Finally, a clue?
Now having a proper destination in mind, I headed towards the north areas of Kabul, enjoying just walking around the foreign city.
While the buildings were different than what I was used to, all of them were, at the very least, of a higher quality than the old shack me and mom had lived in in my previous life.
Having walked around for three hours so far, I didn't feel bored in the slightest, occasionally stopping to check out different shops and whatnot, making for a refreshing experience compared to the endless killing I had been and would keep doing.
Looking at the watch I adjusted to the local time, that said it was 11am, I decided against sending a message to the two kids as it was roughly 3 in the morning for them, and instead went to find myself some decent food place.
10 minutes later, I found myself a decent looking place after asking around. Sitting down on the wooden chair, the brown wood floor with the red painted walls gave off a cozy feeling to this place. Checking the menu, I found out that they offered more than a dozen variations of pizza on the third page.
Deep in thought, I finally ordered some local variation of pizza with a funny sounding name. Needless to say the owner had a good laugh from hearing me try to pronounce it 3 times with completely different accents, before getting it right and giving me a pat on the back for my efforts.
Looking at the square monstrosity of a pizza in front of me, I dug in.
Honestly, this is great.
Fifteen minutes later, I walked out of the shop after paying, satisfied.
Next stop, more exploring the North of the city, trying to find any info on the ten rings, or even run into their people and find out more after talking nicely with them.
And as luck would have it, after another 3 hours of exploring the North of Kabul, something finally happened.
Comparing the north to the rest of the city, it was a quite bit more... Barren place, if you will. You could tell people were afraid when they passed by me, looking around warily, and there were barely any of them on the streets in the first place, compared to the rest of the city.
Turning a corner, I suddenly heard someone call out to me from a slightly dark alley.
In the aforementioend alley, wide for only two people to walk side by side, or three if they squeezed a bit together, I saw three people looking at me. The sand colored walls were pretty tall, so you wouldn't be capable of telling what happens in here if you aren't looking directly inside, with the alley only being 15 odd meters long.
"You there, you're not from here so come for a quick chat."
Faintly smiling, I walked closer to the three of them.
Arriving 2 meters away from them, I started inspecting them.
The first guy was an Asian with long hair and a typical villain moustache and beard combo. The other two were a white guy with a bald head and a large beard and a Bowie knife on his waist, and a middle eastern young man who wasn't past 30 years of age.
As the three idiots started to surround me, the Asian man showed me a faintly concealed pistol at his hip, which if I had to guess was an M1911.
"You either spit out all the cash you have or were going to hurt you and then take it anyway, pick one." as he started yapping, I interrupted him.
"Yeah yeah I get it, let's get this over with already" still smiling widely, I said.
I didn't think I'd get robbed in a foreign land on the first day, although I was hoping for something like this to happen. After all, this is probably going to be my first kill in a foreign land.
"Who do you-" the man with the Bowie knife got ready to pull it out, yet he was interrupted by the Asian man who seemed the leader of this group.
"Stop." he said, looking me up and down, inspecting my getup in great detail.
Currently, If I had who was one of the most conspicuous people you could find here, it was probably me. A white t-shirt, a white pair of shorts, a generic white cap, and the only things that weren't white were the hiking shoes and the glasses, former being very light red while the latter was black. None of them had any sort of markings, so that was even more strange to any onlookers. Standing at 1.9m, I was quite a bit taller than them, so it was kind of comical they were trying to rob me.
"Put down your backpack, and back away from it." he asked cautiously, the nervousness faintly visible on his face, realising I didn't seem to be your average tourist.
Still smiling all the while I decided to drop the backpack, I wanted to see their reactions upon only finding food and water in there.
The Arabian guy searched it, quickly sifting through it and only finding the food and water. Getting up, he told their leader about it while confused.
"He only has food and water on him."
"What? Then go and search his pockets and see if he carries anything. And I see the phone sticking out of his pocket, grab that!"
"The phone is a satellite phone, it's useless for you." I replied, still smiling.
"Hand it over already!" the white guy with a Bowie knife started threatening me, putting the knife at my neck.
Sigh... This little game started being annoying.
"Were part of the ten rings, and you dare fuck around with us?" the leading man said.
"If you value your li-" not letting the guy with a Bowie knife finish his sentence, I grabbed his head and crushed it, splattering blood onto the ground under the shocked gaze of the other two.
Grabbing the other guys neck, under his shocked and pleading look, I snapped it without any effort before he could even speak.
Dusting off my hands, I turned to look at the third man that stood there, frozen in place. Then, I threw the Bowie knife into my backpack, a little trophy of my very first encounter here.
"Now then," putting my hand, still covered in the blood from the first goon, on his shoulder, I politely asked him with the most sincere smile I could make "take me to the base of the ten rings while I'm being nice or you will get a far more gruesome end than these two shit heads have gotten. Okay?"
"I'M SORRY I LIED!" throwing himself to the ground, kneeling, he shouted that. "I'M NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY ORGANISATION IM JUST A SMALL TIME THIEF, SPARE ME PLEASE I HAVE A FAMILY!"
Grabbing the man by the head, I lifted him up like a chicken.
"Then, where is the nearest black market so I can arm myself, and don't shout otherwise your end will not be nice."
"I know one, I know one... Please follow me." the man said, the fear apparent on his face.
"And change your clothing into that of your dead friend, the blood stain on you is a bit too conspicuous." I said as I looked at the red hand print on his shoulder.
"Yes... Yes... I will do as told." he said, while taking off the shirt from the man whose neck I snapped. Although it was a bit too big for him it did the job.
I had also wiped both of my hands on the clothing of the dead guy, so I wasn't going to be sticking out due to a bloody red hand either.
After a twenty minute walk, I finally came to a bazaar. A very large one may I add, with countless people bustling about.
Another 5 minutes later, the man led me to a fat shopkeeper that was reading some book in a remote corner of the bazaar.
After the goon said that I was here to buy weapons, the man beckoned my towards the back area of the stall. Walking to an even more remote corner, we entered a shed with countless guns locked in display cases. At a glance I saw more than a dozen varieties of pistols and rifles, along with some other gear.
Seeing that the prices has 2 currencies, the dollar and the afghani, made it far easier for me to pick out something with my budget. Yet no sooner did I start looking at arms did system tell me something interesting.
Smiling at the sudden revelation, I approached the confused shopkeeper.
After five minutes of intensively persuading him with utmost sincerity under the gaze of the goon, having broken a few of his fingers and removed a few of his teeth, I now knew the location of one nearby base.
Leaving with the pistol from the shopkeeper, and 2 additional magazines for it, I was armed enough considering the pistol was the only thing that seemed like it wouldn't blow up in my face if I shot it.
Although I wasn't familiar with a Tokarev pistol, and in general didn't know the difference between soviet and American weaponry, I should be fine considering my strength.
And as for the shopkeeper, his body would at one point be found in that shed, while I sent the scared idiot away due to him apparently being only a small time thief according to the system.
Having left the place, my next destination was clear, 50 kilometers north of here, near a mountain peak was a cave with the ten rings scouting base.