The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 383: The Diary

“Did you forget something?” Ann asked as Theodore, who walked out with his two sons a moment earlier then returned after getting rid of them.

“Yes…” Theodore said as he took out a leather-bound diary from his ring and gave it to Ann.

“This is?” she asked, this son of hers had brought her many surprises today.

“It is the diary of our ancestor, Grand master Nicholas!” Theodore said.

“What?” Ann quickly grabbed it and began to inspect it. It felt very old. “Where did you get this from?” she asked as she flipped it open. What kind of language is that? She remembered seeing something like that in the library, but she was not sure.

“Ah… Victor found it thrown away in the vault and decided to sneak it away to take a look… He didn’t know what it was in the beginning… Not until he started deciphering it!”

“Oh… He knew how to read this?” she exclaimed then squinted her eyes. As a merchant, he might have some skills for that.

“Ah, I don’t really know, but he said he could, so I decided to leave it with him for a few more days as he seemed to have figured something out,” Theodore said. He sent Victor away before presenting this to both protect him and stop him from making unreasonable demands, but Ann didn’t flare up as he was expecting her to do.

“Oh….” Ann raised one eyebrow as she inspected it. “What did he do with it?” she asked.

“The bastard created a bloodline purifying pill using a recipe from it and gave it to Lara without my permission!”

“Oh… ” Ann frowned as she flipped the diary around, there were some notes scribbled with a pencil to the side, probably Victor’s doing. He must have put some real effort into deciphering this. “I am surprised he had time to do all this with that harem of his…. What did the pill do? Did it work?” she asked. Blood purifying pills, although rare, were nothing special.

“Ahh… yes, not only did Lara heal from the after-effects of the wrong training method Rex was teaching her, she is now stronger than a Level 10 player…. Her bloodline is 100% pure…” Theodore said.

“WHAT? ARE YOU SURE?” Ann exclaimed in shock for the second time today as she looked up at Theodore and then began to flip through the diary until she found the page of the recipe. Victor’s handwriting was all over it, translating the effects and ingredients.

“YES! Lara’s tests are all in this file!” Theodore said, presenting a file to Ann, who quickly took a look at it. HOLY SHIT…. “Is that little girl still human?”

“She didn’t seem to notice any change… She just told me that she felt she had a lot of energy lately and….” Theodore hesitated.

“What?”

“Sometimes when I look at her unprepared I feel a little scared….” he confessed. “It is as if every cell in my body is begging me to either worship her or run away,” he added as she scratched the back of his head. From infancy, he was raised to always be honest with his mother!

“What… Wait… Did Victor take that pill too?” Ann asked as if she thought of something. Victor’s aura from earlier. She did feel something strange about it.

“Ah… I didn’t ask him…” Theodore frowned. He didn’t think of that. “I don’t think he has awakened his bloodline yet though…”

“No, he already did that…” Ann interrupted. Victor was just controlling himself too perfectly, “Do you have any of the pills?” she asked.

“Ah, Yes… Those are all the ones Victor could make from the trace of the ancestor’s blood in the diary… They require unawakened bloodlines to work!” Theodore said, giving Ann the pill bottles Victor gave him. “The first one contains the original pill, the second one was something Victor’s alchemist created by mistake by adding some rust blood to the formula, it seems to boost the bloodline even further, but I am not sure…” Theodore said. He hid nothing.

“Really?” Ann exclaimed then thought for a moment. “Lara got one of the second type?”

“Yes!” Theodore said. “We were lucky enough nothing bad happened to her…” he sighed.

“No wonder Victor kept winking at you earlier and you kept ignoring him…” Ann said as she inspected the two pill bottles, opened one of them, and smelled the pills inside. Their scent was like that of Von Weise blood.

“Yes, he wanted me to present the diary to you so that he would get some kind of reward…” Theodore said awkwardly. “I wonder sometimes to what heights he would have been able to climb if not for his weak Class…” he lamented.

“You should be thankful he got that class! That kid is a fox! I don’t even want to imagine what he would do if he had the power to back his ambitions!” Ann said. She lied. She had been keeping an eye on Victor lately to figure out his goals, and according to her observations, she could safely imagine him trying to grab all the pretty girls in the world.

“Ahh… I don’t think he is that bad…” Theodore said in a low voice.

“Hm…Regardless, he stole the diary from the vault and now wants a reward on top of that?” Ann sneered. She seemed in a good mood. “Although I have been pampering him a lot lately, if those things were to be real, he would deserve to be rewarded… But he should be punished too…'' she paused. Those rewards and punishments must not attract any attention. She was not going to share this ‘diary’ with the family for now. “I have a good idea about this, but we will discuss it later after I finish reading this diary… Now, Listen up… Forget about supervising the mess here with the others. I need you to do something for me …” she said after some thinking.

“Yes, mother!” Theodore nodded. He knew what she planned to do. It was time to create a new fraction of the family! A new group of Elite who only answered to her!

…

Abe sighed as he left the hospital room where Lulu was wrapped like a mummy in bed.

“That bitch deserved it…” he said to himself. “How dare she take all the money we got from toiling in the mines to buy that dress!” he added to himself. Now he had to get the money needed for treating her or his mother would really kill him.

Suddenly three burly men appeared in front of him. They wore black suits, black gloves, black ties, and black sunglasses.

“WHAT?” he asked.

“You owe us…” one of them said, making Abe quickly find out their identity.

“Old Snake had already agreed to give me another month!” Abe replied.

“Old Snake had become a dead snake…” one of the burly men said. “Now the company is run by Lady M, and she wants her money!”

“Ah… But… That’s not the deal…” Abe said, causing one of the men to grab him by his collar and lift him up.

