On the first floor of Steve's villa, after successfully finding the room where nearly a ton of Gold Brickss were hidden in safes...
...Hunter looked at a camera pointed directly at the doorway in the small room, his pupils shrinking suddenly.
"Damn, there's a camera here."
"I have to finish up and get out of here quickly!"
Before coming, Hunter had already applied a disguise.
Although Westerners could hardly distinguish between East Asian ethnicities...
...much like Asians could hardly tell the difference between the British, French, and Germans...
...Hunter was also wearing a bandit mask. It would be virtually impossible to recognize him by his eyes alone.
However, he was still somewhat wary of the villa's owner.
A year ago, Steve had betrayed his former partners without hesitation.
He had even personally shot and killed one of his team members.
It was clear that Steve was an absolutely ruthless character.
Facing such an individual, Hunter, who was only here for the money, naturally wanted to settle things quickly.
Immediately, he reached out and pressed his hand onto one of the safes.
The reason Hunter had the confidence to break into Steve's villa alone...
...and take away nearly a ton of gold bars—something that required Charlie's top-tier heist team a series of meticulous plans and actions to pull off...
...his greatest confidence came from the proficiency system.
Not to mention his various skills and the rapid increase in his five main attributes from recent skill level-ups.
This time, acting alone...
...to steal nearly a ton of Gold Brickss from Steve, his biggest trump card was actually the private space that came with the proficiency system.
Hunter had been researching the uses of the private space for a long time.
After nearly two months of exploration, he found he could put ingredients and food inside.
The state they were in when put in was exactly how they came out.
Even the temperature wouldn't change in the slightest.
It was as if the concept of time did not exist within the private space.
In addition, Hunter discovered that no matter how heavy an object was...
...as long as its size didn't exceed the dimensions of the private space, it could be stored regardless of weight.
Furthermore, the weight of any item stored in the private space seemed to vanish entirely.
At least, Hunter had tested this more than once.
He had stored his previous self's old motorcycle along with the ford mustang gifted by Dominic into the private space.
But Hunter didn't feel any added weight on his person at all.
It was clear that for items stored in the private space...
...as long as the size didn't exceed the capacity limit, the weight would not affect Hunter's normal movement.
Besides these conveniences, what delighted him most and made him believe he could steal Steve's ton of gold alone...
...was another discovery regarding the private space!
During his previous experiments, he confirmed that anything touched by his hands or any part of his body...
...could be stored in the private space as long as its volume wasn't larger than the space's total volume.
This was the reason he was confident he could steal nearly a ton of Gold Brickss from Steve by himself.
At that moment, Hunter quickly rolled up his sleeve.
Exposing part of his forearm, he quickly pressed it against one of the safes.
Previously, for fear of leaving fingerprints...
...Hunter had used clear nail polish he'd bought while practicing his disguise skill to coat his palms.
He had tested it; he could only store an item into the private space when his bare skin made contact with it.
With the thick layer of nail polish, touching the safe with his palm wouldn't allow him to store it.
The moment the skin of his arm touched the safe...
...Hunter immediately felt the characteristic coldness of metal.
With a thought, the icy sensation on his arm vanished instantly.
Hunter's vision seemed to blur for a split second, and a safe vanished into thin air.
He felt a surge of joy, but the smile on his face soon froze.
The moment that heavy safe disappeared...
...a piercing alarm rang out.
"Oh no, a trap!"
Hunter instinctively looked at the floor and saw what appeared to be a weight-monitoring device.
It rose rapidly from the ground where the safe had just been sitting.
As it rose, the piercing alarm echoed throughout the villa.
Hunter's heart tightened; he hadn't expected Steve to be even more cautious than he had anticipated.
Realizing that the owner and potential guards might arrive at any second...
...Hunter didn't dare delay any longer and immediately touched his arm to the other heavy safe.
After storing that one as well, another strange mechanical sound popped out, as if some other mechanism had been triggered.
Hunter didn't have time to worry about it; he already heard hurried footsteps coming from the stairs.
"Run!"
Hunter bolted toward the main door on the first floor!
By the time he sprinted over, a steel-alloy grille—some metal he couldn't even name—was nearly sealed across the ground-floor passage of the villa.
Glancing at the windows, Hunter spotted more alloy grilles sliding down there too.
At the same moment, barking erupted outside.
That was fast!
Hunter's stomach lurched; this was his first time pulling a job like this.
And only minutes ago he'd swiped close to a ton of gold bricks from Steve.
Nerves rattled through him.
Yet almost instantly, the across-the-board boost granted by his superhuman stats steadied his mind.
Even in the panic, his brain mapped an escape route in seconds.
"Through the underground garage, back the way I came—out that vent window!
When he'd slipped in through the garage's ventilation window earlier, he'd checked: no traps there.
Plan set, Hunter swallowed the last of his fear and sprinted for the basement.
"Stop right there!
The instant he ducked into the stairwell, a furious roar cracked behind him.
Gunfire followed.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
AK-pattern, full-auto.
Hunter flinched—he hadn't expected Steve to own banned hardware.
Sure, America lets you buy guns, but every one of the hundred-thousand-odd licensed shops only sells neutered, semi-auto pieces: handguns, sub-guns, shotguns, rifles, hunting pieces, sniper systems—none of them full-auto.
Bullets whipped past; adrenaline detonated in his veins.
Three hopping strides and he dropped from the first floor to the basement.
He slapped duct tape across the door's strike plate and slammed it shut—buying a few seconds.
Then he bolted straight for the vent window he'd used to break in.
Two-plus metres up meant nothing to muscles now twice the human norm.
One jump and his hands clamped the frame.
He hauled; his torso slipped through.
The moment his feet cleared the sill, urgent footsteps echoed in the basement.
No time to look back.
He sprinted for the cliff, the villa's uproar and the dogs' howls closing in.
Tonight's thrills, he realised, might not be over yet.
Note:
Hello everyone!
First of all, I want to send my warmest wishes to you and your families. May your Lunar New Year be filled with warmth, reunion, and joy. I hope you all stay healthy and have a wonderful year ahead!
I have a small announcement: I will be taking a Lunar New Year holiday starting on February 15th, 2026, and will return on February 23rd, 2026. During this time, I want to rest, spend time with my family, and enjoy the traditional New Year atmosphere.
Don't worry! During this break, I will prepare new chapters so I can post them regularly when I return. So please be patient and wait, the upcoming story will be even better!
Thank you so much for your support. Wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!