"Where are the items?!"
Xiao Ming's eyes became bloodshot ass he looked at the people in front him. This was the first time his father entrusted an event to him after he pleaded for a long time.
"Where is all of it?! Where?! Tell me!"
"They were just here! I'm sure! I saw all of them a few minutes ago when I went down!"
Even the emotionless Awakened almost panicked. This wasn't his fault. He came here a moment ago and saw all of it still here.
Xue doesn't know what to say to his boss, because it disappeared like smoke. Xue didn't think that it was someone like him who did this as even the strongest one he had encountered can never make all of the items here disappear.
Xue was convinced that the robbers used the vent to get out since it's connected to every part of the building. Though, it wasn't connected outside; it was connected to the roofs and the hallway where they can access the fire exit.
There's a lot of ways to do this if there were numerous, which was what he believed happened.
"Where is it then! It all disappeared?"
"And what about you all!? Did I pay you to be this useless!?"
The guards looked down, knowing they messed up and everything they say won't reach the ears of Xiao Ming.
There's no point in explaining their side. Xiao Ming's words also didn't reach their ears as they all already decided to report straight to his father, who was more logical and experienced.
"Useless! Get out of my face!"
Xiao Ming then looked at the two guards that were stationed in the dim room. The two of them were different from the rest. They work directly for Xiao Ming.
"Boss, we didn't let anyone in like what you commanded us to."
The one on the right slowly said with his deep voice. That was true. Their only role was not to let anyone in. They aren't responsible for guarding what's inside. They solely need to defend the door against anyone forcing their way in.
"Are you telling me that you didn't let anyone else in?! Where did they come from then, huh?!"
Xiao Ming gritted his teeth as his face contorted into an ugly expression. Before he was able to say something more, the guard on the left spoke,
"Boss, there is a message written at the wall."
"What? Let me see!"
Xiao Ming threaded heavily as he was guided by the two. What he saw made him outraged.
[*We, Shadow Thieves, will rest in this city for now.
Whoever owns this place, you have good foresight to welcome us.
We appreciate your offerings.
– Shadow Thieves, we will be where the shadows are!*]
*Blaargh*
Xiao Ming spat a mouthful of blood. His chest struck with pain, not being able to take all this news. His face was burned in anger as he turned to Xue.
"Find them! NOW!"
"Even just one of them! I will give them hell!"
Xiao Ming's face was totally twisted. He could only think about how fucked he was if his father finds out at the same time, thinking of how expensive all the items here were and how much they were going to pay if they weren't able to find it.
Xiao Ming couldn't believe that he was this unlucky, asking why does this have to happen to him. He badly wanted to tear the skin those people who were responsible for this. That was the only way for him to forget this.
Xiao Ming thoroughly deserved all of this. Max never did anything to him, but he chose to send someone to teach him a lesson. He offended someone out of his league, obviously having a death wish.
Max wasn't going to stop until he hit rock bottom. This is just one of the first plans Max had for him.
When Xiao Ming thought this was the end, another one came up to annoy him, hearing someone's heels coming closer.
"Where's the next item? Why is it taking so long?"
The woman was the host of the event. They had been waiting for the next item but there still no one coming. She came to check when the crowd was getting impatient, urging her to stop wasting time.
"What happened here?"
Her eyes landed on xiao ming, hidden deep inside it was disgust, but it got away quickly replaced by confusion when she saw their surroundings.
"What's this?"
"Where are the items? What did you do now?"
She turned back to Xiao Ming. Seeing him in this condition, a different feeling came to her. She felt pity, pity for Xiao Ming, knowing that he was going to be in trouble.
"You deal with this. You're responsible for this event. I'm just the host."
"B*tch!"
"You're lucky now. I'll get you back. Just you wait."
Xiao Ming stared daggers at her when she turned around, wanting to jump on her and teach her a lesson. But he first had to deal with all of this. It was him who asked his father to handle this event.
He needs to come up with an explanation, or he would be screwed. Xiao Ming could only rely on Xue this time to catch one of them.
…
[Hehehe!]
"What do you think is Xiao Ming's face right now?"
"He must be crying already."
[Hahaha! It's you who made him like that!]
"It's so late now."
Max was in a quiet neighborhood. He can only hear the trees rustling from the wind. Only the big full moon gave him the vision to know where he was going.
Max can hear his every footstep as he took a turn. Little Dou was the only one who made him feel that he's not alone, and also the crickets singing.
[Yeah! And Yu'er will give you a lecture when you get home!]
"No way! I'm strong! I have a lot of escape skills and items!"
[You should give her some of the jewelry and gems that you got! That one diamond was good!]
"Can I? Won't that be traced when people see it and think she stole it?"
[Hmm. I don't know!]
"Then, can I sell it to the Store?"
[That isn't possible!]
"Well, I'll store it in the Inventory for now. In the future, maybe we can find a good use for it or recycle it into something else entirely.]
Suddenly, Max stopped. A few meters in front of him was the Awakened. For a second, Max got spooked when he suddenly appeared there.
'F*ck! Does he know?'
Max acted like he was nervous, backing up one step. Inside, he was confused. Many questions came up his mind every second.
[…]
'Wait a minute. Does he know? There's no way right?'
Even though Max was baffled as to why the Awakened was here, he was never scared of him. He was only a Rank 1 Early Phase Awakened.
On the contrary, Max looked down on him. He was despising the Awakened's stupid decision.
'You've just made a mistake.'
When Max was acting nervous, he looked at his surroundings. Confirming that the Awakened was alone, further intensified his contempt for him.
His external appearance slowly turned scared. If possible, Max wanted to know why the Awakened was here.
"W-Who are you?"
"…"
"D-Do we know each other?"
"…"
"I-I'm going now."
Max wanted to test how the Awakened would react with his action to see if he was hostile against him, or he has other plans.
When his shoe took a step forward, the Awakened, kicked the floor hard, shooting forward towards him. Max stopped the time as soon as he saw it.
"Hmph! Too weak!"
Max got close to the Awakened that froze midway toward him. Max took out a thick rope from his Inventory and tied his arms and legs together.
Max circled his body with the rope to make sure he won't be able to use much of his strength to break it.
*thud*
Max punched the Awakened on his cheeks as hard as he can. Max wanted to knock him out and bring him home for answers.
"Little Dou, help me with this. How do you knock him out?"
*Thud*
*Bam*
"Take this!*
*Bam*
[Like this! Hyah!]
"Ow. That's will surely be painful."
Little Dou punched both of the Awakened's eyes. She also hit him in his neck, sometimes adding in a kick.
*PAH*
[…]
"I just slapped him."
"That ought to make him unconscious, right?"
*PAH*
*PAH* *PAH*
*PAH*
"Is that enough?"
*PAH PAH*
*thud*
"Last one!"
*Tah*
"…"
"He can't have babies anymore. I'm sure of it."
"Uhh."
When the time stop ended, the Awakened directly fell unconscious. Not before Max catch him on with his arms.
"Idiot. You don't just come here and try to fight me."
Max once again checked his surroundings with his Status Checker, making sure there wasn't anyone who saw it. It was only Little Dou, Max, and the Moon that witnessed it.
"Let's get home fast! Someone might see."
Max ran as fast as he can on the shadows of the dark and cold night with Little Dou settled steadily on his head.
