Max left on the third day, still dressed as the elegant lawyer she was, the roar of her red Chevrolet coupe particularly grating on the quiet morning street.
Zhang Jie stood at the second-floor window, watching the exhaust fumes draw a white line in the cold air.
Strangely, Max looked up at him before she left, her gaze under the gold-rimmed glasses complex and unreadable.
It was very uneventful, without any incidents.
When Zhang Jie went downstairs, he saw Mrs. Schneider looking as if she had sighed in relief, which he found a bit amusing.
"Mrs. Schneider, you seem quite afraid that Max would stay?"
Zhang Jie deliberately drew out his words, casually grabbing milk from the refrigerator. Behind the butter dish on the third shelf of the cold storage, his glock lay quietly.
"Nonsense, I just hate to see her go!"
"Oh... is that so."
Zhang Jie shrugged, his gaze sweeping over the freshly painted walls. The bullet holes and knife marks were perfectly concealed, even the wallpaper patterns matched flawlessly.
This level of restoration was definitely not something an ordinary renovation team could achieve; it must have cost a lot of usd even to hire cleaners, right?
Zhang Jie was too lazy to expose it, because he noticed that whenever Max was around, Mrs. Schneider would appear very unnatural, or rather, a bit reserved.
"By the way, Mrs. Schneider, besides your eldest granddaughter Max and your youngest granddaughter Hanna, do you have any other granddaughters?"
After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Jie decided to ask.
Who would have thought that his question would immediately alert the Old Lady? She looked at Zhang Jie warily.
"What? Are you interested in my granddaughters? I warn you, don't you dare have any ideas about my granddaughters, you pauper!"
Weren't they just chatting nicely?
How did it suddenly turn into a personal attack?
Although the Old Lady's expression was fierce, after a moment, she still said, "I have a second granddaughter who works in Czech."
Good heavens, there really is one. How many granddaughters do you have?
"May I ask what your granddaughter's name is?"
The Old Lady rolled her eyes and said somewhat reluctantly, "Simmons, she's the most mischievous of all my granddaughters. She gives me no peace of mind and hasn't come back to see me in years."
Simmons?
Zhang Jie quickly ran through his mind, but couldn't recall anyone associated with Simmons.
So he breathed a sigh of relief. Good, good. One like Max was enough; if another one came, it would be the end of him.
At this moment, the Old Lady added that her eldest granddaughter Max and second granddaughter Simmons were actually twins, though their personalities were a bit different.
?
What, I just asked a question, you wouldn't think I want to hit on them, would you?
The Old Lady glanced at Zhang Jie, then muttered, "They wouldn't look twice at a pauper like you."
Zhang Jie: (´｀;)?
"Alright, alright, I get it, I get it!"
I know you have twin granddaughters, is that enough?
Don't keep personally attacking me. I'm not a pauper, I've already paid off the rent!
Zhang Jie, sighing helplessly, decided to stay home for a few days. His current injuries didn't support him doing high-intensity training or wandering around. It was better to rest and recuperate for a few days.
He looked at his proficiency panel.
It was impressive, but how should he put it... his strength still couldn't keep up.
Shooting: Lv3 (30/100)
Instinctive Shooting: Lv1 (35/100)
Combat: Lv2 (85/100)
Driving: Lv2 (87/100)
Tactical Planning: Lv1 (21/100)
Pain Tolerance: Lv1 (87/100)
Reconnaissance: Lv1 (62/100)
Danger Reaction: Lv1 (92/100)
Weapon Knowledge: Lv1 (90/100)
Environmental Analysis: Lv1 (36/100)
Disguise: Lv0 (75/100)
...He was too lazy to look at the trivial little things like cooking, economic pressure, survival pressure, etc. These were the only ones that truly helped him.
In short, besides his current Shooting being Lv3, everything else was Lv2, with a large number of Lv1s, and even more Lv0s.
Indeed, he still had a long way to go to become a master. Just by looking at these stats, Zhang Jie knew he was still just a rookie.
A relatively capable rookie.
In the following days, Zhang Jie focused more on his physical condition, shuttling between John's small villa to take care of Hades while practicing his Shooting, but his improvement was very slow.
His proficiency kept fluctuating... Fortunately, Hades kept him company. Hades was indeed smart; he learned everything he was taught instantly.
After a week like this, Zhang Jie felt as if he had become lazy.
It wasn't until today that he checked a message from his bank; good heavens, there was less than 3000 usd left in his account.
"Well, now I'm really short on money."
However, after a week of rest, his injuries were mostly healed.
He pulled out his phone, opened the assassin app, and started accepting missions.
"Huh, this is only two stars... not taking it."
"One star: Help track my wife to see if she's cheating on me. What kind of mission is this?"
"One star: I am Caesar the Great. If you believe me, give me 500 usd."
?
You, Caesar the Great? Do you believe I'll send you to meet Caesar?
"One star: Help me teach Peter a lesson, reward 500 usd."
?
"Two stars: The Hongmeng gang in Chinatown has been very arrogant recently. Take out their Double Flower Red Pole, bounty 10,000 usd."
Heh heh, I'm Asian, and you're asking me to cause trouble in Chinatown? Sorry, Pass!
He scrolled through dozens of missions in a row; they were either one-star or two-star, and the occasional three-star mission was extremely bizarre, making Zhang Jie's eyelids twitch.
However, he quickly found a three-star mission that caught his attention.
"Three-star mission: Travel to Czech in the near future to kill a person. Commission 60,000. The target will be issued after accepting the mission and arriving in Czech."
Oh?
A challenging mission, here it is!
Now this is a proper assassin mission, isn't it?
A 60,000 bounty. After deducting the service fee, 36,000 would remain, which wasn't bad.
This mission seemed alright, and it was in Czech. There shouldn't be anything too idiotic. Given how mysterious it was, it was probably an assassination of a political figure.
The phone screen reflected Zhang Jie's furrowed brows.
"Czech"... the word pierced his vision like a needle.
Mrs. Schneider's murmur from a few days ago echoed in his ears: "...my second granddaughter Simmons works in Czech."
His fingertip hovered over the [Accept] button, trembling slightly.
"To hell with it!" He slammed the confirm button, "It's better than starving!"
Immediately after, he organized his gear, bought plane tickets, and prepared to depart. Before leaving, Zhang Jie made a special trip to John's small villa to prepare enough food for Hades, so he wouldn't starve Hades before he returned.
However, with Hades' intelligence, it would probably be difficult to starve him to death, as he could open doors and go out. As for how he would return, that remained unknown.
He also wondered what John had been up to lately.
He hadn't heard from him in a long time, not even a text message. That old geezer really was something.
--+--
T/N: Although I'm an inexperienced Editor, I do have a Patreon account! Although it seems like I don't have many supporters right now, my webnovel will be released in full every day, and the advanced chapters will be uploaded to Patreon.
It may not be worth it now, but who knows, it might be different in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/TripleCrown07
If you want to see it, then why not?