Chapter 228

Chapter 228

“Yes.” The man swallowed. “The neighborhood isn’t what it used to be, so I ordered a gun to protect myself…”

“What color is it?”

“Well…” The man trailed off.

“You don’t even know the color of the gun you ordered?”

“I—I just ordered it. I didn’t think the color was a priority.”

He seemed to be rambling. Lacias had no intention of giving him the box.

“Then we won’t know whether you ordered it or not unless we open it. Right?”

“P-pardon? B-but if you go to the store—it is what I ordered.”

“I could’ve also ordered it from there.”

“D-did you?”

“That’s not the important part.”

The fake baron trembled from head to toe. His contract included a clause that required him “never to reveal to other people”. Yet in the twinkle of an eye, the item was about to be exposed to someone else. If things didn’t go as planned, he might have to cough up the entire contract fee.

He wasn’t doing well so he’d been swayed easily by the prospect of making so much money. But this was a contract made through his long-term agency. If this didn’t go well, his relationship with the agency was also at risk.

The fake baron tried to think.

“The store I ordered only deals with the VIP of the VIPs.”

“I don’t look like a VIP?” Lacias.

He looked too much like a VIP. Between his own appearance and the two menacing guards flanking him, he looked like he’d never been anywhere below the topmost point of the pyramid. If it weren’t for the agency, the fake baron might have run by now.

“Th-that’s not what I meant. You need a password to trade. D-do you know it?” It was a lie. He didn’t even know whether the store dealt with VIPs, let alone passwords. The fake baron had used his wits to come up with that.

Lacias scoffed, shooting him a cold look.

“Shouldn’t have dealt with you,” he said, “even for fun.”

And then he began to open the box.

“N-no! Then the c-contract—”

“Contract?”

The fake baron paled. Lacias, on the other hand, looked expressionless as he opened the box.

There was, indeed, a gun inside.

Lugar’s eyes widened. He’d seen that item before. “This is—”

“Lila’s gun,” Lacias said softly, staring at the blue pattern on the white gun.

He clutched it like it was the most precious thing in the world, feeling a little relieved to hold something that she had touched.

***

His eyes flashed immediately, like he’d stumbled on an oasis after trudging for hours through a desert. For Lacias, finding something of Lila’s felt like quenched thirst. He glanced up. The fake Baron was pale, his face slick with sweat, defeat in his eyes. His lips trembled.

Lacias walked slowly toward him, and the fake Baron stepped backward.

“Hey,” Lacias said, “are you trying to run?”

“I’m not running. Y-you’re approaching very aggressively!”

“You look like you might run at any moment.”

“P-please stay away. I beg you.”

Lacias gazed at the fake Baron. It was so obvious he would run the moment Lacias backed off. He wasn’t any different from the other people Lacias dealt with.

Lacias scoffed. “Don’t worry. I’m just going to ask you a few questions, and if you answer correctly, I’ll let you go. So don’t be too afraid. Just come here.”

“R-really?”

The fake baron’s heart was about to explode. He couldn’t tell whether Lacias was lying or not. The man had a constant aggressive look on his face.

“You think I’m lying? I don’t understand why you’re so scared. What…you think I’ll kill you?”

Lacias was sneering, but the fake Baron couldn’t reply.

“Come sit here.”

Slowly, Lacias moved. Even if the fake Baron tried to make a run for it, he was on Lacias’s radar now. There was no escape.

Lacias sat on the sofa, setting his feet on the table as well. The Baron watched in shock. Only an educated thug would act like this. Tentatively, he walked toward Lacias, who signaled to him to sit on the sofa.

Instead, the fake baron stretched himself out on the floor.

“Well,” he said, “I’m just an agent. I don’t know much about the request. You’ll have to ask the agency if you want more information.”

“An agency.”

“Yes! Do you want me to tell you where it is? If—if you’ll let me go, I could tell you right away.”

“That’s not what I wanted to ask.”

“Huh? Then what is it?”

The fake baron must have been hopeful that they would let him go if he mentioned the agency. His face quickly darkened, and his thin body began trembling.

“I need you to tell me where you were going to deliver the box.”

“Where to? Ah! There was an address I was supposed to take it to. Here—this is it.”

The fake baron was already determined to tell him everything.

“This is the address.”

“Good.”

Lacias read the paper, a cold expression on his face.

***