Child of Destiny

……

“If that is related to that, then it really makes sense,” said Arthur after hearing Nathan’s confirmation.

Hearing that, Shin and the others turned their heads at Arthur and waited for him to explain further. And feeling the meaning behind their gazes, Arthur started narrating what happened.

“During that time, after I gave Molton a ride back home, I suddenly got ambushed when I was on my way back home. And the one who ambushed me was Nicolas Northwood, an average person with average talent and ugly face.”

Though, there were some changes in the story since he wanted to become cool in front of his goddess.

“And even if I beat the crap out of him in the end, his strength is completely different from how it used to be. He even possessed an Evil Qi and wielded the Devil’s Eyes during that time.”

Ignoring how Arthur praised himself, the others also understood the current situation. And at that moment, Nathan resumed talking. “We just confirmed this due to that incident. And whoever gives Nicolas those kinds of powers, we are sure that they are closely related to the Shadow Alliance based on the new information that we have.”

“Looking back at these murder cases, it is most likely that these runaway kids need to kill someone before they can fully join the said organization. And in exchange for powers that are going to be given to them, they need to kill someone who is very talented in their respective age group.”

After that, Nathan tapped the table once again to clear the information displayed on the virtual screen and change it into a new one. And this time, it was showing the details of the younger generation of the Leon Tribe.

“These guys are the people related to the runaway kids. And from what we have learned, these guys invited those kids to attend a certain party before they suddenly run away from their homes.”

Now that everything was finally coming into pieces, Shin and others finally understood the current situation. And when Nathan saw that, he didn’t dwell on the previous topic anymore and stated the details of their mission.

“Tomorrow night, the younger generation of the Leon Tribe are going to hold another party which we suspect that this is another time for them to lure a few more people who might be going to join their side. And your assignment is to sneak inside and confirm what is going to happen.”

Hearing that, Arthur and others couldn’t help but knit their brows a little. And at the same time, Leonard suddenly asked. “But what if all of the attendees are going to join the said organization? Aren’t we just sending ourselves on a tiger’s mouth?”

Nathan smiled a little when he heard that as he understood what Leonard was implying. Then he patiently explained. “You don’t have to worry much about that.”

“From what we have investigated, the real purpose of that party is to just check who are the possible ‘candidates’ that they can lure to their side. Because if not, how come the other people who attend that party still arrive home safe and sound?”

“So, we suspect that the ‘invitation’ is held after the party. And it’s most likely before or after the ‘targets’ come home.”

When the others heard that, the others started nodding their heads as they believed that it was possibly the case. Well, instead of one.

“Unless, the other attendees are already part of that organization,” said Shin so suddenly which attracted everyone’s attention. Even Nathan was a little shocked when he heard that.

Nathan didn’t mention it earlier since he didn’t want to pressure them on this mission. After all, they were still too young even if they possessed some unrivalled talent.

But remembering that there was someone too sharp among the group, he couldn’t help but shake his head a little while smiling bitterly. ‘As expected from someone who is trained by the Black Serpent Mafia, it is impossible to hide these kinds of critical information from him.’

Given that, Nathan looked at Shin and said. “As I said, you don’t have to worry much about those things since we are going to handle it. All you need to do is to mark the guys who are most likely going to be the ‘targets’. And if ever a fight breaks out, we have some men in standby as your backups. And they are going to rescue you at any given time.”

Even after hearing Nathan assurance, Shin still felt that there was something off on this operation. His special instincts were telling him that there was still something going on that their eyes couldn’t see.

After a brief moment of thought, he suddenly asked. “Is our source reliable?”

Nathan felt that there was something odd with Shin. He was aware about this kid’s instinctual talent, so he didn’t mind his doubtful attitude. In fact, it was that very talent of Shin why most of his special assignments came out a success despite him being at a very young age.

Given that, he didn’t tell Shin that their intel was reliable. Instead, he directly told Shin where the intel came from. “It is the same person who tipped us six years ago.”

This time, Shin suddenly fell into a deep thought. He knew what Nathan meant with ‘six years ago’. It was the very incident where regain his ‘freedom’.

‘If it is that guy, then this intel is pretty much reliable. Then the problem is either on the operation itself or the purpose of the other side on this so-called party,’ thought Shin as the others looked at him.

And when Angela couldn’t wait anymore, she suddenly opened her mouth and voiced out her complaint. “What are you thinking so deeply about, handsome? Do you think you are a Military Strategist or something? Can you just let Sir Nathan finish discussing the mission first before falling into your own thoughts?”

But too much of her surprise, Nathan didn’t mind it at all. “It is fine. Let him voice out his concerns first before we proceed.”

And that was the time when Shin finally said something. “Are our investigations about the so-called party accurate? No, does it also come from that ‘informant’?”

Nathan knitted his eyebrows a little before answering. “No, it is what we come up with that conclusion after having a thorough investigation regarding the matter.”

Hearing that, Shin immediately rejected the idea of doing the special assignment. “If that is the case, then how about we abort this mission?”

