The night had just begun when a sneaky thief made his way through the woods to the empty mansion. He was cautious and made sure that there were no guards in the premises before entering through the secret entrance to be welcomed by a desolate ruin.

The thief was so shocked that he dropped the sacks he was carrying as he looked at what remained of the building that had been standing tall this morning. It had turned into a pile of rubble.

“What happened ?” he wondered, as he began to inspect the surroundings carefully. He has been waiting all afternoon to return here and grab all that money. He even “borrowed“ a truck for the "job".

“Damn it, where is the money?” He yelled as he kicked one fallen stone with all his strength, hitting a broken wall and shattering it into pieces.

Tom was very angry at the moment. This was supposed to be his breakthrough. With the money he was supposed to get here, he planned to build a palace to house his parents and all his new wives.

“So it was you who was here this morning.” A man said from behind him then coughed a little...

“So what?” Said Tom arrogantly as he turned around, to see a very fat man approaching him from afar, he was covered in dirt and blood, looking at him with eyes full of hatred. His left hand seemed to be broken. And his left leg had a little limp. The entirety of his left side was heavily burnt. In fact, smoke was still rising from his scorched skin. He looked like he had just come out from under the rubble.

Tom frowned a little as he felt some threat. He wondered if he should fight or flee. The answer to that question was obvious. He never flees.

He quickly found a stone on the floor and kicked it toward the man, who, to Tom’s astonishment, just grabbed it with his hand and threw it away. As if Tom was a toddler throwing a ball at an adult.

Urgent System notice,

LETHAL DANGER

Are you an idiot?

Run for your life or DIE.

Seeing the notice, Tom frowned as he looked at it then at the man who was approaching him just as something clicked in his mind.“

“I am screwed,” He thought as he realized that this man was way beyond his level. He quickly turned around and escaped through the small secret entrance as the man quickly chased him at a superhuman speed.

Tom was able to go through the gate, just as the man reached it and tried to grab Tom, but was not able to reach him or follow as the small secret gate was too small for him.

The fat man glared at Tom then quickly turned around and started running towards the front gate.

Tom cursed as he began to run into the dense woods hoping that the man was too fat to pass through the trees. He parked his pickup truck far away on the other side and walked here on foot to avoid suspicion. He now regrets it. He should not have been too greedy. Returning here was a mistake,

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Tom ran between the trees using his full speed as this night had a full moon, and as a player with enhanced senses, he could see the path clearly.

Suddenly he heard the sound of trees falling behind him, so he turned around a little to see that the fat man was still after him, he was breaking the trees smashing into them as if they were little twigs. What the hell is his class? A tank. Tom thought, as he desperately tried to increase his speed only to discover that the ground under his right foot had just disappeared.

He was on the edge of a deep dark gorge that he failed to notice because it was hidden behind the bushes. He quickly grabbed a tree branch to his side as he tried hard to pull himself back, but it didn’t help. He was running so fast that he had too much inertia.

The branch gave in and broke in his hand, making Tom lose what was left of his balance and fall into the deep gorge with a loud curse.

…

Baron stood at the gorge's side and frowned. He was standing here for the last hour. This place's bottom was very deep and the path down was very dangerous. He explored it before as it was too close to the mansion.

The dried river bed below only had dried bones and dead trees. Titus usually threw dead bodies in here. It was very convenient, and no one would ever come to this place. That thief was probably dead by now, but he can’t be sure. And he needs the body to present it to his masters.

“Master, we found that guy's vehicle. It was stolen this afternoon, so we couldn't identify his identity through it. And we also found the sacks he was carrying. They were just industrial leftovers that can't be traced back.” Said a man in black that appeared silently by his side.

“Send a team down there, and look for his corpse. Don’t return until you find it.” Said Baron, “Did you investigate the cameras?” He added.

“This guy came through the woods, master. and the mansion has no more working cameras.” The man said.

“I am not talking about him, idiot. I am asking about this morning. Is there a recording of what happened? Don't you remember what I told you on the phone?” Yelled Baron, as his patience had already been exhausted hours ago. Whoever planned that grenade was too mean. They rigged the entire basement. And purposely placed the bombs on the structural beams and columns.

When he opened the safe and triggered the grenade, the ten other bombs that were connected to a shock sensor exploded destroying the major beams in the building and collapsing the entire building.

This was all his fault. Those bombs were the ones he kept here to hide from the family’s eyes. And just as he was able to dig himself out, he found a little thief who was sniffing around, and yet despite all his strength, he failed to catch him.

Now, he felt ashamed. A top player like him, who was one of the world's best 1000, failed again and again like this. But he was too anxious about the goods at that time and didn’t think that anyone had the audacity to do such a thing. And he was too hurt now.

Those guys from the Von Geldstadt family will demand answers, and he better have them.

“Ah, yes.” Said the man as sweat slowly fell from his bald head. “Young master Titus has ordered all the cameras around the mansion to be dismantled and replaced with one’s connected to the mansion, that included the traffic cameras as he didn’t want anyone sniffing around here. And as you know, master, the mansion has just been destroyed, and the recordings were stored in the monitoring room.” The man said.

“Then we just have to dig them out, although I doubt whoever did this left us much evidence. How long did George stay here? Did you figure it out?” Baron asked.

“We calculated the time using the footage of the nearest camera on the highway. We spotted his car heading to the mansion then calculated the time until it appeared again. And after adding the road distance from there, we figured out that he should have only stayed for 25 minutes.” Said the man. Making Baron frown, such a time frame is not enough to empty the vault and rig the entire basement. They would need at least 7 hours if they had three trained men. He wondered if Theodore was behind this. Or was it a third party fishing in troubled water?

No matter what, he had to figure out who did it. He has to retrieve the goods and hold the auction on time after one week. If not, his head would not have a neck to rest on.