detective
Luke withdrew over ten meters away. He then sped up and rushed forward.
When he approached the truck, he leapt onto the back in a single bound. Then, he used both legs to leap onto the plank on the roof of the truck.
That sent him flying high up into the air.
The truck was about 1.7 meters tall, and using the makeshift stilts, Luke sprang high into the air over the fence.
At the exact moment Luke approached the barbed wires on the fence, he curved his body and the stilts landed right on the barbed wires.
Then, just like a circus performer, he leapt off the top of the fence.
There was no cushion to soften his landing.
Thus, borrowing the power of inertia, he did a forward somersault before adjusting his body when he was about two meters from the ground. He landed on both his feet and continued hurtling forward with the momentum for over ten meters before finally stopping.
He then sat down on a tiny mound and started taking off the stilts. Picking up a random rock, he dug a hole before burying the stilts inside it.
After doing all that, Luke left the area.
After roughly five hours on foot, a shanty town finally came into sight.
Luke was relieved when he saw it. His speculation had been correct: there was indeed a town here.
There were many such towns on the Mexican side of the border even though it was all desolate uninhabited land on the American side.
About 30 kilometers away from where Luke had decided to cross was a town of moderate size.
He took out a mirror and inspected himself. After making sure that his face was covered with a pair of sunglasses and a red scarf, he entered the town.
The official language of Mexico was Spanish, but with the passage of time, the Spanish here had become somewhat different from the Spanish spoken in Spain.
And since the country bordered the United States, a lot of people here knew varying degrees of English.
At the very least, they knew enough English for regular business transactions.
Before long, Luke set off with an old car he had just bought.
This was a very shabby car, but it was also very cheap at 800 dollars. The cheap price was most likely due to the sheer amount of owners which this car had had before this.
Naturally, even 800 dollars was already overpriced. Luke was well aware of that. However, he didn't have time to haggle with the seller.
He only had ten days of leave, and he had spent two days just getting here.
The return trip would take him at least three days as well. Thus, he had to wrap up this operation in five days.
And the less time he had, the higher the risk.
Currently, Luke only had 2,000 dollars on him. But he wasn't worried about that.
As he drove the old car, he took out a map which he had already studied countless times. Referring to the map, he started heading for his destination.
The Carlos Family was a small crime family that had come to power recently. Thus, they weren't too powerful compared with other criminal organizations in Mexico.
In order to save costs, they decided to make a certain town bordering Texas their stronghold.
But it was said that they had begun looking for new territory in recent years after making loads of money.
In any case, this small town called Thurmeier was still their turf for now.
Towns in America usually had thousands or only hundreds of residents. But here, a town might have nearly 10,000 residents. And in this town, the most powerful organization was the Carlos Family.
On his way, Luke stopped to buy some bottled water.
As for food, he didn't bother. He didn't trust the hygiene here and had no intention of testing the limits of his stomach.
Naturally, he had some high calorie food in his rucksack. They would last him a day or two without any problems.
Apart from when he had to top up gas, Luke drove without stopping.
This car looked shabby and old, but everything still worked fine. He picked this car based on the knowhow he had learned from Robert, which enabled him to purchase a vehicle that actually worked instead of one which would simply stop working not long after purchase.
This car didn't have air conditioning, one of the windows was broken, and there were several bullet holes in the seats. Even so, it still moved steadily down the road.
Luke wanted to reach Thurmeier before nightfall.
He didn't rush into the town like an idiot. Instead, he stopped about a kilometer away and looked around for a shady spot before driving his car over.
Getting out, he set up a simple perimeter alert warning system before getting some rest in the car.
He rested until the sky was completely dark. Then, he put on some makeup, a fake beard, and a long and thick wig, which made him look like some hipster kid.
He then set off for Thurmeier on foot.
This town was no different from most Mexican towns. It was dirty and messy, but it also had two decent nightclubs.
One of them belonged to the Carlos Family.
The club dealt drugs openly, which attracted quite a lot of wealthy American tourists.
Inside this club, guests could do whatever they couldn't do in America as long as they forked out the cash. This club also had a good reputation of never swindling their customers.
But that was understandable.
For the Carlos Family, drug production costs were next to nothing. When they dealt drugs to the American tourists in their club, they actually sold them at the lowest price that could be found in the American market.
Their profit margin was thus as high as 95 percent for whatever they sold here.
This club was already pretty famous among American tourists, so business was booming.
Generally, a nightclub would only have about 300 or 400 customers per night. However, this particular nightclub had customers from all over America.
Luke had learned all this from the information that Chris had provided. It was why he was able to find the Carlos Family so easily.
Compared with the major drug cartels, the Carlos Family was like a baby foal; their foundation wasn't stable enough yet.
A major cartel had easily hundreds of elite gunmen under their command, along with thousands of ordinary henchmen. It would be hard for Luke to do anything to such a cartel.
Hiding in the dark, Luke circled the club and observed it. Finally, he returned to the front door. After stuffing some cash into the bouncers' hands, he squeezed into the crowd inside the club.
The two bouncers merely looked at each other blankly before shrugging and deciding to dismiss the idiot who had just given them money.
This wasn't America, and people didn't usually tip here. In any case, they weren't bell boys.
But if a wealthy guy was happy to give them money, they didn't mind accepting it.
They had seen plenty of idiotic American tourists who happily threw their cash around. The 100 dollars they had just gotten was nothing for these wealthy tourists.
After Luke entered the club, two beautiful Mexican women approached him.
The two Mexican beauties had seen how generous Luke was with his money, and were hoping to make some cash off him as well.
Luke still behaved like an idiotic tourist and stuffed them with cash as well.
Yes, "stuff."
Both his hands were stuffed into the deep valleys on their chests, and after leaving the cash there, he didn't forget to give them a pinch.
The two beauties didn't appear displeased at all. In fact, their smiles became even wider, and when they heard him speak English, they brought him to a private room in one corner of the club.
This so-called private room wasn't an actual room, but a corner of the club which had been partitioned off to give the guests there some privacy.
When Luke sat down, the two beauties politely asked him what he wanted.
Luke didn't say much, and merely told them to bring him some of the good stuff.
The two beauties exchanged glances when they heard that, feeling as if they had just landed a whale.
After a while, a burly waiter came over with a tray. On top of the tray was a small heap of a white powder-like substance.
Luke then took out a wad of cash, pulled five bills from it, and tossed them onto the table.
The waiter left after taking the cash.
This little drug heap wasn't worth more than 200 dollars, but this fool had paid 500 dollars for it. The waiter had earned extra for the night just like that.
Then, Luke bent over, and with his palm blocking the view, he quickly pushed the white powder into his cuff. He then slowly lifted his head.
Before coming, he had watched a lot of videos and tried imitating the actions of people taking cocaine. With a satisfied expression, he shook his head a few times before hiding his face behind his long fake hair. He wrapped his arms around the two Mexican beauties and started chatting them up.
The two beauties had already started ordering a few bottles of tequila for him. Instead of drinking them himself, Luke poured them all down the throats of the two beauties instead.
After around ten minutes, Luke looked at the two drunk women, then stood up and swayed as he said, "I'm going to take a piss," before walking away, staggering all the while.
Hiding in the private room earlier, Luke had observed his surroundings.
Several locations were guarded by strict looking guys who never stopped scanning the club and customers.
There were 12 of them, and coupled with the other bouncers and guards, this club had a force of no less than 30 people.
After all, clubs like this one would never reveal everything about their security measures to their customers. That would only impact negatively on their business.
As he swayed about, Luke walked around before stopping a waitress. He shoved a bill at her and asked, "Where's the bathroom?"
The waitress was pleasantly surprised to receive money out of nowhere. "There; let me show you the way."
Luke grinned like he was mentally unsound and nodded.
The waitress didn't mind him. All sorts of customers could be found here, the majority of whom were idiots like this guy. She might be able to make even more money from this fool.
