《The Sole Cultivator》


 01

    Bai Long had a single thought while staring at them, I''m going to kill you all.


    His eyes were filled with hatred yet he couldn''t move an inch with all sorts of weapons stabbed right through him.


    He burned into his memories the looks of these faces. Even to his last breath, he wouldn''t forget the face of these devious bastards.


    Bai Long mustered every last of his energy for one desperate attempt, he held his sword tight and slash to the nearest bastard.


    Yet something else came at him first. He was a second too late. Bai Long could felt his life slipping away from his body and as he closed his eyes, all he had left was regret.


    Asran Zathra opened his eyes with a single thought, I''m alive?


    He was confused.


    The annoying sound of an alarm made the man dressed in a hospital gown to frown. His eyes gazed down upon his body. He wasn''t happy seeing the numerous tubes punctured over both of his bony arms.


    Yet the frown on his face disappeared as he sighed. Slowly his head rested upon the comfy pillow of the hospital.


    His dark brown eyes took a glance at his sides and saw a sign.


    "Alexandra Hospital..."


    Asran was far from getting the gist out of his current situation yet his mind was preoccupied with things that happened just a few minutes ago.


    Minutes that felt ages.


    Yet those calm eyes were disturbed by the sound of the sliding door open.


    "Morning son, I brought you flowers today. It''s daisies, I don''t know whether you like flowers or not but at least it would make the room livelier. Don''t you..."


    She fell short from finishing her words as her eyes opened wide seeing the person on the bed who was wide awake. For her, it was a surprise that she hadn''t expect.


    The doctors told her that her son had no chance of recovery from his vegetative state yet she held on.


    She continued to talk alone with her son in the hope of a response. It was a rather unorthodox way of treating him yet it was the only hope she had for her son recovery and finally, it paid off.


    Her trembling hands reached out to the emaciated face of Asran. Tears fell down like a waterfall from her cheeks.


    "Mother?"


    His voice was coarse and harsh yet a single word from Asran made the woman leaped on the bed hugging the man in hospital gown dearly.


    Asran flinched a bit as his body was too weak even for a hug from his lovely mother.


    A memory resurfaced from the long-forgotten part of his brain. An image of his mother who was much younger than she was now. He noticed the grey hairs of this woman enough to tell him the passing age of her life.


    ''What''s this?'' Thought Asran as he felt something trailing down his cheeks.


    ''Tears?'' He was baffled since It''s been a long time since the man known as Asran cry.


    Yet this warmth he felt spreading over all of his body was enough to tell him that all of this was real and he was back. Back to the arms of his mother.


    "You came back to me my son," said Asran''s mother.


    She cried tears of joy as she felt the warmth of this son of hers. She hugged him with no intention of letting him go.


    "Yes mother, I''m back," he replied.


    His frail-looking arms hugged his petite mother as he too enjoyed this moment.


    A moment between mother and son, a moment he had yearned for the past millennium.


    ---


    Night covered the skies, Asran peered out from the ward window and slightly smiled just from the comfort of being at home.


    It had been a long time since he felt this kind of comfort.


    He gazed at his mother who was resting her head on his lap, sleeping like a baby.


    For him who had learned countless things, just from sight alone he knew that his mother had gone through a life full of hardships.


    Her hands were coarse like sandpaper. Eyes sunken as if not been sleeping for days. Wrinkles covered her face, a sign of aging. It pains his heart seeing his mother like this.


    "How long had I been gone?" Said Asran.


    He felt terrible yet what could he have done. He thought he could never come back and lives off as a new person. But life was full of twists and turns, in a blink of an eye here he was.


    "Ugh," pain spread all over his body.


    ''This body is far too weak, even compared to my previous do-over state,'' he stared at his body for a little longer before the door to his ward opens once more.


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    "Sorry Mrs. Lima, it''s time for Mr.Asran night check-up."


    The nurse walked over to the side of the bed, prepping to do a check-up. But her whole body froze seeing the patient.


    He was supposed to be in a vegetative state yet he was propping his body up staring at the sight of this nurse.


    Both of them shared a moment, staring at one another eyes. It was rather awkward for the nurse yet she couldn''t pull her eyes away from those clear pristine eyes.


    Eyes that were far from different from the sickly body of his. As if it was radiating like two suns, captivating and beautiful.


    Asran broke the silence.


    "Do you know what year is it?"


    ---


    Two days later, both mother and son stood in front of the hospital entrance.


    "Mother, is everything all right?"


    Lima hid away the receipt quickly into her back pocket. She flashed a smile simply not to worry her son.


    "It''s fine son, the important thing is you''re healthy again."


    A mother will always be a mother. Asran knew the numbers on that receipt might not be few, staying in a hospital is not cheap.


    After all, he did been admitted for a whole ten years.


    ---


    "Welcome home son."


    The door creaks a bit, the hinge might be rusty.


    Asran stepped inside the apartment. A one-bedroom apartment, it was small but enough for two people.


    It was quite shabby, not fit for a family like theirs according to his memories.


    But for the last two days, his mother Lima did gave him a few input regarding their current situation.


    His condition deteriorated and needed the best treatment thus he was flown to Singapore. A decision made by his parents, yet for some unknown reason he was missing a father and also two brothers of his.


    If his memory serves him right, his family was supposed to be rich and as a matter of fact, rich that doesn''t equate with this type of home.


    He had a lot of questions yet he kept his mouth shut. That was for another time.


    "Sorry son, it''s not much but it''s still home."


    Lima comforted her son, who was rather uncustomed by the new environment.


    "Need some help?" Asked Lima.


    "I''m fine mother, just need a little bit of training walking around with these weak legs of mine," replied Asran.


    "Ok son but be careful, I don''t want you slipping and getting hurt again," Lima gave a kiss to Asran''s forehead.


    For the first time over ten years, she finally felt happy from the bottom of her heart.


    She ran off to the kitchen.


    "I''ll be making lunch, so in the meantime go watch TV or something," said Lima. She ran off to the kitchen, excited to cook up a feast for her son.


    Asran reached out to the remote control. But before he could even hold it, the door was knocked.


    "Asran, can you get the door for me," she spoke with bliss in her voice reminiscing the time when they were a family.


    The son didn''t dawdle around and walked slowly to the door. The person on the other side of the door kept knocking.


    It was rather irritating to the ears of Asran. Yet for the sake of his mother, he kept his patience.


    His hand grabbed on the doorknob and at the same time, his mother realized something was amiss.


    She had forgotten that her trouble-free days were in the past and not in the present.


    She shouted at her son.


    "Asran, don''t open the door."


    But it was too late.


    The door was open wide revealing a bunch of people grouping in front of the entrance.


    They certainly don''t look nice.


    Asran frowned and the person standing in front of him spoke to him with a mocking smile on his face.


    "So you must be the son."

 02

    "Who are you?"


    Cold and monotonous, devoid of any emotion within his voice. Along with that stare of his, it made sense the person in front of him to be pissed off.


    The man who knocks the door was quick to frown. It didn''t take him a second as he lifted his leg and kicked straight at the fragile-looking Asran.


    Asran had anticipated such action. His mind was quick but his body couldn''t follow through. The body was far too inferior compare to the mind.


    A powerful force slammed right at the pit of his stomach. His legs grew weak and he stumbled on the floor.


    He curled up, like a shrimp being barbecue. Pain was something he was accustomed to, he didn''t squeal nor let out a sound from his mouth.


    He''s a man that values his pride over everything and showing weakness in front of others was beneath him.


    "Asran," his mother ran to his side.


    "Son, are you okay? Are you hurt?" The love of a mother. Her hands scrambled over his body, trying to check if he''s injured or not.


    But the man wasn''t paying attention to the love of his mother. His pride stood at the front as his glare was directed at the person who kicked him.


    "Look at this piece of shit, to think he still had the nerve to glare at me. I think a few more kicks and broken bone will teach him a lesson," said the gangster.


    "No, please don''t Ah Long. Forgive my boy, he doesn''t know anything, please."


    Desperate to save her son, she ran and clung on the leg of Ah Long. She begged for mercy.


    "Get off of me you old hag," Ah Long shook his leg attempting to kick away the old lady.


    The frail old lady couldn''t get a tight grip and fell on the floor with a thud. She cried out of pain, probably sprang a sprain somewhere on her fragile body.


    "You dare," a cold tone, whispery and husky in nature came out from the lips of Asran.


    Seeing her mother being treat as garbage made his anger reached a boiling point.


    His eyes were showing murderous intent but his feeble appearance made his glare came out as nothing as empty air.


    Ah Long ignored the glare. He came barging in like a gangster, yet he still had his priorities to take care of.


    He lightly tapped the end of his pointy leather shoe to Lima who was on the floor.


    "Oi, when are you going to pay the debt? My boss is starting to get pissed off by your lack of cooperation," said Ah Long as he looked down on Lima.


    "I''ll pay, I promise you, I''ll pay," Lima crawled to Ah Long''s feet begging with utmost sincerity while ignoring the pain.


    "I don''t know how many times I listen to that bullshit of yours, pay up or..." before he could even finish his word, Lima vehemently begged.


    "Anything but that kind sir, please I''ll pay. I promise you," said Lima.


    "Geez, then get off of me you skank," annoyed by the clingy Lima, Ah Long wide-open palm was hurling right on its way to Lima''s face.


    "Don''t you dare..." yet a bony fist came flying right on the face of Ah Long.


    Ah Long''s eyes met with the incoming flying fist. He was caught off guard.


    "...hurt my mother," Asran roared in anger as his fist connected.


    Ah Long didn''t put much thought of it since he was only ambushed by a frail bony man. How much can a fist like that hurt him?


    But he was wrong.


    He underestimated this man.


    A powerful force flung him off the tile floor as he was thrown right through the entrance door.


    Ah Long''s entourage took the brunt of him being thrown. They all fell like bowling pins not knowing what had happened.


    ''Shit, did her son evolve?'' A question came flashing inside Ah Long''s head. Anxiousness started to bloom.


    But his worries disappeared in an instant as he saw Asran kneeling on the floor with ragged breath.


    ''The heck? An evol wouldn''t be this weak, get your head together Ah Long. That punch of his must be a fluke,'' Ah Long reassured himself as that smug look returned on his face.


    ''I think I broke my hand. Damn it, this body is too weak to handle my skill,'' Asran clenched his other fist since by the look of it, things are starting to get rowdier.


    Lima, on the other hand, was baffled by what her son had done. Her dream of happiness shattered as she imagined the worst possible outcome of the scenario right now.


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    "Get up boys, we got a sick kid that needs to be a taught a lesson," Ah Long riled up his entourage as all of them were the quick temper type of people.


    Making a mess out of somebody were their specialty thus breaking a few bones off this kid wouldn''t make them blink an eye.


    Asran got up, ready to duke it out with these goons. Even with a weak body, his pride didn''t falter even an inch.


    Lima was about to plead for forgiveness after seeing the current situation.


    Yet a light came at the end of a dark tunnel.


    "If you look at that, why is there a bunch of gangsters running around in this peaceful apartment. I couldn''t even get a good night sleep with all the ruckus you guys made," a husky feminine voice rang in the air, disturbing the tension of the situation.


    A woman appeared dressed casually in her pajamas, she looks groggy as if she had just woke up.


    One of Ah Long''s goon took the chance to show some dominance.


    "Hey bitch, don''t meddle into someone else business. Get the hell away before..." even before he could finish, his balls were already struck by a swift kick from the pajama woman.


    The goon flopped to the floor with his legs tucked together. Every man in the vicinity felt empathy for his pain. They felt the urge to act out of revenge for one of their fallen goon members but their movement ceased after seeing a metallic shine pointed at them.


    "I won''t repeat this twice, so get the heck out of here before I pull the trigger on any of you unfortunate scum of society," said the pajama woman with a gun pointed at Ah Long''s entourage.


    "Don''t get cocky, I doubt you will do it. Besides, aren''t you at a disadvantage right now? If we report you to the police about that illegal gun of yours, your fate won''t be pleasant," Ah Long mustered up his courage and fought back. He even put a little threatening so the woman can concede.


    But what came next made his eyes popped out of his eye sockets.


    "You scums are really annoying and bothersome, see this thing here? This is my free pass to do anything with you lots, even a few missing bullets wouldn''t matter," the pajama woman pulled her shirt up revealing a police badge stuck on her get-slim waistband.


    That one motion was enough to frighten the heck out of these goons along with Ah Long.


    They ran off with a tail between their legs. Ah Long glared at Asran and Lima before scurrying away for his life.


    He was there to collect money and not to deal with the authority. As previously stated, he indeed has his priorities straight.


    "Mrs.Lima are you okay?" Asked pajama woman.


    "Thank you officer Sofia, if it wasn''t for you things would have gone bad," said Lima as she was grateful for the help she was given.


