With a heart filled with rage, like a fire was burning in his heart. Seth witnessed with his own two eyes the young girl he had been guarding for the past few weeks fall to her death.
There wasn't much he could do other than run away. He picked up Mia's bag and ignored Joanna's. Seth preferred to take Mia's bag, indeed, because the girl kept shards of life in there, so it would be a loss for Seth if he left it behind.
The blind and deafening effects of the shock bomb began to slowly dissipate, a sign that Seth should immediately escape as far away from that place as possible. He ran inside the five-story hotel with his left hand holding Mia's bag while his right hand held the laser pistol.
"GET HIM!" someone shouted from the alley.
Seth was confused. He was dizzy with two different decisions: either to run out of the building or to hide inside the hotel building until conditions became more conducive.
"Damn!" growled Seth.
The corner of the man's eye witnessed a horde of people coming from outside the hotel building, numbering in the dozens with faces seemingly filled with unstoppable rage. Seth decided to go to a higher floor and hide somewhere.
His footsteps came to a halt again when he reached the third floor of the hotel. The corridor was deserted as people were chasing him downstairs.
Hearing the sound of clattering footsteps getting louder made time like a grim reaper for Seth. He couldn't keep running upstairs since there were people who might be chasing him there.
The man decided to hide in one of the rooms in the corridor on that floor. The door opened, Seth walked straight in, startling a woman who was changing her clothes.
"Who are you?" the woman complained.
Seth sneezed while placing the index finger of his right hand before his mouth. His left hand released its grip from the bag strap and started pointing at the system bracelet on his right wrist, indicating he would give the woman some GP if she would shut up.
The sound of footsteps getting more loud made the woman start to close the door hard. She stood against it while locking the wooden door, staring intently at Seth with her body wearing only a luxurious black gold-patterned bikini.
Seth could breathe a sigh of relief. It looked like the woman in the gold-black bikini was going to help him avoid their pursuit. The man turned his head forward, watching the woman's mouth movements closely.
"Do it!" she said, trying to say something quietly.
The man before the black gold bikini woman nodded in understanding. His left hand began to press several menus on the system bracelet. He pressed the status transfer menu and made himself the sender instead of the receiver.
[Warning!]
[Initiating status transfer connection]
[Attribute transfer connection path opened]
[Searching for receiver]
Seth indicated his system bracelet had opened the connection for the status receiver. The bikini-clad woman began to press the transfer menu on the system bracelet firmly attached to her beautiful left arm, with her nails looking polished.
As notifications appeared on her system, she positioned herself as a receiver, not a sender. The connection signal was already transmitted from the woman's system bracelet until Seth's eyes could see the woman's identity appear in the receiver menu.
The fingers of the woman's right hand showed the number five. Seth noticed that, and it surprised him, "What?"
Since the people outside were still trying to find Seth's whereabouts, the two couldn't have a conversation while making noise. They had to be good at guessing the lip movements shown by them.
"Hey, open your door!" someone shouted from outside the room, banging loudly on the door.
"Who?" the woman asked, equally shouting at the visitor.
"I'm Jake! I'm looking for an intruder. Have you seen him?" asked the man named Jake.
Just before the woman answered, Seth showed a hand signal that formed a small 'o' by bringing the tips of his forefinger and thumb together. The woman smiled widely as she moved her head to the side, about to answer him.
"I didn't see it," said the woman, choosing to save Seth.
"Can I come in?" asked Jake.
"Are you insane?! I'm changing!" snapped the woman, annoyed.
"Okay. Don't get mad like that, Lydia," Jake complained.
The sound of his footsteps began to disappear from the hotel corridor, a sign that he was leaving the place. Seth could let out a sigh of relief as he placed his two bags on the floor of the hotel room.
Seth filled in the amount of GP to be sent to the woman named Lydia, Lydia Sheahan. After filling in the right amount, Seth immediately pressed the send button.
[Delivery successful]
[Receiver: Lydia Sheahan]
[Attribute type: Game Point]
[Attribute amount: 5000gp]
[Number of attributes remaining: 6240gp]
Not only did a notification appear on Seth's system bracelet, but also a notification appeared on the receiver, Lydia's system bracelet. Her face looked enthusiastic, and with a big smile, she started walking towards her bed.
