The hotel was decent, but the room was much smaller than the motel. As soon as she finished checking the entire room with a flashlight, JJ took off her jacket and threw herself on the bed.
Her companion put Jay next to his exhausted female caregiver before he locked the doors and window. This time, he put the hotel's nightstand in front of the door.
The teenage boy then closed the lights and crawled on the bed with them, with his shoes on and all. Unlike the motel, the hotel was livelier and louder at night. Jay was used to the quiet, so his eyes were still wide open even after a while.
Like usual, the baby was rested in between his caretakers, but until the two sleeping teens, the transmigrator was still awake. To put his mind at ease, he called out to the system.
System! There won't be any more break-ins tonight, right?
[YES, USER JAY. MISSION THREE WILL START IN A WEEK. ]
Pew... Now he can rest. One week isn't a lot of time, but at least it's something.
Any details on the new mission?
[ USER IS NOT PERMITTED TO READ MISSION DETAILS BEFORE COMPLETING THE MISSION. ]
Whatever...
_
After he fell asleep, morning came quicker than he would like it to be. Jay woke up, and he was already dressed in fresh clean clothes. Then, he was fed yesterday's leftover bread before the family packed up and left the hotel.
Since it is a busier part of the shady neighborhood, there were people riding motorcycles and cars everywhere. Of course, no one was respecting any traffic rules written in the history of humankind.
It's only ten in the morning when Jay witnessed the first car accident where the driver was drunk driving into a light pole. On that same street, a motorbike ran a red light and bumped into a USC van.
The poor social worker from yesterday tried to help the motorbike owner, but the owner ran away for some reason. While his parents were heading to the car dealership, Jay kept his eyes on the social worker.
Of course, as they passed him, the social worker noticed the baby, and he waved with a smile on his face. The transmigrator could only smile back. Congratulations to that guy for keeping a happy face in front of a child even though his van got a huge dent from a the motorcycle whose owner just left there.
"Whatcha looking at, little buddy?" The Red King noticed that the child in his hand was waving, so he turned around to look at the social worker's unfortunate situation. "Ah. Leave them alone. They'll figure it out."
Welp, good idea. Last time Jay tired to help someone, the System said it was his fault that led the robbers to their motel room. Isn't it shitty that you get more shit for helping people?
The car dealership wasn't in any better condition than the rest of the neighborhood, but at least the Red King put Jay down on his feet.
It feels weird to learn how to walk again. His brain knows what he's doing, but his legs were wobbly. However, Jay has determination. He doesn't want his male caregiver to take him around everywhere, so he had to work his little legs.
With one hand holding the Red King's hand, Jay reached another hand to grab on to JJ's pants. The teenage girl grinned when she realized that it's him, so she bent down to hold his hand.
From an outsider's point of view, it may look funny as hell. Two grown adults bending over while walking just so their toddler could hold their hands. It's sweet and melancholy in a way.
However, the car salesman saw it as a way to hike up prices. Surely a happy family is willing to pay anything to maintain their illusion of happiness.
As soon as his caregivers spotted a bald man with a scruffy beard heading their way, the Red King picked Jay off the ground, and the transmigrator was a little upset that he couldn't walk a little longer.
"We're taking that motorcycle." JJ pointed at a quite outdated touring motorcycle at the back of the shop, far away from all the shiny cars.
Well, it makes sense since they were planning to head back to a house with a bunker in the mountains. The motorcycle had an elongated seat, which was meant for a second person, so the two teen came always squeezed the baby in between them. A terrain motorcycle should be better at going on dirt roads than a car, right?
"Young lady, how about a car? Let me talk to the man of the house. He'll understand a car is better suited for your travels." The car dealer grinned at the teenage boy as he dismissed the girl with a wave of his hand. "We have the newest models for off-roads and city—"
The transmigrator almost sighed at the disrespect. His male caregiver seemed to be thinking about the same thing as Jay, so he promptly shook his head.