    Asran walked over to his mother''s side while dragging his feet. Sofia glanced at Asran for a second before she turned her head back at Lima letting off a bright smile.


    "Mrs. Lima, just call me Sofia. No need for officer, besides aren''t we neighbors? We should help each other in time of needs," although Sofia''s voice was husky yet her tone was gentle like a willow tree''s branch swaying over the breeze. A polite young woman.


    "Then you should also be more familiar with me, stop with the mrs and call me Auntie Lima, okay Sofia?"


    Both of them shared a few pleasantries. Lima was astonishing in the eyes of Asran. To think she could be joyful in a matter of seconds after what had happened, made him wonder how many times that this mother of his need to preserve from all the hardships.


    Lima invited Sofia for lunch but the latter declined as she needs some shut-eye. Lima didn''t insist and promised Sofia to cook for her at a later date.


    In the end, what left was the two of them.


    Silence reigned over the air.


    Lima closed the door and went to the kitchen. She continued cooking as if nothing had happened.


    Asran didn''t pursue any of his questions in his mind as he sat at the small dining table while watching the back of his mother.


    All sorts of emotiones sprang up inside of his cold heart and what weighed him down the most was guilt.


    A thought came passing into Asran''s mind.


    ''Mother, what happened to you for the last ten years.''

 03

    A silent lunch between mother and son. Nothing but silence except for the sound of plate and spoon colliding.


    The food was delicious but the mood was rather cold. Too many things were bothering the minds of these family duo.


    In the end, Asran asked.


    "Mother, please share your burden with me. There''s no need to bear all of it any longer."


    Tears started dropping away, even with her head facing down Asran could easily saw his mother crying.


    It made him felt more guilt than before. But he had to ask no matter what.


    "No son, it''s fine. You just need to get healthy and that will be enough for me," her voice was trembling yet like any mother she didn''t want to make her son worry.


    Asran was frustrated hearing the same thing again. But he remained calm and collected.


    He didn''t question his mother, he knew how stubborn she was. Nevertheless, he answered with his action.


    He held his mother''s hand, comforting the heart of his mother.


    A conversation in silence you might say.


    After lunch, Lima bade goodbye to her son. She had work to do and debt to pay. Her heart felt heavy to leave but nothing can be done.


    "Be sure to rest and if there''s any problem you can call the number under my name," she left and then there was Asran. Solitude in the lonesome apartment.


    He stood in front of the balcony window staring at the vast sight of the small nation of Singapore.


    The brilliant advance city of Singapore was at the far end of his sight. Yet it wasn''t the thing that was floating in his mind.


    ''The qi here is far too thin,'' thought Asran with a frown.


    Then his thought floated elsewhere.


    ''Wealth, Power and Influence. Still the same like I remember.'' He wiped the glass window with his long sleeve.


    ''But nothing beats absolute power,'' his eyes gazed upon the blue sky remembering the time when he held that absolute power.


    ''Sacrificing my future for the sake of this world standard, is it worth it?'' He questioned himself, yet the thought of his mother appeared.


    The hesitation he had was blown away instantly.


    ''For mother then,'' he vowed that he will make his mother happy like she used to. No matter what the cost.


    ---


    Walking around the park near his apartment, Asran felt it was better to start his journey for absolute power outside rather than inside the apartment.


    ''At least the amount of qi here is better than in the apartment.''


    He looked around taking in the sight of the green trees. A good place for a picnic but Asran was the only one around.


    The weather was hot and humid. No one in their right mind would walk around in the park under the blazing sun.


    Yet Asran didn''t paid much attention to it. He found a nice spot with a good shade and sat down in a leisure manner.


    Leaning on the trunk of the tree, he closed his eyes as he remembered a particular book. He utterly despised that book along with its author but in this situation, he couldn''t complain about it.


    ''Who would have thought I would use that bastard technique,'' he chuckled just thinking about it.


    ''An unorthodox method, but effective in my kind of situation. Life Qi Earthen Conversion, sounds rather lame but the side effect is rather devious. Igniting life qi to multiply the gather qi boosting the progression of cultivating.''


    True to Asran''s words, it was a rather devilish technique. In the long run, his life span will shorten until he finally die. Not the best way to go but what choice do he had.


    He sat in silence under the shade of the tree. A slight breeze came, ruffling the tree branches. His loose clothes gently flapped by the wind.


    Soon four hours passed.


    Asran maintained his position like a stone statue. A few people pass by and none realized his presence.


    In this digital age where everything is at a fast pace, he was definitely one of the few who could withstand being idle for four hours straight.


    In the end, he sighed out of disappointment.


    ''Too slow, if continue like this I doubt I will be strong even one second before my death,'' thought Asran.


    He was cursing at that bastard inwardly. All those braggings he heard from that loudmouth and yet the technique turned out to be mediocre.


    Asran doubted whether that bastard had ever cultivate in a place with extreme low qi density like this.


    But then, the lax nature of his face turned serious. His head turned to his right side as his sense felt something was amiss.


    His eyes narrowed as he tried to see the unseeable. Asran got up and ran like his life depended on it.


    Although his legs were weak and on the verge of stumbling down, yet he stay persistent as he saw something.


    His eyes were gleaming like blinking stars as this sudden turn of event might be the path of his salvation.


    His pace slows down and in the end, he halted while staring at something in front of him.


    "Interdimensional gate? On earth? What the hell is going on here?"


    It only took him a few seconds to decide and in an instant, he rushed straight into the interdimensional gate which was churning like a vortex.


    There was no hesitation at all from his face. Rather his face was brimming with excitement.


    Half an hour later, the turbulent interdimensional gate stabilized and remained static.


    A few people emerged from within the main park road. Their attires were rather peculiar and interesting, some like knight''s armor while some wear tight-fitting bodysuit.


    A young petite woman stepped in front of the group with an annoyed look on her face.


    "The heck? Why is the portal blue?" Said the petite woman.


    A man who was wearing an overcoat under the blazing weather spoke up.


    "Use common sense you dunce, someone else is already inside."


    The petite woman glared at the overcoat man.


    "You think I don''t know that?" She was on the verge of hitting the overcoat man.


    But someone held her back by the shoulder. A woman dressed in shining thin plate armor. Rather than bulky, her armor was streamline accentuating her figure perfectly.


    "Stop bickering Zoe, and Haron don''t incite her," said the armor lady.


    Haron, the man wearing the overcoat raised both of his hands in the air, a sign of backing off.


    Zoe, could only glare at Haron with her arms crossed over her chest.


    The armor lady turned her attention to the portal. Her eyes were serious as she said.


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    "It seems we have an intruder within our territory."


    ---


    In a vast wasteland, a single portal was seen with nothing else around it.


    Yet a person appeared from within the portal. The moment he stepped inside, he fell to his knees.


    His breath was ragged and his body was covered in blood from top to bottom. Numerous cuts riddled his body and the clothes were close to being torn apart into shreds.


    "Shit, didn''t thought it would be that bad going through an unstable interdimensional gate," said Asran while smirking.


    Ignoring the pain riddling his entire body his eyes shifted across the wasteland.


    Some would despair seeing such a barren place but Asran was elated. As if he had seen a gold mine right in front of his very eyes.


    "The qi density here is similar to Xuanwu nation, a Royal third-tier kingdom. Although not up too my standards but at least I can cultivate normally," said Asran.


    He didn''t dawdle and sat in a meditative position. The bloody man closed his eyes and controlled his breathing rate.


    Slowly his breathing slowed down and maintain at a slow rate.


    ''Time to get rid of that bastard stupid technique,'' he cast aside the Life Qi Earthen Conversion technique and opt for a superior technique.


    He concentrated as his mind searched deep into the reservoir of memories. Then deep within the depth of his memory bank, a vault strapped with black iron chains.


    ''Release...''


    By his words, the chains disintegrated into dust. Then the vault slowly opens by itself as if something was pushing it from the inside.


    ''Come to me Eternal Seven Nights,'' to the beckon of his words, a huge black claw ripped off the vault''s door.


    Seven entities emerged from the dark depth of the vault and lunged straight at the subconscious representation of Asran''s mind.


    Asran didn''t flinch as he spread his arms wide inviting those seven entities in.


    All seven seeped inside Asran''s subconscious body. He smiled and as he opened his eyes, the sight of the wasteland greeted him.


    "Eternal Seven Nights, the third-best cultivation technique in the entire universe," he was elated yet a tint of regret was hinted from his voice.


    "A pity I couldn''t find the most powerful cultivation technique but nevertheless, third in the universe is still the best," said Asran. Then a thought came to him.


    "I wonder whether that universe is the same as this one," a thought that can provoke the mind.


    "Nevermind, that kind of thing is better at a later period," putting that thought on hold, Asran began his cultivation alone in this wasteland.


    Circulating the technique, his whole body pores were open wide and what came after was a shocking scene. Gush of qi came rushing at him as if he was a black hole.


    To the untrained eye, one could not see the sight of qi moving but certainly they can feel the strong turbulance of the wind.


    Asran''s shredded clothes were torn apart leaving nothing but his spandex undies. A bony frame of a person close to a perserve mummy. That was how bony he was after the loose clothes being torn away.


    But it didn''t matter to him as his body was in the process of changing.


    A change that will brought forth an incredible power.


    Cough...


    During the process, he coughed up blood, yet he remained astute and continued cultivating absorbing the surrounding qi like he was the eye of a typhoon.


    His body was too weak to withstand the pressure from the influx of qi but he didn''t care a shred of it.


    Asran needed this and no doubt he had the confidence to obtain it even at the cost of imaginable pain.


    Soon, the abudant qi within his body was refined slowly by the Eternal Seven Night technique.


    Afterwards, the refined qi was circulated throughout his entire body nurturing every cell in his body.


    Those dull cells of his started ravaging the qi absorbing within itself as if they were starving wolves.


    Soon, every cells in his body turned vibrant like the light of the moon.


    Then it happened.


    Night arrived within this other dimension. Asran didn''t budge an inch but the ground all around him started to cracked.


    Then the night sky started to move as if something was pulling them down.


    No doubt it was Asran''s doing or to be more precise, the work of Eternal Seven Night technique.


    ''Night is beautiful like onyx...''


    Asran moved his hand as he reached out to the night sky. His palm opened and closed as if he grabbed on something yet there was nothing on his hand.


    He yanked down and a loud ripping sound resonated throughout the surrounding.


    A black mass in the size of a nail was on his palm. He stared at it for a few seconds before he popped it inside his mouth swallowing it whole.


    Asran concentrated once more in his cultivation and a few minutes later, his whole body was cracking like his bones being shattered into pieces.


    His whole body was dripping with sweat as the man himself gritted his teeth enduring the hellish pain. At certain point he was just about to faint but he stood persistent.


    Within his body the black mass disolved and circulated through his body tainting every vibrant moon-like cells of his with the darkness of the night.


    Cold wind surrounded his entire being as the temperature started dropping down like mad.


    Then within his body the last cell was finally tainted by the black mass and that was the climax of it all.


    "Argh!"


    He yelled out of pain into the sky as the threshold of pain was too much even for him. Darkness engulfed his entire being as if he was night itself.


    A split second later, the darkness vanished leaving Asran as if nothing had happened.


    Flop...


    Asran fell on the dusty ground as he slept like a baby. Half an hour later, he woke up.


    "Finally,"he stood up and looked at his body.


    His previous bony body was now fit and healthy. More like a thin person rather than a mummy yet his muscles were well-defined as if chiseled by a famous sculptor.


    All those cuts and bruises were healed and not a blemish could be seen on his skin.


    Clenching his fist, Asran let out a punch at the empty air.


    He could hear the air ripping apart, a testament of his new obtain strength.


    He smiled with a sly smirk as he proclaimed.


    "1st stage Qi Frame clear."

 04

    Underneath the starry night, Asran was throwing fists and kicks and for the first time, he felt his body light and energetic. Far from being the sickly state like before.


    His body was covered in sweats as he gets used to this body of his. According to his standard, he was still weak but compared to before it was a thousand times better.


    Asran clenched his fist, satisfied with his current progress.


    "Eternal Seven Night is indeed incredible. Even at the 1st stage Qi Frame, my qi density within my dantian is already equal to a 2nd stage Qi Frame," true to Asran''s evaluation, the technique he utilized was indeed matching to its prestige for being the third-best cultivation technique in the whole universe.


    "At least dealing with those hooligans wouldn''t be much of a problem," said Asran.


    He tilted his head upwards staring at the night.


    "Should I go home? Mother must be worried," usually he wasn''t tied down by anything during his time living in the world of cultivators as Bai Long. Yet now, the image of his mother weighed him down.


    He smiled.


    "What am I even thinking, mother will always remain as the priority."


    Asran was curios about this dimension more so when he could saw the turbulent amount of qi at the far end of his sight where a lush jungle could be seen.


    He was accustomed to being an adventurous type of person but that intention of his need to be put on hold for a while as he had someone waiting for him at home.


