C6: Kidnapping!

Back to Alfred.

//

10 million credits. That was what he earned from trading stocks in just a few hours. Yes, 10 million credits. The cost to earn that? 10,000 developer points. 

 After closing the trading platform, he logged out of his VR shade and transferred money to his mother's bank account, including the 500,000 credits they needed to pay to the land developer. After informing his mother, he slept for tomorrow's school day... again.

He woke up the next day and prepared for school. His mother, who quit her job, has become more energetic. She has become a much better mother and took care of him daily. This made him happy as he could spend his daily life with his mother, even if she were from a parallel world, she was still his mother, no matter what. 

Upon reaching the school, he prepped and greeted some kids he knew. When he was near the gate, though, a van ran fast and stopped in front of him. The door of the van opened, and men came out with guns in their hands. Seeing the situation, he quickly ran to a different path and made the people in masks run after him. Only after a while did he realize that they were indeed after him!

Due to his stats and free points, his strength has reached a certain level only athletes can have, thus, his running was faster than the usual 9-year-old students. 

//

The kidnappers.

//

"Fuck! The kid ran away!" One of the masked men shouted.

"Idiots! I'mma' back up the vehicle now, go catch up!" Another masked man replied.

//

Back to Alfred.

//

He was panting out of nervousness but was not tired at all. "Damn, what's going on here!?" He analyzed the situation and found the guys were indeed running after him! 

"Who the hell are these people!? Shit. I'm going to hide there." he quickly hid in a corner and watched the black-dressed masked people pass by from where he was hiding. He sighed a bit of relief but a quest was generated suddenly. 

[A NEW QUEST HAS BEEN GENERATED]

[SURVIVE THE ABDUCTION!]

[REWARD: +50 EXPERIENCE POINTS]

"Ah, what timing!" he felt irritated by the sudden quest. However, he needed to survive! 

"This ain't a drill anymore..." he thought.

After a while, the masked men disappeared, and a vehicle tire's screeching noise resounded around the area. "Ah, they left. Fuck, that was a close call." he thought. He revealed himself after a few minutes and hurried off carefully towards the school gate. After class, he didn't go out first and called his mother. 

"Yes, son? Are you coming home now? Want me to pick you up?" His mother asked. 

"No Mom, don't do that too. I'm fine going home alone. Wait for me there. Love you." he cut off the call afterward. 

"Now, let's plan my route." he checked the maps on the World Wide Net using his phone and traversed the streets carefully, checking every vehicle approaching his way. Thankfully, he arrived home safely with no hiccups on the way. He received his experience points after. 

He went to his room and lay on it. He closed his eyes and replayed what happened earlier that day. "Fuck. If I was a little slower, they could have got me." he thought and indeed, without the danger sense that was automatically activated at the time, they could have got him. "Now... I really should learn martial arts. What martial arts should I learn though?" he opened the developer shop's interface and tapped the skills category.

It showed him various skills in martial arts on the list and after a few minutes, he decided to buy the Foundational Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Skill. As for its price, it cost him 20 million developer points. Although pricey, it was worth it based on his opinion. Upon learning the skill, the basics of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu were easily transferred into his mind. Thus, making him learn the skill faster. As the skill finished imparting knowledge to him, he closed the notifications and opened the skill window, he saw the effects of the skill and was glad that he chose this skill, it would help him defend himself from immediate harm, though if it would be versus guns, it'd be a different story.

He moved on quickly and started stretching. He knew that without a proper body, the skills he bought wouldn't be as effective as he thought they'd be, so practice makes progress!

He did some simple exercises that could be done inside his room. However, the system didn't let go of his plans and gave him a daily mission.

[A NEW QUEST HAS BEEN GENERATED]

[ULTIMATE BASIC EXERCISE!]

[100 PUSH UPS]

[100 SIT UPS]

[100 SQUATS]

[10 KILOMETER RUN]

[0/1,000 DAYS]

[REWARD: +10,000,000 EXPERIENCE POINTS]

"The hell!?" he snapped when he saw the details of his auto generated quest. He was very familiar with this set of exercises as he remembered that man in an anime before he was transported here. "Will I also become bald after this quest? I hope not." he sighed thinking about that guy he watched as a teen. Anyway, he discarded the disgusting thoughts he had in mind and slept the night away.

