Knowing that he couldn't stay still any longer, Christian finally started taking action. He first checked to make sure the assassin was dead, then began covering the man's neck with the blanket, or rather, his neck along with injury places, to prevent the blood from spreading further in the room.
The thought of calling the police didn't occur to him.
If things were to proceed fairly, he wouldn't have minded, as he could just claim self-defense as the reason for killing him.
But now, would they truly be fair?
He clearly didn't know this man, after all, and it was impossible for him to have some unknown grudge. Then, that leaves the possibility that this was under the order of someone else.
And thinking of the perpetrator responsible for this, someone who could order something , Christian didn't believe the police, when they arrived, would be fair in their judgment, based on his previous experience.
He had already lost his trust in the authorities long ago when he saw how they handled his parents' case.
While wrapping the corpse to contain the blood, Christian couldn't help but think about who could have ordered this.
He didn't remember ever angering someone to this extent.
No, in the first place, he didn't know anyone who could order something .
But, searching his memory and thinking of everything he'd done since he got his Idle System, a name finally came to his mind: Eva.
It couldn't be anyone else other than her. Still, he didn't mean she was the one who ordered this, but the person behind it had to be somehow connected to her, as he couldn't think of any other possibility, especially considering her mysterious origin and what he had just uncovered by hacking.
Christian felt his anger rising, as he thought that she should have at least tried to warn him, if her situation was actually this serious.
Then, remembering the two choices she had just given him, he started wondering if she had offered them with this kind of situation in mind.
More importantly, had they always gone to private places or places with very few people for this reason? Was the kiss outside the last straw that caused things to deteriorate to this extent?
Is this the price for it?
Thinking this far, Christian couldn't help but feel helpless.
What should he make of this kind of situation? What should he think?
Should he call her? Tell her to come and take the corpse, at least help him take care of the problem she was the reason for?
But, was she even able to, in the first place?
Most importantly, could she be trusted?
Christian couldn't make head or tail of things anymore. But after finally wrapping the corpse, albeit a temporary solution, and bandaging his hand, still bleeding, he finally left his room.
He made sure there was no visible blood at the first glance and that no trace would be left on the floor. Then, he headed toward his sister's room.
He wanted to check and make sure that she was okay before anything else.
Opening the door of her room slowly and carefully to avoid waking her, Christian found her sleeping soundly, dressed in little clothes like usual.
He hadn't noticed when she came back home, as he had been too absorbed in hacking earlier, and she likely didn't want to disturb him. Now, seeing that there was no problem with her, that she was safe and sound, he could finally be at ease and continue what he had been doing.
So, closing the door even more slowly, as fortunately his sister had not woken up, he finally returned to his room.
Christian first went to the table beside his bed, put an earphone in his ear, and finally spoke in a low voice.
"Iris, put everything you're working on right now aside, and secure all the CCTV cameras around my house within a 2-kilometer radius,"
"Look if there is anyone suspicious."
Saying all that, Christian felt like he had been too careless. He always preached safety first, but despite all the skills he had developed, he had never thought to ask Iris to monitor his surroundings to ensure nothing could happen, even if it seemed like an impossibility.
As this impossibility had occurred now.
No, actually, how could he be sure that, aside from what had happened today, a person wouldn't show up, and go berserk at the door of his house?
He couldn't, and that meant he had let down his guard.
Hearing the reply, Christian finally closed his reproaching thoughts and went to the kitchen to grab the plastic wrap, then returned back to his room.
Why the plastic wrap? It was the first thing that came to his mind for bandaging the corpse properly.
Now, moving toward the corpse, Christian began by removing everything the man had on him, starting with the weapons, including the knives, before moving on to the mobile phone, cash, and miscellaneous items like the identity card.
Christian didn't bother looking at the identity card to assess its credibility.
The most important thing was the eavesdropping and location marking, so Christian focused on that, quickly hacking into the phone.
Upon succeeding, Christian discovered that they weren't eavesdropping through the phone. However, his suspicion that the phone itself was being tracked was indeed correct.
Christian deliberated briefly whether to close the phone tracking, but in the end, he felt it would look too suspicious. Instead, he decided to let it appear as though the phone had left his house, gradually advancing to some abandoned location in Harrisburg.
He would figure out later where exactly to send the tracked location.
Christian, having taken care of that quickly, was about to return to wrapping the corpse. However, noticing that the phone appeared empty at first glance, he decided to look further.
And what he found was actually just one message with a file attached, and nothing more on the phone.
The message was actually a command to kill him, and if his sister got in the way, to also eliminate her, then make it look like a robbery attempt, but, later things had gone wrong and escalated to this.
Seeing how far they were willing to go, Christian felt his barely held emotion, to surge again in anger. However, he quickly reined it in, reminding himself that losing control now would only cloud his judgment. Staying calm was the only way forward.
He then looked at the file, and it contained just general information about him, including a picture of both him and his sister.
He stared at the screen for a moment, dazed.
In the end, he clenched his fist and turned back to the corpse. He made sure once more that nothing had slipped his notice during his search of the body. Then, he began wrapping it up. The fabric he had used at first was only for momentary containment, after all, having absorbed enough blood, its purpose had already been served.
But now, with the plastic wrap, he ensured that the blood, which seemed to be already running low, wouldn't leak anymore.
Luckily, all the wounds were near each other, so he managed to take care of them easily. Still, he continued wrapping the corpse until the plastic wrap in his hand was used up.
As soon as he finished, Christian went to retrieve cleaning tools and trash bags.
He started cleaning, making sure that, at the very least, the outer appearance of his room didn't reveal any traces of blood.
Taking some time to clean everything and find something to properly wrap the corpse, this time with the intention to cover it, as he considered how to handle the situation next.
Christian finally took a quick shower, as everything in his room seemed clean now, but he, himself, felt the most out of sorts.
As soon as he came out and put some clothes on, Christian bandaged his hand more properly this time with the first aid kit, sterilizing the wound carefully and stifling a growl from the stinging pain.
Now, looking at the room that seemed normal, if one didn't take into account the corpse wrapped in clothes at the side and the trash bags, Christian finally felt a sense of relief, then asked.
"Iris, did you find anything from the CCTV cameras?"
[Nothing of note has been found.]
Receiving the response, even though it was a favorable one, Christian paused for a moment. He then decided to check on his own again, ensuring that Iris hadn't missed anything.
Finding that her work was thorough and accurate, Christian didn't immediately feel relief. Instead, he widened the search radius even further. With Iris's computational power assisting him, he searched again, finally letting out a sigh of relief when he found no evidence of the assassin having any teammates, at least not in the city.
As he spent a brief moment in respite, knowing the problem wasn't over yet and that the situation just hadn't spiraled out of control, completely, Christian didn't allow himself to rest.