It didn't take long before all four tickets for the musical tomorrow night—the weekend performance—were completely transferred.
Locke watched as Wanda, after quite a bit of back-and-forth persuasive banter from Gwen and Cindy, finally chose to accept the ticket. A slight smirk curled up the corners of his mouth as a sudden realization hit him.
Honestly, if the KGB was truly reckless enough to still be lingering in New York City, the expressions on their faces would be absolutely priceless when they realized the grand plan they had designed at such a high cost was completely wasted because Locke hadn't even shown up.
As for whether the KGB would lose their minds in anger and resort to kidnapping Betty and Carrie instead? That was highly improbable.
Setting aside the fact that the KGB was strictly tracking him, Carrie alone was going to be there. She could tap into her dark sovereign state at a moment's notice.
When that time came, let alone a few scattered KGB agents, even if the entire agency charged at her at once, they probably wouldn't survive three rounds of her dark spheres.
Furthermore, Carrie currently had the legendary witch Agatha serving as her mentor. Over the past two weeks, she had successfully mastered two other forms of witchcraft. Deploying supernatural forces against ordinary secret agents was an absolute, guaranteed victory.
...
By lunchtime, Gwen finally found a moment to sit down with Cindy and Kahn. Looking at Cindy across the table, she said,
"Honestly, you and Kahn really didn't need to do that."
Because Cindy and Kahn hadn't given them a chance to refuse in the classroom and simply handed the tickets over, Gwen hadn't been able to say much at the time.
After all, she and Locke actually wanted to go, but they couldn't due to the unsafe circumstances. Cindy and Kahn, however, were perfectly fine to attend, so there was no need for them to give their tickets away to Wanda and Pietro.
"Well, we couldn't just let Betty and Carrie go alone," Cindy replied. "Wanda has already been brought into our little social circle by Betty anyway, so it wouldn't look right to leave her out. Besides, Kahn and I going alone without you guys wouldn't be half as fun. It actually works out perfectly because we can host a party this weekend instead."
Hearing the first half of Cindy's explanation, Gwen couldn't help but shake her head. But upon hearing the second half, she paused and asked curiously,
"A party? What kind of party?"
"The one I'm throwing, of course," Cindy stated as a matter of fact. "My parents are flying out to Texas tonight, which means I have complete freedom for two whole days this weekend. I'm planning to organize a massive party, so make sure you two show up."
Pausing briefly, Cindy leaned across the table and winked at Locke, who was sitting next to Gwen and chewing on his burger. She lowered her voice and said,
"I've been planning to host a party since last month. I systematically started siphoning alcohol out of the fridge, and I've finally hoarded enough for this weekend's party."
After all, could a party without alcohol even be considered a party? To put it another way, without booze, what excuse would energetic teenagers have to unleash all that pent-up adolescent energy?
Hearing Cindy's words, Locke reacted almost reflexively.
"What kind of alcohol?"
"Lone Star."
"..." Locke shook his head, looking at Cindy. "Are you serious? Lone Star? In New York City? Actually, I'm pretty sure you can't even buy that anywhere in the entire state of New York."
The full name was Lone Star Beer—and true to its name, it was the definitive drink of Texans! From the 1980s until now, Lone Star Beer was essentially a Cultural symbol of Texas. Going to Texas and not having a Lone Star was practically equivalent to visiting without eating Texas barbecue.
Locke didn't particularly care for beer, but Lone Star was the sole exception. Chester absolutely loved drinking it, and historically, the youngest champion cowboys were always the spokesmen for Lone Star Beer.
If a cowboy didn't drink Lone Star, how was he any different from that governor who took office, failed to advocate for state independence, and promptly got impeached and thrown out of office?
Gwen felt entirely exasperated as she watched Locke's eyes light up. She immediately gave him a sharp nudge to shut down the thought before turning her attention back to Cindy.
"No, Locke and I won't be able to make it."
"Huh? Why?"
"The reason is a bit complicated." Gwen shot Locke a pointed look, acting exactly like an authoritative wife making decisions on behalf of her husband. She scanned their surroundings, then lowered her voice significantly.
"Locke's home was wiretapped again. The NYPD is currently investigating, but they haven't uncovered the culprits yet. So, until the police officially close the case, we're minimizing our outside activities. I'm really sorry, Cindy, but we'll definitely make it to the next one."
Under these extraordinary circumstances, they had to strictly adhere to a two-point routine: traveling exclusively between school and home to sleep.
Cindy was visibly shocked by Gwen's words. Her mouth fell open slightly as she looked over at Locke, whispering,
"Could it be that the insurance company got more pissed off the more they thought about it? They probably realized they've been constantly losing money on you, so they decided to wiretap your place to figure out when you're home alone and make you vanish from the face of the earth."
Locke glanced at Cindy, utterly lacking the desire to even reply to that. Each theory was more absurd than the last. She could have at least guessed the CIA.
How much money had he actually managed to squeeze out of Silver City Insurance in total? Counting all the policies he had purchased over the years, the maximum profit he had ever extracted from them was less than two million dollars.
And if you factored in his insurance expenses for this month, it was actually under a million. This month, Locke had purchased heavy insurance policies for the various paintings he had brought back from Earl King's estate, and the premiums for those pieces were anything but cheap.
Gwen was fully aware of this detail as well.
