Chapter 83:

They worked through the various issues that could occur during that afternoon. It had been a bit random, but they focused pretty much wholeheartedly on the project, except when they had to greet various guests and take care of tasks that demanded their attention. When they finally called it a day, their set-up was pretty much complete, and even if there was still slightly less than a year remaining, the earlier everything was prepared, the smoother things would run when they created it.

The main butler in charge of the house asked as to whether Ace and his grandmother would stay for the night, and his grandmother agreed, while Ace asked to be driven back to the penthouse. He was adapting to a new routine now, and if he interrupted it midway, it would only get harder. He was fully focusing on body control now, and he had been working with some new equipment he had bought the last few days. It had cost quite a lot, but the results were quite good. Combined with his flexibility, he was slowly becoming a bona fide contortionist.

That was of course not his goal, but hey, who did not want to be able to hide in a cardboard box.

Before he left however, he spoke to his grandmother, "I furthered the links with Kristina and the others, we will be working on our second year's project together."

"Success?"

"At the very least, 90%, with my popularity, I should be able to get enough money, and I could work with the clothes brand to support it as well. I can't take any of your money, but that is more than fine, all the money I make from brand deals, donations, subscribers and so on will go to the charity. As long as we are fully transparent, no rumours should start. I already have a pristine reputation, so people should trust it and me. We have the connections handled, and a broad idea for the marketing. Honestly, we are way ahead of schedule.", his grandmother nodded approvingly.

"Good, ensure that your groupmate's scores do not drop either, while it may not be official, whether you are able to maintain or improve your average, will make it so that the examiners will be more approving of your work and efforts."

"Of course, I already have that covered. If anything, their scores should hopefully increase."

"Excellent, also, well done for today, the guests were more than a bit impressed."

"I assume no one had any doubts?"

"There were doubts, but no one can prove otherwise since you did not give him the chance to say what it was. I have that covered too, tomorrow, in a newspaper, there will be an article talking about how one of my workers had been dumping his food waste in someone's front yard. The worker will have been 'laid off', and the property owner paid a healthy settlement."

"Good, that should eliminate any doubts. Well, I will be going, for now, have a good night."

"You too."

During the car ride, Ace brushed up on his Chinese, he would go for Korean next, and would begin from tomorrow, he had a flawless accent, and understood most slang. Of course, it was impossible to know all of it, but he was well-versed in city and video-game slang at least.

As he got home, he saw a notice from one of the maids, she had had to leave early because one of her parents was sick, but would work extra hours when necessary.

"Alfred, find the hospital where the man is staying, tell me what is happening to him."

"He had an accident sir, he was hit by a car, and will most likely need a hip replacement, although from what I can figure out, their funds will not be enough."

"Ok, pay for everything, place him in the best hospital, also, notify Lisa (the maid), that we will take care of everything. Appoint a team of lawyers that is on standby, find out everything you can about the driver, and then ensure justice is paid. Also, see if you can find the CCTV, and any other evidence, hand it over to the police."

"Yes sir."

It seemed slightly overkill, but this was something even his grandmother would agree with. It would not even cost much, since those lawyers were not on a case currently, and it would improve the morale of all workers by a lot. As well of course, increasing the loyalty they had towards them. However, even if it did not, Ace would have done it anyway, he took care of his own.

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"Ahhhhh", Ace groaned, and loosened the resistance band, while unhooking all the ropes on him. He went through a few stretches and finished up.

His body protested from the exertion, it would heal soon, but the soreness would remain for a few minutes, he relished it. That feeling told him that he had worked hard, that feeling was his reward as well as his notice, informing him of a successful workout, where he had once again, pushed himself to the limit.

He took a hot shower, the jets on the walls massaging his muscles. He dried and put on some comfortable clothes, then heading to the kitchen, where a huge pile of pancakes greeted him. He poured an obscene amount of chocolate syrup and whipped cream, before digging in. After the workout and shower, they tasted heavenly. He ate relaxedly, checking through his phone, going through his various notifications, and reading over the news. He spotted the article his grandmother spoke about yesterday and smiled.

He finished up his breakfast, and after brushing his teeth, he logged on to his computer. It was Christmas Eve today, so everyone had a day off. He began his stream, and got a message from Shroud, asking him if he wanted to play PUBG. Ace had nothing better to do, so he accepted and booted up the game.

