The progression of things was awfully similar to the last time. There were only a few differences.

The first was that Janus had told Ryder to inform Ray about the kidnap attempt on his sister. It came as a mission that was easily finished by Ryder, all to keep him away from the things that were too high level for him to understand or be part of at the moment.

That wasn't the only change in this timeline, though.

Ryder had walked to the roof like last time to keep an eye on the streets to make sure nothing bad happens.

As he was walking on the roof, he heard Janus' voice once more.

"Hmm? Killing Luke? And what's happening? How come Janus is giving me a description of the mission about the reason for this mission. This wasn't like this last time," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

Previously, Janus only gave him missions while telling him what he should do and what he shouldn't do. How come things were different this time? Or was it that Janus was finally trying to involve him more and keep him aware?

In any case, now that he knew that Luke had some powers, he knew that he couldn't just treat Luke like an average person. He needed to take extraordinary measures.

"But first things first, where is that guy actually? I need to find him first. If he will cause problems for me, he must be somewhere nearby," Ryder muttered as he rubbed his chin.

"That's right. I can use him," he let out as he thought of an idea. There was a way to make it easier.

"Stanner!" He called out.

A semi-transparent spirit appeared before Ryder.

"Stanner, do one thing for me. Search all houses nearby and find out if Luke is staying in any of them. Come back to me fast after you finish," he added.

Stanner was a Spirit that could only be seen by him. He was the best option to sneak around and find out where a person was hiding without risking anything.

Stanner nodded as he started flying away. Ryder remained on the roof as he walked back and forth, waiting for Stanner's return.

He even pulled out his phone once in a while. He was already getting a lot of calls from Ray, who was apologizing to him for what he did after he had called him to tell him to have good sister change places to be safe.

"Nineteen miss calls and ten messages of apology. Sigh, this guy is really regretful, it seems," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

"But it's better if I stay away from him. There will be too much attention on him at the moment. That attention will only fall on me if I keep utilizing him."

"I thought I could use him and the FBI to take care of the enemies, but that was a bad move. Not only was I not successful, but it brought more troubles on me instead," Ryder let out as he cleared all the notifications before he opened the news articles to see what the latest news was.

Apparently, the thing about Dream Corporation was all over the place. The arrest of their MD was making big headlines, and there were already rumors out that the MD had tried to kill Schumacher Maxwell.

There was no mention about how, though. Ryder already knew why. He had talked to Shu about it and knew that Shu was going to leak the information about the attempt on his life. Ryder just didn't know that he would be this fast.

He also knew that Shu was keeping Necrosis hostage, and that's why he wasn't leaking the rumors about why the attempt on his life was made. If Necrosis didn't go with the feel, the next day itself, rumors were going to fill the sites that Necrosis was working with the MD of Dream Corporation to kill their owner.

On the other hand, if the deal went through, it was going to be a different matter altogether.

Just as Ryder was going through various articles, Stanner returned to him.

"You came back fast. Did you find him?" Ryder asked Stanner.

"Yeah. I didn't have to go far. He's in that house," Stanner let out as he pointed towards the nearby house.

"Interesting. As expected, he's keeping an eye on us," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the house where Luke was staying in.

"He is sitting in a room near the window that faces this mansion's entrance. But there's more wrong with him. There is a middle-aged couple who is tied and kept hostage, I think. They're kept in the basement," Stanner informed Ryder.

"Oh, they must be owners of the house. I seem to remember a middle-aged couple owning the house. In any case, those guys don't have anything to do with me. After taking care of Luke, they would be free as well," Ryder let out as he gazed towards the Window.

The window was on the first floor of that house, whereas Ryder was on a higher floor in Maxwell Estate. Even though he could see the window, his angel and field of view didn't allow him to look inside, just like the one from inside wasn't able to see him.

"Will you go straight to kill him?" Stanner asked.

"Not really. If he were a normal enemy, I would have, but he isn't. Modern problems require modern solutions. So I won't approach him personally," Ryder muttered as he opened the screen of his system.

He got a sniper gun out of the system.

He gazed at the long sniper gun as he smiled, "Why should I go near him when I can handle him from far away. I wish I didn't have to do it like this, though. There are risks to getting caught, but some risks are worth it."

"For me to be successful, we need two things. First, you need to make sure that he doesn't have binoculars or things that can help him look inside our windows. Secondly, I need his exact position to know which window in the mansion would be most suitable," he told Stanner.

"He doesn't have binoculars. As for his position..."

Stanner answered Ryder in proper detail.

After getting the answers, Ryder thought for a little while and tried to visualize which place would be better for this task.

After thinking for a while, he shortlisted two rooms that could be perfect for this task but to select the best amongst them was going to require him going there and checking himself.

After thinking for a while, he went downstairs to the first room he had selected.

The sniper gun was already in his hand as he walked downstairs. Fortunately, no one inside the Palace was awake to see Ryder carrying a weapon.

If someone had seen it, they might actually misunderstand him.

He pushed the door open as he stepped inside the room before he raised his gun. Through the scope attached to the gun, he took an aim and tested to see if he was able to see Luke.

He could see the window which Stanner had told him about, and he could also see inside, but he wasn't able to see Luke. The wall and his position were making the angle unsuitable.

Ryder lowered the gun and left the room. This was a failure. He walked over to the next room. He once again approached the window as he looked outside to throw the scope.

A smile appeared on his face as he finally got a proper view. He could see Luke sitting on a chair with his eyes closed. It was unclear if he was trying to sleep or if he had actually fallen asleep.

"Perfect," Ryder let out as he smiled. It was right to take aim, but he still wants to be more certain. He looked around the room and saw a table.

He walked over to the table and picked it up before he brought it closer to the window. He placed the sniper gun on the table before he walked over to the window. He slid the window open after unlocking it.

After opening the window, he walked back to the table that came up to his waist height. The table was still a bit small, but he always had an idea. He had a wooden box nearby that he placed above the table.

The top of the box came just under his shoulder hearing. After making sure that the arrangement wasn't unstable, he placed the gun on top of it and started taking aim with his finger on the trigger.