This unfortunate day was the patriarch"s worst nightmare. Booze helped him to cope with the death of the maid he adored and the loss of his adopted grandson. The whole family was looking for the culprit. He had sensed danger like a cautious mouse and disappeared from the Stone territory. He didn"t answer his sound transmitter. He must be too scared...Bai couldn"t bring himself to talk with Anna about the death of her sister. He had been trying to get up the nerve to speak with Diana about her son"s inappropriate behavior. But above all, he wanted to show Juno who the wretched boy really was.
Bai gave it a lot of thought and decided to talk with the sun of his life first.
He found Juno in the elite training building. She was pounding the dummy with a fierce battle cry.
«How are you doing, my dear girl?»
Juno turned around quickly. She sighed with relief when she saw her grandfather, not the hated villain. But then a wave of apprehension swept over her. Grandfather rarely drank. Something was wrong! Moreover, she could see his distorted, pained face. He was on the brink of despair. Juno asked anxiously:
«Why are you so gloomy, grandpa?»
Bai signed heavily. – «A great tragedy struck our family…»
«What happened?»
The old man was silent for a minute. It was a delicate subject to touch upon. In the end, he decided to get straight to the point. – «Our maid, Dinah…»
Juno"s eyes widened in concern. She had a bad feeling.
«She was killed…»
Panicked look spread across Juno"s white face. - «No! It can"t be! Who did it? When?»
«The subjugating formation that confined her like a spider web dissipated when the king, her first master, died. Dinah came to Boston to get her revenge on your half-brother for s.e.xual abuse. However, our poor little Dinah did not take into account that the scoundrel had a gun and was mercilessly killed…»
Juno stepped back, shaking her head in disbelief. Her big emerald eyes welled up with tears. She was terrified. Her lips trembled. Juno remembered ordering Dinah to obey Kyon. How naive she was not to suspect the l.u.s.tful monster of keeping her maid for his s.e.xual purposes! The loyal, faithful girl was raped in the mansion and then killed!
Juno"s disappointment with the servant had reached a critical level. Hatred filled her soul like red-hot lava erupting from a volcano. He personified absolute evil for her. The mere thought of him turned Juno inside out.
Bai affectionately hugged his precious girl to calm her down. – «Don"t blame yourself, my dear… This villain will be executed as soon as we find him.» – He wanted to find out more details, but in his heart, he knew he shouldn"t ask Juno anything else at the moment.
Juno kept silent. Her face had a fierce, bloodthirsty look. She was going to destroy her a.s.sistant. She would never forgive the s.e.xual abuse and the murder of her dear little Dinah, who always took care of her and her family.
…
Kyon was in the ministry trying to figure out the technique, the only one that had survived in the tomb. The feathered spies worked to full capacity. The slaves from the poor and middle cla.s.ses had already organized a profitable business with high levels of cash flow. The sound transmitter kept announcing calls from his mother and grandfather. The nephrite-bugs let him overhear Bai"s conversation with Juno, and then with Anna (the maid cried with grief when she heard about her sister"s death), and then with Diana. The woman"s voice sounded tragically sad. She seemed to have lost her own son. Kyon didn"t remember his own parents, but it hurt him to hear her lamentations. It was wrong to hurt his mom, even an adopted one. d.a.m.ned G.o.ddess!
Kyon wasn"t afraid of the Stones at all. They didn"t know where he worked or where to look for him. Even if a couple of people recognized his face on the street, they would fall asleep from a tranquilizer dart in the neck. Those who his gun couldn"t stop were few and far between. The possible hired killers would never find him, either. And yet, he had to be careful not to be seen in a crowded place.
The recent separation from his dear girl added to the heavy weight on his soul. No flattering words or admiring glances of his colleagues couldn"t cheer him up. Kyon didn"t consider them equal, not even close. Therefore he did not take them seriously. Kyon needed an outlet. He could do with some good news.
Late in the night, he received a delivery from the trade guild: several dozen rings with medicine for four million spheres inside! River weed had the perfect combination of price and energy density. If his calculations were correct, he would fill his core with more than enough elements. There would be even a couple of rings left.
Kyon entered the house of one of his subordinates and emptied a ring. A heap of pale green weed towered above him. He could easily hide inside it.
Kyon put his hand into the heap of weed and gave his core a mental command to absorb the elements. The heap instantly collapsed, turning into dust. Microscopic energy beams rushed into his hand, then into the keys, and followed the channels right into the kernel in his soul.
Kyon focused on his unique body and saw the faceless person who was holding white and black spheres in his hands. The person was divided into two parts, a physical half and a flickering one. The physical part gave Kyon a feeling of gradual saturation, percent by percent.
After a couple of hours of continuous medicine absorption, the physical half was 99% saturated. There were a few rings left.
It took four million spheres to fill 90% of the void. Kyon earned them when he became a high-ranking investigator and gained access to the archives. Otherwise, it would have taken him months to get this colossal amount of money.
The Body of Void was too demanding! Any other kind of unique body would be hundreds of times more lenient and have only one requirement instead of four! Not a single Stone of the 2nd rank could ever fill the kernel of the Void with elements, not in their lifetime. It was too expensive.
Kyon had to wait a bit for the remaining percent was filled. Suddenly everything went dark before his eyes. A moment later, he found himself in an endless gray world. He was holding something round in his hands.
