The guards panicked. Their eyes were glued to the corpse of their former companion, now transfixed by a massive ice skewer.

"Tch..." I muttered under my breath. Then, raising my voice, I called out to the guards to get their attention again. "He's dead! Focus on the enemy in front of you!"

Just as I was saying that, multiple figures in dark cloaks began climbing out of the trapdoor, and before the guards could even react, all kinds of attacks shot out and immediately turned the area into a bloody battlefield.

"You guys are too fuckin' loud! Ahahaha!" one of them shouted.

In an instant, several of the Advanced Mage guards dropped to the floor, dead. Not even knowing what killed them. At last, the guards came back to their senses and hurriedly began casting return fire.

I internally debated whether or not to help. Using magic here would expose the truth about myself to the Yu family, but...

In the end, I settled on only helping if it seems necessary. I didn't sense an aura from any of the Midnight Syndicate members, so most likely none of them are very strong.

Yu An Xue, Feng Mian, and Qing Yue all helped out though. We had the advantage in numbers, and before long, the Midnight Syndicate members were wiped out. That didn't mean we didn't suffer any losses, but Qing Yue did the best she could to heal the injured and pray for the dead.

The guards all eyed me with looks of disgust (probably for not helping at all during the fight), but I ignored them. I didn't care if one or two guards died. Keeping my secret was more important.

I bent down on one of the Midnight Syndicate members' corpses. I ripped off his sleeve, and narrowed my eyes at the tattoo on his arm.

"This was just confirming my suspicions, but..." I trailed off. "Take a look."

I motioned for the three girls to look at the arm. None of the three feared corpses or anything like that, which surprised me just a little. I had seen too much bloodshed ever since I was young, so I was used to it. But for people who've lived in a relatively safe environment most of their lives, it took an inner strength to be able to view such bloody scenes in real life without cowering in fear, especially for girls.

"It really was the Midnight Syndicate after all, then..." Feng Mian muttered quietly.

Yu An Xue clenched her fists, but said nothing. She didn't need to. It was clear what she was thinking right now - revenge.

We all piled into the room below, with the trapdoor now out of the way. The inside was different to the other secret room I had been in before. Considering this room was essentially the Midnight Syndicate members' 'living quarters' though, this really wasn't all too surprising. Everyone had different tastes as to how they wanted their home to look.

In this room, however, there weren't any infinite-usage lamps or whatever. Instead, they had a normal electric lamp, plugged in to the wall. It seemed that not just anyone in the Midnight Syndicate could get their hands on such an expensive Magic Artifact. The man from before who had it also had a lair of his own, so he was probably a somewhat high-ranking member in the organization.

This lair was definitely more spacious compared to the one I had been in before, which also made sense since it housed around a dozen people. But even so, I spotted what I was looking for immediately, spread out around on a large circular table in the middle of the room.

I picked up the several sheets of paper spread across the table untidily, and examined them one by one.

After a while, I sighed. "Yeah...these are identical to the ones I got from the other lair."

I then handed the papers out to the girls, who also looked closely through them.

Having reached the same conclusion as me, we all agreed to head to the next location.

*****

- Several Hours Later -

After 5 repeats of doing the same thing, at last only the 8th and final lair, located at the Coastal Metropolis - one of the most crowded and active areas in all of Shenzhen - remained.

The 5 lairs we investigated after the first one were all pretty much indistinguishable from each other. The processes of extermination were as well. We cast Dispel, went in, cast Metal Morph, went in further, cast Dispel again, and wiped out the Midnight Syndicate members.

Only difference was, our numbers grew less and less every time. And now, only Feng Mian, Qing Yue, Yu An Xue, and I remained. The guards had all perished. Luckily for me, the guard that survived the longest just happened to have both Metal and Light element affinity, so I didn't have to use magic at all during this whole excursion.

Soon enough, we arrived at the Costal Metropolis, and as expected, it was bustling with people. All four of us highly doubted there would be a lair hidden somewhere here, but since the map has proven correct for the past 6 times, we still decided to give it a search.

