The Land Of The Dragon.

Alex and Wei walked out of a private airport owned by the Zhao family. Two intimidating men escorted them towards a car, and Alex said,

"Can I get my stuff back?"

Wei whispered,

"Just keep walking."

Alex sighed.

'Pleasure doing business with you.'

The system said.

'Stop talking.'

Alex had used up half of his points to buy a 2mx2m cube inside the system space to store his stuff. He only left some of the suits that Hank made him inside his travel bag.

They got into a car. Judging by the lack of vegetation and desert-like conditions, Alex deducted that they were probably in the western part of China.

Wei looked at one of the guards and asked,

"Are we going to meet the head?"

The guards didn't answer. Alex looked at Wei and said,

"Is there a problem?"

"I don't know."

It had been almost a decade since he had left the Zhao family. He was not looking forward to a reunion with his family.

After about an hour of driving, they arrived in front of a massive fence. The car stopped, and they stepped out of it.

"Alex, remember to think before you speak. This isn't the Grey family."

Wei didn't want Alex to suffer because of a brash statement.

"Got it."

The doors opened, and they stepped inside.

Two men dressed in white Changshan greeted them and said,

"Welcome to the Zhao family."

Alex looked around. This place was very similar in style to a monastery.

Wei looked at them and said,

"What is the head's order?"

"Master is expecting you. Follow us."

They were in complete sync, even if they were two different people.

They walked towards the largest building inside the area. All around, there were people from all walks of life going along with their day. Some were training, some were working, and some were keeping guard. But there was a certain sense of harmony in this place, which was completely alien to him.

'For the first time in this life, I am genuinely scared.'

While the Grey family felt very disjointed, with freedom being the main component of their life, people from the Zhao family were like a well-oiled machine. The Curran family, the Grey family, and the Kramer family. All of these families had given their assassins a choice. But when he looked at the people here, he couldn't help but think that captivity was the reason for their harmony.

And as one could tell you, captivity breeds strong bonds. They had a single cause to work for, and that was maintaining this harmony. These people were happy with their lives because there was no other aspect of their lives outside of this place.

'The Zhao family is stronger than the Curran family.'

He came to that conclusion. The Curran family is selfish. They have been trying to build the foundations of the future dependant on the wits of one man. Ronald had made the same mistake that the previous generations had made, focusing on taking up everything by himself. This wasn't a bad choice but extremely difficult to carry forward. With each passing generation, expectations are already set on one person. If he isn't good enough, there is further pressure on the next in line. And their rigidity in selecting heirs became more apparent.

Anything other than a prodigy would be a disappointment. They had doomed themselves from the start.

"We have arrived."

The two men stepped aside and made way for the visitors. Alex and Wei entered the temple together.

"Welcome, brother."

An enormous hall, and around 100 people training. There was one person that wasn't training. A 6'8 behemoth of a man. His Changshan was black, and it was the only one that had a symbol on it. A Golden dragon.

"Xiao Lei."

This was his apprentice, The current head of the organization.

"Is your name Alex?"

Lei looked at Alex and asked.

"Yes."

He said that and awkwardly smiled. This place wasn't anything like it was described in the book.

"Tingzhi!"

The fighters training inside the temple stopped.

"Jiegu."

The fighters dispersed. Some of them exchanged a few glances with Alex while they left, but nothing else.

He approached Alex and said,

"Alex, answer this as a yes or no question. Do you intend to join the Zhao family?"

Lei's question was direct. He wasn't going to beat the bush around with Alex. If he wanted to join, then they would be happy to pour in resources for him.

"No."

A resounding no. This place was good, but only for the people on the inside. Becoming a part of this would be chaining himself to this family, no matter what they did.

Wei was a bystander in all of this. As soon as Alex said no, he felt the atmosphere around Lei change.

"Very well."

He looked at one of the guards and said,

"Escort him to a cell. His training begins tomorrow."

He didn't even look at Alex again. Wei looked at him and asked,

"Why the cell?"

"His punishment for killing a client. The collective gave me the authority to do whatever I want for a month. He is forbidden to take any missions, and I will be personally training him."

The guards approached Alex. He was ready to use his gun if he had to.

"Brother, I suggest you tell him to be polite. Otherwise, the Zhao family is not above killing a brat like him."

Wei was shocked, but Alex had been expecting this. Loosened up and said,

"I will be waiting."

He followed the guards to the cell. They locked him inside and said,

"We will send some food for you shortly. If you need anything, tap on the wall twice."

They left. There was only a single guard outside the cell.

Alex sat down on the ground and rested his head on the wall. He closed his eyes.

"He needs to make sure that I can't make any ruckus inside the monastery."

"I know."

The system responded.

"We will have enough time to train in here. I prefer being here than outside."

There were no cameras, no additional security measures, nothing.

"Is the mirage ready?"

A mirage of Lucius formed in front of him.

"Let's do this."