Requiem of The Godfather: Price of a Memory

Ch 12. Dawn Raid on the Gambling Shop

The shop house on Roses Street stood arrogantly among rows of shabby buildings that seemed to have long surrendered to poverty. Behind its steel doors, Claude's football gambling operation pulsed like a dark heart, pumping dirty money into the mafia boss's pockets while the surrounding residents struggled to survive.

Eduardo shut off the engine of the stolen sedan two blocks from the target. Pale blue dawn light washed across the asphalt, casting long shadows that looked like the fingers of death.

"I can't believe you actually brought me here, Boss," Gord whispered while struggling with the zipper of his jacket that had jammed again. His cursed luck at work as usual. "This place is the most heavily guarded spot in the district. These guys aren't the market thugs you shot earlier. These are Claude's elite crew. They carry real toys, not rusty pistols."

Eduardo did not look at him. His red eyes, the result of exhaustion and the strain of the system, stared coldly at the iron door of the building.

"You said your luck shows up when you're about to die, right? This is your stage, Gord."

"Wow, I'm touched, Boss. So I'm the first sacrifice, huh? Classic." Gord grinned, removing a toothpick from his mouth. "So what's the plan? I walk in through the front door screaming robbery?"

Eduardo pulled out his Glock-17, now empty after the last round had been fired. All he had left were his fists and the system that demanded sacrifices.

"Exactly. Walk to the front door. Cause a scene. Pull everyone's attention on the first floor. I'll enter through the rear vent. Once they're focused on you, I take them out from behind."

"And if I get shot?"

"Your luck won't let the bullet hit your heart, right?"

Gord let out a short laugh, a sound that bordered on insanity in the quiet dawn.

"Alright, Boss Eduardo. If I die, write this on my tombstone. Died because of a ten-thousand-rupiah burger. That'll be legendary."

Gord stepped out of the car casually, like a man heading out to buy cigarettes. Eduardo watched the skinny man walk toward the shop entrance.

Then Eduardo moved.

Shadow Step activated passively, his footsteps melting into the darkness of the walls. He climbed the water pipe with inhuman speed, muscles strengthened by Bone Breaker gripping the concrete as if it were soft clay.

At the front entrance, two guards in black uniforms stood watch. Bulletproof vests. HK MP5 submachine guns ready in their hands.

The moment they saw Gord approaching, both raised their weapons.

"Hey! Stop right there, you bum! You trying to die?" one guard shouted.

"Oh, sorry, bro. I just wanted to ask something. Do you guys take bets on snail racing here? I've got a champion snail named Speedy."

Gord spoke with a painfully sincere tone that instantly irritated them.

"What? Are you insane? Get lost before I put holes in you!"

Instead of leaving, Gord tripped over his own feet and crashed straight into one of the guards.

THUD.

"Ouch! Sorry, bro! Sorry!"

As Gord struggled to stand, his hand accidentally pulled the trigger of the guard's MP5.

RATATATATATA!

Bullets sprayed wildly into the air, creating instant chaos.

"SHOOT! HE'S AN INTRUDER!"

Gord screamed hysterically and began running in a frantic zigzag like a headless chicken.

Miraculously, every bullet fired by the two guards slipped past his armpits, grazed his ears, or struck the floor right behind his heels.

"I'm not hit! Hahaha! Your aim sucks, bro!" Gord yelled while darting through the now-open doorway.

Inside, at least six more men immediately reacted. Their attention locked onto the lunatic sprinting around between the gambling tables.

That was when Eduardo entered through the second floor ventilation shaft.

He landed silently on an interior balcony overlooking the main hall.

[Detecting 8 Targets.]

[Recommendation: Activate Bullet Time for execution efficiency.]

[Payment Required: Memory of Mother's Face, Permanent Deletion.]

Eduardo's heart dropped.

His mother?

He tried to remember her. The woman who had given birth to him. The woman who died when he was still a child. That memory was the purest thing he still owned.

Then he saw Gord below, nearly cornered by two men wielding machetes.

"Do it," Eduardo whispered.

Tears welled in his eyes, then instantly evaporated as the heat in his body surged.

[SKILL ACTIVATED: BULLET TIME LV.1]

The world slowed instantly.

Gunshots stretched into long, low echoes. Dust particles floating under the fluorescent lights seemed frozen in place.

