Dante listened till the very end then cast his gaze down then put on a smile.
"C'mon, Mr. Johanson, we have known each other for a while now. If it's favor you need, you don't have to worry about any payments."
"Oh? You think my isn't enough?" Jonah raised an eyebrow, smiling as well.
"No, no, of course not. What I'm trying to say is…" Raising his cup, Dante gave the old officer a side glance. "If it's info you need, you can just trade it with the right info, that's all."
"Info? What would you like to know?"
"Nothing at the moment," Dante replied. "But, let's say you came across some juicy intel through your channels. I would really like the chance to hear things like that."
The request clearly didn't go too well with the old officer, seeing how he leaned back into his chair, frowning while crossing his arms. It took him some time, and quite a bit of staring, but he finally gave up after a while, sighing in resignation.
"Alright, if I hear anything that might interest you, I will pass it on to you. So long as you make sure it doesn't lead back to me, of course."
"You don't have to worry, Mr. Johanson. I know how these things work." That felt like a good place to end their conversation, so Dante decided to down what remained in his coffee and stood up to leave. "Well, I'd better get going. The doctor said I need a couple more days before I'm fully healed."
"Alright. Rest well, kid. And make sure you don't catch a cold."
"I will work on that." As he turned around to leave, Dante came to a sudden halt. After a moment of thought, he turned to the old officer. "Some people have been parking around, even when they have no business in the area. You should have someone check on those vehicles from time to time. Especially the vans."
Jonah stared at him with a slight confusion, but then his eyes widened slightly as if the realization just hit him.
"Don't worry, I will have someone patrol the area from now on."
Leaving the building, Dante stood at the entrance and stretched his limbs. He asked his resident AI to show him the feed from the surveillance cams surrounding the megacomplex of the station, and from there, he checked the street farther from where he started.
As expected, there weren't any suspicious vehicles, but checking put his heart at ease.
'... I'd better go get some sleep.'
In his mind, Dante was already formulating a plan for how he would go about fulfilling Jonah's request. For the time being, he sent a message to Viktor asking if he knew anything. The fixer might be able to provide him with everything related to the movements of the gangs, but if it's finding Riot and his backers, Dante knew he would have to put in the work himself.
~[ ]~ Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on noveⅼfire.net
Whoever came up with the idea of linking doorbells to one's NIM must have been a colossal moron, that was the conclusion Dante arrived at after his dreamless sleep was suddenly interrupted.
As his OAM came to life, he checked the clock and saw it was only 07:30, a time no one acquainted with him would choose for a visit.
"Goddamn it, who is it now?"
Despite having had his REDs soon after returning home the previous day, the effects had yet to wear off, leaving him feeling rather sleepy. They seem to have done their job, however, which would explain why he was starving as if he had skipped more than just dinner.
Giving the doorbell notification a mental tap summoned a screen with the feed from the camera, and one look at it pushed Dante's mood from bad to worse.
Seeing his early morning visitor reach out to press the doorbell again, he hurriedly gave the command to open the door, then lay down once more. A few seconds later, his calm was interrupted by a young voice.
Not bothering to open his eyes, Dante asked in a groggy voice.
"I said, are you food?"
"... Didn't know you hit your head back there."
"If you aren't food then go bring some. And brew some coffee."
"No, I'm starving. Bring me something heavy."
"... Goddamn it. I'm not your servant, you know?"
Dante heard a few steps move away from his room, but they returned soon after.
"You're still asleep? The food is already here."
Dante opened his eyes and checked the clock again. Seeing that it was already 08:15, he realized that he had dozed off for a short while. He wanted to ignore the voice and go back to sleep, but a fragrant aroma entered his nose, causing his stomach to go on a rampage.
When he finally got up, the first thing he saw was a very angry face.
"You look like shit," Finn said.
"I feel like shit, too." Dante yawned. "What did you get?"
"Spring rolls and some fried rice."
Making a quick trip to the bathroom to wash his face, Dante hurried to the kitchen and sat down to eat. Emptying the food containers took less than ten minutes, and in that time, the little brat didn't say a thing.
"Those were good, but… nothing compared to grandma's."
"Still can't believe you at that first thing in the morning," Finn said. "You sure you're okay?"
Dante grabbed his mug, staring at the dark potion filling it.
The REDs seemed to be doing their job, at the very least. His body felt a lot better compared to yesterday, and he no longer felt the painful jolts from making sudden turns. At this rate, he would be fully recovered by the end of the day.
"Guess fighting those heroes did a number on you, huh?"
Stabbed with that statement, Dante spat out the coffee in his mouth.