Eli arrived at his apartment at about 7 pm. He exited the cab after he paid the driver and soon arrived at his apartment. The door was smashed open, the living room was completely vandalized. The old couch and sofa were cut and smashed. The old clock on the wall was broken. The old TV screen was smashed, glass scattered on the floor. The old table was broken, and his parent's collectibles were on the ground, broken into pieces. Luckily, they did not damage the light on the ceiling, or Eli wouldn't be able to see anything.
In the kitchen, all the tableware and glassware were scattered on the floor, the fridge was smashed, and the food inside it was scattered on the floor, dirtying it. Some of the cabinets were smashed, and drawers were scattered on the floor.
In the bathroom, the mirror was smashed to pieces, and the toilet was broken, scattering debris on the flooded floor. The shower head was also broken, but luckily, it seemed like the police shut down the water supply to the house. At least it didn't flood the already wet floor.
His old room was smashed beyond repair. The desk, chair, bed, cabinet, lamp, dresser... Everything was broken and shattered.
His parent's bedroom was also just as broken. Eli went inside it and picked up the broken picture frame of his parents with him. Luckily, the picture itself was still fine. He removed the picture from the frame and put it inside his storage ring. This picture was in fact the most precious thing in this entire house to him. He just did not expect that they would vandalize his house after only a single day!
Eli looked at his now broken house and decided that it was impossible to live there anymore. Luckily, the house was ensured, so the insurance company will reimburse him. He could also contact someone to sell the house. Even if he didn't lack money, he could use this as a chance to change his state. He did not have to be limited to just being a citizen in New York. Besides, he planned on earning money through gambling. Getting citizenship in a state with little to no gambling taxes would be optimal. For now, however, he should return to the hotel room and upgrade his cognition.
Eli hailed a taxi and drove back to the hotel.
Back in the hotel room, he immediately went to the bed and laid down in the middle, before activating he confirmed upgrading Cognition.
Immediately after that, he felt an incredibly sharp headache for a few seconds, before he passed out. A few minutes later, he woke up. When he opened his eyes, he felt like a thick layer of fog lifted from his mind. Many things that he did not understand in the past, could easily be solved. Many memories of his past, even insignificant ones, could be recollected in a flash, and he felt like he could memorize things with incredible ease. He could even calculate the first 100 numbers of Pi in just a few seconds in his head and reckoned he could calculate even more.
A Moth passed by him just then, and when he looked at it, he felt that the Moth moved incredibly slowly and its wings flapped slowly as well. When he tried reaching out to catch it, he noticed that his hand was also moving incredibly slowly! It was like he was moving at a snail's pace! After what felt like 10 seconds, he finally caught the moth in his hand, before releasing it again, time returning to normal. The whole process could be said to be smooth.
"Now I get it! Cognition most likely upgraded my memory and recalling ability by an incredible margin, most likely granting me eidetic memory! My calculating capability also received an incredible boost! Lastly, I even got the so-called bullet time! But the bullet time is apparently constrained by my body's speed. I believe that there should be more things that were enhanced as well, but I will need trial and error to learn more about its effects. For now, however, I think I will go back to the girls. I am also hungry now, and they should have dinner ready soon. But first, I want to grab 2 skills that I wanted."
Eli looked in the skill shop, which was now not greyed out, and selected [Athletics lvl 0] and [Acrobatics lvl 0]. These 2 skills were actually really good. He did not need right now to get into a real knife fight, and his knife skills were good enough. Athletics can help him run faster and more efficiently, as well as climb, swim, and jump better. Acrobatics, on the other hand, will help him with dexterity based actions, such as balancing, tumbling, and negating fall damages.1If you don't believe me, check it yourself.
Athletics lvl 0: Obtain increased proficiency in all types of Athletics, equivalent to 3 months of professional training. If already proficient, it will increase proficiency further.
Acrobatics lvl 0: Obtain increased proficiency in all types of Acrobatics, equivalent to 3 months of professional training. If already proficient, it will increase proficiency further.
Learning both skills cost 4 points. Eli learned the skills one by one, digesting the information crammed into his head and muscle memory. Even though Eli was a special forces soldier, and went through obstacle courses, as well as needing to sometimes climb through windows and walls, he never performed parkour or any other acrobatic skill beyond the bare basics. Now, Advanced parkour moves as well as many things like snowboarding and wall climbing, were learned to a level that he could perform them without embarrassing himself. All the basics were also improved, and he could probably run and jump more efficiently now.
