She stood silently watching from afar, as the man collapsed in the middle of the road. It happened at the heart of the city, in the middle of the day, and very soon created a commotion.

In a few minutes, many well-meaning people were trying to assist him. It is all for naught, as he was dead even before he hit the ground.

The girl observed a while longer, and left just before the authorities arrived.

Taking out her PCD, she contacted her associate. It was a successful mission, and in a few weeks’ time, her unit will be given a well-deserved holiday.

(AN: PCD – personal communications device, under spatial devices in the Compendium)

“Yin, mission accomplished. Your work is done, rendezvous at alpha one niner,” she spoke over the com.

“Roger,” a mellow voice replied.

“Breep, Breep,”

The device gave two beeps, before the line was disconnected.

(AN: Yin, derived from Yin and Yang, can also mean Shady/cloudy)

As she walked down the alleyway, scars could be seen riddled across her exposed shoulders.

“I wonder if they are going to ask us to do something during our holidays,” she thought.

The news from above, was that this would be the final mission, before they were entitled to a much anticipated holiday.

Even though it may be a simple holiday for her team, she knew from her few years of operations, that there is always a deeper motive behind everything. She suspected the holiday might be just a cover, for a plan already in motion.

She shook her head when she thought of this, as most teams comprises of only young kids ranging from 14 to 17 years old. This is the perfect age for being invisible, as no one really pays much heed to them. It also meant that holidays, were a much needed time for play and fun.

There was simply not enough of this going around, hence many children succumbed to the pressure and become mentally unstable or insane. The is most common, especially in children assigned to carry out the assassinations.

While she is not an assassin, and did not kill the man in the earlier scene, she have her fair share of pressure and stress. This is because she and others like her, were deemed to be more suitable in coordinating missions. It is akin to a team leader, and the responsibility is very high.

Mission failures, usually met with extremely severe punishment. These meant public whipping, humiliation and mutilation.

While there were some fresh scars on her body from a couple of failures, there were many older ones as well. She could not remember how these came about, as she could only recall up to a certain point in time.

That particular point in time, was the first day of her induction to her current team. She remembered waking up one day in a military styled barrack, and told that she will be known as Ux. The next thing she knew, was that she was immediately assigned to a team, and her duties were observations.

In less than few months, her unit assessments, earned her a promotion to be the team coordinator. The previous coordinator made a bad judgment, and was dead as a result of it.

Their target at that time, hired counter surveillance experts who discovered their plot. This led to the team being exposed, and the counter surveillance experts meticulously who most of them were and killed them.

She and another 2 only managed to survive, due to their roles. If they were in roles that required more involvement, it would have been a different story.

These roles, did not consist of direct contact with the others in the unit. Hence, the counter surveillance team could not connect all the dots and kill them.

On the other hand, it also a blessing in disguise for them, as these roles were considered the most despised ones in the team.

They did not share the same level of benefits as the others. Hence in retrospect, it was worth eating less and being bullied, as it meant preserving their lives for the time being.

“Reee tee tee”

The beep on her PCD alerted her to an incoming message, it was expected. After all, besides her team, there were usually one or two watchers.

These watcher, were not part of the team, but individuals working directly for a certain organization. It is the organization, that runs all the teams.

The watchers hide in plain side, and no one knew who they were. But their roles are the most simple, as they only relay the success and failure of each mission back to the people in charge.

While this could be done just as easily as from the coordinator’s PCD, somehow it is not allowed.

It is a standing procedure, that all teams can only receive incoming communications from the organization. Outgoing communications to them were strictly forbidden, and even if the team wanted, they did not know how.

These messages were all encrypted, and there was no way to establish a return address for outgoing communications to the organization.

At this time, she was seriously thinking of sending a reply to give them a piece of her mind.

The message on the PCD, was as she suspected earlier. It is not going to be a simple holiday, there is more to it than they are willing to tell her.

But she was no fool, as the event taking place where her team was going to have a holiday, is known on a world wide scale.

She was still staring at her PCD, as she entered a building.

“Tango Sixer Sixer, congratulations on mission success. We will be sending your team on an all-expense paid holiday to the Archipelago Nation of Pairidaeza. Enjoy the world cup and relax all you can. You all deserve it.”

**********

Menon was not happy, he have to travel to one of the main competitors of MesiterSchloss.

The information he received from the trader pointed in that particular direction. It seemed the party who is involved in the farming of Elemental parts, was also heavily acquainted with the underground society of illegal activities in the ‘Sole Plate World Cup’.

This party, is supplying illegal intoxicants, weapons, taking illegal bets and other matters which are not allowed by law.

This booming business, is due to the number of visitors arriving for the World Cup. Many do not only go there due to the World Cup or because it is a top tourist destination.

They take the opportunity of the chaos resulting from the sudden increase in visitors for the World Cup, to deal in all areas of illegal businesses.

The law enforcement there, will be too overwhelmed by the billions of tourists and their safety, to be able to carefully monitor those engaged in illegal businesses.

It is also the annual World Cup that is slowly stealing away Artisans, researchers and merchants away from MeisterSchloss.

While the amount is not clearly visible on a year on year basis, it accumulated to a rather substantial amount over the past hundred years.

The only saving grace, was that every time a World Cup happens, the sale of Sole Plates manufactured in MeisterSchloss increased.