While she was planning how to make more money from Luke, she plastered her bountiful chest against him unreservedly as she led him to the bathroom.
When they arrived, Luke saw a guard standing there.
He then grumbled unhappily, "A man? I don't like men. I like women."
Then, he wrapped his arm around the waitress and said, "This is what a woman looks like."
A wide smile bloomed on the waitress's face. "Hehe, don't mind him. He's only here to carry drunk customers out of the bathroom."
"Carry? More like throw them out," Luke thought to himself, but he didn't say anything.
Just like that, the beautiful waitress helped him into the bathroom. The guard only shot them a glance and didn't seem to mind that a woman had entered the men's bathroom.
After a while, a shout rang out in the bathroom. "B*tch! You bit me! Screw you!" Then, a loud slap rang out.
The guard frowned but still didn't leave his position.
But more shouts rang out inside. "Ahh, it's bleeding! Bleeding! You b*tch!"
Then, there was the sound of jumbled footsteps followed by the sound of deep gasps. It was as if two people were brawling with each other inside.
The guard finally moved. He pulled the door open and entered.
But when he looked around inside, he didn't see anyone.
He walked toward a cubicle that was still shaking, and a woman's thigh could be seen in the gap at the bottom of the cubicle.
He reached out to push the door open. But right at that moment, the door of the next cubicle suddenly opened.
Luke came out noiselessly before slamming his fist into the back of the guard's head. Instantly, the guard collapsed.
Luke quickly stepped forward and caught the guard. He wrapped one arm around the guard's neck and twisted, and the sound of a crack rang out in the air.
Then, Luke dragged the body into the cubicle and propped it up so that it was sitting on the toilet. He then searched the body and found a M1911 and an extra bullet magazine.
He also popped out the magazine from the gun and discovered that it was completely loaded before he put it back in.
The M1911 had seven bullets in it, and coupled with the backup magazine, he had a total of 14 bullets.
Despite the low number of bullets, this was still a decent gun.
Luke also took the holster off the dead guard before putting it on himself. After putting the M1911 into the holster, he went to the cubicle which the waitress was in.
He had knocked the beautiful waitress unconscious the moment they entered. After scanning the bathroom, he started making the noise from before to lure the guard inside.
He didn't believe that the guard would allow the waitress to die inside the bathroom.
Luke walked to the door, and just as he was about to open it, he heard footsteps stop outside.
His heart thumped, but he didn't stop. He opened the door and swayed as he walked out of the bathroom.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bulky guy looking at him skeptically.
Abruptly, a ruthless glint appeared in the man's eyes before he reached under his arm.
He was drawing his gun! Luke was exposed!
Although Luke didn't know how he had exposed himself, he still moved without hesitation.
Instead of reaching for his gun, he suddenly exerted more force as he swayed toward the bulky man.
The sturdy man reacted swiftly as well. He instantly noticed that Luke was swaying a lot quicker than he should be, and was thus robbed of the chance to draw his gun. The man's palm, which was already raised to his chest, turned into a fist as he punched right at Luke's head.
An expert!
Luke was alarmed at the realization.
This level of vigilance and flexibility in combat only proved that this guy was no ordinary street thug.
Luke was still nimble, however, so he abruptly bent even lower, dodging the incoming fist.
After he bent over, with half of his back to the man, both his hands shot out and grabbed the man's arm before locking it on his shoulder.
As Luke pushed with his legs, his shoulder shot up while his hands pulled down at the same time with even more force.
With a crack, the man's right arm was twisted grotesquely out of shape.
The man yelled while his left hand reached for the combat knife that hung at his waist.
But before he could even touch the hilt of the knife, Luke bent over again. Taking one step back, Luke repositioned himself so that he was on the right side behind the man.
He was still holding firmly onto the man's broken arm. In his new position, Luke twisted the arm again.
The man cried out again, and stopped reaching for the knife.
The intense pain from his broken arm wasn't something an ordinary person could endure, and this man was no exception.
Luke was still completely calm, and didn't stop moving just because his opponent was wailing. He abruptly tackled the man and pushed him to the floor.
The fall twisted and jarred the man's broken arm once again, and he was assailed with intense pain once more. This time, he was already too powerless to even cry out. His body merely twitched on the ground.
Once again, Luke displayed a nimbleness no ordinary person had. He quickly wrapped his arms around the man's neck, and twisted.
A crack rang out, and the body beneath him fell still.
Luke quickly scanned his surroundings to find that nobody was headed his way.
Although his current position was rather quiet, the music was blasting loudly outside. The people outside couldn't hear anything that was happening in here.
Luke dragged the body into the bathroom and searched it. He found another M1911, two magazines, and a gun holster. He then locked the body into another cubicle.
Luke studied the newly obtained M1911. He found that this gun had a double stack magazine, with double the bullet capacity of the first pistol he had gotten. Unfortunately, used as he was to the Glock's size, the grip of this gun was a tad too large for him.
Nevertheless, there were around 50 bullets in total when the two magazines were put together. He didn't throw them away. Instead, he put on the other holster and stuffed the new gun inside as well.
He took less than two minutes to do everything.
After thinking about it, Luke decided to pick up the unconscious waitress and take her to the ladies' bathroom next door, where he stuffed her into a random cubicle.
When he came out, he stumbled upon two women outside the bathroom.
When they saw a man come out, they blanked out before staring at the sign on the door.
The sign confirmed that this was the ladies' bathroom.
Luke looked at the two woman and assumed a drunk and bewildered expression. "What are you looking at? You want me to screw both of you at the same time?" When he said that, he lifted his belt, as if he had just put on his pants, before he left.
The two women merely looked at each other, shrugged, and entered the bathroom.
Soon, they found a locked door. One of them was curious and climbed the cubicle wall to find a woman snoring inside. Sexy black lacy underwear hung off one of the woman's legs.
The woman who had just come in immediately understood what was going on and curled her lip as she said disdainfully, "Sure enough, that horny couple just finished their business here. The man ran off after he was done, and left the b*tch snoring on the toilet. What a scumbag."
The other woman didn't seem to care. "So what? Apart from scum and b*tches, what else can you find here?"
The two then broke out in contemptuous laughter.
You wouldn't find any good people here. In fact, they acknowledged that both of them were also b*tches.
Little did they know, a good man had actually arrived tonight. A good man who was here to kill.
As Luke walked, he familiarized himself with the holster under his armpit.
Like many police officers, his holster had always hung on his waist. Now that the gun was under his armpit, he wasn't quite accustomed to it.
Robert, on the other hand, was clearly used to this.
Luke had Robert's basic firearms and basic special combat skills. Thus, after walking just ten meters, Luke already felt at home.
At present, he was standing in front of a door.
Before entering the club, Luke had discovered that there were also people at the back, but he didn't know what they were doing there.
What would there be in the back of a club owned by a crime family?
Luke was certain it wouldn't be something like a VIP room. The front of the club was enough for customers to do whatever they were here for. No private rooms were required at all.
From the information provided by Chris, this place was the Carlos Family's headquarters.
More importantly, according to the intelligence, Diego Carlos enjoyed the club atmosphere immensely. Thus, he spent a lot of his time here.
If Diego Carlos was here, most of his underlings would be here as well.
Luke pushed the door open and found two men staring at him coldly.
Luke immediately smiled. "Hehe, where's the bathroom? I need to pee."
The two men appeared impatient and one of them was already reaching into his jacket while the other stepped forward and said, "F*ck off or die."
Luke currently reeked of liquor, and there were also traces of white powder on his face. With one glance, the two concluded that he was one of those high, idiotic tourists. That was why they didn't do anything to him at first.
From this, it was clear that they weren't as vigilant as the big guy whom Luke had encountered in front of the bathroom.
Luke quickly scanned his surroundings. There weren't any surveillance cameras here.
It was still the year 2003; even a major cartel would still be clueless about using technology, to say nothing of a puny Carlos Family.