The process was much smoother than when he learned [Firearm Mastery lvl 0], and it was all due to his now enhanced Cognition. He could still learn 3 more lvl 0 skills, but he decided that it should be enough for today.
Eli hailed a cab and drove to the girl's apartment back in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, near an emergency operating room in a hospital...
An old man in a clean black suit was sitting near the operating room. The old man's face was filled with worry. He had 3 children in his life. Two sons and a daughter. The two sons were both successful. One became the current vice director of the FBI, following his path, and another became a self-made multimillionaire, working directly with the army on advanced weaponry. His only daughter, who died from a car accident with her husband, left an orphaned 5-year-old daughter. Since his two sons could not spare the time to raise her properly, he took it to his own hands and raised her together with his now-deceased wife until she reached 18 years old. The granddaughter wanted to also follow in his footsteps and joined the FBI as an agent, even though he was opposed to it. After 4 years of service in the FBI, she became a professional undercover agent. As an undercover, she usually worked alone, and this time, she was trying to uncover a kidnapping racket. However, 2 days ago, she disappeared. The FBI did not know where exactly she went and were searching for her.
3 hours ago, there was a report of a shooting in a nightclub. When the police arrived, they found 19 dead gangsters in the basement, as well as his unconscious granddaughter who was in a critical state in the main clubroom. An ambulance arrived 3 minutes later and took her to the emergency room in a nearby hospital. When the old man heard it was his granddaughter, he pulled some strings and brought some of the best doctors in NYC to operate on her.
The more obvious injuries included an open head wound, black eye, 3 missing teeth, swollen cheek from an inner laceration, many battering wounds across her body, a very broken leg, and she was raped for an indeterminant amount of time. After a full-body scan, they also found that her index finger and thumb of her right hand were cracked, had 2 cracked ribs, and had some minor organ injuries. Her disfiguration aside, she could recover from all of these injuries by a large extent due to her fit body and young age, but her career as an agent was probably over.
Just then, a few doctors and nurses exited the operating room. The old man asked hurriedly, "How is she doctor?"
The doctor looked at him said reassuringly, "She will be fine, she is a strong girl. In fact, she should wake up half an hour from now."
The old man thanked the doctor as they transported her to a private room, and then he waited patiently. During the time he waited, a few police officers came by and wanted to ask some questions, but when they knew that the one being operated on was an FBI, they backed off. The police and the FBI usually steered clear from each other like oil and water. They only cooperated in certain situations, but usually, in cases like this, the FBI was the higher authority. Besides, if the FBI wanted to pass any important information, then they will get it without any need for questioning.
After half an hour of waiting, his granddaughter finally woke up from her anesthesia-induced sleep. He immediately went inside and sat down beside her, holding her relatively uninjured left hand. After 10 minutes of recollecting herself, she was finally lucid enough to realize that she was in a hospital, and her grandfather was holding her hand on her left.
She asked, slurrily, "How hong hath A' Veen Shweephin? (How long have I been sleeping?)"
The old man understood what she said and told her, "Close to 4 hours, Emmalee."
Emmalee, the granddaughter, thought for a bit, before asking, "Wher Ish He? (Where is he?)"
The old man was confused, and asked, "Who are you talking about? Perhaps the one who saved you?"
"Yesh. (Yes)"
The old man sighed and said, "We don't know where he is. The cameras in the club only showed you levitating off the ground like some ghost, before being placed on a nearby sofa. When your uncle heard that it was you who got sent to the hospital, he ordered the FBI to take over the case. The only thing we can conclude is that he had a vendetta against the boss of the place, as the guy's entire nether region turned into mashed meat from a point-blank 12-gouge shot. By the way, we also arrested his son in his house and an illegal doctor taking care of him. Judging from his injured crotch, I guess it was your handiwork."
Emmalee's face suddenly showed a mixture of both relief and pity. Relief because she was glad her savior was not caught, as well as pity for probably not being able to see him again. She wished to thank the man for saving her.
The old man's eyes suddenly sharpened when he noticed this, as he said, "There is a camera for monitoring, but there is no audiotape. So you can speak freely. Did you see the man?"
Emmalee stared at her grandfather with her uninjured left eye, before she uttered, "Noh. (No.)" This was the first time in more than 10 years that she has lied to her grandfather this blatantly to the face. She was determined to not reveal her savior's identity.
