The Second Attack

Ethan woke up just before midnight. When he returned home, he had an earlier dinner and went to bed early. 

He quickly got ready for the disguise he prepared before. Completely dark clothes, a scarf that covered most of his face and a beanie. 

Looking in the mirror, he checked that only a small bit of his face could be seen. He grabbed his other bag, placing a spare change of clothes with shoes, a small pocket torch and a box of gloves inside them.

He grabbed his lockpicking tools, phone, and knife and wore old shoes. Then he left the house, ensuring his mother didn't notice him as he was leaving.

He walked down the predetermined path, making sure to avoid all security cameras. Due to the time, there were barely any cars on the road. It was eerily quiet.

Ethan started shivering. Despite wearing a beanie and a scarf, Ethan could still feel the cold wind. It was casual 30 minutes of silence before he arrived at the alleyways.

At night, the alleyways were scarier than in the afternoon. The number of dangerous individuals that prowled here had increased severalfold.

Deciding to hide his nervousness, he strolled confidently through the street. Ethan was expecting to run into a couple of shady people who wanted to sell him drugs, yet to his surprise, no one approached.

In fact, they all stayed away from him. Chalking it up to good luck, Ethan manoeuvred through the alleyways and arrived at the neighbourhood.

Ethan immediately went to the community dump site and grabbed the bag he placed in the afternoon while replacing it with the bag he had on him.

He also wore a pair of gloves, while keeping his phone inside the bag he was going to leave at the dump site. He brought his torch with him.

Ethan jogged to his target's house. He ensured that no one had noticed his arrival. The streets were empty.

As Ethan came up toward the driveway and approached the door, he hesitated. If he was caught here, he would screwed. No, beyond screwed. The police would immediately catch him and he would be arrested.

But Ethan shook his head. He would do this. He brought out his lock-picking tools and prepared to enter. Ethan had never learnt how to pick locks. Yet with the use of the system skills, he going to learn to.

He brought up his system screen and asked Sia to purchase the Survival skill with almost all of his coins.

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Skill: Survival

Level 1: Allows the user to gain basic survival knowledge, in both urban the wilderness. You can start fires without matches and will be able to navigate difficult terrain. You are also able to locate the best places for shelter, navigate through cities and also gain basic tool usage.

Base Cost: 1250 Coins. 

Discounted Cost: 1100 Coins

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It was an all-in-one skill. Ethan wondered why such as skill was so cheap. 

Ethan discovered this skill when asking Sia how to gain a skill that would allow him to pick locks. Sia presented this skill to Ethan and he quickly decided that was going to be the first skill he was going to buy.

The reason for the discounted cost was simple. Ethan already had some of the abilities of the skill. As such, the cost was discounted. As Sia told him, as long as Ethan had some knowledge, it would come to him at a cheaper price.

His Survival skill, which was only at level 0.12, jumped to level 1 immediately. His balance, which was at 1250 coins, now became 150 coins.

A rush of information flooded his mind, yet he didn't experience any pain. It was a weird feeling. 

With the Survival skill bought, he suddenly gained knowledge on how to pick the lock of the door in front of him.

Ethan's hands moved as if he had done this hundreds of times. The experience was there, yet it was his first time doing it. Ethan couldn't understand how it was possible. He could only praise the system for being able to achieve such a miraculous feat.

As he was picking the lock, he also discovered that having a skill doesn't necessarily mean he was automatically capable of doing the skill.

When he was lock-picking, he had to have the necessary dexterity to be able to pick the lock. Otherwise, he'd just know how to pick the lock, but not able to do it.

Luckily for him, he had the dexterity required and the lock opened with a soft click. 

Ethan tiptoed in the house, and closed the door behind him, trying to make as little noise as possible. Though Ethan knew from his research that bedrooms were at the end house, he quickly checked to make sure.

Ethan snuck around the house, getting familiar with all the locations. He had to be extremely quiet and on high alert to ensure the operation went as smoothly as possible.

The snoring in the bedroom sometimes scared him into believing the residents were awake. 

After searching the house, he discovered the locations of the fire alarms. He climbed up on a chair and disconnected the alarms. He also went into the basement and opened the circuit breaker. He cut off the electricity to prevent potential disturbances.

Before pouring the main accelerant, he took out all flammable objects that were in the house and placed them in exposed locations.

Then ,when he was ready, Ethan opened the bag and took out the kerosene. He had make sure none of it ever came into contact with him.

Ethan started from the back of the house. Ethan entered the bedroom as sneakily as possible.

He maintained a safe distance as he poured the kerosene onto the floor. Though he wanted to be closer, he couldn't risk waking the occupants up.

As Ethan was dousing the rooms, he entered the bedroom of the twin children who were sleeping peacefully. That caused him to hesitate.

If he went through with this, he would end the lives of children who had nothing to do with this game. 

But Ethan quickly suppressed his guilt. He only had one goal. To survive and win. If he stopped now, then it would be his life that would be taken.

He continued with his actions, ignoring all the emotions he was feeling. 

Ethan then went down to the circuit breaker and then repeatedly switched the electricity off and on. He wanted to damage the circuit breaker to give a more plausible reason as to why the house may have burnt down.

And his final action was turning all the gases in the kitchen. As soon as he did that, Ethan went to the entrance of the house. Ethan threw his scarf, beanie, gloves and the empty bottles into the kerosene.

He also threw his bag away as well. He was sad to lose such a useful bag, but he couldn't risk it being traced back to him.

With a single match he stole from the household, he lit the kerosene on fire and ran as fast as he could. He didn't want to be anywhere near the scene of the crime.

Within a couple of minutes, he was a couple of blocks away and he got a notification from the system. He could see the smoke rising from the house.

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You have received 1200 coins.

Balance: 1350 Coins

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He quickly checked the system message and ran towards the dump site. He changed clothes including his shoes, dumping the old ones into the bin and lighting it on fire with a spare match that he had.

As he left the scene, he could hear sirens in the distance as fire trucks quickly approached.

He soon arrived at his house a took a shower. He was completely exhausted.

As soon as he entered his bed, he fell asleep instantly.