The Young Master in the Shadows

The visitor was none other than his grandfather, Kalvin, who entered the room followed by a young man and a short young woman who had serious looks on their faces.

“Oh, Grandpa… Come sit down.” Victor who was sitting casually invited them in as he openly checked the woman… Pretty, but not a lot. “Alex, go prepare some coffee… I am still a bit sleepy.” He ordered as he secretly activated his disguise skill to hide their conversation in case someone was eavesdropping.

Kalvin didn’t speak, he just sat on the couch facing Victor as the young man and woman stood behind him with their hands behind their backs. They seem to be military personnel… No more than that. Warriors. Highly trained ones. Victor could tell from the way they walked…

“So you are ready for a talk? Did you believe me at last about the existence of players?” Victor asked casually, causing a racket in the back as Alex clumsily dropped the coffee box to the floor.

“Ahh Sorry….” She quickly began to clean things up…

Kalvin glared at her for a second then looked back at his grandson. “I have things to ask about first. Was it you yesterday?” He asked.

“Me! What?” Victor asked as he casually glanced around in a strange way as if an imaginary fly was buzzing around him.

“The one behind the terror…” Kalvin didn’t continue as Victor suddenly stood up from his seat and hurried to the window and opened it, then took a rocket launcher out of thin air and fired at a white civilian Helicopter that had been flying at an unnaturally low altitude in the distance near the waterfall.

SOoooooooooooooo…. BOOOMM …… SHuaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAA NNNNNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnrr………………

The explosion sound rocked the room as the two warriors behind Kalvin put their hands on their hidden guns… They were prepared to attack Victor and arrest him if not for Kalvin’s signal to stand down, saving their lives from Alex who was about to take out her own spear and kill them in one swing.

“Sorry… I seem to have upset too many people recently. I need to be very vigilant all the time.” Victor said as he grabbed his phone and sent a message to Kai to deal with this and find out who rented that helicopter. Not one of his current enemies was stupid enough to attack him publicly. If not for a fate warning about the danger in the helicopter, he might have been severely injured. Those guys had explosives... He also warned Lily to stay vigilant.

“You…. Were you the one who did the explosions yesterday too?” Kalvin asked again as he kept looking out of the window at the smoke from the helicopter that crashed into the lake… This was a confirmation…. But he still needed to ask.

“Oh... That one. Yes… Some idiots seemed to have kidnapped my Alex, probably to sell him to some gay brothel… You know how cute he looks sometimes….” Victor said, causing Alex to blush and quickly turn around to continue preparing the coffee. Thankfully her father liked coffee so she has long learned how to prepare it perfectly.

“Kidnapping?” Kalvin asked as he looked at Alex, a little unconvinced.

“Yes…. Ah, Alex. I forgot to ask you, how the hell did they kidnap you so quickly? Aren't you supposed to fight back?” Victor asked, turning to Alex.

“Young master… I was preoccupied with some luggage that I was holding… And that man was at a slightly higher level than me. He asked me about the time first… so I let my guard down and let him poison me… My power was drained And I couldn’t fight efficiently as he was too close and that allowed him to constrain me.” She explained. A little ashamed of herself.

Kalvin only focused on the word LEVEL, confirming his guess that Alex was a Player too.

“Oh… Be careful next time… I will tell Margret to punish you later…” Victor said, making her flinch as he turned to face his grandfather while the police sirens rang from below.

“The police will probably be here very soon, so we should probably do this later….” Kalvin began to speak with some annoyance.

“No, they won’t. The police have already been dealt with.” Victor stated as he relaxed in his chair, reminding Kalvin of his grandson’s identity. His subordinates were giving Victor and Alex some nasty glares… especially the young woman, there was some disdain and hatred. She was inspecting Victor closely, trying hard to find out from where he got that rocket launcher, which was now thrown like a used toy in the corner.

“Then… The second question. What the f*ck was that pill you gave me?” Kalvin asked.

“Oh… I forgot to warn you about the side effects… Don’t worry, the increased libido is only temporary. Your body has regained its youth, so it is acting like an adolescent for a while… It will be ok in a week or two… Some of the wrinkles on your face are already disappearing… Must warn grandma not to let any new hot girl hook you up…” Victor explained as he looked at the young woman…

“What is it? Where did it come from?” Kalvin asked, totally ignoring his grandson’s totally inappropriate remarks.

