The fan was another woman—many of Tristan's die-hard fans were women.
At first glance, there was nothing out of the ordinary about her. She had average looks, a figure that could be very generously called "plump" (or less generously, "fat"), and seemed to be in her twenties.
She was dressed in a "Kinds of Animals" T-shirt, clutched an A4 notebook to her chest, and looked at Tristan like he could walk on water and multiply bread. Both were typical features of a die-hard fan.
There was something particularly intense about her bright-eyed stare, enough. And the thread of relationship coming from her to Tristan looked off.
From observation, Tristan knew that the colors only gave a general idea of the relationship's nature.
Red for love, blue for loyalty. Purple, which was a mix of two, was associated with a fan's adoration. But both love and loyalty could be very different even without other colors thrown into the mix.
This purple looked a bit yellowish, but Tristan wasn't sure what yellow meant.
"Mr. Tristan... I drew an art of you. Will you sign it, please? For Gabriella," the girl asked, opened the notebook and showed a page to Tristan.
On it was a fan art of Tristan singing into a microphone on the stage. Unlike in any of his actual stage costumes, here he was dressed in a button-up shirt that was dramatically open, showing off Tristan's chest and abs.
It was a black and white picture, but very well done.
'A bit horny, but I like it,' Tristan thought. 'It's far from the worst filth I've seen drawn with me...'
He suppressed a shudder from these memories and grinned at the fan, putting aside his earlier paranoid feelings.
"I look almost cooler here than in real life."
Tristan signed the picture in the corner with Gabriella and his own name. She squealed happily, clutching the notebook back to her chest again.
But instead of moving aside to let the next fan pass, she paused at the table, muttering under her breath.
"Thank you... thank you... now just one more thing!"
Suddenly, she lunged at Tristan, reaching out for his hair with one hand, while the other held the notebook.
[Task complete: release your first album. Reward: your CP increased by 10000!]
[New task: reach top 25 of "most listened" charts for a day. Value: 2000.]
A new goal, but still plenty of reasons to celebrate.
From the reward for the complete task, the album was already going well! Only time was about to show how much.
But by now, Tristan believed Derek was competent enough about promotions and marketing.
***
Later that night.
'And after all this, I'm sitting on 30 thousand Criminal Points and problems with the police. Like two pieces of a puzzle that I'm meant to put together,' Tristan thought in his temporary Los Angeles office.
That is, in his own apartment, registered under Gemello.
This place was safe, because Tristan limited his criminal dealings here to answering calls and sending emails. Lately, he had been doing a lot of criminal work remotely.
'Perhaps if I put enough points into my hacking skill, I will be able to get some dirt on the Chief of LA Police. Or, I can put points into the interfacing skill and forge some dirt.'
As Tristan understood from the skill's description, it was a unified skill for forgery, lockpicking, and other hands-on technical pursuits.
It sounded like a decent plan in Tristan's head. As long as the Chief of Police was under Tristan's thumb one way or another, all the LAPD will have to fall in line. He was, after all, their chief.
'And if the Chief is a person who refuses to be bribed or blackmailed, then perhaps an assassination is in order. The man's inheritor might be more... persuadable.'
With these thoughts, Tristan messaged Vargas.
He was Tristan's best source of information related to the LAPD, and he had already been gathering information.
[Vargas, it's time to do something about our police problem. I hope you did your research. What are the chances of the Chief of Police taking a bribe?]