Condolence

Douluo Continent

Eastsea City

The hurricane struck Eastsea City this time with a suddenness, throwing the entire city into chaos. Stores were unable to do business, schools were unable to teach, and communications had been paralyzed. Every single department of the city's administration was completely swamped with work.

The hurricane lasted a whole week. At its peak, it was even able to uproot large trees and bring about great destruction to the buildings.

Fortunately, it had now passed.

After the hurricane, Eastsea City appeared fresher than before. A thin mist created a veil in the air while sunshine sprinkled the earth. Occasionally, the two would combine to create a rainbow off in the clear horizon.

And the classes continued... much to the thoughts of Fan Lin who was looking to go outside, he was currently attending Wu Zhangkong's class about history.

He looked at the empty seat for Tang Wulin, the protagonist that still haven't completed his upgrade, while wondering.

'I got the money, I got the identity and I got the quota as well, only my cultivation seems to be lacking, by a whole level at that.'

'My physique is good... just good. If daily exercises were enough to get the best physique then three-fourths of the world would have the so called best physique.'

"Fan Lin, you answer." Wu Zhangkong said to Fan Lin.

"Don't wanna."

'But I need to somehow increase my cultivation. Hmmm.'

Fan Lin was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the whole class looking at him.

Wu Zhangkong looked at Fan Lin who was in lost thoughts and moved on to another student.

Not because he found Fan Lin's attitude unpleasing but it was regular happening and only during his period at that.

During the period of other teachers, Fan Lin was praised as 'a good and silent kid who always pays attention to the class'

The same Fan Lin didn't even take notes during his class and this could be easily seen as a particular enmity that he had against him. Wu Zhangkong being cool, had gotten used to all this already.

Except he didn't know that Fan Lin knew about the history that Wu Zhangkong is teaching and not just that, Fan Lin had actually read through his history book long ago and now has no particular desire to go through a revision. It was a meh history to begin with.

'His cultivation speed is faster than others as well. A mutation in the Martial soul.'

Wu Zhangkong thought while teaching and moved on with his class as usual.

The class ended and Fan Lin left the classroom. Wu Zhangkong's class was the last class. After that the students were free to do whatever they wanted but most of them either went to the dinning hall to eat and then to the training area to train or just went to their dorms to meditate.

Fan Lin left the Eastsea Academy and went towards the Seafood restaurant to meet his helper.

"You finally came, let's go."

Someone came beside him and pointed at a small roadside eatery that was full.

"Really?" [Fan Lin]

"Really." [Leader]

Even though the eatery was full of people, the two seats were empty making him turn his eyes but the man gestured to stay seated.

"I got demoted from my position and sent to the Seagod temple. Looks like I will be sailing boats there."

"You came to me on your own accords." [Fan Lin]

"I know, but you would have been caught, like many times if not for me, like the medicine ledger in the beginning."

"I wouldn't. I followed your plan. I told you the exact place and time where I brought the medicine before you went to find it." [Fan Lin]

"Yeah but other things as well, you know the informer and all the people that you killed."

"You were there as well and you were the one who introduced the informer to me, she is really good except her eyes look funny." [Fan Lin]

"Ignore that but a lot of time has passed since we have been working together."

"It hasn't." [Fan Lin]

Fan Lin looked at the eatery chef while recalling the day he met this person.

"We had a lot of deals but good to know that you succeeded. I was right to meet you at that time."

The leader said while eating the noodles on his bowl.

"No one would have thought that I, head of the team that was appointed to find you, was your accomplice from the beginning."

"By the way, you really took care of the information that the guards had on you before you left the Glorybound City. You even took care of the alchemist as well."

"Thanks for that, I got the money to afford the recent part of the plans."

"You are not used to deaths. Why act like you are?" [Fan Lin.]

"...did the disappearence of that girl had anything to do with you?"

The Leader looked at Fan Lin and asked. A week has passed and he hasn't been able to sleep properly. Even though he didn't kill, even though they were all bad guys and legally would receive a death sentence or life imprisonment, even though his seniors would also do the same, he was still shaken by the sheer numbers that had died and by the being that had nonchalantly done so.

All this made him recall the event that lead to him meeting him and he couldn't help but wonder again. What happened to her?

"No. I don't know where she went."

Fan Lin answered without looking.

[Flashback]

4 months ago

Glorybound town

Fan Lin was slowly walking through the the downtrodden and empty areas of the Glorybound town.

It was 2 pm in the night and he was walking around due to his habits and because of how safe it was to do so.

He had been killing people left and right for years as a way of income and emotional counterbalance and he was nearing what he wanted to achieve.

He had nearly taken care of 95 percentage of the dark side of the Glorybound City and by the time he left in a month, he wanted to eliminate every single evildoer from this place.

He wanted to spread enough fear that no one would even think of doing bad things in this town.

