'Why was he even here? Like, did he live here?' Nick thought.
'Probably not. That scaffolding was quite rickety and not very big.'
'But then, what the fuck was that guy doing below this house?'
'I mean, the tenants said that spooky things were happening in their house, which was most likely his doing.'
'But why? I mean, did he do it on purpose? Based on what the tenants said, it had to have been on purpose.'
'This means this guy was down here for a reason, and I don't think it's a very honest and nice one.'
In the end, Nick could only sigh.
'I guess the answer died with him.'
Splash, splash, splash.
The next moment, Nick saw and heard several things entering the water.
Nick raised an eyebrow when he saw a couple of rats swimming towards the place where the guy had fallen into the sewers.
"Thanks, Nick!"
Nick moved his head over the edge and looked at where the voice had come from.
A rat was clinging to the ceiling, looking at him from about two meters away.
"Nine more of those, and I'll tell you where you can find a weak Specter," the rat said with a smirk.
Nick furrowed his brows and didn't answer.
"Oh, come on," the rat said. "You've killed for less."
A memory shot through Nick's mind, and an annoyed expression appeared on his face.
Under normal circumstances, Nick would say that he would never consider the Parasite's offer.
However, he had been searching for a Specter for three weeks now, and the latest clue had turned out to be just some random dude.
Nick was quite frustrated and annoyed.
For about ten seconds, he didn't say anything.
Meanwhile, the color of the sewers below Nick had turned a bit redder.
"I'll consider it," Nick said.
"Great!" the rat said, excitedly clapping its little hands while keeping itself clinging to the ceiling with its hindlegs. "I'm looking forward to it! Just throw them in the sewers!"
Nick snorted.
"Why was that guy even here?" Nick asked.
"He was a stalker," the rat said.
"A stalker?" Nick repeated.
"Yep. He kept rambling on and on about the love of his life and how he would make everyone leave the house so that he could be with her," the rat said. "Total nutjob."
"Huh," Nick uttered in something that was and wasn't surprise at the same time.
The next moment, Nick pulled his head out of the sewers again and stood up.
Nick exited the room and walked out of the house.
After exiting, Nick saw two people waiting for him.
One of them was a middle-aged man, and the other was a 14-year-old girl.
The man was quite muscular and burly, and based on the things he was wearing, Nick could tell that he was someone working for the Peddlers, one of the four big gangs.
Those two were the inhabitants of the house.
Nick's eyes fell on the young girl.
'I guess that was his target,' Nick thought.
The next moment, Nick looked at the man. 'And with her father present, the stalker didn't dare to directly do anything to her.'
'Guess killing someone isn't always bad.'
The burly man quickly came up to Nick with a nervous and scared expression.
Surprisingly, his daughter didn't seem as anxious as her father.
"We just heard a loud bang!" the father said. "Did you find the Specter?"
"Daddy, it's not a Specter," the daughter said with a groan. "If it were, we would already be dead."
"Let daddy talk with the Extractor, honey," the father said as he lightly patted his daughter's head.
The daughter just snorted and looked to the side, but she didn't escape from her father's head pats.
"So?" the father asked, looking at Nick.
"It was a guy," Nick said.
"A guy?" the father repeated in shock.
"Told you it wasn't a Specter," the daughter said with a prideful smirk.
Nick nodded. "Some guy built some kind of scaffolding in the sewers below your house. When I knew that someone or something was below your house, I broke through your floor and found him."
Many memories shot through the father's mind, and his fear and anxiety were very quickly replaced with pure rage.
Some random guy was living below his house and causing him so much worry?!
"Where is he?" the father asked with a dark tone.
"His scaffolding broke, and he fell into the sewers," Nick said. "The Parasite quickly took care of him."
The man snorted with aggression. "Lucky bastard," he grumbled.
"Anyway, I have to thank you, sir," the man said with a respectful tone. "Without you, I would have probably lost my home."
Nick nodded with a neutral expression. "If you ever find any information regarding any possible Specters, please contact us. If you actually find one, you will have helped us far more than I have helped you today."
"Of course," the man said, hitting his chest once to emphasize that he was serious. "I will tell my men to keep an eye out!"
Nick nodded again. "Good. By the way, you should fix the floor in one of your living rooms."
"That's not a problem, sir," the man said with a laugh. "Thank you again."
The next moment, the man pushed his daughter forward a bit. "Say thanks to the nice man, honey."
The girl furrowed her brows, but her expression quickly turned into a friendly smile before politely bowing to Nick. "Thank you so much, sir!"
Nick nodded one last time and walked away.
Some seconds later, Nick just sighed.
'And the search continues,' he thought with annoyance.
'Three weeks.'
'Three fucking weeks.'
'How long until I can finally get some clues for a Specter?!'
As Nick walked, his short conversation with the Parasite shot through his mind.
Nick walked in silence.
'Nine more corpses, huh?'
Nick looked at the sky with a thoughtful expression.
'Is it really that bad?'
'I mean, there are plenty of people that deserve to die, right?'
'Is it so bad that I profit from these deaths?'
Nick wasn't sure.