The grandfather stared at his granddaughter. He knew that she was lying to him. If she took a polygraph test, however, it would most likely state that she was saying the truth. She was one of the rare ones who knew how to beat the polygraph against even an expert examiner. He sighed to himself, and let the white lie slide. She was rescued after all from almost certain death. He did not expect her to actually tell him about the man. Anyway, her career as an agent was over now.
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Yes Votes: 23 14.0%
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maybe Votes: 81 49.4%
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No Votes: 60 36.6%
Finally! Thanks for the chapter!
I think it's wrong to see the government as some monolithic entity. I think here should be forces that would advocate his arrest and be generally antagonistic, forces that are opportunistic and seek to control and/or manipulate him for their own agenda, and forces that side with him. I think a realistic case-scenario would be for the government to classify it as confidential and deny all knowledge of Eli's escapades - and even if they somehow found out that it was him, they would cover it up and not openly prosecute him as it would be difficult to explain it court or to the public. Revealing that an invisible man could go on killing sprees without anyone to stop him would invite mass chaos and hysteria in the general public thus the cover up.
With his case in point, the executive branch would probably use a multi pronged approach; 1 deny his existence, 2 cover up, 3 try to take contact, 4 different branches with different missions, FBI to arrest, CIA to recruit, NSA to surveil, a JTF to share Intel,
In short, yes he should clash with the government, but on other aspects, the government may also help him, like covering up his information, requesting him to do tasks.
I think instead it should be less of the government as a whole but moreso just a flow of wants that coincide
Simple version: Instead of as one big thing it’s a bunch of people who just happen to work together in the same system
@melbisbelbis yup. Agree. Wants and needs coincide, and different 3 letter branches have different needs, want, missions and goals, thus would see Eli in different lights. Moreso for politicians, judges, and lawyers - just look at our current bi-partisan politics now, people can have many different views on the same subject.
Having him reveal his face to her and her not betraying him this time feels like its setting up for a future party member.
Yeah, I hope that he finds out she's a fed, and could have narced on him, but didn't. Then, in gratitude, he could give her the vaccine, maybe even find a way to heal her. And, possibly, set up a backroom deal with her gramps. That way he can still find out who really needs killing, but not get all tangled up with the government.
There probably won't be the time to clash with the government- Even if they managed to identify him quickly, it would usually take a long time. Some people manage to be on the run for decades, let alone Eli who leaves no traces of his endeavours. I think it is extremely unlikely that they manage to figure out who he is, make contact with him and figure out a way to get into a conflict with him, especially considering the tendency of government organisations to infight politically over every single issue. As the government has not found a way to get rid of the gangs, how are they going to get into a conflict with a guy who leaves no traces in a year?
Clashing with government is always a good plot device. Especially because the government intentions often clash with individuals interests. As they should with our mc.
is it 24 or 28?
24 rework
@bignt so should i skip 24-27? currently on chapter 17
@QQundeadwolfQQ yes
Do you think Eli should clash with the government at some point?
i thik the question should be more of a wenn seeing how corrupt government is but in all of this the single most inportant question is how because how copletely determins the setting for example a single ahole in one of the 3 letter agencies going for gains or just a whole bureau after his ass for all the killing. the how is most important and it is up to you author how to implement this. no pressure there
hope these ramblings fo mine helped a bit
thank you for the continuing entertainment
Can you at least tell me around what chapter genetic inheritance will be reveled/discussed?
Dude, drop the subject already
Instead of a clash, I'd like to see him just messing with them a little. Maybe even drop hints for whatever agents assigned to track him down to find, like leaving zombie movies, or system novels in their hotel rooms, or whatever.
He's still a patriot, so he'll want to do something to help. But, like it says in the title, he just doesn't care. So, it should be something half-assed that he's just doing for 'shits and giggles'. And, whether the government realizes, or does anything to prepare, is entirely on them.
United Bank of MONEY
Yeah, I am not a fan of that one.
I don’t know why but I just had a sudden urge to explain bullet time in a philosophical and definitely not scientific way.
So, basically, Cognition doesn’t exactly speed up the brain because that would cause many problems with emotions and would make him extremely bored but rather just “upgrades” the logical part. Basically bullet time is when his emotions shut off in the heat of the moment and the brain is controlled by the logical part, making it seem as if time has slowed (and also more energy into not dying)
Anyways I would 100% love to see how this new plan will go