Chapter 708 - Theft In the Apartment

"Hmm?" Felicia sat on the couch. Several thoughts jumbled in her mind as she still couldn't make any sense of the situation.

After a few minutes of silent waiting, Felicia peered into the bedroom she walked out of. The lingering scent of food continued to entice her and finally, she gave in. The entire situation felt creepy to her but in such dark moments, the glass of orange juice with artificial chemicals and no pulp looked like the only ray of light for her. This, and the scrumptious spread of food.

*Gulp*

Agreeing to her body's demands quietly, she skipped into the bedroom once again and drank a mouthful of orange juice before starting to eat the toast that smelled and tasted insanely good.

Minutes passed as she dedicated herself to enjoy the meal. Maybe the food was truly laced with something but she threw that consideration out of the window once she sipped on the juice. Her mouth was quite full from the toast when—

*Click*

She heard the door of the room next to her open up and she quickly walked out with her hand wiping away the crumbs from the corner of her lips and her mouth munching on the remnants of the brunch quickly.

Stunned, she found quite the sweat-laced youth walk out. His expression slightly weary as he adjusted his hair and through the ajar door, she gazed upon a redhead sleeping peacefully with a thin sheet covering and tracing her outstanding physique.

"Y-you! You forced yourself on her?" She gave the most obvious conclusion that the teaching of society could develop while Nik looked at her and shook his head, "Nah, something like a massage. And she knows it. My massages are just too comfortable."

His reply did not ease Felicia's worry and regret for eating the food.

This was the most classic statement to cover up such events. Massages.

In many countries, this just means prostitution and escort services! She had encountered such men claiming the very same attributes only to be found criminals later on.

*Click*

The entrance to the apartment opened and walked in a beautiful brown-skinned woman with long dark hair and deep brown eyes. However, her lips pursed instantly as she gazed upon the familiar whitish hair and that seductive physique. Slowly, the white-haired woman turned back and both of them trembled.

"You!"! They gasped as Ava's amulet shivered. She instantly grew stronger by three times. This action didn't escape Nik's observation. While he had his spiritual techniques, this world had stuff like Magic and Cosmic forces, out of which, Nik personally preferred Cosmic Forces for their augmentation capabilities are far superior to magic.

Felicia's body tensed too and looked ready to fight or escape but clearing his throat, Nik only looked towards his room.

"Since you aren't going to eat the food, let me clean it up first," he sighed but snickered internally fully knowing that Felicia had stuffed herself well.

"Ah!"! Felicia felt like speaking up but by this time, Nik had already entered his room while Ava stood guard with a cautious gaze. She observed Felicia's hands for the woman had a dire need to steal things and would try to swipe away even the least valuable trinket just to satisfy her thirst.

"Oh, I had nothing to worry about," Nik walked out while chuckling as he took the plates towards the sink and then finally eased the tension in the living room by explaining the situation.

"You... were contracted by Wilson Fisk for a time, yes?" He inquired.

"I may have," Felicia didn't deny her association as Fisk had made her life a living hell after testifying against many crime lords and didn't even let go of simple thieves like her.

Gesturing for the two women to take a seat, he continued, "Then you must have met Garuk. He's... hmm, he was associated with some cult and used magic."

"Magic?" Felicia raised her eyebrow but after stealing so many artifacts, she already had a general understanding of the mysteries of the world.

"Oh, you know of it. That's great," Nik smiled, "Well, anyway, Garuk's cult is not on good terms with someone in this city and they hired your services to steal something crucial from this man. I won't name him," Nik stated before Felicia could even ask, "Anyway, you were broken out of the spell yesterday since the one controlling you also wanted something from me."

"And?" Felicia inquired.

"And?" Nik looked at her.

"That woman inside the room," She pointed towards the room where Angela had her reactionary settings upgraded while continuing, "And what did that guy want? The one who controlled me."

Whenever the words 'control' was spoken, Ava unconsciously thought of Purple Man who almost got his hands on her if not for her magic amulet. Still, she looked towards Mary's room, still unsure what Felicia was talking about.

"First of all, what she, I mean, the person who controlled you, wanted from me is actually not your concern and second, hmm, I have magical hands," he grinned.

Not satisfied by the answer at all, Felicia felt like pressing for more when Nik looked at Ava, "Can you come with me to the room?"

Ava nodded cautiously but didn't leave before warning Nik that Felicia might actually steel their utensils, making Nik feel speechless. From magical artifacts to silver cutlery... needless to say, Ava harbored unkind intentions for Felicia.

"Hey! You didn't—" Once again, Felicia found herself faced against yet another door.

The surroundings fell in silence and only the slight buzz of the refrigerator filled the entire living room.

She had ravished the plates which held those amazing toast, a clue that allowed Felicia to realize in this idle situation that even if Nik is quite the cook, he might have amazing ingredients and with that, her glimmered green pupils slowly turned towards the refrigerator.

