Step Back

Clap~ Clap~ Clap~

A dull resounding clap could be heard as Nigel stood still in the second-floor corridor while grasping his crossbow. He then proceeds to takes a look at the guy who is clapping his hand before Nigel's eyes widen at the sight of that old eye-patched man.

If memory serves him right, then that man is the harbinger of chaos in the south-east government outpost where he leads his underlings to rebel against the government and trying to usurp power.

And that man's name is Jack 'One-Eyed Executioner' Quill.

"What an unexpected surprise Nigel Oneal, killing my men with a crossbow." Jack said.

Although he said, he was surprised. The looked on his face clearly tells the opposite as he doesn't look surprised at all.

"Where is Brian? And who are you?" Nigel asked as his gaze searched around the corridor.

All Nigel can see is Jack's tight-fitting suit with a handgun in his right hand, including 8 of his henchmen wearing suits pointing rifles, shotgun, and a handgun in his direction and the 4 unprofessional-looking thugs behind them.

The 8 men beside Jack is clearly a level above the minion that stood behind him.

"Ah, that guy is in there. We didn't do anything to him though it was Ahu who beat him." Jack pointed his thumb to the back at the door that stood behind him and his men.

"As for who I am? Is that even important?" Continued Jack as he grins and spread out his hand.

"Then why do you go this far for me?" Nigel asked Jack as he clutches firmly onto his crossbow while eyeing Jack's and his henchman gun.

"Nothing really, at first it was your boss Ahu who hired us to kill you. But, now we don't give a sh*t about him as you're much more interesting than I thought will be." Jack replied to Nigel.

Hearing the talk from the outside, Ahu leaves the room where Brian's being kept as he angrily shouts to Jack, "What do you mean with that, Jack? We had an agreement!"

"Shut up. I will compensate you when this is over." Jack let out an annoyed look at Ahu.

Remembering the compensations he will receive if the Axe Gang breaches the contract, Ahu blooming smiles could be seen on his face as he grins before saying to Nigel, "What a cash cow you are to me, Nigel!"

Nigel let out a threatening gaze as he sees the stupid smiling Ahu.

"As I said before, I'm more interested in you working for me." Jack smiles as he continues telling Nigel.

"And if I refuse, would you kill me for killing your man?" Nigel exclaimed as he asked Jack.

"I will just shoot your legs, lock you up and torture you. But if you don't want to, we can still be a partner." Jack told Nigel as his hand that was holding the gun moves pointing to Nigel's leg.

'I should move back a step as I don't want to be locked up and will die if I try to do something funny in this situation, not to mention Jack's underlings also has guns.' Nigel thought quickly in his mind and decided to abandon any thought of rejecting him.

"I would rather be a partner than your minions." Nigel said through gritted teeth.

"Isn't it great as there will be no more bloodshed? You can call me Jack Quill. We'll be leaving first then, I will contact you in the future." Jack then claps before walking in Nigel's direction.

All of the underlings soon followed Jack as they relax their gait.

"But, I want to kill that fatso!" Nigel points to Ahu that tip-toed as he walks behind the underling.

Jack looked at where Nigel's hand pointed to before saying to him, "Do what you want with him as he didn't hire us for protection anyway."

Ahu rush up to Jack and hold his body as he whimpers, "How can you do that to me? You should protect your contractor!"

"The contract is for us to kill Nigel, not protecting you." Jack swat Ahu's hand with a disgusted sneer.

Jack and his henchmen pass Nigel as they step down the stair, leaving Nigel and Ahu along in the quiet corridor before Nigel says to Ahu, "What sweet time we will have, Ahu. You shouldn't try to kill me."

Nigel lets out his killing intent as he takes a look in Ahu's direction.

"Please, I'm sorry- Nigel! Leave me alone I will make you rich than ever!" Ahu shout while shivering as he feels the deadly aura Nigel let out.

"Too late." Nigel curls his lips at Ahu.

Nigel then shot Ahu's right knee as he stumbles down while screeching like a girl before Nigel nocks another bolt in his crossbow before shooting his second shot.

With a cracking sound, Ahu's left knee got stuck along with the bolt that penetrated deeply into the floor. As Ahu's shriek and beg Nigel, Nigel just brandished his knife before walking towards him.

He proceeds to cut Ahu's multiple times on his various body part as drops of blood gush out to the ground with Ahu's voice got hoarse the more he screams until finally, he can't let out a sound anymore- dying with hatred and pain.

After looking at the bloody scenes Nigel makes, he sighs to himself as he doesn't think Ahu will be the first kill he did after his rebirth.