In Luke's previous life, it had been the year 2018. At that time, these cartels were already so advanced that they even had surveillance on numerous government agencies.
Luke staggered forward toward the guy who was reaching for his gun. With his overwhelming strength and dexterity, he slammed the man into the wall before punching him right in his Adam's apple.
He stuck out one of his fingers when he punched the man, causing the latter's Adam's apple to cave in. The man's eyes rolled back in his head as he clutched at his neck with both hands.
Meanwhile, Luke reached for the gun under the man's arm and pulled it out.
After drawing the gun, he chucked it at the other guy who was just starting to draw his own gun.
As Luke had thrown the gun in a rush, he wasn't able to aim properly, but the gun still struck the man in the shoulder, slowing the latter down slightly.
Taking advantage of the short interruption, Luke dashed forward and kicked the man in the crotch.
The man immediately turned pale, and then red. He wanted to scream, but no sound came out.
The throbbing pain in his crotch seemed to have locked his vocal cords, only allowing him to helplessly gasp for breath.
Luke didn't stop. He wrapped his arms around the man's head and pulled it down as he brought his knee up.
With a thud, knee and face connected, the impact even causing Luke's knee to ache.
As for the man in front of him, his nose had already caved in and his breathing was very faint.
As usual, Luke dragged the two into a random storeroom next door. He then twisted their necks before tossing them into a corner of the room.
He also lifted two M1911 guns off them. Both guns were the old model, same as the first one he found.
He compared the guns and only took the one that was in better condition. He didn't forget to take all their magazines.
As of this moment, nearly ten minutes had passed. Who knew when the other Carlos Family guards would discover that something was wrong?
Luke pushed the door open and advanced quickly.
As he advanced, he strained his ears and scanned his surroundings repeatedly. Soon, he found a rather noisy room. He looked at the door, which didn't have a sign on it.
Standing next to the slightly opened door, he peeked into the room through the tiny crack. The room was rather spacious, and a group of people were having fun inside.
Luke adjusted his breathing and pushed the door open a little more.
With that, he had a better view of the room.
Moving left and right outside, he got a look at the entire room.
It was something like a security room. Everyone inside looked like capable fighters, and a few of them were bare-chested, with guns stuffed into their waistbands.
Generally, a professional would never stuff his gun into his waistband like that, as it was in fact very uncomfortable.
After a few glances, Luke was able to get a clear headcount of the people inside.
There were 17 of them.
The 17 included two completely naked women.
Most of them were playing poker around a table, while the two women were fooling around with two men in one corner of the room.
Those playing poker didn't even spare the two couples a glance. They were long accustomed to it.
Luke took another deep breath before pushing the door open and entering the room.
After entering, he lightly kicked the door close with his foot. Then, he walked quickly toward the table, but not so quick that he would look suspicious.
When he was practically beside the group, someone finally looked at him. The person had a puzzled look on his face, as if wondering who Luke was.
Luke's expression remained calm, and he suddenly raised both his hands which had been hidden behind his back to reveal the two M1911s he was holding. He then fired both guns.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The hail of bullets was sudden, and the 13 around the table couldn't even react before half of them were already on the ground.
With two M1911s and 21 bullets, 8 people were hit.
In two seconds, Luke utilized his dexterity to unload the magazines on the group. He didn't even bother to aim properly, and just pulled the triggers whenever there was someone in front of the muzzles.
At such point blank range and with so many targets, it would be harder to miss than to hit someone.
Luke relaxed his grip on the 14-bullet gun in his left hand as he allowed it to fall freely to the ground.
The grip of that gun was too large for Luke's liking.
At the same time, he dove toward a sofa on the side while he quickly reloaded his other M1911.
From behind the sofa, he stretched the gun out and fired at the group of people that was in total chaos. He had discerned their general direction with his hearing.
Instantly, he unloaded all his bullets on them before reloading the gun again.
It was only now that someone finally drew a gun and fired at Luke.
But Luke had already leapt out from the other end of the sofa. While in the air, he glanced at the crowd and fired four continuous shots, hitting two people in their chests where they were half-kneeling on the floor and aiming at him.
Luke then scanned the room of people who were groaning on the ground. Not a single other person remained standing.
With no hesitation, he opened fire again.
This time, there was a certain tempo to his shots. He fired a shot each second, one for each person in the room.
He prioritized those that still seemed able to move, and all of them were shot in the head.
After emptying three magazines, everyone on the floor was dead. Luke put in the last magazine he had before glancing at the bed in the room.
Two men were hiding behind the two naked women, with nowhere to run.
The bed was in one corner of the room.
But their clothes and guns were all on the floor next to the bed. They were only about three meters away from the pile, but the men hadn't dared to even reach for their guns when they saw their companions collapse one after another during the gunfight.
Now, they despaired when they realized that they stood no chance of surviving.
Luke peeked cautiously from behind the sofa to confirm that the four on the bed were completely unarmed. He also finally noticed the two guns on the pile of clothes beside the bed.
Luke remained silent as he slowly walked out from behind cover. He turned slightly and raised his hands, his left under his right to keep it steady. The gun was right in front of his eyes, with the muzzle aimed straight at the four on the bed.
One of the men got curious because of the sudden silence. He thus peeked out slightly from behind the woman.
Bang!
A hole was left in his skull as he collapsed backward.
The woman in front of him only felt a burst of wind before some warm liquid splashed on her. As for the hands that had been holding her tightly, they now drooped weakly.
She understood what had happened and instantly screeched before leaping to the side to hide.
At that moment, a large, hairy leg appeared in Luke's line of sight.
Bang!
"AHH!" A miserable wail rang out as the other man bent down in pain and clutched his leg, which now had a hole in it.
Bang!
The next bullet left a hole in his brain. Luke gave him no chance to fight back.
Both the women started screaming in fear.
Luke then aimed his gun at them before gesturing for them to zip their mouths.
The two women immediately shut up.
Luke took a step forward before gesturing at them to turn around. They did as told while trembling in fear.
They didn't think that Luke was doing this because he wanted to take them from behind. Perhaps he just wanted to shoot them in their backs.
But they were completely helpless and could only do as told.
After the two women turned around, Luke quickly struck the back of their necks with his left hand, knocking both of them unconscious.
Looking at the curvy and snow white women lying unconscious before him, he shook his head helplessly.
After knocking the two women unconscious, Luke started searching the room for more guns and bullets.
Most of them were equipped with M1911s. Since the creation of this weapon, tens of millions of this gun had been manufactured worldwide, both authentic and fake.
Two of the people here had different weapons.
One was equipped with a Desert Eagle while the other had a Glock 17.
Luke stuffed both the Desert Eagle and the Glock into a tiny bag he found in the room before slinging the bag onto his back.
As for the other guns, he left them behind. He only took all the magazines and put them all in the bag as well.
He then stepped toward the door, and using the reflection in a pair of glasses, he checked to see if there was someone outside.
Although a large battle had erupted in this room, the door was closed. Since the room was soundproof, the people outside couldn't hear anything at all.
After making sure that there was nobody outside, Luke left the room. He stopped for a bit at each room he passed, and listened for any sounds inside.
Of the eight rooms, only two were occupied.
But it was obvious that these people were only ordinary employees. Luke had no plans to kill them. He only pointed his gun at them and questioned them before knocking them unconscious and hiding them away.
It didn't matter if there were survivors from the club; once the fighters in the Carlos Family were all killed, these ordinary employees would be swallowed up by other criminal organizations.
In any case, these people weren't core members of the Carlos Family anyway.
Would core members of the Carlos Family stay overtime here to deal with administrative work? Obviously not.
Luke went to the second floor, which was completely silent. After scanning it, he continued heading up.
Based on the information he had gathered, Diego Carlos, the boss of the Carlos Family, usually spent his time in the deluxe room on the third floor. He would usually be surrounded by his bodyguards as well.
The total number of bodyguards was unknown, but there were at least 10 of them.