And he had succeeded in a large margin, the only ones left were the officials and security departments.

Fan Lin's train of thought was broken by the sight of someone that he knew.

It was Wulin. Fan Lin looked at him and shook his head.

Just a few months ago, Wulin proclaimed himself as his friend. Fan Lin even regularly visited their house to eat and help the Tang family.

But it all changed due to a mistake. Not his.

'According to the plot, if I am right then this must be the point where he will reach rank 10 and goes to get his first Spirit Soul and get duped with a defective 10 year old Spirit Soul, the worst one at that and then in the next few days, his adopted sister will leave him and he will go to the Eastsea City's Intermediate Spirit Master's Academy to get his higher schooling.'

'His parents also leave him at something around 3 to 4 months later on. All this so he could unlock his protagonist helper and all, I think. His life is just going to go wrong from this point on huh.'

*Sigh*

Fan Lin looked at the silver haired girl who came to her brother, Wulin and sat down beside him. Seven rainbow colour dots coming out of her body and circling around her.

'That Rainbow coloured light was the signal of her memories slowly resurfacing, and weirdly not a single soul noticed till now.'

He wondered while reminiscing of the day it all changed. He had finally been freed.

Fan Lin slowly left the area and sneaked into the orphanage without the knowledge of anyone.

He had been a good kid after his last blunder, at least that's what everyone thought.

Two days later

"Sir, he is gone. There's nothing you can do."

"I know, I know. Just go and find something and close it as unfinished."

Said the person responsible for the investigation of the murder case.

Shi Hun looked at the officer in charge and returned to his desk.

He was a undercover agent pising as a newcomer from the Wargod temple who came here to do his job because no one had been able to successfully deliver any worthy findings. He was not that pleased with the way things were going on.

Not a single person took their work seriously and that was why the child killer was never caught.

"If the focus on the killer being a child is so much, then why don't they just go and ask the kids, they will know if there is someone who doesn't act his age more than anyone else. Although I heavily doubt the authenticity of this child killer lead as it just popped up without any investigation or evidence. Maybe it's a fake lead by the investigation team to close the case since nothing concrete has been found in the past three years. It's not that uncommon for teams to do that."

"It won't be too farfetched to say that the people who had been stuck to this downtrodden town for the past three years, away from their families and better facilities of living, along with the mental burden of not solving anything at all, they would have really wanted to leave this place since they would not get anything new from here. With the situation as it is, I would not doubt that they are going to be demoted to appease the masses."

"Adding the fact that the child killer is killing just the bad ones out, the people being uncooperative with the investigation, and the victims being dead to their last, it was a wonder where all the proof went."

"The officials that have been working here must have realised this point as well, that is why there is no enthusiasm in them. The whole town doesn't care about the victims that died and had thus been unhelpful, that's how he hasn't been caught till now."

Shi Hun thought he had reached a conclusion and decided to converse with the children as they are easier to get information from. Some parents were co-operative, others weren't so but things are really easier for a Spirit Sage if he flashed his power and offered some words of benefits by the Wargod Temple.

And he got the lead that he was searching for.

"Hi, Little Child, can you recount the details of what you saw two days ago, as you said."

"I saw him, he was wandering at 2pm, me and my brother were in the community garden there, he looked at my brother and left. He is a weird guy, doesn't eat meat, once hit me really hard when I tried to feed him some."

"Then my brother got angry for my sake and went to fight him but he broke my brother's legs and one hand. He is a menace and evil. He is the killer, I am saying so."

The silver haired girl exclaimed in her cute voice filled with pain and betrayal, Shi Hun listened to the story and ask for more details and he felt that that's not how a common child reacts. That's too violent.

'At least now I have a suspect to go from.'

"Are you done officer? We need to go. Na Er, come here."

The mother of the daughter said.

"Okay~"

The girl replied and went towards her mother.

"Nothing Mrs Tang. Goodbye.'

Shi Hun left the area and went to his suspect.

Behind the orphanage.

Fan Lin was silently meditating when a man came to ask him some questions about the incidents that was happening.

Fan Lin took a look and he knew the man wasn't there for the questioning. He was seeking something else, he was seeking assistance.

He didn't want to capture the person behind the killings, he had other thoughts.

[Hm?]

Fan Lin had seen this type of person many times.

[Should I kill him]

"Do you know that the recent killings that are happening around us?

"I do." [Fan Lin]

"I just wanted to ask if you have seen something suspicious."

"What do you need from me?"

"Huh? Nothing kid, I just wanted to ask some questions. Nothing more."

"I am saying, what do you need the so called child killer for? You are not here to catch me."

"Huh? You mean-? You joking? Trying to make fun of me kid? Nice try. Don't say this to others or you would get in big trouble. Okay Bye. I don't think I would need any further questions."

