[The Loadout exists independently of the physical world.]
The System’s cold voice sounded at just the right moment, as though it had read his mind.
[Purchased equipment can be equipped or removed at any time and remains invisible to others while concealed. Its weight still counts toward the Carry Weight System, but you won’t physically feel that weight in the real world.]
Nate’s eyes widened slightly.
He understood what that meant.
In other words, he could buy Body Armor and equip it through the Loadout.
The armor would cover him like an invisible second skin, providing real protection without any of the weight he’d normally feel from wearing it.
As long as it remained concealed, no one else would even know it was there.
The Body Armor would genuinely stop bullets and lose durability when damaged, but it wouldn’t physically exist in the outside world.
It would exist only within the System.
The same applied to a Helmet.
He could wear one without anyone seeing it.
And if he added one of this world’s high-tech bulletproof suits on top of that…
Who the hell could get through all those defenses?
This wasn’t magic.
This was the advantage the System had given him.
“System, what exactly can you do for me?” Nate asked silently.
[Help you survive.]
The cold voice answered immediately.
[System Quest 1 issued: Complete your first bounty.]
[Reward: Random Trait.]
Nate took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
He gave the prices one last look, closed the interface, and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Dawn had broken over Manhattan.
Sunlight spilled through the clouds in the east, casting a pale golden glow over the entire city.
Traffic flowed steadily through the streets below, sidewalks crowded with pedestrians.
The world continued as if nothing had happened.
None of them knew what had taken place at Good Luck Restaurant the night before.
And none of them had any idea what was going through the mind of the young man standing at the window in a coat still stained with ash.
Nate opened the photo gallery on his phone and pulled up the picture he’d taken of the contract information he’d written down.
Anonymous bounty.
$100,000.
The High Table.
Charon had told him it would cost at least three gold coins to buy the information he wanted.
Right now, he had one.
That single coin only covered one night’s stay.
By noon tomorrow, he’d either need another coin or he’d have to leave The Continental and return to a world where another assassin could come after him at any moment.
But if he could get three gold coins, he could buy the identity of whoever had placed the bounty.
Then he’d know who wanted him dead.
Then he could…
“Ding-dong.”
The doorbell rang.
Nate’s hand instantly went to the knife behind his waist.
His entire body tensed like a compressed spring.
Without making a sound, he moved beside the door and pressed himself against the wall.
One hand settled on the handle while the other slowly drew the boning knife.
He looked through the peephole.
Elena stood outside.
She had changed clothes.
A light gray sweater, black skinny jeans, and the same fluffy slippers from earlier.
She carried a tray with two small plates holding several cookies and two little cakes.
That same sweet smile was on her face as she reached out and rang the bell again.
“Nate Lin,” she called, drawing his name out playfully.
Her soft voice carried through the door.
“I baked cookies. Want some? Consider it a welcome gift for my new neighbor.”
Nate slowly relaxed his grip on the knife.
He slid it back into its sheath, straightened his coat, and opened the door.
Elena stood there with her head tilted slightly.
The hallway lights reflected in her light brown eyes, making them sparkle like polished glass.
“You don’t look so good,” she said with genuine concern.
“Didn’t sleep well?”
Nate leaned against the doorframe, looked at the tray in her hands, then at her face.
“Didn’t sleep at all. And you’re baking cookies? It’s barely six in the morning.”
Elena laughed softly.
“It’s a hobby. I keep a very healthy schedule.”
She winked.
Nate glanced back into his room.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t even noticed where the kitchen was.
The floor-to-ceiling windows and minibar had completely stolen his attention.
“Come in.”
He stepped aside.
Elena carried the tray into the room, her fluffy slippers barely making a sound against the patterned marble floor.
She entered the living room, placed the tray on the marble coffee table, then turned and looked around.
“Hmm. Pretty much the same layout as mine.”
She sat down on the sofa, crossed her legs, leaned back, and sank comfortably into the velvet cushions as if she were in her own apartment.
“Different view, though. You can see the Empire State Building from here. My room only overlooks Central Park.”
“How long have you been staying here?”
Nate closed the door and sat on another sofa.
“On and off for about two years.”
Elena picked up a cookie and took a bite.
A few crumbs landed on her gray sweater, and she casually brushed them away.
“I don’t live here permanently. Usually just a few days whenever I have a job.”
“What kind of job?”
The question slipped out before Nate could stop himself.
Elena looked at him.
The corner of her mouth curled upward.
Nate understood that smile immediately.
It was the kind of look someone gave a person who had just asked an incredibly stupid question.
He stayed quiet.
“Relax. I don’t mean anything by it.”
Elena popped the rest of the cookie into her mouth, chewed, swallowed, then brushed her hands together.
“I’m just saying that in this business, you don’t casually ask people what job they’re working.”
She smiled.
“It’s like walking into a restaurant that advertises everything as freshly made and asking if the food actually came frozen in a bag. Not exactly polite.”
