Chapter 98: Epicenter of Criminal Activity
Pitter-patter.
Dark clouds gathered over calm Navy Town, and then the rain began to fall in a soft drizzle.
The rain tapped against a window of a freshly painted house, and the sound was soothing to the ears of the young man inside.
Inside the house, in the living room with a television playing in the background, Adam sipped a freshly brewed coffee with his phone in hand.
He was fiddling with his phone, scrolling through social media for the news of the past week.
Some of the news he remembered, but some felt completely new, as if he had missed out on a lot.
At that moment, an ad popped out right in the middle of the phone screen-it was an ad for an upcoming movie, starring a beautiful actress with bright blue eyes and long, flowing hair.
'Oh, I remember her faintly.' Adam thought to himself.
'A mercenary that became famous and started starring in big blockbuster movies. If I remember correctly, she is only going to be famous for a couple of years, then she will get pregnant and quit the industry to spend time with her family.'
The front door slowly opened, and John came in with bags of groceries.
"Oh, Adam," he said, then moved to the refrigerator and started filling it up.
"John." Adam nodded and closed the phone before pocketing it. "Need help?"
"No need; I am fine." John quickly emptied the bags, then put the plastic bags inside kitchen cabinets for later use.
They usually used the plastic bags as garbage bags, as it was an effective way of recycling them.
After doing that, John also took a cup of coffee, then sat down on the table and began reading the newspaper.
Adam finished up the coffee and went to the sink to wash the cup. Then he placed it on the drying rack to dry.
'What should I do...' Adam thought to himself. 'Maybe I should go for a run...'
"If you're planning to go out, be careful." John said and turned pages in the newspaper. "Apparently there's been some shady individuals lurking around in our neighborhood." "Is that so..."
Adam said with a frown.
'A coincidence or some people from the underworld? I don't think they'll do anything except gather information about me and then sell that information to Otherworld Killers if one decides to come after me.
'Currently, no one has any reason to go after me, but I suppose I'll have to prepare.'
The following morning.
"Don't you make a mess out of this place!" Serah shouted from the front door with a red
suitcase in hand.
"Yeah, yeah," Adam said while bidding them farewell.
"Thanks for this; we'll be back in a week." John said and patted him on the shoulder.
He was quite surprised about his wife's reaction to the trip-when he spoke to her about it, she seemed thrilled. However, as usual, she acts sternly toward Adam.
Still, he knew that she was quite pleased that he had offered such a trip to them.
"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Alice asked with a hopeful smile. "Please come. It will be nice."
"I have something to do, sadly." Adam said with a soft smile. "You go and have some fun." "Mm..." Alice mumbled, feeling disappointed that Adam wouldn't be joining them. "Alright, see you in a week-"
They then entered their cars and drove off towards the airport, where they would catch their flight to their vacation destination.
As soon as their car was out of sight, Adam closed the front door and checked his phone.
He had received an email notification about another one of his purchases.
He had also purchased plane tickets to another destination-Ivycrest, where the Red Thread
was located.
"Red Thread..." Adam pocketed his phone and went back to his room, where he took a hidden backpack from under his bed.
It had all the necessary items for his trip to Ivycrest.
He opened the backpack; there were some food, water, and sharp knives with red handles.
Adam took out one of the knives from the backpack and twirled it around his fingers before carefully placing it back inside.
He was hoping he didn't need to use them, but Red Thread was the epicenter of criminal activity, and he knew he had to be prepared for anything.
Adam slung the backpack over his shoulder and saw his virtual reality pod in the corner of the
room.
He gently touched it and whispered. "I'll be back soon..."
With that, he closed the lights off and left the room.