One of Nathan’s eyebrows suddenly perked up after hearing that. Even the others inside the room couldn’t help but look at Shin with a mix of shock and confusion. Well, aside from Arthur and Leonard who knew Shin very well.

Understanding the meaning of their gazes, Shin immediately added. “I am still not sure about this, but I have a feeling that this so-called party is going to be a different one compared to the previous ‘parties’ that they held.”

“Why did you think so?” asked Nathan patiently.

“Because it is the Shadow Alliance that we are talking about,” said Shin.

Hearing that, Angela couldn’t help but became skeptical at this point. “Can you please stop being ridiculous? You are talking as if you are more skilled and intelligent than the military force yet you are just giving us that kind of reasoning? If you are too afraid of taking part on this mission, just say so and stop making some lame excuses.” 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Shin didn’t refute her words directly but he gave her a sidelong glance and calmly said. “I am still not done talking.”

“You!” Seeing that look on Shin’s face, Angela suddenly became annoyed and wanted to refute but she was immediately cut off by Nathan’s words. “Let him finish first. He has a 100% completion rate on all of his mission despite his age and not being officially part of the military.”

Angela suddenly became shocked after hearing that. She was also being hired as a free agent in her country regarding these kinds of special assignments, but not all of her missions were a success. After all, there were some accidents that were bound to happen during a mission.

Given that, she was now looking at Shin with a new light. And it was also the same with Molton and Jillian. Though, the latter girl was still not fully impressed as it was no big deal.

At this point, Nathan opened his mouth once again. “Go on Shin. Voice out your concerns.”

Hearing that, Shin nodded his head and said. “As I said, this is the Shadow Alliance that we are talking about. And being one of the biggest groups in the circle of underworld organizations they are bound to do things a little differently.”

Shin paused for a moment before saying. “There is a famous rule on the circle of underworld organizations. And that is ‘to never suffer a lot of losses’.”

“Given the incident that happened in Michigan City, the organization behind that laboratory already suffered a lot of losses which also lead to most of their operations being foiled.”

Hearing that, Nathan nodded his head and said. “We are already aware of that. And that is why that organization starts acting lie low because we are keeping eyes on their movements.”

“But them being lie low doesn’t fit with that famous ‘rule’,” said Shin almost instantly. And before Nathan could even ask, he immediately added. “If they started lying low, then that means they will never take back the losses that they suffered.”

“In regard to the rule that I said, Underworld Organizations are bound to take moves where they are going to make huge sacrifices in exchange of gaining an even bigger profit.”

Jillian found those words a little interesting and suddenly asked. “And how are they going to do that?”

When Shin heard that, he suddenly turned his head at Jillian and calmly answered. “By doing their foiled plans ahead of time.”

Hearing this, the eyebrows of Angela, Lorraine, Jillian and Molton simultaneously perked up as they found Shin quite ironic. And when Shin felt the meaning behind their actions, he immediately said. “Let me ask you. Why do you think the underworld organization still survives despite most of their operations being foiled by the military?”

Shin didn’t wait for their answers and immediately added. “There are three reasons for that. First is they take shelter under the wings of stronger organizations. Second is they got swallowed by those hegemon organizations. Or the third, it is because they didn’t suffer any kind of losses at all.”

“Considering the ‘rule’ that I mentioned and taking the third case that I just said. We can start drawing a picture where this certain organization was going to make their move.”

Shin paused for a moment and linked his advance watch on the virtual screen in front of them. And when he was done, he resumed talking. “If we list out the information that we got, the map is going to be like this.”

“The incident in Michigan City gives us a lot of informations regarding this organization.”

“Due to that, that organization is most likely going to start destroying all of the evidence that is going to directly point at them. And this will also lead them to halt all of the operations that they have scheduled.”

Shin paused again at this point and looked at Nathan as if he was asking if his deductions were correct. Understanding the meaning of that look, the latter nodded his head as a confirmation before letting Shin to continue.

“And since they already knew that we have the information of their future movements, they are mostly going to use that crucial part to their advantage.”

“They are going to use the information that we have on our hands as a misdirection while they are going to start doing their original plans in advance. Meaning, instead of waiting for the party to look for their possible recruits, they are going to start taking the initiative and make a direct recruitment.”

Then he paused once again to look at Arthur before adding. “And we don’t have to further prove this case, right? After all, we already have the proof that we need.”

After that, he turned his head at Nathan and added. “With that, this so-called party is going to have a completely different purpose compared to its original one that it had.”

Hearing all of those, the others inside the room suddenly nodded their heads since they were starting to get where Shin’s concern was coming from.

Though, Arthur was the only one who didn’t fully understand everything that Shin had just said. He was just nodding his head to look cool in front of Jillian. ‘I don’t get most of the parts that he said. But from the reactions that they were making, I am sure that this something very serious.’

At this point, Shin looked at Nathan and said. “So, how about you state our real mission this time, Sir? You don’t have to worry much about the pressure that we are going to carry. After all, you are not going to choose us if you don’t trust our abilities, right?”

And after a slight pause, he immediately added. “Or if that is still not the case, then it is better for us to abort this mission instead.”

……