CHAPTER 25: BIG SHOT

On the tree-branch-shaped perch, a snow-white owl with black spots lowered its half-lidded eyes to look down at Wayne with an air of superiority. He swore he saw contempt in those narrowed eyes!

Owls were considered symbols of wisdom. He didn’t buy it, or this white owl would’ve used its cute appearance to its advantage rather than looking at him with such infuriating smugness. Its arrogant demeanor seemed like a challenge, as if only one of them would walk out of here standing.

“Oh, you’ve taken a liking to this one? I remember it’s quite old and has been here for ages without getting chosen...”

Noticing him locked in a staring contest with the white owl, Vera knew that he had found his messenger bird. She grabbed an encyclopedia from a nearby shelf, flipping a few pages before reading out loud, “Snowy owls, also known as white owls, are active during the day. They range from fifty to seventy centimeters tall with a small, round head. Compared to other owls, their faces aren’t as prominent.”

“According to our records, this snowy owl is male. An average snowy owl is around sixty centimeters, but this one is slightly smaller. Maybe it didn’t get enough food when it was young. Also, its nearly pure white coloring indicates that it’s an old bird.”

“Get to the point!” Wayne interrupted without turning around. Driven by a strange competitiveness, he continued his staring contest with the bird, their eyes locked unblinkingly to see whose would dry out first.

“It’s too old and rarely active at night. Maybe you should pick another.”

Even after saying that, Vera shrugged in resignation. Affinity could not be forced. Whichever bird caught Wayne’s eye first would be the one that matched him. There was no changing it. Besides, He clearly had excellent compatibility with the owl. Their gazes were practically identical, and another bird was unlikely to be as good a match.

“This is the one,” Wayne said. His eyes were dry, and he lost the contest. He decided to take the bird home and teach it a proper lesson.

“Yeah, give it a try. You two should get along well.”

Under her encouragement, Wayne reached out to touch the snowy owl.

A cat-headed bird[1] was also part cat, so petting an owl should be the same as petting a feline. He believed his masterful technique would make the owl surrender completely, turning into a puppet of desire that would cry and beg for his touch, never daring to look at him through slitted eyes again.

But he missed! The little prick dodged his hand!

He was completely bewildered, and Vera was equally confused. She handed him a mouse to try again. It got worse. The snowy owl ignored the treat with an even more contemptuous gaze, as if calling him an imbecile with its expression.

How dare you!

He rolled up his sleeves to show the bird who was boss, but Vera quickly grabbed his arms, urging him to calm down and not stoop to the level of a messenger bird. They would be family from now on; it was better to talk things out rather than resort to physical communication.

The friction was so strong that he failed to break free of her hold after two tries. He struggled a few more times and still couldn’t extract his arm, so he decided to drop the matter for her sake.

“This is the one. I’m definitely taking it home today.”

“Um, maybe try to entice it with your mana? Your compatibility should be quite high...” Vera suggested.

Entice? No, this is called showcasing my biggest asset!

Confident in his pure mana, he waves his hand in front of the snowy owl, letting a wisp of white light spill out. That drew the collective attention of all the other owls in the aviary.

The snowy owl’s half-lidded eyes opened wide, its golden eyes as round as copper coins, and its black pupils suddenly contracted. Clearly, it was shocked. This time, when Wayne asked it to come home with him, it didn’t refuse. It jumped onto his arm without further prodding.

The snowy owl looked big as a bird, but it was very light, weighing only about a couple of kilograms. Its apparent bulk was all an illusion created by its fluffy feathers. That was the case for all owls—without their feathers, they looked as skinny as a stick.

The snowy owl couldn’t fit into a hat, and while there were spells that could hide large owls in their owner’s clothing or accessories, they were beyond what beginners could master. Vera found Wayne a birdcage with a curtain and managed to barely fit the snowy owl inside.

It was unusually quiet. Unlike its curious fellow avians, the owl maintained its aloof appearance throughout, which convinced him of its old age. That was fine. He didn’t expect it to guard the house anyway, and it didn’t matter if it wasn’t active at night—he had Do for that. His trusty hound would handle everything.

Speaking of which, Do had been out gallivanting for several nights. It was time for her to shoulder her responsibility as a watchdog.

***

After filling out the paperwork, Wayne followed Vera out through the arched iron gate with the birdcage. She was planning to take him to her room to teach him basic magic related to messenger birds, away from noises and interruptions. But as expected, the friendly trainers immediately surrounded them, their rippling muscles making it impossible for Wayne to say no, so he asked for an office with a glass door.

Vera brought over a magic book containing basic spells for messenger birds, explaining each of them with simple, easy-to-understand language. Outside the glass door, the burly hunks swarmed into the room whenever Wayne took advantage of the lesson to touch Vera’s hand, demonstrating their beliefs in the art of raw power.

Hah! You wouldn’t know she had touched me with her boobs earlier!

Once again, he proved himself to be a genius. Not only did he have an impressive memory, but he was also quick to absorb and master new knowledge.

Vera warned him not to attempt the newly learned magic yet. Beginners were prone to mistakes, which would mean death to a messenger bird. What he needed to do now was to get acquainted with his owl; basically, he should feed it more and keep it happy and content. Once Kristen was done with her assignment, she would tutor him one-on-one, and then it would be the right time to try the spells.

Wonderful! Private tutoring from a pretty girl!

As a wise man once said, “Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. Sits on a man for a minute, and it seems like more than an hour[2].”

Time quietly passed. Before nightfall, Vera gave Wayne the textbook for basic messenger bird magic and told him to study it carefully to cement his memory. He left the fitness center with the textbook and birdcage.