Luke quickly arrived at the third floor. He then checked the corridor with a pair of glasses and found a surveillance camera facing the corridor from above a door. He wouldn't be able to pass through.
After thinking about it, he went back to the second floor and entered a random unlocked room. He opened the window of the room and looked up.
After a short while, he stuffed his gun into his holster and climbed up a drainpipe.
When he reached the third floor, he nimbly traveled across several air-con units before he reached a window.
He peeked inside and found the room empty.
He tried opening the window, but it was locked.
Taking out a roll of adhesive tape from his bag, Luke started randomly sticking the tape on the window. He then punched the window, shattering the glass near the window lock.
As he was wearing a pair of gloves, he paid the shattered glass no mind. He reached inside and unlocked the window before opening it and sliding inside.
Doing this would be very troublesome for other people, but for Luke with his immense strength and dexterity, everything took him no more than ten seconds.
After entering the room, Luke didn't move immediately. Instead, he took a few bullet magazines from the bag and stuffed them into his waistband.
Then, he put the bag down and walked to the door. He wrapped his palm around the doorknob, and after applying some force, the door opened a crack.
Through the opening, Luke glanced out and saw a spacious room.
The room was over 200 square meters in size and was lavishly decorated. A few people were seated on the sofa in the middle of the room.
Luke had good eyesight. He had already determined that one of them was Diego Carlos, and the rest were all beautiful women who were snuggled up to Diego and giggling non-stop.
A few bodyguards were posted around the room, and they turned a blind eye to what was happening on the sofa. They would only occasionally look at the room's several exits.
When Luke saw that, he frowned.
He hadn't expected the room to be so big.
And his immediate surroundings were rather empty. They would probably notice him the moment he went out.
Suddenly, shouts rang out. Luke guessed that someone had already discovered the bodies downstairs.
Although the members of the Carlos Family weren't some sort of professional soldiers, the disappearance of the guard posted near the bathroom was too obvious. The body wouldn't stay hidden for long.
As for the security room filled with bodies, it was even easier to find.
Luke took a deep breath before taking out the Glock from his bag.
No matter what, the Glock was the firearm he was most familiar with.
He took a step back and turned sideways before standing up to face the direction Diego was in.
Shortly afterward, a radio on one of the bodyguards finally crackled. After listening to it, the bodyguard's face fell as he quickly shouted something at Diego.
Luke knew they had probably been informed of the bodies downstairs.
Diego, who was enjoying himself with the group of women, abruptly shouted with a savage expression. His eyes turned red with bloodlust as he quickly spoke a string of commands. As he spoke, he waved his hands around, appearing extremely agitated.
Now!
Luke's front foot moved slightly, and the door slid open further by about another five centimeters. He quickly raised the Glock, and he started firing on instinct without even aiming.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Five continuous gunshot sounds rang out in the room.
The bodyguards then saw Diego Carlos, who had still been shouting furiously a moment ago, with three bullet holes in his upper body.
One in his cheek, one in his neck, and the last in his chest.
This mob boss wasn't even given a chance to shout before he collapsed weakly on the sofa behind him.
The bodyguards reacted immediately as they reached for their guns while they scanned the room.
As for Luke, he didn't hesitate as he stuffed the gun into his bag and rushed toward the window before diving out.
Outside, he grabbed at an air-con unit to neutralize the impact of his fall, before letting go and continuing to drop to the second floor.
There, he kicked a window and shattered it before diving inside. He rushed to the door and checked the corridor with the glasses before he went out.
After a few steps, he arrived at the foot of the stairs. He leaned against a corner and listened to the sounds upstairs while his hand reached for the Desert Eagle in his bag.
In less than 30 seconds, footsteps rang out as a group of people rushed down the stairs.
Only one of Luke's eyes and the muzzle of the Desert Eagle were peeking out around the wall corner. The moment the third bodyguard appeared in his line of sight, Luke pulled the trigger.
At such close range with a Desert Eagle, there was no need to aim. He only needed to fire in the general direction of the stairs.
The bodyguards were in too much of a rush and couldn't even stop in time. They had never expected an ambush to be waiting for them here either.
After all seven bullets of the Desert Eagle were fired, five people were sprawled all over the stairs.
Luke quickly reloaded the gun and kept it pointed at the stairs.
He suddenly heard a clinking sound, before a round object flew at him from the corner of the stairs.
Luke had excellent eyesight, and his dynamic vision was strengthened thanks to his 20 points of dexterity.
Thus, the moment that object appeared, he clearly saw that it was a grenade.
At that discovery, he retreated and dove into a room. Behind him, there was a rumble and the burst of a shock wave which extended into the room.
Luke didn't stop once he was inside the room. He ran to the window and jumped out, instantly reaching the first floor.
There, he walked along the wall before finding a new drainpipe and climbing up again.
He returned to the third floor.
This time, he didn't have to bother hiding himself. He rushed directly into Diego's deluxe room.
Inside the room were two big guys armed with submachine guns and a young Latino who was staring at Diego's body in anger and muttering under his breath non-stop.
The two big guys immediately raised their guns and opened fire when they saw someone enter.
Luke cursed inwardly at them for leaving two gunmen here, each of whom was equipped with a submachine gun that worked very well in close range combat.
Fortunately, Luke was fast enough. The instant he saw them, he jumped and hid behind a pillar. The pillar was immediately hit by numerous bullets, sending cement powder flying everywhere.
He rapped the floor and discovered that it was in fact some sort of wood which for some reason was as sleek and glossy as marble. Beside the pillar were a few plants growing in flower pots.
Luke listened to the gunshots and calculated the remaining bullets the other side had. He slowly lay on the floor and bent his knees as he placed both his feet on the pillar.
Then, he pushed with his legs, and sent himself sliding across the floor.
The moment he started to slide over the floor, his Desert Eagle was already aimed at the two bodyguards.
The instant they appeared in his line of sight, he opened fire.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
He unloaded the entire magazine on them before tossing the Desert Eagle away. He only had two extra magazines for this gun and no extra bullets.
Once again, he drew his M1911 from his waist as he hid behind another pillar and peeked outside with his glasses.
He was overjoyed to find that he had hit both bodyguards.
The destructive prowess of the Desert Eagle caused one of them to howl in pain endlessly while the other could only twitch on the floor.
Luke jumped out and fired two more shots, hitting both bodyguards in the heads. Instantly, they became still.
Finally, he aimed his gun at the young man who had been standing there in fear and shock all along.
The young man trembled and knelt down. "No, don't kill me! I can pay! I can pay a lot of money!"
Luke gazed at him indifferently before sneering coldly.Read more chapter on vipnovel.com
Bang!
He fired right into the young man's skull.
The young man, Alessandro, collapsed on the ground with a vacant expression, his hand which had been holding a Colt dropping to the side.
Staring at the young man's body, Luke thought to himself, "Don't think that I don't know anything about you."
This young man was Alessandro Carlos, the other younger brother of Diego. Luke could afford to spare anyone except Alessandro, who was Diego's direct kin.
If direct kin took over the family after Diego's death, the new leader would exert his dominance by sending a new group over to mess with Robert's family.
Luke then took out the Glock from his bag and emptied the magazine into Alessandro, creating more than ten new bullet holes in the body before dropping the Glock next to it.
He was doing this to mislead investigators as to the number of assailants involved, and also intentionally making it look like a gang war instead.
Staring at the pile of cash and drugs on the table, Luke pondered for a bit before taking a wad of cash and stuffing it into his bag.
Then, he picked up one of the submachine guns lying on the ground. He also searched the two bodyguards for more bullets.
One of them had four new magazines, while the other had five.
Luke shoved the magazines into his bag. As for the submachine gun magazines, he stuffed them into his waistband. With the MP5 raised, he rushed out the door.
After making sure the corridor was empty, Luke walked toward the surveillance camera, jumped, and smashed it apart.
He then headed for the stairs again.
Listening to the shouting downstairs, Luke decided not to go down the stairs.
