Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

Next day.

[Ding!]

[Sneaking skill increased from 20 to 620.]

[Ding!]

[Pickpocketing skill increased from 30 to 530.]

Tristan had 950 Criminal Points left after improving his skills. He left them be.

***

Three days later. Afternoon.

After three days of preparation, gathering information and stalking his target, Tristan was finally ready. Somewhat ready, at least.

Murder was serious business. And a very cunning choice of mission from Pierce.

Now he stood near his prepared place of crime and waited for him to appear, enjoying the pleasant weather and musing about the mission.

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'If I don't do this extremely carefully, I will get incriminated in murder. That's much worse than some drunk driving. Pierce will have blackmail on me, in case I betray his gang. While I can't even blame him in court—my only evidence is some printed notes, which anyone could get. Hell, I bet that even if I recorded our conversation, he'd come up with a way to avoid prosecution.'

The place was private, but not the kind that would scare a person. Just a quiet stone embankment of a small river running through the city, with a row of garages on the other side. A few cars were parked to the side, but there were no people nearby yet.

Tristan himself hid in a slightly shadowed alcove between two garages.

Tristan's improved stealth skill let him intuitively arrange his body in a way that blended with his surroundings. He stood there, almost motionless, and became almost invisible in broad daylight.

Even if someone took a photo of the place now, they'd have a hard time noticing Tristan on it.

Although everything looked very casual right now, it took Tristan a lot of effort to reach this point. His sneaking and observation skills have improved slightly, but he still spent a lot of time just watching his target move or browsing his social pages and social pages of his acquaintances. That, and reading articles about real and fictional murders, so he knew how to make one himself properly.

Having to sleep only 4 hours a day really helped Tristan fit the new "kill some guy" task into his schedule.

He still had to work as Gemello, after all.

Then Tristan had to steal the phone of a girl the target liked so he could write fake messages from her name, inviting the target here.

She doubtlessly already noticed that it was missing, but since everything happened only this morning, Tristan hoped that the news won't reach the target yet.

He had to finish this quickly so he could go to work his shift in the bar.

Finally, five minutes before the specified time, the target entered Tristan's field of view.

He was walking slowly, looking around and clearly searching for his girl. Or danger, perhaps.

From his position, Tristan couldn't see more, but he knew that close to the target was going to be his constant companion—another stalker!

This person was someone Tristan noticed three days ago, and had been trying to avoid since then. A stalker who was clearly sent by Pierce—who else could've done that?

Now Tristan's goal was to hide from him as well, and the place he chose for an ambush was perfect for it. The approaches to it were very open, so the stalker would have to stay at a distance—while inside were plenty of nooks between the garages where someone could hide.

The target stopped on the embankment, then pulled out his phone and looked at it. He began tapping on the phone, ignorant of what was happening behind his back.

Silent like a shadow, Tristan walked behind the target and took him into a chokehold.

In one movement, he blocked the young man's ability to speak and breathe. Next, Tristan wrangled his arms, preventing him from struggling, and gave the target just enough air to not suffocate before it was too late.

The target could only silently gasp in shock and shake in fear.

"Shh," Tristan whispered. "I'm your friend—but someone else here isn't. Come along before that someone puts extra holes in your skin."

He pushed the shaking target toward a nook between garages. Thankfully, he didn't struggle, only stumbled from time to time.

They got there before the target's stalker could see them, which made Tristan let out a small huff of relief.

"Now, be very quiet. Someone wants to kill you, Jack Fulone. Do you have any idea why?"

Tristan let the target have a bit more air.

"I, ah, I don't know! R-really, please—!"

Tristan's sensitive ears noticed every tremble in the target's voice.

He was afraid, and he was lying.

"I can't save you from them if you don't tell me the truth," Tristan hissed, turning the man and pressing him into the wall so he could look into his eyes.

[Ding!]

[Fearsomeness attribute increased by 1. Reward: your CP increased by 100!]

[Ding!]

[You have terrified 1 person. Reward: your PP increased by 10.]

"Th-that's not a lie! I didn't do anything! I kept quiet, I didn't report them, I didn't say anything!"

"So you've seen something illegal? What was it?"

"What?! I can't tell you. Who… Who are you, anyway? What have you done to Gloria?"

It looked like the shock wore off, and the target was regaining at least a part of his critical thinking.

Tristan scowled. It looked like the things this man saw would forever remain a mystery, because Tristan didn't have the time for proper interrogation.

He quietly pulled a knife from his pocket. An ordinary kitchen knife—Evelyn's knife was too good for this.

With surgical precision, Tristan slid the knife through the target's T-shirt and right into his madly beating heart.