Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

Tristan didn't stop at interrogating one prisoner. He still had the second one, and this time, he told to tie him up before anything began.

He used truth serum on this man, too, but through an injection instead of a drink. This way, its effect lasted longer.

The second prisoner knew as much as the first. Michael the archangel, dreams, online conversations.

Sadly, neither of the men knew Michael's face—he was hiding it at the meeting, just like everybody else. The most Tristan got out of the prisoners was a general description of his physical build and his voice.

When the effect of the truth serum wore off, Tristan left the second prisoner and messaged Damien that both men were his to quietly dispose of.

They gave Tristan all they had and were left as crumpled, empty plastic coffee cups. Tristan took his pleasure stomping on them mentally, and then Damien, no doubt, was going to stomp on them physically.

It was great.

A few hours later, inside the private and soundproofed office of his King Lion mansion, Tristan thought about the plan for his future actions.

'The most important information I found is that Michael apparently needs people to already believe in his nonsense before he can send them dreams. It was always belief first, the strange dreams second. But since Michael has this incredible persuasion skill, he can convert people to his religion easily.'

Tristan tapped his fingers on the surface of his writing desk. Then they clenched into a fist.

'I still have almost nothing on him, but I won't let Michael escape again. The Ass-Angel… Heh, I was really right about this nickname. Michael the Ass-Angel, this sounds just like him.' Tristan shook his head, smiling at his own juvenile joke. 'Anyway… Let's start with some fuel for my future ideas.'

He opened his status. Even with the purchases of truth serum, he still has 7001 Criminal Points left, and 8002 Pop-Star Points saved from earlier.

Tristan generously put 5000 of each into his intelligence and imagination, respectively.

[Intelligence attribute increased from 596 to 1096.]

[Your intelligence rank has changed from Mastermind to Supercomputer.]

[Imagination attribute increased from 600 to 1100.]

[Your imagination rank has changed from Visionary to Galaxy Mind.]

The feeling of a major upgrade, as always, was dizzying and exhilarating. Tristan didn't notice when he closed his eyes, but when he opened it, the entire world felt so much clearer. As if all this time he was near-sighted and now, for the first time in his life, put on glasses.

But glasses for his brain.

Now charisma and fearsomeness weren't the only outstanding attributes in his status at the moment.

[======]

[Tristan Hayes (Tristan Gemello)]

[Current identity: Criminal. Second identity: Pop-star.]

[Pop-star rank: On The Olympus.]

[Criminal rank: King Lion.]

[Pop-star Points: 3002]

[Criminal Points: 2001]

[===Attributes===]

~~~Pop-star~~~

[Appearance: 570 (Top Model)]

[Charisma: 1059 (The Beguiler)]

[Dexterity: 600 (Gymnast)]

[Imagination: 600 (Galaxy Mind)]

~~~Criminal~~~

[Fearsomeness: 1077 (Dark God)]

[Strength: 679 (Weightlifter)]

[Toughness: 800 (Bones of steel)]

[Intelligence: 1096 (Supercomputer)]

[===Skills===]

~~~Pop-star~~~

[Vocals: 6000 (Impossible!!)]

[String instruments: 6000 (Impossible!!)]

[Percussion instruments: 0 (Nobody)]

[Wind instruments: 1 (Nobody)]

[Electronic instruments: 0 (Nobody)]

[Keyboard instruments: 801 (Professional Amateur)]

[Exotic instruments: 0 (Nobody)]

[Songwriting: 5000 (Impossible!!)]

[Dancing: 6000 (Impossible!!)]

[Acting: 5000 (Impossible!!)]

[Production: 6000 (Impossible!!)]

[Style: 6000 (Impossible!!)]

~~~Criminal~~~

[Stealth: 6844 (Impossible!!)]

[Melee combat: 5224 (Impossible!!)]

[Ranged combat: 4836 (Impossible!)]

[Observation: 5076 (Impossible!!)]

[Driving: 2618 (Racer)]

[Athletics: 2419 (Coach Physical Instrument)]

[Medicine: 5203 (Impossible!!)]

[Interfacing: 6003 (Impossible!!)]

[Sleight of hand: 533 (Light Fingers)]

[Tactics: 505 (Good)]

[*Strategy*: 5000 (Impossible!!)]

[Hacking: 15000 (Impossible!!!)]

[===Talents===]

[Clark Kent Effect] [Sleepless] [Clean Hands] [Bullet Time] [Hypnotic Voice] [Sight Awareness] [Electronic Sight Awareness] [Ambidextrous] [Bilingual (Spanish)] [Freezing Glare] [String Theory] [Copycat] [Detective] [Blind Shot] [Quick Fingers] [Explosive Awareness] [Heat Vision] [Remote Hypnotic Voice]

[===Tasks===]

~~~Pop-star~~~

[Discover the mastermind behind the Los Angeles terrorist attack. Value: 1000.]

~~~Criminal~~~

[Make the next leader of Cuatro Angulos your puppet. Value: 1000.]

[Destroy the mastermind behind the Los Angeles terrorist attack. Value: 1000.]

[======]

With more mental capacity, Tristan immediately knew what to do to find Michael.

'Although he ran away from the gathering site, this place isn't entirely unpopulated. I should send some goons to search for witnesses and security cameras that could've caught where Michael went. And while this happens, I will plant some tracking viruses into feds' computers to track their progress on investigating the terrorist attacks.'

Tristan doubted the feds actually found much, but he understood that persistence was the key in a search like that.

'Eventually, Michael will make another mistake. He gathered students once, despite keeping himself secret otherwise—clearly, his long-distance powers are limited. Hm…'

Tristan narrowed his eyes and reached for his laptop. His fingers danced over it with speed and precision of ten hummingbirds.

'Perhaps he wanted to make himself super-soldiers. Then he will want to try it again. Likely in the same manner. And I bet that when I check the nicknames and contacts given to me by his followers, I will find them—there!'

There was a pool of people for Michael to recruit from—Noidolists who openly preached their religion online. They weren't the most active on the popular social media platforms.

Instead, they gathered on obscure and private forums with defense measures directly from 2007. Tristan went through them like a hot knife through butter.

Michael really had accounts there. One of them was even recently active. Tristan was going to keep an eye on this one.

'Let's play "Catch the Predator", Ass-Angel,' Tristan thought with a smirk. 'And to keep you entertained in the meantime, I will make another performance.'

The smirk turned into another grin.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Tristan still had some paperwork to finish before he could switch identities and call Nelson, but he was already anticipating it.

The performance of the Herald and the Harbinger needed an encore. Something with enough art in it to entertain by itself, and not similar enough to the previous performance to be boring or even tacky.

Tristan had ideas about what it could be.