Torture or a Kiss?

Tiara was still silent. Percy couldn't take it anymore. He drew out his sword and pointed it at Karmet. "I don't care what she says, get lost from here." He stepped forward so that the tip of the sword was right under Karmet's chin. Karmet's body didn't waver. His eyes seemed to be looking at something else. Percy also tried to figure out what he was looking at, but didn't find a clue.

Karmet smiled smugly again. "Go on, try to kill me." He bent his head down slightly to use his skill called [Insight] which allows him to see a character's basic info. "Prince Hao. I wonder what the King will say when he sees your horrendous hairstyle." Percy grit his teeth and drove the sword right into his neck.

"NO!" Tiara screamed, reaching forward, but there was no stopping it. Karmet slowly vanished into the air and soon, there was nothing in front of them except an air of confusion. Tiara fell to the ground. "You killed him!?"

Percy's eyes were wide in confusion as he looked at the air in front of him. He brought his sword down and shook his head. "No. I didn't."

"But he's gone!" Tiara screamed. She stumbled forward and hugged the Core. "I never even got to say thanks to him, and I also lied to him! If it wasn't for him, I would have been killed by that Grade 2 Dramon."

"I said, I didn't kill him." Percy corrected again. He watched the huge sword beside Tiara also vanish into the air. It was Karmet's weapon, Joyeuse. "His time was up. So he vanished before I could kill him."

"What?" Tiara sniffed. She looked around and saw that the sword was gone. "Oh...still! Why do you have to resort to murder?!"

Percy tilted his head and looked down at her. "Look who's talking. Did you forget your own stabbing attempt earlier?"

"I was angry!" she defended.

Percy smiled lightly. "So was I."

"But why? You had no reason to get angry right now."

"What if something happened to you with that stranger? Of course I had a reason to get angry."

Tiara frowned and rolled her eyes. "Oh riiight. You need me in top condition because I am your Partner. Without me, you can't come into this dimension. Sure, sure, use me all you want." She scoffed.

Percy was taken aback for the second time that day. "Is that what you think of me?"

Tiara puffed up her cheeks. "Then what?" She got up and stabbed the Core. System notification popped up, congratulating Tiara for killing the Dramon. She just looked at it boredly and accepted it.

[Collect Drops?]

The notification popped up again, along with a list of drops and their uses. She didn't bother to read them as she remembered how Karmet wanted them. She collected them all and decided to hand it over to him when she crossed paths with him again. Percy just watched her do all this monotonously. Finally, Tiara got up and looked at him.

"Why did you cut your hair?"

Percy smiled. "I'm a boy. Not a girl."

"But isn't it the tradition over here? You'll get something as a punishment for breaking the rules."

"Pfft…" Percy narrowed his eyes playfully. "You're ever the goody-two-shoes, aren't you?"

"Don't talk like you know me!" she retorted.

"Ha.. fine. However, Remember the deal we made before diving in here?"

Tiara stepped back. "What deal? There's no deal. Okay, bye I'm going to the mountains."

Percy stepped forward and held her hands. "You're not going anywhere, miss."

Tiara gasped and looked at his strong hand around her tiny wrist. "What do you want?"

"You asked me your question, I answered. Now I'll ask you my question and if you don't answer, I get to torture you." He smiled and pulled on a cute face, trying to imitate her as much as possible. "You promised."

Tiara's angry heart deflated at his horrible impression of her. "That's not how you do it," she chuckled. "Okay, fine, ask me the question. No, no, wait! Before you do tell me how you will torture me."

Percy looked at her wrist and frowned, thinking why it wasn't happening. But he soon let go of her wrist and tried to hide his confusion with a laugh. "You're going to answer the question anyway right?"

Tiara frowned. There aren't many secrets to her life so of course, she will be able to answer any question. Or so she thought. "Alright, then just ask."

Percy closed his eyes and thought. 'It didn't work when I looked at her. It didn't work when I touched her. Please…'' His eyes opened and it was filled with such intent that Tiara also froze a bit. What was this question, really?

"Can you kiss me?" Percy finally asked.

