Going northeast from the 17th arrondissement, the 18th and 19th arrondissements weren’t as safe.
Further off was Seine-Saint-Denis, commonly known as neuf trois. According to Elena, it was hell and wasn’t part of France.
Luke decided that he could check out the 18th arrondissement tonight. As for neuf trois, he had just killed a bunch of gangsters there last night, so he should avoid the area for the time being
Also, Luke had another information source that was better than this art girl – Daniel.
The cab driver, who clearly wasn’t the most law-abiding citizen, would’ve already been killed by the local gangsters if he didn’t know every part of Paris well.
After he made up his mind, Luke relaxed and chatted with Elena.
At noon, Luke said that he would go back to the apartment to get some rest and pay the rent.
Elena followed Luke and said that she would help him call for her dad.
But her dad wasn’t around.
Elena apologized to him, but Luke could tell that she had known beforehand, and had purposely followed him upstairs
But he had too many preparations to make to hang out with the girl. He could only say that he needed to get some rest, before he closed the door.
With his Sharp Nose, Luke could tell that Elena remained outside his door for at least a minute before she left. He could even hear her giving vague cheers.
Unfortunately, her cheers were in French, and Luke couldn’t understand what she was saying
Luke shook his head with a smile and took out his modified laptop from his backpack as he started to go through the files on Paris that he had acquired earlier.
He checked various sorts of information, such as the distance from his place to the 18th arrondissement and to neuf trois, means of transport, the state that shops and buildings were in, and so on.
Paris was too big for him to find information on everything, but he still preferred to be prepared as much as possible.
It was a shame that Tony Stark wasn’t capable of creating advanced artificial intelligence yet, so Luke couldn’t make any either.
But Luke suspected that he wouldn’t be able to create a Jarvis even if he learned all of Tony Stark’s abilities.
Tony Stark’s abilities didn’t include anything for creating Jarvis; it seemed that the A.I.’s invention had been a fluke.
So, Luke didn’t have high hopes in that regard.
An hour later, someone knocked on his door.
Luke raised his head and saw Elena’s smiling face at the window; he hadn’t drawn the curtain.
He was amused. Why was Elena waiting at the window like a little kid after knocking on the door?
He put his laptop back into his bag and opened the door. “Elena, what’s up?”
Elena said, “My dad’s back. He wants to meet you.”
Luke was at a loss. Why did he feel like he was meeting a girlfriend’s dad? He was only a renter!
Then, he noticed a man who looked to be around fifty behind Elena. “Is this your father? How should I address him?”
Elena said, “Well, just call him Pierre.”
Luke nodded and held out his hand to the old man. “Pierre, it’s nice to meet you.”
Pierre, on the other hand, didn’t respond immediately. He sized up Luke before he finally nodded. “A good lad.” Then, he hugged Luke.
Luke was stunned. Were they so close already? Or were French people all this warm?
Pierre’s English was poor. With Elena translating, Luke learned that Pierre welcomed his stay here, and he reminded Luke to return before six in the evening.
Luke nodded with a smile. “I’ll remember that. I’ll let you know if I’m not coming back for the night.”
Elena found that odd. “You might not come back?”
Luke said with a smile, “I’m here with my teacher. Sometimes, I need to study with her.”
Elena was curious, but didn’t ask since they weren’t that close. She simply nodded her head.
Actually, Luke was about to head out.
Giving Mr. Pierre his rent, Luke left the apartment with his backpack. Elena was clearly disappointed. She had wanted to talk to Luke in the afternoon.
Luke said goodbye and walked out to the street.
He took a bus to a Bouygues branch, which was one of the three biggest telecommunication service providers. After buying several prepaid Nokia phones, he made a call with one of them.
Twenty minutes later, Daniel arrived. He still looked like a rogue, but the smile on his face was most brilliant. “Rich guy, I’m so glad to see you again.”
Amused, Luke got into the cab. “I’m sure you are, because you won the bet.” He threw a thousand euros at the driver.
Daniel pocketed the money with a smile. “Where to today, rich guy?”
Luke said, “Take me to the 18th arrondissement. Don’t go too fast, and tell me what you know about the area on the way.”
Daniel hesitated. “But I’m a cab driver, not a professional tour guide.”
Luke threw another thousand euros at him. “Five hundred euros as a tip and five hundred euros as a consultation fee. I’ll give you the cab fare later.”
Daniel immediately said, “It suddenly occurs to me that I know Paris well enough. Rich guy, what do you want to know?”
Luke said, “The 18th arrondissement, the red light district, and dangerous gangs.”
Daniel looked at him in the rearview mirror and said, “Hehe, you want to have fun? I can recommend a safe place. But do use protection, and I’m talking about protecting your life, not your health. There was a guy who ignored my advice, and had to go to the doctor in the end…”
Luke interrupted the chatterbox and said, “No, I want details of whatever you know. I’ll decide where to go myself. Daniel, be professional!”
Daniel shrugged and said, “Alright, what do you want to know?”
For the next two hours, Daniel drove by several places in the 18th arrondissement at a sedate pace, before he dropped Luke off somewhere.
Luke tossed another thousand euros at Daniel. “This is the cab fare and additional consultation fee. Don’t dawdle if I need your cab again.”
Daniel kissed the cash with a smile. “For your generosity, I’ll always be at your service.”
He had earned three thousand euros in just two hours.
Unlike regular cabs, his cab was illegal.
That was right, his driver’s license was fake. He was on the DMV’s blacklist, and they refused to issue him any sort of certification.
But he was a skilled and smart driver, and he could switch out his license plates, which made it impossible for the police to track him down – Daniel and his cab didn’t exist in the Paris police database.