John Wick - Chapter 45: Leveling Up, "Why Is It You?!" (Patreon)

The hallway was dimly lit, with John walking ahead.

Nate caught up and followed half a step behind him, tucking the P30L under his arm while loading rounds into its empty magazine.

“Mr. Wick?”

John ignored him and kept walking.

“John!”

Nate raised his voice this time.

John stopped and turned around.

Nate saw the moisture glistening in his eyes.

“Uh...”

Seeing John like this left Nate with an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

After hesitating for a moment, he stepped forward and pressed his AREX pistol into John's hand.

“We're not somewhere safe yet. You can't exactly walk around without a gun.”

Nate lowered his head and continued loading rounds into the magazine.

“You're not planning to leave everything to me if something happens, are you? Take a break. Who knows what we might run into on the way back.”

“Don't forget, the bounties on the two of us add up to almost four million.”

John remained silent.

He looked at Nate for a long moment before finally answering.

“All right.”

He found a corner by the wall, sat down with the pistol in his hand, and kept his eyes on the exit.

Seriously, couldn't we find a chair?

Nate complained inwardly.

But since John had already sat down, Nate did the same.

Two grown men in suits sitting on the floor side by side.

The sight was strangely amusing.

Nate finished loading one magazine and inserted it into the P30L.

His face suddenly started itching, but the disguise covering it kept him from reaching the spot.

Annoyed, Nate tore off the fake face, stuffed it into his pocket, and scratched.

Much better.

Just as he started loading the second magazine, a sound rang out inside his head.

[Ding~ Multiple Traits have met their upgrade requirements. Upgrade now?]

Was that even a question?

Level them up!

Nate watched the system panel while his hands continued feeding rounds into the magazine.

[Current Resource Points: 2984/8000.]

[Intimidation (Max Level): After locking killing intent onto a target, enemies within 10 meters suffer a 30% reduction in agility. Beyond 10 meters, enemy ranged weapon accuracy is reduced by 70%.]

[Iron Severing (Lv4 → Lv5): Blade effectiveness increased from 200% to 270%. Effectiveness against metal objects doubled. (1/25 Blade Kills.)]

[700 Resource Points deducted.]

[Flying Star (Lv4): Projectile speed increased by 120%. Trajectory errors corrected within 25 meters. (2/15 Projectile Kills.) Upgrade cost: 700 Resource Points.]

[Eagle Eye (Lv2 → Lv4): Vision increased from 50% to 90%. Firearm Proficiency increased from 20% to 40%. (8/15 Firearm Kills.)]

[Two upgrades completed. 800 Resource Points deducted in total. (300+500.)]

[Steel Body (Lv2): Damage and pain reduced by 25%. Vitality increased by 15%. (Severe Injury status triggered: 0/2.)]

[Early Warning (Lv1): Detects hostility within a 10-meter radius. Provides a one-second advance warning of fatal danger. (Survived fatal danger: 0/1.)]

[Remaining Resource Points: 1384/8000.]

Warmth surged through Nate's body.

This time, it lasted much longer than before, especially around his eyes.

The warm, tingling sensation grew strong enough that he closed them.

When he opened them again, the entire world suddenly looked even clearer.

A ninety-percent increase in vision.

What did that actually mean?

Even in this dimly lit hallway, Nate could clearly make out the grain and texture of the wall opposite him.

As an added benefit, the pistol in his hands felt even more natural to use. Even his fingers seemed faster as he loaded the magazine.

Once he got back, he'd have to visit the shooting range and see just how much his accuracy had improved.

Then there was [Iron Severing].

It really was worthy of being a Trait from a Stephen Chow movie.

Nate had seen plenty of Traits by now, but this was the first one he'd encountered with bonuses this outrageous.

And that wasn't even considering what he'd seen in the movie.

Splitting bullets with a blade, controlling a knife with internal energy.

He wondered whether abilities like that would start appearing once the Trait reached a high enough level.

By the time he finished loading the magazine, nearly five minutes had passed.

Nate looked up at John.

“Mr. Wick?”

“Mm.”

John rose to his feet and extended a hand toward Nate, who was still sitting on the floor.

Nate took it and let John pull him up.

“Let's go.”

John was already heading toward the exit.

Nate turned and followed.

...

By the time they reached the first-floor dance floor, Nate could hear police sirens outside.

The two stood on the steps near the dance floor entrance and watched several patrol cars approach from down the street.

The cars pulled to a stop.

A heavyset police chief wearing sunglasses climbed out of the lead vehicle.

He drew his gun, glanced toward John and Nate, then hurriedly tossed the weapon back into the car.

He pulled off his sunglasses, rubbed his face, and jogged toward them with an ingratiating smile.

Behind him, the other officers stood around with their weapons drawn, looking thoroughly confused about what they were supposed to do.

“Put the guns down! All of you, lower your weapons!”

At the chief's command, the officers lowered their guns.

Nate stood there silently, watching.

“Mr. Wick!”

The heavyset chief's eyes lit up.

“I never thought I'd run into you here!”

“Morales.”

John nodded to him from the steps.

“It's been a while.”

John looked him over.

“You've... gained quite a bit of weight.”

His voice remained as calm as ever, though there was a rare hint of confusion in it.

“Yeah, yeah. Haven't exactly been eating healthy. And when you spend all day sitting in a patrol car without getting any exercise, well, this happens.”

Morales scratched his head, looking slightly embarrassed.

“So... you're back at work?” he asked.

John hesitated briefly.

Then he nodded.

“...Yeah.”

“Oh.”

Morales immediately understood.

“All right, then. I'll go patrol somewhere else for a while. I'll come back later.”

He started turning around, intending to signal the other officers.

As he moved, however, his eyes happened to pass over the young man standing beside John.

Morales froze.

His head snapped back around.

Shock spread across his face.

“Why is it you?!”

“That's right. It's me.”

Nate gave him a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

“You've got a pretty good memory, Officer.”

He deliberately put extra emphasis on the last word.

They had met only a few days earlier.

Back then, Morales had been arrogant and deliberately made things difficult for him.

At the time, Nate had just been an ordinary citizen with no way to do anything about it.

But now?

Now it was his turn.

“Wait, you...”

John silently watched the exchange.

Morales looked at John.

Then at Nate.

Finally, as though accepting his fate, he sighed and lowered his head.

Inside, he was already cursing the police chief who had traded shifts with him a thousand times over.

Fuck! Why the hell did you have to switch shifts with me?!

And why the fuck did I agree?!

#$%@%...

No matter how violently he cursed inside his head, Morales still kept it lowered as he spoke.

“I'm sorry, sir... About the way I handled things before...”

“Can I hit him?”

Nate interrupted the apology and looked at John.

“As long as you don't use a gun, it shouldn't be a problem,” John replied.

“Okay!”

Nate immediately jumped down from the steps, barely able to contain his excitement.

Then he shouted at Morales at the top of his lungs.

“Raise your head!”