hand. "Clafu won over a million, and didn’t you kill for this shit?"
The burly men sighed in relief and immediately began to explain.
"John, you misunderstood, we didn’t do it out of greed."
"The one who hired us was the TV station’s lottery company’s backer. The millions were meant to cover up an embezzlement."
"There was an issue during machine maintenance, and unfortunately, this series of numbers was bought by some unlucky fool during that time."
"There’s no dream of sudden wealth, only murder to silence."
"Originally, the plan was to act when the winner claimed the ticket, but time dragged on without anyone showing up, and the employer couldn’t wait!"
"That account had to be settled immediately, or there’d be turmoil in the lottery company’s management. We’re just hired to recover the paper originals."
...
John hesitated to speak.
Since taking on this mission, he didn’t know how many curses he’d uttered.
He lifted his foot and slammed the nearby trash can.
The burly men begged for mercy again.
"No need for this, man. You’re a mercenary, bro, and we’re just in it for the money too, right?"
"But you’ve been through a lot, how about splitting half the commission, let us go, okay?"
John’s face was expressionless.
He received a transfer, then put away his gun, silently turning to leave.
[Side Mission: Stockholm (Completed)]
[Reward: Payment (Variable)]