Chapter 44: Identity Crisis

The moment Hiro entered the A-Club through the front door, he immediately commanded Ei to hack the cloud server and search for all materials related to him.

The last time he was here, he killed someone.

Although Hiro was positive that nothing of the sort was kept on files, Hiro wanted to be 100% safe.

Not only the cloud but also the wi-fi network and all devices connected to it, not limited to mobile phones and laptops.

It was a clean, monumental sweep that lasted for 30 minutes before Ei reported to Hiro that it had indeed found images and videos that could be used as evidence against him.

"Gather information on everyone who had evidence on me before you delete all of it, don't leave anything behind," Hiro spoke into his Bluetooth earpiece.

To make things convenient, he had Ei infiltrate into his smartphone and replace the standard Siri.

This is far less conspicuous than Hiro talking directly to his watch, and it would draw less attention.

Ei immediately took action, sent the files to Hiro's private cloud server, and went silent.

"What are you doing here?" Hiro was resting his chin on his palm as he leaned into the bar counter, reminiscing in thoughts.

Then, he felt a tap on his shoulder as a familiar sound echoed in his ear. Turning around, he noticed that it was indeed Natali.

Hiro smiled, but he didn't say anything.

First, he tentatively activated his interpersonal missions feature and waited for the blue halo to scan a radius of 10 meters around himself.

Hiro's eyes glittered. As expected, there was a mission indicator above Natali, and it was a normal difficulty mission.

From his experience, normal difficulties can be fast or slow, depending on his involvement in the mission.

He could direct the mission from the shadows and allow the mission's target to go through the motions, or he could help them actively and finish the mission much faster.

Unlike the last time, Hiro planned to take part in this mission directly, finishing it as soon as possible.

Without hesitation, he accepted the mission and waited for the information from the system.

[Mission Target: Natali

Mission Difficulty: Normal

Mission Briefing: As the child of a former small-time gang leader, she was raised as a natural-born syndicate, grasping the secrets of the trade from a young age.

Fortunately or unfortunately, she had always been a secret child—while this provided her with an amulet to guard her life, it also removed the reservations of her father's enemies; they thought him to be a no-family man, which led to his death. Help Natali establish a foothold in the Syndicate Society, all in preparation for her future quest for vengeance.

…

Hiro's thoughts shifted and he said, "I have a job proposition for you; I'm buying a nightclub nearby, but I need someone who understands the trade to run things around in my absence."

Although the music was blasting loudly in the surroundings, Natali was already focused on Hiro and she was somewhat adept at reading lips.

Thus, she quickly understood the meaning behind Hiro's words.

Her eyes flashed, and a smile adorned her face as she said, "You think it's that easy to enter this circle? I'll tell you what, if your nightclub is open after three days of the handover procedures, give me a call."

She then tipped her finger into Hiro's drink and wrote her number on the counter.

She knew how good Hiro's memory was and thus, she quickly wiped the number away with a napkin using her dry hand, brushing her other hand's wet finger across Hiro's bottom lip with a wink.

Turning around, Natali quickly returned to serving the other patrons in the nightclub, leaving Hiro behind shaking his head.

"She must think that I'm joking," Hiro laughed. Then, he saved the number and got up, preparing to leave.

At this moment, someone else tapped his shoulder. Looking back, Hiro raised an eyebrow. "Fred? Can I help you?"

It was the cold man in black. Hiro didn't know why he came to find him, but he guessed it must be related to Mr. Monocle and the bullshit in the chat group.

"Come with me, someone wants to see you," Fred said.

Hiro turned around, gave Fred the side eye, and started to swirl the liquor in his one-shot glass with a nonplussed expression.

Hiro said in a bored tone, "Well, whoever that is, tell them I still have some time on my hands. They can come and talk."

If he was planning to slowly climb the ranks under Broski, Hiro might have acted polite and patient with Fred.

However, now that he had greater things waiting for him, such as exploring the New World, he was no longer in the mood to entertain these little games.

Fred was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to respond. Then, he remembered that the kid in front of him was someone who dared to kill without batting an eye, and after a moment of internal struggle, Fred decided against making a scene in the open.

Nodding his head silently, Fred moved to a quiet corner before touching the Bluetooth earpiece in his left ear, saying something into the microphone.

The disco lights reflected off the golden liquor and onto Hiro's face. Time passed, and a few minutes later, the blasting music slowly went silent.

It was unknown when, but people started flowing out from the nightclub in small groups of twos and threes, followed by batches of people.

However, no one dared to ask or complain.

Pretty quickly, other than the DJ and security, only the hosts, waiters, and waitresses were left in the club's main hall.

Even then, those people left the hall through the staff-designated exit—some looking over their shoulders, their eyes on the solitary figure seated by the bar counter, swirling the wine glass in his left hand without a care for the world.

Footfalls sounded, light yet crisp, and someone approached Hiro from the side and took a seat next to him.

Hiro looked over, and he was greeted by the face of a masked man in a white suit. He had a buzz-cut hairstyle, the big dipped constellation carved onto the side of his head.

Without a word, he reached for Hiro's one-shot glass; it was full and untouched.

Hiro doesn't drink alcohol; he ordered the drink out of courtesy for the business.

Thus, he didn't even bother resisting when the man took his drink and chugged it down in one gulp.

Hiro said faintly, "Just a reminder, It's probably poisoned."

The man had yet to swallow the contents of the cup—he hurriedly turned to the side and spat out the golden liquor, coughing violently.

Then, he heard Hiro say, "After second thought, it's probably okay. I wouldn't poison you; you're not worthy."

The man was angry. A vein bulged on his forehead, and he smashed the glass cup on the ground before he stood up in rage and slammed his hand on the counter.

Bang!

The counter shook violently.

"Do you know what trouble you caused for me? Do you how difficult it will be to gather willing delinquents in the future? Don't you think you've gone too far, boy?"

"Did I now?" Hiro finally spared the masked man a glance, but he shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about, I was resting at home when suddenly, everyone is saying I crossed some line."

Hiro turned his body slightly, and before anyone could react, he grabbed the masked man by his jacket's collar before bringing his face onto the table.

Bang!

"Urgh!" The masked man grunted in pain, anchored his hands on the counter, and tried to push back to wrench himself free.

Alas, it was pointless; he felt as though a mountain was pressing on his back.

Sounds of guns clocking and safety buttons getting removed were heard. However, the man was scared someone might shoot him by accident and so he yelled for them to put their guns down.

When the man stopped struggling, Hiro met his quivering eyes and asked, "And what fucking line am I supposed to have crossed? Which eye of yours saw me crossing the line?"

Hearing Hiro's words, the man seemed to have recalled something. His body trembled visibly, and his voice carried an undertone of fear as he said, "Hiro, don't go too far! Careful not to meet with some unwanted incident, or maybe the authorities might come knocking on your door some morning!"

He was blatantly reminding Hiro of their blackmail material on him. He expected Hiro to retreat, but he was fated to be disappointed.

"Are you threatening me?" Hiro asked, his voice low and cold.

Unknowingly, bloodlust oozed out from his eyes, violence radiating from his being.

With the time dilation feature, it's not an exaggeration to say that Hiro had spent more time in-game when compared to the real world.

He almost couldn't distinguish between his persona in the Legend of Babylon and his persona in the real world—this was a true identity crisis.

Although Hiro saw the danger of excessive immersion in the simulation world, he was too impatient to finish the game as soon as possible, resulting in some deviation from his real-life temperament.

Hiro was this close to plucking out the masked man's eyes when someone yelled.

"Boss! We've lost the materials! We lost everything!"

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