Nate couldn’t help laughing.
Elena’s eyes brightened when she saw it, as though she’d discovered something interesting.
“You look pretty good when you smile,” she said.
“When I saw you in the hallway earlier, you looked like you were heading to your own execution.”
“With a blade hanging over my neck, who’d be smiling?”
Nate spread his hands.
Elena stared at him for two seconds.
Then she laughed, her eyes curving as her dimples appeared again.
She stood, walked over to the coffee table, and pushed the tray toward him.
“Keep these. The cookies are chocolate, and the cakes are red velvet. I’m actually pretty good at baking.”
She turned toward the door.
After two steps, she stopped and looked back.
“Oh, right. There’s something you should know.”
“What?”
“That bounty on your head.”
Her tone became almost casual.
“One hundred thousand dollars. Anonymous client. The contract had already been closed.”
She smiled faintly.
“But guess what?”
Nate frowned.
“It was reactivated a few minutes ago. It goes live in twenty-four hours.”
Elena looked directly into his eyes.
“The bounty has been raised to four hundred thousand dollars. And the contract has changed from a Private Bounty to a Public Bounty.”
She paused, giving him time to process that.
“A Public Bounty means your information gets distributed to every registered assassin. Anyone can take the contract.”
“No assignment. No special authorization. No deadline.”
“Whoever kills you gets paid.”
“Four hundred thousand?” Nate asked.
“That’s enough for a Public Bounty?”
In the movies, bounties seemed to jump into the millions without much effort.
“Four hundred thousand isn’t exactly pocket change.”
Elena shrugged.
“This is my third year as an assassin, and the bounty on me is only a little over three hundred thousand.”
“You have a bounty too?”
“Of course.”
She looked at him as though the answer should have been obvious.
“Why else would anyone stay here? This place is expensive. If I could safely stay home, why wouldn’t I?”
Elena stretched before continuing.
“The biggest active bounty in New York right now is only a little over six hundred thousand. It’s been up for more than a month, and the target is extremely dangerous.”
“A lot of good people have already died trying to collect it.”
“As for those multi-million-dollar contracts you’re imagining, you can go years without seeing one.”
Nate’s pupils contracted slightly, though his expression barely changed.
So I’m in serious trouble.
He looked at Elena and asked in an almost detached tone, “How did you find out?”
Elena shrugged.
The gesture somehow combined the casual innocence of a young woman with the ease of someone who had spent years killing for money.
“Come on. I’ve been doing this for a while.”
She smiled.
“Checking the bounty board first thing every morning is basic professional discipline.”
Elena reached the door and opened it.
Before stepping outside, she turned back and gave Nate one last smile.
“Good night… actually, good morning, Nate.”
Her expression softened slightly.
“Be careful.”
The door closed.
Silence returned to the room, broken only by the occasional soft crackle from the dying fire.
Nate stood in the middle of the living room and stared at the closed door.
His thoughts raced.
Public Bounty.
Four hundred thousand dollars.
Twenty-four hours from now, he could walk down the street and any random person he passed might be an assassin.
Any one of them might put a bullet in his back for four hundred grand.
He looked down at the plate of cookies and red velvet cake on the coffee table.
Then at the shallow indentation Elena had left in the sofa.
An experienced assassin had gotten up at six in the morning, baked cookies, and knocked on her new neighbor’s door just to warn him.
Goodwill?
Testing him?
Nate didn’t know.
But he did know one thing.
He needed those three gold coins.
He needed information.
And he needed to stay alive.
Nate walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and pulled back the curtain.
Manhattan stretched out before him beneath the morning sun.
The city was beautiful.
Busy.
Alive.
But to Nate, it was about to become one enormous hunting ground.
And he was the prey.
At least for now.
He repeated that last part silently, then reopened the System interface.
The three-dimensional model from the Loadout appeared before him, its gray silhouette hovering in the air.
Nate stared at the empty equipment slots.
His lips moved slightly.
“Whoever’s coming after me… none of them are walking away.”
The System’s cold voice sounded again.
[Operations Base activated.]
[System scan complete. Within a five-kilometer radius, this is the only location with sufficient space that also qualifies as a safe zone.]
[Requirements for establishing the Operations Base have been met.]
“Safe zone?”
Nate frowned.
[The New York Continental is currently designated as a safe zone and may serve as the Operations Base.]
Nate remembered the movies.
Killing was forbidden inside The Continental.
Which meant that, for someone in his position, the hotel was probably the safest place in New York.
His bounty was only four hundred thousand dollars.
No one was likely to risk certain death by violating Continental rules just to collect that amount.
“Yeah… fine. Whatever. I’m going to sleep.”
The sharpness in Nate’s eyes disappeared almost immediately.
He hadn’t slept all night.
The moment he cautiously allowed himself to relax, exhaustion crashed over him.
Nate dropped onto the sofa like someone had pulled the plug.
He needed the rest.
Because the real fight was only just beginning.