He went back to the deluxe room and left through the window. Slowly, he climbed his way down until he reached the club's front entrance.
There, guests were running out of the club in an endless flow.
They were all panicked but also confused, some clutching thick wads of cash as they ran. Some of the women were even naked.
The grenade explosion earlier had scared even these people who were still high on drugs.
They had also heard the gunshots when Luke had fired at the bodyguards on the stairs. Thus, they understood that something must have happened, and everyone started fleeing in a chaotic mess.
After all, gang wars were very common in Mexico. In fact, dozens of AKs shooting at each other was a common occurrence. These people had no intention of getting caught in the middle of a gang war.
When Luke got to the front door, he saw the two bouncers who had accepted his cash earlier trying their best to stop the fleeing guests.
Luke was rendered speechless when he saw this. Were they stupid? A war had broken out inside the club. What was the point of stopping these customers?
Anything the customers bought in the club, they had to pay for upfront. Therefore, there was no reason to worry that the customers would run before paying.
Luke didn't hesitate. He drew his M1911 and fired four bullets, killing both the bouncers.
The scene at the front door sank into a temporary silence, followed by screeches as the crowd continued to flee in all directions.
Although running in a disorderly stampede was in fact even more dangerous, this was the normal instinctual reaction of human beings; they would flee when they encountered danger.
Once again, Luke changed the magazine before stuffing the gun back into the holster. He then climbed up to the second floor and carefully headed back down to the first floor via the security room.
When he entered the security room again, he opened the door and found the two women still unconscious on the bed.
Next, he headed down the corridor and stopped at the door next to the bathroom before peeking outside with his glasses. The area around the door was empty, but there were over 20 people near the exit.
These people weren't stupid enough to crowd together. Rather, they were scattered all around the exit.
Luke adjusted his breathing before he raised his MP5. Crouched on the ground, he pushed at the door with the MP5.
The instant the door was pushed open, the MP5 in Luke's hand instantly fired.
Making use of his immense strength, he suppressed the recoil of the MP5 and sprayed the people outside with bullets.
He was about 40 meters from them, and in about two seconds, he had already emptied the magazine.
Luke didn't bother to stay and continue fighting. Instead, he stuck close to the wall and started running.
The instant he reached the inner door which he had come from, the outer door about ten meters behind him was blasted apart by a rain of bullets.
Luke rushed up the stairs and went back to the second floor.
He strained his ears and listened: the people downstairs opened fire but didn't chase after him.
Evidently, they were too fearful of Luke's ambush.
Luke sneered and returned to the third floor.
He entered the deluxe room again and started searching the place.
Soon, he found a weapons cabinet in one corner of the room.
It looked like a liquor cabinet, but when he pushed it, the cabinet flipped into the wall and revealed a weapons cabinet behind it.
Luke was overjoyed at the weapons he saw.
He quickly stepped forward and picked up five grenades. He also took five MP5 magazines and stuffed them into his bag.
Next, he lifted the black, hard, large, and long object that was inside the cabinet. Picking up a warhead from the side and loading it, he rested the object on his shoulder.
He had discovered a legendary RPG.
After that, he didn't even bother to spare the weapons cabinet a second glance. Carrying the RPG on his shoulder, he ran out of the room.
Carefully, he peeked at the second floor to find it still empty.
Luke became doubtful as he thought, "This isn't right. I've left for a few minutes. Why are these fellows still not here?"
He used his glasses to peek around the stairs, and found that there really wasn't anyone there.
But he could hear light footsteps about a dozen meters away from him.
Hearing that, Luke lightened his steps and headed to the first floor. There, he took a peek with the glasses again, and what he saw nearly caused him to laugh.
Those fellows were actually crouched down and sticking close to the wall as they slowly crawled toward the stairs.
Naturally, the five people made to crawl in front were trembling with fear, their expressions extremely ugly. It was clear they weren't doing this willingly.
They knew that the people in the security room had all been killed, which was more than ten of them, and five of the guards had died when they headed down the stairs – even the two guarding the entrance outside were killed.
And when they were guarding against an attack from the entrance to the lounge, they were attacked from behind instead, which killed six of them.
Now, they numbered less than 20.
Based on the attacker's previous record, they wouldn't last a few minutes against him.
Unfortunately, they were being led by a fool.
Antonio Carlos, Diego Carlos's cousin, was also an important figure in the family, and had ordered them to attack. Thus, these poor fools had no choice but to do as told.
Luke fished out a grenade from his bag, removed the pin, and tossed it at them as he shouted, "Fire in the hole!"
The moment the people heard that shout and saw the grenade flying toward them, they were scared shitless and immediately fell flat on the floor.
They were already in the middle of the corridor. Thus, they had no other way out. The only thing they could do was pray that the grenade flew over them instead.
The group of more than ten people behind them was frightened as well. They turned and fled without hesitation.
The moment Luke tossed the grenade out, he shifted his body sideways and aimed the RPG at the fleeing group before pulling the trigger.
The instant the rocket shot out of the RPG, Luke tossed it away, got back behind the wall, and started to retreat.
Bang! Bang!
The sounds of two explosions rang out, one after the other. Intense heat also shot out from the corridor next to him.
After a few seconds, Luke took a peek with his glasses and found that not a single person had been left standing in the corridor. In fact, the door there was already completely gone.
Only a few mangled bodies littered the ground. The corridor was also filled with a thick cloud of smoke and dust.
Luke then returned to the second floor and climbed out the window before heading for the front door again.
There, he opened the door and found a few people still struggling inside. Holding an MP5 and an M1911, one in each hand, he slowly entered.
Relying on cover from various objects inside the club, he reached a certain corner near the entrance. There, he scanned the room using the glasses again.
Only five people were struggling to get out of the corridor.
From the way they looked, their injuries were pretty severe.
Without hesitation, Luke took out another grenade, removed the safety pin, and tossed it at the group.
Bang!
They were completely helpless and took the explosion head on before flying in all directions.
Luke didn't stop. He took out another grenade and tossed it directly into the corridor.
After a while, a loud explosion rang out and a cloud of smoke burst out of the corridor.
Only then did Luke bend down and start searching the lounge.
After about ten minutes, he was finally done with his search. He didn't find any survivors.
M1911 in hand, he walked past the gangsters one after another and shot them in the head. Even the people in the corridor who had been blasted apart by two grenades and RPG fire weren't spared this fate.
After doing all that, Luke dropped the gun, leaving only one M1911 on him before he left.
Outside, Luke took out an electronic car key for a F150 and randomly aimed it at his surroundings as he pressed the button on it. Soon, a fairly new truck nearby beeped as it unlocked.
Luke walked over, got into the truck, and started it before he slowly drove away.
Looking at the now completely deserted club and the flickering lights above the club, Luke grinned and muttered, "Goodbye, Carlos Family."
He then sped up and started to leave town.
Earlier in the corridor after he killed the final injured person, he received a system notification.
You have killed Antonio Carlos. You may now learn all his abilities.
Mission: Eliminating the Carlos Family, completed.
Completion of the mission is worth a total of 3,000 experience and 3,000 credit.
Since the host's contribution to the mission was 100 percent, 3,000 experience and 3,000 credit points have been awarded to the host.
As experience has reached 1,000 points, the host has leveled up to level 6.
Extra stat points: 4
Luke drove to where he had hidden the shabby car. He then searched it and placed everything which belonged to him, including the clothes he was wearing, in a pile in the back of the car.
Then, he removed some gas from the car's gas tank and stripped off the scotch tape that he had stuck to his fingers. Putting on a pair of gloves, he poured the gas on the pile of items in the car before finally lighting it up.
Looking at the items turn into ash and the burning car, Luke got back into the F150 and set off again.
He drove through the darkness, and took the opportunity to allocate one stat point to his strength, for a total of 19 strength points.
Now that he was done with his mission, Luke didn't want to waste anymore time here.
If his guess was correct, when his strength reached 20 points, he would feel a strong sense of discomfort as well. Following that, his body would be significantly enhanced.
