Thief Vision: Meet the Next

Chapter 12: Fake Cigarette

After lying in the hotel for three days, Charles finally saw a piece of news in the newspaper. The headline of the news was quite eye-catching.

The theft group committed hundreds of crazy crimes and was eventually turned down!

Charles couldn't help sweating from this news headline. He immediately raised the temperature of the air conditioner and covered his body with the blanket on the floor.

The body of the news occupied a whole page. It said that after more than ten days of investigation, the police successfully arrested a burglary group in which more than 40 criminal suspects were got. After interrogation, the suspect confessed to the facts of the crime.

Unfortunately, the head of the gang, nicknamed MadNine, escaped from the trap set by the police, but the police had issued a national warrant. Anyone who provided any valuable information or clues can get a reward of tens of thousands of dollars. Charles looked down, and as he expected, MadNine's photo was also attached at the bottom of the text.

The news made Charles stay in the hotel for three days before daring to go out. He didn't want to be a thief anymore, but after watching the five hundred dollars "borrowed" from Dylan became less and less, he found that he could not do anything except being a thief.

It seemed that his dad was right. A thief was always a thief.

Before plucking his hair out, Charles had to admit that he had no choice but to steal. As an inspirational and motivated young man, he can't stop stealing because he was afraid of being caught. In this case, how to steal in a safer way became another problem to Charles. He knew himself very well. With his skill like a junior high school student, it could be sooner or later to be caught.

Okay! Thinking of this, Charles started pulling his hair again. Just before he almost pulled out all the remaining hair, the superpower came into his mind again. Vision!

If Vision was like a lock, Charles has got to figure out the key.

He lay on the bed thinking about the scene of entering Vision twice. He tried to find out what he had in common when he suddenly entered Vision but unfortunately found that there was no clue. There was nothing to follow.

He began to recall what the old man said about the superpower.

An empty mind!

What did that mean? Was the old man telling him that he got to learn the priest in the church? Should he read the Bible every day?

Charles immediately searched out the electronic version of the Bible online, but after trying to read it for a few minutes, he found that his brain was still messy.

Charles, who couldn't find the way to get into Vision, reached out to touch the cigarette on the bedside table but only found an empty cigarette case.

“s**t!” Charles cursed.

Life without smoke was incomplete. Although Charles was extremely reluctant to get out of bed, he had to go outside the hotel to buy cigarettes. Luckily outside the hotel was a Tobacco shop.

Charles directly asked for a box of Winston Classic, which exceeded his standard of living a little bit, but he wanted to be cruel to himself. Only by pushing himself to a desperate situation could he realize his potential.

Charles's desperate situation was to lose all his money.

The owner of the Tobacco shop, a middle-aged man, threw the cigarette to Charles. After paying, Charles just wanted to leave when he was stopped by the shop owner.

"Bro, wait a moment! Do you have cash in $100? I got too many changes here, you see?" Having said this, he pulled out the drawer

Frowning, Charles directly refused, "Sorry. You could try the next person."

Not to mention Charles did not have $100 in cash, even if he did, he wouldn’t help the shop owner. Simply because this was a set.

Two years after becoming a thief, Charles slowly learned more tricks, such as "Cash Exchange" which was one of them. The reason Charles said this was a trap was that the shop owner would always deliberately give the victim less change, or directly give fake money.

Out of the Tobacco shop, Charles wanted to walk around to breathe more refresh hair. While wandering around, Charles lighted the cigarette but immediately coughed out after the first deep sip. It was spicier than he remembered as if he was smoking chili directly. He hurriedly took out a cigarette from the cigarette case and observed it carefully, but found that the tobacco shreds were rough and loose, showing a moldy gray color.

Damn, this was fake cigarettes.

Charles threw the cigarette to the ground and kicked it fiercely. He thought he was unlucky enough, but he didn't expect to be more unlucky. Charles certainly couldn't pretend nothing happened, he took a deep breath and walked to the Tobacco shop again.

When he was about to step into the shop, a hand was placed on his shoulder.

Charles looked back and found that it turned out to be Robert.

"Why are you here?" Charles was a little nervous. After all, he betrayed MadNine. If MadNine released any clue before leaving, the gang members who have not been caught would definitely come to him for revenge.

"This is not the right place to talk. Let’s find somewhere else," Robert whispered.

Seeing nothing unusual around him, Charles cautiously followed Robert.

Following Robert to a small restaurant on the street, Charles sat down and asked carefully, "MadNine..."

"MadNine ran away."

"What about Jim?"

"He was caught."

"Okay. So…has MadNine left any words before leaving?"

"Not as I know. I heard that he left in a hurry."

Robert's words immediately relieved Charles who had an appetite immediately. Actually, from last night to noon today, he hasn't eaten anything yet. This happened to be his chance to have his first meal of the day.

After ordering three cold dishes and four bottles of beer, Charles turned to Robert again, "So, Robert, it’s impossible to be back to the gang anymore. What’s your plan now?”

Robert sighed, putting down the cup he was holding in his hand, "I haven't thought about it yet."

"Have you thought of finding a real job?”

"Do you think I don't want to? I don’t know anything except opening the door. This is the only thing I know," Robert's tone was down. Charles seemed to be able to get his frustration.

Charles picked up the wine glass while searched for topics to change the atmosphere, and he actually found one.

Charles remembered that Robert had blinked at him three times on the stairs during the last mission. He raised his glass and toasted Robert again.

"Bro, I want to ask you something."

"Yeah?”

"Last time I was blocked upstairs, did you know in advance?"

Robert smiled. "Yes, I learned it from Mark by accident."

"Thank you. Bro! you know, if you hadn't blinked at me three times, leaving me this sign to prepare in advance, I would have been caught."

“No. You can escape from that is because you are smart enough, not because of me. Afterward, I told Big Jim about Mark's trick, that’s why he cut Mark's finger that day."

Picking up the glass, Charles finished the whole drink and said angrily, "Asshole! I know he’s a bastard!"

The two of them quickly finished four bottles of beer. Charles was happily drunk, and he immediately ordered four more bottles of beer, "Robert, you see, we are all unorganized people now. I don’t have to tell you, how high is the risk of stealing alone. I have an idea! If you like, you and I, we can work together. You’re responsible for opening the door, while I will take over all other works. How do you think of this?"

“This…” Robert didn’t finish his sentence.

Seeing him hesitate, Charles said again, "I have a big business at hand now. Your skills is exactly what I need."

"What kind of business?" Robert's small eyes suddenly lit up, as if a long-hungry wolf suddenly saw the meat.

Charles shot the fake cigarette he bought on the table, "This is it."

"Cigarette?" Robert looked surprised.

"Yes! This’s not the cigarettes we always buy in the shop. It’s fake.”

Seeing Robert was still at a loss, Charles pressed Robert's ear, giving out all his plan. Robert's face became clear from the initial doubts, but after learning the whole plan, he was still full of doubts, "Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely sure," Charles promised.