The four of us couldn't even split apart to save time, since I didn't have a valid means of long-distance communication. The other three girls all had phones, but...

"Big Brother Xuan Kai, you really need to get a phone," Qing Yue had said shaking her head exasperatedly. "If you want, I can give my current one to you, and tell my family that I lost it, so they can buy me a new one."

"N-No, it's fine," I had replied. I wasn't about to make Qing Yue do something like that for me. Though she was right, I really needed to get a phone. Feng Mian had also offered to just straight out buy me one, but I refused immediately. Getting a girl to buy me something? C'mon. Where would my pride as a healthy young man go?

And so, the four of us proceeded together to search the massive mall.

*****

- Nearly An Hour Later -

Four 14-year-olds sat together at a circular couch in the middle of a gigantic shopping mall.

"Just like we had thought..." Feng Mian muttered, sighing. "There's no way a Midnight Syndicate lair would be here!"

She raised her voice near the end, and several people sitting close to us turned towards us with puzzled expressions. Feng Mian, sensing this, laughed awkwardly and made an apologetic gesture with her hands.

"Haiz...we've been looking around for almost an hour now. Should we just give up and head back to campus?" Qing Yue seemed extremely tired, and was already asking to go back.

"I concur. The probability of there being a lair here was infinitesimally low in the first place." Even Yu An Xue seemed to agree. "Besides, even if there was, it would most likely be hidden in plain sight, in which case we would never find out its exact location."

I nodded along to all three of their conclusions, and began to feel like giving up myself. Standing up, I gave my opinion. "...You're right. Let's head-"

"Is there anything I can help you with?" a deep and mature male voice, like that of a king, interrupted.

I leapt away and turned around immediately, shocked. He had came up behind me without any of us noticing. The three girls seemed surprised as well, as they didn't realize his presence at all. It was as if he had been there all this time, just hidden from view. This stranger had to be extremely skilled in Shadow magic to be able to do that. I gave a deep glare at the man in front of me, tinged with killing intent.

He wore a luxurious suit and refined black pants, in stark contrast to my black hoodie and ripped jeans. "Ah...forgive me, did I frighten you?" he asked with a fake act of compassion.

"...You appeared behind me out of nowhere, and you're asking if you surprised me?" I responded to his question with one of my own, tone dripping with venom.

The man froze for a moment, but then put up a bright smile as if nothing had happened. "My apologies. It's just that you looked deep in discussion, and I didn't want to disturb you."

"Tch...you've still disturbed us in the end..." I muttered.

I was sure he heard it, but if so he didn't show a reaction at all. Instead, he continued on, still wearing that fake smile of his. "It appears to me that you are searching for something."

"It is none of your business," Yu An Xue cut in coldly.

"H-Hey, Yu An Xue...you don't need to be that cold," Feng Mian murmured quietly, tugging on Yu An Xue's arm softly. "He's just trying to help, I think..."

"I thank you for your understanding, fine lady," the man got down on one knee and suddenly took Feng Mian's hand. He then planted a kiss on it before any of us could react, which caused Feng Mian to yelp in surprise.

She then pulled her hand away immediately and turned to ME while blushing furiously, for some reason.

"I-It isn't what you think, Xuan Kai! This is, um-"

But before she could finish, the man spoke again, now on his feet once more. "Now then...do you mind telling me what exactly it is you are searching for?"

Yu An Xue opened her mouth to reject his offer once more, but I silenced her with a look that said, 'Leave it to me'.

"I understand, you need to know in order to pinpoint its location for us. Sorry, but we can't tell you what we're looking for," I answered. And just as he was about to reply, I continued. "However...we do have something that may serve the same purpose."

The man grinned slightly. "That's what I like to hear. Show me the map."

I smiled devilishly. He had fallen right into the trap I had set. He was strong in magic, but not very bright, it seems. Not leaving him a chance to change his mind, I sealed his fate.

"...How do you know we have a map?"