Seth was busy digging through Mia's bag, taking out items that were important and necessary for him to carry. First and foremost was the cloth bag, where she kept the large amount of shards of life.
"Do you smoke?" asked Lydia.
The question suddenly caught Seth's attention, so the man looked at Lydia, who was sitting with her legs crossed. Her legs appeared to be long, beautiful, white and without any hair.
"If you don't mind," Seth replied.
Lydia smiled. She threw a pack of cigarettes at Seth that the man caught with one hand. She took out one cigarette and lit it with his lighter.
"So, who are you? What are you here for?" the woman asked, curious as she took a deep drag on the cigarette in the fingers of her right hand.
"My name is Seth, Seth Murphy. I came to get Arcada's shard of life," Seth said, replying by exhaling cigarette smoke that filled the room.
"Seth? So, you're the number four?" asked Lydia. Seth cleared his throat quietly.
He had finished with his things. He put down his bag, which now looked full of items from Mia's bag, mostly canned food and hand bombs: three shock bombs, five explosive bombs, and four smoke bombs.
Seth sat leaning against the wooden cabinet behind him. The man's eyes kept on Lydia, who somehow looked so relaxed, even though her beautiful body was already covered by a bathrobe with a material that looked thin and comfortable.
"It seems that Arcada is really under threat if you're here. I don't know how long it will take them to realize your disappearance," Lydia said.
"Are you part of the Arcada group?" asked Seth, narrowing his eyes.
Lydia was silent for a moment, with her mouth continuing to smoke the cigarette on the finger of her right hand. Occasionally, she was seen smiling broadly at Seth after hearing that; if only Seth heard it, maybe he would hope that he would not hide in this place.
"I am indeed. People call me the Vice Leader," Lydia said.
"What?" Seth gasped at that. He dropped his cigarette and drew his right pistol at the woman, "I'm really out of luck!"
"Put the gun down. I don't intend to hurt you," Lydia said, sticking out her left hand while telling Seth to calm down.
Seth didn't budge. He was still pointing his gun at Lydia's body, considering he couldn't trust anyone since Mia and Joanna's deaths for the second time. Lydia exhaled roughly, putting out her cigarette in an ashtray that looked quite full of cigarette butts.
She seemed to take out a small glass bottle with a light green liquid. She drank it down until it startled Seth. The man's eyes narrowed in focus, trying to understand what Lydia was doing.
"I'm the kind of woman who always wants to be fought for. I'll give you a challenge," Lydia explained.
The woman was seen stepping closer to the hotel room window, casting her eyes out with certainty, watching the Arcada members who were busy searching for Seth's whereabouts outside the hotel building.
As Seth was focusing his gun on the woman, he suddenly felt sick to his stomach, as if he was experiencing symptoms of poisoning. The laser pistol slipped from his hand, Lydia still smiling happily as she saw the effect work.
"That cigarette. Completely filled with dangerous venom," Lydia said.
"How could you not—"
Lydia again showed the light green bottle she had just drank from. She had plenty of them, handy for times like this. Seth coughed several times as the effects of the cigarette began to actively spread throughout his body.
"You only have three hours from now. Find Arcada's shard of life and show it to me, and then I'll give you the antidote. How about it?" asked Lydia.
Seth eventually collapsed with bated breath, falling face down with a body that felt so limp. Lydia realized the effect of the poison was already working faster than usual.
"Looks like you've got some time left—"
DOR!
The man picked up his pistol again with his right hand. He shot straight into Lydia's body without a second thought, leaving a bullet hole in her beautiful belly.
"You ... you won't survive!"
The antidote bottle fell from Lydia's hand. Seth immediately picked it up with his left hand before it broke. Successfully caught by him, he quickly drank the antidote bottle until the effects of the poison began to fade.
Lydia fell on her back with blood flowing endlessly from the hole in her stomach while Seth stood firmly with his hand holding his laser pistol.
"Don't you think I'll give in to your wishes, damn it!"