Night.
After a refreshing cold shower, Hunter, wearing a clean bathrobe, walked to the corner of the hotel room.
He placed the laptop he had deliberately taken out earlier onto the desk.
When he checked in last night, he noticed the hotel offered internet service.
But after discovering the hidden cameras, he hadn't used the computer as he normally would at home—practicing coding and grinding his Computer skill proficiency.
However, having received no calls or emails from Dom all day, he was in the dark about the situation.
He didn't know if his payment had come through.
Six hundred thousand dollars. Once that money was in hand, Hunter wouldn't have to worry about cash for a while.
With that funding, he could power-level many of his skills.
Before long, his five physical attributes would likely break through to triple the average human baseline.
His senses and other capabilities would also see significant boosts.
Not to mention the expansion of his invaluable Personal Inventory.
This job for Dom had really driven it home:
His Personal Inventory was the world's most convenient, secure smuggling channel.
With it, Hunter essentially controlled an undetectable logistics route.
"If I used it to traffic high-tech products, arms, or even industrial machinery..."
The thought bubbled up, but he ruthlessly squashed it.
"No. Absolutely not."
"Even the best-laid plans can fail. The System is my foundation."
"Pretending to do magic tricks to pull out small items is fine."
"But if I become a professional mule, I'll be exposed sooner or later."
Dismissing the idea of becoming a long-term smuggler, Hunter connected the laptop to the hotel's network.
He knew the camera was watching. Its angle covered the bed and the desk where the laptop sat.
He was exposing the laptop intentionally to test something.
When Dom hired him to move the container of stolen electronics to Boston, he promised a $600,000 fee.
Hunter needed money desperately, so he agreed without hesitation.
On the day they struck the deal, Hunter gave Dom a bank account number.
Dom claimed the contact in Boston would wire the money as soon as they verified the goods.
Dom would then transfer Hunter's cut immediately.
Hunter was broke.
Sure, he could open Steve's safes now, but he had been too busy to do it.
And Boston wasn't the right place for that.
He planned to find a secure location to crack the safes—which had been sitting in his inventory for half a month—after finishing Dom's job.
Besides, selling gold bars was tricky.
The nearly one ton of gold he stole from Steve was illicit.
Without documentation, he had to sell on the black market.
That meant risk, uncertainty, and fencing fees. He'd likely only get 80-90% of the market value.
That was why he hadn't rushed to open the safes.
But many of his skills could be leveled up quickly by spending cash.
So, even though he had only delivered the goods that morning, he was itching to see if Dom had paid up.
And to confirm the mission was truly complete.
Once connected, Hunter noticed the internet speed was atrocious. Even a portal like Yahoo took ages to load.
Hunter frowned. His [Computer] skill was Lv 2. To an average person, he was a minor expert.
After fiddling for a moment, he realized the throttling was intentional on the hotel's part.
Before visiting Lyle (The Napster), Hunter had asked for some practical hacking tools.
He pulled one up and ran it.
Soon, the speed restriction on his room's connection was lifted.
Satisfied, Hunter opened the bank's website. He navigated to the online banking section and entered his account details.
Although it was the early 2000s, the internet boom was in full swing. Online banking was becoming standard for major banks.
The page refreshed.
When Hunter saw the six-figure balance...
A wide smile bloomed on his face.
"$600,000 received. Excellent. Mission complete."
Seeing that Dom had kept his promise improved Hunter's mood even more.
He logged out quickly. Following Lyle's instructions, he used a scrubbing tool to wipe his session history.
Then, he opened Yahoo again to browse the news.
A few minutes later, the computer lagged again.
Hunter frowned, intending to check the connection. But suddenly, he lost control of the cursor.
It was as if an invisible hand had seized the machine.
A system window popped up, rapidly scanning his previous usage logs.
This lasted for two or three minutes.
Hunter realized his computer had been hijacked.
His face changed. He reached to unplug the ethernet cable and shut down the laptop.
But just then, the intrusion vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
The computer returned to normal.
It was as if nothing had happened.
While Hunter was frowning, trying to analyze the situation...
Ring!
The room phone rang.
Hunter's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. He walked over and picked up the receiver.
A familiar, low voice spoke on the other end.
"Sir, very sorry."
"We detected some issues with the hotel network earlier, but it has been fixed."
"We noticed you are using the internet service. We deeply regret any inconvenience."
"As compensation, you are now eligible to sample our VIP luxury goods, available tonight only to select guests."
"Tell me, sir... do you require the hotel's VIP service?"
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