The outpost (2)

"Why they always die so fast?"

Sebastian was in front of the Nightshades member. He didn't use his spells, since he needed to save mana, but that wasn't necessary to make the woman talk.

It took a little before she told everything Sebastian wanted to know, but in the end, she did.

The first and most obvious thing was where the headquarters were located and asked how they got a place so big.

There were around 40 people in this gang, which was not that much.

That meant that for so few people to have this place, they either were here illegally or earned a lot of money.

The lady explained how they make money by selling private info, taking blackmail pics, and threatening to share them with friends and family.

This meant they got a hold on a lot of cash, and that only made Sebastian more eager to find the Nightshades' base.

The second thing she said to him was how to deactivate the traps. Which, of course, Sebastian promptly did. This place was gigantic, and Sebastian wanted to see if he could find something valuable to sell to Adrian.

Last, she mentioned there was a bit of money in a safe under the desk in that room. Sebastian made her open it, then brutally murdered her.

"8,9,10. Whoa 10 thousand Starcoins!"

Sebastian had a successful haul, but it wasn't sufficient to ensure his mother and brother's safe departure from the city.

He had to purchase fake identities, find them a place to live, and provide enough money for their survival until Lucius could work or begin training in the unfortunate event he was selected by the system to become a thespian.

Lucius, exactly like Sebastian, was the son of not one but two Thespians.

This made the chances he was going to awaken really high.

In truth, since awakenings happened at any age, Lucius was already training and learning survival skills, but he wasn't doing that to the point of not studying anything else.

Mary wanted for him to have a chance at a normal life, and that was possible only if he learned other skills aside from those related to survival and fight.

Sebastian then left the room and started searching around the Nightshade outpost. Now that the traps had been disarmed, he felt safe, but still used the Manifest illusion to spot potential traps.

<This will hardly work in Somnium.>

It was indeed true. The power of Tier 0 skills was determined by mana usage, which Sebastian lacked, but thespians in Somnium also gained the ability to fight fellow Thespians.

If a thespian got enough experience, recognizing illusions became easy, especially those at Sebastian's level.

Of course, it also depended on how good the illusionist was. His mother, for example, would make it very hard to discern illusion from reality.

Sebastian had been successful here just because he was dealing with auditors, and not even battle oriented ones.

They had a bunch of fancy tech weapons, but since they didn't know how to use them, they were useless.

These guys were informants, blackmailers, not fighters.

<For sure I will make good use of this gun, hehe.>

Sebastian's eyes scanned every shadow inside the place, searching for hidden dangers or treasures.

The alarm stopped, but its ringing lingered in his ears as he ventured further into the heart of the criminal hub. As he was going, Sebastian discovered loads of computer rooms.

The Nightshades were notorious for their unscrupulous methods, dealing in the currency of secrets and shame.

Their stock in trade was compromising photographs and damning correspondences, used to blackmail their unsuspecting victims.

As Sebastian moved from room to room, he was greeted by the sight of high-tech equipment and monitors displaying images and data of countless individuals caught in moments they believed were private.

People having sex were just some of the few things he saw. <And they say I'm the crazy one!>

The rooms were cluttered with hard drives, cameras, and intricate networks of cables that snaked across the floor like vines in a digital jungle.

To Sebastian, they were of no immediate value. His target was something tangible, something that could easily be converted into currency.

However, the vast majority of what he found was too specific to the Nightshades' operations, coded in a language of blackmail and cyber-crime that he couldn't trade on the black market.

He didn't have the knowledge, the time, and the patience to transform all of that into money.

Sebastian sighed, his frustration mounting. The equipment could be a good alternative to sell but, while valuable, it was cumbersome and difficult to transport.

He lacked the means to carry it out without drawing unwanted attention. Sebastian needed something portable.

As he continued his search, he stumbled upon a smaller, more secluded room.

It was filled with an odd assortment of items: encrypted USB drives, compact surveillance devices, and a series of locked safes.

His interest piqued, Sebastian approached the safes, his fingers tracing the cold metal. He knew that cracking them open might reveal something of value, and they were also easily concealable and transportable.

Sebastian opened the safes one by one, using his skills and some simple lock-picking tools he found.

Inside, he discovered a cache of digital currency wallets, several high-value, untraceable items, and compact yet sophisticated hacking tools.

These were the treasures he had been seeking: items that held considerable value in the right circles, yet were small enough to fit into his pockets. He was going to bring those to Adrian.

Satisfied with his find, Sebastian gathered the items, stashing them securely on his person.

Yet, curiosity tugged at Sebastian's instincts, urging him to linger a moment longer before making his escape, to see if he missed something. Unfortunately, there was nothing else he could get from there.

As he weaved his way towards the exit, a previously unnoticed door caught his eye.

<That wasn't here before.>

Sebastian was sure about that. There was no door when he went through this corridor earlier. Then he realized.

<This door was concealed, uh?>

Sebastian walked in, intrigued. If the door was covered up, there had to be something valuable behind it, but what could it be?