John Wick - Chapter 30: Another Bounty? (Patreon)

A thought suddenly occurred to Nate, and he didn't bother hiding his curiosity.

“By the way, didn't Winston raise you? You still have to pay gold coins to stay at the hotel?”

“Of course. I'm not the only person he raised, and I'm a hitman too. I can't just stay here for free.”

“Someone as close to him as you must get some privileges.”

“I do get a few.” Elena answered with a hint of pride. “My room is always reserved for me, whether I'm staying here or not.”

“Fair enough.”

Nate wasn't sure what else to say, and the room suddenly fell silent.

[Ding! Mission objective completed: End the bounty on yourself. Reward: Trait Copy Card. Bonus unlocked: Trait View function.]

Nate's wandering gaze froze.

What?

His bounty had been canceled?

He had just pulled out his phone to check when Elena broke the silence.

“Do you need a partner?”

Nate stopped and looked at her.

“What?”

It wasn't that he hadn't heard her.

Three blue boxes had suddenly appeared above Elena's head, gently moving with her.

[Cat's Paws Lv. 3]

[Balance Lv. 4]

[Sixth Sense Lv. 1]

“A partner,” Elena repeated, assuming he hadn't heard her. “You need someone to help you. I can scale walls and reach places most people can't.”

“Wait!”

Nate suddenly leaned forward and reached toward Elena's head.

“!? What are you doing?”

Elena's eyes immediately sharpened as his hand approached. She caught his wrist, twisted into a quick joint lock, and pinned him against the sofa.

“Hey, hey, hey! Ow, ow, ow!”

Pinned down, Nate slapped the sofa repeatedly with his free hand.

“Mr. Lin, are you testing my skills?” Elena asked in her usual gentle voice, a teasing smile on her face.

“Okay! You pass!”

The two sat facing each other again.

Elena sat perfectly straight, legs together and hands resting on her knees, as though she were giving a formal job interview.

“...And I'm experienced. I've completed plenty of assignments. I can help.”

Nate rolled his shoulder.

The shrapnel wound on his right arm had started bleeding again from all the movement, leaving a stain on the sofa.

This girl was stronger than she looked.

Nate looked at her and suddenly found the whole situation amusing.

“Does Winston know you're offering me all this?”

“No.”

Elena shook her head without hesitation.

“But I think he'd approve. When I came to bring you the hot cocoa, he said something to me.”

“What?”

“That young man needs friends.”

Something inside Nate stirred slightly.

“Okay!” Nate said. “Ms. Elena, you're hired.”

Elena's eyes brightened.

Then she smiled.

Not the faint, polite smile she'd worn before, but a genuine one. Her eyes curved, and there was a hint of mischief at the corners of her mouth.

“So what's our goal?” Elena asked.

“Wait. You don't know?”

Nate stared at her in surprise.

“We've met, what, four times?”

“Right. Fair point.”

The young man cleared his throat.

“I'm going to burn the fucking High Table to the ground.”

Elena fell silent.

Her gaze wandered, and she suddenly seemed very busy with a series of tiny, pointless movements. People always found something to do when things got awkward.

“Excellent,” Elena said, visibly struggling to keep her expression under control. “Very ambitious.”

Nate noticed her taking another long drink of cocoa.

Much faster than before.

“Then it's settled.”

Elena stood and picked up the tray. She looked Nate over, taking in his dusty, bloodstained clothes.

“I suggest you change first. I called for medical assistance. Someone should be here soon.”

She walked to the door and opened it, then glanced back.

“Oh, right.”

“Hmm?”

“Good luck with training tomorrow.”

It was nearly one in the morning by the time Nate politely saw the Doctor out.

He lay down on the bed, pulled out his phone, and opened his bounty information.

“Contract Number: NY-2021-0892.”

“Target: Nate Lin.”

“Bounty Type: Public Bounty.”

“Reward: $400,000.”

“Contract Status: Closed.”

“Issuer: Vincent Lin.”

“So what, did my dear old dad suddenly grow a conscience?” Nate muttered at the screen.

Before he could relax, he scrolled up and found another contract.