Behind him, the hulking trainers saw him off at the entrance. Coach Dick raised an eyebrow, looking at a black car at the end of the street. Inside, two shifty men in black were smoking. As soon as they saw Wayne leave, they tossed the cigarette butts and slowly drove off in pursuit.

“That kid’s followed?” Dick pondered for a moment before saying to a fellow trainer, “Follow them. Keep out of sight and don’t do anything unnecessary. Just make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”

The trainer nodded, throwing a jacket on and tailing the black sedan that was tailing Wayne.

The two men weren’t mages. Their vitality was weak and unfocused in Dick’s eyes, marking them as run-of-the-mill people, probably gang members or local thugs. He didn’t take such minor matters to heart, nor did he care why Wayne had gotten on the wrong side of some gangsters. He cheerfully sidled up to Vera, rubbing his hands together with the silly smile of a doting father.

“Vera, how did you meet Wayne?”

“...I know, but you didn’t go into detail last time... No, I don’t mean anything by it. I just want to know more about your life.”

“Him, a genius? Don’t make me laugh... Um, I’m not questioning your judgment. What I mean is that even if he is a genius, he is too old for much of his potential to be developed.”

“What? He took the white owl with his mana?!”

Dick’s eyes widened, his facial muscles twitching with shock, making his centipede-like scars writhe continuously.

“Nothing. Just an old bird. Yeah, his luck’s bad—terrible.”

He quickly schooled his expression and changed the topic, hiding his reaction from Vera. By the time he turned around and walked out of the gym, Wayne was long gone with the birdcage.

“It can’t be. That’s not a messenger bird. There’s no reason for it to leave with Wayne...”

“Is he actually a genius?!”

***

Wayne didn’t take a taxi straight home. Instead, with the birdcage in his left hand and a bag containing a textbook and bird feed in his right, he strolled along the street, streetlights turning on one by one as if to trail his steps.

For one, he was trying his luck, hoping to encounter the thugs kidnapping young women at night. If he could pull off a heroic rescue, and the damsel in distress happened to be as well-off as Veronica, he wouldn’t mind accepting her gratitude to ease the crisis of his pockets being lighter than his pride. He’d pass on an offer of her hand, though. He was rather conservative about love, so juggling four relationships would be against his principles.

For another, he wanted to familiarize himself with the Northern District, checking which corners were good for surveillance and which manholes could fit a person, as well as the subway stations that would allow for a quick escape. Besides, Do could use a stroll. It was getting dark and foggy—time for Do to emerge from underground.

After about ten minutes, he realized that he was being followed. When turning a corner, he caught sight of a black sedan in his peripheral vision, driving so absurdly slowly that whoever was inside was certainly determined to wait for night to fall.

Easier to strike when it was dark!

“Damn, are they not targeting beautiful girls anymore, but beautiful boys instead?” Wayne muttered under his breath. When he passed by an alley, he darted into it fast.

The black sedan stopped by the curb. Two men in black hurriedly got out and rushed in. At the far end of the street, the trainer who had been following them moved to the alley entrance. Instead of entering, he closed his eyes and listened for a moment. Then he shook his head and left.

Boss was worried for nothing. The kid could put up a fight and was full of dirty tricks; he wasn’t as innocent as he appeared to be!

Wait, if that was the case, wouldn’t Vera fall for his tricks, too?

He spat and hurried back to the fitness center. He had gathered important intelligence and needed to urge everyone to stay vigilant. They could not let the bad boy get his way!

***

In the alley, Wayne hid behind a dumpster. When the two men rushed past, he emerged from his hiding spot and dropped one of them with a jump kick. As soon as he landed, he spun around and threw a punch at the other man, hitting the man’s nose.

With momentum empowering his punch, the attack stunned the man and knocked him out. He collapsed straight to the ground before he could even react.

The first man in black scrambled to pick up the gun that had slipped out of his jacket when he fell. His panicked expression began to relax when he reached it, but he celebrated too early! A kick to his rear sent him flying forward with his limbs sprawled. When he turned around, Wayne already had his gun.

The body retained muscle memories of extensive combat techniques—the original Wayne was definitely not some third-rate, good-for-nothing detective.

“On your belly, hands behind your head!”

Wayne waved the gun at the man in black. It was getting dark. His frosty voice and his eyes peeking from under the brim of his fedora made him seem like a ruthless mob boss who would kill without batting an eye.

The man in black was thoroughly intimidated. He lay face down on the ground and put his hands behind his head.

The other man remained unconscious. Wayne searched him and found another gun. Brows furrowed, he demanded, “Who are you? Why were you following me?”

“No, we weren’t. We were just passing by.” The man on the ground tried a lame excuse.

“Hah, so you’re saying that it’s a coincidence?”

“Yeah, it is!”

Wayne sauntered up to him and pressed his knee to the man’s nape, holding the gun against the back of his head. “Kid, you’re risking your life for a few hundred bucks a month? I’ll give you one more chance. Answer now, or I’ll blow your brains out and get the answer from your companion instead.”

“I... I...”

Lies don’t break people; truth does!

That hit a nerve, and the man in black felt such an overwhelming bitterness that he struggled to breathe.

“Still not talking?” Wayne pushed the gun harder against his neck. “Fine, I won’t force you. I’ll ask your partner instead. With you serving as a persuasive example, I’m sure he’ll talk. Then I’ll spare his life.”

“No, no! Don’t shoot! I’m talking!” The man confessed. “We’re members of the Black Snake Gang in the Eastern District. We followed you to the Northern District because a big shot has his eye on you. Our boss wants to curry favor with the big shot, so he planned to kidnap you and hand you over.”

...Big shot? Who? Have I offended someone important?

1. In Mandarin, owl is mao-tou-ying, literally translated into cat-headed eagle. ☜

2. The original quote from Einstein to explain relativity is, “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.” ☜