"WHAT did you DO?" Nearly hitting her head on the wall in panic, Amanda was pacing Thomas's room.
"hahahahaha!" Arthur, who couldn't stop laughing the way she was, rolled over on the bed.
"Just return it! Why all this?" Thomas was still looking innocently at the situation.
"How are you going to return documents that no one else can have? They will kill you! Arthur, stop laughing for a second and find a way to save your brother!" Amanda went to the bed and was about to hang Arthur.
"Calm calm! Everything has a way!" Arthur dodged and rolled out of bed.
"You're messing up my bed..." Thomas stared at the bed he'd made so beautifully.
"How the fuck are you going to do this? Do you know how difficult it is to break into the Guild's safety net? The last idiot who did this died!" An expression of anger and loss crossed Amanda's face, but she hid it. It seems to have touched a part of her past.
"He hasn't been discovered yet, relax. Besides, we didn't even hear the whole story. I only called you because I wanted a second opinion." Arthur went to her and reassured her. He had noticed the sadness in her eyes.
"That's true. They're trying to find me, but Lis is operating from the inside to give them the wrong information. Maybe they can break in a week or even a month if they're slow, so I need to organize a bigger cluster and buy some server farms...but I'm out of money..." With a frustrated expression, Thomas sighed.
"How much did you spend? A week means you're really skilled..." Amanda looked at Thomas with interest. Her gaze also turned to Arthur. 'What a strange pair of brothers...'
"About 50 million..." he replied without considering much.
"Fuck..." Amanda gave up.
"Where did you get all that money from?" Arthur looked at Thomas with a pang of curiosity.
"Corrupt banks and companies in general, with only a few jobs involved. It helped me develop my skills, so by the time I noticed, I had already done what I did. By the way, they're also chasing me, but I put Lis-controlled spyware on all of them. Looks like a lot of their security money was secretly spent on people hunting me."
"My brother is an internationally wanted cyber-terrorist…fucking awesome!" Arthur gave Thomas a thumbs-up in appreciation.
"They are the guild researchers. At least that's their official position. Many call them by various names, such as cyberhunters. They still haven't found you?" Amanda slapped the back of Arthur's head, which he dodged.
"Do not. As I said, I need a larger cluster. A few server farms to develop Lis would be perfect, I still need to work with her."
"A cluster how big?" Amanda asked. Her thoughts were on the 3-story plan she was yet to make.
"If it's the hardware I want, then I think about 50 square meters is fine. But considering wires and etc, a space of about 200 meters would be better, as it would be nice to have a laboratory as well. I'm learning a little bit of engineering and I already have ideas for spare parts that will improve the operational capability of the..." Thomas was already lost in his own world of imagination. He really got excited when the subject was computers.
"Okay, so I guess I'll need to buy that spot next to the operations center. Arthur told me that you always wanted to have a business. Which is?" Amanda nodded and was already organizing some things in her head.
'She really is a good secretary. She knows how to deal well with Thomas and understands computers. Is it part of her past? She'll tell me if she needs to...' Arthur was already lying in bed eating chocolate while watching the two of them talking.
"An Internet café!" Thomas' eyes gleamed for a moment.
"Alright, I can do it. There will be an expansion too, and the first floor will be completely yours, while the ground floor will be the business. We'll find the person responsible and arrange legal proceedings. I still need to do the floor plan…" Amanda was also lost while she was talking.
"I'm going down!" Arthur said goodbye to them both and went down to the training area.
When he got there, he grabbed one of the folds of the black mat and ripped out an entire area. About 3 square meters. Underneath the mat was smooth concrete.
He stared at that area for a few minutes before picking up the black rod from the Inventory. He held the button and then the end of it.
"Let's start again!" As soon as he was done, he pressed the button.
Tzz!Tzz!
...
...
It only took two power inputs for Arthur to notice a problem. He wasn't even feeling the electricity right!
"Has my resistance increased? Or is the energy insufficient?" With these doubts in mind, Arthur pressed the button again, and almost nothing came of it.
