Chapter 19: The Worst Case
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When I get to bed however, I only let myself doze lightly. As expected, the sound of footsteps outside and whispered voices comes as the night progresses. I don't bother looking out the window, instead just going straight to the living room and hiding myself behind the door.
"Probably took advantage of the circumstances. Besides, did you see that wad of cash he had? Dude's loaded! We're gonna strike it rich!" A familiar voice comes before long.
"It's deadbolted. That's a problem. These guys sure are cautious!" The voice of the lockpicker sounds annoyed as he fumbles getting the credit card into the lock. A vast amount of annoyance hits me in that moment. When the two of them manage to get the door open, I watch them enter while rolling my eyes.
"Which room do you think he took?" One of them says something strange. I wonder why exactly these two were looking for me. But then his heavy boot catches on the floorboard again.
"Oh crap!"
The upstairs door opens much more quickly than last time. Yin pokes her head out into the dark living room and sees the robbers.
"Who's there?!" She barks with the replica katana in hand already.
Huh, that's not what happened last time.
"Hold on, is that sword?!" One of the robbers immediately homes in on the weapon and they turn to run.
"KYAA!" Yin screams as they stagger for the door. Though I know I could let them get away, I promised myself that this time I wouldn't leave any loose ends. Raising my cleaver before Yin can say anything, I drive it into the chest of one of the thieves as he walks by!
"OOMPH!" He collapses instantly, his ribs crushed by the thick butcher's knife. Yin watches in horror from her room, her replica katana forgotten by her side.
"W-Wait! Don't kill them-!" She cries but it's too late. Before she can say anything else, I yank my cleaver out of the first man's chest and leap forwards to hack the other man in the back. He goes down a few steps out the door, scrabbling in the dirt as if he can hold onto life. But I drag him back inside.
"Please! Please don't kill me!" He tries to beg with me. The blood from his back is staining the carpet red. Yin has her hand outstretched, but she's too shocked to say anything more when I raise the knife on high and end this trouble before it can begin. His head rolls off and I shut the door.
"These two broke into our house. I was watching." I say calmly. Yin trembles outside her room, holding on the doorknob for support. She looks like she's going to faint.
"Oh…I heard someone moving around in the living room. I thought it might be…might be you, you know? I didn't think that they would…did you really need to kill them?" She shivers, the shock making it hard for her to speak. I shrug, going to the sink to wash my cleaver off. Then I go back and drag the bodies behind the couch so they're not blocking the door. When I slam the deadbolt back down Yin flinches.
"Who knows what they were planning on doing. You're a pretty girl, Yin." I look at her and she puts her arms around her chest defensively. As if I'm the threat. "It's best to take them out. Otherwise by the time we found out what they were doing here, it might have been too late."
"I-I guess…" Yin clutches herself and still shivering, retreats into her room. "I'm g-gunna try to get some sleep, Lin. Have a…a good night!"
"Goodnight." I look at her oddly and she shakily slams the door. Taking my time, I go back in the shower to clean the blood off. When I get back downstairs, I stare at Yin's bedroom.
Huh, so she's not going to invite me in this time. Well, I was probably a bit hasty to kill those two. Still, I don't think I did anything wrong. Yes, I let them go last time, and yes it didn't seem to hurt us. But things can change between my lives obviously and I still have no idea what exactly they wanted. It was safer to kill them.
I'm not going to lose sleep over my decision. I already wasted a lot of time staying up waiting for them. As someone who has had to defend my party from Hunter Slayers before, I'm no stranger to killing. Even before dying, the world had already taught me that sometimes it was necessary. Though perhaps this time I reached for my blade a little too easily…
"Whatever."
#
When I get up in the morning, I halfway except Yin to not answer my knock on her door. But it's only a suspicion. Unfortunately, when I knock…
*Knock. Knock.*
No one answers.
"Yin? You okay?" I pause for a moment, waiting. However, it soon becomes apparent that something is wrong. "I'm coming in!"
*Thud!*
Rearing back, I smash into the door with a roundhouse kick. Instantly the strength of a Lvl. 1 Hunter punches the doorknob out and my foot goes through. Pulling it out and ignoring the splinters which catch on my jeans, I push my way inside Yin's room!
"Crap." I whisper as I see the empty bed and note. She's left a piece of paper with some words scribbled in the middle of the undone bed. Looking at window, I see it's open, and the room is chilly. Clearly she's been gone for some time. Rushing over to the note, I scan it quickly. This is bad!
Lin,
I'm sorry, for leaving without saying goodbye, but I can't stay with you. Thank you for doing all that you have and trying to teach me how to survive in this world. I hope you find happiness and stay safe forever!
-Yin
That's it. All she wrote. Shaking my head, I go to the window and stare out into the town. I can see some footprints, but it hasn't rained recently and they are too faint. Should I try to track her?
"She's too low level…" I murmur to myself. It's true. Yin might have some knowledge, and I even forced to her finish just about every zombie I could, so she's pretty close to Lvl. 4 at this point, but there's no way the shy girl will be able to survive on her own. Even if she got the major stat boost at Lvl. 5, without my knowledge or a party to support her this world is too deadly for a solo Hunter. Stepping out the window, I stay low to the ground, and stride through the town, following the tracks. The townspeople give me odd looks, but seeing as I'm leaving them alone, they don't bother me. Hopefully they don't make any bad assumptions about the two bodies in the abandoned house, but it should be a while before anyone goes to check. I'm able to accurately track Yin's trail all the way to the edge of town. It seems like she's still following the original plan and heading for the city. However, as I'm bending over to check the dirt, the worst-case scenario happens.
*Tap Tap Tap*
*Shua! *
Little raindrops land on my head and quickly blossom into a fine downpour. Depending on how long Yin waited for me to fall asleep before leaving, it could have been several hours since she left. In a few minutes, all but the most obvious tracks will be erased in the rain. After spending so long as a top Hunter, I'm no slouch when it comes to finding people, but it'd be risky with just my base skills.
"DAMNIT!" I curse to myself and hustle into the woods. "That girl doesn't even know that sword's a replica. If she tries to fight without sharpening it…!"
How am I going to find her once the rain washes away her prints?
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