The plan

Only a couple of days had passed since he was last here, so it hadn't changed. Not that hospitals tended to change a lot in how they appeared, at least on short time.

He headed towards the reception, but there was a line there too, but it was longer than the one in the ATM. There were eight people in the line, and only one person at the reception, although there was a place for a second person.

As he waited for his turn, he kept re-reading the texts from Truck-kun, ensuring he had missed no crucial details. He had to stay close to half an hour to get at his turn, as a few people were taking their time in asking questions.

"What can I help you with, "the young female receptionist asked him when it was his turn.

Mark brought out the receipt the male nurse gave him the other day and a folder with money he had prepared. He had taken the folder from his apartment since he knew it would be better to do it like that.

"I would like to pay the rest of what I owe from my days here. That should be everything, "Mark responded with a rare smile.

Most times, when he was paying, he either was missing some money, or he would be low on funds after that payment. This time though, even if he wasn't too far from that point, considering some other expenses he had, it was a good feeling to have even a bit left, at least.

The receptionist took his receipt, and Mark noticed a look of surprise on her face for a few seconds. Mark noticed that she had that reaction when she glanced at where his name was, meaning that she probably had heard about him. It wouldn't surprise him if people had even bet how long he would take to show up to make a single payment.

The receptionist just took a few minutes typing a few things on her computer and then gave Mark another receipt to prove that he had completed the payment, just in case. After that, Mark didn't leave the hospital altogether. Instead, he just moved to another section of it.

Since he had seen a couple of people with cat hair on them, he thought of trying to complete the challenge for <Feline Ears>. The hospital had a section for pets that could even have some other paid services, like a saloon. So that would be the best place to find his targets, and he aimed not only for cat owner ones.

Even if he hadn't checked the challenge for other <Driver Skills>, he got a feeling from their names that some may have a similar challenge but with different animals as pets. As for how to do the actual trucking, he had found a way after Truck-kun explained how things worked in greater detail.

It didn't take him long to reach that place, and he looked around at people that waited either with their pets or seemed to wait for the people working there to return their pets. He kept using his <Appraisal> to check if they had any hair from their pet on them to find a suitable first target, as his idea could work on multiple at once but under specific situations.

"Mister? What are you doing here? Are you not feeling ok? "a familiar voice sounded behind Mark.

He turned towards the source and saw Lylah, who seemed to be a nurse here. As far as Mark knew, they did not consider the standard hospital and this section the same, as the latter technically belonged to a company instead of the city, like the hospital. So they had different personnel as also their uniforms were slightly different.

"Oh… I came to finalize my payment, and I… wanted to see if you're going to have lunch with me. "

Her appearance surprised him, and he just said the first thing it came to his mind, which he instantly regretted saying so. Mark hadn't asked someone else to have lunch with him for years, especially one of the opposite gender. It could be because of his confidence in having some extra money; he subconsciously made that offer since it was something he could afford.

Mark noticed that his suggestion surprised Lylah. He still didn't know her deal when she gave him her number, as he couldn't think of a reason. He had thought she learned of his surname and wanted to see if she could use him somehow, but he doubted that as his guts were telling him she didn't have that kind of intention. But he could be wrong, as he wasn't the best at reading people.

"I... I can have my lunch break in one hour… if you can wait, "she answered with a low voice enough for Mark to hear her at least.

Mark nodded, as he couldn't do anything else but go with the flow now. But maybe things could use this to his advantage in the end. Since she worked here, he could learn about different 'clients' and their owners. That way, he could learn more details about the person itself to see if they sounded suitable.

As Mark started heading towards a nearby cafe, where they decided to have lunch, he noticed another familiar figure. It was Dr. Kiran who was clear that he didn't work here, and he wasn't wearing his doctor's attire. Instead, it seemed like he bought his pet in the saloon and waited for it.

Mark appraised him to check if there was any sign that he was his pet, but he had no hair or something similar. But a person soon came with a pet in their hand, who seemed to be asleep, and brought it to Dr. Kiran. And at that point, Mark understood why he found nothing on him, even if his pet was a cat.

It was a sphynx cat, a breed that has no fur, so they couldn't let some on their owner. Mark was familiar with that kind of pet as it was something his family had, but he never liked it as at least heirs was a true ass of a pet. He knew that taking care of them wasn't easy or cheap as because of their lack of fur, they were affected by weather more than other animals, so they could quickly get sunburned, etc.

A grin appeared on Mark's face as he thought he had found his first official trucking victim. Even if he hadn't had much of an encounter with him, even by the few seconds they talked, he had a general vibe of the person. Also, since of the choice of his pet, he was someone that wanted to look unique. After all, even if sphinx cats weren't the most beautiful pets, their uniqueness drew attention and gave prestige to their owner.

Mark tried not to let him see him, and he followed him as he headed toward the parking area. When Mark was confident that he was really headed toward that area, Mark moved toward the nearest exit instead.

Mark sat at a cafe across the street, pretending to wait for someone while secretly observing the cars in the nearby parking lot. When a car emerged, Truck-kun informed Mark that it was not the one belonging to Dr. Kiran. However, a silver car soon followed - the same make and model as his landlady's, but a different color. Mark saw that Kiran's car had a convertible roof, which made it easy to tell that it was his car as Mark could see him driving it.

As Kiran's car passed by, a bus heading in the opposite direction passed by as well. Mark had planned for the two to meet up, and with Truck-kun's help, he made it happen. Using his ability to possess vehicles, Truck-kun took control of the bus and caused it to turn suddenly, crashing into Kiran's car and causing the doctor to lose control. The car crashed into a store window, but there were no people nearby and only the car and a pet cage with a sphynx cat inside were damaged. This marked the first "trucking" that Mark had personally planned.