Chapter 275: Repaying the Debt (6), The Vault Room

Solomon tilted his head. "What if you are lying? What if there is no vault, or the code is fake?" He leveled the bloody axe head directly at Richard’s nose. "Take me down there and open the vault right in front of me."

Richard scrambled to his feet, nodding obediently. He led the way through the ruined corridors, guiding the teenager toward the hidden executive elevators. They descended into the secured sub-levels, walking through the sterile, reinforced hallways until they reached a sprawling, high-security vault room.

A massive steel door blocked their path.

"Enter the code," Solomon instructed, standing close behind him.

Richard reluctantly stepped up to the digital keypad and punched in the sequence. The green light flashed, and the steel bolts clicked open. The vault doors swung wide, revealing rows of stacked currency, gold bars, and secure lockboxes.

"I have done what I said I would do," Richard pleaded, turning back to face the teenager. "I fulfilled my promise."

Solomon looked past the man, inspecting the vast wealth stored inside the vault room. He returned his gaze to the terrified department head.

"I will also fulfill my promise," Solomon declared, lowering his weapon. "You can leave now."

Richard did not waste a fraction of a second. He turned and made a desperate sprint down the hallway, running as fast as his legs could carry him toward the nearest exit.

However, before Richard could even turn the corner into the next corridor, Solomon smoothly raised his arm and hurled the hand axe. The weapon spun rapidly through the air, closing the distance in a heartbeat.

The axe buried itself directly into the back of Richard’s skull, splitting his head cleanly in two.

Richard’s lifeless body collapsed onto the polished floor, sliding a few feet before coming to a complete halt.

Solomon scoffed, walking past the open doors. "I promised I would not do anything after getting the code. I never said you would be leaving alive."

"Also, I deal with pests permanently to make sure they don’t come knocking on my doors again." Stepping over the threshold, Solomon entered the vault room.

Solomon glanced around the massive vault room. He checked the stacks of cash, the neatly arranged gold bars, and the locked safety deposit boxes.

"There is no way I can carry all of this," Solomon muttered to himself, scratching the back of his head. "And I have no place to put it or hide it, either."

He turned away from the wealth and looked directly at the open steel doorway.

"I know you are hiding out there in the hall," Solomon called out, his voice echoing slightly in the sterile corridor. "You should come out right now."

However, there was no response. No footsteps, no shifting fabric, not even a ragged breath.

Solomon let out an annoyed sigh. "If you do not step into this room by the count of three, you are going to end up exactly like everyone else out there. One. Two—"

Before he could reach three, a man stumbled out from the shadows of the hallway and cautiously stepped into the vault room. It was the junior clerk from earlier, the same man who had nervously delivered the hot milk tea to Richard’s office.

He was trembling violently, his eyes darting between Solomon and the dead body bleeding out in the corridor.

Solomon walked up to him. Seeing the man shaking uncontrollably, Solomon offered a reassuring, casual smile to calm him down.

"Relax, I am not going to hurt you," Solomon promised, resting his hands in his hoodie pockets. "I only ’hit’ those other guys because they came to harm me first. It was entirely just self-defense. I have nothing against you."

The clerk swallowed hard and nodded frantically, eager to agree with the teenager who had just slaughtered an entire building of armed thugs.

"How long have you been working here?" Solomon asked, leaning against a stack of safety deposit boxes.

"Seven years," the clerk stammered, wiping sweat from his forehead.

Solomon raised an eyebrow. "Seven years is a very long time. And yet, you are still just a junior clerk fetching tea in this place?"

"I was one of their debtors," the clerk explained, his voice shaking. "I could not pay the debt. It was actually my older brother who took out the original loan, but he died in a dungeon break, so the debt legally fell onto me. When I could not pay, they dragged me down to the basement. But I could not do the dirty work they asked me to do. I could not hurt people, and I could not kill anyone. Since I was completely useless as an enforcer, they just made me work upstairs as a clerk to slowly pay off the interest."

Solomon listened quietly to the tragic backstory. He tilted his head, analyzing the man’s nervous posture.

"You might be telling the truth about the debt," Solomon noted, his silver eyes narrowing slightly. "But why do I get the distinct feeling you omitted a few crucial details from your story? Why would a ruthless, illegal bounty agency keep someone useless alive just to serve tea? They could have easily just killed you if you could not pay the debt or fight for them."

Solomon took a slow step forward. "Tell me everything. What exactly are you hiding?"

The clerk flinched, realizing he could not deceive the boy. He reluctantly lowered his head. "They kept me alive because of my awakened talent."

Solomon’s curiosity piqued instantly. "What is your talent?"

"I can store physical items inside a separate, personal pocket dimension," the clerk answered quietly.

"Is it like a digital system inventory?" Solomon asked.

"Somewhat, but not really," the clerk clarified. "There is a severe restriction on my ability. I cannot retrieve any items I have stored if they remain inside the pocket dimension for more than twenty-four hours. They just vanish into the void. It is mostly because my core is weak and I cannot use my talent properly."

A wide, devious smirk stretched across Solomon’s face. "But as long as it is within that twenty-four-hour window, you can bring the items back out without any issues?"

The clerk nodded hesitantly. "Yes."

"Is there a physical limit or a weight capacity to how much you can store at once?" Solomon pressed.

"I... I have never actually tested the limits of the space," the clerk admitted.

Solomon turned around and pointed a finger directly at the sprawling vault of cash and gold bars. "Well, today is your lucky day. Now is the absolute perfect time to test those limits."