CHAPTER 405: GOT ANY IDEAS?

Getting back to Hollowgrid, he stopped by Nobara’s place for some lunch. When the old cook mentioned how exhausted he looked, Dante made a joke about her granddaughter being rough with him first thing in the morning, which earned him a smack on the head. Apparently, he had raised her hopes only for her to realize it was a joke.

Someone Dante didn’t expect to meet midday on a Thursday was Ross. The maintenance worker apparently had a day off, so he was spending that time with his daughter. He bragged about having a date later that night, which was one more reason why he was in such a good mood despite his job prospects not being so good.

The main reason, however, was that Ellie seemed to be doing quite well. The little girl was happy to finally get the chance to spend some time with her father, and since he didn’t want to get in the way of that, Dante excused himself quickly.

Getting back to his apartment, Dante peeled his clothes off and threw them into the washing machine. Things weren’t as bad as he had expected, but his body was still littered with bruises and cuts all over the place, making it appear as if he had cracks all over the place.

Taking a quick shower, he sprayed the wounds with some disinfectant, then went to bed. Before the sandman could take him away, he took out the RED bottle from his Storage and stared at it for some time.

Though he might have laughed it off before, Dante took Lev’s advice quite seriously. He had seen firsthand what drugs could do to people, and since he had enough problems as is, he didn’t want to end up like them.

’Maybe I should cut back on the alcohol as well...’

Although reluctant, he swallowed one pill then sank into his bed.

~[ ]~

When he woke up the next day, Dante got the feeling that he had had a dream, one that faded from his memory right away. He found it strange that he could remember the simple dreams where he walked through the snowy fields, but when it came to the more complex ones, they were suddenly erased right away.

He wasn’t about to start complaining, though. Anything is better than the nightmares he had grown used to, so he was just glad he no longer spent his mornings trying to shut down the flashbacks.

[Good morning, Dante.]

’Good morning, Volcan.’

Stretching his body, Dante dropped to the floor and did some push-ups. The damage he suffered the previous day seemed entirely gone, so he was in a near-perfect condition.

[Dante, there is something I would like to discuss.] Volcan said.

’Sure.’ Dante replied mid push-up. ’Is it about your game?’

[No. It concerns our current lack of funds.]

’Oh, yeah? You got any ideas?’

Dante wasn’t too sure about taking suggestions from his resident AI when it came to this matter. He once suggested that he become the president of the Radmir Union, among other insane things.

[I have observed several key individuals belonging to both the Daggers and Black Skull throughout the past few days, and I managed to locate places where they might be hiding their tangible assets, such as the shards we acquired a while ago.]

’Huh?’ Dante stopped mid push-up. ’Are you serious?’

[Yes. Although I have to say I do not have direct evidence of the location of the safes used to store the items, I managed to narrow it down to certain parts of certain buildings.]

Volcan went on to explain that the gangs had been paying a lot more attention to their networks as of late, which made Diving through them a lot more difficult. When it came to security systems, they no longer relied on cameras and sensors and instead returned to the old fashioned guards by the door.

Of course, those guards always had their NIMs off during the job. That created a sort of dark spots that cannot be accessed through digital means, making them safe from the prying eyes of most Divers.

’You... you did a pretty good job.’ Dante said. ’This will save us a lot f time.’

Dante thought that he would be spending a few days watching the Daggers to learn where they hide their treasure, but with his resident AI having done the difficult job, All that’s left I to sneak in and loot.

’Come to think of it...’

Dante found himself thinking back to the first time he looted the Daggers, which led to him remembering that he had yet to cash the shards he gathered back then. He gave two to Suzuka as payment for her help with Julia Grimes and her daughter, so he still had thirty six, which could get him about nine million gold.

Though selling them would bring his savings back to thirty million, Dante decided against it for the time being. Gold was great and all, but it was always better to keep one’s money saved as tangible assets.

’Look at me,’ He chuckled to himself. ’I’m starting to think like those elites.’

[I do not believe that is strictly practiced by one group of people.] Volcan said.

’Well, few could afford to hoard wealth. We probably won’t be able to hold on to what we have for long.’

~[ ]~

Taking a shower, Dante had a light breakfast then put on a new outfit before heading out. He took the train to New City and used the time to go over Volcan’s findings, trying to decide on their next target.

This time, Finn wasn’t going to accompany them, which was for the best, considering the level of stealth this mission required. More than three weeks have passed since the incident at the restaurant, and the internet has already forgot all about the viral video from a few days ago. Even with that being the case, Dante had already decided to be extra careful this time around.

Soon after getting off the train, he vanished from all security systems, becoming an invisible ghost. He disappeared from public view next, making it feel as if the earth had opened up and swallowed him.