"Talk to my wife. She's the one buying it, not me." The Red King's face remained neutral, and he scooted behind the teenage girl.
JJ's eyes were glaring daggers at the man, but she knew that he's the only car dealership within walking distance.
"How much is that motorcycle?" She pointed at the same one.
"It's not for sale." The dealer crossed his arms, and a frown formed on his face. "She's my bike. I use her once or twice a week on the mountains."
"Even better. How much is it?"
Jay giggled to himself when he saw the dealer's eyebrow twitched. The teenage girl made a good point. If the man is using the motorcycle regularly, then it should be reliable, it's less of a chance that the dealer would sabotage his own motorcycle.
"Three silvers." The dealer grumpily replied, clearly over charging.
"I'm taking it." JJ asked as she made her way to the motorcycle. She patted on the seat before lifting it up to see what's underneath. "Do you have new helmets? I'm not wearing yours."
The car dealer choked on his spit for a second when the teenage girl agreed to it. Ah, this is probably why robbers were after them originally. They spent a lot of money too quickly, and they were noticed. Jay giving the child a coin just accelerated everything.
Just because JJ agreed to the deal, the dealer put on a smile which screamed 'bootlicker'. He moved like a snake towards one of the crates sitting in a corner of the warehouse.
While the dealer was busy looking for something in there, Jay patted on his male caregiver's hand.
"D... Dow..." He tried to talk, but the words didn't really come out. Hey, at least it's not incoherent baby babbling anymore.
"You wanna get down, little guy?" The Red King got the message, and he set the baby on the ground once more.
As soon as he was solid on his feet, Jay began running towards JJ. Her lips pulled into a grin as she opened her arms for him. "Come on, Kaon!"
The baby ran twenty feet without any incident. What a workout.
JJ picked him up and put him on the motorcycle's seat. Jay was just glad to be sitting again. The teenage boy had an even bigger grin on his face when the transmigrator saw him again. He was trailing behind the transmigrator to make sure he didn't fall and hit his head or something.
Their little moment was ruined when the dealer came back with three helmets. Two of them were large black ones made for adults, and the mini white one was still covered in plastic wrap. He put the adult helmets on the ground before he handed the small white one to Red King. The teenage boy took it without hesitation.
"These were made before the war, but they're still good." The bald man tried to talk to the teenage boy again. "I got the little one for my son, but my husband never got to take him out to the woods."
Oh, shit. Is this another unskippable cutscene?
"What happened to your son?" His male caretaker looked at the dealer, who was obviously trying to get some pity points for his dead son or something.
The dealer clenched his jaw. "My husband worked for the USC. He took Damian to work one day, and the next, war started."
Just as he mentioned his husband, the transmigrator noticed that there's a another man on the top floor looking at them from behind a welder's mask. The man turned away when he noticed that the child was staring at him, and he continued picking apart some sort of machinery.
System! Is that his husband?
[ YES. ]
Oh.
Without even asking, the system pulled up a profile.
[ MR. JENSEN
REAL NAME: DYLAN SMITH
PUBLIC NAME: DYLAN JENSEN
ALIAS: THE WELDER
CURRENT AGE: 28 YEARS 263 DAYS
LEVEL: 14
SUPERPOWER: SKIN PRODUCING HEAT ]
That's the Welder? Why does most villains have very sad backstory that the author left out in the original book? If Jay the reader knew that the Welder lost a son because he worked for the USC, he would be more understanding of why the Welder betrayed them and became a villain. Instead, the author wrote things in such a way that the Welder was just a minor villain, a small inconvenience in Kade the protagonist's journey.
"My point is don't work for the USC." The man let out a strained chuckle. "Either you die in service or villains take your kids for ransom."
JJ didn't waste any time taking three silver coins out of her wallet and handed it to him. Once the money transfered hands, the dealer nodded his head.
"Pleasure doing business with you."