After an unknown duration of time, Virus' eyelids suddenly jumped open while his pupils dilated to the extreme!
Gazing around next, he was faced with the concerned faces of Luca, Luna, Augustus, and Archibald.
"Boss! You woke up at last!" Catching the sight of Virus regaining consciousness, Luna shouted in utter happiness.
"Boss!" The other three were also glad Virus was seemingly fine.
In the meantime, examining the surroundings, Virus noticed that he was lying down on his bed inside the inn's room.
"Ah…" Intending to move into a sitting position, a harsh pain overwhelmed Virus, catching him off-guard.
Concentrating his unique sense of awareness within himself, Virus realized that he was suffering from a serious form of internal injury. As a matter of fact, there was internal bleeding occurring concurrently which needed to be handled at once since it was guaranteed to threaten his life if left untreated.
'I need to heal up.' Although that notion went through his head, looking at the four people surrounding him, he demanded a question to be answered first, "Why are you four here in my room?"
"Ah, boss, let me tell you." Volunteering to respond, Luca added, "After leasing that shop you selected, we returned. However, then we noticed that no matter how hard we knocked on the door, you would neither reply nor open the door!" A concerned gleam radiating his pupils, he picked the rest of his description.
"In the end, we were just about to leave when we heard you yelling 'begone' or something, so left with no other choice, we barged in only to see you puking a lot of blood before fainting!" As if that bloody scene was repeating itself for the second time in his mind, Luca's eyes went wide open while color left his profile slightly. "That nearly scared us to death since we had no idea what to do… but good thing you're conscious again."
While maintaining his awareness of Luca, simultaneously, Virus was busy checking his cultivation as he discerned the clear achievement of the ninth level of Liberation. 'Even though I failed, the Absolute Liberation Leveling pill still carried on with its task and helped me breakthrough in the end. Magnificent!'
A grin crept over Virus' face while he felt extremely gratified and happy about consuming the pill in order to break through to the ninth level.
Imagining what could have happened in case he had not eaten the pill for his breakthrough, a shiver went down Virus' spine. He could clearly see that if he had attempted to accomplish that feat on his own alone, the third taboo would've most likely put an end to his frail life before he even had a chance of elevating his cultivation to the ultimate level. 'Phew, I dodged a bullet indeed. Guess I should thank my own wits and circumstances which made me take the pill right away.'
'Thanks to me and no thanks to heavens, I survived while achieving the nigh impossible!'
Promptly snapping out of his reverie, while patting Luca's head, a broad smile exhibited on his profile, "I see, I appreciate your concern, I truly do, but for the moment at least, I'm fine."
Turning toward Archibald after that, he interrogated, "Anyway, did everything go well with the leasing task?"
Catching the question, a shimmer of excitement brightened Archibald's countenance as he joyfully notified him. "It couldn't go any better, boss! In fact, it went wonderfully well!"
"Hmm, why do you say that?" Confused, Virus waited for further clarification.
"Well, since that place was the least sought shop in the district, we noticed its owner had put it up for lease for a measly price of fifty Qi Ingots a month plus a deposit and five-hundred Qi Ingots and that's it!"
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes! And now the shop belongs to us for a year."
"Alright, that's good I guess." Unlike Archibald's enthusiasm, Virus seemed entirely relaxed about the situation, like he did not care about that little bit of discount at all.
"But boss, what should we do now? Can you at least tell me what you're going to be selling at that shop? Perhaps fruits? Food? Clothes? What?" Feeling curious, Archibald tried shedding some light on Virus' mysterious plan.
"About that, I'll tell you soon, but before that, although I'm fine temporarily, there is an open internal wound in my body bleeding as we speak, I need to take care of that." Virus announced with visible sweat covering his forehead.
"Ah, my sincere apology, sir. I didn't know."
"It's okay. Luna, give me a pen and paper." Commanding Luna, Virus waited for a few seconds before they were delivered.
Subsequently, writing the name of some materials, Virus turned toward Augustus before ordering, "Augustus, you go buy the list of materials and other stuff written on this paper."
"Alright boss." Adhering to the command, Augustus didn't delay at all as he took his leave swiftly.
Since the most urgent matter had been mentioned, Virus locked eyes with Archibald and gave further instructions. "Now, about the shop, before we get to the part about what we're going to do with it, you prepare and install the signboard."
"O-oh, okay, what should I write on the signboard though?"
Sneering at the old man for not having realized the name up to this point, Virus proclaimed, "Of course, the words on the signboard will be… Cultivation Trust. Go now!"
Observing Archibald depart as well, only Luca and Luna were around now.
"Luca." Virus opened his mouth, again.
"Yes, boss!" Nervous from the pit of his stomach, Luca shouted. He didn't know what his new boss' instructions were going to be, but whatever it was, he vowed to accomplish them to the best of his capabilities!
"You and your little brother, I want you two to do something for me." A grave expression was also clear on Virus's face while he said that sentence.
"I swear we'll do precisely as you tell us to do, boss! Whether you want us to cross a sea of flames or a mountain of swords does not matter!" Resolution forming inside his eyes to the point of fanatical and blind faith, Luca made the oath.
"Good! I want you two to tail someone. I wish to know every location that person visits whether it's to eat, drink, fuck, or sleep. It does not matter where. In other words, I want you two to unravel all the places that person goes to usually during both day and night."
"Your wish is my command, boss. Who should we follow?"
"Hmm, I'm still unaware of his name, however, he's notoriously known as the dreg or the drunkard by everyone in the city." Afterward, Virus went ahead and described the drunkard's exact profile without missing a single crease on the said person's face.
When he was done, Virus didn't forget to warn the two as well, "Be absolutely careful not to be discovered. This task needs to be accomplished without you two getting caught. So, always maintain your distance and do not approach the target no matter what, do you understand?"
"Yes, boss!" Heeding the command, both Luca and Luna bowed respectfully before going out to do their boss' bidding.
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