'Tomorrow. It is already very late at night, in just a few hours the sun would rise once more and I would be in broad daylight. No way I would be able to win another fight, not when I'm this tired and beat up.' Ever since he woke up, he had been through a lot, physically and mentally. He went to work, came back, got beaten up by gangsters, explored a strange realm, got a system, and now he fought with another gang member to the death.
He had been awake too long, and he didn't magically recover from the beating he received. His body ached at all times, and it hurt to even move.
He had to save his sister, but with a fatigued body and mind, he would simply endanger the both of them if he tried to pull anything right now. He didn't trust the gangsters to leave her be, but they wouldn't just randomly kill her. 'After all, if they killed her the day they kidnapped her, why did they kidnap her and not kill her then? Especially with the new information I've gotten. Supposedly, she is being kept at East Marshall's warehouse, which is where they keep "girls like her", assuming there are more.'
'Even if I just got lied to, there's usually a sliver of the truth in a lie. Assuming he was lying, there must be some connection to what happened to Yukki there.' Why would they do that, if not to use them? Whether they are trying to sell them or enslave them, they wouldn't profit by mindlessly getting their kidnapees killed.
It was time to go home and rest, preparing himself for the mission he would undertake tomorrow.
…
'I can't go home.'
Leonard thought back to how they had broken in while he wasn't there, and took Yukki. Now that they've shown they aren't above breaking into random places and kidnapping, who's to say the fate of the gangster he stabbed won't be his, next! 'They would have plenty of reasons to try to silence me.'
'The mission… it was to kill a gangster, right? Then, I got $5000?'
[Money: $5061]
'I can use this money to stay at a motel instead of home. It's for my own safety. This has me wondering, however…'
[Daily Mission: Completed! 23 Hours remaining until refresh.]
'I see...I should look at the items again.'
As he headed towards his destination he started thinking of the types of items he needed. If he was going to check if East Marshall really held the captured victims, he would either need stealth items, so he could go in and check, or investigative them. Not only were the items insanely expensive, he had already scrolled through all the items, and there was none that came to the top of his head as being what he needed in this situation. He would have to think about it in the morning.
Suddenly, he remembered something. He had skipped over it because it wouldn't help him find Yukki, nor could he even afford it, but there was an item that was very suitable for him to use right now.
[Lesser Bottle of Healing Ointment: $2000]
It was expensive, but everything in this system was expensive! Even a regular bottle of water was $10.
The key point here was that this item was under the [Mythical] section. He was bruised all over, beaten up, and even bonked over the head! This wasn't something he could simply 'man up' against. His injuries would make him suffer, and might even leave lasting injuries, severely impeding his quest. In addition, it wasn't likely that he would use up the entire bottle after using it once. He didn't know what supernatural properties it had, but since it was under the Mythical section, it had to be good, right?
With that uncertainty, he bought the ointment. It might cost about two months of pay, or in this case, one day of work, but he accepted the new reality he was living in. His life would no longer be ordinary. $5000 could come so easily, just one person's life.
A life...
He had taken a life earlier. He didn't have time to ponder it, as he had to leave the scene, but now he could.
Undoubtedly, to society, he had done a bad deed. He might have been a gangster, and some may argue that he deserved it for being part of a gang, yet it was not his jurisdiction to execute those he deems unworthy.
Judge, jury, and executioner.
He even had a family.
And yet, so what? What does any of that have to do with him? It wasn't his life, it wasn't his family, and he wasn't about to let nonsense like ethics and morals get in his way. Not anymore.
He now saw things differently. It if benefitted him and his interests, it was a good deed. If it harmed them, it was a bad deed.
He shook his head. 'No use in thinking about this stuff right now, I only need to focus on one thing.'
…
He roamed the streets. He knew that it was dangerous to be walking around this late at night, but he needed to find an inn, or somewhere safe to sleep. 'Even if someone did try to rob me, I have this.' Leonard thought as he looked at his knife, placed safely in his systems vault. It didn't take long before he found a sign hung up that read, "Beds and Angels"
"Beds and Angels...I think this is the place people at my job have mentioned in the past! They always brag about having a good time here, so this must be a safe place to sleep!" Leonard exclaimed.
As he opened the door to the place, a waft of perfume and shitty cologne smacked him across the face. 'God, that smells horrific...I wonder why it smells like th-' but before Leonard could even finish this thought, the lady at the counter called out to him.
"Hey, you gonna stand at the door all day, boy?" she shouted to him, tapping her cigarette onto her ashtray.
Leonard made his way to the desk, thinking of how much money he would consider spending here. He wasn't confident in how much people would charge for a bed for a night, especially for getting a bed in the same night without buying ahead of time.
"Yeah, I need to buy a single room for the night...how much would that be?" He questioned, ready to be turned down.
"Sixty for a bed, once you get in the room you can buy anything extra, y'know?" The woman said, finishing with a small chuckle.
Leonard, without a second thought, put 60$ on the desk and accepted the offer. 'This is the cheapest room ever, I remember when I had to buy a room for Yukki and myself when there was a water leak getting fixed in our house, it was way more expensive! This is at least half the price...There must be some sort of catch.'
Leonard was brought to a room and promptly left to his own business. He looked around the room and checked all of the doors in the room, the closet, the bathroom, and even the windows. Leonard was paranoid because of the cheap price and was not trying to get robbed or killed in his sleep. He spotted a phone that had a bunch of numbers he could call if he needed anything.
'Ok, I shouldn't buy anything else from here, I need to be well-rested for the night.' He thought as he jumped on the bed. He grabbed the magical ointment he had just bought. 'This was $2000, it better be worth it.' With no item description, he had to trust the system to give him quality products.
He took a good look at the container. Memories started flooding back. It was just like when he found the ointment at home.
'Elder Zhou…no other stranger would even consider helping out the kid I used to be. He was almost like a father to me... I feel guilty not spending more time with him and spending time grieving...Yet, the situation I'm in simply didn't allow it.'
It was time to apply the ointment, put new bandages on, and go to sleep. Opening the bottle, a strong smell instantly rushed out. It had a thick earthy smell.
Taking a look, the ointment itself was a mix of brown and green, almost an Earthy color to it. He put his finger inside to grab some, and he was met with a strange sensation. His finger flowed inside naturally like he had put it into water.
He raised his shirt and began to rub it upon his wounds. It brought a clear, refreshing sensation upon contact with his bashed and battered parts. It was almost like Elder Zhou's ointment, except without any of the stinging his brought.
He finished applying the ointment to his wounds. A look revealed there was about half the ointment left. This was a surprisingly large amount left, considering he had used it throughout his entire body. Normally, he might only use enough to cover a small bruise.
He would investigate East Marshall tomorrow. For now, he wrapped himself up in bandages, and directly went to sleep, falling asleep near instantly.