The next morning, An Thần received a package at his house. Unboxing the package, the boy received a fine leather utility belt. The belt seemed to hold more items than he expected, Thần realized. The maker built many tactical holders and pockets to make it versatile in many scenarios. After that, Thần walked to the turf of the Pokemen; yet, before entering, he met a hooded figure standing in front of the turf, unwavering. The mysterious man seemed waiting for a person, Thần realized, but he seemed to have stood there for a long time. The mind popped some options - Thần ignored the mysterious man and bypassed; otherwise, he could conduct a social conventional conversation.

As Thần stepped forward, the hood figure realized the newcomer's presence; as the boy walked by, the figure spoke.

"A minute, young man-" the hooded figure halted the boy. "Are you one of the mercenaries they talked about?"

Thần silenced as the wind blew subtly on the hair. No one made a sound.

Ooooommmmmm-

When Thần heard the sound of a boosted bass, he failed to move his feet.

命令

The vivid, bright yellow-Qi characters flowed in the air.

"Walk with me-" the hooded figure commanded. "I have something to do with the top-dog here."

"What did you do to me!" Thần tried to gain control of his body, yet failed miserably. "Are you a Qi user?"

The hooded figure chuckled; started a conversational walk. The news spread afar that The Fervent Master had affairs with the latest PooCoins project. Since the investment funds burned to oblivion, the big branch demanded to retrieve the funds.

"What is the big branch?" Thần asked while struggling to regain control of the body. "What does it do?"

"The Six Magnificent (六华) sect-" the hooded figure broke down the concept. The Six Magnificent sect chose the best men to serve the greater good of An Nam. In the sect, one could learn the teachings of Đạo (道) – the origin mankind. Đạo posed the absolute principle underlying the universe, combining within itself the principles of Yin and Yang, code of behavior, to harmonize with the natural order. "Our sect taught man to a new enlightenment."

"So, you are an upper-man-" Thần continued. "What do you do next?"

"I have some work to do-" the hooded figure described the situation; nodded. "So, I need time to evaluate my decision."

The mysterious man cited a new mission, regarding the Fervent Master. According to the intelligence, the Fervent Master lately conducted some shady trades on the streets, including the debt collection. Therefore, the hooded man needed more information to finalize his reports to make a decision.

"What do you think?" The hooded figure broke the spell when both of them returned to the turf entrance. "You will benefit a lot from this, trust me."

An Thần scrambled in thoughts, looking for the right decision. The ghost appeared when the mind called for a seance, advising that the host had to partake in that mission. Perhaps, they could learn more about the activities of the subject, the ghost assumed, yet, the boy had to be cautious with the mission since it required specific skill sets. Gomboc, on the other hand, made no sound.

"Good-" the hooded figure expressed approval after receiving the answer. "Mercenaries will do what it takes to get the job done."

The mysterious man pinpointed the location where the subject would start doing the business. Per starting the mission, the ghost opened up the knowledge to give Thần some new skills.

"Stealth is important in wars-" the ghost gave insight about the new skills. In practical scenarios, the boy had to learn three new stealth and needed to practice each. "Let's start with the basics."

Thần began to follow the subject from afar at a safe distance where the eyes could track and follow its movement. However, as the boy followed, the eyes could be aware of targets which would become a threat.

"Now, go to the trash dump over there-" the ghost commanded. "Make it stealthy."

Thần crouched and moved to the designated spot. To perform the hiding spot kill, the boy had to hop into the pile of trash and perform an assassinate move. Thần quickly knockouted the target, dragged the body into the dumpster.

"Good, now climb on the wall-" the ghost commanded the host to climb on a 2-meter wall. "High ground will give a high chance of a successful execution."

Thần walked on the edge of the wall. When the eyes could identify the target, the boy performed an air knockout move to execute directly above the ground target. Thần dragged the body to a hidden spot, and followed the subject nimbly.

From there, the subject met a group of men, starting the conversation. It seemed a nearby balcony was situated by a bodyguard, Thần realized; thus, the boy had to make his way onto the destination.

"The last skill requires stamina and constitution-" the ghost noted when the host climbed onto the ledge just below the railing of the upper balcony. "But, I train you well enough to perform this move swiftly."

Thần approached the target stealthy in a good distance, then dragged the target down the balcony while tucking a random object in its mouth. The target fell freely and hit the ground, unconscious.

Thần regained the high ground while crouching to eavesdrop the conversation below.

"Are you mad?" the Fervent Master spoke. "I'm still sane enough to see this shit ain't workin-"

"What do you suggest, bruv?" a man refuted. "Only that would get your shit back and quick."

The Fervent Master looked left and right, anxious to give a proper answer. The men began to wave at a hybrid truck coming in the place. Opening the trunk, they introduced the subject with tools to do the work.

"Shit, y'all gotta be mad insane-" the hot tools overwhelmed the Fervent Master. "Them 'tings' can cause havoc."

"Fam, gotta do what gotta do-" the men checked the tools, locked and loaded. "Our shit was in that hot garbage project too, so init-"

The subject hesitated, then jumped on the truck with the men, leaving the spot quickly. Thần recovered from the spot, informed the situation to others and returned to the turf. However, the boy felt an eye was watching, yet failed to locate its presence. The meeting at the turf started shortly outside, the hooded man gathered the necessary tools and ventured with the mercenaries - indeed, Lâm just came and failed to comprehend the situation. The boys drove their bikes and pursued the hybrid truck. On the way to District 1, an unexpected companion approached the bikers with the bright, loud flashes. An officer demanded the boys to cease the bike, repeating that they were traveling faster than the law's limit.