    "Let''s not worry about this, I still have tomorrow."


    After staring at the jungle for a while, he turned around and ran towards the portal.


    He thought of rushing through but stopped at the last minute.


    "What''s this? An interlocking barrier formation?" Asran was confused seeing such a thing.


    Then the thought of this random interdimensional gate piqued his interest.


    "I really need to dig some information about this interdimensional gate. There was no way that it can randomly appear out of the blue, I maybe lucky but not that lucky to an extent where everything appears like I wanted," said Asran.


    An interdimensional gate in a park in Singapore was definitely too random.


    He remained calm and inspect the barrier that blocked his path home.


    "A challenging formation no doubt, but sadly I''m kind of an expert myself," said Asran with confidence.


    Instilling qi in both of his fists, he struck at a few certain points right at the portal.


    This process continued until his body was again covered in sweats.


    ''Being this weak is really irritating,'' thought Asran.


    He had continued poking around the portal for almost an hour and as the time ticked by, he finally struck the portal for the last time.


    "Done," Asran sat on the ground as he was catching his breath.


    He stared at the portal with resentment.


    ''If I still had my previous cultivation, this kind of barrier wouldn''t even last a second,'' he grumbled inside while patting off the dust from his bottom.


    He didn''t hesitate as he jumped into the portal with home as his goal.


    Yet the moment he stepped outside, his instinct was telling him something dangerous was coming. He thought of pushing it through with his newfound brute strength but his instinct was telling him not to.


    He stumbled and fell on the ground. After reaching Qi Frame, he had obtained most of his lost needed abilities. One of them was Spirit Sense.


    Usually, Qi Frame wouldn''t be able to use the Spirit Sense to its fullest capability but for someone like Asran who had thousands of years of experience, his capability was no doubt top notch.


    He released a blanket of qi to his surroundings acting like a sonar. With his current density of qi, the most he could reach was ten meters.


    For now, it was enough as he saw himself being surrounded at every angle.


    "Get up," a stern cold voice permeated through the air.


    Asran tilted his head upwards and saw a sword pointed right at his face.


    "Eeek, please don''t kill me," Asran panicked as he backed away. His face who was always oozing with confidence was nowhere in sight. As it was replaced by a fluster and frightened expression.


    To top it off, he was only in his undies and from appearance alone he was definitely pathetic looking.


    "What the heck is wrong with this wimp?" A high pitch voice rang in the air.


    It was none other than Zoe.


    The armor lady didn''t move her sword away as she locked her eyes at the frightened Asran.


    She was observing Asran from top to bottom trying to see whether this was a ruse or not.


    While she was serious, the others around her were laughing their ass off at Asran.


    "State your name and guild that you are affiliated with," the armored lady stepped closer towards Asran with the pointed end of her sword never leaving the direction of his face.


    "Please I don''t know anything, I''m innocent," said Asran.


    Zoe stood beside the armored lady sneering at the sight of Asran.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Just look at this pathetic wimp, let''s just kill him," Zoe was reckless in her action as well as with her words.


    She reached out to her back and unsheathed two daggers within her hands. A devilish grin ran right across her face.


    "Hold your horses Zoe, I''m not gonna get our guild in trouble just because of your stupid impulse," Viv, the armored lady reprimanded Zoe not caring for her dignity at all.


    "Why the hell are you covering for him? He invaded our portal, that spells freaking death to me," said Zoe.


    "Don''t be an idiot, he''s a normie," someone else chimed in, it was Haron who was leaning by the tree.


    "Get out of here, there''s no way this wimpy bastard is a normie, how the hell he get out of the portal then?" Zoe wasn''t pleased and gave a counter argument.


    "Well that''s what the boss wants to find out, right boss," he passed that question to Viv.


    In the end, all turned out good. No innocent blood was shed since some people are still logical in a sense.


    A bunch of people was surrounding the portal setting up a perimeter. There was also a new bunch of people popping up, men in black suits. They brought a bunch of gizmos as well as a few types of machinery as they set it up around the portal.


    Asran could saw it all through his spirit sense. He could even saw the death stare from that bratty Zoe.


    Yet right now, he had to deal with the biggest problem in front of him.


    Viv...


    ''This woman here is the strongest of them all and I sense something else within her,'' thought Asran.


    "Hey, pay attention here. Tell me, how did you get inside the portal?"  Viv voice remained stern no matter how pitiful Asran look.


    "I don''t know, I was just cycling on my bike and suddenly that portal came out nowhere, I couldn''t pull the break fast enough and I accidentally went inside," said Asran.


    Viv doesn''t seem impress by his explanation although it does sounds logical, yet the problem was how on earth was this man still alive.


    "I''ll cut to the chase, how did you get out through the portal? Did you find the Return Gem?" Rather than a friendly chat, it was more like an interrogation.


    On the other hand, Asran was confused with all these new words.


    "Sorry but I don''t know what you''re talking about. All I did was step inside the portal once more."


    "Stop lying, I won''t tolerate any nonsense," Viv hoisted her sword right at the nape of Asran''s neck.


    She looked at Asran from top to bottom trying to discern whether this guy was hiding something or not. But no matter how she looked at him, she couldn''t sense anything from him.


    Even Haron, their guild best mage who had the highest sensitivity to mana couldn''t detect any sort of fluctuation of mana from within Asran.


    Asran backed away raising both of his hands up in surrender. Beads of sweat rained down on his forehead, a testament of his nervousness.


    With stuttering words, he explained himself.


    "I''m telling the truth please trust me. At first, I couldn''t get through but after the portal change into green, I managed to step inside, I swore I didn''t do anything else besides that," Asran spoke in earnest.


    Asran''s words made sense but something doesn''t add up.


    ''How could a portal turn into green without finding the return gem? Unless he beat the boss? No, that''s impossible. He''s just a normie,'' many thoughts were running through Viv''s head.


    ''Unless someone else defeats the boss, that''s isn''t possible, is it?'' Another uncertainty, it was impossible but nothing seems possible after the change from ten years ago.


    She was getting a headache just thinking about it. Why does this guy have to mess with their new portal. It''s been a while since their guild had a new portal.


    In the end, she got nothing else from Asran other than more anxiousness.


    Viv glared at Asran for a while before she left while saying, "Next time don''t be so reckless."


    She left and assembled a set of team to conquer this new portal. Haron and Zoe were one of the main team members. They were excited about the notion of entering a new portal.


    She took one last glance at the back of Asran as he was guided to exit the park by one of the black suit men.


    ''Stop thinking about him, I need to focus,'' Viv concentrates the task at hand.


    Since it''s the time to reap some profit.


    ---


    The sound of a door being closed from the back. The man wearing the undies dragged his feet towards the balcony.


    He stared downwards towards the park, his eyes were cold and filled with anger.


    "This is really humiliating, I''ve never thought I would return doing those despicable acting," said Asran.


    As if his pride was being stomped on as he had no choice to act like a helpless man.


    "As I thought, in ten years the world really had changed. I think there''s a need to dig around some information."


    In the end, he stood by the balcony staring at the park. He had burned into his memories every face he had seen just now who dared laughed at him, as well as the person who dared intimidate him.


    He vowed he would pay a hundredfold of humiliation. If not, his previous name wouldn''t be Bai Long, Reaper of Chaos.

 05

    Knock knock


    The sound of a door being banged up. The occupant got up, annoyed by the continuous disturbance that was happening throughout the day.


    "Yeah, what?" An irritating voice came out from the woman who still wore pajamas in daylight.


    Asran held his fist from knocking and stood in front of the door looking at his neighbor.


    "Hi, can I use your computer for a while," said Asran.


    Sofia stared at the sight of this man, trying to remember who he was.


    "Ah, the neighbor. Huh..." Sofia sighed shaking her head. This day was really an unfortunate day for her.


    "You know neighbor, there''s this thing call boundary and I know we neighbor should lend a helping hand but..." before Sofia could even finish her words, Asran walked inside in a nonchalant manner.


    "Thank you, neighbor," said Asran as he passed by Sofia.


    She watched the figure of this man who walked by her with a dumbfounded expression.


    In all of her life, she had never seen such a shameless and brazen man before. Sofia even did a favor for his family, saving them from a gang of loanshark.


    She closed the door and went to the fridge for a drink. Just seeing Asran sitting on her couch in leisure made her head hurts.


    Asran opened up the laptop on the coffee table and was impressed by the loading speed. He felt a sense of nostalgia remembering his first laptop, back then he was eighteen and it was a gift for him getting into college.


    "Don''t go into my private files, you wouldn''t like what I''m into," said Sofia as she sat down next Asran keeping an eye to this neighbor of her.


    Asran ignored her words and opened up Goggles. He typed numerous things from portal, another dimension, superhumans and anything else that was closely related.


    "Oh, you''re into portal or something? I hope you''re not one of those fanatics about evol. Damn, I really hate those freaks," Sofia was annoyed just by mentioning the word evol.


    "What''s an evol?" Asran didn''t spin around and questioned her.


    Sofia stared at Asran trying to figure out what''s going inside the head of this man. Yet that serious look on him really made her falter a bit.


    "I''m hoping you''re not playing a joke on me. I''m lacking sleep and a bit of sensitive right now, pray that I don''t punch you out of annoyance," said Sofia and she wasn''t messing around.


    There was silence between them, it lasted a few seconds before Asran broke the silence.


    "I was in a coma for the last ten years, and yes I don''t know a thing about the current world right now. Just a while ago, some woman in armor almost chop my head off because of being near with this portal, and for once I would like to know why the hell am I close to dying because of a stupid portal," Asran explained with a stoic look on his face.


    Sofia looked at him for a while as she chugged down the last drip of her drink. It''s cold barley tea by the way.


    "I heard about you from rumors, never thought you managed to wake up," Sofia got up and went to the fridge and filled up her mug.


    While walking back to the couch she grabbed a bag of chips. She plopped down on the couch and started munching down.


    Asran waited patiently and was not bothered by her actions.


    "So... where should I start," asked Sofia as the sound of chips being munched filled up the entire apartment.


    "From the beginning," answered Asran.


    ---


    He spent almost an hour listening to Sofia. Half of it was information while the other half was Sofia ranting of how much hate she had for those people called Evol.


    At least Asran had the general information regarding what had happened for the last ten years. Even he couldn''t believe it after listening to Sofia. But after considering how even him coming back to earth was absurd, he accepted the fact that had happened.


    "Hey, you want anything? I''m ordering take out, pizza sounds good right," Sofia was the laid back type of person and didn''t mind the company of Asran, although she was annoyed by him at first.


    "No thank you, my mother is coming back. She will be worry if I''m not there," said Asran.


    He opened the door to the apartment and left without leaving a glance behind.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.Sofia only noticed him left after hearing the sound of the door being closed.


    "Sheesh, for someone who had been sleeping for the last ten years he really lacks manner. Well who cares, more pizza for me then," said Sofia.


    ---


    Asran sat on the sofa while deep within his own thought. There was a lot to process, but his thought process was still the same as he was once known as Bai Long.


    "Evol, the next step of evolution of humans. Hmph," Asran scoffed at that thought as he had never believed that human was a product of evolution.


    "No wonder I felt that foreign energy coming from those people, it seems something is tampering with humans and calling it as evolution," said Asran.


    He remembered what Sofia told him. The portal started to appear ten years ago and the aftermath of it being left unattended made the whole world experienced an unimaginable horror.


    The term Portal Break became the nightmare of all people throughout the whole world.


    Portal Break, an incident that released countless monsters into the world. Blood was shed and many lives were lost.


    The fight between monsters and humans was leaning towards the monsters as human weapons were rendered incapable of doing anything to these monsters.


    Bullets, missiles, explosives and nukes, everything was useless as if something was protecting these monsters.


    Yet in a moment of turmoil, heroes rose up for the challenge. Courageous men and women all over the world who were gifted brought a stop to the invasion of these monsters.


    In the end, came the rise of humans known as Evol, a shorter term for evolve human. It was a random turn of event and over the course of the whole ten years, the numbers of this evol are rising.


    All in order to combat the rising number of emerging portals appearing throughout the whole world.


    "So those people I met are known as evol huh," Asran recalled the faces of those people.


    "If I wasn''t mistaken, Sofia told me that the guild responsible around this area are known as Lost Frontier. Debt must be pay and I won''t forget it," Asran couldn''t forget how humiliating it was to pretend like a weakling and that indeed tarnished his pride.


    "Nevermind, at least now I know how to progress in my cultivation without risking my life force," said Asran.


    He waited alone within the silent apartment. He didn''t even bother turning on the television. Asran intention was elsewhere.


    The clock struck eight-thirty and his mother was still not home.


    ''Does she really work till this late?'' Thought Asran.


    ''Hmm, I should have ask mother about the time,'' while he was lost in thought, his stomach grumbled out of nowhere.


