A Pair of Glasses Separates Lives (Signed, Yay!!)

If I agreed to your request, I must have lost my mind.

Montgomery thought to himself.

This wasn't because Montgomery didn't trust Lake; quite the opposite. Montgomery trusted Lake a great deal, at least when it came to solving cases. After all, Lake's solve rate was well-known. Otherwise, Lake wouldn't have been the fastest to get promoted in the Homicide division and the youngest among the three teams.

The leader of Team Two, Kate Beckett, was even a year older than Lake.

But...

The textile factory wasn't just any ordinary textile factory. It was one that had donated five million dollars during the World Trade Center incident last month and had been received by both the Mayor and the Governor.

Furthermore, the New York Association for the Blind was involved with the textile factory.

If they were to carelessly stir up trouble, just poking the hornet's nest of the Association for the Blind would be enough to put the NYPD in a passive position, let alone the Mayor and the Governor.

Therefore.

Montgomery rubbed his forehead and said to Lake in front of him, "Give me evidence, solid evidence. Don't talk about getting you the Special Operations Team; even if you wanted the National Guard to cooperate with your actions, there would be no problem. The prerequisite is evidence – evidence that gives me the confidence to go head-to-head with the Association for the Blind, the Mayor, and the Governor the moment you make your move."

I knew this would happen.

Lake sighed inwardly as he listened to Montgomery's somewhat earnest advice, then turned and left Montgomery's office.

In the evening.

Lake entered his study and rubbed his temples.

I'm angry!

It was because the textile factory had provoked Lake.

As the saying goes.

Lake had already made his plans. Even knowing the plot, he was too lazy to get involved. You guys fight your fight, I'll do my thing.

After all...

He had already obtained the core skill of the textile factory, and he wasn't interested in that rag-weaving machine.

But as it turned out, just as Lake was thinking of staying out of it, the textile factory had already opened fire.

You think I'm a sick cat just because I don't show my fangs?

The textile factory must be eliminated.

The thought of the thrilling moment that afternoon made Lake think viciously. Moreover, the textile factory had to be dealt with sooner rather than later, at least before that useless pretty boy made his move.

If that useless pretty boy made a move, wouldn't the cash inside the textile factory explode along with it?

It's just evidence, isn't it?

Here's your evidence!

This time, Lake was determined to lead troops to encircle and suppress the textile factory.

Coincidentally.

His girlfriend, Maureen, didn't come over today; she went back to her own apartment. After all, they were just in a relationship. Although they occasionally ate and slept at Starlight Tower, they mostly returned to their respective homes.

This was also easy to understand.

Both of them needed their own private space.

With that thought, Lake walked to the bookshelf in his study and looked at the third book on the third shelf from the left, "Language and Behavioral Arts."

He flicked it.

With a crisp click.

The bookshelf slid open, revealing a hidden safe behind it.

He opened it.

Inside was a black card, ten stacked gold coins, and an object shaped like a pocket watch.

This was where Lake kept his belongings as the Black King.

When he put on his glasses, Lake was Lake.

When he took off his glasses, Lake was the lone killer in the darkness, the Black King!

The gold-rimmed glasses were also an item, a mysterious, rule-based item. He didn't get them through a lottery; instead, Lake won them from a "coming-of-age" lottery opportunity gifted by his cheat system when he turned twenty-one.

[Gold-rimmed Glasses: Item Type, No Grade, Rule System. Want to know why Superman is unquestioned when he wears glasses? Want to know why Conan is so reckless when he solves cases with glasses? Put on these glasses, and you can do it too.]

If it weren't for these glasses, to be honest, Lake wouldn't have chosen to work for the NYPD back then.

The twenty gold coins in the safe were the rewards Lake had received over the years for completing assassination missions.

Twenty gold coins could pay for twenty stays at The Continental Hotel, twenty corpse retrievals, or forty drinks at The Continental Hotel's bar...

I really am a poor man!

Thinking about the total value of the gold coins in front of him, Lake felt a pang of sadness. If it weren't for this money-devouring cheat system, Lake dared to guarantee that he would already be financially free and own his own castle.

But...

"Pay-to-win can make you a god!"

As Lake thought of the slogan for the cheat program, his sense of misery lessened. He grabbed the gold coins from the safe and the black card belonging to his Black King, putting them into his pocket.

If everything in The Continental Hotel didn't require gold coins, Lake would have considered exchanging these twenty gold coins for US dollars.

Thinking of the basement of Baba Yaga filled with gold coins, Lake, after leaving Starlight Tower, started contemplating whether he should steal it all.

After all, that Baba Yaga had retired, and his wife was still around. As long as he didn't touch his wife, Lake felt there was a high chance of success.

But the moment he remembered his motto was "black eats black," Lake abandoned the idea.

"Black eats black" relied on skill.

Stealing?

That kind of thing wasn't on the same level; Lake disdained doing it.

Ten minutes later.

When Lake emerged from a corner near Starlight Tower, he had already put away his gold-rimmed glasses. With his hands in his pockets, he headed towards The Continental Hotel on Pearl Street, just two blocks away.

Spending four gold coins for evidence from The Assistance. As long as the textile factory gave him profits exceeding a million, Lake felt he would be making a killing.

However...

When Lake stepped into The Continental Hotel, which looked ordinary and no different from any other hotel lobby, he suddenly had a feeling that maybe those four gold coins were unnecessary.

No, that's not right.

One would be used!

"Good evening, Black King."

"Good evening."

"Drinks."

Lake nodded and smiled at the black attendant behind the reception desk, then took a gold coin from his pocket and pushed it over.

After the black attendant took the gold coin, he looked at the service staff member by the elevator entrance to the bar downstairs and nodded.

Lake walked over and entered the elevator.

This one gold coin was the entrance fee; drinks inside the hotel were extra.

How dark.

But it was no wonder The Continental Hotel had almost monopolized the industry in the assassin world. First, they monopolize, then they harvest. Even The Continental Hotel had learned the ways of outside capitalists.

Their hearts were too black.

Ding!

The elevator doors opened.

The soft light music seemed out of place in the somewhat dim bar. Moreover, the atmosphere in the bar today felt more peculiar than usual.

Several assassins, idle tonight, sat in their usual spots, but their gazes were all fixed on a man sitting in a booth not far away.

Their gazes towards the man held a mix of reverence, admiration, and some regret.

Cross.

Carlos.

The man who had defected from The Assistance organization!