Rock rushed into the alley and cheerfully began gathering the loot, completely ignoring the blood pooling on the ground.
He only took care not to step in it.
One AKS-74U short assault rifle fitted with a red-dot sight, along with three 75-round drum magazines.
Two AR-15 rifles and five 50-round drum magazines.
One FN FAL fitted with a holographic sight, four 30-round magazines, and two 50-round drum magazines.
One Glock, one 33-round magazine, and one 100-round high-capacity double-drum magazine.
One Turkish TP9 and three 31-round magazines.
Two egg-shaped offensive grenades.
Three backpacks, two damaged tactical vests, one quick-draw pistol holster, and four cell phones.
Some cash, several pieces of gold jewelry, two gold watches, and a handful of loose ammunition.
Rock stripped the bodies of everything he thought might be useful.
This haul had made him rich in one stroke.
The 75-round drum magazine for the AKS-74U was especially satisfying.
It instantly cured Rock’s fear of insufficient firepower.
He stuffed all the other magazines and drums into the backpacks.
The dozens of kilograms of guns and ammunition barely felt like a burden to him.
Rock failed to notice that, grinning as he covered himself in rifles and handguns, he looked exactly like a murderous outlaw.
He showed no concern whatsoever for the gang members he had riddled with bullets.
“Rock, you’re practically the god of war!”
Camilla finally snapped out of her stunned daze.
When she saw Rock run into the alley, she hurried after him.
There she found him loaded down with guns and grinning from ear to ear.
“Camilla, come here.”
Hearing her voice, Rock immediately beckoned her over.
Camilla obediently walked up to him.
Rock slung an AR-15 around her neck, then put a backpack packed with drum magazines and standard magazines onto her back.
The girl was actually pretty sturdy.
Aside from models, Brazilian women rarely had particularly thin figures.
They had the kind of healthy builds that made it look as though their periods always came right on schedule.
Even with more than ten kilograms on her back, Camilla did not seem to be struggling much.
Rock pulled back the charging handle of the AKS-74U in his hands, producing a crisp sound as he chambered a round.
“Let’s go settle the score with that Jacaré bastard.”
Being chased around like a rabbit had left Rock furious.
Now that he had already killed several people, there was no reason to hold back.
He had no intention of letting the betrayal go unanswered overnight.
Rock’s words fired Camilla up as well.
“Right.
Let’s go deal with that bastard who sold us out.”
She chambered a round in her AR-15.
Judging by her practiced movements, she was clearly familiar with firearms.
Were all Brazilian women this fierce?
Rock could not be bothered to think about it.
The fact that Camilla had dared to come back for him after already escaping so far had greatly improved his opinion of her.
The two strode out of the alley with murderous momentum.
Now that they were fully armed, the homeless men who had been glaring at them moments earlier lowered their heads and curled up against the walls.
Jacaré was inside his shop, humming as he wiped down the two cell phones Rock and Camilla had left behind.
Once he resold them, he would make another hundred or so reais.
It was money for nothing.
Two sets of heavy footsteps sounded at the entrance.
“Welcome,” Jacaré called out casually.
When he looked up, all the color drained from his face, and his hands rose instinctively.
Two black gun barrels were pointed straight at him.
“Come out from behind the counter slowly, or I’ll shoot you.”
Rock strode up to the counter without ceremony and aimed his weapon menacingly at Jacaré.
“I promise I won’t try anything.”
Jacaré rose shakily from behind the counter.
Although it was sturdy enough to stop bullets, he did not dare gamble that he could duck faster than Rock could shoot.
Especially not with a gun already pointed directly at him.
He had no chance of escaping.
Once Jacaré came out and knelt on the open floor in front of the counter, Camilla stepped forward and struck him with the butt of her rifle.
Jacaré screamed.
“I swear I didn’t do anything!
Please, spare me!”
“Hand over every working cell phone you have and all your money.”
The cold muzzle pressed against Jacaré’s head.
Rock could not even be bothered to ask why he had betrayed them.
Most likely, Jacaré had seen some kind of message on the phone he had unlocked earlier.
That was why he had sold out Rock and Camilla without hesitation.
“The phones and money are in the back room.”
Lying on the floor, Jacaré wisely told them where everything was.
“Take us there.”
Rock kept the gun against Jacaré’s head with one hand and effortlessly hauled him off the floor with the other.
“Camilla, keep watch at the door.
Shoot if anything happens.”
Before pushing Jacaré into the back room, Rock told Camilla to watch the street so no one could surround them.
Five minutes later, Rock and Camilla emerged into a small alley behind the shop.
The rear door served as both Jacaré’s back entrance and his escape route.
Rock had taken several nearly new cell phones from Jacaré, along with the small stack of cash in his money box.
Jacaré thought he had survived, but Rock lowered his gun, gripped his neck with both hands, and twisted.
The informant passed away peacefully.
Rock was not about to give him another chance to inform Ricardo.
He had already killed so many people that one more made no difference.
He called Camilla in from the entrance.
She searched the room from top to bottom and eventually discovered a hidden compartment beneath the leg of a sofa beside the window.
Inside was a thick stack of cash.
Apparently, these were Jacaré’s actual savings.
Jacaré’s business must have been quite profitable.
He had earned enough to cover his expenses and still put some money aside.
Camilla made no effort to conceal their tracks.
In a few hours, once the homeless men realized Jacaré was not coming back, they would strip the entire shop bare in no time.
Nothing that could prove Rock and Camilla had been there would remain.
“Rock, darling, would you like to stay at my place?”
As they walked through the alley, Camilla stared intently at Rock’s profile.
This man fascinated her.
He was strong and mysterious.
What woman would not be attracted to a man like that?
“Sure.
Let’s go to your place first.”
Rock nodded and accepted her suggestion.
Loaded down with guns and ammunition, he could not keep wandering around.
More importantly, after everything that had happened over the past few hours, he felt deeply uneasy without a weapon in his hands.
Was he simply born for this line of work?
Rock did not dwell on the question.
He needed to find somewhere to settle down first, then take some time to process everything that had happened that day.
From the direction Camilla was leading him, he could tell they were heading uphill.
Rock had read about this online.
Rio de Janeiro had an unusual urban layout.
Unlike many cities, where the wealthiest residents lived on elevated ground overlooking the city, Rio was the exact opposite.
Vast favelas covered the hillsides, while most affluent neighborhoods were spread across the lowlands and along the coast.
Camilla led Rock along remote, rugged paths for more than half an hour.
They occasionally encountered pedestrians, but the moment those people saw the guns they were carrying, they gave them a wide berth.
Camilla explained that they had to pass through the territory of several gangs.
With so many guns and so much ammunition, taking anything but the outskirts could trigger a shootout.
There were only two of them.
A direct confrontation with those gangs would be extremely dangerous.
Camilla also told Rock about the gang that controlled the area where she lived and discussed how she could convince them to accept him.
When they stopped to rest at the foot of a small hill, Camilla handed her rifle and ammunition to Rock, keeping only a Glock tucked against her body.
She told him she was going to buy some food.
Ten minutes later, Camilla returned with several small cheese-filled rolls and a type of teardrop-shaped fried dough filled with chicken, along with a few sealed bottles of juice and milk.
Rock was hungry too, so the two of them sat beneath a tree and wolfed down an entire bag of food.
Camilla had quite an appetite.
No wonder her full, curvy figure was so substantial.
They had effectively hiked several kilometers while fully armed, yet Camilla still showed no sign of reaching her limit.
Her physical condition was clearly excellent.
In addition to the food they ate, Camilla carried another bag.
She told Rock it was for her younger sister.