    "Ah, having a weak body really is tiresome. I guess I really need to pay attention to eating as of now," Asran got up and left the apartment.


    Knock knock


    "Haish, who is it now? I''m just about to eat, that freaking delivery takes too long and I''m freaking hungry," the fork in her hand started to bend in the shape of a U.


    She opened the door and saw who it was, her mouth gap wide open in disbelief.


    "Oh, the pizza is here already. Let''s eat," said Asran as he stepped inside without a care.


    "You should be grateful I didn''t kick your ass," whispered Sofia silently. She was careful not to let that Asran hear her.


    For someone who was easy to be annoyed, she was quite patient dealing with the likes of Asran. She closed the door and walked back with an ire face.


    Both of them shared a pizza together in silence. There was no talking except for munching and a person chugging her mug.


    "Man, eating with you is really boring. Don''t you know how to talk or something. Geez," Sofia grabbed the remote and turned on the television as she couldn''t stand the silence.


    Sofia who was not interested at first changed the channel a few times before she laid eyes upon the screen.


    "Hey," she grabbed the long sleeve of Asran.


    "What? I''m eating here," said Asran.


    "Look at the screen, it''s your mother," to the mention of his mother, Asran was quick to glance.


    "Mother."

 06

    One of the most expensive places to live, Singapore was no doubt a futuristic city. Yet where there is a vision of the future, there is also crime trailing by.


    Tonight, a particular place was surrounded by people. From the police to broadcasting staff, to even the paramedics, the situation was rather dire.


    Raffles place, one of the hottest spots in Singapore yet rather than being boisterous with glamor and fun. The whole situation was tense.


    Even the news was recording live regarding the current situation. A hostage situation, a group of masked men were holding people at gunpoint.


    The bright beam light from the police was shining on the second floor. A gunman was holding a woman with a gun right at her head.


    A pitiful sight of a woman who was bawling her eyes out.


    "State your demands," the megaphone rang out, as the police started to negotiate with the gunman.


    It was a race against time, as the police were buying time for their swat team to arrive.


    "Go to hell with your demands," another masked man walked to the side of the gunman. He walked with his steps slow, taking his time in leisure. Both of his hands were behind his back holding on to a megaphone.


    He looked down and saw those people cowering in fear and anxiety. He knew that things were going well according to plan. He smiles underneath the mask.


    "Shoot the glass window," said the masked man.


    The gunman who was holding the hostage pointed the gun and pulled the trigger.


    The glass window broke into a thousand pieces as the sound of a shot being fired caught the people by surprise.


    Everyone outside the building ducked out of instinct fearing for their lives. Even the curious citizens surrounding the place at a safe distance ducked out of reflex. Some started to run away fearing stray bullets, while some took out their smartphone and started recording.


    Some anxious policemen were about to shoot but their captain was quick on his feet.


    "Hold your fire," Sam shouted at once and his team of brave blue men held their fingers. That was a close call, thought Sam as his eyes focused on the person who stood by the broken glass window.


    The masked man held up the megaphone and spoke.


    "Well, first of all, to hell about demands," he paused as the police downstairs were confused yet Sam was having a bad vibe about this.


    "And second, how about we play some roulette?"


    ----


    A man''s eyes were glued to the screen of his neighbor''s television. His hands were grabbing the two edges of the screen.


    Asran''s heart was beating like mad as the feeling of anxiousness spreading inside of him. He just saw his mother on the screen, who was sitting behind the gunman with the rest of the hostages.


    The sight of his mother lasted more than just a few seconds. Afterward, the screen changed to the sight of the masked man as he made a rather confusing statement.


    "Let''s play roulette? What kind of nonsense is he talking about?" said Sofia.


    She was about to curse at the masked man yet something passed by in front of her.


    "Wait Asran, where''re you going?" Sofia knew who it was, she picked herself up and rushed at the door.


    She was stumbling at the front trying to wear her slippers.


    "Haish, this stupid slipper," she managed to put on her slippers and ran outside.


    "As-" she was about to yell out a name but the moment she steps outside, she saw a man standing a few meters by the corridor.


    It was Asran standing alone.


    "Oi, don''t think of doing anything stupid. Just let the police do their job and everything will be alright," Sofia tried to reason with this man. It made sense for him to go out there and rescue his mother yet for someone like him who was bedridden for ten years, there was nothing he could do.


    Asran turned around and stood in front of Sofia. He stared deep into her eyes like a razor-sharp edge of a sword.


    Sofia felt two hands grabbing her shoulders. She felt the urge to smack Asran''s head yet what came out of his mouth made her stop that notion.


    "Please take me there," Sofia could saw the burning resolution in his eyes.


    She sighed since she knew that him being there won''t be helping the situation.


    "Listen to me Asran, we police are good at our job so put your trust in us. Okay?" Sofia tried to reason with him.


    "I don''t know how to get there. So tell me," Asran outright ignored whatever she just said.


    "Geez, are you even listening to me," before she could continue nagging at Asran, he cut off her words.


    "She''s my mother, Sofia. Please help me," if someone knew Bai Long the destroyer spoke such words, pleading for help. They would be in total denial and shock.


    Sofia looked into his eyes and shrugged off her shoulders. She walked back inside her apartment leaving Asran alone.


    A minute later, she came back.


    "Come on," she grumbled while leading the way.


    After taking down the elevator, both of them went to the parking lot. Asran stood straight staring at the vehicle in front of him.


    "Here take this," Sofia threw a pink moped helmet at Asran.


    Sofia ignored the dumbfounded Asran as she start-up the engine.


    "Hey come on, are you going or not?" Said Sofia as she beckoned her neighbor to ride on the back.


    The moment Asran sat behind her, his curiosity spilled out through his lips.


    "I didn''t think a police would ride a scooter," Sofia turned her head around and glared at him.


    Asran had the notion of police being a badass since he did enjoy watching crime genre films before the accident. It was one of those hobbies he had that he enjoyed during his younger days.


    "Save that imagination of yours down to the bottom of your head. We cops don''t get paid that much," Sofia swallowed down hard that frank comment from Asran as she revved up the throttle.


    A duo went down the road while the situation at Raffle Place was getting dire by the second.


    "Please put down the weapon, we will fulfill any of your demands," Sam the policeman was getting tense seeing how absurd this masked man.


    In the arms of the masked man, he held a woman. One of the patrons of the store. She was crying like a river begging for her life to be spare yet the masked man was deaf to her plea.


    Just a while ago, the masked man pulled the trigger to his revolver. Everyone saw his action from the news reporter to the police force.


    All of them gasped in surprise seeing how the poor woman was still alive.


    "Oops, an empty barrel. How unlucky," said the masked man as he cackled in silent much to his amusement.


    His attention turned to the sight of the police who were hoping for a negotiation.


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    "Let''s see, what kind of demands do I want?" He was speaking out loud through the megaphone and his speech made the people downstairs rather anxious.


    As if they were looking at a madman.


    "I won''t ask much, but ten million seems not bad," said the masked man.


    "Okay we will consider your-" before Sam could finish his words, the masked man grabbed the woman from before by the neck and pointed his gun once more.


    "On second thought, consider this then," the masked man pulled the trigger to his revolver.


    Everyone was caught by surprise especially the hostage. She screamed her lungs out fearing for her death.


    Yet the pain of death didn''t come as her head was still intact.


    "Haha, another empty barrel. You''re quite lucky aren''t you," the masked snickered at the hostage whose make-up was all smudged up.


    "Hey, what''s the meaning of this. We''re under negotiation, you can''t do that," Sam was getting infuriated by the randomness of this masked man.


    "Who says I can''t?" The masked man pulled once more.


    BANG!


    A head was blown off. The hostage body flopped to the floor as a gush of blood came pouring out from her head.


    "Wow, that was a surprise. I thought it will take a few more turns, what a bummer."


    Everyone was shocked as the situation earned their first death. News reporters were quick to report the on-scene incident depicting a mad man taking control of the situation with the police being useless and helpless.


    The blue blood reputation was going downhill at the moment and it will keep going down if Sam doesn''t do a thing.


    "Shit, what''s wrong with this guy?" He asked himself yet he knew lunatic is incomprehensible.


    "Wong, where''s the freaking swat team? They should be here by now."


    A nervous policeman came and saluted at him.


    "Sir, they''re in position and ready for your command."


    "Give me that," Sam snatched the walkie talkie from Wong''s hand.


    Sam was cursing inside at those swat team for coming late, there was already a casualty and he would certainly get an earful from the higher up.


    "Swat team leader, have you been brief about the situation?"


    "We''ve been brief, we''re currently on standby by the perimeter," the swat team leader, Din was quick in his response.


    Upon arrival at the scene, he didn''t meet up with the officer in charge and was quick to proceed with action. Din knew how Sam works, rather than meeting up and wasting time, Din did what was logical.


    "Do you got eyes on the roof?" Asked Sam.


    "Affirmative sir," replied Din.


    "Do you have a clear shot at that freak masked man?"


    "Yes, wait," Sam waited for a while and what he heard next wasn''t pleasant to his ears.


    "He got another hostage sir, and we couldn''t get a clear shot," to Din''s words, Sam tilted his head and saw a rather hip-looking girl standing in front of the masked man.


    "Let go of the girl, we want to negotiate. There''s no need for any innocent blood to be spill," Sam tried to convince the masked man yet what he got was just a loud laugh.


    "Hahahaha," although the masked man was laughing, his revolver was still dead center on the head of the hip girl.


    "You''re telling me innocent blood shouldn''t be spill? To hell with that, and to hell with all of you," the masked man demeanor changed to the worst. He lashed out at everyone as his face contorted underneath that pink beanie mask.


    Rage was seen within those eyes and he made a bold choice because of it.


    His fingers pulled the trigger again and again. The hip girl cried and screamed as her knee buckled down and between her thigh, a trickle of fluid trailed down.


    Yet she was alive.


    Sam was shocked seeing how unstable this masked man was.


    "Oopss, I forgot. I already use the bullet on this gun, silly me, haha," the masked man laughed in a merry manner.


    He threw the revolver away and grabbed something from behind. A Glock was pulled out and Sam witnessed it from below.


    BANG!


    The masked man didn''t hesitate as he shot the hip girl at the head.


    "Geez, she piss at my favorite shoe, damn it," complained the masked man as he wriggled his feet not minding another body on the floor.


    Sam was getting desperate seeing another casualty right in front of his eyes.


    "Take the shot, take the damn shot now," Sam shouted through the walkie talkie.


    But nothing was heard.


    "Sir, the sniper team had been compromised, we have no eyes on the target," Din replied with a heavy heart.


    "Wong, send some men up to those buildings over there and do a full sweep," Sam sent across his order to Wong.


    "Swat leader you have permission to engage, take down the hostile and rescue the hostages," Sam couldn''t wait any longer, this total maniac was piling up the body count and Sam wouldn''t want another dead body under his supervision.


    "Affirmative," Din rallied his squad and took over from the side entrance and the back entrance.


    Yet something unexpected happened.


    BOOM!


    A deafening blast sound trembled the air. Everyone near the vicinity ducked for cover while some took the chance and ran for their life.


    The first floor of the store building started to turn ablaze as black smoke came out of the broken window.


    Sam groaned out of pain as he stood up from the ground. His body ached as the explosion aftershock blew him away. He was the closest to the first floor.


    His head was spinning and his sight was a blur.


    "Shit, what happened just now," as his vision clear, he saw what pandemonium was, people were panicking most of those who were at the same proximity with Sam received severe injuries mostly due to the broken shards of windows hurled by the explosion aftershock.


    Sam tilted his head upwards and saw the masked man staring down at him. He saw a devilish smile under that mask.


    "It seems I have unwanted guests. My alarm bell kind of overreacted didn''t think it would blow up like that, haha."


    None could see where this situation going to end as it only kept getting worse.


    "Swat leader report," no sound came back from the walkie talkie. "Swat leader Din report."


    There was only silence and Sam knew that things were about to get much worse.

 07

    A scooter stopped by the road. The neighbor duo had just arrived at the scene.


    It was chaotic with people running around and bystanders taking video with their smartphones.


    Sofia clicked her tongue, annoyed by these tactless citizens. If she was still wearing her uniform, she would have scolded the heck out of them.


    Asran, on the other hand, jumped out from the backseat and rush towards the building.


    Sofia was flustered as she tried to stop Asran.


    "Asran, don''t go-" yet before she could finish her words, a deafening loud noise exploded as the aftershock came rushing out.


    Sofia staggered on her scooter as she didn''t expect an explosion. She was thankful that she wasn''t that close to the building perimeter. The situation was dire than she expected.


    Asran''s fist was clenched tightly as beads of sweat trailing down by the side of his temple.


    His heart was beating like mad as his mind was clouded with the thought of his mother''s safety.


    The veins on his neck and temple were bulging as a burning fire started to rose up inside of him.


