This news...
Could not be called unbelievable, but rather, somewhat unexpected.
The next day.
Chester's Restaurant!
Locke stepped down from his Audi R8 and nodded in acknowledgment to Carrie, who was waving from not far away.
He walked over.
"When did you get back?"
"The day before yesterday."
Locke answered, looking at Carrie.
"How is your and Betty's internship going at New York First TV?"
Carrie said, "Very good."
After changing to a different city, it really felt like switching to a different life.
In comparison with New York, Carrie felt almost every single time that Augusta was undoubtedly a hell, and a living hell at that.
Entering Chester's office.
Opening the door.
Smoke swirled heavily everywhere.
"Whoa!"
Locke waved his hand, and instantly, the smoke inside billowed out like a roaring dragon.
"Old man, are you planning to taste what cancer feels like?"
Good heavens.
Locke directly took a step back and pointed outside.
"I'm not going in."
Chester walked out from the thick smoke, holding a cigarette in his mouth, his expression a bit full of emotional sighs.
Ten minutes later.
Locke learned about the whole course of events from Chester.
Arthur did kill Harry.
But...
It was Harry who first betrayed the assassin company he belonged to. Therefore, the assassin company allowed Arthur to handle Harry himself, which was considered preserving Harry's final dignity, while also giving Arthur a face.
If it were left to anyone else, there were too many assassins looking for a promotion these days. Moreover, the tricks they played were simply not something traditional assassins like Locke could compare with.
If Harry were handed over to the new generation of assassins, he would likely have died with zero dignity left.
Chester looked out at the Hudson River beneath his feet, letting out a sigh and shaking his head.
"This fellow was set up and trapped in a scheme. He leaked information on over a dozen assassins from their company, causing the company to suffer disastrous losses."
Locke nodded.
"Then his death wasn't unjust."
If you said the company wanted to kill you for no reason at all, that would be somewhat unjust.
But selling out your own people and leaking company secrets, no matter what, means you were in the wrong first. So, can a death like that be called unjust?
Harry was a dead man.
Therefore, no matter how much Arthur couldn't bear to strike, after knowing that Harry was bound to die, he chose to send Harry away respectably to prevent other assassins from making Harry die without a shred of dignity.
A single gunshot to the head.
Locke put down the photograph handed over by Chester, showing Harry sitting in a wheelchair with a bullet hole between his brows, a single shot bringing an immediate end. He let out a sigh.
"The world changes too fast. Just two days ago we talked about having a meal together."
Two days ago everything was perfectly fine, yet in the blink of an eye, the person was gone.
Furthermore, it was a suicide case.
Suicide to escape punishment.
Because he embezzled company funds and the company had already found out, Harry quietly came to the parking lot and then ended himself with a single shot.
A Mechanic, after all, preferred disguised accidents.
Locke puffed on the cigar in his hand, looking at Chester.
"As for the funeral, it's fine if I go over. Don't go yourself, I'll bring your respects for you."
Chester nodded. "I didn't plan on going over anyway."
He had retired.
A retirement without any reservations.
The reason he felt somewhat melancholic was simply because there was one less old friend from the same era who had walked through that secret career with him.
Nothing more.
Five days later.
Locke appeared in a cemetery in New Jersey. Glancing at Arthur next to him, he placed the bouquet in his hand onto the ground, looking at the tombstone that didn't even have a photograph on it, with only the name Harry McKenna written on it, and shook his head.
Chester and he were the type who completely separated profession from life.
But the majority of assassins turned their profession into life. Simply put, they didn't have many friends.
Harry was just like that.
Even for the burial, there wasn't a priest.
Only a few cemetery workers were silently shoveling dirt.
Aside from them, there were only Locke and Arthur.
Arthur stared at the two bouquets of fresh flowers placed down by Locke and muttered a thank you.
"My condolences."
"Thank you."
Locke frowned and said,
"I remember Harry seemed to have a s..."
As they spoke.
Just at this moment, a man with a short buzz cut, a full beard, and wearing a leather jacket walked over from not far away while smoking. He stuffed some remaining change and receipts back into his pocket after having just gone to the cemetery management office to pay the fees.
And then, he saw Arthur over by the tombstone.
"Oh, holy shit!"
Harry McKenna's son, Steve McKenna, saw Arthur, tossed away the cigarette butt in his hand, and shook hands with Arthur.
"Goddamn Arthur Bishop, long time no see."
Arthur remained expressionless.
"My condolences."
Steve McKenna forced a smile.
"No need, he spent more time with you than he ever did with me."
And then.
Steve McKenna simply left directly.
He left very freely. After all, Harry was dead, but his affairs left behind were still a huge mess—bank matters, house matters.
