Chapter 410 - 406: Adrian's Target
Soon, the movie ended. Ryder and Alice left the theater.
"You must be getting hungry. Let's go eat," Ryder told Alice as he stepped out of the theatre.
Even though he was acting calm, his mind was thinking about many things. One of which was the situation about Ray. The second thing was about Alice and how the situation between them had changed suddenly. The last thing that was on his mind was the Mission that Janus had given him.
He couldn't help but think about the missing—Janus' words repeated in his head.
<Mission: Kill the person who leaked the information of Ray's mission>
<Mission Reward: Twenty Level Up in real world>
<Mission Reward: Five Hundred Origin Points>
<Mission Reward: Two Strength Doubling Pills>
<Time Limit: Five days>
<Failure outcome: Ray will lose his job as well as his life>
<Failure outcome: Dark Uprising will know about you>
Ryder was very serious about this mission. He had already decided to do it even if he hadn't received the mission, but the rewards were what Ryder was more stunned by.
The rewards were too lavish. In fact, it was arguably one of the best rewards that Janus had offered.
He was going to gain twenty levels in the real world, which was proving to be hard to level up since he had been the one who was proactively attacking enemies before they could get a chance. Due to that reason, he hadn't been getting experience since it only worked when the enemies attacked first.
The need to be stealthily was proving to be his enemy. Despite that, he had been growing slowly. Whenever he got an opportunity, he got into an argument with people on the streets, making them attack him in frustration before he beat them up. Even though it was slow, he had still been gaining experience slowly and steadily.
This time's reward meant that he was going to get so much experience that he would level up twenty times in close succession. That wasn't a cheap reward at all.
The second reward was also good since five hundred points weren't cheap. He could buy some really decent items from the store using the five hundred Origin Points.
What really amazed him was the third reward—the strength doubling pills.
He remembered using something similar at the start. He had seen Strengthening Pills in the store that was cheap. He had received the pills as a reward for his first mission. Each pill had managed to increase his strength and was able to increase his strength by fifty percent.
When he had gained more origin points, he had tried to buy Strengthening Pills; however, he failed. He only got a notification that these pills couldn't be purchased. According to Janus, things like these were only given as rewards. That's why the reward this time was more special.
The Strength Doubling pills were even more special than the Strengthening Pills. The Strength Doubling pills doubled the strength instead of increasing it by fifty percent like strengthening pills.
Two Strength Doubling pills were enough to give him four times his current strength, which was a massive boost for him.
He had already been feeling weak since he wasn't able to defeat the Kings of Dark Uprising. He wanted to be stronger, and this was a perfect opportunity since it was going to make him four times stronger.
He wanted to ask Janus why he was being so nice to him with the rewards. Was it his birthday or something? He wanted to ask if something special was going on since Janus was trying to make him stronger like that, but he didn't ask since he was with Alice now.
"Oh, Alice. You know I got a call when I was watching a movie? It was from work. For a business meeting, I need to travel to the New Capital. Since you're also going to have a week-long holiday, how about you come with me as well?" Ryder asked Alice as he unlocked the car.
"The New Capital? Awesome. It can be a vacation," Alice replied as she smiled. "I heard that place is beautiful."
"Hahaha, yeah. We can have a vacation after my business meeting finishes," Ryder said, nodding his head.
According to him, he was going to be free after he finished killing the target. He could spend a few days with Alice, sightseeing. This could also work as an excuse for him being present in the New Capital. If anyone raises their finger on him by somehow linking him to the murder, he could claim that he was there on a vacation with Alice.
"It's going to be so fun," Alice said as she sat inside the car.
"It will be much more than fun," Ryder muttered as he smiled.
****
"Boss. We have managed to hack inside their country database. We found the girl you were looking for. We even find her picture."
Adrian and a few other people were inside a room that seemed like a place where a team of cyber experts worked. There were computers and big machines everywhere.
"You found her? Good. Show me the pictures," Adrian said as he smiled.
"Right away."
The printer started printing out the image. Adrian walked towards the printer and saw the image.
"So she is the girl who wrote that essay," Adrian muttered as a smile formed on his face.
"I went so far for you with just your address," he let out, shaking his head.
****
Four months ago,
Adrian stepped inside an office.
A well dressed middle-aged man was sitting on the chair. As soon as he saw Adrian, he stood up.
"Boss. What are you doing here? You could have called me. I would have come to you."
"Nothing. I was just getting bored. I thought I'd come and see you since it had been a while. Anyway, what are you doing?" Adrian asked.
The middle-aged man replied, "I was just going through the admission forms filled by people for admission in our university. I went through the national students' forms. I was going through the international ones now."
"Oh? International kids want to study here too?" Adrian asked in surprise.
"Hahaha, who wouldn't. We are the top university in Russia. Many people apply to get admission every year," the middle-aged man answered as he laughed.
" How do you decide who to select and who to reject based on their details alone?" Adrian asked as he walked closer to the stacks of paper. "Or do you decide based on their looks?"
"We can't decide based on their looks anyway since our forms don't need them to add their pictures. They only need to fill in their details like name, mail id, address, and a few other minor details. What we select them on are their answers. Our form has multiple personalities related questions. We select based on their answers."
"Oh? Personality related questions? Let me see what you asked and what they said." Adrian picked up the stack of paper and started going through them.
"Such a naive kid."
"This one is an idiot."
"This one is surely lying."
"His answers are so generic."
Adrian kept reading through the forms and throwing them aside since he didn't like any of the answers. It was like that until he read the twentieth form.
"So far, none of them are impressive. Let's see who's next. Oh, Alice." Adrian read the name on the twentieth form. He skipped all the details and went straight to answers.
'Hmm? He's reading so carefully? It seems as if he's fascinated by her personality. Just who could that girl be?' the middle-aged man asked as he saw her reaction.
" Amazing. Someone like this truly exist in this world? Her words are so fascinating. Her thoughts, her personality, her ideas... They're all perfect. It's like I was writing them myself," Adrian muttered softly as he gazed at the paper gently.
"Really? Who knows. She might as well be your soulmate since she is the same as you," the Middle-aged man said, jokingly.
"Soulmate, huh," Adrian muttered as he looked at the address on the paper.
"Give her admission. Tell her she can come here," he told the middle-aged man before he left.
One month later,
"What happened with the girl? Did you finalize her admission? When is she coming to Russia?" Adrian asked the middle-aged man over the phone.
"Ah, actually... She said no. She said she didn't want to read in other countries now. Something about her brother telling her that she didn't need to go to other countries for studies. I don't know the exact scenario. All I know is she refused. I basically begged to have her here, but she didn't budge," the middle-aged man said as he sighed.
"Hah, looks like I'll have to go there myself to meet her then," Adrian muttered as he disconnected the call.
****
Present time,
"So you're Alice," Adrian muttered as he looked at the photo before him.
"Sigh, unfortunately, I'm banned from going there based on the orders of the lord. Don't worry. My men will bring you here," he let out as he smiled.