'Please let it work with this.'

… … …

The van slowly exited daylight and entered a dimly lit tunnel. Mitchell kept his hands on the steering tightly and wove through the parking lot in silence. Hazel was in the back seat now and checking with Miwen and V if they had gotten the plan in their heads.

Miwen smiled, her bright pink lipstick beautifully complementing her snow white skin. She was dressed in a queen's attire, a red flowing gown with an elegant necklace (fake, of course, but you don't need to know that).

Hazel touched up her make up a bit. The nurse wasn't so bad herself, she was dressed up as the replacement assistant for the Chief Creative Director of the company and V had the position of bodyguard at the main entrance.

The van came to a stop as Mitchell parked it in a secluded area closest to the exit. He turned around and swung his arm around his seat to look at the three people in the back. "You three ready?"

V looked up, pulling his right black shirt at his neck. "Didn't you get a bigger size?" He snarled.

Hazel touched his shoulder lightly and winked, "But your broad shoulders look amazing in this shirt."

Mitchell laughed and turned front again, "What Hazel said."

Mitchell headed out first with a mask on and crashed the nearest CCTV camera with a long steel rod. He then signalled the other three and they got out of the van before running off in different directions.

They were at Viva Hotel Elite, one of the biggest hotels in the chain owned by Goren Cheng, also the son of Mr Cheng, leader of the secret Lightning Dragon Sect. Mr Cheng rarely popped up under their radar ever since Goren Cheng took the throne to the hotel group. But today was special.

Today was Mr Cheng's 50th birthday- a golden jubilee occasion. And they had finally got information that Mr Cheng would be out for everyone to see for five whole hours. This was their chance.

The chance at negotiating with the leader of the Sect.

"What the hell?!" Mitchell had yelled at Hazel when she mentioned negotiations. "You think they'll relent? We need to kill him. Kill that son of a-"

"Mitchell," Hazel interrupted before more profanity fell on her ears, "We aren't like them. At least we need to give them a chance. That's why we have Miwen to hack their entire system, if we're going to negotiate, we will blackmail them too. Murder is our last option."

"But why? Everything will be over if we just finish him off."

Hazel smiled sadly. "Mitchell. Taking one's life never brings peace, just as pulling out the weeds don't make the flowers grow better. It will just free up space for stronger and taller weeds to grow. How long will we keep pulling out the weeds? Or in other words… How many people will you kill?"

Mitchell deflated, his breath struggling to stay constant. "I'm still taking a gun, knife and ammo with me."

Hazel frowned lightly, but it didn't stop her from smiling from his stubbornness. His tone had changed a bit so she knew that she had gotten through to him. "Then they won't let you inside the party hall. You'll have to work your way in from outside." He was hard to control, Hazel learned. And that was going to be a tough trait of his in the future.

Mitchell shook his head in annoyance. "Yeah fine, I'll manage." And he walked away, not having the strength of heart to stay in Hazel's presence anymore. He knew that she was right, but… but they tried to kill his sister. She lost an important part of her life because of them… how can a brother simply do something as useless as negotiate? He simply didn't understand.

Miwen went to the restroom and V made his way to replace the current bodyguard. He whispered into his ear. "The boss is calling for you," he said seriously. In truth, he didn't even know who the boss was.

The other man raised his eyebrows in worry. "What, really? Why?"

V shrugged, "He sounded angry, better make your way there fast before you lose your job, mate."

Dread filled the other bodyguard's face and nodded. He patted on V's shoulder. "Thanks for telling me, mate. Pray for me. And check the invitations for a golden stamp, there might be impostors trying to get in."

V flashed a smile, "Sure! Go to the washroom too, before seeing him." The other man thanked him for the suggestion and rushed away while V smoothly took his place.

"Yes, Good Morning ma'am, may I see your invitation?" V said to the next lady in line.

Miwen peeked out of the outer restroom and moved forward when she saw V standing there. She took out a blank piece of paper with no golden stamp whatsoever and V nodded, not breaking out of his act and let her in without any complications.

And like that, the hacker was in the house.