Early morning. Outside, the noise of the day began to rise.
Hunter's biological clock woke him up after five hours of deep sleep.
"Mmm."
Waking from his slumber, Hunter slowly opened his eyes.
He was about to stretch, but immediately felt his arm trapped in softness.
His senses and memory returned as he fully woke.
The soft sensation against his arm and the scent of cheap body wash filled his nose.
Hunter instinctively looked to his side and saw a sleeping face.
He remembered then. He seemed to have collected an "extra reward" last night.
"Although your life has been rough and your background tragic..."
"You are a good girl."
Hunter gently tapped Teri's cheek.
Then, he carefully tried to extract his arm from her embrace.
Unfortunately, he underestimated Teri's vigilance.
The moment his arm moved...
Teri, who had been sleeping soundly, reacted as if sensing danger.
She woke up with a start. Her eyes opened blankly at first, then darted around warily.
During this, she unconsciously hugged the arm surrounded by her softness even tighter.
Only after realizing where she was, and seeing Hunter lying beside her...
Did Teri seem to remember. She quickly looked at Hunter.
After locking eyes with him for a moment, the memories of their madness last night flooded back.
Her face, now washed clean of makeup and revealing a hint of childish innocence, turned bright red.
"Morning."
Seeing that he had woken her, Hunter smiled and greeted her.
"Morning, Hunter."
Last night, she had learned his name in this life.
She looked at Hunter quietly, her eyes practically melting with affection.
Hunter moved his arm again, accidentally brushing against her softness.
Her face turned redder, and she subconsciously loosened her grip.
Hunter took the opportunity to free his arm. He reached out with his other hand.
From a blind spot Teri couldn't see, he pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his Personal Inventory.
"Mind if I smoke?"
Hunter shook the pack. The Camel logo was conspicuous.
Teri shook her head. "Can I have one?"
Hunter raised an eyebrow and looked at her face, which still held traces of youth.
He refused. "Forget it. Smoking isn't good for you."
Last night, Hunter learned that Teri had just passed her sixteenth birthday.
In the US, this was the age of consent in some states.
While relieved by that legal technicality, Hunter felt even more pity for the girl.
She had been snatched by bad men at seven or eight years old.
Sold to the Russian mob in Boston. Turned into a tool for making money.
Thinking of how this girl endured the world's most disgusting and cruel torture at an age when she should have been loved by her parents...
Even Hunter, who didn't hold strong concepts of good and evil...
Felt an uncontrollable urge to kill the Russian mob that had plagued Boston for years.
"Wait until my stats improve a bit more."
"Then I'll follow the example of Robert, the protagonist of The Equalizer."
"I'll storm Moscow Nights alone. I'll kill the mastermind, Slavi, and every single one of his gang members with my own hands."
In his heart, Hunter reaffirmed this decision.
As for attacking now? He was confident, but not blind.
Robert McCall, the black protagonist of The Equalizer, was a top-tier agent.
He had served in top US special forces and later in intelligence agencies for years.
His marksmanship, killing skills, and combat experience...
Were far beyond what Hunter—a transmigrator who was powerless just three months ago—could currently match.
But Hunter wasn't discouraged. He knew...
Surpassing Robert was only a matter of time and money.
Hunter now had over $30 million in assets. Even if he didn't spend it all on leveling skills...
Just spending one-tenth of it would likely raise many of his skills by three or four levels.
And it wouldn't take long.
So, avenging Teri and wiping out the Russian mob wouldn't be a distant dream.
"Three months..."
"No, two months."
"I will return to Boston in two months and completely dismantle that Russian mob."
He made a silent vow.
Hunter lit his cigarette, took a drag, and blew out a smoke ring.
He looked at Teri, who was leaning on his shoulder, and asked, "Teri, do you remember any relatives?"
"I can send you to them to start a new life."
Teri's body trembled violently.
After a long silence, she shook her head and whispered, "I don't know. Maybe I do, maybe they're gone..."
"I have nowhere to go now."
"After escaping... I suddenly realized I don't know where to go."
Teri didn't remember much before she was seven or eight.
She only vaguely remembered that she should be American. That her father might have been a cop. And that she had a younger sister.
The nightmare began the night intruders killed her mother and took her.
She described the auction, the man with the paddle, and being brought to Boston.
" Moscow Nights looks like a hotel, but it's really a nightclub," Teri said softly.
"The boss is named Slavi, a Russian immigrant."
"He has at least seven or eight hundred thugs under him. All Russian immigrants. I heard many are veterans from the Soviet era."
Hunter listened patiently, then fell silent.
He could tell Teri didn't want to leave him.
This was completely different from what he had seen in The Equalizer movie.
"Robert saved her, and she thanked him profusely before leaving for a strange city to chase her dreams."
"I saved her, and she seems to be sticking to me like glue."
"What is this?"
Hunter's mind inexplicably recalled a joke he had read on the internet in his past life.
When a hero saves a beauty:
If the hero is ugly, the beauty says: "Thank you, sir, for saving my life. I have no way to repay you, so I will work like an ox or horse in my next life to repay your kindness."
But if the hero is handsome, the beauty says: "Thank you, sir, for saving my life. I have no way to repay you, except to give my body to you in marriage!"
Hunter felt that the difference between Robert and himself... was exactly this.
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