A lot.
Very messy, and at the same time, very complicated.
Arthur turned around, watching the departing Steve McKenna, his gaze flickering slightly.
Locke walked back out, looking at Arthur.
"I thought you were a proper assassin, but unexpectedly, you aren't proper either. Feeling guilty?"
This wasn't good.
A cold-blooded assassin suddenly experiencing other emotions meant either their training had broken down, or they were playing at some bad intentions.
Arthur glanced at Locke.
"If it were you, would you?"
Locke shook his head. "No."
Because Chester would not betray him, Locke was very certain about this. As long as Chester didn't betray him, Locke had said he would provide and care for Chester until his death. Whoever dared to stop him from doing so, he would dare to let that person know what human suffering meant!
No one could stop Locke from fulfilling a promise, not even the person concerned.
Furthermore.
The nature of the situation was different anyway.
Locke looked curiously at Arthur.
"What exactly happened?"
Chester on his end had only said simply that Harry was set up by someone and lost a massive sum of money, so he could only rely on selling out company information to make some money.
Arthur remained expressionless.
"Harry participated in a gambling game, and ended up cleaned out. Half a month ago, he was diagnosed with cancer again. In order to leave some money for Steve, he thought about taking a desperate risk to get some money to leave behind for Steve."
Locke shook his head, making no evaluation whatsoever.
After all...
The dead are to be respected.
Locke gazed out at Steve, who was pacing back and forth in the parking lot outside not far away, and looked at Arthur next to him.
"Alright, I'm leaving. If you need help, you know my phone number."
Arthur nodded, watching Locke turn and leave, and then stared at the figure over by the parking lot. Not knowing what he was thinking, he walked over toward the parking lot.
Half a month later.
Early August.
Locke saw a bizarre accidental death case published by the New York Daily in the newspapers.
Of course.
To other people, it was merely a very unfortunate accident.
Without a doubt.
This group of people must have been the other participants from that gambling game. After all, after Arthur killed Harry, he ultimately needed to find someone to vent his frustration on, so what could be more suitable than the fellows who led Harry down the road of no return through gambling.
However...
What interested Locke even more was another matter.
Arthur called and told Locke that he had an apprentice.
The apprentice's name was Steve, Steve McKenna.
WTF?
What was he thinking.
Locke thought this way in his heart, and at the same time on the next day, riding a jet ski, he arrived at Arthur's residence located on a small island in a lake in Maryland. Seeing Arthur welcoming him at the dock, he also asked the same question,
"Has your brain short-circuited?"
Did he really feel that killing a master felt so good that he planned to train an apprentice and let him try killing him too?
"He came looking for me."
"Heh."
Locke went straight onto the island, and hearing these words, he smiled with pure amusement.
"If you were truly guilty, just give him a million directly. To you, a million isn't much, right."
Arthur didn't pick up on these words, smiling a bit.
"According to the agreed rules, he is my apprentice. So, I'll trouble you."
Locke remained expressionless.
Behind his sunglasses, however, Locke rolled his eyes.
This was exactly where the master-apprentice lineage model was flawed.
After all, the training of an assassin didn't rely on a single master being enough. At the very least, other teachers were also needed. If relying solely on one master, they would end up somewhat unbalanced and unable to achieve all-around development.
However, although Locke didn't really need it either, he had at least accepted systematic training regarding accidental killings from Arthur's master, who was the deceased Harry.
According to the ancient rules of agreement, if Arthur had an apprentice, then just like Chester's master training Harry and Harry training Locke back then, Locke was required to be responsible for training Arthur's apprentice.
Similarly, when Locke had an apprentice, Arthur would also need to come over and help train.
However, Locke felt that in his life, he would probably never have an apprentice.
But...
Hearing these words from Arthur, Locke snorted in amusement, understanding what kind of trick Arthur wanted to play.
"You aren't guilty, you are disheartened and planning to retire."
Arthur's blood was cold.
Colder than his own blood.
Therefore, Locke would never believe that Arthur truly accepted Steve as an apprentice because of some guilt.
Furthermore, he had actually watched the movie The Mechanic.
In a single word.
Arthur wasn't guilty, but rather disheartened and planning to retire.
Different from other industries, an assassin couldn't just retire whenever they wanted to. After all, retiring as an assassin wasn't a difficult matter, what was difficult was dealing with former enemies and mortal foes after the assassin retired.
The reason Chester was able to retire completely clean was actually because he had put on a massive show of faking his death, only then retiring completely clean.
Even so, it was largely thanks to Chester being a freelance assassin rather than a company assassin, which made retirement relatively easier.
But Arthur?
If Arthur wanted to retire, even if he agreed himself, his company would probably not agree to it.