Eduardo jumped from the balcony.

In his eyes, the guards moved like snails trapped in mud.

He landed behind the first guard. With a single Bone Breaker strike, he smashed the man's neck.

CRACK.

The man collapsed before he even realized someone was behind him.

Eduardo moved.

Target two. He ripped the MP5 from the guard still aiming at Gord, then smashed the stock of the weapon into the jaw of the third target, sending teeth scattering through the air.

Two seconds stretched into an eternity.

Eduardo slipped between bullets crawling through the air, twisting his body with terrifying precision.

Target four. A punch to the solar plexus.

Target five. A kick to the knee that snapped the shin bone through the skin.

When time returned to normal.

ZING.

Six guards were already on the floor.

For them, it had taken barely a second.

Silence fell over the room. Only Gord's heavy breathing and the faint groans of dying men remained.

"What... the... fuck..." Gord turned slowly, staring at Eduardo standing among the bodies with clenched fists. "Boss, did you just teleport? I didn't even get to blink."

Eduardo did not answer.

He stood motionless, staring at his trembling hands.

He tried to summon the memory.

Mother.

Nothing.

He remembered that he had a mother. He remembered she once held him in her arms.

But her face?

He could not remember the color of her eyes. The shape of her nose. Her smile.

Only a thick gray fog remained.

The pain was worse than any gunshot wound.

Inside his own mind, he had just killed his mother for this money.

"Boss? You okay? Your nose..." Gord stepped closer, worried.

Eduardo wiped his nose.

The liquid on his fingers was no longer bright red.

It was thick black fluid that smelled rotten.

His body was rejecting the system's brutal payment.

"Find the safe," Eduardo said coldly. His voice empty. "Now."

Gord did not ask questions.

He could feel the dark aura radiating from Eduardo. Something far more frightening than any firearm.

They moved upstairs to Claude's office.

The door was solid steel with a digital combination lock.

"Let me try, Boss." Gord stepped forward, pressing numbers randomly while whistling.

"My ex's birthday. My mistress's license plate. Maybe the lucky number of a sewer rat..."

CLICK.

The door opened.

"Holy shit, it worked!" Gord stared at the keypad in disbelief. "I literally just typed 1-2-3-4-5-6! Is Claude narcissistic or just stupid?"

They entered the office.

In the corner stood a small titanium safe.

Eduardo did not need the combination.

He walked toward it, clenching his fist until black veins bulged along his arm.

"Move."

He slammed his fist into the safe's locking mechanism.

BOOM.

The high level Bone Breaker power crushed the metal like brittle crackers. The safe door tore free from its hinges and smashed into the wall, leaving cracks across the concrete.

Inside were stacks of cash. Hundreds of thousands of rupiah neatly bundled together.

Two large duffel bags filled with gambling profits from the past week.

"We're rich, Boss! We're actually rich!" Gord began stuffing the money into bags like a madman. "We can eat burgers every day!"

Eduardo only stared at the piles of paper with empty eyes.

He now had the money to save Emily and Chloe.

Money to buy his daughter's future.

But the price had been the most precious part of his past.

Suddenly his world spun.

Pain exploded inside his skull.

"Argh!"

Eduardo dropped to his knees.

Black blood poured from his nose and ears.

"Boss! Hey! Eduardo! Don't die now! We've already got the money!" Gord panicked, trying to keep him from collapsing.

Eduardo's vision faded.

At the edge of consciousness, he saw a woman dressed in white standing far away, waving at him.

He wanted to call out.

Mother.

But he did not know who she was.

His tongue would not move.

"Take... the money... get me... to the car..." Eduardo whispered before darkness swallowed him completely.

Gord quickly slung the bags of cash over his shoulder and hoisted Eduardo's cold body onto his back.

"Hang in there, Boss. Don't turn into a ghost just yet. I still don't know how to split the profits fairly if you die."

Gord ran out of the building, stepping over the bodies scattered across the floor.

Outside, police sirens wailed in the distance.

But the streets always seemed to open a path for Gord.

A black cat crossed the road in front of the approaching police car. Its tire suddenly blew out, sending the vehicle spinning.

The accident cleared the road just long enough for Gord to speed away in the battered sedan.

The predator had successfully robbed the safe.

But he had lost another piece of his humanity.