How to Stop the Villain from Going Crazy
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 41 - They had become questions that haunted him (2)
Bo Li had been waiting for Erik to appear so that she could hand over the three letters. She wouldn't miss out on this great opportunity to gain brownie points.
However, Erik seemed to have disappeared, and once again, she lost all contact with him.
Her heart began to wildly beat. Was he going to be gone for several days again?
It would soon be Saturday.
Her original plan was to give the letters to Erik and say a heap of bad things about Trique and Boyd.
And then, she would attend the so-called psychic gathering. Once Trique and Boyd showed their true faces, she could instigate Erik to rob them.
Most importantly, there were countless deformed people in Trique's lair that he was planning on making into specimens.
By saving them, she would be able to convey to Erik that she didn't judge people by their appearance and save money on hiring deformed actors.
It was like killing three birds with one stone.
The only problem was that Erik was missing. She felt a bit dejected.
She shouldn't have put her hopes on others.
Erik was too unpredictable. She should prepare to deal with Trique and Boyd on her own.
Bo Li changed into men's clothing and went out to buy a pistol.
She had originally thought she would need to show ID to buy a gun, but the gun shop owner only cared about money.
He took out several revolvers and laid them out in a row. "These are good goods with an origin. You can see their markings on the bottom. If you pay in full instead of buying on partial credit, I can include a rifling to ensure accuracy."
"Of course, if you don't have enough money," the owner pointed to the glass cabinet next to him, "these are pawned guns. They're just as good as new guns."
Bo Li didn't know much about guns. She only knew that lower caliber guns had less recoil and the bullets would be less likely to deviate.
She bought a Colt revolver and tried to pretend to be an old-hand at checking guns. She pulled the hammer down halfway, turned the chamber, and then with a click, she pushed the hammer back.
She had never shot a target with a real gun, but she had been taught basic knowledge about guns during her acting jobs.
In addition, revolvers often appeared in the games she played. She had some experience with them, so she wasn't completely clueless.
However, guns weren't easy to use, especially revolvers. It would be difficult to hit anyone past fifty meters, unless the wielder of the gun was very skilled.
Rifles and sniper rifles were even more difficult to use. The shooter had to account for wind resistance and gravity when determining the bullet's downward arc trajectory.
Bo Li regretted not taking a shooting class when she was in Los Angeles.
Anyways, it was better to have a gun than not.
If Boyd threatened to kill her, she could pull out the gun and press it against his body. At point blank, it would be impossible to miss.
Day by day, time passed. Erik still didn't show up.
Bo Li tried many methods. She called his name, knocked on the wall, and left him a note on the hotel room's desk in hopes that he would appear after seeing it.
However, he seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth.
There was no response.
In the past, when he disappeared, she could still feel that she was being watched. It was as if he hadn't left and only retreated in the darkness to watch her every move from the shadows.
But now, even that feeling of being watched had disappeared.
Bo Li's heart completely sank.
Shouldn't she be happy that the biggest threat to her life was gone? Why didn't she feel an inkling of happiness?
Was it because she was about to face other dangers?
That was the only reasonable explanation. Otherwise, it meant she had gone crazy and developed a strange reliance on being held at knifepoint.
In most people's eyes, she was an ordinary person. Her best feature was that she had won the genetic lottery. She had taken after the best parts of her parents and was quite beautiful.
Apart from that, she was a bit introverted. She didn't like to socialize or do outdoor sports. She preferred to immerse herself in books, games, and scripts.
She liked the details in books more than the ones in reality, the scenery in games more than the ones in reality, and the plots in scripts more than reality.
Until she met Erik, she had always thought she could only experience those feelings in novels, games, and scripts.
His mind was out of touch with reality and so was his past. His existence was even further away from reality. He was originally a fictional character that only existed in the pages of a book.
The feeling of fear he gave her was also detached from reality.
Bo Li never felt more aware than now how much she needed Erik.
In every aspect, she needed him.
—
Saturday came, and Erik still didn't appear.
Bo Li didn't want to go to the gathering alone, but if she didn't go, Boyd and Trique would probably force her.
During the past week, they had been wandering around the hotel to observe her whereabouts. They watched when she turned on and off the lights, when she left the hotel, where she went, and what she was doing.
Bo Li could only take out those three letters before leaving, write a letter to explain, and put that letter on top. That way, Erik would see the letters as soon as he entered the hotel room.
After doing that, she put on a black cape. She was wearing a shirt and pants instead of a dress. She was wearing her sneakers from her backpack instead of silk flats.
Before leaving, she checked the chamber of the revolver again. She ejected the bullets one by one, and then put them back. After repeatedly pulling the hammer to make sure it wouldn't jam, she slipped the gun into the hostler on her back, put on a wide-brimmed hat, and walked out.
Boyd was already waiting at the hotel entrance. Seeing her, he repeatedly praised her beauty.
"Please get in the carriage, Miss Clermont," he gently said, "The psychics are waiting for you at the house. They've been waiting to hear your story for a long time."
T/N: To make up for yesterday’s missing part.
Translator Ramblings: If Bo Li isn't going to do anything beyond buying a gun when given extra time to plan or do something, the author should have set the psychic gathering sooner, so that Bo Li isn't choosing to do nothing over multiple days.
With the extra time, she could have gone to a crowded place to try to throw off Boyd and Trique or whoever they have watching her. If they find and confront her, she can say it's a game that she plays with Erik to maintain that appearance that she has a good relationship with Erik. If Erik finds her, she has a good reason for her action. He always gives her time to say or do something when he threatens her.
Her plans don't have to be good. I just want her to do something with this time.