"Ok chat, we are playing with Shroud, Dr Disrespect and Lupo again. Should be fun, considering that I actually know how the game works now. I just have to focus on getting a sniper rifle with a good scope, once I have that, we can win easily.", he gave a cheeky smile and laughed, reading the comments, "Well, I was not carrying last time, no one was honestly, all of these guys are super good, we carry our own weight, and then some.", he clicked through the beginning credits, and continued to read chat, "Yep, Gnomie, that is how it works, nothing better on a family holiday than playing video games on your lonesome, although technically, I am not alone, all of you are with me.", he messed around with his chat for a few minutes until the invite for Disrespect came in.

He clicked to accept, and joined the voice chat. He heard the brash voice as soon as he joined.

"Are you ready to dominate? Remember Violence, Speed, Momentum, that is the key to success."

"I know it is, I mean, there has to be a key to be the Two-Time.", Ace responded in a joking voice

"Exactly! There might be hope for you yet, kid, just follow my teachings, and you will get further than you can ever imagine."

"Honestly, with that aim, he is more like Shroud than anyone else, but hey, you do you.", Lupo commented, inciting Disrespect into an argument, and causing Shroud and Ace to laugh

"Bah! What do you know, I am the Two-Time, the champion, the one!", he shouted, and Ace laughed, his persona was indeed one of the most entertaining.

They loaded into a game, "Ok, where we dropping boys?", Shroud asked, "Pochinki of course, we drop in, take the loot, and annihilate everyone and anyone."

"Cool.", they set the marker, and when necessary, dropped. Ace noticed multiple people dropping with them, but since he assumed that was the plan, he said nothing.

"Ok, each one goes to a house, no double up bullsh*t. Don't be p*ss*es, we win this easy.", Dr. Disrespect gave some choice words, and then pretty much dropped on the other end of the city.

Ace smiled, but then went to a house and dropped on his own, he got in through the balcony, and looted the place thoroughly, he was about to go downstairs, when he heard someone open the front door and go in. "One on me, but I got this.", he warned

"Ok, if you need support, holler.", Lupo responded

Ace paid attention to the sounds, and when it seemed that the person was coming up, Ace peeked the stairs and shot him in the head as soon as he saw him. The enemy had no time to respond, and was taken down with well-placed bullets to the head.

"Got him, about to loot now."

Ace crouched and went through the enemy's loot. He had an SMG, which Ace took, and a backpack, but nothing else. He went through the rest of the house, but not much was there.

He went to another house, and by the time he looted that as well, all of them had gotten kills, and Dr.Disrespect was in the middle of a rant about bravery, when he got downed.

"What was that? Fortune favours the bold?", Shroud teased

"Shut up! Just come get me, one in the house, and another in the trailer behind it."

They went to get him, Ace arriving first, since he had an SMG while the others were running with heavier guns.

He went into the house slowly, and heard sounds from upstairs, so he went up. He checked the second floor but he was not there, and his suspicions were confirmed when Lupo warned, "He is on the roof!"

"Ok, I got him", Ace said, calm as always.

He went up, and as soon as he saw him, shot at him, the enemy was good, and hat time to turn around and shot at Ace once, but he barely took any damage. He ignored the loot, and went to the other side, to see if he could find the one in the trailer, when Shroud said: "Found him, he is running back to the trees."

"Ok, ignore him, we just rez Doc."

"I got loot here, I'll shout if anything's good."

He went through the loot, taking the assault rifle he found, with a Molotov Cocktail, and some medication.

"I have some more healing things here, so come heal up. Do you need a gun?"

"Nah it's fine, Shroud gave me one, I'll go up now and get healed."

They went through the process, while heading towards the safe zone. It was rinse and repeat, they would get into a firefight, kill who they could, heal up, and then loot what they could.

They won the game without much trouble, and then queued up to play another one.

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It was a pretty fun stream, he ended up playing some music for both his chat and his teammates, taking song requests while they were eating or waiting for a game to begin.

When he ended the stream, it was nearly time for dinner, he had been streaming for the whole day, but was not feeling tired. That was good, that meant he had gotten to the level where he could stream for some time without needing to take breaks. He was not at the level where he could stream for 18 hours straight, while also being energetic. But then again, he did not drink energy drinks, so he assumed that if he did, he could probably do it.

It meant that his mental fortitude was increasing, which was good. For now, he had no plans on doing those type of streams, but maybe he could do events to raise money for his charity in the future. It would not be a bad way to boost the revenue if necessary. He would keep it in mind.