Chapter 248: Payback
Chapter 248: Payback
Calvin found himself standing in front of the gates of the House of a Thousand Thrusts.
He was too close to the gates that the plaque above him couldn't be seen, but it was obvious that the establishment in front of him was the House of a Thousand Thrusts due to the fact that the walls were painted with naked bodies intertwined with each other.
Depicted on the walls were all sorts of debauchery.
Other than the House of a Thousand Thrusts, where could he possibly be?
"C-Calvin..." A soft whisper came from behind him.
It was a feminine voice that sounded familiar.
"Thankfully, you appeared close to me."
As expected, it was Christine Allana.
But there was a pale look on her face as if she had just seen a ghost.
"Calvin. I-I..." Christine hesitantly said.
"What's going on?" Calvin asked in concern.
"Look..." In the end, she decided that it was better to show than to tell.
Stretching her hand out, she tried to touch a young woman who was walking past them but unexpectedlyher hand went right through the woman!
"Oh..." Calvin let out a small voice of acknowledgment.
"What do you mean, 'Oh'?! Didn't we travel to the past? How come we became ghosts instead?" Christine retorted.
"It's because that is what I want to happen. What? Do you want for us to transform into humans instead of being ghosts that can conveniently pass through walls?" Calvin raised his eyebrows.
"No, I don't want to pass through walls. Who knows what kind of disgusting things are between the walls of this place!"
Christine was insistent.
Calvin might be confused by her relentless attitude, but Christine couldn't really be blamed. With her status, she had stayed with a lot of hotels, or luxurious places before.
But most of them were created in a way that the walls had these strange cavities in them.
The poor Christine had once discovered a pair of blood-soaked gloves in one of the walls in a hotel at Laguna.
Since then, Christine started to dislike hotels and inns.
"Okay." Calvin didn't really mind. "You go and change into a human being first."
"How do I do that?"
"Just close your eyes and focus on the word 'Human' in Elder Speech."
"O-Okay..." Christine had no idea why the Elder Speech was necessary, but she wasn't here to argue. Closing her eyes, she followed Calvin's instructions and imagined the word 'Human' in Elder Speech floating right in front of her.
"You can open your eyes now." Calvin softly said.
Christine opened her eyes and the world around her finally regained its colors.
"How's the experience of being a ghost?" Calvin asked with a smile.
"I-It was scary..." Christine remarked.
"How could a ghost be scared? I say you're just being a coward." Calvin teased.
"All right, I'm a coward now, okay? You're happy?" Christine replied in irritation.
"What's wrong? Why the long face?" Calvin noticed that there was something wrong with Christine. Usually, she would kick up a fuss after being teased like this, but why was she being so obedient? Did the sun rose from the west yesterday?
Christine let out a sigh. Recalling the monochrome world that she had seen through the eyes of a ghost. She started to wonder if that was truly the world of ghosts. In that case, what would happen to her grandma that had always liked flashy colors as an artist?
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Would the world in her eyes also be monochrome as a ghost?
"How silly... I'm silly... I shouldn't think about this anymore. It's been such a long time. I should move on." Christine mumbled to herself.
Of course, her words didn't escape Calvin's ears.
But this time, he didn't say anything nor tease her.
Calvin stretched his hand out and flicked his wrist. A handkerchief appeared all of a sudden.
It was clean, untainted, and pure-white in color.
"How did you do that?" Christine was wide-eyed by what she had just witnessed. "Wait, why a handkerchief?"
"Aren't you about to cry? Here, take it and wipe those tears before I see them. If I do see them, then I might tease you for a long time. I'll say that you're a cry-baby and such." Calvin casually handed over the handkerchief to Christine before he turned around.
Christine wiped the tears that welled up in her eyelids with the pristine handkerchief.
Looking at Calvin's back, she felt as if he wasn't as unpleasant as before anymore.
But upon remembering what he had said about teasing her for a long time, she was suddenly overcome with fury as she raised her leg and kicked the back of Calvin's kneecaps, forcing him to almost stumble onto the floor.
"What the hell are you doing?" Calvin scolded.
"N-Nothing." Christine turned around and refused to answer.
'What's with this unreasonable woman?'
Calvin didn't know what to say.
But upon seeing the light smile on Christine's face, a smile also appeared on Calvin's lips.
'It seems that her mental state is finally stabilizing...'
'That's good...'
'Entering someone else's dream world with an unstable mental state is always never good.'
"Hey, Calvin..."
Christine suddenly spoke up.
"What is it?"
"Can I keep this handkerchief?"
"What? Do you think we're in a department store? We're in a dream world for god's sake. Of course, you can't keep it!" Calvin snorted in derision.
"Hmmph. Why are you scolding me? I was just asking." Christine was displeased.
"Hahaha." Calvin suddenly laughed.
"Now, you're laughing at me?"
"Not really..." Calvin waved his hands in dismissal. "I was just happy that the good ol' Christine's finally back."
"You..." Christine was astounded.
A furious blush soon appeared on her cheeks as she clenched both of her hands into fists and furiously pounded against Calvin's chest.
"You idiot... Why do you have to say something so embarrassing?"
The two quarreled for a while until it was finally about time for them to enter the House of a Thousand Thrusts.
As for how they knew it was about time?
It was because they saw the female attendant walking into the establishment with a smile on her face. She seemed to have had a good night's sleep as she walked into the House of a Thousand Thrusts while greeting every employee that she knew.
"Do you have your family's medallion with you?" Calvin asked.
"No..." Christine patted her pockets for a while before she replied, "No, I don't seem to have it with me."
"Oh, goddamned it. We have to turn into ghosts if we want to bypass this security."