“Those are questions that I can’t answer at the moment… Don’t worry, It’s nothing bad.” Victor flatly refused to answer… Kalvin didn’t push it.

“Then…Now to the main question. Why did you tell me about the players? What do you want in return?” Kalvin reached the main point as his subordinates inspected Victor.

“Do you believe in their existence now?” Victor asked.

“I do… It all fits….But some of my colleagues are still hesitant.” He flatly stated.

“Is that why you got those two ancient martial arts practitioners? You want to test me?” Victor asked, making the two tense up… He could see that their strength was about 35… Very strong for humans.

“We wanted to test your strength,” Kalvin stated… He was not surprised by Victor's knowledge. Those two had practiced some very powerful arts that had been found by their organization in some very old ruins as they traced back the hidden powers' origins.

“They are not bad, but I don’t play with kids… Alex. You do it. Kick their asses.” Victor ordered Alex who was casually placing two mugs of steaming quality coffee on the table.

“Ok..” Alex nodded and looked at the two… “Who wants his ass kicked?” She asked, making the young woman laugh as the man glared at Alex who was a little thin and didn’t have the build of a warrior.

“Mario, you do it,” Kalvin said to the aggressive young man who glared at Alex as if he was going to eat her.

“Prepare to be smacked into a paste!… Shall we head to the parking lot…. AHHHHHHH” He asked, not realizing that Alex already started. She just grabbed his shoulder, pushed him to the ground, and used her delicate foot to kick his ass at a very wrong angle, nearly smashing something into a paste and making him scream… Alex stopped in time to spare the world another eunuch.

“Is this the best you got?” Alex asked casually, making Kalvin a little surprised… Mario, who was now shedding tears on the ground, was not weak at all. He could take on three strong men easily by himself.

“I am next…” The young woman said as she glared hatefully at Alex not giving Mario a chance to ask for another try.

“Yan Xue… Be careful.” Kalvin said.

“Yes Sir….” She said as she carefully moved toward Alex who was inspecting her disdainfully.

“Is he a Player?” Kalvin asked Victor for confirmation.

“Yes, a very powerful one,” Victor explained as Yan Xue launched a kick heading straight to a spot between Alex’s slender legs… She was intending to avenge her partner.

Alex didn’t move as the kick landed... Nothing happened.

“I am telling you… My Alex might appear a little weak, but he is a man with balls of steel.” Victor commented as Alex suddenly realized that a man in her place would not stay standing… Never mind. She quickly grabbed Yan Xue’s leg and professionally twisted it, making her trained body twist and stagger to fall facing the ground. But as a warrior, Yan Xue quickly used her arms to push her body off the ground then make an air flip and strangle Alex from the back… That was the plan, however, the moment she put her hands on the ground she felt a kick on her ass sending her sliding across the room’s floor until she disappeared behind the bathroom’s open door, hitting the vintage copper bathtub inside… They could tell from the ringing sound.

“Sorry young master… I might have hit her a little too hard.” Alex said as Kalvin ran to the bathroom while Maria scrambled to her feet... No, he was still a Mario, the throbbing pain in his crotch proved that.

“It’s ok… That girl was giving me some nasty looks before… I am sure she is lesbian… How can a girl hate me?” Victor added, making Alex freeze for a second not understanding her young master’s train of thoughts.

Kalvin returned carrying the girl in with some care… She was unconscious... Or pretending to be.

“Who is she? A daughter of one of your dead friends?” Victor asked as he watched Mario run to his boss and help him lay Yan Xue on the couch.

“Yes… She is the daughter of a very dear friend… He also died a few years ago on duty.” Kalvin said coldly.

“Oh… It’s like the case with my mother's old fiance! Then how about I marry her to fulfill your dream? She is cute enough to be a bed-warming maid.” Victor said, earning himself glares from Kalvin and Mario, who might have some feelings for this lesbian.

“No need….” Kalvin said coldly. “This was just a test… There was no need for such force…” He added to Alex who looked away, not caring. She only cares about Victor’s opinion.

