Chapter 125

“Tao Long. I trust everything is in order?”

On the other side of the phone, Tao Long stood in front of a tied-up and gagged Dori Ren with a frown.

[Yes, boss. Everything is in order. This girl was a bit of trouble when she woke up but we managed to knock her out for the second time. What do you want us to do with her boss?]

Hans first thought was ‘Throw her down a cliff.’

Ah, no. Han didn’t need to go that far yet. He calmed down and decided he wouldn’t just kill Dori. He might be angry at her father but it would be too cruel, even for him. It was his quick thinking that made him call Tao Long back to City C before Hou Ren could start implementing his plan. Han knew that Dori Ren was the only child Hou Ren really cared about, that was why he took her instead of Fen Ren. If he took Fen Ren, Hou Ren would probably allow him to kill the man and then claim it was a ‘necessary sacrifice’.

“Just hold onto her. I know Cipher must have figured out that I took her by now and he would be preparing the army he has to fight you. But I’m sure you’re already prepared for that”

Tao Long laughed and then turned around. He was in a large airplane hangar on the outskirts of City C and behind him, was an army of a hundred men.

[Boss, the underground is yours to command. Just say the word and we will run into the valley of shadows of death for you!]

Han couldn’t help but laugh. This man was insane! But it was a good kind of madness. The kind of madness Han could respect and appreciate. He would allow Tao Long to deal with the fight that was coming for him because he trusted him. Han, meanwhile, had something else to look forward to.

[Departure time: 10:00:21]

This status had suddenly appeared on his screen earlier today and Han was completely shocked by it. For a split moment, he actually forgot all about the fact that he was supposed to be saving the world! But he didn’t let that stop him from going forward with this plan.

He might not remember much from his deceased parents, but he remembers his father telling him to never leave a problem fester. Especially when you could take care of it now!

No, this problem would not go beyond this. If anything, it just meant that Han only had ten hours to deal with Hou Ren before he had to focus on other things. That was more than enough time.

....

In the darkroom inside the mansion on the outskirts of City A, the mysterious man opened his eyes slowly as a voice suddenly rang inside his head. This was a voice he hasn’t heard in close to fifty years. Why would it be coming back now?

[Tyrian. I have a new mission for you. Are you ready to make yourself useful to REACH?]

The man rose his head and his eyes opened to reveal dark red orbs. Did someone call his name? How long has it been since he last heard his name? Three decades... Maybe? He blinked the weariness out before he finally spoke.

“Rarggghhhhhh!!!!”

The man’s roar resounded through the mansion and the system paused. It stopped the dropping of skills as it realized the man was at his limit and then began to type something new.

[Host has a new mission. Do you accept (Yes/No)?]

That was it? He went through all that pain and they were just telling him he had a new mission!? What nonsense were they thinking!? Did this system think he would just bow down and do as it asks!?

The system waited for the man to give a response, there was no need for it to rush. But the man was already feeling the after-effects of these many skills bombarding him at once. His body was tearing apart from the inside out. He forcefully selected yes and the system shut down again before two more announcements came up.

[Host has received the passive skill [Pain Nullification]]

[Departure time – 10:00:00]

He gasped as the pain stopped immediately before he blinked and had to look again at the new announcement. This... This was the same thing he saw all those years ago. He was going to the future again?

[The skills you received are a gift from REACH. The final one you shall receive. This is as much as your body is able to handle and if we give you any more power you will die. But if you fail even with all of these gifts, then the [Pain Nullification] will be taken away and then the effects of all the new skills you acquired would destroy your body and you will die. I hope you do not fail us]

The man couldn’t say anything as the voice disappeared and he was left alone in the dark once again.

...

Cipher was still trying to get through to his men while getting things ready to depart. The people he sent to look after Dori were currently looking for her since they didn’t find her with her friends. But the men that he sent to Rina Luo’s house were not responding at all.

One man. All of this trouble was being caused by one man!? How did Han even know what they were planning!? He was a dangerous man, but he couldn’t have figured out when they would come and where Dori would be all at the same time. He even managed to time the kidnapping to the exact moment after the phone call between him and Dori, this made him think things would still be okay and gave Han’s men more than enough time to escape.

Han was a dangerous opponent and Cipher realized that he had to kill that man if he ever wanted to keep Hou Ren’s operations safe in this city.

Cipher’s comm beeped and he answered quickly?

“Are you all in place I hope nobody is slacking behind?”

On the other side of the phone was Cipher’s only friend. Someone that worked with him in the organization he built for the sake of Intel gathering. The shadow killers were the only organization that could challenge the underground in terms of raw power, but they made it their priority to never cross paths with the underground.

So what Cipher’s friend was seeing was a complete surprise. The base of the shadow killers was a building located in a large expanse of land on the outskirts of the city. They were secured there because there was a large cage surrounding the building and preventing anybody from entering without permission. But today, they were surrounded on all sides

The underground consisted of over two hundred men, and Tao Long was in charge of more than eighty percent of them. All those men were currently surrounding the shadow killers base from all sides. They carried weapons like guns and bats and knives and they were smiling wickedly while looking up at the sentries placed at specific parts of the wall.

[Sir we have a problem! We’re surrounded by the underground!]

Cipher stilled.. The underground and the shadow killers never had any problems in the past. Why would they be causing problems now!?