Next step

After more than ten minutes of waiting, Ryu's anxiety reached its peak, and he couldn't take it anymore, so his body started to react, his foot began to tremble, his fingers didn't stop still, and with his mouth, he modified his lower lip. But the system did not express empathy to his mood as the screen continued stuck, trying to process the upgrade function.

Eventually, Ryu lost patience, closed the screen, and went back to sleep. In the meantime, Nura continued his cultivation, and when he finished, he was exhausted and went to sleep too. His method of cultivating through many beast cores could grant him plenty of qi in a short period of time, but it has the drawback of strain on his body, leaving him exhausted each time he cultivated.

Early next day, when Ryu woke, the first thing he did was to open the system, but it still was not finished yet, making him thoroughly disappointed. So, he went with Nura for breakfast and decided to pay the mysterious visit to Jin Tai still in the morning.

Somehow the streets were different from before, unlike the usual people walking with sullen faces using all the road to walk, now the people walked on rigid lines using only a small portion of the street, but still there was no happiness on their faces. Another difference was the large presence of high-value members on the streets, whereas, before they encountered a group of three gang members only occasionally, now there was a group on every major street.

As Ryu and Nura followed the people on the established line, they noticed the highvale member looking at everyone passing. Though the whole thing was quite intimidating, it was a stupid demonstration of power that would achieve nothing with no practical result since they did not know who they should be seeking.

Under this oppressive environment, Ryu and Nura crossed the whole town to reach the industrial district where they should meet Jin Tai. Since the only clue to getting to the man was the vague description of the industrial district, it would take forever to look for him at random, so they decided to ask for directions.

However, the industrial district, like its name suggested, was not like the rest of the town. The buildings were large and focused on factories or storage, and there weren't people walking on the streets to which Ryu could be making questions, and what was even more strange was that there wasn't any residential building in the neighborhood.

After walking without direction for some time, Ryu and Nura decided to enter a factory and ask for Jin Tai. Although that was not a good way to search for a single person in a large town this big, they had no other option but to try luck. Thus, they chose a building that had an open entry leading to the street and entered.

There was no reception at the entrance, but a man came from the back when he saw the two guys standing at the front door, then he approached asking, "Do you need something?".

"I am sorry to disturb your work, but we are searching for a man. Jin Tai, we were told he could be found nearby. Can you help us?" Ryu said.

"I can't think of anyone." the man said while making a pensive expression, but then he suddenly asked, "Aren't you talking about that drunk man, aren't you?".

"Yes, I suppose so." confirmed Ryu.

"And you came to search for him at here?" the man said, laughing so loud that more people came from the back to see what was happening. When more people gathered, the man told them that Ryu and Nura were searching for Jin Tai there, and the people all started to laugh as if it was a good joke.

Feeling dejected with their own stupidity, Ryu and Nura turned back to leave the building. But before they left, the same man that was talking with them came running to them and said, "I am sorry for that, but it was funny as hell. If you are looking for Jin Tai, you will always find him at some bar."

"We understand this now. Thanks for the information, anyway." Nura said and went out with Ryu. As they walked without direction, Nura said to Ryu, "Why does Jin send us here? Is make and walk here and embarrass ourselves part of his amusement?".

"At this point, I don't know what to think. But I want to walk around some more and see if we find anything." Ryu expressed his will, to which Nura agreed.

After walking between the industrial district for half an hour, Ryu and Nura were utterly disappointed, so they decided to return to the inn. But when they were close to the end of the city, it happened, they turned onto a street and stumbled on a pack of people wearing the outfit that marked their target, the gray robes with a red armband, indicating the highvale gang.

Stuck by fear, Ryu and Nura paused for a moment, afraid to walk forward and enter the territory of their enemies. Even if these people didn't know about the enemy's relationship, remaining calm to enter your enemy's territory requires a great deal of cold-bloodedness and acting.

So the guys kept their distance to observe what was going on in the building. Whatever it was, it was obvious that something big and important was happening in that building. As they monitored the building, several wagons loaded with stones arrived at the site.

"Are they in control of the mines?" Ryu asked.

"I sincerely pray that is not the case." Nura said.

"Because this will make our task harder?" asked Ryu.

"No. Because you will boast for days, saying that you said it earlier and whatever." Nura said. And Ryu answered by punching Nura's arm and saying, "But I did say it, didn't I?".

As time passed, Ryu and Nura became bolder and went ahead, passing in front of what was seemingly an operational base of the highvale. If the gang had several places scattered all over the city to control its inhabitant, it is here that its financial support came from.

"Do you think that Jin Tai sent us here to see this?" asked Ryu.

"It is possible." said Nura while walking with Ryu and scanning from outside the interior of the building, "But as everything involving him, this can just be another coincidence.".

When they encircled the whole building, members of highvale started to notice their presence, so Ryu and Nura walked away, getting distance from the place. But not before getting a glimpse over what was happening inside the building, which was apparently a place to gather the stones to dispatch them later.

"Should we go to the mines and see what is happening there?" asked Ryu, still proud that he somehow predicted that something strange was happening in the mines.

"I actually got a better idea." said Nura with a confident expression, "I think it is time for us to take our operation a step forward and start to aim for the head of this operation."