'I'm a thief after all... wouldn't mind me raiding the fridge, would he?'

---

Relieved that he didn't like leaving spiritual meat in the refrigerator, Nik ignored Felicia's acts of indecency and gazed at Ava who sat on the bed with a confused expression.

"You called me out because..." She trailed, her gaze sneaking glances towards the door while feeling worried about Felicia.

"Yeah, the thing is, I can finally... how do I put this... grant others superpowers. Yep, that's it. I'm a superpower granting machine now and I just updated Angela's senses. So, I was thinking that it is high time that you actually rely on your own body instead of that amulet."

Ava gulped after thinking of the consequences of such an action and if Nik's new ability got found out by the authorities. Supersoldier is a project that has faced countless failures but it is still pursued to this day and...

"So? I won't do strange things to your body without your permission. But, once I actually, let's say, upgrade your physique, you will still be able to grow stronger by eating spiritual meat... or you know, my own unique godly one," he smiled as Ava rolled her eyes. Godly? He actually dared call his c.o.c.k godly? Did he not fear the cults spread across the globe would try to cut his tool off?

Still, Ava thought carefully. Such decisions could cost long-term changes but she found an answer quite quickly.

"Yes, do it," She nodded while her thoughts remained quite straightforward. She didn't care about Shield too much that she would go behind Nik's back and snitch on him. And with Cindy, Anna, and others actively enjoying Nik's body while not even holding against each other made Ava realize that it could work for her, too, this new relationship that is. And she couldn't help but recall Anna webbing behind her before catching up.

'Don't force yourself, huh,' Ava smiled internally as she couldn't help but feel humored by Anna's contrasting situation last night. A bigger and curvier body covered by a film of black mass that screamed menacing during the night only for Anna's rather naive grin to top it off while she advised— Don't force yourself.

"Lie down, then. It will feel like a moment for you," Nik smiled soothingly as Ava lied down and felt her vision swimming. Nik didn't raise others' physical capabilities for they didn't know how to deal with it. This situation would have been prominent even further in Angela's case and he decided to give her weekly therapy but Nik knew that Angela would just reject such a method of growth.

Ava, on the other hand, was different. With the Amulet, she could always be strong, or weak, at her own choice and had gained enough control to live with increased strength.

However, he couldn't simply increase Ava's strength with just the skill [Body Manipulator: S-]. He needed to use his own reserves to make up for Ava's deficiency while actively modifying her physique to better acc.u.mulate, create, and hold similar quantity and quality of physical energy that made a being strong in the first place.

And these modifications came by using Hamon and Qi to fill her body while slowly optimizing her muscles and making them dense. In fact, he tweaked Ava's body slightly to make it slightly similar towards Cindy and himself and as he was doing it, a thought finally struck him.

He had been simply too forgetful. Instead of using energy reserves if he wished to make Ava stronger and more like his current body, he could just use Venom's... venom.

With a thought, a small blue-tinted spider with red strips appeared on the tip of Nik's nose.

Its beady eyes instantly lit up with joy as it crawled around and faced Nik.

A pair of insectoid eyes and l.u.s.t apostle's eyes gazed into each other before Nik sighed, "Alright, only if you won't try to get into other's clothes, alright?"

To reply to Nik's words with action, the bluish spider instantly slung down while Nik's expression darkened. Blowing from his nose, he broke the web as the spider named Venom fell tumbling down on Ava and it quickly bit on her shoulder before scampering off and started crawling up the shelf of the bed.

"Alright, now to make the Venom react more quickly," Nik finally began the process with much more ease.

---

*Click*

Once again munching quickly, Felicia sat back on the couch while looking in the opposite direction of the door to save herself from Nik realizing that she had been raiding the fridge all this time.

The moment she looked forward, she found a peacefully sleeping Ava on the bed where she had woken up from. The door came to a slow closing as Nik wiped his sweaty forehead. A bit dazed by the visage as it simply looked too sketchy... she held her tongue this time.

As much as she hated that brown-eyed doe, she respected Ava's integrity and used it against her countless times and if she was the one who also enjoyed the 'massage' then it really might be just a massage. But a good one that can put others to a peaceful sleep.

"I'm sorry for the lack of hospitality. Let me get myself something to drink before I answer your remaining question..." Nik moved towards the refrigerator and Felicia's expression fell.

"No need, I should really leave and..."

*Thck*

Amused, Nik slowly turned towards Felicia who displayed her peak physique by quickly reaching for the kitchen and closing the fridge before Nik could open it completely.

"Come now," the mature woman stated a bit hotly and held Nik's hands with her eyes doing their 'stuff' to pursue Nik and pull him away from the scene of the crime.

"You have been ignoring me too much," she smiled, demonstrating her charm as she pulled Nik towards his couch, "I have other contracts to fulfill and since we already know each other's real identity, let's consolidate a relationship that would refrain you from leaking my true name and face to... the less pleasing section of the society."