Taking time to study the rod, Arthur applied force and inadvertently opened it a little wider. A thin line of two fingers appeared, and Arthur realized that he could now rotate the lower part of the rod. It also had a bright red line. Playing around with these new mechanics a bit, Arthur saw that the limit was 9 spins before braking. The line remained red.
'What the fuck is this spin? What is it for?' As he held the bat, Arthur's finger pressed the button again. He had spinned the rod about seven times.
As soon as he did that, a huge electrical charge went through his body, almost exploding his heart. At the same time, Arthur's body was thrown away, almost reaching the car area. The red line on the staff also turned black in an instant.
'I know now!' Arthur's veins were expanding all over his head, his face red and teeth clenched.
***
"Is this information really correct?" Looking at the report they received, the female officer frowned. This policewoman was petite, but her disposition was intimidating, especially with that serious look on her face. She was blonde and had her hair tied in a bun. If Arthur saw her, he would connect her with the woman at the grocery store the other day. She was in uniform and had the name Rebecca on her chest.
"It seems so. That's why we were called to check. The dump really is a lawless place and certainly a place no police officer wants to go." A policeman was driving the squad car. He was tall and white, with short, dark hair. His appearance was pretty, but he was close to average. He was also in uniform and his name was Jonas.
"I don't know well, so you can take the lead." The policewoman replied without much care. It was clear she wasn't from the city, and her different accent gave it away as well.
"I know, you're still getting used to it. How about we go out one of these days so I can introduce you to the city? It will be cool, no ulterior motives, I swear!" The policeman was friendly and took the chance.
"Concentrate on your work." In a distant, cold voice, the officer replied as she looked out of the squad car.
"All right!" Receiving the kick, the man decided to keep quiet.
When they arrived at the scene, they went straight to the person who made the report. This person was in front of a house.
"What was the problem?" Jonas was the one who stepped forward and asked.
"It's been a while since people who used to do something bad around here disappeared. They threatened us, that's why we never said anything. It was a joy when they disappeared, but the house they used started to stink a while ago and no one had the courage to look, so I called you here!"
"OK thank you. Rest assured, we'll check the house and see if there's anything to investigate." Jonas gave the person a steady, confident look, who then walked away.
"Shall we?" He tried to ask Rebecca, but she already looked like she was almost inside the house.
Quickly following her, he too went to the door.
"Unlocked..." Rebecca spoke quietly.
As soon as they opened the door, a horrible smell came from inside, almost making them vomit.
"Put on the mask, it looks like chemicals. Maybe there are bodies in there!" Rebecca was more experienced and had already removed a mask and pistol to enter.
The man didn't much mind her taking the lead and did the same as her. At least he could enjoy the view for now.
As soon as they entered, the smell became even stronger, almost unbearable. As they walked calmly, their eyes went everywhere in the house that they could see for now.
Bang!
Quickly raising their pistols, their sights showed a mouse on the shelf. From the quick movement, they missed something more essential.
"A body..." A decomposing body was being eaten by rats on the kitchen floor. Fly larvae were on its face, arms and legs.
"Two..." Jonas spoke as he pointed to another body not far away. This body had visible bullet holes in its legs and shoulders.
"Central, send forensics to our location, we need a criminal investigation!" Jonas spoke into the radio.
Shortly afterward, Rebecca's voice came from one of the bedrooms.
"Three..."
Meeting again in the living room of the house, they noticed a door that was half open, which gave off a more disgusting smell than those of the bodies.
As soon as they opened the door, Jonas couldn't take the smell and backed away, leaving only Rebecca there.
"Holy crap..."
Looking at the blood and fingers and black goo everywhere, making that hospital room look devilish and cruel, Rebecca's stomach began to churn.
___
Author Note: Posting earlier today because I'm playing basketball and I'm dying to post soon. The certainty of forgetting later is very big, that's why I don't trust myself and I'll post it now.
Good reading!