He woke up in the morning, past 3 A.M. 

He sat straight and reviewed the basic knowledge he received when he got the [Foundational Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu] skill. After doing mental exercises with the skill, he stood up and started completing the 100 push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. This took him around 2 hours to finish and since it was still quite dark, he wore his joggers and went out of their apartment. Of course, he upped his senses, although the neighbourhood they were living in was quite safe, crimes could still be committed. It was not a safe area but security was quite good. 

He ran around the neighbourhood and passed through some shady corners, which he ignored. After around 30 minutes or so, he finished his jog, went home, and showered. He finished showering and checked the progress of his quest; the "0/1,000" became "1/1,000". He smiled at the starting progress and continued his regular activities, which were, eating breakfast, going to school, ignoring the bullies - which he already dealt with a few weeks ago, and going home. 

As for the game, he didn't plan on creating a new one and will let another 6 months pass first. However, he already has some ideas about which game to publish. It just needs some polishing though, so, he put that in the corner of his mind. 

//

Somewhere in Manila. 

The Philippines.

//

"Idiots! How would I explain to the boss that the target escaped!" a man wearing in rugged outfit shouted at the men around him.

"B-boss... the kid was just too fast, he seemed to time us too well... don't worry boss, we've been checking out their residence and we'll make a sure-fire plan soon." the goon replied while perspiring uncontrollably.

"Huh!? SOON!? Fuck! The boss will fuckin' kill my ass! I need the kid tomorrow or I'll take your heads to the boss!" the man threatened.

"Hiiii!" the goons shivered when they heard it. They knew how scary the boss of their boss. Everyone who took on the "BOSS" died horribly. And so, their last chance would be by tomorrow. 

When they all went out of the room, the goons planned their abduction for the next day, a clever goon suggested, "Why don't we abduct the mother and then lure the kid?" 

The other goons smirked at the plan, "Fuck! Where have you gotten that idea!?" 

The one who suggested it shook, he felt he said something idiotic. "Uh..."

"FANTASTIC!" the goon sub-leader praised him. 

"Wha-" the mini-goon was surprised by their sub-leader's praise. 

"That would be our plan tomorrow! Prepare yourselves!" the sub-leader laughed, which made the mini-goons laugh along. 

//

Back to Alfred.

//

A new day arrived for him. As usual, he completed the quest around 5 in the morning. Prepared himself for the school day. Although he wanted to accelerate his grade, he couldn't do so until he had secured enough money and personal power. Just as what he experienced that day, the attempted kidnapping day, he has become wary of his surroundings and each vehicle that was going to pass him by, he kept alert for no reason, though he never felt that tingling sensation of danger like that day, he was still paranoid about it. 

Thus, during breakfast, he bought information from the system about ex-military people whom he could hire for security in exchange for money. The system obliged and asked him for 50,000 developer points for it. He paid the said amount without hesitation and got the list of people he could hire, as well as their contact numbers. He was elated that the system included this too, he deemed it as money well spent!

After scrolling through the system window, he found two suitable ex-military people whom he could hire. One was from the African continent, his record, based on the information the system showed him, Issmari Kenya, was a trustworthy person, who upholds his contracts completely. With just this alone, he decided to hire him. As per the system, Issmari was not contracted yet. However, Issmari's contract price was 1 million credits per year, which was acceptable for him. 

The second one was an ex-military named Terrence Crowley. An American mercenary. Based on the information shown by the system, he was betrayed by his country's top leaders and was hunted. Further, he has a bounty on his head worth 500,000 credits. Though he hasn't committed any horrendous crimes, his military missions were under the grey zone area. He has killed top enemy government officials, drug lords, and all kinds of people from the underground society. This was the reason the American government deactivated him and tried to shut him off, however, he knew of the plot so he made his escape in the most unsuspecting location, in Hong Kong. He also changed his face through an illegal technology company, the technology allows people to change their faces and not be detected by airport security. However, this technology was also being hunted by everyone in the world as posed high risks to attacks from enemies.

As for Terrence's contract price, it was 1 million credits too. Once done picking, he pulled out his phone and started contacting the two mercenaries. 

[TO BE CONTINUED]