Chapter 55

CHAPTER 55 Benjamin just reached the old town street to make the last delivery of the day. The dust in the air was making him sneeze. Giving the pizza boxes while sneezing would likely give him a low rating, so he called the customer and told her to walk out. And she did. A fat annoyed grandma with a hand fan in her hand, rebuking Benjamin for making her walk forty steps from her doorstep.

“Sorry, ma’am, but you don’t look that old,” Benjamin lied through his teeth, “so I thought this much distance was nothing.”

The grandma’s expression softened. She even showered a toothy smile and said, “I will look much younger if I wear makeup. Do you want to see?” “M-Maybe another time,” Benjamin said. “I need to go home on time, or my wife will make a meal out of me.”

“Haha, so you’ve got an energetic wife, huh. She’ll keep you under check, so good for you,” she gave him the money, but no tip.

“Uh,” Benjamin scratched his cheek, “my wife will be happy if I take some money home in the form of tips, ma’am.” “Hoho, I wasn’t thinking of giving you any tip, but...” she pinched his cheek once and said,” there you go. That was my tip.”

Benjamin’s expression fell flat. She chortled and then put two dollar bills in his hand.

Benjamin showered a smile quickly but smoothly. “Thank you. May God bless you with a long life.”

“What long life? My husband died over forty years ago,” she began telling her sad story. “My sons listened to their wives and kicked me out of my husband’s house. Now I live in an old friend’s house, with the little pension I get. This is the first pizza I ordered in three months. Now that I think back on it, my husband liked pizzas very much.”

Benjamin looked a bit sad. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Every adult has their own sad story. Just... don’t think living a long life is always a good thing,” saying that she began walking back to her friend’s house.

Benjamin felt bad for taking the two dollar tip. After she entered the house, he walked over and left the money at the door handle.

As he was walking out, he felt dizzy. After taking ten steps, he collapsed forward on the grass. Seconds later, the door opened.

The old woman was chewing on the pizza with a grin playing at one corner of her mouth. She dialed a number while standing right inside the house.” Blackbear, I got him. He’s passed out at my doorstep. Come within half-hour, and you can have him.”

“As expected of someone who was once called the Rowdy Queen,” Blackbear sounded impressed from the other end. “But be careful. He’s not your average Joe.”

“I used a special mixture of sleeping gas with itching smoke,” she said. “He isn’t going to wake up for at least a day unless we force him to. But what do you need him for? He looks pretty normal to me, despite what you said.” “Just tie him up. I will tell you the details later.”

“Sure. Just don’t forget to bring the money and pot.”

“How could I forget?”

The call ended.

She put a mask on and walked out. She caught Benjamin by the feet and dragged him inside her house with effort. She locked the door, removed the mask, and grabbed a pizza slice before turning around. Benjamin was up and standing. “Hello, ma’am.”

The pizza slice in her hand flew and hit the wall behind her as her whole body jerked in fear.

“I really believed your story...” Benjamin’s eyes gained redness, and his burning gaze cut all her confidence.

“I-I was only doing what I was told to do,” she tried to explain herself. (How the hell is he standing? Didn’t he take the gas?)

“I got that much, but, who’s this Blackbear?” asked Benjamin, his gaze turning razor sharp. This wasn’t a gaze any young man his age should be possessing. “I really don’t know him. I just know him by name, that’s all,” she said and then begged,“ Please don’t kill me.”

Benjamin’s mouth turned down. He walked past her and picked up the pizza slice that had fallen on the floor. “Pizza is precious.

How can you throw it on the floor?” he put his hand forward. “Do you have any idea how much effort it takes to make one?

C’mon, take it.”

She hesitated initially and looked confused, but then she took the pizza slice and ate it quickly. “Now, why don’t we talk about your real story?” he said.

Minutes later. Blackbear arrived in an old-fashioned roofless black car with a big metallic bear’s face at the front. He stopped a little far from the old woman’s house. “Go and check.”

His underling covered his nose and mouth with a double-layered cloth mask and barged into the old woman’s house with a gun in the hand.

About a minute later, Benjamin opened the door and walked out. “Well, well, well,” Blackbear seemed just a little surprised, “would you look at that? This bastard always exceeds my expectations.” Blackbear never trusted the Rowdy Queen in the first place. He didn’t care whether she died or not. He didn’t care if his underling died or not, even though there was no sound of a gunshot. He started the car and squeezed the accelerator with his foot.

He thought he got away. However, he noticed in the rear-view mirror a bike with a pizza delivery guy riding it. Blackbear smirked.

“You want to chase my Black Ghost? In your dreams, fucker.” He entered the main road and used the boosters, startling Benjamin. The distance between them steadily increased. Benjamin didn’t give up but twisted the accelerator of his motorcycle to the max. Fuel increasingly pumped into the engine, and though he couldn’t reduce the distance between them, he didn’t let it increase. Both vehicles zoomed past a police officer who was writing a ticket to a car owner for driving well past the posted speed limit. The wig of the car owner flew off his head. “Bloody hell,” the police stopped his signature midway and chased these two on his bike. “You little punks ain’t going nowhere without getting my autograph today!”