Child of Destiny

...

While the people were looking for Shin's whereabouts, the person himself was currently confined within a secret base that the Black Serpent Mafia had set up within the Eastern Sea Region.

He could not even do that much given that he was on a constant watch of a Domain Realm Expert such as Belladonna, the Poisonous Beauty.

Even if he tried to take out the talisman that would bring him back to the Springfield Household, such an expert would be fast enough to stop him and snatch it from his hands. It was the same for the protection talisman as the outcome would be the same – she would have plenty of time to snatch talismans from his hands before he could activate them at such a distance.

The organization had already learned its lessons and did not dare to underestimate someone like him.

Sometimes, the most insignificant factor was enough to change the tides of any situation.

Laughing bitterly, Shin sat on the ground while leaning his back on the room wall and ignoring the flirtatious look that Belladonna was giving him.

He felt an intense shiver running through his spine every time he saw those looks. He felt that he would be eaten by this woman alive if not because of the operation at hand.

Aside from being bothered by her gazes, Shin somewhat discovered quite a lot of things by observing everything from the sidelines.

Aside from this woman, there were two more Domain Realm Martial Artists and one Venerable Realm Mentalist staying within this base.

One of the two Domain Realm Experts was that buffed guy that he had seen earlier, who seemed to be called Boris. Shin felt that this guy was the most mysterious of them all as he was able to disguise his martial attainments as a regular Core Formation Stage Expert. He could even make himself look like an ordinary person if he wanted.

This kind of disguise was quite normal to people of such level, but what made it so special was its ability to make his body weaker than that at a certain level. It was more like a sealing technique rather than a disguising technique.

This was the reason why Shin did not feel threatened by this person despite having such a sturdy and strong build.

In his perspective, such a person was more threatening than anyone else who was constantly emitting a dangerous aura from their bodies.

The remaining Domain Realm Expert was someone quite 'familiar' with Shin. That guy was Butcher, whom he had met once during the most recent mission that he had along with Leonard. It was also the same person, who had captured him at that time.

As for the Venerable Mentalist, Shin also found they were somewhat mysterious. But the air of mystery around them was not as dense as the one that he felt from Boris.

This mentalist seemed to be called 'V'. He was not sure if it was the actual name of the person, or it was some sort of alias. But from what he had overheard from the passing young agents, this person was an expert when it came to Mentalism Arrays, particularly in sealing and illusion formations.

It was most likely the person who had set up the entire formation within the hotel earlier. Only a skillful expert of such level could set up such an array without David noticing anything wrong.

For such experts to gather in such a place together, Shin came to realize that the Black Serpent Mafia was plotting something big.

He was not sure what exactly it was but seemed to concern the Magic Ace Academy, or more specifically, the World Research Center that was situated within it.

Shin could not help but feel anxious for Professor Henry, who was always conducting his research in that place.

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From what he had gathered from the pieces of information that he had overheard; someone had infiltrated the academy and was already in the middle of conducting the operation.

Moreover, they have already stolen quite a few important researchers, which included some projected all 'Black Heart'. It was some research concerning something about an artificial energy source that could be implanted in the body without causing any drawbacks.

There was a huge history of this project as it was first started by an ancient evil cultivator of ancient times. The product of that project was excavated by some expert archaeologists led by Professor Herny's friend.

The said 'product' was entrusted to Professor Henry for thorough research as he was the best choice for such a project since he was very familiar with the field of Ancient Cultivation and researchers regarding the unification of Martial Arts and Mentalism.

The so-called 'Black Heart' was something made from countless sacrifices through immortal acts in ancient times. The evil cultivator even said that he had sacrificed the life worth of an entire nation just to create it.

Unfortunately, they were struck down by one of the 'Lords' at that time while his research materials were lost and never been found. Aside from scattered records that were written about it, no one had recovered the entire research study.

As for the 'Black Heart' itself, it was left sealed within his tomb after the said 'Lord' had sealed it.

It then later fell into the hands of the World Research Center and was now being studied by Professor Herny and his team.

Since such a long time had already passed, the power that this said artificial source of energy had already been exhausted, but the container survived and remained.

Naturally, Professor Herny and his team did not intend to follow the methods of the evil cultivator. All they wanted to know was how the Black Heart was formed and how to take advantage of it to benefit the current era.

Shin had heard that the Black Serpent Mafia wanted to steal all the research materials that Professor Henry had about the said project. It was even better if they were able to steal the Black Heart itself so that they could study it themselves.

Shin had suspected that they were planning to use this 'Black Heart' to reinforce their Artificial Mutants by implanting them in their bodies.

It was just his suspicion, but he was quite confident that it was their purpose given the current clues that he had.

After reviewing all the clues that they had, he also figured out the identity of the person who had sneaked inside the academy unnoticed. – "It was Coffin Maker without a doubt." –

Shin then recalled all the events that had happened and realized that everything seemed to be a 'smokescreen' to cover their tracks and hide their true intention.

From the abduction incidents during the time that the top clubs of the academy were investigating, to the capture of the elite students, to the discovery of the secret project that the Black Serpent Mafia was conducting as well as their secret base in that mountain range, then the discovery of the inheritance of the 'Thunder Lord', up to the rescue operation lead by David and the others, which also included him and Leonard.

