"Please go ahead," I told my friends, who were practically skipping about and pleased that we had gotten into the last sixteen. "I might have some business with somebody."

"Instructor Feng Hai?" Harrison caught sight of the Silver Wolves mercenary leader. "What is he doing here?"

"Yeah, if he has business with you, he probably has business with us," Craig told me flatly. "Don't worry about it."

"We're together in this," Sheila added. I tried not to sigh. These guys had no idea what kind of matters I got entangled in with regard to the Silver Wolves. They probably thought this had something to do with the tournament when it didn't.

I was sure this had something to do with Anastasia. That was the only reason Feng Hai would look for me in the middle of the tournament. To seek my help regarding a situation that involved her. Given that the last time I saw her, she was encased within a stasis spell to stop the toxins within her Woeful Poison Body from erupting, I gathered that several implications had cropped up. Either they weren't able to find a cure in time, or…

"Hey, guys." Feng Hai caught up with us. He nodded at Harrison and the rest before turning to me. "Richard, you have a moment?"

"What do you need Richard for?" Harrison asked guardedly, putting on his strictest voice as the team captain.

"Oh, don't worry. This has nothing to do with the tournament, or with Jing Tian Academy. I need to inform him about the situation regarding our mutual acquaintance."

"Anastasia?" I knew it. "She's not just an acquaintance."

Feng Hai smiled at that, but the humor was still not present in his eyes. "Yes. She's a very precious comrade for the both of us."

"I see." Harrison nodded and backed away, gesturing for the others to follow him. "Then we'll leave you to it."

"Thanks." I bowed toward him, grateful for his understanding. Theodore had to forcibly drag a grumbling Craig, who was more amicable when Sheila took over by grabbing his arm and not too gently leading him away. Yue Chu shot me a worried look, but I waved him away, trying to a.s.sure him that I would be fine.

While my friends were moving out of earshot, Feng Hai turned back to me. He glanced around cautiously and lowered his voice.

"Do you mind following me to someplace more…secure?"

In other words, a place where we wouldn't be overheard by any random person. I understood. Nodding, I allowed him to lead me to a Silver Wolves hover-van that levitated above the road, its ma.s.sive hull parked right next to the sidewalk. I crawled into the back compartment and nodded a greeting to Redfield and Brent, who were both seated in there.

"Richard! Doing well in the tournament, I see."

"That was an impressive match today. You have improved a lot."

"Thanks." Even though I was buoyed by their praise, I could detect from their stiff expressions a forced levity. Something drastic had happened, and it was visibly affecting their mood. Taking a deep breath, I glanced at them one person at a time before I finally dared to ask the question that had been burning in my mind this entire time. "Did something happen to Anastasia?"

"We can't hide anything from you, can we?" Feng Hai chuckled darkly, and then he nodded. Taking a seat by the side of the van compartment, he slumped down, frustration crossing across his handsome face. "Yes. Earlier tonight, an Execution Force struck our base back in Silver City and took Anastasia."

"What?!" I almost jumped up and hit my head against the low ceiling of the van.

"That's right." Redfield looked grim. "They attacked when most of our forces were dispatched to Southampton City, to guard the students and staff partic.i.p.ating in the national high school tournament. They overwhelmed our defenses and got into the base, s.n.a.t.c.hed Ana and took her away."

"Execution Force…? Is everyone all right?"

I knew what an Execution Force was, only because I played Warhammer 40,000. It consisted of at least four a.s.sa.s.sins from different sects, the deadliers killers of the Guild coming together and working in concert to eliminate a high-priority target. The amount of destruction and death they left in their wake was horrifying to say the least.

"Fortunately, they attacked after most of the medical staff left for home. None of the medical staff was hurt, but we did lose about fifteen security staff. Fortunately, Glacia was not among them – she had the good sense to sen the medical staff back early before leaving herself, or I fear that she would have gotten caught up in the ma.s.sacre as well." Feng Hai's face was a cold mask of fury. "They will pay for this."

"Easy to say, but they sent an Execution Force, you know? An Execution Force." Redfield was practically waving his hands about. "A group of the Guild's most elite a.s.sa.s.sins and deadliest killers in the Federation…maybe the world. Ah…" he stopped and glanced at me sheepishly. "Perhaps we should explain to Richie what an Execution Force is."

"I know what an Execution Force is…" I began, but was cut off by Feng Hai. The Silver Wolves mercenary leader was fiddling with several switches and he flipped on a gigantic holograph. The interior of the van was illuminated by bright lights, and I saw in detail the hi-tech consoles, surveillance equipment, radar, communication arrays and sensor displays that fitted the relatively large s.p.a.ce. Holographic screens floated here and there, collating data and interpreting them into a decipherable form for the mercenaries.

Feng Hai waved a hand and summoned one of the holographic screens toward us, the display zooming toward us before expanding to feature great detail. I managed to make out the outlines of five figures stalking through the ruins of the Silver Wolves base.

"Operatives from each of the major a.s.sa.s.sin sects, such as the Frenzor Sect, the Veneneum Sect, the Umbra Sect, the Pavlichenko Sect and Deceivum Sect. All combined into a single terrifying team of elite killers."