"Nhược Lạp's dogs-" the hooded figure complained. "Move out the way-"

Ooooommmmm-

爆火

Booom!

An explosion occurred amidst the air, forcing vehicles on both sides to drive off track.

"Shit, fam!" The explosion overwhelmed Lâm. "The dude just flames off that popo!"

Thần from the back seat looked behind the gray smoke, hoping for a sign of cutting loose. Yet, a bike penetrated; whooshed the gray smoke, introducing an officer with a Guan Dao Halberd racing forwards.

"Holy--" Thần sweat while tapping his bike man's back to drive faster. "This popo ain't no joke!"

The pursuit of the bikers alarmed the hybrid truck, so the vehicle rammed up the speed faster. Thần perplexed, anxious for the next scenario the boys would encounter next. When passing a corner, the armband rang a bell to a redlight turned red and blue. Thần immediately called to his support from the hidden communication device, and conducted a traffic interruption from there.

Bam!

A random vehicle hit the officer behind; the bikers managed to cut loose the trace.

After a second, all the traffic lights flexed insanely from red to blue. Vehicles on the road failed to fathom the signal, so they started crashing onto each other. The hybrid truck as well managed to get through the last redlight, yet failed to escape a random vehicle hitting at the rear. Lâm failed to reduce his bike's velocity, so the bike impacted the hitted truck. Passengers had a chance to fly a few meters.

The T-bone hit forced all passengers to crawl out the truck, scattered and frailed. Men hugged onto their arms, prepared to use their tools onsight. The boys, frailed and scattered, crawled near a damaged vehicle, concealed their presence on the scene.

"I smelleth feareth-" Gomboc raised many voices, wrapping purple tentacles onto the host's hands. "Cometh to me, I giveth thee strength and pow'r."

The boys realized that the impact affected too much on the body. Looking further, Thần failed to see any appearance of the hooded figure. The anxiety surged in the belly, yet in either way, Thần had to get out of the situation at all cost.

"Who the fuck are you little shit?" A man screamed, walked slowly to search for the prey. "You ain't popo aren't you?"

Bang! Bang!

Thần heard loud bangs from a distance, realizing the scenario failed to meet his fate.

"Stay calm-" the ghost appeared and evaluated the situation. "Remember what we have trained."

"I-I don't know-" Thần started to shorten his breath, choking from his own saliva. "I never signed up for this."

"Calm down!" the ghost slapped the host. "We both die if you don't!"

"Fam', it's not the time to talk to yourself-" Lâm witnessed the whole situation; confused. "You go left, I go right, okay?"

Thần focused with a deep breath, waiting for the right moment to strike. As the first thug recognized the presence, Thần sidestepped the opponent's attack and jabbed quickly to the ribs. The thug stumbled back, but before the assailant could recover, Thần followed up with a knee to the face. The thug crumpled like a cold turkey. Covering on the right side, a thug approached Lâm, swinging a heavy punch. Lâm sidestepped the attack and countered with a jab to the thug's face. The thug stumbled back, and Lâm gained the opportunity to deliver a powerful kick to the thug's chest, sending the opponent to the damaged vehicle.

Other thugs circled, besieged the boys with their weapons and contorted anger. Thần grinned, rushing the adrenaline through the veins. The boys knew the confrontation proposed the only way out, even if he had to eliminate those thugs.

As the following thug rushed at Thần with a knife, he dodged the blade and blew a sharp elbow strike to the jaw. The thug staggered back, dropping the weapon. Thần conducted a chain combo to the stunned opponent. Another thug knew that they would lose the battle if they failed to justify a solution, so they started shooting randomly behind the boys. Nimbly, Thần embedded the knife into a thug's shoulder to inflict pain. Two more thugs rushed towards Lâm, but the boy already prepared himself; spun around, delivering a sweeping kick that knocked both thugs to the ground. As thugs scrambled to recover, Lâm launched himself into the air, executing a flying kick which sent them both to the pavement.

"Your friend executes well," the ghost applauded. "A striker that claps thunder."

Every movement seemed slower second by second, Thần felt, as the boys dodged in zig-zag while evading the random flying bullets. When the eyes started glowing in purple, Thần realized his power level had risen to a new limit. Using damaged vehicles to cover, the boys concealed his body from the focus firing; waited for an opportunity.

"Your body will cool down if sedated for a while-" the ghost explained the effect of the chain combo as the eyes could see time ticked in seconds. "Make sure to keep up the combo as long as you can."

As bullets penetrated the thin steels, the thugs moved forward; ambushed the hiding spot, yet all described a mimic human-sound tag. Suddenly, a thug received a series of lightning-fast strikes and kicks. Because of that, the thug staggered from the fluidity movement of a dancer, as each move connected seamlessly to the next. The remaining thugs tried to shoot back, but the boys dodged their blows and landed devastating blows as the time was ticking.

When one thought the fight would end, a shot hit the legs. Dodging the next firing wave, Lâm dragged his friend to conceal their presence. Thần held onto his wound, grunted in pain.

"Come on hot shot-" the voice rang a familiar sense to Thần, perhaps, the boy already knew that person very well. "I just need more time to fix this mess."

"Shit, he pullin' his dick into us-" Lâm watched over the situation, painting fast. "Captain, I think I caught you lackin'."

"Fuck it, bruv-" Thần replied; calculated the next move. "Dipsy, we need support ASAP!"

"Lines are overloaded atm-" Dipsy answered the coms. "Popos come in fast with heavy arms, need to pack outta there now."