All of these were nothing but a cover to let Coffin Maker disguise as one of the rescued students and infiltrate their ranks.

"D*mn! These guys have plotted that far," mumbled Shin as he bumped the back of his head into the wall behind him.

He came to realize that they had been played by the opposing side.

"Then what role do I have to play on this plot of theirs?" he frowned deeply as he started to suspect that he was most likely another distraction to throw Nathan and the others off their trail.

Shin felt a sudden sense of urgency as he realized this fact. He felt that he had to inform the others about this as soon as possible. He also felt that Professor Henry was in trouble given that most of the targets that the Black Serpent Mafia had concerned the researchers that the professor was leading.

It would not be strange if they tried abducting Professor Henry as well.

Click!

Not long after, the metal door of the room suddenly opened followed by the entrance of Boris. He exchanged a glance with Belladonna for a moment before he turned his attention to Shin.

Boris observed Shin for a moment before tossing a small box to Shin. "These are the things that you need to do. Everything is inside the flash drive. Read it thoroughly and prepare yourself. You will be sent to do your mission the day after tomorrow."

"Day after tomorrow? Isn't it the same time when our class is going to be sent to the cultivator's tomb for exploration?" mumbled Shin as he found another crucial piece of information.

Boris did not care what Shin was thinking and quickly left the room, without bothering what Shin was going to do.

Shin opened the small box and saw two objects inside. One of them was a smartwatch that was specially distributed to the agents of the organization. It was an indestructible tool for someone like Shin. He would also not be able to take it off once he put it on his wrist unless he chopped off his hand or possessed a special key for it.

At the same time, it also possessed a special tracking system that would constantly monitor his location every second. It was another feature that would prevent the agents from running away.

It was a very advanced watch, which could rival those that were developed by the Sun-Moon Continent, the capital of advanced technology in the world.

Another faction of this particular watch was its one-way signal feature. The agents could only receive orders from this watch, but they could not send any messages to any other channel aside from the main source.

It was a special feature to prevent Shin from contacting anyone when he was doing the special mission.

The other object inside the box was the flash drive that Boris was talking about earlier.

Without further ado, Shin put on the smartwatch unwillingly. He did not have a choice since Belladonna was watching him from the side.

At the same time, he was also interested in the flash drive and skimmed through its contents to see what kind of mission these guys had wanted him to do.

To his surprise, it was the same mission that Old Man Lin had prepared for him. It was the same case, which would require him to investigate a certain place where strange phenomena were taking place.

However, the information on this mission was more detailed and specific. They even knew what the source of the strange phenomena was.

"An inheritance from ancient times?" mumbled Shin with a frown as he thoroughly read the details.

From the contents of the mission, there seemed to be an inheritance in the said place, and someone had accidentally stumbled upon it – this was what the military had discovered, and also what he had read before.

But from what the Black Serpent Mafia was saying, they seemed to be the ones who had discovered that inheritance.

As for the person, who had accidentally 'discovered' it, they were one of their agents.

It was supposedly one of their secret operations, and the agent was tasked to retrieve the inheritance tome and bring it back to the base.

Unfortunately, an accident occurred, and the agent was consumed by the inheritance and turned him into a puppet.

If not for the special seal that was containing the puppet from leaving the place, then it most likely had left the region and had already wreaked havoc in the nearby cities.

It was not that big of an inheritance. It was not even close to the one that Leonard had received, which concerned the 'Thunder Lord' of that era. It could be counted as one of the less important inheritances that could be found out there.

However, this inheritance focused on nurturing a strong 'vitality' or similar force after the investigation that the organization had conducted. And it was something that they crucially needed for the next step of their plans.

After a series of trial and error, the organization discovered that only someone from the Grandmaster Realm on the path of mentalism could enter the region and try retrieving the inheritance.

Anyone stronger than that limit would turn into a tree puppet just like what had happened to the agent.

The organization had a lot of martial artists of different stages and realms, but they only had a limited number of mentalists. If ever they had one, those mentalists were already at the Rulers Realm or above, so they did not find anyone, who fitted the criteria.

As for the special agents that they had sent to be a spy within the Soaring Continent, their numbers were somewhat limited. They could not afford to lose any of them any longer after all the incidents that occurred recently.

It was not hard to nurture one, but it would be difficult to climb in the ranks of the organization that they had infiltrated, so they could not recklessly send these people.

The only thing that they could try was to find someone, who would fit the criteria and was also skilled enough to survive that place.

After all, there were already a lot of puppets here after all the tests that they had conducted.

Someone skilled, familiar with their system, and they could afford to lose – they happened to find someone, and that person was Shin.

Of course, they also had to find something they could use against Shin to ensure he would not stab them back.

Capturing him was one thing, but the plan on how they would force him to comply with them was a whole other matter.

They had already captured Shin, now all they had to do was to find someone or something that they could use as a 'hostage'.

The Black Serpent Mafia had already found someone. As for who it was, Shin's eyes instantly turned cold when he saw that person's image at the bottom of the mission information displayed on the virtual screen.

...…