The restaurant that Rica brought Gabe to was unlike anything he had ever seen before. It was an underground restaurant, but there were glass walls surrounding their table. On the other side of the walls, lions, tigers, and other animals lived. This was like they were surrounded by a zoo, with only a glass wall separating them.“What is this place?” Gabe asked as he entered this space through an elevator that brought him down from the ceiling and then left. Even Systa didn’t know about the existence of such a place. “There’s animals. There’s fish. It’s like a zoo.”“It’s an exclusive restaurant that can only be used by a certain number of families that are part of its customers,” she said. “Even billionaires won’t be able to get in here unless they are recognized by the owner of this restaurant.”“Who’s the owner?”“My uncle,” she said, surprising Gabe.“I guessed you were rich, but not to this extent,” Gabe said, sitting down on the premium wooden chair which oozed nothing but quality
“Dad…” Rica walked over to Alexander and gave him a gentle hug with one hand and then held his hand and brought him to his seat.Gabe got out of his seat, but Alexander waved his hand, as if telling him to sit. Gabe quickly sat down, but he was feeling anxious, even though he had completely hidden the ring using his invisibility power.“Dad, this is the guy I was talking about,” Rica introduced him. “Gabe. His full name is Gabriel Brando.”“Gabriel. That’s a nice name,” Alexander looked at Gabe without blinking for a few seconds. “You look nice, too… But what’s not nice is that you got my daughter’s attention, and she’s mentioned about you five times in the last couple of months. She’s very particular about men, so I wondered what’s so special about you. I surely wasn’t expecting you to be cross-eyed, though.”Gabe frowned a little.“Dad!” Rica hissed at him in a soft voice and hit his foot.“If you’re really interested in him, Rica, then it’s better that I be frank instead of sugar-c
“Pass? For what?” Gabe didn’t get what he was talking about. “Open the wrapper, and you’ll know it,” Rica said. “Mm?” Gabe opened the candy wrap and found a gold-coated chocolate inside. “Is this a gold ball?” He picked it up. “No. It doesn’t weigh heavy.” “It’s edible,” Alexander said. “You can eat it.” Gabe hesitantly put it in his mouth, and the chocolate melted very quickly, and the taste was very good. “This flavor… was the first milk used in making this chocolate.” “Hoh… to think you were able to deduce that in a few seconds…” Alexander was impressed. “I guess you’re talented in not just fighting but in more departments.” “Mm?” As Gabe swallowed the chocolate juices down his throat, he felt a slight surge of power that worked his muscles up a bit and made him sweat. He could tell that it wasn’t just some ordinary chocolate, but he didn’t say anything about it. After all, he felt a little better now. “How are you feeling?” Rica asked. “Did you sense any changes?” Gabe slow
Both Systa and Ulf were walking next to Gabe while eating icecreams. They looked like little children. While Systa was slowly licking the ice cream, Ulf was chomping on it.“Do you think he really didn’t notice that I have a system?” Gabe asked.[Yeah. I’m a hundred percent sure!] Systa told him. [I and Ulf were hibernating throughout, so there’s no way he would have sensed anything abnormal.]“But he was looking at me a bit differently,” Gabe wondered.{Maybe, it’s because you’re cross-eyed that you felt his gaze being abnormal?} Ulf opined.Gabe angrily grinned. “You’re purposely teasing me, aren’t you? I was very much shaking inside throughout the time I was talking with the father and the daughter. The last thing I wanted was to fight them there.”Because Systa had told him that both Rica and her dad were strong, he obviously didn’t want to fight them in a restaurant owned by Rica’s uncle. Who knew just how much of a reinforcement they would have got had he started fighting them?
Gabe and Zack were in a rented car, with Gabe in the driving seat, giving a rather cold glance at Zack through the rear-view mirror.“I’m telling you the truth,” Zack spoke through the pain. “I didn’t tell them anything. Why don’t you believe me? Urgh, and take me to the hospital. I can’t bear this burning pain in my thighs!”Zack actually wanted to kill the masked guard, but Gabe didn’t let him, not wanting to unnecessarily make Alexander angry.“I won’t believe anything you say,” Gabe coldly breathed out words. “The only reason you probably didn’t leak them information was because you were afraid that they might kill you afterward, right?”Zack’s heart skipped for a second, but his expression didn’t change.“I’ll take the silence as a yes,” Gabe added. “This makes me wonder what you would do if a situation arises when you have to rescue your wife at the cost of your own life. I’m now sure you’ll run away.”“Don’t say nonsense just because I’m listening,” Zack snarled. “I love Kiera.
Gabe returned home and was still feeling anxious as he wondered if the smart system had told Alexander about him or not.To add to his stress, he only saw two oranges left in the kitchen. “W-Where did the rest of the oranges go?”Nicole wasn’t home, so he didn’t have anybody to answer that question.He ate one orange and left the second one on Nicole’s bed before walking out of the house. “If there were more oranges, I would have taken some to the orphanage, but… I don’t think that man will just give me more oranges if I go to that Sterling villa, right?”[Let’s not test that man’s generosity.] Systa advised. [But I think that you should keep the seeds and plant them in the park. I’m sure when they grow and bear fruit, the children in the neighborhood would love to eat them.]Gabe liked the idea. “You should have told me this sooner. Now, we only have one orange left.”[No, Gabe. You weren’t paying attention. Your aunt has already put some of those seeds on the rooftop so they’d dry u
Gabe came to the park to spend the night there. It was peaceful until he felt a shadow prowling in the darkness, slowly closing in on him.“Come on out,” Gabe said.“Your senses are pretty sharp as well,” Nick stepped out into the moonlight. His eyes glowed red.Gabe, however, didn’t look surprised. He was still lying on the grass, as if he wasn’t intimidated by this person’s arrival.“You don’t look surprised. Were you perhaps expecting me?” Nick asked.“I don’t have the mood to talk with you, so state your reason for coming here,” Gabe was straightforward.Nick smiled and sat down on a bench that was about ten feet away from Gabe. He put one leg on top of another as if to show his confidence. “This is a pretty decent park. You wouldn’t want this to be seized by court, do you?”Gabe’s expression didn’t change.“The distance between your home and Tuna Waves isn’t small,” Nick added. “A lot of things can happen during such a long trip.”Gabe’s jaw hardened. “Keep at it, and you’ll die
Many questions flooded through Gabe’s mind as he was told to kill the child who barely looked two to three years old. When did they kidnap him? Was it before Gabe entered this building or after? If it was before, then where were they keeping him in the building? How many more children were there in this building? All these thoughts only added to Gabe’s rising heartbeat and tension. “Do it, Gabriel,” the grandmaster uttered with a hint of pressure in his voice. “Didn’t you eat chicken and beef before? You’ve already taken many lives indirectly, so this is nothing special.” “If it’s nothing special, then why do we have to make this sacrifice?” Gabe asked him back. “This is what our god wants,” the grandmaster said, with his hands placed on his crotch. “We eat chicken and beef every week, but we still consider meat as special, don’t we? This is also the same. Sacrifices like these happen all the time, but they’re still considered special. Don’t think too much about it and put the kni