Two minutes later!
Accompanied by a chorus of sirens and the blinding glare of helicopters sweeping their searchlights back and forth, the main force finally arrived at the scene.
But...
Under the harsh white light, Captain George Stacy stood alone.
Grim and isolated.
"George!"
"George!"
Captain Kate Beckett of the NYPD's 21st Precinct—the closest unit to the location—arrived with two subordinates and a fully armed ESU team.
George snapped out of his daze. "Kate."
Beckett walked over, her gaze falling upon the body lying silently on the ground. A bullet to the chest, a bullet to the palm, and a bullet to the knee. Fox was as dead as one could be.
"Where is he?"
"Gone."
"What?"
George looked at Beckett. "What about the blue pickup?"
Beckett shook her head. "Driven into the river. The dive team is heading there now."
But hope was slim.
Grim...
The entire NYPD was likely looking at an all-nighter.
This thought rose simultaneously in the minds of both Beckett and George as they stared at Fox's corpse.
How long had it been since Manhattan saw such a brazen high-speed chase and gunfight in broad daylight? Forget the NYPD; even the Mayor of New York was likely going to find it hard to sleep beside his mistress tonight.
After a while, as more officers flooded the area, George finished his briefing with Beckett and looked toward a specific direction.
That was the way Locke had left.
Just moments ago, George truly hadn't dared to gamble!
He was a cop. Right was right, and wrong was wrong. But when Locke had used the lives of the arriving officers to threaten him, he found he couldn't hold onto that principle.
In fact...
George understood perfectly. When Locke had put two bullets through the windshield of the nearest helicopter, he was sending a very clear message.
If Locke could precisely shatter that glass without even looking, he could just as easily have put a bullet through the pilot's brain.
As for why Locke hadn't?
Simple.
He was the Sin Hunter.
But...
"This is vigilantism!"
George stared at Fox's body, now being covered with a white sheet for transport back to the morgue. He clenched his fists. "I will catch you, Sin Hunter!"
...
*THUD-THUD-THUD!*
Walking through a narrow alley, Locke looked up at a helicopter streaking overhead and raised an eyebrow.
It seemed George wasn't as incorrigibly stubborn as he'd thought.
Locke mused as he walked. When he had asked George if he dared to gamble, he had actually been mentally prepared to put George in the ground.
But he hadn't expected...
Then again, it made sense.
If George were truly that inflexible, he wouldn't have gone from viewing the Spider-Man as a lawless executioner to thinking the kid was alright.
No.
Locke reconsidered.
George probably always believed the Spider-Man was a vigilante nuisance, but because of his daughter, Gwen, he chose to help. He was even willing to sacrifice himself for Gwen, just to keep the Spider-Man away from her.
But the Little Spider clearly wasn't a man who kept his promises.
George sacrificed his life but lost the bet—a total wipeout of his assets, so to speak.
What did this prove?
Gamblers never end well!
Fortunately...
I never liked the concept of "probability"!
Locke pulled a Tracking Card from his inventory. This was another item he'd snagged at 90% off using a Treasure Refresh Coupon.
If time weren't so tight, Locke wouldn't have used it.
Life wasn't easy, and earning Achievement Points was harder still.
From the start, Locke had decided to save every point—barring those 90% discounts—to eventually purchase a godhood.
But...
After all this time, he still hadn't saved much.
The original price of a Tracking Card was 1,000 Achievement Points. At 90% off, it was 100 points.
Locke had only used one once before, but the experience was excellent.
"You're getting off easy, Cross."
"System, use Tracking Card!"
"Cross Carlos!"
『Activation Successful.』
Instantly, a visual similar to a mini-map in an RPG appeared in Locke's mind. A single red dot pulsed within it.
That dot was the location of Cross Carlos, the legendary assassin.
"Oh?"
Locke's eyebrows shot up. "Managed to hide that far away in such a short time? Good grief, did you teleport? Wait for me, I'm coming for you."
His gaze shifted to a tattooed man sitting in a car in the alley, looking suspicious as he engaged in a transaction with someone.
The tattooed man looked up at Locke. "What the fuck are you look—"
The last word died in his throat.
A gun was pressed against his forehead.
"Get out."
"Do you know who the fuck—"
*BANG!*
One minute later.
An unremarkable blue sedan drove out of the alley. A large dumpster in the alley wobbled slightly. Who knew how long it would be before anyone found the two drug-dealing dogs inside.
『Evil Punishment Quest Completed: "200 Achievement Points", "200 Potential Points"』
"Not bad."
Locke tossed several bags of trash from the passenger seat out the window. "I almost forgot there was pocket money to be made."
Back in Texas, Locke had considered grinding these daily tasks for points, but after two days, he'd given up.
Put simply: Locke lacked the prerequisites to be a superhero.
He was lazy!
The world will never run out of bad people. Wherever there are heroes, there are villains. Locke wasn't industrious enough to spend twenty-four hours a day spinning webs like a certain spider.
...
At that moment.
Cross was inside a safe house in a Brooklyn neighborhood.
As a top-tier assassin and the former number one hitman of the Fraternity, he naturally had safe houses. Professional international assassins usually had them in every major city.
Locke had safe houses too.
However...
Locke had just arrived in New York. His Texas safe house was gathering dust, and he was still scouting for a New York location.
Wesley had nothing.
Wesley was just a tool bred to kill Cross. He didn't even know the "One Hundred Things an Assassin Needs to Know," let alone how to manage a safe house.
"SLAP!"
Cross slammed his hands onto the table, his veins bulging as he roared at Wesley, "I am your father!"
Bound to a chair, Wesley spat at him. "Bullshit. You're in league with that Peerless guy."
Cross took a deep breath.
Just then.
The doorbell rang!
*Ding-dong!*
"Checking the water meter!"
"..."
***
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