MTL NOVEL Chapter 8: borrowing Money
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During the day, Kai Vale scouted various parts of the city, quietly mapping out the locations of several gangs. By nightfall, he had a mental map of where to strike.
Once the city settled into its usual midnight silence, Kai sat in his room, focusing on the energy coursing through him. With a flicker of willpower, a swirling portal opened in the air — his personal gateway through space.
He peered through it, checking the alley he'd marked earlier. Seeing no one, he stepped through.
Kai emerged near a rundown building in Chinatown, one of his marked targets — a gang notorious for dealing drugs in the area.
Before moving in, Kai pressed the small earpiece in his ear.
"I'm in position. Gear, keep an eye on the cameras for me."
Gear's voice crackled back. "Got it. I've looped the feeds — no one's spotting you tonight."
Kai grinned. He trusted Gear's skills with tech far more than he trusted his own ability to hide in plain sight.
What? You think I should wear a mask and spandex? Kai shuddered at the thought. No way. He'd rather rely on stealth than look like a wannabe superhero.
With Gear watching his back, Kai moved in.
A young thug loitering outside barely noticed him — one hand drifting toward his waistband as Kai approached. But in a blink, Kai vanished, teleporting past him and straight inside.
The guard blinked in confusion and dismissed it as a trick of the light.
Inside, Kai navigated the corridors, dodging patrols and weaving through shadows. Eventually, he found the gang's stash — piles of cash stacked in boxes.
But as Kai stared at the money, unease crept in.
*I can teleport... but that's all I've got,* he realized. If things went sideways, he had no real way to defend himself — no offense, no weapons, nothing. He needed to figure out how to make his powers *dangerous*.
Sighing, Kai gathered the cash into his system's storage space, then teleported home.
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Back in his room, Kai flopped onto his bed, still thinking about his lack of offensive skills.
Drawing from memories of novels he'd read, he recalled concepts like *space slicing* and *attack redirection*. Maybe he could replicate those.
"System," Kai muttered. "Can I... cut things with portals?"
The system responded coolly. "The host can manipulate space freely, but the precise application depends on your skill."
Encouraged, Kai dove into testing.
Starting small, he practiced opening miniature portals in his palms. Once that felt natural, he expanded them — learning to create gateways large enough to step through.
Next, Kai attempted precision control — placing portals in exact spots. It took hours, but eventually, he managed to open one mid-air, perfectly aligned with an iron rod outside his window.
With a flick of focus, Kai closed the portal — and the rod clattered to the pavement in two clean halves.
"Yes!" Kai whispered, fist-pumping.
By the time he passed out on his bed, the clock read 3:17 a.m.
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The next evening, Kai decided to test his newfound skill — but this time, in Hell's Kitchen.
He knew things might get bloody, and Hell's Kitchen was notorious for violence. If trouble found him, no one would mourn the lowlifes he encountered.
Kai teleported to a gang's hideout — but instead of sneaking in, he walked boldly to the front door.
"Hey!" a thug barked, reaching for his gun.
Kai reacted instantly. With a flick of his hand, a portal snapped open — and closed just as fast. The man's hand and gun hit the ground, severed cleanly.
The guard barely had time to scream before Kai teleported past him, walking calmly inside.
One by one, gangsters around him dropped — severed limbs, split bodies, chaos in his wake. Blood pooled on the floor before anyone realized what was happening. Those who survived bolted, too terrified to fight.
The stash was unguarded now, and Kai grabbed everything he could carry before vanishing.
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That night, the weight of what he'd done hit him. The shock of so much death — so fast, so brutal — churned in his stomach.
He swore to himself: no more needless killing. From now on, he'd focus on stealth — teleporting enemies away rather than cutting them down.
The next night, Kai returned to his old strategy: sneaking in, grabbing the cash, and vanishing without a trace. If forced to fight, he used his portals to teleport foes deep underground, where no one would find them.
The methods were cleaner... quieter... and easier to sleep with.
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By the time he returned home, Kai stared at the pile of money on his desk. They finally had enough to launch their startup.
But a new problem nagged at him — how would they explain where all this money came from?
After some thought, Kai decided to visit Matt Murdock the next day. If anyone could help him figure out how to make his newfound wealth look legitimate, it was a lawyer like Matt.
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