Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

Next day.

The small town Tristan's car rolled in was only alive thanks to the wild nature park nearby, which attracted foreign tourists like a honey trap. According to the tourist brochure, the park featured actual ruins of Columbian-age buildings which were open for visitors for an extra fee.

As interesting as that was, Tristan didn't have the time for sightseeing.

In the town, he rented one of the many available garages. While his men pretended to be curious tourists and looked out for danger and Cuatro Angulos' people, Tristan was working out on the bombs.

The materials came from the smugglers, and the tools he bought in a hardware store in the town two hours up the road. It was all quiet and convenient. In a place like that, Tristan didn't cause a lot of curiosity.

With 6003 in interfacing skill, crafting some bombs was like a piece of pie. At least on paper.

First, the explosives themselves. The ingredients brought by smugglers were almost ready to become an explosive—Tristan only needed to carefully melt them in a large ceramic pot and mix them in the right proportions.

The ceramic pot came from the nearby market. The heat came from a small gas stove, which was a part of the group's travel supplies. Tristan even had a thermometer to measure the heat, but…

'Shit. It has a metal end. If I stick it into the pot with melting chemicals, it will react with them and ruin the entire mixture. And if I just measure the pot's temperature, the pot's contents will overheat easily—and be ruined as well.'

Tristan paused over his prepared ingredients and the workstation, frowning. He had tried to be ready for anything, but even he could overlook things.

He tilted his head, mentally running over everything he had in store. Maybe there was something to help.

'If I use a smaller pot, it will be easier to keep everything at the right temperature, even if the mixing will take longer… Do I have the time, though?'

By Tristan's mental calculations, he could try, but then he will be cutting it close to the deadline of the Operation Claw. Or he won't have enough explosives.

He sighed and scratched his face, protected by a respirator. There was no AC in the garage, and he was getting uncomfortably sweaty.

'Fuck it. I might as well start with the outer parts—maybe an idea will come to me while I'm working on them.'

Tristan set the unfinished explosives aside and went to the rest of the materials: plastic pipes for outer parts, radio transmitters for remote detonation, timers for a timed detonation.

Tristan worked the soldering iron quickly and efficiently, making plastic covers for the bombs, setting the timers and detonators inside, and leaving a part open to put the explosives in later.

Like Tristan hoped, an idea came to him in the meantime.

'I'm stupid. I can just isolate the thermometer with some cover. Melt a bit of glass with a welding torch… No, wait! I remember!'

Tristan rubbed his forehead, wondering why he didn't think about that thing sooner.

He opened the system shop and looked at the "Heat Vision" talent. It only cost 3000 CP and did exactly what Tristan needed at the moment—let him switch between normal and infrared vision.

'I never thought I might need it for something like that. But measuring temperature with a glance will be much more convenient!'

Tristan bought the talent and turned the stove on.

Switching vision modes was as simple as thinking about it. In infrared vision, the stove and the pot on it were bright with warmth.

Tristan used the thermometer to get a measure of what temperature they had exactly. When he knew what shade of yellow to look out for, he began melting his chemicals, mixing them with a long ceramic spoon.

First, a small portion—to test things.

But Tristan didn't have to worry. His heat vision didn't lead him astray, and the temperature of the first batch of explosives was measured correctly.

Two chemicals became a yellow clay-like mass, whose properties were close to those of TNT. Tristan left it to cool and mixed the rest.

It took him all day to fill all the bomb casings with explosives, cover them up, and set up timers and radio detonators so they will be easy to use in the future.

In total, Tristan made twelve bombs. Each weighed a kilogram and was powerful enough to blow up the entire garage he was in.

That was big enough to sink a decently sized ship.

Just holding them in his hands, Tristan felt the potential power vibrating within.

'Good thing that this type of explosive won't explode without a detonator going off.'

He still packed them very carefully.

Next morning, Tristan's team was going to move again. But before that, in the night, he got a message on his special burner phone.

[I will be in position for a strike within two days.]

It was from Someone You Knew. Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire

Tristan had hired the assassin to kill the anonymous boss of Cuatro Angulos, giving him all the information he hacked about his position and defenses. The price was still steep, but affordable, especially if Tristan dipped into his personal Gemello bank account.

The assassin still crept Tristan out, but he was too effective to pass on.

[Wait for the command to kill, as we talked about, Someone You Knew.]

[Yes, I remember. I don't want to jeopardize whatever you are doing, King Lion. It will give me a lot of interesting work in the future.]

Tristan cringed at the message.

'Is the one of those serial killer type assassins who do the job because they like murder? He's even worse than I thought. Although there are very few good people in both crime and showbiz, if you think about it…'

He shook those thoughts off and closed the chat with Someone You Knew without replying.

Tristan's team was almost ready for the main part of the operation. One more thing left before the main event—saving the hostages.