Song Qian Long brought me to the control room once more, and many gazes fell on me as soon as we entered.

"Oh, it's you again. Welcome, my boy," the mayor, Zhou Qian, said with a warm smile unfit for the situation we were currently in.

I recognized everyone present from my previous excursion here...with the exception of two people. They were both eyeing me haughtily, a look of contempt on their faces.

"Huh? Who is this kid?" one of them asked. He had a flabby complexion, to put it nicely...to put it not-so-nicely, he really needed some working out to do if he came here as a soldier, ready to fight.

Zhou Qian stood up. "Allow me to introduce this boy. His name is Xuan Kai. He was the one who allowed us to have this time in advance to prepare for the incoming second phase of the Midnight Syndicate's invasion."

"Oh? You mean this frail child actually managed to help out in our serious matters?" the other new face asked. "Sorry, but I find that hard to believe. He looks just like a high schooler kid...hey, Xuan Kai, was it? Why are you wearing a mask?"

"My face is scarred," I replied stoically. This was a lie, obviously, but what else would I say in response? 'I'm trying to hide how I look,'? Yeah, right.

"Hmph...that's a lie," a third voice suddenly said. It was Li Hai Tang. "I have seen this boy's face before, and he is not scarred at all. In fact, he is quite the good looker."

I clenched my fists. Li Hai Tang...you bastard. You really had to go and expose me like that, huh...what an immature way of getting revenge on me for shaming you the last time I was here. You're really a new breed of despicable...this is the first time I've been so annoyed by someone 'complimenting' me.

"The scar happened fairly recently, Patriarch Li," I replied, hoping to cover it up.

"Oh, is that so..." he muttered, clearly not believing me one bit. However, after receiving glares from the two other patriarchs present, Qing Xin and Yu Ao, Li Hai Tang didn't say anything further, which I was thankful for.

"A-Ahem, anyway...Xuan Kai says he has a plan to combat the Midnight Syndicate's second phase," Song Qian Long interrupted, bringing the converation back on topic.

"Hm...I have no idea how we will face their massive army of monsters with our meager numbers, but let's hear it, shall we?" the mayor said.

I nodded. "Thank you for hearing me ou-"

"Now just hold on a minute," the flabby guy from before interrupted rudely. "Are we really going to just listen to this kid? Come on now, even if he somehow guessed that the Midnight Syndicate was going to invade from Hong Kong, that was just luck. A mere kid like him who has no knowledge of killing or war cannot possibly help out in this situation. All he is doing right now is wasting our time."

"I agree. Mayor Zhou...first of all, I sincerely doubt this child helped you out with locating the Midnight Syndicate, and second, even if he did, we cannot expect him to know war strategies and tactics."

Li Hai Tang, sensing that the flow of the conversation was going to his advantage, continued to pressure me. "Yes...this is a strategy meeting for officials. Brats have no place here."

"That's enough!" Song Qian Long suddenly yelled. He had been clenching his fists the entire time hearing the three of them bullying me over and over. "He will stay here, and we will listen to his plan. Do you three not feel ashamed, ganging up on a child?"

All three of them were caught off guard by this sudden outburst, and took a good few seconds before they finally realized what had happened.

"Uh...Mr. Song, please calm down a bit," Mayor Zhou said. "And Patriarch Li, Mr. Tan, and Mr. Gao, we might as well do as Mr. Song says. Xuan Kai's plan...I believe it may be worth listening to."

"Mayor Zhou...v-very well," the flabby man named Mr. Gao finally agreed. "Go on, kid...show us what you have in mind."

Mr. Tan nodded as well, still slightly intimidated by Song Qian Long. As for Li Hai Tang...he merely gave a barely audible 'tch' and turned away without a word.

"Okay," I said, then after a deep breath, I continued. "Put simply, the only way we can survive this invasion is through guerilla warfare. I trust that everyone hear knows what it is, so I won't explain much."

"Guerilla warfare...hm, how exactly will we accomplish that?" Mayor Zhou asked. "From our reports, we discovered that the monsters seemed to be controlled by some unknown entity, as multiple monsters were seen with humans riding on them. If that is the case, then...as long as that entity has the slightest bit of intelligence, it will know to attack the safe zone - where we are right now."

Many others agreed with the mayor, especially Mr. Tan, Mr. Gao, and Li Hai Tang.

I nodded to his words. "That brings me to our first step - taking out their leader. This 'entity' controlling them...knowing the Midnight Syndicate with its organized ranking system, it is almost certainly a human. In other words...all we have to do is find the head honcho, take them out, and then engage on the monsters using guerilla warfare tactics. Since they do not have a leader, the monsters will go back to being their wild selves. As for the remaining Midnight Syndicate members...well, we can clean them up easily."

"To catch bandits, first catch the ringleader, huh..." Yu Ao murmured. "Not a bad plan, but..."

"This is far easier said than done," Li Hai Tang finished for him. "This leader, whoever he is, obviously isn't stupid. He isn't going to just let us kill him."

"That's right...this plan seems good on paper and all, but it is impossible to put into actual practice," Mr. Gao said. "As expected, mere children cannot even begin to understand the complexity and toughness of war."

"A waste of time after all..." Mr. Tan muttered.

"Hold on, you impatient...people," I cut in before they could dismiss me. I almost said 'bastards' there, but I figured that wouldn't do much to improve their impression of me, so I just said 'people' instead. "I never said I was done yet. I have a plan to lure out their leader."

"Oh? Let's hear it, then," Mayor Zhou said with his arms folded.

*****

- Around Half An Hour Later, Somewhere Near the Borders of Shenzhen -

"My lady, our forces have entered the city," a burly man said on one knee.

"Oh~have they, now..." a seductive woman murmured quietly, eyes staring lovingly at a bloody red apple she held within her hand.

"Yes, my lady. What are our next steps?"

"Hm...have them invade the safe zone, of course. There is no point waiting around any longer...I've had my fun already~"

"Yes, my lady," the man said, before getting up, turning around, and walking away. However, the woman's eyes suddenly widened, as if she just noticed something very interesting.

"Oh, wait a second, my dear servant..." she murmured quietly, and the man stopped in his tracks, spinning around to face her once more.

"What is it, my lady?"

In response, the woman waved her hand across in front of her, and a large holo screen appeared.

"Hoho...to think that boy would just show himself before me like that...hehe, this is too good! I must make him my slav- ahem...I mean, add him to my cute little collection," the woman said with a sadistic giggle as she gazed at the scene shown on the screen.

Within the holo screen stood Xuan Kai, who had purposely came face to face with the woman's army, meeting at the Shenzhen border. He came alone, at least on the surface. The Midnight Syndicate humans who were greeted by this sight were too shocked to make a move. However, after a few seconds, they finally made up their mind and dived towards Xuan Kai.

But then, the woman closed her eyes and signaled for her minions to stop...and the monsters obeyed, leaving their riders crashing onto the floor by the sudden brakes.

"Sorry, my cute little servants, but...this one is mine, ehehe~!"

Then, closing her eyes again, she silently ordered her servants to not let Xuan Kai escape while not killing him either.

Lastly, turning to the burly man, she continued. "Come, my servant, I have changed my plans. Take me to where that boy is."

The man bowed deeply, and offered his hand. "Yes, my lady."

"Oh, Xuan Kai...the boy who defeated both my right hand man and my left hand man...I can't wait to meet you in person, and have a nice long talk with you..."