Because of that, he planned to rush back to the United States and check into a motel for one night. There, he would push his strength up to 20 points.
His return trip was different. With a much nicer car, he didn't need to worry about it and could speed all the way.
After an entire day of travel, he arrived at the border town before nightfall. There, he dumped the F150 in a random alley before buying another old truck to continue his journey.
After an hour or so, he arrived at the fence on the border. When he saw that his truck was still parked on the other side, he heaved a sigh of relief.
It seemed that nobody had been here for the past two days.
Once again, Luke set up some planks, which he had gotten beforehand, on the truck, before retrieving his stilts from where he had hidden them previously.
After putting them on, he tried moving around. The weather here was dry with little rain. Thus, the stilts hadn't been damaged by the two short days that they had been left here.
Then, Luke did what he did when he first came, and easily jumped over the fence.
He looked for the car key which he had hidden underneath the truck before removing his disguise. After burning his disguise, Luke continued with his trip.
As for the final M1911 he had been carrying on him, the gun had already been dismantled and thrown away when he arrived at the border. The only things he had on him were what he had initially brought and the 10,000 dollars which he had stolen from the Carlos Family.
That was right. Luke had taken 10,000 dollars from the table in Diego's room.
Nevertheless, he had spent over 3,000 dollars on this private mission of his. Thus, he hadn't really profited much.
After driving for two hours in the dark of night, Luke arrived at a small town. There, he rented a room at a motel.
He bought a bunch of food from the supermarket next to the motel before returning to his room, where he hung the "Do not disturb" sign on the door. After a shower, he finally pushed his strength up to 20 points.
He was assailed by an intense sense of discomfort.
He could feel all his muscles twisting and warping. Unlike when his dexterity reached 20, he mainly felt sore instead of numb. This soreness was similar to what one felt the next day after an intense workout.
Lying on the bed, Luke tried his best to relax and shift his attention away from his body.
He started checking his gains from this mission instead.
The level up had actually given him 4 stat points. He was very happy about that as this meant that in the future, each level up would give him 4 stat points. He would be able to develop much faster.
Gleefully, he started checking the other system notifications.
You have killed Amancio Mendosa. You may now learn all his abilities.
You have killed Salazar Gonzalez. You may now learn all his abilities.
You have killed Camacho Santos. You may now learn all his abilities.
You have killed Diego Carlos. You may now learn all his abilities.
…
It was a long list of such notifications, all of them related to the Carlos Family members whom Luke had killed.
Most of them didn't matter as they didn't have many worthwhile abilities. Most only knew basic firearms or basic driving and nothing else.
But Salazar Gonzalez's list of abilities was incredibly astonishing.
Basic firearms, basic combat, basic driving, basic special combat, basic tactical command, and basic interrogation. These were Salazar's abilities.
Luke knew who this person was.
He was the number one hitman of the Carlos Family, who also instructed the other hitmen in the family.
He used to be a commander in the Mexican special forces.
But during the war against the drug cartels, he ultimately selected money over duty, and joined the Carlos Family to become one of the criminals he used to fight.
Although Salazar was only a hitman, he used his experience and skills to train the Carlos Family members and raise their level above other regular gangs.
With him in command at the scene, the Carlos Family would rarely lose a gang war either.
It wouldn't have been easy for Luke to proceed with killing all the members of the Carlos Family if Salazar had been alive.
Unfortunately for them, this Salazar was too cautious. The moment he found the guard at the bathroom missing, he attacked Luke outside the bathroom without hesitation, only to get himself killed instead.
That was right; Salazar was the big guy Luke encountered when he left the bathroom.
Salazar was a remarkable combatant, and was very good in a melee.
Unfortunately, Luke was just as strong as he was, while Luke was far more dexterous. On top of that, Luke was also very good in hand-to-hand combat. Thus, Salazar was unable to do anything before Luke broke his neck.
In fact, Luke had recognized Salazar during the fight as well. That was why he had been so brazen in the later battle.
Without a capable commander like Salazar, the members of the Carlos Family fell into complete chaos and had zero advantages in their confrontation with Luke.
After Luke checked Salazar's list of abilities, he shook his head.
This list of abilities was nearly identical to Robert's. He had no use for these abilities for now. The only noticeable difference was basic interrogation, which Luke didn't need.
The most important information Luke obtained was the "killed" notice in the system notifications.
From this, Luke learned more about how the system worked.
Compared with just a defeat, killing an opponent unlocked all their abilities right away.
So, he had to kill even more criminals in the future?
After thinking about how Daddy System told him to become an official police officer, Luke concluded that this system was on the side of justice.
Luke continued checking the other abilities and found basic manufacturing of cocaine on Diego's list.
Diego was indeed a professional drug dealer. He didn't even possess abilities such as basic firearms and basic driving. His sole ability was basic manufacturing of cocaine. He truly deserved his death.
By the time Luke was done studying the system notifications, he was already feeling less uncomfortable. That was probably because his body had already became stronger, which reduced the discomfort.
At this point, Luke could no longer resist his exhaustion, and he drifted off into heavy slumber.
He woke up at noon the next day, his stomach rumbling with hunger.
After cleaning up and packing his stuff, he left the room and bought ten burgers before setting off.
Half a day later, he arrived at the car rental to return the car.
The employee there smiled and asked, "How was your trip?"
Luke smiled. "Um, it's a nice area for camping."
He then put on his rucksack and boarded a Greyhound Bus for home.
A day later, he arrived in Shackelford.
After getting off the bus, Luke casually strolled back home.
It wasn't even five minutes before he heard a police siren blaring behind him. He turned around to see Selina's smiling face in the car as she said, "Cutie, need a lift?"
Luke replied, "Oh, thank you God, for bestowing this kind angel on me," as he walked over and tossed his rucksack into the back of the car before getting into the car himself.
As she drove, Selina asked, "Why are you back so soon?"
Luke replied, "I went on this trip to take my mind off the stress. Naturally, I'm back now that my stress is gone. I'm prepared to cut my leave short and get back on the job with you as soon as possible."
Selina replied, "Sure, sure. By the way, my mom invited you over for a meal."
Luke asked curiously, "Why?" He was quite close to Selina and had eaten at her place before.
But whenever he did, there was usually a reason for it, and he didn't frequently eat there either.
Selina shrugged. "She wants to thank you for killing the Carlos Family hitmen."
Luke was still confused. "Then she should invite Robert, right?" Robert alone killed nearly half the hitmen outside Selina's house that night.
Selina replied, "Robert's already been invited. This time, my mom's inviting you because everyone now knows about the 13 hitmen you killed on your own."
Luke replied, "Sure. When?"
Selina glanced at him. "You look like you're feeling alright – how about tonight?"
Luke naturally had no problem with that. After eliminating the Carlos Family, he no longer had any worries. Thus, he was completely at ease, and his mood was excellent.
When he returned home, he found that Catherine was back from work, and Joseph was home as well.
When Joseph saw Luke, he dropped the painting he was carrying and ran over. "Luke, any souvenirs for me?"
That left Luke speechless. He had been too busy killing and had completely forgotten about souvenirs.
He shook his head, "I didn't find anything interesting, so…"
What could he bring from the Carlos Family anyway? A gun? Or some drugs? He couldn't give Joseph that stack of cash, right?
Joseph immediately lost interest and walked away, his head bowed listlessly.
Luke stopped him and smiled. "Selina's mom invited me over for dinner. Do you want to come?"
Joseph still had the same disappointed expression. "What's so special about a dinner? Look, Catherine is preparing dinner too."
Luke smiled and squatted down as he put his hands on Joseph's shoulders. "Selina has two younger sisters, one 10 years old and the other 6. They're both as pretty as Selina. Don't you want to see them?"
Joseph then looked at Luke with contempt. "You think I don't have a girlfriend? Jasmine and Nastia bring me snacks every single day."
