Chapter 55: Escape & Rescue Operation III

Damon now had exactly 15,000 origin crystals. This was the value he had calculated to stop his expenditure at. He had spent thirteen thousand origin crystals to get even set up and prepared, and he was satisfied with his choice.

Now it was time to invest, and as usual, he did some quick mental maths. Continuing the daily double returns would put his current 15,000 origin crystals at exactly 1,920,0000 origin crystals.

It was an outrageous sum to think about, and his doubling income might just be his most powerful investment option even though the others had higher percentages; maybe though percentages would improve in the future; but for now, say he was to invest 15,000 crystals into his one-week return, it would only amount to 1,050,000 origin crystals.

It doesn’t seem worth it at the moment after considering everything. The best bet was to stick to daily turnovers; at least until a few extra zeros are added to those values. But something deep inside Damon tells him those longer stretches of investment would do better in helping him nurture his liminal subspace than the daily fixed deposits; but right now, Damon needed what would provide the highest returns; maybe he would consider the others once his origin crystals were overflowing.

[ONE DAY FIXED DEPOSIT:

Investment Volume: 15000 oc

Duration: 24hours

ROI: 100%

Projected Returns: 30000 oc

Proceed? ]

Looking at the volume of his investment, Damon realized he’s come a long way. Not long ago, the investment amount used to be just a single digit; now it was five digits long. With a thought, the investment was made.

A few more hours passed as the night deepened; Everyone sat in nervous quiet as they awaited Tessa’s confirmation that Brad and his crew had gone to sleep. And finally, once it was around a few minutes to two in the morning, they received that confirmation.

"Young master, we’ll be back soon. As planned; please wait by the elevator."

Mildred’s said to Damon, donning all her gear, even some extra lay and throwing knives strapped to her thigh for good measure, with her activated bronze ring on her finger.

Everyone exited apartment 20C and went to stand beside the exclusive penthouse elevator. With a little override from Damon, the exclusive elevator was set to allow only him, Harvey, and Mildred to operate it.

"Good luck, both of you."

Damon said to Harvey and Mildred as they nodded, taking the elevator up, while the rest of them waited where they were.

A few moments later, with a soft elevator ding, the exclusive elevator opened up to the penthouse floor, as Harvey and Mildred took silent, cautious steps towards the apartment door.

Reaching the door, Mildred went to work with her tools, hacking into the security lock. Since a more advanced locking mechanism was used on the door, it was taking her much longer to open it, while Harvey stood guard with his rifle in hand.

They needed to act with extreme caution. Even though Damon’s team were armed to the teeth, Brad’s gang, which had taken on an additional two, consisted only of awakeners. Meaning, including Brad and the twins, there were four others inside who were awakeners. A total of six.

Tessa had given crucial info about the abilities of three of the new guys and what possible classes they awakened; but the last person was still a mystery. And it would certainly be a terrible idea to have to battle this group when they are saving their strength to make their escape.

After nearly three minutes, the lock finally clicked open, and Mildred quickly sent a message to Tessa.—

[Private Chat]

It’s open. You can come now; be careful.

Tessa: Okay, thank you so much. I am coming.

The message was sent; Mildred and Harvey went to wait patiently by the elevator; it was in Tessa’s hands now; all they would do was provide backup, as instructed by Damon; there was no need to risk an all-out confrontation if things go awry; they could always try again later, seeing as, according to Tessa, Brad has done nothing else but keep her locked up inside while trying to win her affection. He was essentially a kidnapper asking for Tessa’s heart as a ransom.

Inside the penthouse, in the master bedroom, Tessa looked at the first obstacle to her path to freedom, who was sleeping carefree next to her. One thing she’d noticed these past few days was that Brad’s senses had become sharp to a scary degree; even a pen dropping to the floor might just wake him up.

She had prepared herself for this escape for a while now; she had memorized the sleeping schedules and habits of all the people on Brad’s team, which now consisted of six guys and one young lady. She even knew all the classes and skills of them all, except for the most recently joined, which was the lady; she did not know.

The good thing was that this new gang member does not stay in the penthouse with them; rather, she chooses to sleep in her apartment. This saves Tessa the trouble of factoring in this variable.

Tessa carefully peeled off the shoes from her legs, carrying them with her hands as she began to tiptoe slowly out of the master bedroom door, which, luckily, Brad hadn’t gotten around to fixing yet.

As she practiced countless times, she walked into the passageway, only stepping on flooring that she had confirmed let out zero sound. She did this until she reached the living room, where one of Brad’s group’s new members was snoring.

She continued to follow the path she’d memorized in her mind through the living room until she finally reached the door. Tessa’s heart was almost beating out of her chest. If she were caught by Brad, he would triple the security, and she would never be able to get out then.

The door was the hardest part; it’s always been the hardest, and she hasn’t gotten enough experience to handle it quietly enough. Brad always kept it locked, and his gang members had to do the same or face his wrath.

’Here goes nothing.’ Tessa thought inside, steeling her nerves as she grabbed hold of the large metal handle of the door, pulling as slowly as she could and looking back repeatedly.

The doors expanded wide enough to let her through, after only making a little woosh sound. Tessa excitedly took her first step to freedom, but was shocked to a standstill when a voice came from behind her—

"Who’s there?"