Only then did Rock learn that Camilla had a younger sister.
Even more surprising was the fact that Camilla, whom he had assumed was twenty-three or twenty-four, was only twenty.
Brazilian women looked so mature.
Had Camilla not told him, Rock would have assumed she was about his age.
Her younger sister, Fatima, was eighteen.
She had just graduated from high school and was now working as a waitress at a restaurant instead of continuing her studies.
When Camilla was sixteen, both her parents were killed in a gang shootout.
From then on, she and Fatima had only each other.
Camilla worked all kinds of jobs to support her sister and keep her in school.
Fatima was sensible as well.
While still in school, she often worked part-time to ease Camilla’s burden.
That continued until Fatima graduated from high school and began working full-time this year.
Camilla’s story sounded like the kind of tragic background given to a protagonist.
Still, Rock had seen enough online to know that life could be harsh in places like this, so he took the story in stride and offered a thoughtful word of comfort.
“May God bless you both.”
“Thank you for comforting me, dear Locke.
You really are a kind gentleman.”
Camilla accepted Rock’s perfunctory response without the slightest suspicion.
Next time, he would have to test how resistant she was to cheesy pickup lines.
Walking was a good way to think and sort through problems, especially when carrying a heavy load.
As Rock followed Camilla along the path, his outlook gradually began to change.
At first, he had been desperate to reach his country’s Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro and ask for help returning to the country where he had grown up.
However, while they were on the road, he had claimed the rewards for ambushing the six gunmen in the alley.
He received two skills and three experience cards.
For some reason, one of the gunmen had given him no reward.
Jacaré had not produced one either.
Quick Draw, Beginner (85/100)
[In an emergency, even drawing 0.01 seconds faster than your opponent can make you the winner.]
Danger Sense, Introductory (8/50)
[A sixth-sense intuition for danger.
Sometimes, you can trust your instincts.]
The experience cards more than made up for the missing rewards.
Two were worth 50 experience points each, while the third was worth 150.
Rock studied his skill panel for a while and realized that he still did not have enough experience points.
In the end, he spent them on three skills.
Kung Fu: beginner (35/100)
Rifle Shooting: intermediate (51/400)
Quick Draw: intermediate (35/400)
He used the 150-point experience card to upgrade Rifle Shooting.
A strange current spread from the top of his head throughout his entire body.
Rock immediately felt his muscles working together more smoothly.
Even walking under a heavy load became easier and more natural.
With every shift between relaxation and tension, his body was ready to unleash its strength at any moment.
As expected, upgrading his kung fu had improved his overall physical coordination.
He could now deliver an explosive strike at a moment’s notice.
Rifle Shooting and Quick Draw also made the guns on his body feel far more familiar.
He had the satisfying sense that he could hit whatever he aimed at.
These gains, combined with the fact that he was already beginning to adapt to life in Brazil, changed Rock’s thinking.
He was already caught up in the conflict between Camilla and the drug dealer Ricardo.
More importantly, he now possessed the Guns and Roses system.
The fighting over the past few hours had shown that killing people was the only way to obtain skills and experience points, and even then, not every kill produced a reward.
In a peaceful environment, a system like this would have little room to prove useful.
Given the violence and danger Rock had already encountered in Brazil, he had far more opportunities to make use of the system and enjoy the thrill of leveling up.
Putting shooting aside, even the kung fu skill he had just raised to the beginner level had already brought him immense satisfaction.
It felt as though he had personally trained all the way to that level.
Every method of generating force and every combat technique had been tested, refined, and imprinted in his mind.
His body had adjusted along with that knowledge, as though he had repeated the same exercises countless times.
Yet all those changes had happened in an instant.
Unarmed, the current Rock could easily defeat his former self.
People said that a man’s ultimate romance was iron and fire.
The improvements to his body and skills clearly represented the Guns part of the system.
What the Roses represented, however, Rock still did not know.
Still, Camilla kept calling him “dear Locke” every other sentence.
Rock was not some saint sitting on a pedestal.
He had normal desires like anyone else.
Once a man was safe, warm, and well-fed, his thoughts naturally began to wander.
Now that the immediate danger had passed and his stomach was full, Rock’s imagination became much more active.
Guns meant killing.
Perhaps if he and Camilla spent a wild night together, he might receive a reward from the Roses side of the system.
Even so, Rock had no intention of rushing anything.
It would be far more enjoyable if things developed naturally and they both wanted it.
Keeping his expression calm, he continued following Camilla up the mountain path.
Gradually, more buildings appeared along the roadside.
Most were two- or three-story houses built into the slope.
Their crude, graffiti-covered outer walls made it obvious that they had been constructed by the residents themselves.
The buildings stood tightly packed along both sides of the road.
There were more pedestrians now as well.
Most of the men were shirtless, while many of the women wore bikini tops with short shorts, or simply bikinis.
In such intense heat, clothing that used as little fabric as possible was standard.
The neighborhood was home to a wide mix of people, all living side by side.
Many of the women had striking figures, and long, slender legs were a common sight.
It was easy to see why Brazil was known for producing models.
“Stop!
This is Elena’s territory.
State your business.
Take another step, and I’ll shoot.”
As Camilla led Rock toward a three-way intersection, the sound of a weapon being chambered came from the house standing in the middle of the junction.
The three-story building was clearly a lookout post.
At least one gunman inside had a weapon trained on them.
Rock felt his scalp tingle, then the sensation disappeared, only to return a moment later.
After thinking it over, he realized the gunman was shifting his aim back and forth between him and Camilla, ready to fire at any moment.
This was the introductory level of Danger Sense.
He could detect danger, but he still could not tell which floor it was coming from.
“Aguiar, it’s me.
Camilla.”
Camilla stepped forward and brushed her hair aside so the lookout could see her face clearly.
A young man with light brown skin soon emerged from the house.
He held an AK-47 whose handguard was already worn and mottled.
“Who’s the Asian man?
Is he Japanese?”
“No, Aguiar.
This is my man, Locke,” Camilla replied without hesitation.
“Tell him to take his hand off his gun.”
“Relax, Aguiar.
Locke will hand over an AR-15 and a Glock to Elena as the fee for joining the neighborhood.”
Camilla and Rock had already discussed the arrangement along the way.
The gang controlling her neighborhood was not particularly strong.
Altogether, it had a little over twenty gunmen and more than ten unofficial gunmen, barely enough to defend a single street.
Because the area had never been centrally planned, the neighborhoods did not have standardized names.
The entire district had been built across a large slope, so the local streets were named with the word “Slope” followed by a number.
The street where Camilla lived was called Slope 21.
With Camilla vouching for him and Rock turning over two of the guns he had seized, he could gain official status within the neighborhood.
As Camilla’s man, and someone who owned his own weapons, he could also serve as one of Slope 21’s unofficial gunmen.
As for the gang’s name, few gangs in Brazil had formal names apart from the largest organizations.
Most were simply identified by the name of their leader.
The faction controlling Slope 21 was led by a young woman named Elena.
The gunmen under her command were collectively known as Elena’s people.
Aguiar watched as Camilla slowly placed an AR-15 and a Glock on the ground.
Both weapons had been unloaded, with their magazines laid beside them.
Camilla raised her hands and slowly backed toward Rock.
This was the procedure Rock had to go through before he could move into the neighborhood.