Luke was speechless as he added, "Fine. You can eat ice cream, and you can also get the football you wanted before if you come."
Joseph replied, "Sure. I'll go."
"Good boy." Luke smiled and patted Joseph's head before adding, "Alright, go do your stuff. I still need to tell Catherine."
Joseph returned to his drawing happily while Luke went to the kitchen and informed the busy Catherine about dinner.
Catherine smiled and nodded. "Don't drink and remember to come back early."
Luke nodded.
He naturally remembered that he shouldn't drink.
He never drank at home, but it was actually a different story when he was at Selina's place. They might not care that much about the minimum age of 21 before one could start drinking.
Luke tossed his rucksack into his room, took a quick shower, and put on a clean outfit before leaving for Selina's place with Joseph.
On their way, he bought a decent-looking cake from the bakery. He also bought Joseph a small ice cream.
Catherine rarely allowed Joseph to eat ice cream as his digestive system was rather sensitive.
Even Luke would only buy him a small one. Plus, he only gave Joseph the ice cream after finding an excuse to take a big bite out of it, leaving only half the ice cream for Joseph.
Joseph grumbled inwardly, "Is this what you meant about buying me ice cream? The ice cream is already so small, and you still cut it in half with your mouth!"
But he couldn't do anything about it. It wasn't like he could complain to Catherine since she would be the first person to teach him a lesson for eating ice cream without her permission.
A few minutes later, they arrived at a sports store. There, Joseph's mood improved.
He had always wanted a football, but Robert hadn't gotten the chance to buy him one.
And even if Robert did buy him one, it wouldn't be the professional football that Joseph wanted. And if Robert did spend several hundred dollars on a professional football, it would only be used as a decoration back home.
As for Luke, he didn't mind.
He was single, and even after getting a job, he was still eating at home. Thus, he didn't spend much.
He had only gotten some cash from his Mexican trip.
In any case, he needed to do some tests as well.
After entering the store, Luke greeted the owner, Riste, before buying the football that was placed right below the most expensive ball in the store.
As for the most expensive ball, Luke couldn't afford it. That was an NFL ball, and a limited edition at that, with a price tag of $8,888.00.
If Luke bought something like this, it would earn him a scolding before Robert confiscated the ball. Joseph might get himself beaten up as well.
As for the ball right below it, it was much cheaper at only 59 dollars. This was a size 7 ball, suitable for Joseph's age.
After getting the football he had been wanting for many days, Joseph finally smiled happily.
He looked tiny compared with the ball, yet he insisted on carrying it himself.
Luke didn't mind. The biggest joy a kid could have was to carry their beloved toy around. He didn't intend to put a damper on that joy.
After leaving the store, they ran into Officer Bob, who gave them a free lift.
When Bob heard that Luke was going to Selina's place for dinner, an odd smile bloomed on his face.
Luke couldn't be bothered to explain himself to this fellow. This guy had nothing better to do than let his mind run wild anyway.
When they arrived, he bade Bob goodbye. Even Joseph waved politely. "Goodbye, Uncle Bob."
Bob waved with a wide smile. "Best of luck to you both!"
That gave Luke the urge to slam Joseph's new toy into Bob's face.
It was fine telling him to work hard, but what was the deal with telling a kid like Joseph to work hard? Did he think both Luke and Joseph were really there to pick up girls?
Luke turned and walked to the door before knocking on it.
"Who is it?" a little girl asked.
Luke smiled. "It's Luke. Open the door, Talia."
When the door opened, a girl who bore a striking resemblance to Selina appeared as she said, "Luke, you're here."
Luke smiled and handed her a pair of sports shoes which he had bought at the store earlier. "A gift for you."
Glee filled Talia's face as she asked, "Really?"
Luke rubbed her head and said, "Yes. I got a pair for Andrea as well."
Talia replied, "Ah, I'll go get her," and ran off.
Luke shrugged and called Joseph to come in before he shut the door.
This was a single-story house, and compared with Robert's place, it was rather small.
Selina, her parents, her two sisters, and one brother all stayed here – six people lived in this house of about 100 square meters.
Before long, Talia arrived with her younger sister, Andrea.
The six-year-old girl happily received her gift. They thanked Luke before gleefully running back to their room.
From the clamor inside, it was clear that the two little girls were trying on their new shoes.
With a thud, a door not far ahead opened. Selina came out wrapped in her bath towel.
When she saw Luke, she nodded. "You're here? Have a seat. Let me get changed."
Luke nodded and smiled, but he didn't forget to let his eyes linger on Selina's petite figure all the way until she entered her room.
Next to him, Joseph was busy playing with his football, completely oblivious to the pretty girls in the house.
A short while later, Talia and Andrea came out first before Selina. "Luke, Lukeee, see, do we look good in these shoes?"
Luke slapped a palm to his forehead as he asked, "Who tied these shoelaces?"
The sisters pointed at each other and said at the same time, "She did it."
Fine, at least they were aware that their shoelaces were a complete mess.
They lacked patience and were in too much of a rush to try the new shoes. Thus, they only randomly shoved the shoelaces through the holes on each shoe before tying them into a dead knot.
Luke called Andrea over and got her to sit down before he took her shoes off. Then, he pulled out the messy shoelaces from her shoes before putting them back on and tying them up properly.
"Come, try putting the shoes on," Luke said as he helped her put the shoes on.
Andrea studied her shoes and said, "Um, um, Luke, you're so smart. Much smarter than Talia. She's really stupid. She got my shoelaces completely messed up."
Talia countered unhappily, "Look at my shoelaces. You made a mess out of them as well."
Luke shook his head with a smile. It was no wonder they pointed at each other earlier. So, they had actually helped each other with the shoelaces?
The sisters continued bickering over who was the stupid one.
At that moment, Selina came out in a loose fitting T-shirt and a pair of shorts.
When she heard her sisters bickering and saw their shoes, she frowned. "Why did you buy them something so expensive?"
The shoes weren't cheap. Luke bought them the New Balance summer collection, which sold at a special price of 99 dollars per pair.
Luke replied, "To thank your mom for dinner."
Selina said, "Bullshit. Everything she made tonight won't even cost more than a pair of those shoes."
Luke replied, "You shouldn't belittle your mom's hard labor like that."
Selina replied, "Fine, fine, I meant the cost of the food ingredients."
Luke shrugged. "Well, I don't feel like I've done her a favor large enough to deserve dinner, so the shoes are a token of my appreciation."
Selina said, "No, that sounds fishy. Take the shoes back. The price tags are still on them, so Riste will still give you a refund."
Luke smiled. "No way am I going to see Riste's ugly face again. If you want, just consider that you owe me for this, then."
Selina replied, "What? A favor from me is worth only 200 dollars? No, to be precise, 198 dollars?"
Luke smiled and shook his head as he pointed at the table next to him. When Selina looked over, she saw a beautiful cake resting there.
From the packaging, Selina knew which bakery Luke had gotten this from. This was the cake that she had mentioned wanting to try a few times before.
Unfortunately, this cake was too expensive at 80 dollars.
Selina couldn't bring herself to spend so much on a cake.
She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the cake before she stared at Luke. Finally, she smiled. "Fine, for this cake, I'll owe you one."
Since Luke had even remembered that she wanted to try this cake, she decided not to bother about the shoes anymore.
In any case, as Luke's partner, she was aware that Luke didn't spend much anyway.
She'd just keep in mind to remind him not to bring gifts the next time he was invited over for dinner.
Finally, Selina's mom, Sandra, came out as well.
Selina's mom was in fact still quite young. She gave birth to Selina when she was 16. This year, she was only 40 years old, and full of a mature charm.
She and her husband had been quite lucky. They were able to get their green cards a few years after they arrived in the States, and their daughter was capable as well. At a young age, she became a police officer in town, which was a stable job that paid the bills.
Compared to other Mexican immigrants, Sandra's life was a smooth ride filled with joy.
As for when she shot the gunman who invaded her house not long ago, that was nothing for her.