Other than that, MeisterSchloss did not have a very cordial relationship with the Archipelago Nation of Pairidaeza.

“Dongbae, please arrange a meeting with the council,” Menon motioned to the captain.

“For what reason should I tell them?” Captain Dongbae asked.

“We need to send an official request to attend the World Cup,” Menon replied.

He sounded a little irked and irritated.

On top of not having cordial relations with Pairidaeza, MeisterSchloss did not receive an invitation to attend the World Cup.

Every other empire, nation and independent city, have already received theirs.

“Just tell them that I will be going on an official capacity to support the Academy of the Sixth Element at the tournament,” Menon added.

His investigation into the Elemental farming has so far been kept a secret. It was not that he didn’t trust the other Elders in the council.

It was that he didn’t trust the people who are working under them. This is becoming more apparent as time goes by, and he have already found many agents over the years working for various people among their staff.

He did not want what he is doing, to get into the hands of someone malicious.

“Yes your Excellency, I will proceed now,” Captain Dongbae replied.

As he left, Menon focused his attention on a report he just received from Amelia.

**********

Amelia had just sent Menon the report on her results with Wanliang, when she received disturbing news.

Before this, she was feeling a little regretful on how easy they obtained the answers from Wanliang.

He awoken much later, after being kicked in the face by Maling, and started singing like a canary.

A few in-house interrogators have verified that according to Wanliang’s vitals and demeanor, he could not have been lying.

Amelia did not readily let it go, as she really wanted to torture the hell out of him. Even Maling supported the idea, but eventually both cooled down enough to think it through.

Both knew that to torture him any further, would be an injustice in itself. This will be against their own principals, and it would only bring them to Wanliang’s level.

Although she is still very distracted by it, the current matter at hand is going to need all her attention.

“Get Lord Maling immediately, tell him to come right this instant! There is no time to lose!” Amelia urgently told her chambermaid.

Pressing on her HG PCD, she contacted Shi Land in the main world.

“You Royal Grace, what an unexpec..” he was cut short by Amelia who had no time to lose.

“Shi Lang, sorry for the absence of pleasantries. I will be arriving at the Imperial Capital in less than an hour, I need you to find out some things as soon as possible. Please check your messages the moment this call is over, it is a matter of utmost importance.”

“Uh?... Yes your Royal Grace,” Shi Lang answered, just as Amelia hung up.

“Where is that damn Maling, and what is taking him so damn long!” Amelia shouted at no one in particular.

She did not realize that it was only mere seconds that she sent her chambermaid to summon Maling who was half a world away in Scarlet Condor Region.

Flipping over the report again, she read it once more.

“To Your Royal Grace,

Yesterday evening, international standard time zone on the 25th hour, our system algorithm detected that the Universal Spatial Bank you assigned to an individual known as Chen Zhen Xia, has been illegally tempered with.

The full amount deposited in the card, has emptied. The origin of this tampering is in the City of Paiza, of the Archipelago Nation of Pairidaeza.

If this is an error, please ignore this message, else please contact our nearest branch to lodge the necessary report.

We do hope you have a nice day.

One World Bank

Hu Yuan Empire Main Branch”

“Damn it!” Amelia cursed out loud.

While in the past seven years she did toy with the idea of finding Xiaoxia’s whereabouts, this is not how she wanted to get the information.

It is not the bank’s fault for sending it via open channels to her, as this is done regularly for every other person as well. It is a security procedure that happens, when a card has been compromised.

They also did not know, that certain people were looking for Xiaoxia. By sending this to Amelia, they have inadvertently pointed out his location to everyone in the world.

(AN: this is not the reason Xiaoxia’s group was attacked, the previous attackers got their information elsewhere, and it will be explained in a later chapters)

“Where is Maling? Time is of the essence!” Amelia fumed.

They had to go to the Imperial Capital now, and later on to the Archipelago Nation of Pairidaeza.

**********

The though suddenly came to him, as he realized something amiss.

“Dasao, how is it you never get attacked by the golden energy?!” he blurted out, just as Xue Er was trying to explain other things to him and Jay.

“Oh, what is that?” she asked a little confuse.

“Why would the golden energy attack me?” she added.

“Whenever there is a clear and present danger, it will react to that threat, and you did attack me with a psionic wave,” Xiaoxia told her.

“I have no idea, nothing happened. Are you sure of this?” Xue Er answered and asked back.

“Yes I am very sure, only if I am consciously and subconsciously certain you are not a threat to my life, then it will not react,” he replied.

(AN: during his battle with Huiling, and when she sliced his arm, he consciously and subconsciously did not find her a threat)

“How comforting,” Xue Er dryly said.

“I am sorry Dasao, this is not meant to offend you. But I was on very high alert after the confrontation with those unknown assailants, and even till now I am,” Xiaoxia told her truthfully.

Turning to Jay, he did not even bother asking, as Jay was literally scratching his head at that question.

When he looked at Gu Di, he could tell that Gu Di was seriously thinking it through. There were moments it looked like Gu Di was about to answer the question, but whenever that happened, he would open his mouth as if to answer, then close it again, as if he wasn’t sure.

When the answer finally came, it was not what Xiaoxia expected.

“I am afraid I do not really know for sure, and this is going to be a real problem.”