    He ran towards the side of the building with the sole intention of saving his mother.


    ---


    The masked man held up the megaphone to his lips as he chuckled.


    "Hahaha, a pitiful sight for the police force of Singapore."


    He ridiculed them as if they were children not caring for the repercussion.


    "Well, to begin with, all of you are useless. A gun and a badge, yet could do nothing," the masked man came closer to the edge of the broken wall window.


    He looked down on the police with an insidious hatred looming within the depth of his eyes.


    "If not for you lots..." the masked man held his words, restraining the emotion from deep within.


    "Argh," a loud yell came from downstairs. The masked man glanced backwards as if he could see through the floor.


    Soon, countless of anguish yell came pouring out from downstairs. A few gunshots rang in the air yet the sound of his accomplices going down to the ground didn''t stop.


    "Boss, help," the masked man''s underling crawled up to the stairs as his hand reached out to his boss.


    Yet a second later, he disappeared. Dragged down by an unknown force from below.


    What left of him was the pitiful sound of a lamb being slaughter.


    The rest of the gunmen on the second floor were anxious. One of them tried to call them through the walkie-talkie yet there was no response.


    Then the sound of footstep came from the stairs. The gunmen armed themselves with their submachineguns aiming at the stairs. Even the masked man turned his attention to the stairs.


    A person stepped on the second floor with his oversize long sleeve t-shirt and baggy pants. He wasn''t that short nor was he tall, standing at five feet eight. His cheeks were sunken, emaciated like a sick person.


    Yet what made these gunmen felt a sense of anxious were due to those glaring cold eyes. As if it were piercing directly through them.


    "I was expecting someone else, but nevertheless any evol will make do," said the masked man. His eyes were expresionless but as he turned around facing the policemen downstairs, there it was, a devilish smile carved on his face.


    "It looks like a hero has come to save the day while you disgusting blue blood are useless and can''t do a thing..." while the masked man gave his eloquent speech, the intruder dubbed as the hero was staying silent as he eyed out the whole second floor.


    A subtle blanket of qi spread out like a sonar. He turned his head around directed towards a person who was lying on the floor.


    The man was about to lash out in anger yet calm himself down as he noticed that his mother was still breathing. He thought she was dead and was about to massacre all of them in bloody gore but seeing she''s still alive, he needs to bring her back without a scratch.


    Lima laid on the floor, fainted out of panic from the explosion.


    His only goal right now was to get out with his mother. He took a step and was about to move but the gunmen reacted.


    "Don''t you dare move," said one of the gunmen as he aimed the nozzle at Asran.


    The gunman''s finger was ready to pull on the trigger.


    Asran glared at the gunman. He felt the urge to smash that head into broken pieces but he restrained himself. With those submachineguns aiming at him, he was bound to get hit.


    Just a while ago, a bullet grazed his left shoulder. The wound still bled and being reckless was not an option. He was strong through his cultivation but not strong enough to withstand a bullet.


    "So what are you going to do hero? Save these hostages or be rain by bullets? Although you evol are stronger than human being, I doubt you can avoid death from these bullets," said the masked man.


    Asran didn''t say a word as he stared at the man wearing a pink beanie mask. Through the naked eye, one couldn''t see his appearance but his spirit sense was enough to visualized his face.


    A huge scar ran from one side of his face to the other side and if not the mask, one would say his face was certainly beyond saving.


    But Asran wasn''t surprise by his looks as what made him flinched was due to the vest strapped underneath the masked man''s clothes.


    A vest filled with explosives and that frightened him. The life of his mother was at stake.


    He couldn''t find any switch on the masked man except for a pair of patches on his left chest. From his spirit sense, he found out that the patches was picking up the beating sound of the masked man''s heart.


    Asran was getting anxious and he didn''t like it one bit. He felt an urge to escape with his mother but the situation wasn''t that simple.


    ''If wasn''t for my cultivation still low, you weaklings wouldn''t be this arrogant,'' thought Asran.


    "So how is it hero? Got an answer?" The masked man paused for a while, "I don''t have all day, so how about a little motivation."


    The masked man raised up his glock and shot without warning at one of the hostages. He didn''t even look at the direction of the hostages as he observed the look on Asran''s face.


    He wanted to savor the look of despair on Asran''s face. Despair of not being able to save the hostages. For a hero that would be the most dissapointing thing that can happen.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    The hostages cried out of fear as they saw another one of them bite the dust. They were terrified to the core, tears didn''t dry out for the night as dying was something they didn''t want to experience.


    They were trembling with shaken eyes yet one of these hostages pleaded with her sorrowful eyes at the emerging man. She was hoping for the man that suddenly appeared to save her life. They didn''t make eye contact, nonetheless her hope was high hoping to be save like a damsel in distress.


    The masked man countenance frowned as his expectation was betrayed by the fact that Asran''s face didn''t change. The masked man felt perplexed.


    "Why-" before he could question Asran, the man dubbed as the hero made a move.


    It was too sudden.


    Asran moved like the darkness of the shadow, silent but fast.


    ''Blood Flash Ignition, speed me up,'' his whole body turned light as a feather as his movement sped up more than just a notch.


    In a matter of a second, he appeared right behind one of the nearest gunmen.


    There was no fancy movement just a simple twist of the head. The sound of the spinal bone being snapped rung in the air. A life was loss like a twig being broken.


    The masked man saw for himself there was no hesitation in Asran''s action.


    "Fire," the masked man shouted as he knew that this man was no hero.


    The triggers were pulled and bullets rained down. Asran held up the dead body using it as a shield. A few passed through the flesh and blood of the corpse, Asran winced as the bullets were something he couldn''t scoff at.


    "Die," Asran grabbed the submachinegun from the dead gunman as he aimed and fired. With the aid of his spirit sense, he turned into a natural-born marksman.


    One bullet and one body.


    It was a swift death for these gunmen as they dropped like mayflies. Asran prefer a more gruesome death for these scumbags who dared endangered his mother''s life but his mother''s life was the priority.


    "You-" the masked man stammered as he didn''t expect this scenario.


    The masked man''s head was shaking out of anger. He couldn''t let his plan being foil by an unknown evol.


    "Arghhh," he roared as he aimed his gun at the hostages. His heart filled with rage. No matter what happened, he must succeed in his plan.


    But the sound of something broken lingered inside the masked man''s eardrum.


    His eyes trailed down to his arm which was bending in an unnatural way.


    Pain brought his knees to the ground along with the gun as he yelled out in agony. He could saw his white bone popping out from the spurting blood. He didn''t believe such a thing was possible.


    "You broke my arm," shouted the masked man.


    "Your leg too," replied Asran.


    "Huh?" His confusion didn''t last long as a second later.


    "Arghhh," he screamed in pain as both of his femur bone was broken into two.


    This wasn''t enough for Asran as he felt the need to torment this little ant even further. But the masked man being dead was not an option.


    The masked man glared at Asran as if death rays were coming out from his eyes. If his glare could kill people, then Asran would have been dead by now. Unfortunately, that wasn''t the case.


    "I''ll kill you evol, I will freaking kill-" a simple slap brought his whole face slammed to the floor. The masked man coughed out blood with a few broken teeth.


    The masked man was in a daze not knowing what just hit him. He thought a steel pipe came right at him. His vision was clouded and his pain started to grew numb.


    The masked man saw the evol''s feet standing in front of him. The presume evol was wearing a knockoff slipper of the four stripe brand, yet his vision faded into nothingness as his eyes closed.


    But within that darkness he heard Asran''s voice.


    "Don''t mistake me with those guinea pigs."


    The masked man fainted after hearing those words.


    Asran approached the hostages as they were still in a perpetual state of fear. They avoided the approach of this man.


    Asran wrapped his arm around his mother as he carried her into his arms.


    He wanted to leave and go back home yet before he could even take another step, he felt a grip over his left leg.


    "Please save me, hero," said a woman as hope filled her distraught eyes. She was the one who saw Asran as hope.


    Yet something unexpected baffled her.


    "Get your hands off of me," she let go of the leg as if her instinct was screaming at her to do so.


    She saw herself those cold looking eyes staring down at her with disgust.


    A thought floated in her mind, was this her savior?


    ---


    Along the street of Singapore, the traffic was pretty lax. Non-existent perhaps. It was at a time where the city folks turned up for bed.


    Yet a man walked in his knock-off slippers with a person on his back. It was a slow walk and the man didn''t mind about it.


    For a long time he had learned, that being slow was the best kind of time to enjoy the passing of time.


    The woman on his back groaned as her eyes opened up.


    "Hmm," her eyes were barely opened, yet she knew she wasn''t inside that horrific building.


    "Mother, did I awake you?" A gentle voice of a son.


    "Asran? Where am I, and how-" she had many questions left unanswered and yet her mind and body couldn''t withstand fatigue itself.


    Her heavy eyelids slowly closed down as she fell into her sleep.


    Asran lightly smiled as, through his spirit sense, he could saw his mother sleeping with a calm smile.


    "Time to go home."

 08

    Asran awoke from his slumber as the sun shone over his sleeping face.


    He tried to get up from the couch, but his body flinched out of pain. Asran''s eyebrows knitted together in displeased.


    ''Shit this body of mine,'' last night a few bullets lodged inside his body. Through some unorthodox way, he managed to pop out those metal bullets.


    He thought he could recover swiftly from those injuries yet the consequences of using Blood Flash Ignition indeed put a heavy toll on Asran''s body.


    "I should think about learning a body tempering skill," said Asran.


    Asran coughed up a mouthful of blood staining the couch. He shook his head.


    "That''s going to be hard to remove," the ringing sound of the telephone caught him in his moment of contemplation.


    He picked up the phone and was bombarded with a lot of anger filled words. Definitely, something that was making him uncomfortable.


    In the end, the person on the other side hung up first.


    "Son, who is it? Who called?" The door to the bedroom opened, as Lima''s head peeked out from the gap of the door.


    She looks groggy with her ruffle hair.


    "Nothing mother, it just a person from your workplace," replied Asran.


    "Oh my goodness, I''m late for work," Lima shouted out of surprise. Her eyes trailed to the clock wall and saw it was past nine o''clock.


    She was about to run out of the door but a pair of hands caught her by the shoulders.


    "Mother, you need to rest. Last night was a bit tough on you," being reminded by Asran, Lima recalled what had happened.


    Both her hands covered her gaping mouth as she was astonished. She thought she was a goner from last night event yet here she was, alive and well.


    "What happened last night? How am I still alive?" Asked Lima.


    "It''s fine mother, don''t worry about it. The cops handled it well..." Asran fabricated a story about a hero that saved the day inspired by the words of that masked man.


    Although he felt the notion of being a hero was utterly ridiculous but in this kind of moment it indeed played well with the situation.


    He tucked Lima on the bed and by the time the blanket covered her body, she was fast asleep like a baby.


    He closed the door to the bedroom as silent as possible, wouldn''t want to wake her up.


    Yet the sound of the door knocking, rumbled in his ear coming from the entrance door.


    His spirit sense scanned like a sonar as he immediately knew who these people were.


    He opened the door and met with this smiling bastard from yesterday. It was the loan shark.


    "Time for some payback kid, that bitch ain''t here to save yo-" Ah Long couldn''t finish his words as Asran slapped him to oblivion.


    Ah Long heard a ringing sound from his left ear before his head fell to the concrete floor. He didn''t know what happened as it happened way too fast for his eyes to follow. The whole left side of his face felt numb.


    Asran eyed the other three goons who were looking rather flustered. He thought they would flank him in order to get revenge for their fallen boss yet they stood still with shaken eyes.


    At least they knew from that single action, Asran wasn''t someone they could afford to mess with.


    "I guess you three look more reasonable than your stupid boss here, so..." he stopped his lips from saying another word as an idea came by.


    Asran pointed at one of those three.


    "You," said Asran.


    "Yes," one of the goons stood at attention.


    "This boss of yours isn''t the big boss, am I right?" Asran asked.


    He nodded vigorously.


    "Then take me to your leader," Asran chuckled at the thought of speaking those words. He remembered hearing it from somewhere but couldn''t remember when and where.


    Those three didn''t say a word as they were left speechless.


    "So what are you waiting for, come on. I don''t have all day," said Asran.


    "But we-" Asran interfered.


    "Do I need to remind you about what happened to this little boss of yours," Asran lightly kicked Ah Long by the gut making him squirming on the floor.


    Out of fear, one of them spoke up.


    "Yes, I''ll take you there boss," the goon even had the wits to addressed Asran as boss.


    He led the way and the other two soon followed through example.


    "Oi, don''t forget this scumbag. I don''t want my mother to be surprise after opening the door," the three was quick in their feet and wit. They carried the unconscious Ah Long as they led Asran away.


    In a Mercedes E class, five men sat in silence. Asran sat beside the driver while enjoying the view of the city. Since he had been here, he didn''t have the time to see his old world that was long forgotten from the edge of his memories.