I watched their dark silhouettes stalk through the rubble, their figures concealed in skintight bodysuits. Their faces were hidden behind terrifying masks, in particular the Frenzor a.s.sa.s.sin wore one that was a grotesque parody of a grinning human skull, complete with glowing red eyes. The Umbra a.s.sa.s.sin's face seemed to be missing, nothing but a black hole swirling underneath a hood. The Pavlichenko a.s.sa.s.sin's mask was more practical, a bone-white mask with in-built optics, no doubt layered with sophisticated sensors to allow him to lock onto his target with impeccable accuracy. The Deceivum a.s.sa.s.sin merely wore a black skin-tight mask that completely hid her features from view, while allowing a long strand of braided hair to flow from an opening at the back. The Veneneum a.s.sa.s.sin's mask seemed nondescript upon first view, but I could see a gas mask attached to her face, probably to filter out any toxin gases she might unleash upon her enemy.

"Just five of them…five of them, and they defeated over a dozen security staff by themselves." Redfield was holding his head in despair. I noted the presence of bloodied corpses lying amidst the debris, disembodied limbs and heads with horrified expressions gaping in the direction of the camera, their mouths frozen in an eternal, soundless scream. "They are monsters."

"It can't be helped. The enemy has sent their best." Feng Hai was struggling to keep his emotions under control. He waved a hand and dismissed the hologram before turning to me, his expression grim. "And so are we."

For a moment, I wasn't sure I understood. Then I frowned.

"I'm happy to help, because Ana is someone precious to me, but make no mistake. I am not one of you."

"Not yet," Redfield added gleefully, then fell silent when I glared in his direction.

"I'm with my dad. I plan to follow my dad when I become a mercenary." Not the Silver Wolves. That was a line I needed to draw with them.

"I understand." Feng Hai smiled in a placating manner. "Of course I am not asking you to join us, and I'm not rude enough to take you for granted and issue you orders as if you're one of my subordinates. Nonetheless, because Ana is someone important to both you and the Silver Wolves, and so I believe it is only polite to inform you about what happened to her instead of keeping you in the dark."

"I appreciate it, and I will definitely help save her."

"There is one problem, though," Brent rumbled, his tone disapproving. "Richard has his own circ.u.mstances. Never mind the fact that he is a student and shouldn't be dragged into such a dangerous mission…he's also a representative of his school for this high school tournament. We cannot selfishly demand that he pull out of the tournament and help us unconditionally. He worked so hard to be able to represent his team. This matter should be left to the adults."

"You are right, Brent." Feng Hai nodded at his second-in-command. "But I'm afraid you misunderstand. I'm not here to recruit Richard to our cause. As I said, I know how important Ana is to him, and thus I do not wish to leave him in the dark about her fate. He'll find out sooner or later, and in any case I want him on alert…to report to me if he sees anything amiss." He turned back to me. "Can you do that, Richard?"

"You bet I can." Then I paused, my mind whirring in confusion. "Wait, you're not here to recruit me to help rescue Ana?"

"Correct. I just thought it rude to leave you out of this, given how close you are to Ana. But I do not want you running off and sneaking into our staff to join the rescue mission secretly. The reason I'm telling you about this now is so that you don't find out about this on your own later and run off by yourself to mount a one-man rescue mission. I'm here to a.s.sure you that we have this well in hand, and I swear I will bring Ana back no matter what. I want you to trust us, and leave this matter to us. Do not attempt to rescue Ana by yourself. Attend to your responsibilities – don't let your friends and teammates down. You have your job to do, and we will take care of our own duties ourselves. Is that understood?"

I realized that Feng Hai would allow no protest, so I dumbly nodded. "Crystal clear, sir."

"Good." Feng Hai relaxed a little. He knew I wasn't the reckless type of protagonist who would lie to him, only to sneak out behind his back and stupidly try to rescue Anastasia…but end up jeopardizing the whole mission, only for plot armor to kick in and allow me to succeed beyond all odds. Unfortunately, reality, being the harsh b.i.t.c.h that it was, wasn't going to allow such convenient development. If I screwed up, I screwed up…and Anastasia would die. Even if I somehow saved her, I would end up causing the deaths of many Silver Wolves mercenaries as they attempted to cover up for my blunder – a fact that most other stories hand-waved away because those were treated as "cannon fodder" or expendable characters whose brave sacrifice was promptly forgotten so that the audience could focus on the happiness of the main characters.

Yeah, I wasn't selfish enough to think the universe revolved around me and my friends alone. Even so, the fact that I had to sit out this mission stung and I clenched my fists tightly.

"I do have one job for you, though…if you're willing to take it."

Feng Hai was far from finished with me. I looked up, my spirits buoyed slightly by this small concession.

"Sure. What is it? I'll do my best."

"I know you will." The Silver Wolves colonel took a deep breath. "I want you to keep an eye out during the tournament. I know this will be hard on you, what with you being a partic.i.p.ant and having to worry about your own matches and everything, but my Silver Wolves are being stretched thin by all these constant…hara.s.sment now. Even a single extra pair of eyes would be a huge boon for us. If you see anything or anyone suspicious, report to me immediately. Send me or Glacia a message – Glacia will be back in our HQ, rebuilding our base, and she'll have ways to convey the message back to me. however trivial you think it is, however insignificant or unimportant you think, as long as you see one thing out of place, or your gut feeling tells you there's something more about that guy than what meets the eye, I want to know immediately. Can you do that?"

"Yes, sir."

Now I was feeling a bit more stressed. Sensing that, Feng Hai placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry. I don't want you to be overly paranoid. Just cautious." He sighed as he glanced up and stared at the enclosed hatch of the van. "The Dark Church has been active really lately, and this new business with the a.s.sa.s.sins tells me that…they're not going to stop here. They're planning one h.e.l.l of a catastrophe, and I want to be able to prevent it before they can pull it off."