Nigel walked into the room where Brian's was taken as he looks the beat-up Brian that was unconscious on the floor before carrying him and went out of the warehouse to his car.

Opening the door of the backseat, he gently lies Brian on the backseat and closing the door while he gets back to the warehouse to clean up the dead body as Jack didn't even bother to pick up his underlings.

Nigel drags all the body to the second-floor room where Brian previously was held as he searches the dead body's pocket for a lighter to burn the place down to the ground.

He got the lighter from the big guy he killed that wield a bludgeon, he went to his car for some gasoline container on the trunk before making his way back into the warehouse.

Nigel then pours the gasoline on the dead bodies and throws the lighter to the piled-up body, lighting up the dim room.

'And God said, let there be light.' Nigel mutters to himself.

Nigel watches the burning fire that keeps on getting spread out to the surrounding walls. He stood still before walking into the staircase and leaving the warehouse back into his car.

Once Nigel sits and starts his car, he looked at Brian's face before he focuses his eyes back on the road as he stepped on the gas and went into a hospital located not far from Brian's restaurant.

As he drives, he looked into the side mirror where he can faintly see a cloud of smoke coming out of the abandoned warehouse.

When Nigel arrived at the hospital entrance, he tries to wake up Brian as he shakes Brian's body. But he clearly didn't wake up.

Nigel then went into the emergency department unit and asked the security to bring a patient's bed.

He stood at the entrance and sighs.

---

(March 19th, 23.00 PM.)

In Nigel's apartment room, there was a rustling sound as Nigel hurried to finish his sit-up.

"That's the last 8 hours of exercise for this mission, d*mn Iris making me go through all that hard work!" Nigel blurted out his thought as he rests his body before going into the bathroom for a shower.

Although there was a lot of up and down since Brian's got kidnapped. Nigel has been exercising faithfully every day from the first time he got the mission from Iris.

Overall it is an addicting thing to feel his growth and seeing the dumbfounded expression on James's usually stoic face when he doesn't sweat anything for 4 hours of high-intensity interval training.

While his exercise keeps progressing, his training on hand-to-hand combat and his ability to handle the sword, knife, and crossbow also got better and more skillful.

Nigel can proudly say that he can defeat Alex in the way of the sword, but beating James in hand-to-hand combat is difficult as he doesn't have a solid foundation, unlike his swordsmanship.

Mr. Donald also gave Nigel many surprised by the efficiency of his work on the renovation of the factory as the project is now almost completed. It was still 3 more weeks before the deadline, but looking at the site, Nigel knew it only took 1 more week to finish the project.

Mr. Arya, the liaison officer, also complained to him for not telling the bank he renovated the factory but shut him up with the rest of the payment on the rent plus the same amount of money he spent on the renovation.

As for Jack Quill, he still doesn't call Nigel after that vengeful meeting. And Brian had already been discharged from the hospital, but he still needs to use crutches and a splint as his ribs, leg, and arm bones were broken.

Thankfully, the injuries will not have traumas and will be healed immediately once Nigel remembered the system medical substances that he took before, and maybe he can search for a better replacement.

Now, all Nigel needs to do is to wait for the delivery of the introduction package and complimentary service Iris talked about that will be delivered on March 20th.

When he finishes drying up his body and look at the mirror, he can see his body now sculpted like an athletic body with firm muscles underneath his skin. It was so different from his previous saggy body and a beer belly.

He let out a grin as he thought about his hard work over the past 2 months. Although he also took the medical substance that the system gave him, it can't bring out the fact that he perseveres on with his work out.

'Iris, now that I am ready to take the side effect of the delivery, now tell me how I do in the past months?' Nigel asked Iris in his mind asking for feedback.

[You are doing better than our expectation, Mr. Oneal.]

'Haha, is that so?' A proud cheeky voice can be heard from Nigel.

[But, you will still feel that weak feeling you got in the first time of the delivery.]

'...' Nigel got speechless by the cold truth.

'Just make a countdown before you deliver the item, I don't want to suddenly feel that feeling and crashed down to the floor.' Nigel demand Iris.

[Noted.]

Nigel then sits on the couch after he wears his sleep attire and intended to watch some movies on his smart tv.

He searches from the internet on his favorite playlist and picked the zombie movie he loves.

[10]

[9]

When Nigel is feeling bored from watching the zombie movie that he usually loves, Iris's cold robotic voice sounded out in his mind.

'D*mn Iris abruptly started the countdown!' Nigel cursed as he searches for the most comfortable position on the couch.

[3]

[2]

[1]

[Delivery sequence initiated.]