    Although Singapore wasn''t his hometown, he did visit this place once.


    Yet his memories didn''t recall this place perfectly. Well, he couldn''t blame his past ability to memorize. He wasn''t a cultivator at that period of time.


    "Really a long time," mumbled Asran.


    "Did you say something boss?" Goon number one heard the mumbling of Asran and was quick to ask.


    Asran glanced to the side and saw that awkward smile of goon number one.


    "Nothing, I just have a thought. That unconscious bastard is pretty rich for being able to drive a car like this, are loan sharks that lucrative of a job?"


    "Haha no boss, this car isn''t boss Ah Long''s but mine."


    "Didn''t think even a goon can have a nice car like this," Asran''s word pricked the hell out of Goon-number-one''s heart.


    Goon number one tried to maintained his facial feature to not frown, he wouldn''t want to get the bad side of this man. But his attempt was futile.


    Asran noticed the minute changes in his facial expression through his spirit sense. There''s nothing that could pass through his spirit sense.


    "So is the pay good?" Asran asked.


    "The pay is good boss, but the money isn''t from those loans," Asran perked his ears as he was rather interested in that statement.


    "I''m listening," said Asran.


    "Well, to begin with, the loan thing is a side job and our company main job is porter and mining service business for portal diving and also portal-based trade," the moment he heard ''portal'', his interest was piqued.


    ''Interesting,'' thought Asran.


    ---


    The Mercedes arrived at Jurong East downtown area. Few buildings around the area stood tall, a booming place for business in these recent years.


    One of them occupied a four-floor building and was known as quite a shady company. A Mercedes E class parked at the parking lot of this building lot area.


    "We''re here boss," the three goon led Asran through the entrance gate along with the unconscious Ah Long.


    They passed through a few more security gates until they stood inside the elevator.


    The goon pressed the basement floor button. Asran thought the boss would occupy the highest floor. He took a glance at the goon and their eyes connected. As if knowing what it meant by Asran''s glance, the goon took the liberty to explained.


    "The CEO prefers being underground, he doesn''t like heights," a peculiar type of person to be the head of a loan shark company.


    DING


    The sound of the elevator rang. The door opened and right in front of them Asran could saw two men standing by a door. They definitely look the part like a big bouncer along with their stylish sunglasses and clean-cut black suit.


    Asran stepped out as the area was dim lighted but even darkness couldn''t impede his vision.


    "Halt, what business are you here for and why the hell are you bringing an outsider to the boss''s private area?" Said one of the security guards.


    "Come on Muthu, we''re bringing the boss a good fish here. You wouldn''t want the boss to lose an opportunity to make a good buck right?" Goon-number-one tried to reason with the security guard.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "Fine, raise up your hands boy," the bald-headed security guard asked the slim looking Asran.


    Goon-number-one was flustered seeing Muthu acting that rude towards Asran. He didn''t want to Asran in a bad mood. Who knows what would happen to him.


    "Hey Muthu my man, how about we skip that part, we''re on urgent business here," said goon-number-one.


    "Save the chit-chat Lim, I got my orders. Step aside before I put my fist on your face," said Muthu.


    Lim was cursing at Muthu from the inside, he was trying to save him from being beaten senseless and this Muthu had the nerve to provoked him.


    "It''s fine, let him do it," said Asran.


    Lim was struck dumb founded seeing how rational Asran was. He didn''t think Asran could be this tame.


    ''Why the heck is he looking at me like that, does he think I''m some kind of savage or something,'' thought Asran.


    Muthu scanned Asran entire body with the handheld metal detector. He was playing along well since Asran did have a motive in mind. Making a scene wouldn''t be helpful to his cause.


    "You''re clear," Muthu opened up the metal door as the group went inside. Ah Long was left outside of the door as he was unconscious.


    They walked inside as the place was pretty much filled with arts and crafts. Asran wasn''t impress as these things held no value to him.


    "The CEO is an art enthusiast, he likes this kind of thing. That one sculpture there cost about two millions dollar, impressive right," Lim tried to lightened the mood but seeing Asran showing a cold response, he shut his mouth.


    Walking further inside, Asran saw a person standing in front of a taxidermy beast. It looks like a boar but the size of it was humongous. Standing at a height of three meters and a length of six meters, this once alive beast was definitely a monster in the eyes of ordinary people.


    Lim greeted the CEO.


    "Hello CEO Andika,"


    The man wearing a black suit was gazing at the taxidermy monster boar. He was appreciating the splendor of this creature yet disturbed by the voice of his henchman.


    He turned and saw those three along with an unfamiliar face.


    "It''s you three, where''s Ah Long?" Asked Andika.


    While both Andika and Lim were having a conversation, Asran spread out his spirit sense to his surroundings. His eyes opened wide as he sensed something behind the wall picture. Within the vault, there was a mound of gems.


    It wasn''t merely common gems as Asran knew what it was.


    ''Essence Stones, but how?'' he observed further using his spirit sense. ''It''s not essence stones but it seems to be some kind of mineral containing spirit qi, although the amount was far from what an essence stone can held, it''s good enough to have anything like it.''


    His hands felt the itched to just rob this guy in broad daylight but he calmed himself down knowing there''s a better reward.


    Asran then glanced at the taxidermy monster boar. He noticed a sliver of lingering qi dissipating from its head. The amount was even less than those cheap essence stones knock-off.


    ''Those essence pebbles probably came from the boar then,'' thought Asran.


    "So why do you want to see me kid?" Andika directed his question at the dazing Asran.


    Asran with his keen sense noticed the stare from Andika.


    "My mother is indebt with you, so I''m here as a replacement to pay that debt," said Asran.


    "Then just pay, why bother coming over here. Unlike you, I''m a busy man," said Andika. The man in the suit was frowning seeing how his time being wasted by a weak looking man like Asran.


    But then...


    Asran flashed right in front of him and released a fist right at Andika''s face.


    Andika couldn''t react fast enough and in the end, he closed his eyes out of fear. He felt the strong wind brushing over his face yet there was no pain.


    As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw the fist right beside his face. He glanced at Asran who was slightly smiling. Right at that moment, he knew Asran wasn''t someone who was weak.


    "What''s the meaning of this?" Andika took a few steps back as a precaution as he raised his voice at Asran. Although he feared the evol for their strength but he still couldn''t show weakness in front of his underlings.


    Lim was breaking in sweats as he didn''t expect Asran to be this daring.


    "Nothing, I''m just showing a bit of my power in order to impress you," replied Asran as he took back his punch.


    "Impress me? For what? Just to let you know, there''s tons of better evol than you out there," said Andika.


    "Well that''s that but you don''t have an evol working under you, am I right? Wouldn''t it be nice to reduce collateral damage while getting more profit in return," Asran heard from Lim that Andika possessed a portal entrance. He bought it at a hefty price but it was worth it and he knew something else. Andika''s business was at risk.


    The massive amount of wealth he obtained from it was tremendous. But his men kept on dying as the place wasn''t a walk in a park for ordinary citizens. He was having a headache thinking of how to maintain his business floating.


    He couldn''t hire an evol since most of them didn''t want any business with a shady company like theirs. Most of them opt for well-established evol guilds.


    "So are you telling me, you''re here for a job?" Asked Andika.


    "Not much of a job but just here to pay a debt," said Asran.


    "I don''t see how this goes," replied Andika.


    "Lim there told me for those who cannot pay their debt will be forcefully working as a porter," said Asran he stared down at Andika.


    Andika frowned as he didn''t like being stare like that. In the meantime, he glared at Lim for being a loose cannon.


    Lim''s knees were growing weak and he was about to fall. He couldn''t take the stares from his CEO.


    "So rather than my mother, I''ll take her place," said Asran.


    Andika was intrigued having an evol at his disposal but he was still cautious of this man. He had gone through a lot of things before reaching the current him and he knew when something isn''t right.


    "How do I know that you''re not messing with me," asked Andika.


    "Then let''s write a contract, having a black and white will make you reassure, am I right?" Andika was loving this, indeed it was true that a contract would make his heart felt calmer.


    "So let''s get to it then, here have a sit brother," Andika flashed a smile as he turned into a friendlier person. Just for the sake of profit, he wouldn''t mind faking even a smile. It''s scary of how money influenced the life of men.


    "But before that, I need you to do something," Asran didn''t sit and responded with a request of his own.


    Andika froze a bit as he knew something wasn''t going to be that easy.


    "What is it brother, is there anything that you require?" Asked Andika.


    "Burn every document with my mother''s name on it," said Asran.


    Andika hesitated. Things like that was important for a shady business like theirs. Those black and white justified every action he can do, no matter how harsh it can be.


    "Unless you burn everything in front of me, I won''t sign any contract with you," said Asran.


    Andika''s eyebrows scrunched together.


    "How do I know that you''re not going to run after the documents are burned?"


    "I''m an honest man unlike you lots," said Asran with a brazen face.


    "It''s either my mother or huge amount of profits," Asran tried to enticed this money loving businessman.


    Andika smiled as he thought of those money piling up inside his vault. He couldn''t resist being more richer.


    "Muthu, Samy, go get those documents," his shout rang across the whole basement floor until it reached those two bouncers at the metal door.


    Right in front of Asran those documents are being burned like a bonfire. He waited patiently like a statue until everything turned into ashes.


    The rest of them gotten bored waiting.


    "Can we get down to business?" Asked Andika.


    "Sure," said Asran.


    It didn''t took a second for Asran as he whipped the pen as his signature was signed on the paper.


    "So when will it be?"

 09

    In the downtown area of the bustling city of Singapore, a woman just came out from the elevator while letting out a long sigh.


    "Geez, where did that Asran go last night. I hope he isn''t dead or something," Sofia was grumbling with her morning coffee in her hand.


    "Sofia you''re late," a loud roar coming from the chief''s office. A balding man stepped outside the office with his suspenders on.


    Sofia already closed both of her ears, annoyed by the voice alone.


    "Keep it down boss, people are working here," Sofia replied.


    "Enough of that, I''ve already had a headache from last night incident. You can''t believe how much I got an earful from the higher up," from the top to bottom, Sofia was getting the brunt of her boss''s dissatisfaction.


    "Boss if you want to complain, shouldn''t you do this with your wife," Sofia retorted.


    "If I do that, I''m the one going to get an earful," the chief let out a sigh before he continued, "so how is it with the ongoing case? Any progress? The higher-ups is anxious about this one."


    Sofia pointed at under her eyes.


    "Don''t you see these eyebags of mine, I''ve been working and I think I''ve got a lead," said Sofia.


    She looks tired and fatigue but that didn''t hinder the flames inside her eyes.


    "That''s my department''s ace," he slapped Sofia''s back out of excitement. At least he had some news to relay at the higher-ups.


    "Ouch, boss don''t hit me. You know I can file a sexual harassment report," Sofia glared at his boss.


    "Sexual harassment? You? Hah, you''re like my daughter. I''ve been seeing you since you were a baby. If your late-dad can see you right now, he would have been proud," the chief wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes.


    Sofia was dumbfounded seeing this, just a while ago he was scolding the heck out of her. The sudden change in mood was too hasty.


    "Chief, are you crying? Please don''t, your appearance doesn''t suit well with sentimentality," said Sofia.


    "Hmph, I can cry whenever I want. Besides, I''m at the age of having menopause," said the chief.


    "Menopause? You''re a guy chief," Sofia retorted.


    "Hmph, then why is there a men in menopause," the chief walked back towards the office as he said, " report back to me if you have any progress."


    Sofia could only stared at her boss while being dumbfounded by his illogical reasoning.


    "Geez that bald old man, he''s really pushing me," Sofia sat down at her desk. She was going through the documents in her computer, at that moment she heard a passing by comments made by her colleagues.


    "Hey, you heard about last night incident. They said an evol trashed the whole place killing everyone besides that pink beanie freak,"


    "Is it that cat dude again?"


    "I don''t think so, eyewitness said that the evol who came was pretty much open with his face. A girl testified that the evol had cold eyes with sunken cheeks."


    Sofia who wasn''t paying attention at first suddenly perked her ears up.


    She wanted to focus on her job, but hearing those words made her thought about Asran.


    Sofia got up slamming the desk, everyone in the department were stunned and looked at her.


    She walked towards the duo who were looking at her as she asked.


    "Tell me about the evol guy."


    ---


    It was lunch hour and Sofia dressed in casual clothes was sitting inside a fast-food franchise. The big yellow M was rather prominent on top of the store.


    She was eating a cheeseburger with a frown on her face. She didn''t even mind the tomato sauce splatter on her face.


    "Eating cheeseburger again lady cop?"


    Sofia only glared at the friendly-looking guy.


    "It''s none of your business, so what do you got?"


    "Don''t be so cold Sofia, aren''t we friends?"


