Chapter 72: Overly Cautious
On Dame Wasp's visor, Ace saw her play the enhanced and zoomed-in video of a fingernail-sized maggot drilling into Mark's brother and Max's necks as the unknown curse slave switched his bodies like changing clothes. Observing how the maggot allowed the curse slave to assume full control of the new body in under 30 seconds, Ace was both scared and impressed by this.
He was relieved that this curseling was only a menace to the mortals and not the curse masters. However, he could still not shake the fear, worrying for his friends, family, and relatives.
Soon a loud wrathful scream broke his chain of thoughts. It was the curse slave, he seemed to have already dug up the drums and roared in rage finding nothing but sand and toilet paper in the drums instead of the money and cocaine that he came for.
After the curse slave calmed down, he appeared to be dumbfounded. Seeing his expressions and actions it wasn't hard to guess his thought process.
He mostly likely used his curseling's memory manipulation skill to go through Mark's brother's memories over and over again only to learn the same thing that the gangsters stored their product and money in the drums and buried them in the ground under their hideout.
Regardless of how many times he went through the memories he could not find the answer to why he found sand and toilet paper in the drums instead of cocaine and cash. He did not believe that the cocaine and cash turned into sand and toilet paper overnight, he strongly felt that there was a third party involved.
This third party in question, unlike his direct and gore-filled approach, utilized a stealthy approach. They silently raided the hideout and stole all the cocaine and cash in it. They even had the time and humor to play a joke on their victim. The more the curse slave thought about this the more angrier he got.
That was because not only did he not find the cocaine he came for but became a patsy for someone else.
Just the thought that he was taken advantage of by an unknown third party enraged the curse slave so much so that he wanted to kill. However, he had killed everyone in the hideout.
Therefore, he could only let out his anger and frustration by screaming at the top of his lungs which were enhanced by cursed energy making his every scream sound like a thunderous roar frightening every animal and bird in the 2-mile radius.
The curse slave thinking of something suddenly paused his grieving and drove Mike's brother's truck out of the town speeding to the other hideouts of the 9Ks. He believed that if the unknown third party knew about this hideout they should know about other hideouts of 9Ks too. Hence, he rushed to the nearest hideout of 9ks from here hoping to catch the unknown third party in the act.
'Does he not fear the cartels or the C.I.B?' Ace wondered aloud seeing the brazenness of the curse slave. After all, the curse slave was immortal and unkillable by mortal standards but a seasoned card master would easily be able to track the parasitic maggot and kill it not giving the curse slave the chance to escape.
'Master, actually not everyone is as overly cautious as you are. With the curse slave's body-switching skill, it would be hard for anyone to find him if he went into hiding. This should be what gives the curse slave the confidence to mess with the cartels and be unbridled in the mortal world without fearing the C.I.B,' Dame Wasp commented.
She really felt that her master was too cautious in doing things. Especially, the part where he only allows her to steal $100,000 from the online gambling sites per day when she could steal millions or even billions from them without any risk of being traced. After all, her cyber skills were unmatched in this world.
Her master had no reason to be so cautious but he always kept reminding her never to underestimate others, especially in the 'World of Curses.'
'Rose, can you track the curse slave's whereabouts and moments? I noticed Mark's brother was carrying his smartphone on him,' Ace ignored Dame Wasp's comment about him being too cautious and asked her if she could trace Mark's brother's phone which was now on the curse slave.
'Yes, I can. I had managed to hack into the phones of everyone in Mark's friend circle long ago. So, if the curse slave continues to carry that phone on him, I will not only be able to track him but eavesdrop on him,' Dame Wasp informed confidently.
'That's good, continue to monitor him as far as you can,' Ace planned to use this to confirm if this curse slave would be the end of the 9Ks.
He planned to spark distrust between the 9Ks and their cartel supplier by stealing their product and money but things took an unpredictable turn with the arrival of the unknown curse slave. Though things did not go as he planned Mark, his brother, and their fellow goons meet a terrible ending that they deserved and the rest of the 9Ks would soon follow them.
Ace was so sure that the rest of the 9Ks would meet the same fate as Mark and his brother because it wasn't news that any criminal organization would never shoulder any form of loss and always find someone else to make up for the said loss. The same was true for the 9Ks's cartel suppliers.
Even if the unknown curse slave was to be blamed for the loss the cartel would demand the 9Ks to make up for it or suffer the consequences. While pressuring 9Ks, the cartel would hunt the unknown curse slave for their product, money, and payback. Knowing the fate of the 9Ks was sealed, Ace was happy with the way things turned out. Especially, the part where the curse slave acted as his patsy.
Soon he ordered Dame Wasp, 'Rose, let us head home.'