John Wick - Chapter 51: Winston’s Ambition: Rewards and Upgrades (Patreon)

Winston watched with a smile as John and Nate bumped fists.

It was a good thing that John was starting to open up. The two men sitting across from Winston had known each other for less than a day, yet they had already developed a remarkable rapport.

Maybe that was just how it was between men who had fought side by side. The bond forged in battle didn’t need much explanation.

“A perfect plan,” Winston remarked. “Then leave the intelligence and support to me.”

John lowered his hand and looked Winston in the eyes. “My situation is more or less settled. Now it’s time to talk about you, Winston.”

He leaned forward slightly, his voice serious. “I heard some things about your situation from that girl, but I still want to hear it from you. What exactly are you planning to do, Winston?”

Winston leaned forward as well, lacing his fingers together over his knees. He fell silent for a moment. There was something in his eyes that Nate couldn’t quite understand.

“Take someone else’s share of the cake?” John asked.

“No.” Winston leaned in and met his gaze seriously. “I want to be the one who bakes the cake.”

“I want to make the whole cake over again, and I’ll decide what it looks like.”

“A big one?” John asked.

“A big one.” Winston nodded.

John understood. Henry understood too. Or rather, he had known from the beginning.

Only Nate was just beginning to put it together.

Now he finally understood what he had seen in the old man’s eyes.

Ambition.

“That’s a bit of a pipe dream,” John remarked.

Winston chuckled. “One step at a time. If a man wants to accomplish something, he needs a little unrealistic confidence. Don’t you agree, Nate?”

“Uh... yeah, yeah!” Nate replied with an awkward smile.

Expectation showed in Winston’s eyes. “Then will you help me, Jonathan?”

John stared at Winston in silence for a long moment. Nate and Henry watched him as well.

Finally, he nodded.

“Yeah~”

Winston smiled.

It was the most open, hearty smile Nate had ever seen from him.

And with that, the subject was left there.

Winston glanced at his watch. It was already past one.

“It’s getting late, gentlemen. Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a good day.”

The two men stood to leave, but Winston’s voice came from behind them.

“As for your safety, you don’t need to worry anymore.”

“Everyone still in the hotel is someone we can trust. You can rest easy.”

Nate finally understood.

So that was why the hotel had suddenly seemed so much emptier. He had assumed it was simply because of the late hour, but apparently Winston had cleared out a group of people.

“Won’t you get complaints?” the young man asked.

“This is my hotel, son.” Winston shook his head with a smile.

Back in his room, Elena was still awake. Nate couldn’t tell whether she had deliberately stayed up waiting for him.

After accepting several cookies she had baked herself, including John’s share, he sent her on her way.

Nate lay down on the bed and opened the system panel.

[System Quest: John’s Revenge Completed. Reward: 4,000 Resource Points.]

[Remaining Resource Points: 5,963/8,000]

[The host is detected to possess equipment worth a substantial amount. Do you wish to settle?]

“Yes.”

[Settled: Bulletproof Suit ×1 (400) + Pistols ×62 (1,437) + Submachine Guns ×6 (346) + Gold Coins ×17 (340) = 2,523 Resource Points]

[Legendary Weapon: Hedges’ GLOCK17 SAI (382 Resource Points)]

[Legendary Weapon: John Wick’s HK P30L (684 Resource Points)]

[Note: Legendary weapons are dropped by boss-level enemies, are worth more than ten times the value of ordinary weapons, and possess special effects.]

[Resource Point Cap has been reached. Spend 800 Resource Points to break through?]

“Don’t ask me this kind of question again!” Nate said irritably at the system panel.

[Breakthrough complete. One Trait slot added. Remaining Resource Points: 8,752/16,000]

Now that was a serious haul.

Nate couldn’t help marveling at it. One trip outside had been enough to fill his Resource Points to the cap. That felt incredible.

And now that he had John as his escort, Nate felt much more confident about whatever came next.

If there was a powerful thigh to cling to, he was going to cling to it for dear life.

Nate picked up the two Legendary pistols and checked their information.

[Hedges (Martial Arts Master)’s GLOCK17 SAI Special Effect: Accuracy increases by 20% during sustained fire.]

[Baba Yaga John Wick’s HK P30L Special Effect: Deals an additional 30% damage to targets within 15 meters.]

What else was there to say?

John’s gun was his now. John had been the one to give it up first, after all.

From now on, it could stay nice and quiet in his Loadout.

Oh, right. His AREX pistol was still with John.

Whatever. John could keep it.

Still lying on the bed, Nate willed the P30L into his hand. He eagerly turned it over and admired it.

Even in his previous life, he had always thought this gun looked incredibly sexy, especially the muzzle brake fitted to the front. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an identical model in the real world.

He climbed out of bed and stood in front of the mirror. Mimicking John, he held the gun close to his body at an angle and assumed the CAR central axis re-locking system stance.

Admiring himself in the mirror, the young man muttered smugly, “This is seriously so cool!”

After fooling around with it for a while longer, Nate finally remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

There were still two Traits he could upgrade.

He opened the Trait panel and upgraded both available Traits.

[Traits Held: 6] [Intimidation (Max Level)] [Iron Severing (Lv 5)] [Flying Star (Lv 4)] [Steel Body (Lv 2)]

[Upgradable Traits: 2]

[Eagle Eye (Lv4 → Lv5) Costs 700 Resource Points: Vision increased from 90% to 110%; Firearm Proficiency increased from 40% to 50%; Firearm Kills: 1/25]

[Early Warning (Lv1 → Lv2) Costs 100 Resource Points: Detects hostility within a 15-meter radius; Fatal Danger warning time increased from 1 second to 2 seconds; provides a visual warning in the mind. Fatal Danger Survival: 0/2]

[Remaining Resource Points: 7,952/16,000]

Warmth welled up in Nate’s eyes again.

By now, he was almost used to the sensation. But the soothing warmth also brought his drowsiness rushing back.

Nate tipped his head back and yawned. He tossed the gun beside his pillow, flopped face-first onto the bed, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

It really had been a long day.

Time to get some rest.