    "Scum like you, a friend? If you want your knees busted, then keep on going."


    The friendly man only laughed at her words not bother by the harsh words.


    "If there''s money involve, you''ll always be a friend, hehe," he sat down opposite to Sofia.


    He pushed a phone on the table towards Sofia.


    "What''s this?" Asked Sofia.


    "Date, time and location of one of the illegal black marketer rendezvous point," Sofia smirked as she grabbed the phone.


    "And here, your identity as well as an ID bracelet," the friendly guy pushed an envelope towards her.


    "You sure about this lady cop? Going inside a portal is no fun and game, I doubt your gun can do anything against those monsters," the friendly informant was rather considerate.


    "Stop with that fake concern of yours, you know how I am. The important thing is did you get what I ask for?"


    "That amount of money you gave me isn''t enough, but here," he gave a little box.


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    "Don''t waste it," said the informant as he left Sofia alone.


    Turning on the old smartphone, she felt nostalgic seeing it. This type of phone only existed ten years ago before the portal break happened.


    She opened the old version of Goggle''s map and found the location.


    "Tomorrow morning, best if I could get a good night sleep for the night," said Sofia.


    After a brief time in the office, Sofia went home earlier. The reason she thrown at her chief was the assignment in the next morning.


    She was skipping on the stairs with a pure smile on her face. At least for the night, she would have a good night sleep before her assignment.


    She stood in front of her doorstep with the thought of landing on her comfy bed for the rest of the time.


    Yet at the same time as she inserted the key into the doorknob, she saw someone arriving on the floor.


    "Bastard, you''re still alive?" She ran and stood in front of him glaring at him like a lioness.


    Asran wasn''t surprised by Sofia as his spirit sense already detected her from two floors below. He was munching down on a hotdog while looking rather casual.


    Sofia eyed him from top to bottom. She wanted to see whether this man here was similar to the person described by that girl. Looking at those set of lazy eyes. It contradicts with what that girl said.


    Although his cheeks were rather sunken a bit, but for some reason, it looks like he was getting healthier. Seeing Asran stuffing himself with that hotdog really took the picture of him being a cold-blooded murderer off her mind.


    Along with the weak image portrayed by Asran being beaten by those loan shark, it only solidified his identity of not being the evol involved in the hostage incident.


    "What''s in the plastic?" Sofia saw Asran holding on to a plastic bag. Her nose smelled something savory.


    "Chili crab, why?"


    Sofia''s eyes gleamed in excitement.


    "Good, let''s eat," she said those words as if those chili crabs were hers.


    Asran''s hand by instinct pulled over to his back. He stared at the sight of Sofia who was clearly displeased. It took him a few seconds thinking about it as he said,


    "Fine, let''s eat," he remembered the pizza last night. One thing he learned from his life as Bai Long, one must always pay their debts no matter how small it was.


    "Nice," said Sofia.


    Three people sat at the small table.


    "Asran, where did you get these chili crabs? Aren''t this expensive?" Lima was surprised by the food on the table. Sofia too was interested yet she pretended to remain oblivious.


    "Mother I''ve something to say," his solemn voice caught Lima off guard.


    "Actually, the call from this morning it was about your job," he paused taking his time. "You got laid off mother."


    "What? Why didn''t you tell me?" Lima was about to rush to the telephone but Asran held her hand stopping her from moving.


    "It''s fine mother, let it be," said Asran.


    "No son, we can''t do that. I need to..." Asran interjected stopping her mother, "it''s fine mother, you just need to rest."


    "Son..."


    "I''ve got a job mother," Asran flashed a gentle smile.


    "Really? But how?" Her mother was full of questions.


    Asran told of how he met an old friend of his and with the aid of his tender-hearted friend, he managed to get a job. The starting salary was enough for the both of them.


    "Is this true?" Asked Lima with tears at the corners of her eyes.


    "Of course mother," said Asran. He wrapped his arms around his mother giving a warm loving hug.


    Sofia who was watching by the sideline was getting teary, the thought of her mother surfaced inside her mind.


    "Geez, this shameless bastard really has some good luck," said Sofia as she turned her head around. She didn''t want to see the touching scene as she was kind of the weak-hearted type.


    "But son, these chili crabs?"


    "Oh, my friend gave me pocket money so I bought these for you," said Asran.


    "Oh my, your friend is really kind and generous," her eyes were twinkling as she thanked that friend of Asran in her heart.


    ''Sorry mother,'' Asran felt guilt but it was necessary. Another lie fabricated for the sake of his mother. It didn''t matter to him, as long as he could make his mother happy and relief.


    "So can we eat now?" Sofia had to intefered the touching moment between son and mother.


    "Oh my, we shouldn''t let the guest wait. Let''s eat son, I''ll go get the plates."


    Three people shared a feast of chili crabs. The mother was smiling bright and the neighbor was indulging herself to free food. The son could only smiled seeing this scene.


    A memory returned from the depth of his mind. Just a for second he felt melancholic, but he shook his head not wanting to remember that moment.

 10

    The first light of dawn broke the darkness, Lim was waiting in front of a door. Nervous as sweats ran down his back. He adjusted his tie. Lim took a deep breath as he knocked on the door.


    The door opened.


    "Boss, here''s your suit," Lim passed over a set of clothes.


    The door closed leaving Lim to stand alone.


    A minute later, Asran got out of the apartment. The black and white suit was a good fit for the slim Asran.


    "Let''s go," said Asran.


    As the duo left in the mercedes e-class, another apartment door opened.


    Sofia stepped outside while yawning. She wore the ID bracelet while contemplating on something.


    She rummaged through her pocket taking out a compact mirror. Her reflection was seen and it was a face of another person.


    "Atira, files for bankruptcy, in immense debt and have to take care of a sick mother. Fuh, let''s not forget the details," she took a deep breath as she prepared for what was about to come.


    She rode her scooter as she followed the direction from the GPS.


    Sofia was wearing a silicone-based mask that enveloped her entire head. One of the most latest hidden-tech under the police force of Singapore.


    Not many knew of its existence but Sofia got a few friends that could pull a few strings.


    She owed her a lot for having this mask and treating her for dinner wasn''t likely to pay it up.


    Following the direction on the map, Sofia arrived at West Coast Pier. She walked around the area before she found a group of people. These people were being herded by suspicious looking people.


    "Hey, who are you? Why are you here?"


    A bunch of gangster looking people walked towards her. They definitely didn''t come with good intention.


    If it was up to Sofia, she would have beaten the heck out of them but since she''s in disguise, she had to play her part.


    "I''m here because of my debt," said Sofia. Her voice was meek and she appeared timid.


    These gangsters flinched a bit, all of them knew not to touch Andika''s merchandise. After they pointed out the direction, they left.


    Sofia took note of their reaction, and she knew she was definitely at the right place.


    She joined the group of nervous-looking people after flashing the ID bracelet to the men wearing black suits.


    For the time being it was her job to observed everything.


    Meanwhile, near the end of the dock. A man stood in front of a portal. The color emitted by this portal was far from the blue and green he saw back at the park, it was in yellowish hue.


    The sea breeze went by as his clothes flapping by the wind.


    Lim came from behind in a polite manner.


    "Boss, the miners and porters are ready," said Lim.


    "You''re going also?" Asked Asran.


    "Where ever you go, I''ll follow you boss," Lim was showcasing his loyalty.


    "Don''t bother, stay here and do something for me," said Asran.


    "Yes, boss, whatever your request maybe I''ll do my best," said Lim.


    "Find a good villa near the ocean side, and buy it for me," Lim was flustered hearing such request. The real estate value in that area was definitely not something Lim could even approach.


    Even a million wasn''t enough for the cheapest real estate near the ocean side area.


    Lim couldn''t even hide his expression as he was too shocked by it.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll pay you back," Asran lightly smiled as he patted Lim''s shoulder.


    "Ye-ye-yes boss," Lim was starting to think whether this was a mistake following a man like him.


    Asran waited in front of the portal as people gathered behind him. The number reached up to thirty people and the look of their lifeless faces were enough evidence to see them being torment from the inside.


    These people were victim to their own greed. Regret itself was useless as being thrown into a portal was death itself.


    Some were coming for their second time and they knew there would certainly be death.


    "Oh," Asran smiled as he found something interesting. His spirit sense could see everything.


    ''This trip is going to be interesting,'' thought Asran.


    He stepped inside the portal as the rest followed him from the back.


    ---


    The grass plain came to view in the eyes of Asran. It was vast and wide, spanning like an ocean.


    Asran''s brows knitted together.


    ''The qi quantity here is far less compared to the previous portal,'' Asran thought it would be smooth sailing in his cultivation but reality struck him hard.


    ''I guess those grades they generalized does have a reason,'' he wasn''t please yet the qi density here was at least suitable for cultivating compared to back on earth.


    The rest came along. The people in black suits, Andika''s men were professional in these sort of situations. They were armed with a variety of weapons from SMG to rifles. Yet two of them held daggers that looks ordinary but far from it.


    "Come on, step on it," the leader of this expedition, codename Shayu. Broad shoulders, with a stocky build. He had survived countless times into the portal, for a normal man it was definitely something to be proud of.


    "Abu go and scout the perimeter," Shayu ordered.


    The bald man nodded as he ran like the wind disappearing into the woods.


    The rest of those nineteen armed men guarded the nervous people at the center as they made their way across the grass plain.


    Shayu walked over to Asran. The only thing he heard about this man from Andika was he''s an evol with the job of protecting them. He felt disgust over that fact. He had been a loyal man to Andika and seeing this man was like a slap on the face over his pride.


    "We''re leaving, under the boss''s orders you will be under my command. I don''t care if you''re an evol or whatever but in this place I''m in charge, got that?" Shayu was asserting his dominance. Andika himself didn''t say anything about him being in charge of Asran.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    He couldn''t accept the fact of having an evol taking authority over him.


    Yet his action only made Asran to chuckle in response.


    "You''re quite a pretentious man," said Asran.


    "What did you just say? You want a beating, you freaking skeleton," an ill-tempered man, Shayu''s pride wouldn''t let go for being belittled.


    "I advise you not to be reckless, I''ve got a deal with Andika and I don''t want things to be messy," said Asran. For once he was polite in his gesture. Who would have thought, he had some reasoning in him.


    "You think I''m afraid of you because you''re an-" Shayu''s words stopped short.


    His neck was grabbed by the grip of Asran. He was lifted in the air as if he was a balloon. Shayu''s feet struggled in the air trying to reach the ground but alas, the person he''s dealing with had a shorter fuse than him.


    "Dealing with pest is certainly troublesome," he swung his arm as Shayu was thrown over the air, he fell to the ground as he rolled over as pain wracked his body.


    Shayu had never experience such a thing. He was almost close to death yet his stupid pride wouldn''t let things go that easy.


    "Die you freak," he pulled trigger and his SMG roared as bullets crossed over the plains.


    But...


    Asran was nowhere in sight.


    "Leader Shayu, I heard gunshots, is there a problem," one of the black suit men came running to Shayu''s side.


    "That bastard evol betray boss Andika, shoot him onsight," Shayu shouted like a mad lion. He wouldn''t let things go down that easily.


    It didn''t matter to him that Asran was helping Andika, all he knew was he needed to protect his status and whatever happened, he could just lie.


    Since in his train of thought, whatever happened in the portal stays in the portal.


    Meanwhile, Asran was running through the woods adjacent to the grassplain. He was already far away from the prideful Shayu. His sight saw something from afar and it intrigued his interest.


    His movement was fast and swift. The trees in the woods couldn''t stop his run. Before long he saw the back of his target.


    An odd dark green hue.


    From the back it was like a bald child running in the forest. But Asran knew such thing wasn''t possible.


    "Hi there," Asran flashed right in front of the running child-size humanoid.


    "You''re definitely ugly," the humanoid was surprised seeing a person appeared right in front it. It flinched and took a step backward.


    Bald and ugly was definitely the right words for this creature.


    Asran spun his body and delivered a roundhouse kick straight at the greenish humanoid''s face.


    Cracking sound rang in the air. It dropped on the ground as it''s eyes turns lifeless.


    Asran''s spirit sense investigated the corpse.


    "Interesting, to think this creature has essence stone in them. They''re rather similar to Demon Beast," Asran struck his hand into the corpse''s left chest, as dark blood splattered.


    "Not bad, better than those pebbles inside Andika''s vault," his whole face lit up as if a treasure landed in his hand.


    Asran leapt and landed on a tree branch thick enough to support his whole body.


    He sat in a meditative pose and puked out a mouthful of blood.


    "The side effect is acting up again," Asran was far from recover. Blood Flash Ignition wasn''t something easy to handle more so for something at his level.


    "Best to recover first," he held on to the essence stone as he started to cultivate Eternal Seven Nights.


    That single stone brought forth a gush of qi into his meridian channels. Even a week amount of cultivating on earth couldn''t rival against the qi inside an essence stone.


