Chapter 4: That Night

That night, Tom went to bed early, at eight. At midnight, his eyes suddenly opened. He got out of bed unhurriedly and opened the wardrobe. As his right hand took down his clothes, his left reached into a hidden compartment inside and closed around a gun.

The pistol was fitted with a suppressor and had a full magazine.

Tom raised his arm in one easy motion, pointing the muzzle straight at the bedroom door. Almost at that instant, a commando dressed entirely in black and armed to the teeth eased the door open.

A bullet passed through the suppressor, a small piece of glass shattered, and a grown man fell to the floor.

Even in the stillness of the night, those three sounds in quick succession did not carry far. At least, the HL troops lying in wait around Tom's house did not hear them.

Tom never once looked toward the door. After killing the man, he calmly lowered the gun, stood before the mirror, and dressed.

A black suit, sunglasses in the jacket pocket, black leather boots, leather gloves, and a semiautomatic assault rifle hidden beneath the floorboards were all he needed to take with him. And, of course, the bank card linked to an account holding a fortune.

The commando on the floor wore body armor and a helmet, but no bulletproof visor covered his face. Since this was a nighttime operation, he wore only an ordinary steel helmet with night-vision goggles. The bullet had passed through the glass of the goggles and entered his brain through his right eye, killing him instantly.

Tom calmly stepped over the corpse in the doorway, left the bedroom, and headed straight for the living room.

He did not need to turn on a light to know that someone was sitting in the dark living room.

“You knew your subordinate would die, and you just sat here doing nothing?” Tom asked.

The man in the darkness was, naturally, Jordan. He sat in the same spot he had occupied during his daytime visit. “If he subdued you, that would mean I was wrong. All I'd have to do was wait here and watch him take you away. If you killed him, that would mean I was right. All I'd have to do then was wait here and watch you walk out.”

“Don't you think it's despicable to gamble with someone else's life, ‘Hound’ Jordan?”

Jordan gave a cold snort. “You managed to dig up my background in so little time. Very good, Gambling Snake.”

Gambling Snake's tone no longer held any of Tom Stall's mildness. Every word he uttered was cold. “Then someone in the Gilson family is still alive?”

“Of course. Noble blood always enjoys heaven's favor. It does not die out so easily,” Jordan replied.

“Oh, heaven's favor...” Gambling Snake said. “So which one survived? The father who went hunting over a decade ago and never came back, or the son I threw from the twelfth floor seven years ago?”

Jordan sneered. “Mr. Gilson II sends his regards. Thanks to you, most of his body no longer functions normally. His unstable condition due to brain damage rules out procedures as dangerous as cyborg surgery, and his spinal injuries have left his lower body completely nonfunctional.”

“So his line still ends with him,” Gambling Snake added coldly, openly taunting him.

Jordan continued, “Seven years ago, you nearly slaughtered the entire Gilson family single-handedly. But Lord Gilson II survived. From that day on, revenge against you has been his sole reason for living. Only torturing and killing you with his own hands will quench his anger.”

“So he poured his fortune into recruiting men and hired an opportunist like you as his aide?” Gambling Snake asked.

“Hmph... Someone with ‘Gambling’ in his name calls me an opportunist. Don't you think you need luck more than I do right now?”

“There's no such thing as ‘luck’ in this world. Even if there were, gambling isn't built on it. Neither is life,” Gambling Snake countered.

Jordan said, “Is that so? Then let's leave luck aside and talk about strength. Right now, five surveillance vehicles belonging to troops under HL's direct command are stationed around your house. Beyond them, there's another cordon within a one-kilometer radius. More than a hundred operatives are poised to act, including several Normal-rank cyborg soldiers. And I myself am a bona fide Strong-rank ability user.

“Given all that, I believe you have only two options. First, resist until you die. Although my orders are to take you alive, I strongly recommend the first option. The second is for me to capture you and deliver you into Lord Gilson II's hands. Then you'll learn what an exquisite luxury death can be.”

“That's why I called you an opportunist,” Gambling Snake said. “You've already made three mistakes.”

“Oh? I wouldn't mind hearing them.” Jordan was in no hurry to act. As far as he was concerned, victory was assured and the situation entirely under his control. What harm was there in letting the man talk a little longer?

“First, you're too pleased with yourself. So pleased that you told me how the troops outside are deployed and gave away your own ability rank,” Gambling Snake said. “You wanted to show off your ‘Strong’ rank, did you? But I have to tell you, right now it means nothing.”

Jordan merely sneered, waiting for Gambling Snake to continue.

Gambling Snake went on, “Second, when you came in during the day, you immediately noticed something odd about the structure of this house. I know the thickness of those special walls alone could never escape a professional's eye.

“Once you'd finished looking and confirmed those irregularities, you were at least eighty percent certain I was no ordinary man. Yet you stuck to your original plan and tested me with that footage.

“To my mind, that was a waste of time. You should have quickly found an excuse to leave, then contacted the nearest military base and had them send a few bombers to carry out a precision strike on my house. Or simply destroyed this entire area with a high-yield missile.”

Jordan was not the least bit unsettled. Still smug, he said, “That's just hindsight. The fact is, you thought you'd fooled me during the day, which is why you're still at home now. You never expected to find yourself trapped. So you're making these harmless remarks to save face. Heh... How disappointing.”

“Your third mistake was also your deadliest,” Gambling Snake said, ignoring Jordan. “You shouldn't have drunk the tea I prepared for you.”

Even in the pitch-black room, Gambling Snake could imagine Jordan's arrogant expression freezing on his face, then gradually giving way to fear and fury.

“You're bluffing! You drank the same tea I did!” Jordan's voice rose, betraying his turmoil.

Gambling Snake remained calm. “That's right.”

“The water came from the same transparent pot! There wasn't any powder in the cups either!”

“That's right too.”

“Then you're bluffing!”

“The requirements for a perfect poison are simple. One, it must be lethal and reliable. Two, it must be colorless, tasteless, and odorless, so the victim is unlikely to notice it. Three, it must make the death look natural.” Gambling Snake paid him no heed and continued, “You would have died peacefully one night a few days from now, while I used those days to leave the city at my leisure... But you were so eager to come and get yourself killed tonight. It seems my poison serves no purpose now.”

“Nonsense! If you really poisoned it, then you've been poisoned just like me!”

“That's why I drank the antidote after you left,” Gambling Snake said.

Jordan fell silent. Gambling Snake's remark made him feel like a complete idiot.

Gambling Snake said, “I've already flushed all the remaining poison and antidote down the toilet. You have no samples to work with, and only I know the formula. Even if you went to a hospital immediately to be tested for poison, they wouldn't find it. As I said, this poison makes the death look natural. They won't detect it even when you die.”

Jordan's face twitched. Eyes wide, he said, “You're trying to bluff me...”

Gambling Snake was so calm it was infuriating. “This time, you can stake your own life and see whether I'm bluffing.”