“Your girl was the one who kicked my Alex's crotch first…” Victor interjected. “If Alex was not man enough, he would have been in the hospital right now.” He added as Alex kept looking away…She was not man enough!

“....” Kalvin wanted to say something but chose not to. Victor was right and Yan Xue was wrong here. But she was one of the few who really loathed the hidden oligarchies… Her entire family was killed by them.

She might have got a little agitated and annoyed by Victor’s arrogance, and total disregard for civilian lives…

“Fine….” Victor said, as he took a pill and stuffed it in Yan Xue’s mouth before Mario, who was preparing a glass of water for her, could stop him.

“This is a healing pill. She should be fine in a few minutes.” Victor said as he returned to his seat… Kalvin gestured to Mario to stand down, as he glared at Victor and returned to his seat after making sure that the girl’s breathing returned to normal.

“Now… Let’s talk… What do you want.” Kalvin asked seriously,

“I want nothing,” Victor said as he drank a sip of coffee and gave the anticipating Alex a “PERFECT” Sign.

“Then why did you tell me about the existence of Players?” Kalvin asked coldly, transforming from an Idiot grandfather to a sharp general.

“It’s not me… Let me phrase it like this. There is a very secretive organization that instructs me to contact you… They have some dark sh*t on me… Some really dark Sh*t.” Victor said, lowering his voice and causing Kelvin to arch closer to him to listen.

“They call themselves The Fragrant Shadow… Headed by a one-eyed demon called Alpha…” Victor said and turned to look at the window making sure no one was listening… Even Alex believed him there for a second.

“I was just instructed to be a middleman, I will not have anything to do with anything you deal with… I don't dare to tell you any more than I already did, or I would be breaking family rules… And they will know!” He added seriously.

“Didn’t you already tell me about the player?” Kalvin asked.

“Telling one person is ok, as long as you keep your mouth shut… I am walking on a knife's edge here, bending the rules slightly… So after introducing you to those guys, I am not responsible for anything… You also forget that I told you anything!” Victor repeated as Alex was getting curious about her young master’s plan. What Fragrant Shadow? The brothel girl’s team that Alpha was working on?

“Fragrant shadow? What are they? What do they want?” Kalvin asked as he watched Victor take out a paper.

“I don’t know… A very mysterious organization…. They only met me once trying to recruit me, but I refused. So they instructed me to contact you instead….They have a prophecy about the near collapse of our world where all the people would become players… Like that would ever happen.” Victor said, there is truly such a prophecy and it was the reason many powers chose to hide themselves and conserve their powers.

“Take this… It is a website they set up. You can contact them through it… They told me to tell you that they mean no harm, just wanting to exchange information.” Victor added as he gave the paper with a strange scribble on it… Is this an internet website? Can they look like this?

“It is a dark web website.” Yan Xue regained her consciousness and was now sitting interjected.

“Yan Xue, are you ok?” Mario asked.

“Yeah… “ She said as she glared at Victor… She could still feel his fingers on her lips….

“Is that all?” Kalvin asked as he relaxed back.

“Pretty much… And don’t mention me ever to anyone… I don’t want the family to punish me… My mother might be implicated too” Victor warned, making Kalvin flinch a little and then nod.

“Our meeting here is over. “ Victor declared as he glanced at the door with a smirk.

Kalvin wanted to ask Victor some more questions, but from his grandson's attitude he clearly knew that he would not reveal any more information, so he stood up.

“I will see what I can do...” He told Victor as he headed to the door, giving Alex one last look before opening the door and getting surprised by his son’s ugly face behind it.

“FATHER!” Larry said in surprise. “Are you here too? Did you also come to kiss some ass….. Ahm…To see young Victor?” Larry quickly corrected himself, earning himself a smack to the head that sent him to the ground.

Looking at his other sons who were there too, Kalvin sighed and stepped forward as his two subordinates sneaked past him as if they were some waiters.

“Go home… We will not do business with Victor or his family… That’s final.” He added as he strode out, “DID YOU HEAR ME?” He yelled, making his sons quickly but reluctantly follow him as they glanced back at the suite’s closed door.