Rising to his feet, Alex Cross walked to the mirror.
He examined himself carefully. His height had increased slightly, his muscles looked firm and proportionate, yet without the exaggerated bulk of a bodybuilder.
He clenched his fist, then drove it forward.
Boom!
The wooden door beside him, nearly 30 centimeters thick, cracked and shattered under his punch.
Alex Cross grinned with satisfaction.
Turning back, he glanced at the others climbing out of the hot spring. Without wasting time, he stepped into the shower, rinsed himself off, wrapped a towel around his waist, and moved on to the next task.
From his inventory, he retrieved the Talent Recruitment Pack and the Assassin Recruitment Pack. They looked unremarkable at first glance, so he started by opening the Talent Pack.
The results: six green, two blue, and one purple.
Half male, half female.
The two blue-ranked talents caught his eye:
Raymond Smith — the top enforcer from The Gentlemen, a legendary British gangster's right-hand man.
Becky Claridge — a hacker-agent with a small role in xXx: Return of Xander Cage, though fans of The Vampire Diaries would instantly recognize her as a leading actress there.
Not bad. Solid draws.
But his gaze shifted to the purple-ranked recruit — an old man.
Name: Dwight Manfredi
Age: 75
Height: 178 cm
Skills: English Mastery LV4, Close Combat LV4, Firearms LV3, Driving LV3
From:Tulsa King
Evaluation: His advanced age lowered his rank, but he remained a cunning and battle-hardened mobster boss.
Alex couldn't help a slight pang of disappointment. If it had been one of The Expendables, it would've been even better. Still, Dwight was an asset. An experienced crime lord could help him stabilize New York's chaotic underworld.
He paired Raymond, the enforcer, with Dwight as his right-hand muscle and strategist, then ordered them to report to Susie for coordination with the city's gangs.
From now on, Susie would focus on managing the Lighthouse Hotel and the clubs.
Next, Alex's eyes landed on the system's "gold-ranked" beauty:
Name: Alanna Mitsopolis
Alias: The White Widow
Age: 26
Height: 170 cm
Skills: English LV4, Russian LV3, French LV3, Close Combat LV3, Firearms LV3, Driving LV3
From:Mission Impossible: Fallout
Evaluation: Gorgeous, seductive, the world's most powerful arms dealer — a femme fatale who thrived in both light and shadow.
The White Widow. Just seeing her name made Alex smile. She was worth the draw alone. Few others could boast the power to sell nuclear weapons.
He had been planning to expand into arms dealing. With New York's black market handled by Irene, he still needed someone to open doors in Paris, Tokyo, Slovakia, and beyond. The White Widow was the perfect choice.
The rest of the green-ranked recruits left little impression — mostly LV2 skill holders, background characters from other films. Still, three of them specialized in surgery. Convenient enough, since his underground base still had several assassins nursing serious injuries. They'd do.
Satisfied, he ordered the green-ranked recruits to Susi for assignment.
Now, it was time for the Assassin Recruitment Pack.
The results stunned him: eight blue, two gold.
No greens, no purples.
Alex froze for a moment — then broke into a wide grin.
Two gold assassins. This pull was a jackpot.
Among the blues, eight female assassins in nun attire stood out immediately. He checked one at random:
Name: Louisa Cain
Age: 23
Height: 174 cm
Skills: English LV3, Russian LV3, Close Combat LV3, Firearms LV3
From:Hitman: Absolution — member of the infamous Sisterhood.
Alex glanced across the group. Aside from the black-robed nun, the rest wore tight leather outfits with stockings — stylish, but shallow. No wonder they were only rated blue. Still, their combat value was undeniable. As assassins, they were elite.
But the real prizes were the gold-ranked killers.
Name: Agent 47
Age: 30
Height: 176 cm
Skills: English LV5, Russian LV5, Close Combat LV5, Firearms LV5, Driving LV5
From:Hitman: Agent 47
Evaluation: The perfect assassin. His very existence was engineered for flawless execution of assassination contracts.
Name: Duncan Vizla
Age: 57
Height: 177 cm
Skills: English LV5, Russian LV5, Close Combat LV5, Firearms LV5, Driving LV5
From:Polar
Evaluation: Aging, with a weakness for women that nearly cost him his life, yet still the "Black Kaiser" — a legendary figure of the assassin world.
Alex's eyes gleamed. With these recruits, his organization had just grown sharper, deadlier, and infinitely more dangerous.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you're interested, you can read advanced chapters:
pat reon .com / Samorash