“DEAL OR NOT, YOU EITHER PAY OR YOU SLEEP WITH THE FISH TODAY… YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT!” the men said, pushing Abe into the wall and then letting him slide into a waiting chair below him before they turned to leave. “A SMALL ADVICE… DON’T TRY TO ESCAPE!” The man left a final warning as he left with his muscular friends.

“SHIT…BASTARDS!” Abe cursed as soon as the men turned a corner and left his sight.

“DID YOU SAY SOMETHING?” One of the men seemed to have heard him and returned.

“No….” he said quietly as sweat began to fall from his forehead.

The man just inspected him for one whole minute before he sighed. He gave Abe one last glare then left.

Abe sighed in relief…

SHIT… Where was he going to get that kind of money from?

It was all Lulu’s fault! Damn, if she was still in one piece he would have sold her… Damn it… Who would buy that bitch anyway? Should he go and beg Margret? NEVER! That bitch should rot in hell!

Just as he was about to stand up…

“OUT OF THE WAY!” someone suddenly shouted and in the next moment Abe was pushed back in the chair as a hospital bed with a man burnt to the crisp on it was pushed by him.

“WE ARE LOSING HIM!” one nurse said. “He will never reach the operating room!”

“SHIT NO!” a doctor said as the monitor connected to the bed began to beep. “CLEAR!” the doctor said as he used a defibrillator to apply an electric shock to the patient's heart. There was no response.

“AGAIN… CLEAR…” the doctor said as he charged it again.

Bam… Bam… Bam…

“DOCTOR… He is lost….” the nurse said.

“11.21 Call it…” the doctor said looking at his watch. “He is dead… Do we have his name?”

“Ah… No… He didn’t have any IDs!”

“Then how the hell would we be able to identify him… Look at how burnt up he is!” the Doctor snapped. He must have had a bad day.

“Ah… I think I saw he had a phone somewhere…” the nurse quickly said as she began to look around, for the phone.

Spontaneously Abe began to look around too, and he saw it…The phone was under the chair in front of him!

Just when he was about to tell the nurse, he noticed something… The phone was not ordinary, it was a diamond-studded golden W-PHONE 9 MAX!

Abe casually stood up and switched chairs as if to get out of the way of the nurse who was searching for the phone. He sat right over it and hid it with his leg.

“They must have left it in the room…” the nurse said finally after finding nothing.

“Then get moving... Let's take him to the morgue, it will be their problem after that! I already missed my break for this shit!” the doctor said as the nurse quickly helped him push the bed away.

Abe waited until the corridor was empty to reach down and grab the phone. SHIT IT WAS REAL! If he were to sell this thing, he might be able to pay off half of the debt!

“Hey! That is not yours!” one thin little girl in a hospital gown who happened to walk out of her room and saw him said. Scaring the living shit out of him.

“SHUT UP, BITCH!” Abe cursed as he grabbed the phone then quickly ran out of the hospital as the little girl began to cry.

The moment he left, two pretty fashionably dressed young women walked out of a nearby room. One of them hurried to the little girl.

“Don’t cry… The bad guy will get what he deserves! Sister Lin will kick his butt!” the young woman said softly as she hugged the little girl, making her sniff as she resisted crying.

“Now, eat this and return to your room… Don’t make your parents worry!” the young woman said as she stood up and rubbed the little girl’s head then pushed a candy in her mouth.

“Um…” The little girl nodded and sucked on the sweet candy as she watched the nice older sisters leave after the nasty guy.

All of a sudden the candy melted in her mouth!

Wait… Why was her body shining now? Why was her tummy no longer hurting?

…

After finishing with the explanations required, the elders told the elite heirs to get moving. They must figure out their own ways!

“So… What to do now?” Zoe asked as she watched the formed team leave one by one.

“We need to find a guide… The tunnels here are like a maze!” Victor said as they left the meeting room and headed to a side chamber with the words guards command over its door.

Victor casually stepped in making the few guards who were resting here stand in attention.

“You!” Victor pointed to an elderly guard after inspecting the 7 or so guards who were resting there, “Can you guide us through the tunnels?” Victor asked.

All the guards here were semi-players. What Victor was looking for was someone old enough to not only know the tunnels but also know the old stories that many would have forgotten.

Alto whose skills would make him the only survivor in every dangerous situation, seemed the type who would know a few things.

“Yes! Of course!” The elderly guard Alto stood up quickly and hurried toward Victor, a chance to serve an elite heir was very rare, and if he were to be lucky he would be able to escape this place. “Might I inquire about your esteemed names?” Alto asked as they walked out of the room.

“I am Victor, This is Zoe… She is the boss this time around, but you will listen to me!” Victor explained making Zoe nod.

Alto frowned a little then nodded. “Where does the young master want to go?” Alto asked.

“Oh… For now, I want to check on my brother… Luke who is serving some time here,” Victor said after some thinking.

“Oh… Please wait a moment…” Alto said as he hurried to a side chamber where he checked a giant book and then returned with a strange expression.

“Is there anything wrong?” Victor asked.

“Ah… Well, did your esteemed brother offend someone?” Alto asked worriedly.

“Not as far as I know…” Victor lied. “What’s the problem?”

“Well, he is assigned to Deep Village… That shit hole -Excuse my language- is the worst place around here, it is where those slaves who committed grave crimes are sent to…” Alto said after hesitating a bit.

“Oh… If it is just that it is okay, my father seemed to have arranged for something like that… Luke thrives in such places!” Victor said with a devilish smile. “Let’s go take a look. I have a few things to ask you about along the way!” he added as he casually grabbed Zoe’s hand and started walking.