After a brief moment of silence for the ten fallen killers,
Alex Cross steadied himself and returned to work.
The most urgent matter now—
was the cleanup.
He had no intention of calling in the "Dinner Service" cleanup crew.
One coin per corpse.
Tonight, nearly three hundred dead… he wasn't about to waste that many coins.
Fortunately,
the underground training base had every facility imaginable:
Armory, shooting range, tactical training rooms, medical bay…
and of course, a crematorium.
After all,
not every trainee survived graduation.
The dead needed burning.
But considering the killers had just fought through a brutal battle—
the fifty remaining needed rest and treatment.
Alex opened his system shop.
[Strength Elixir (Green) ×1 | Cost: 10 Coins | Limited-time 70% discount]
[Assassin Recruitment Scroll (White) ×100 | Cost: 20 Coins | Limited-time 80% discount]
Only two discounted items remained.
He spent thirty coins without hesitation and bought them all.
Leaving the armory,
he entered the shooting range.
With a wave of his hand,
one hundred white-tier killers materialized.
He clapped his hands, then issued the order:
"Everyone, upstairs. Move all corpses from the hotel and club to the corridor end. Take anything valuable. Dump the bodies into the crematorium. Then clean the hotel and club."
The squads broke off instantly—
some heading out through the parking garage to drag bodies,
others moving upstairs through the club.
Once they were gone,
Alex handed Susie two gold coins.
"Call a doctor. Have him come here and treat the wounded."
"Yes, Mr. Cross."
Susie pocketed the coins, stepped aside, and began dialing.
Half an hour later.
The hundred recruits were working fast.
Most of the bodies were already in the crematorium, reduced to ash and sealed in bags.
Only a few mangled remains required extra tools to clean.
Meanwhile—
the Bounty Center rescinded the public contract on Alex Cross and Anna.
When word reached him, Alex wasn't surprised.
He had expected this the moment he blew open the hidden vault.
With fifty killers now resting on the second and third floors of the hotel,
Alex took Anna and Duggan upstairs.
Susie and Margarita stayed behind—
one tallying profits from the operation,
the other taking inventory of the armory.
At the hotel's top floor,
Alex chose the presidential suite next to John Wick's as his own for the night.
Duggan took the one across the hall.
Anna, as always, stayed with Alex—
guarding him closely.
After a quick shower,
Alex didn't rush to sleep.
He was waiting.
Waiting for one call.
An international call from Rome.
Finally, at 11:30 PM—
the phone rang.
He glanced at the number.
Not Santino, that idiot.
Then he answered.
A mature woman's voice came through:
"Good evening, Mr. Cross. This is Gianna D'Antonio. I must apologize for the trouble my brother has caused you."
"Miss D'Antonio, no need for pleasantries. Say what you came to say."
Alex chuckled, unfazed.
Santino's father would never call him directly.
As one of the High Table Twelve, he had too much pride.
So the only one left to negotiate—
was Gianna.
This woman,
clever and ruthless, had consolidated Rome's underworld in record time.
But her flaw—
was her blind trust in her brother.
Not that Alex cared about Camorra family politics.
What mattered was what he could take from her.
"Mr. Cross, I hope we can set aside hostilities for now. On behalf of the Camorra Family, I've shown sincerity—we've canceled the public contract on you and Miss Anna."
Gianna's voice was calm, businesslike.
As expected,
no small talk.
Both sides knew the truth.
This was a blood feud.
Any truce now was only because Alex had the upper hand—
forcing concessions.
So when Gianna spoke,
Alex replied without hesitation:
"Miss D'Antonio, I don't worry about public contracts. But yes—I accept your gesture. And let me be very clear: the documents you want… are in my possession."