She didn't seem to mind that Luke had come bearing gifts for all her daughters.
But when even her son, Julio, received a baseball and baseball glove, she finally looked at Luke in astonishment and asked, "Alright. Tell me, when are you two getting married?"
Luke was caught by surprise. "What?"
Selina burst out laughing. "Now you know why I told you not to bring so many gifts. Sandra will think you're trying to please me."
Sandra asked, "Is he not?"
Luke shook his head with a helpless smile. "No, we're partners at work. Isn't it normal to give each other some gifts?"
Sandra's lips curled up. "Selina's previous partner, what's his name? Oh, yeah, Hanks. That guy also ate here a few times, but always came empty-handed. In fact, he even took unfinished food back home with him. And he dared to claim that he was trying to court Selina. Is that how a police officer courts someone?"
Luke was astonished as he looked at Selina and asked, "Hanks did that?"
Selina nodded. "Yeah. That's why I rejected him mercilessly and told him to stop dreaming. After that, he resigned."
Luke blurted out, "So the reason he's still single is all his own fault. You really shouldn't hold a grudge against him for that."
The mother and daughter both replied, "Huh?"
After a while, Selina finally got her two sisters to serve dinner.
Luke asked, "Where's Mario?" That was Selina's father.
Sandra replied, "He's been staying over at the ranch recently. A few cows are giving birth soon. He's too busy to leave."
That satisfied Luke's curiosity.
Mario worked at a ranch outside town. The wage wasn't too high, but at least it was a stable job.
As long as the ranch existed, he would have a job.
But during peak seasons, he often had to stay over at the ranch.
Because of that, when the Carlos Family attacked, only Sandra had been home to protect the children.
Dinner was a rather casual affair.
Mexicans attached great importance to family, and they had a habit of chatting with family members over dinner.
The kids gathered together and muttered among themselves. Selina's siblings and Joseph had agreed to go play in the yard after dinner.
As for the toys they would be playing with, it would naturally be Joseph's football and Julio's baseball. Even their family dog, Dollar, would be playing with them.
As for Luke, he chatted with Selina and her mother on various topics.
But when Sandra accidentally mentioned the Carlos Family, the mood became rather gloomy.
Both Sandra and Selina understood that after suffering such a loss, the Carlos Family's revenge would be even fiercer, and at that time, moving would probably be their only option.
But they would require a large sum of money to move, especially for a family as large as theirs. And after moving away from town, they would also lose their jobs.
Without jobs, how would they support the three kids? In the time that they remained unemployed, they would be using up their savings without any income coming in.
Nowadays, plenty of Americans didn't have any savings; a lot of them didn't have a habit of saving anyway.
Although Selina's family had been living rather comfortably in recent years, they didn't have a habit of saving money as well. It was mainly because their expenses were high given how big the family was, yet their earnings weren't exactly high. Thus, they weren't able to save much.
Because of that, their only hope was that the Carlos Family wouldn't come, or if they had to come, that it would be way in the future.
It was also pointless to blame Selina for provoking the Carlos Family. They had obviously come to slaughter the entire family previously. Peace between both parties was no longer possible.
Luke remained silent.
He couldn't exactly tell them to relax because he had killed them all, right?
But after a few days, he could contact Chris and pretend to ask for updates on the Carlos Family. From there, they would be able to obtain news of the Carlos Family's destruction. It wouldn't be too late to tell Selina about it then.
He had risked his own life to exterminate the Carlos Family. He only wished to keep a low profile for a while.
Leaving Selina to worry for a few extra days wouldn't kill her.
After finishing the dinner that wasn't exactly a joyful one, Selina drove Luke and Joseph home.
Silence enveloped them as the car sped along the road. Suddenly, Selina said, "You've changed."
Luke replied nonchalantly, "Oh? Did I become even more handsome?"
Selina giggled. "No, you've become… more dependable."
Luke looked at her. "Thank you."
Selina sighed. "Truthfully, I much prefer the previous you: a boy as warm as the sun. Now… you're becoming more and more like Robert."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Piss off. I would prefer you tell me that I've become more handsome instead of saying that I've turned into another Robert. That'll only make me less attractive."
Selina giggled again. "Fortunately, when you're joking, you turn back into the previous you."
At that moment, the car arrived at their destination. Luke got off and carried the sleeping Joseph out of the car; he had exhausted all his energy playing with Selina's siblings earlier, and was dead tired.
"Don't worry. I'm still me," Luke said as he stood next to the car.
Then, he waved his hand. "Goodnight. Drive safe."
Selina nodded and watched silently as Luke entered the house.
What she left unsaid was the fact that she had sensed something else apart from dependability from Luke. What she sensed was… bloodlust.
It was similar to what Robert had emitted the other night when he killed a bunch of gunmen.
Selina didn't know why there would be such a change in Luke after not seeing him for only a few days. It was an odd feeling which seemed to have come out of nowhere. Thus, she didn't intend to tell anyone about it.
No matter what, Luke was her partner, a partner who would put his life on the line to save her. Because of that alone, she wouldn't speak ill of him to others, not even a bit.Read the next chapter on our vipnovel.com
This wasn't exactly love; rather, this was a camaraderie between partners.
Luke entered the house, and as he watched through the window as Selina left, he sighed inwardly. "Sure enough, killing too many people still changed me. If even Selina sensed it, what about Robert?"
Luke didn't want to dwell on it. He greeted Robert, who was watching TV in the living room, and handed Joseph over to Catherine before he showered and went to bed.
Robert watched Luke's back disappear as the latter climbed the stairs, a deep frown on his face.
The next day, Luke canceled his leave and reported back to work.
All his new stat points had been used up by now.
After his strength reached 20 points, he allocated the remaining 2 points to the mental strength stat for the very first time.
His latest stats were: 20 points of strength, 20 points of dexterity, and 14 points of mental strength.
Different from improving strength and dexterity, improving mental strength made him rather… sensitive.
His mind worked in tandem with his superb physical qualities and gave him an enhanced awareness of his surroundings, and his thoughts had become much faster as well.
The biggest benefit the improvement had given him was much better control over his body.
Unlike improving strength and dexterity, the development of his mental strength allowed him to better control his body.
Even though he had only allocated 2 points to his mental strength to reach 14 points, the result was very much to his satisfaction.
Higher levels of strength and dexterity required a stronger brain to control them, and it was only a matter of time before he was forced to start upgrading his mental strength to at least 20 points.
Real life was unlike video games. He couldn't afford to leave any obvious weak point in him unattended.
After work, Luke went to practice his aim as usual. After shooting practice, Selina picked him up before heading to the gym to practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
During training, Luke sensed that fighting Selina felt much easier now.
He had the same strength, but with better control; he was able to unleash a force more than twice what he used to be capable of.
Now, he was able to start reading Selina's moves to suppress her even more effectively during their sparring sessions.
In this training session, Selina suffered a worse defeat than before.
After the training session, she was already drenched in sweat while Luke was only sweating mildly.
She stared at Luke in disbelief. "How is that possible? Why have you grown even stronger? You've grown so much stronger!"
Luke wiped his sweat with a towel before helping Selina put her towel away as well. He had enough energy left to continue sparring with a few more Selinas. Thus, he also took it upon himself to get the towels and drinks for both of them.
He pondered for a bit before answering, "Perhaps I'm a genius."
Selina: "Are you saying that I'm stupid?"
Luke returned to his normal life. The days were peaceful.
Before Luke could even give Chris a call, Chris called Robert and informed him of the Carlos Family's destruction.
That was right. The Carlos Family was finished.
In truth, Luke's rampage didn't kill off everyone in the family, but when the other crime family in town discovered the drop in numbers, it moved against the Carlos Family unhesitatingly.
That was how things were among crime groups in Mexico.
In three days, the remaining members of the Carlos Family were either captured or killed. Their bodies were used as a declaration of dominance to let the townsfolk know of their downfall.