Fan Lin looked at the man who was leaving the orphanage while shaking his head.

[Hmph! Human]

"Ahh humans. Or is it my fault that I am not that good at convincing others? Whatever."

Fan Lin began cultivating again.

Shi Hun on the other hand went out of the orphanage and thanked the matron for giving permission to talk to Fan Lin and left the area.

"Ahh, he is childish and stupid like who would accept being the child killer to a person they just met, what if I am one of the fanatics that had a relation to the people that the killer killed. The child killer was said to be extremely smart as he set traps for both the security departments and his victims. The girl did say that he hit her so maybe that's why she gave his name. And this wasn't the first time that this child has used violence on others and gotten suspended as well. He is a roadside orphan, that kind if behaviour is normal for them."

"The others don't have a single record of any kid that didn't behave like a child but what does not childlike behaviour even mean, like where do you even set the boundary. Forget it."

Three days later.

Shi Hun was packing his stuff as he got nothing in the past few days except the remaining corruption and smiling people who were happy due to the deaths of the people that the child killer killed.

"What a weird time we are living in that a certain anomaly of a killer is making the public happy. Although it's wrong."

"Did anyone of you saw a silver haired little girl? She is missing since the morning. Her name is Na Er."

As he was packing his bag, he heard about the little girl that he had met as two guards were searching for her.

'She is missing but I just talked to her a few days ago and the last of the kidnapping gangs had ceased to exist, is it a work of a new gang or some personal revenge."

"What happened?"

And Shi Hun postponed his journey for a few hours.

A few hours later.

Shi Hun sat down near the Red Mountain Academy in complete awe.

A child was missing and not a single clue, be it CCTV footages or any witness, not a single thing was to be found, not even with his superior senses.

"What the heck is wrong with this town? Random but perfectly targeted killings had been happening for the past three years, kids are getting kidnapped and not a single soul knows about it."

Shi Hun thought while looking at the poster of the Glorybound orphanage and Red Mountain Academy.

"That kid, what if...?"

Shi Hun sped find Fan Lin to know if he was involved in it somehow.

He reached the orphanage and checked for the presence of Fan Lin with his senses.

Fan Lin wasn't in the orphanage.

"Why is the kid not here?"

It was 10 pm in the night and the orphanage curfew time was of 8 pm in the night.

"Did he got kidnapped as well?"

[At least check with the matron]

Shi Hun was now madly searching for Fan Lin and he did found him. He was in the community park, sitting just a few distance away from where Tang Wulin sat.

He saw Shi Hun coming to him and the thought in his mind was, "Should I try the command poison? I created it yesterday."

"Should you not be in the orphanage kid? It's pretty dangerous in this city. I heard that a little girl just got kidnapped."

Shi Hun said to Fan Lin slowly while coming towards him. He wanted to ascertain if Fan Lin has any changes in his expression and it did.

"If you are talking about Na Er then she is safe and I am trying to create a town where even kids don't need to worry about going outside at night. Just need a few more and it will be safe."

Shi Hun stopped in his place and looked at Fan Lin. The words that he heard were too much for him to process.

'This kid knows about the little girl, knows that I am here to ask for the little girl, but what is the latter statement? Why is he saying that he is trying to make a safer town? A few more to go? This kid is weird for I am sure that normal adults don't talk like this. At least I haven't.'

"How do you know that she is safe? How do you even know that I meant her where I said little girl and why are you not at your orphanage?"

Shi Hun began asking his questions. The kid felt a little disturbed to him.

"She is the only one that got taken today."

"Haah. Forget it and just know that she is safe. So why were you trying to find the child killer? What do you need from him?"

Shi Hun looked at Fan Lin.

"Nothing, let me drop you home and don't leave your orphanage this late at night."

'Kids are becoming a handful this days. Where do I ask next as what this kid said could not be trusted as a statement to begin with?'

Shi Hun waited for Fan Lin to get up and go with him but Fan Lin just sighed and began to meditate, completely ignoring him.

"This kid, didn't I tell you that it's dangerous in here. Why do you act like this? You wanna be in attention of everything, then listen, attention is a bad thing, it ruins you from inside out."

Shi Hun said to Fan Lin and waited.

"I have nothing to fear. Death is nothing new to me."

Fan Lin got up and began to walk.

Shi Hun followed Fan Lin near his orphanage and began speaking.

"You always ask why I need the child killer right? I wanted to know how's he? Good or bad? So that I can help him to get rid of some bad guys, in return for my help. The world isn't that good you know. Bad people are everywhere and sometimes even we can't do anything to them, since they are in us as well. I just needed someone outside the law who could help me."

"You are saying this to a kid you just met. Ask for the Inner court students of Shrek or Tang Sect for that kinda stuff. They often do that and die for, like the past 20000 years. And don't force your mindset on others, you utter garbage in intellect."