Chapter 70. Shady
Somewhere around 5 am.
Two individuals were intently engaged in a game.
The duo had been so absorbed in the game that they did not even notice time had slipped by.
This was what occurred when two hardcore gamers met.
" I’m shocked," Aiden was genuinely surprised as he leaned back on the sofa and placed the gamepad on his lap.
" Feeling like a noob?" Desmonda grinned.
" Oh please. We are now at a draw," Aiden said. " If we have one more match..." A daring glint flashed through his eyes.
Desmonda was about to reply when her phone buzzed.
" Oh, my apartment is done," she said.
" One last game," she added.
A few moments later.
Knockout.
Aiden could not process what had happened. He had been bamboozled.
" To think you’d dig your own grave." Desmonda covered her mouth. She was enjoying the look on Aiden’s face.
" Alright, scram out of my villa," Aiden joked.
"I would have loved to continue, but. No," Desmonda said. "I have a mission."
Aiden nodded. " Same."
" You are really fun to be honest," Desmonda said. " One should never judge a book by its cover."
" I should be saying that about you," Aiden replied warmly. He was being genuinely honest.
He shared a lot of personality similarities with her. Just that she had a habit for saying ridiculous things at unexpected moments.
"Well, see you later. And thank you for being a wonderful host," Desmonda said as Aiden saw her to the door.
"No problem," Aiden replied politely.
" This guy can really be a gentleman," Desmonda thought inwardly. " Hard to believe he’s the crimson reaper."
Aiden closed the door behind her as she left.
He cleaned up the place and entered the shower.
A few moments later, he dressed up in a hooded long coat, t-shirts, jeans and sneakers and headed out of campus after purchasing some legendary rank 1 poisons. The poisons he bought this time had a hallucinogenic effect. They could induce murderous hallucinations. These hallucinations would make the victim of the poison think anyone close to them was someone they seriously harbored murderous intent towards.
Aiden needed these poisons for a plan he was cooking.
He had rejected the offers to join some organisations. Some of them would definitely send assassins after him.
He planned to use the plan he was thinking of to handle the assassins that would be sent after him. He also wanted to do some harm to the organisations in the process.
His eyes were calm.
" Multiple assassins from different organizations would most likely be sent after me," Aiden thought.
" The plan will work better if that happens," Aiden thought.
He left the campus.
He eventually arrived at the danger zone.
He entered the rank 1 danger zone.
His eyes flashed with a glint.
He was in crimson armor. He held a large crimson hammer. If anyone saw him, it would be very easy to recognize that it was Aiden, because of his current appearance.
Aiden did this on purpose. It was bait.
" They are here," Aiden smiled. The assassins had arrived. They were all following him from different directions. From what he scanned, none of them were even aware that there were others from other organizations after him.
"They are all university students. They must be scions from the powers that want me dead. They’ve been most likely tasked to eliminate me in exchange for some rewards in their organizations. All of them are legendary rank 1 warriors. It seems these organizations really want me dead huh. I should finish what they started in the future," Aiden thought.
He quietly sat under a tree and pretended to fall asleep.
" He’s asleep?" Someone motioned to another person.
" I think something is off. This guy is known to be very sly. Don’t you think it’s weird he will fall asleep in a place like this?"
" Heh, warriors get overconfident all the time. Geniuses like him are mostly the ones who fall into that trap, thinking no one can harm them. Is the fact that he rejected the offer to join our Vermin Guild not a perfect example of that?"
" Well if you put it that way..."
" Alright, let’s kill him."
The assassins from the vermin guild shot towards Aiden from several directions.
When they arrived at where the tree was, he was nowhere to be found.
Aiden had activated a beginner rank 2 invisibility bracelet he had squeezed out all the remaining contribution points he had, to buy. Even with discounts, it was very expensive to purchase.
But it would be worth it.
He needed it for the plan to work.
He had crushed the powdered legendary rank 1 hallucinogenic poisons into the environs already.
Currently, Aiden was calmly standing on a tree away from the group of assassins.
The other assassins from the other organizations were still lurking in the shadows. Only those from the Vermin Guild had made an open move to kill Aiden so far.
Aiden saw the looks of puzzlement on the faces of the Vermin Guild assassins and the others in hiding. They were all wondering where he had disappeared to.
" He set a trap for us. I don’t know what it is, but..."
Someone was sharp enough to understand why Aiden Vhorn disappeared.
However, the person discovered it too late.
Someone coughed.
" What’s that smell?" Something funny was in the atmosphere.
Even those in hiding smelled it.
Then, they started seeing Aiden Vhorn whenever they stared at anyone in their immediate surroundings.
" Look,...he’s over there.."
" Die...die..."
The assassins started to attack each other, thinking their colleagues were Aiden Vhorn.
" It seems the effects are kicking in," Aiden nodded. " Time to initiate the next phase of the plan."
Aiden started recording the altercation with a floating tiny camera he had bought from the university stores.
The assassins in the shadows appeared in the open. They had completely lost control of their reasoning.
It was mayhem. Affinities flew over the place as the assassins from various organizations attacked and killed each other.
" As I theorised, these guys are all scions of the organisations that wanted to kill me. Perfect," Aiden thought as he used the Internet to do background checks on the legendary rank 1 warriors who were now killing each other under the effect of the legendary rank 1 hallucinogenic poisons.
Very soon, they all died.
Each of them lay in pools of their own blood.
Aiden stopped the recording.
Aiden absorbed their blood essence.
The accumulated blood essence within his being reached its limit and resonated finally. He felt a great surge of strength.
" I’ve broken through. My strength should be at the level of an expert rank 1 warrior now. About time," Aiden thought. "The distance from which I can also absorb blood essence has increased to 20 meters."
" Anyway, time to strike while the iron is hot."
Aiden called Desmonda.
Desmonda picked up the phone from her end.
" What’s up?"
" I need some help. Can you use your connections to get me a hacker that can hide their tracks completely?" Aiden asked.
The call was silent for a moment.
" I know someone," She replied. "I’m sending you their number."
" Thank you," Aiden replied.
" Sure. Anytime." Desmonda hung up.
She sat on her bed, wondering what this guy needed a hacker for.
" He’s about to pull off some crazy shit again isn’t he?" She shook her head and sent the number to Aiden. As someone whose father owned a guild, and was the Mayor’s chief of staff, she had some connections. It was no surprise she had the contact of a shady hacker.
In the rank 1 region of the danger zone, Aiden received a notification. Desmonda had sent the number.
He contacted the person. The person picked up the phone.
" What’s the job?" The anonymous person replied.
"I need you to breach security and anonymously upload a video on some websites of some guilds and conglomerates," Aiden replied.