Calvin scanned the area around him and noticed that the place was teeming with guards.
"You're right... How come there are so many guards right now?"
"Take a guess."
"Is it because there's a VIP customer coming in?"
"Bull's eye! That's right. The person who rented that Paradise Room ahead of us and injured Fatty is a VIP customer. Of course, that person itself might not be the true VIP customer."
"What are you talking about?" Christine felt a sense of foreboding.
"I'm just saying that it's not that easy to become a VIP customer of the House of a Thousand Thrusts. For ordinary civilians, if they wanted to become one of the VIPs. There is a spending requirement of at least ten thousand Joselian Pesos..."
"But it's different for nobles. As long as you have the medallion of a noble family, then you will automatically become a VIP customer of the House." Calvin explained.
"Wait, why is the treatment so different." Christine furrowed her eyebrows. "That doesn't make sense. Wouldn't it be better if they imposed the same requirement on the members of noble families?"
"Wouldn't they earn a lot more if there was a spending requirement before one could become a VIP?"
"After all, a noble may not necessarily spend ten thousand Joselian Pesos in a place like this..."
"But if there is a spending requirement, they would be compelled to spend a lot of money for the sake of their face."
"It doesn't make sense..." Christine looked at Calvin.
"It makes total sense if you knew how many nobles of Joselian are VIP customers of the House. In a nutshell, there is basically a deal between the nobles of Joselian and the House. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. That kind of thing." Calvin winked at Christine.
"How do you know so much about the House?"
Christine was even more baffled by the range of Calvin's knowledge.
"I read books," Calvin smirked. "The more you read, the more you know. That's how the world works, young lady."
"The more you readmy ass!" Christine furiously cursed.
The sudden outburst of profanity attracted the eyes of the people around the area.
Calvin also looked at Christine in shock.
"T-T-This is your fault!" Christine pointed a finger at Calvin.
Then, she once again pounded his chest with her small fists.
Calvin caught one of her hands in mid-air and said, "Stop kicking a fuss, all right? We have to turn into ghosts now and head for that Paradise Room to ambush those bastards and find out once and for all as to who they really are."
A blush lingered on Christine's cheeks, but she knew that she couldn't be unreasonable anymore.
Following Calvin's example, the world around them turned monochrome once more.
They soon arrived at the Paradise Room and found that it was empty.
"Where are they?" Christine asked.
Calvin casually took a seat at one of the couches at the far corner of the room before he replied, "They'll come here sooner or later"
"Ah!"
"They're here."
Christine abruptly paled.
She was startled by the sudden revelation as she crouched down and frantically tried to hide behind one of the seats.
"What are you doing?"
"Hiding."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want them to be discovered?"
"Are you retarded? You're a ghost, remember? As if they can see you..."
Calvin rolled his eyes at her.
"Oh..." Christine facepalmed.
But then realizing that she couldn't actually be seen by the naked eye...
She started to become complacent.
She even stood up and laid on one of the couches that directly faced the front doors of the room.
"Why aren't you coming here?" Christine asked Calvin.
"I might be a ghost, but I don't want to get sat on by a guy."
"Ah!" Christine abruptly stood up.
Calvin was right. If those people were to come here, then they would take a seat.
But since she was sitting on their seats, wouldn't she get crushed by their buttocks?
Realizing this, Christine decided to take the seat next to Calvin.
A few minutes later, footsteps rang out from behind the doors of the Paradise Room.
The doorknob twisted and as the doors openedthe figures of six men came into view.
Standing in front of the other men was a bald-headed middle-aged man whose head seemed to be more resplendent than the sun.
His facial features would probably make him look like a generic kind old man next door, but sadly...
His permanent glare paired with his facial features made him look terrifying instead.
But this wasn't the feature that attracted the attention of both Christine and Calvin.
It was the insignia on their chests.
"A-A-Ashmelion Police Department?"
"They are police officers?"
As Christine gawked in shock, she saw the men carry with them a huge rucksack.
The smell of blood assaulted Christine's nose and in an instant, she understood what was inside the rucksack.
It was undoubtedly Fatty Zachary.
"They are police officers... Police officers who swore to protect the people and the laws of Joselian! Why are they here beating people up?"
Christine was enraged.
She stood up and was about to come out of her ghost form when Calvin clapped with both of his hands.
Pa!
The monochrome world crumbled in an instant.
"Ah!"
Christine sucked a mouthful of cold air as the crimson candle in front of her abruptly extinguished.
"W-We're back?"
"Yes..." There was a grim look on Calvin's face.
"But we still haven't found out who they are! We know that they are police officers, but we don't know about their identities, yet! What if their insignias are stolen? We might be barking the wrong tree here!" Christine was worried.
"It doesn't matter if this is a case of an identity thief, What matters is I finally know who we are fighting with," Calvin explained.
"Who are they?" Christine asked with a solemn look on her face.
"Didn't you see the tattoos on their bodies? That image of a river flowing..."
"We're fighting none other than the Yellow River Gang!" Calvin revealed.
Ding!
[An A-Tier Quest has appeared and has been automatically accepted.]
[A-Tier Quest: Payback]
[You have correctly identified the identities of those that harmed Zachary Casasola. As the holder of the Emperor's Commandment, you are of a noble heart. You cannot afford to let this injustice run its course, so you set off to take revenge for the sake of Zachary Casasola and the residents beneath the banner of the Joselian Kingdom.]
[Quest Completion Conditions: Deal significant damage of any kind to the Yellow River Gang.]
[Additional Rewards: Purify 0/20,000 Totems of Pisti.]
[Note: There is no deadline to this quest. But the more time passes, the numerical requirement for the completion of the 'Additional Rewards' might increase exponentially.]