Chapter 88 Thiefs, Friends, And Mysteries (1)

"Listen, we received orders from the boss to search for something in the east district; the target is a young boy's house. We are currently unaware of what we are searching for, so we must take everything suspicious and out of the ordinary. The customer didn't explain what it was, and I suspect that he doesn't know it too," a man said.

"Boss, are there information regarding the owner of the house?" Greg asked.

"Yes, he is a 16-year-old boy, E-ranked with a sharpening power. According to the information, the boy is currently participating in a school tournament, so he shouldn't be home before 15:00 o'clock. We must go into his apartment as soon as he leaves the house and search for any clue regarding the customer's missing item. He also asked to bring his computer back to the base," Boss Howell replied.

"For this task, I chose you two," Boss Howell said, referring to Greg and Zachary, two expert thieves of the Crystal Cross Gang. They were among the best in their organization and were chosen since the customer was a very important one. They couldn't risk messing things up.

Greg was a slim individual with long brown hair tied at the nape of his neck. His skin tone suggested an Hinian descent. Although not particularly tall or muscular, he had great agility, making him suitable for stealth work such as thieving.

As far as looks went, he would have been considered average if it wasn't for a giant mole on his nose. Greg was an orphan. His parents died when he was only six years old, leaving him alone on earth without anyone except himself.

At age nine, he started working odd jobs such as delivering newspapers or cleaning shoes to help support his life until he turned 13 when he joined the Crystal Cross Gang. By joining the organization, he was able to escape enlisting, but for this reason, he became a fugitive. Not long after joining the group, he rose through the ranks quickly because he excelled in thievery--a skill needed by all gang members.

Zachary was slightly taller than Greg but a bit more muscular. He was darkly tanned like most people who lived in New Alexandria, where the sun shone all day brightly. Unlike Greg, Zachary had a full beard and mustache.

He wore his long black hair in a topknot style popular amongst his colleagues. Like many of them, Zachary possessed keen eyesight and was an excellent thief.

The briefing continued, with Boss Howell giving as much information as possible. Although not necessary, Zachary and Greg were two professionals, and didn't want problems arising during their search. They didn't leave anything to chance.

"The boy's apartment is located on the third floor of the building. There is only one apartment per level, so you can't mess up. I'll wait here until you get back," Boss Howell said.

After the briefing was done, Zachary and Greg went to the gang's main quarters, located inside an inconspicuous building in the residential area of East District. Their headquarters was a giant room with no windows and a single door leading to the elevator.

The place was big enough to house a bar; in fact, the place was littered with stools, tables, chairs, and barrels filled with beer. A large signboard hung above the counter reading "Coffee House." but it sold everything but coffee. Alcohol, drugs, and weapons were just some of the things that the place sold.

A huge board showing their member nicknames and a score was present on the rightmost side of the room. Apparently, each time they completed a quest, they gained some points which increased their score and overall ranking in the organization.

At the moment, the group's top member was a man named N.H. No one knew who he was, aside from the gang management, but his feats were told to be legendary. Apparently, he was able to steal some secret information from General Becker's office. A place so well guarded to make every thief shiver.

Greg and Zachary went through the headquarters and arrived at a small elevator after having walked through a huge corridor. After pressing the button for the ground floor, the elevator began moving upwards. They were apparently underground. Once they were out, the duo looked at their headquarter's building.

On the outside, people could only see a ten-story concrete and brick structure with walls painted white. Apartments were arranged along both sides of the street while shops lined the road between them.

All the buildings were built according to the same design and thus appeared uniform and uninteresting. Only the apartments differed in size and shape, although all were of new construction.

"Hey, what do you think of this mission?" Greg asked.

"It looks easy. The house owner is just a small kid who is not even strong. If things should go south, we could simply dispose of him..."

"I don't know... If the job is so simple, why did they ask us to do it? Something is fishy here..." Greg said.

"It doesn't matter. We must simply do our job; everything else is none of our business," Zachary replied.

They went through New Alexandria's streets. Walked through multiple crowds to blend in the environment and avoid any attention. The strategy seemed to work, as most of those who passed by ignored them completely, looking straight ahead and never taking notice of their presence.

As they walked, the duo made small chats, often commenting on the weirdest people in their organization, obviously not divulging information they should not have.

The organization's greatest enigma was N.H. identity. Greg speculated that he or she was some kind of spy sent to monitor the government, while Zachary thought he was a retired military officer whose past remained unknown.

However, one thing was sure, he was a master at his job since he was known for stealing classified documents easily.

After a long stroll through New Alexandria's streets, the duo finally arrived in front of Erik's house. They were left a little bit confused, they knew this wasn't a place where rich people lived, but it was weird for them that such a poor person was a target for their organization.

"Do you have your picklocks?" Zachary asked.

"Of course... you shouldn't even ask..." Greg replied.Chck out ltst vl on novl/bin(.)cm

The duo sped toward the main entrance, which was open for all to enter, and silently walked up to the third floor, where Erik's apartment was located.

Greg made quick work of Erik's apartment's lock, and after a couple of minutes, the duo was inside the place. Immediately, they were left confused. They already had doubts about the target since the place was located in a pretty low-income part of the city, but what they saw made them think that some kind of error must have happened.

The place was tiny, there wasn't even a bedroom, and it was clear that the owner had to sleep on the couch. Aside from a very obsolete computer and a table in front of it, nothing else was there. The place was also a mess, with some weight lying on the floor and dirty dishes on the table. It was apparent that no one cleaned the place regularly.

"Are we sure this is the right place?"

"Yes..." Greg replied.

"But why did they send us here? It's impossible this kid has something valuable..." Zachary said.

"I don't know, and I don't care... Let's search for anything useful here and if we find nothing, let's just pick the computer up, as the higher-ups said."

"OK..."

Zachary's and Greg's uneasiness started waning once they understood what kind of person the house owner was. There was no chance he was an important person. They speculated what this kind could have found that the higher-ups deemed so important as to send two of their most proficient thieves to his apartment.

Chapter end