It was a starless night.
Under thick, heavy clouds, the crimes of Hell's Kitchen played out without pause.
In a narrow alley, a woman was being cornered.
Three knife-wielding robbers held flashlights, shining them directly in her eyes so she couldn't see.
She pulled out her wallet, terrified, begging, "All my money is here… please, just let me go…"
"Heh heh, once we're done playing, we'll let you go for sure!"
The three slowly closed in.
Just then, a voice cut through the night: "Stop! Let the girl go!"
A man clad in a red leather suit, wearing a horned demon mask, descended from above.
Seeing him, the three muggers panicked instantly: "N-Nightmare! Run!"
"Bang, bang, bang!"
Three quick, precise strikes — and the three muggers collapsed unconscious to the ground.
With a low, gravelly voice, the man said to the woman in the corner, "Call the police."
Then, with a flick of his baton, he leapt into the air and disappeared.
…
From a distance, Cohen watched everything unfold.
Judging by his own expert fighting skills, he estimated Nightmare's martial ability was about on par with his own — maybe slightly better, but not by much.
However, the man's physical condition was clearly superior. According to Cohen's system attributes, Nightmare's stats probably exceeded 10.
Of course, his greatest weapon was his "Nightmare Radar."
Like Spider-Man's spider-sense, this radar was essentially a cheat code — greatly enhancing his detection, tracking, and combat capabilities.
After dealing with the troublemakers, Nightmare quickly left, while a voice came through Cohen's earpiece.
"All clear, Knight. The one you feared is gone. You can begin your mission now," David said.
Cohen rolled his eyes and headed toward the Flaming Garage.
"Who said I'm afraid of him?
It's just that God didn't put him on my target list yet, so I don't want to pick a fight for now. Got it?
If he crosses the line someday, I'll be sure to set him straight!"
The dimly lit streets flickered with faint lights.
Thanks to Cohen's strong night vision, the deep darkness felt no different from daytime to him.
He soon arrived outside the Flaming Garage. Everyone inside had probably gone to sleep — no lights were on.
David's voice came again through his earpiece, "There's a bedroom on the east side of the first floor with two people inside.
On the second floor, three bedrooms. The boss, Jello, stays in the northernmost room. The other two — one east, one west — each have one occupant.
They likely carry guns. From my daytime investigation, they have at least two MP9 submachine guns and one M4. Are you sure you can handle this?"
"Piece of cake."
The repair shop had a small courtyard surrounded by a little over a meter-high wall.
Cohen made a quick sprint and easily vaulted over it.
He didn't enter the building immediately but moved to the circuit breaker box under the eaves and cut the power.
Then he quietly made his way to the first-floor bedroom. These punks barely kept any guard.
In the messy, filthy room, two drunk Black men lay on opposite sides, reeking of alcohol.
With practiced efficiency, Cohen knocked them out, muffled their mouths, and tied them up securely.
Upstairs, he repeated the process for the east and west bedrooms.
But outside their boss Jello's room, there was a trap: a string with a bell hanging on the doorframe.
Too bad Cohen had night vision and was skilled in traps — this was nothing to him.
The old lock was locked, but a few wires easily picked it open.
Jello was a bulky man covered in tattoos. At first glance, Cohen felt disappointed.
According to his system, Jello was classified as a Black Iron-level target — not the Bronze-level he'd hoped for.
A waste!
Even the bad guys were useless these days.
There were six of them in total, all tied up tight.
Cohen then looped six nooses on the second-floor railing, one for each man.
Their necks slipped into the ropes, trembling as they stared in terror at the unknown visitor wearing a demon mask.
A voice came through Cohen's earpiece — David, watching via drone, spoke urgently:
"Damn it, what are you doing? Kill them and leave quickly! The longer you stay, the greater the chance of getting caught!"
"David, I don't kill just to kill. I'm here to judge."
"Don't say my name! Are you crazy?"
"Calm down. It's just you, me, and six nearly dead people here. No one will find out."
"No! The issue isn't who's here. You can't call me by my real name during ops — use the codename!"
"Uh… fine. What about 'Knight's Right Hand'?"
"Terrible. Call me… Tiger!"
"Hmph, even worse! Fine, I'm about to kill them. We'll talk later."
Before him, the six began to struggle, making whimpering sounds.
All the talking before wasn't just to waste time — it was to build up their fear and despair.
Looking at them, he spoke in a rising tone:
"Everyone, time's up!
I speak for God's judgment on your crimes, and now it's time to pay the price.
I sentence you to—"
"Death!"
He declared, then one by one pulled the stools from beneath them.
A heavy silence filled the repair shop, broken only by their muffled groans.
Minutes later, the system beeped: [Mission updated. Check details.]
He didn't open it right away but forced himself to carry the six men back into the room.
Casually, he pocketed two submachine guns.
Then, he flipped the circuit breaker back on and short-circuited the wiring, creating the illusion of an electrical fire caused by aging equipment.
With all the fuel stored in the repair shop, flames quickly engulfed the building.
By the time the fire trucks arrived, Cohen had already returned to the church.
After a shower, he sat on the balcony, blowing in the cool night breeze, watching the distant glow of the fire.
Calmly, he opened the system.
[Mission completed.]
Character level: Black Iron.
Rank up: Not achieved.
Cause of death: Hanging.
Freshness rating: ★★★★★
Final emotions: Fear, confusion.
Emotion rating: ★★★★★
Overall mission rating: ★★★★★!
Five-star rating special reward: Gift pack upgrading...
Reward: Black Iron Five-Star Gift Pack, luck doubled.
Congratulations on triggering the first five-kill combo bonus! Free attribute points: 5.
Huh?
There was even a combo bonus?
Cohen paused slightly. It seemed the system had many functions he still needed to explore.
Five attribute points were a pleasant surprise.
But the important thing now was what the five-star gift pack would give.
He opened the pack.
Congratulations! Reward obtained: Compound Eyes.
Another eye-based ability?
The next moment, his vision suddenly expanded dramatically — his vertical and horizontal fields of view widened immensely.
At the same time, everything around him seemed to slow down, especially moving objects, as if caught in a lagging space.
This was... dynamic vision!
He realized it wasn't the surroundings slowing, but him speeding up.
His nerves were more sensitive, his reflexes sharper — like a weaker version of Spider-Sense.
Though Spider-Sense had many other abilities, almost supernatural.
Not something Compound Eyes could match.
Even so, the enhanced field of vision and dynamic sight greatly improved his combat ability.
And if he focused his mental energy through his eyes, the effect could be even stronger!
But just seconds later, he felt a wave of fatigue wash over him.
His current mental attribute was 8 points, much stronger than an average person.
It seemed the Compound Eyes ability still had room for improvement.
With that thought, he already knew how to allocate the 5 newly gained attribute points.
He opened the system interface.
[Name: Cohen .
Age: 22.
Lineage: Human.
Status: Normal.
Strength: 7
Speed: 10
Defense: 7
Constitution: 5
Spirit: 10
Skills: Martial Arts Master, Pistol Expertise, Trap Expertise.
Abilities: Night Vision, Compound Eyes.
Items: None
Instances: Locked.
Parallel Universes: Locked.
Main Mission: The guilty must be punished.
Black Iron Level Targets: 2/7
Latest Mission: Bronze Hunt.
Bronze Level Targets: 0/1
Creed: Redemption through killing.]
He put two points into Spirit and three into Speed.
With his pistol expertise combined with Compound Eyes, he could kill efficiently and quickly.
He made up his mind: from now on, he'd grind gift packs—quantity over quality!
Hell's Kitchen was about to be engulfed in blood and fury!
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