He glanced at the object in his hands. It began to change its shape, turning into traditional dynamite.
Three seconds remained on the timer.
Without thinking twice, Kyon threw the dynamite up as high as possible.
~BANG~
The thundering explosion threw Kyon out of the gray world into the real one. The medicine elements concentrated in his core rushed from his soul into his head in a stormy stream. At once, his brain exploded in blinding pain, it squeezed his temples like a red-hot vise.
The blood pressure jumped to almost three hundred. It would be inevitable death for an ordinary person. Kyon had a sudden heart attack. His body weakened, the blood roaring in his ears. His fingertips went numb. Kyon fell on his side and curled up.
His head was hammering. Something had changed. Kyon focused, infused his brain with Synergy, and found himself at a loss for words. – «Huh?!» – His Synergy was at the beginning level of the student"s degree (2)! His soul development had not changed at all, but Synergy had upgraded to the next degree! It had undergone major qualitative changes: it had become more powerful, more flexible, insightful and effective! Now it could exist in the gaseous medium and condense there like a hologram. With second degree Synergy, Kyon would be able to pay his debt to Marina in the way he had invented himself!
Kyon did some experiments and found out that he owed Synergy upgrade to his head development. The elements extracted from the medicine had brought the flesh from his neck to the top of his head to a new unknown level: the tissues and the bones had become stronger, the muscles had gotten tougher, the mind had sharpened. The sense of smell, sight, and hearing had improved. All in all, all the parameters had improved significantly.
It was a nice improvement, but it did not give him any combat potential. At least no one would break his head with a single blow. And it never hurt to develop Synergy! It was a matter of some days till he could get his voice upgraded.
Usually, unique bodies granted boons only after all the conditions had been, and the next rank had been achieved. Therefore, Kyon considered the head development as a useful, unexpected bonus! It had almost killed him, though... But all in all, Kyon was pleased. He felt much better now.
Kyon focused on the image of the faceless person to have a "chat" with his unique body. A feeling of incompleteness swept over him. It reminded him of the moments when only the rough draft was ready, while the most difficult, essential part was left for later.
Kyon ma.s.saged his temples. The Void Body was giving him a clear hint to get ready. It would finish his head development after a signal, and it would take more than a day, even more than a month. He"d better be ready for it.
«Haha! Ha…» – Kyon laughed uncertainly. It turned out the head update hadn"t completed yet. He didn"t think it was a good idea to lie about unconscious for a long time just to get ONE part of the body updated!
Kyon knew from books that the unique bodies of other people were brainless amoeba. They struggled to communicate during meditation, a major breakthrough, or sleep. His unique body was smarter than a dolphin, a raven, and a monkey all together! He decided to delay this "pain in the neck" for the future.
Meanwhile, it was already morning.
Kyon returned to the ministry. His colleagues kept praising his talents. His sound transmitter wouldn"t stop ringing even for a minute. It was annoying.
During the next call, Kyon casually glanced at the frequency. The caller was unknown. Could it be his grandfather calling from a different frequency? No, it wasn"t he. His grandad was now drinking whiskey in his office and grieving. Then who was it?
«Who"s there?» – He answered the call.
«Hi there.» – He heard the painfully familiar girl voice.
«You don"t recognize me? Too bad. Goodbye.»
«Wait! I"m just messing with you. You"re the girl from the library! Hard to forget, easy to lose…»
Kyon breathed a sigh of relief. He had almost missed his chance. The girl knew that he would remember her. She would never descend to reminding him who she was.
«So, what are you up to today?» – She definitely wanted to meet up.
«You robbed me, and now you want to see me?»
«Fine, if you are not interested, goodbye then…»
Kyon made a strangling gesture with his hands. – «Wait! I"m busy today. What about tomorrow? Say, at two or four in the afternoon?»
«Tonight at nine.»
«No.»
«Okay.» – She said quietly and finished the call.
Kyon smiled stupidly, wringing his hands. He had partly seized the initiative. It was he who decided on the place of their meeting. His mood soared into the stratosphere. A single sign of attention from the inaccessible beautiful girl had a beneficial effect on his soul akin to the healing balm. That"s what he was like in the presence of a beautiful girl.
At nine o"clock in the evening, Kyon was approaching the library perfectly dressed and scented with his favorite perfume. He was more than confident in himself. The unapproachable noirette must appreciate his good looks. Kyon had plans for her. Firstly, he had to spank her taut b.u.m for stealing his ring and get its contents back. Secondly, she would have to pay in kind for his stolen goods, or she could work off her debt as his personal guard. He just needed an efficient, powerful guard with excellent skills. In fact, he was incredibly happy that the mysterious girl had deigned to call him. But why did she do it? She hardly had a romantic interest in him. Most likely, she wanted to rob him again. Considering their last meeting, when she nearly killed him and then robbed him, he should be alert. But the story ended on a good note, or rather, a neutral one. She can"t be too aggressive towards him. With his negotiation and persuasion skills, he was going to benefit from this meeting. Alas, no pistols or Byrons in the bushes could help him in any way. He had to take a calculated risk.
In fact, Kyon had an idea to protect himself, but he did not have time to prepare. He didn"t see a point in it, either. She had shown her att.i.tude to the meeting "if you"re not interested, then goodbye." He didn"t have to worry, did he?
However, he was absolutely unaware that he was going to meet the best killer in the kingdom.