However, hearing Cindy's bizarre theory seemed to spark a realization in Gwen. She turned a curious gaze toward Locke.
"By the way, could this be a security measure implemented by the insurance company to prevent those paintings from being stolen? Maybe you just forgot to read the fine print, and the whole thing is just a massive misunderstanding?"
After all, when Locke signed the insurance agreements and the clauses detailing the protective measures required for the insured items, he hadn't even glanced at the terms before scrawling his signature. It wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibility for this to be the handiwork of the insurance firm.
Locke shook his head. "Impossible. The paintings hanging on the wall are rigged with dedicated insurance pressure switches. The moment they are removed without the correct passcode being entered, the insurance company receives an instantaneous alert."
Since the lowest valuation among those paintings was a million dollars, the insurance company would be reduced to tears if even one went missing.
Consequently, wireless motion-detection signals were installed behind every single insured piece. Minor vibrations wouldn't trigger anything, but if anyone attempted to completely remove a painting from the wall, it would instantly trip a silent alarm.
The claims investigators employed by insurance companies possessed professional capabilities that rivaled any elite detective inspector. In fact, the chief investigator for Silver City Insurance was a retired CIA operative who had transitioned into private sector employment.
Gwen pondered the explanation and found it reasonable. She had truly never heard of an insurance firm installing covert listening devices inside a client's residence under the guise of protecting their personal property. If that argument were presented in a courtroom, a twelve-person jury wouldn't buy it for a second.
Seeing the situation, Cindy let out a helpless sigh.
"Alright then. I guess Kahn and I will just head over to Stark Industries this weekend. Kahn has already been assigned his own private laboratory."
Gwen immediately turned to Kahn, offering her warm congratulations. The conversation smoothly transitioned back into standard school topics.
...
Locke had no classes in the afternoon, so he holed up inside his Student Council office, casually flipping through a book in his hands.
My KGB Career!
The author of this book was allegedly a former KGB Sparrow, and the contents explicitly detailed the training methodologies utilized by the KGB for both male and female operatives.
Locke felt the text read essentially like a trashy romance novel, though it simultaneously forced him to look at things from a different perspective. Frankly speaking, serving as a male operative in the KGB must have offered a highly gratifying lifestyle...
Just then, a sharp notification rang out.
*Ding-dong.*
"It's here." Locke raised an eyebrow as he stared at the incoming message, which contained only a single symbol. Smiling faintly, his right hand flicked smoothly, retrieving his laptop from his inventory. He flipped it open and logged directly into the secure backend inbox of his Continental Hotel account.
The intelligence report consisted of a single, concise sentence:
'According to confirmed reports, Vanya Egorov, the Deputy Director of the Directorate for American Intelligence within the KGB, recently arrived in the country. His primary destination was Texas, and he is currently stationed inside the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York City.'
Locke had stated before that he possessed zero interest in Lorraine Broughton. However, the trouble tracking that woman had already spilled over and targeted him. Refusing to be interested didn't mean Locke was going to sit idly by and do nothing.
Therefore, Locke intended to have a polite conversation with them. He would convince them with reason.
[Ding!]
[Quest generating!]
[Quest Name: "Convincing People with Reason (Might)!"]
[Quest Rewards: "10,000 Achievement Points", "10,000 Potential Points", "1 Treasure Discount Coupon (60% Off)"]
[Quest Description: The tree desires stillness, but the wind continues to buffet it; the child wishes to provide care, but the parents are already gone.]
[Quest Note: Perhaps you could try to stir up a truly massive storm.]
"..." Looking at the generated quest name, description, and note, Locke's brow twitched violently.
"If you don't know how to name these things anymore, then don't bother. Just leave it completely blank."
Was he the type of person who preferred using his fists to reason with people?
...Alright. He actually was.
However, Locke firmly believed that resorting to his fists was always predicated on the other party refusing to act reasonably in the first place. If people were willing to maintain proper manners, he was generally more than happy to reciprocate with equal courtesy.
...
The following day.
During the late afternoon of the weekend, Betty, Carrie, Wanda, and Pietro headed over to Broadway to watch the musical.
Everything unfolded exactly as Locke had anticipated. But the moment Betty and Carrie scanned their tickets and entered the venue, the KGB operatives waiting inside—who were enthusiastically preparing to initiate a capture protocol—stared at the photographs of their target in their hands and then at the two completely unfamiliar girls. They looked at each other in utter bewilderment.
Meanwhile, inside the Consulate General in New York.
"Hiss!" Upon receiving the update transmitted by the operatives stationed at the theater, Vanya Egorov, the Deputy Director responsible for American operations, drew in a sharp breath.
"A master!"
The operative on the other end asked,
"Sir, what are our orders now? Do we proceed with a capture?"
Vanya Egorov's brow twitched with irritation. "Capture? Capture who? Our ultimate target is that bitch's wretched offspring! Await my command. If necessary, we will launch a frontal assault. No one betrays us and gets away with it—even her descendants must pay the price."
With that, Vanya Egorov angrily slammed the receiver down, terminating the call.
In the very next second, Vanya Egorov's entire body froze completely rigid. He turned around slowly, staring into the dark corner of his private office, where a dark silhouette had materialized out of nowhere at some unknown point in time.
***
Bonus chapter