    Thirty minutes passed and the essence stone turned into dust. Asran stared at the fleeting dust.


    "I need more to recover, time to hunt," he leaped away as he ran through the woods.


    His spirit sense was blasting out at all times as he searched for the enemy.


    In the meantime, a group of people arrived near the foot of a mountain range.


    Sofia disguised as Atira went along the helpless people into a cavern guided by one of the black suits men. She was amazed being inside a portal but her amazement only lasted a while after sensing the danger inside here.


    She trusted her instinct more than anything. In her line of work, her instinct had saved her a couple of times.


    "Take this pickaxe and mine the ether gems," Sofia grabbed the pickaxe and followed along the trail of others.


    They walked further until they reached a large cavern space with the gleaming light emitted from the gems stuck on the wall.


    "Start mining you fools," to the shout of these black suit mens, the people with debt started swinging those pickaxe.


    Small ether gems kept falling on the ground.


    Sofia was feeling the heat through the labourous work. She was covered in sweat after three hours of non-stop mining. Sofia was thankful that silicone mask she wore was the breathable type unlike the outdated version. If it was the old one, she would have fainted out of exhaustion and the heat.


    ''This is slavery,'' thought Sofia with her simple mind.


    Her head turned to one side and another. These men and women were working non-stop. Those who slows down even for a second would face the wrath of these black suit men.


    "Hey, are you guys okay doing these kind of things? Isn''t this forced labor?" Sofia spoke to the man beside her.


    "Don''t talk to me," he silenced Sofia in a matter of seconds.


    "Singapore has laws, these kinds of things is illegal," she tried to persuade the man.


    "Stop yourself young lady, you and I are in debt with those underworld people. You think the current government care for people like us? We''re the one who put ourselves in here, we''ve no right to talk about being lawful," the woman in her 30s spoke out, putting an end to Sofia''s naivety.


    "But..." Sofia couldn''t refute as something else was happening at that moment.


    "Gunshots?"

 11

    "These creatures are indeed interesting," Asran was fiddling with a thumb-size essence stone.


    He was sitting on a boulder with corpses of dark green humanoids all around him. The stench was unbearable yet Asran didn''t mind. His thought was focused on these essence stones.


    "The quality of these stones differed greatly from one creature to another, make sense since stronger demon beasts have a higher quality demon core," Asran couldn''t help but to link these creatures with demon beasts he fought back when he was Bai Long.


    He had two pocketful of essence stones and he knew it wasn''t enough.


    BANG...


    His sight gazed upon the source of the gunshot. The spirit sense he relied on was still at its weakest state. Like a light bulb shined above his head, Asran realized something.


    "Ah, I''m supposed to babysit," he leaped off the boulder and his leg muscles exploded as he ran through the wood.


    The trees and shrubs blocked his path and they were no grounded path yet Asran moved effortless like a thread of silk being weaved. He jumped, he skipped and he glide through the forest floor as his speed never step down.


    ''Profound Silk Step, never thought I would use this technique,'' over the course of his hunt of green humanoids, he had honed this technique and ingrained it into his entire body.


    ''For a peak yellow grade technique, it''s not bad at all,'' he smirked as he knew he had attained complete mastery over the technique. For him who had an experience over a million years, this crude technique wasn''t much for the likes of Asran.


    Living in this whole new earth, Asran felt the need to quickly strenghten himself. Increasing one own power was indeed necessary but technique itself was important.


    When thinking about technique, one would either think about offense or defense. Killing one''s opponent or defending oneself to the absolute limit. But Asran has his own principal, no matter what, his main priority of technique to be learn was no doubt a movement technique.


    With speed, he could do anything.


    "Argh," the cry of anguish was not far. The situation might be more dire than he expected.


    ''Time to pick up the pace,'' he left a blur as he pushed himself to the limits.


    ---


    "Come on, run faster you damn mongrels," a black suit man was shouting at these frightened people.


    The submachine gun in his hand roared as bullets came flying at the incoming enemies.


    "Hey back me up, wait why the hell are you running away?" The leading black suit man was firing like a mad man yet his comrades were running away like the rest of those people.


    In a matter of seconds, he was lynched by a mob of dark green humanoids.


    His yell drowned by the cackling of these humanoids who were jabbing and biting at him as if he was a poor little lamb.


    "Shit, didn''t anyone tell that newbie about the SOP?" A man with an eye patch sounded his colleagues. The rest could only scratched their heads baffling the eyepatch man.


    "Damn it, boss wouldn''t like it if we escape like this," the eyepatch man, Brian glanced to his back as he saw a few dark green humanoids chasing from behind. Most were feasting upon the dead colleague of his.


    "Damn those goblins, why the hell are they here? It''s only been three hours," Brian was confuse by the sudden appearance of those goblins. According to his experiences diving into this portal, it usually take one whole day before those goblins started attacking them near the mines.


    Brian was deep in his own thought, but then something happened.


    "Help me," Brian glanced behind and saw a woman in her late 30s on the ground looking helpless with tears streaming down her cheeks.


    She accidentally tripped on the ground and she knew her fate would lead to death if she don''t stand up right now. Yet her legs betrayed her at this dire moment.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    She froze unable to move out of fear. She saw Brian who was a few steps away from her, her hand reached out to him hoping to be save.


    But Brian didn''t bat an eye as he turned away and ran alone leaving her to her own fate.


    Her heart stop beating as if someone was clenching her heart tightly. From her back, she could heard the eerie laughter of those goblins becoming louder by the second. She didn''t dare look back.


    "Hey, why aren''t you helping her," a woman yelled out to one of the black suit men.


    "Shut up and just run," Sofia disguised as Atira frowned at the action of these men. In her eyes, these people are lower than scums.


    Strapped within the inside of her vest, was a small revolver fully loaded with three special bullets.


    Her heart was pushing her to do the right thing, but her mission was at stake here. It was too soon for her to act.


    "To hell with it," but she had decided the moment she held that badge on her first day of work.


    "Hey, where you going?" Brian shouted at Sofia who ran passed by him from the front.


    "These freaking stupid people," Brian didn''t idle around and ran for his life. In life, he had met way too many stupid people.


    Sofia ran with all her might. She ditched the basket filled with gems and slipped her hand inside her vest.


    She was prepared to unveil herself.


    But her hand stuck within her vest as she saw a silhouette appearing right in front of that helpless woman.


    She saw an unbelievable scene unraveling in front of her.


    The helpless woman closed her eyes fearing for her life, she couldn''t face the reality of being eaten by a nasty looking goblin.


    Yet the pain didn''t come. She was surprised but still anxious. Those eerie noise she heard was gone as if it never existed. She felt a sudden sense of courage and opened her eyes slowly.


    She saw the back of a person standing tall like a mountain.


    ¡°Hmm, one of them died huh,¡± Asran noticed a group of goblins feasting upon a man.


    He paid no heed to the wriggling goblin in his grasp. His grip tightened as the face of the goblin turned red. Air was running out and the fear of death crept into the heart of the goblin.


    It glared at Asran as it was about to initiate its last-ditch effort of surviving.


    But...


    SNAP


    The goblin dropped dead on the ground as its survival instinct was futile.


    The woman who had just been saved reached out her hand to her savior but Asran left without even looking back.


    ¡°Wait...¡± even her word was helpless as she could only stared at his back.


    ¡°Miss are you okay? Are you hurt?¡± Sofia arrived by the side of the helpless woman.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine but him, is he going to be okay?¡± the helpless woman was worried.


    Sofia traced her eyes on the ground seeing the dead corpses of these goblins. Seeing them up close, they were disgusting in looks as well as their stench. The smell assaulted her nostril as she felt the urge to vomit.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go miss,¡± Sofia helped her stood up.


    ¡°and him?¡± the helpless woman¡¯s eyes never left the sight of Asran''s back.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry he can handle himself,¡± Sofia looked back at the sight of that man in black suit.


    She had mixed emotions seeing that man. Relief but worry at the same time, she didn¡¯t thought that this illegal business involved an evol. It only made her mission more complicated than she expected.


    But if it wasn¡¯t for him this lady would have died by now.


    ---


    Asran was walking slowly towards the goblins who were entranced in their voracious appetite.


    His steps were silent but deadly.


    The moment he was one step away from these goblins, it all ended in mere seconds.


    Four more goblins went limp and dropped on the ground with their necks bent at an absurd angle.


    It didn¡¯t take him long to extract the essence stones.


    ¡°The sizes are pretty much the same,¡± Asran wasn¡¯t satisfy with his current harvest.


    Although for the last three hours he managed to recover his cultivation state from the side effects of Blood Flash Ignition, his cultivation level was still in a stagnant state.


    ¡®I need to go deeper,¡¯ thought Asran.


    He flashed himself away from the spot and met up with the group at the front.


    His speed was fast catching up with the front group in a matter of a few minutes.


    ¡°Stop,¡± Asran blocked the path of these frantic people.


    ¡°What the hell are you doing? Get out of the way,¡± said Shayu as he aimed the nozzle of his SMG at Asran.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to run, you can order the people to continue doing their work,¡± Asran said.


    ¡°I said get out of my way, you want all of us to die from those goblins?¡± Shayu¡¯s words roused the fear of the black-suited men around him.


    No one in their right mind want to die out of all places.


    ¡°I¡¯ve already killed off those things, so go do your job,¡± Asran stared down at this Shayu. He was having thoughts of killing this nuisance since he was bothering him.


    Shayu knew that this guy was an evol and it could be true. But he still had doubt about this guy. How can he defeat those goblins in a matter of a few minutes.


    That doesn¡¯t make sense according to his logic that is.


    Yet a devious plan hatched inside his mind. The timing was perfect.


    ¡°Stop bullshitting, you want us all to die aren¡¯t you,¡± Shayu turned around as he fueled the hearts of these men and women that were in despair of being kill.


    ¡°Listen up you people in debt as well as my brothers in arms, this man here think he can lord us around since he¡¯s an evol, but I¡¯ll not take this nonsense without fighting for my own life. This man wants to overthrow our benevolent boss Andika and he will pay the price for it,¡± for a despicable man he was quite eloquent in his words.


    A few people in the crowd were eating the bait from this Shayu.


    Some mocked and cursed at Asran as they were lost in their desperation. They knew the danger was coming from behind them.


    Shayu knew his plan was going well as he smirked internally. It was time to end the life of that evol bastard.


    ¡°Let¡¯s raise up our weapon and show him ou-¡± his words stop short.


    Shayu was confused, soon inexplicable pain came wrecking his entire body.


    ¡°Argh,¡± he shouted as if it was his last breath.


    Shayu looked down and saw a hand piercing over his chest, with blood seeping out non-stop. He saw his beating heart within the grasp of the bloody hand as it slowly died down and stop beating.


    He thought his plan was perfect but he didn¡¯t know that he was being idiotic and stupid.


    No sane man would turn their back at their opponent and he did just that while provoking him through the crowd.


    Shayu died not knowing his own stupidity.


    Asran threw the heart to the ground and flicked his arm a few times.


    ¡°I really need a weapon, going barehanded is rather disgusting,¡± said Asran.


    ¡°Kyaaa,¡± a few women flopped to the ground, screaming as she saw the horrific scene.


    While some men and the weak-hearted people puked out whatever they had for breakfast.


    The black suit men were tense seeing their leader died in an instant. They were alarm by the action of this evol.


    ¡°What happened here?¡± Brian just arrived to the front group and saw the rather tense situation.


    Soon Sofia came along.


    A nearby black suit man explained the situation to Brian.


    He had gotten the gist of it and Brian knew it was a dumb idea from that greedy Shayu.


    ¡°Whose second in command?¡± Asran loud voice reached out to the back.


    The black suit men were hesitating as they were still aiming their guns at Asran.


    Brian, on the other hand, ran towards Asran and knelt down on one of his knee.


    ¡°I¡¯m Brian sir, the second in command after Shayu.¡±


    ¡°It seems there is still a brain among the idiotic,¡± said Asran as his voice was heard loud and clear by the rest of them.


    ¡°I¡¯ve neutralized the enemies, you can go and lead them to continue their work,¡± said Asran.


    ¡°Yes sir,¡± Brian sighed out relief. His impulsive action was right. He cursed at that Shayu trying to kill someone like him who can kill goblins this easily.


    Brian explained to the rest of the crowd as well as to his men. They didn¡¯t believe it but Sofia testified along with the woman from before assuring the whole crowd that they were safe.


    They walked back to the mining cave with the idea of continuining their work.


    ¡°Miss, aren¡¯t you coming along?¡± the helpless woman called out to Sofia who was in a daze.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m coming. Let¡¯s go,¡± said Sofia yet something was bugging her.


    A thought that was rather problematic.


    ¡®I couldn¡¯t see his face but why is his voice sounds familiar?¡¯