“Contract Number: NY-2021-08103.”

“Target: Nate Lin.”

“Bounty Type: Private Bounty.”

“Special Requirement: Capture the target alive and deliver him to the designated address. Reward increased by 100% if conditions are met.”

“Reward: $800,000.”

“Contract Status: Active.”

“Issuer: Vincent Lin.”

Nate instantly shot to the top of the New York bounty rankings.

“You've got to be kidding me. He canceled one bounty just to put another one on me? What is this, some kind of provocation?”

Nate stared at the $800,000 reward on his phone, grinding his teeth, when a cold mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his head.

[Detected: Host possesses a usable Trait Copy Card. Use it now?]

Nate paused, then answered silently.

No.

He already had enough Traits for the moment. He needed to save an open slot for something truly powerful.

If he couldn't copy one of John Wick's Traits, then at the very least he wanted one from Caine or Henry.

Still, those three Trait boxes floating above Elena's head had been interesting.

“System, show me Elena's Trait effects.”

A translucent blue panel unfolded before his eyes.

[Trait Recorded]

[Cat's Paws Lv. 3]

Effect: Movement speed increased by 50%. Noise generated while moving reduced by 80%. When traversing complex terrain such as gravel, standing water, or metal surfaces, landing posture is automatically corrected.

[Balance Lv. 4]

Effect: Maintains bodily stability on surfaces at any angle. When balance is disrupted, balance recovery speed increased by 120%.

[Sixth Sense Lv. 1]

Effect: Intuitively warns of hostile gazes within 10 meters. Warning manifests as a prickling sensation on the back of the neck. The stronger the hostility, the more intense the sensation.

Nate finished reading and fell silent for a moment.

There wasn't much to say about Cat's Paws and Balance. As far as he was concerned, Traits that enhanced mobility were fairly ordinary.

Sixth Sense was only Lv. 1, but Nate found it much more valuable.

With those three Traits working together, it was no wonder Elena could scale walls and climb buildings.

She wasn't just suited to being a hitman. She'd probably be exceptionally good at infiltration too.

Nate tossed his phone aside and lay flat on the bed.

The shrapnel wounds weren't deep. The old Doctor had already treated them and wrapped them in clean bandages, leaving the faint, sharp smell of antiseptic in the air.

Eight hundred thousand dollars.

Alive.

What exactly was Vincent trying to do?

He had canceled the public bounty and immediately replaced it with a private one, specifically doubling the reward if Nate was captured alive.

No matter how Nate looked at it, this didn't seem like an attempt to kill him.

It seemed more like his father wanted to see him.

Could've just called.

Nate closed his eyes and pushed the thought aside for now.

Whatever his father was planning, once an $800,000 capture contract went live, there would be no shortage of people in New York willing to go after it.

Starting tomorrow?

No.

Maybe starting right now, more hitmen were already searching for him.

At least he was safe inside the hotel.

He needed sleep.

His muscles screamed with exhaustion, his temples throbbed, and his head felt packed with sludge.

Several consecutive days of constant tension had pushed his body close to its limit.

Before going to sleep, Nate tucked his pistol beneath his pillow.

His consciousness slowly sank into darkness.

It felt like only a second had passed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three heavy knocks violently ripped Nate out of sleep.

His hand instinctively shot beneath the pillow.

His fingers had just closed around the pistol grip when a strong voice came through the door.

“Five o'clock. Get up.”

Henry.

Nate's mind was still completely fogged.

Five?

Five what?

He grabbed his phone and looked at the screen.

5:00 a.m.

“You have three minutes. Get dressed and meet me in the gym on the twelfth floor.”

Henry's voice came through the door with absolutely no room for negotiation.

“Every minute you're late, today's training doubles.”

His footsteps faded down the hallway.

Nate sat on the bed in stunned silence for two seconds.

Then he gritted his teeth and climbed out.

The wound on his right arm throbbed as the movement pulled at it, but he didn't have time to care.

He grabbed a workout T-shirt, pulled it on, splashed cold water over his face, and hurried out the door.

The hallway was completely empty.

Only the elevator indicator at the far end continued to blink.