Wulin : The beginning of the trouble

[ The day of paradise beach Invasion ] 

It is a dark night. Cao Pei slinked through the shadows, hiding behind a hut here , and crawling through a ditch there. He made it to the meeting place. He was an average man, at five foot eight, and an moderate build, which is neither fat nor thin, and oriental looking, average looking. With spectacles, and a plaid shirt, he could be lost in the crowd all too easily. 

" Who wants to fly free ? .. " A question came from the shadows.

" A broken bird, underappreciated and over used. " he answered, to the best of his ability. 

A masked man walked out, dressed like a halloween ghost, only in black. Except for his eyes, everything's covered. 

" I want to emigrate to the western bases. I can pay. " Cao Pei assured the man. 

" Really ? It's expensive. " The man answered. 

" How expensive ? more expensive than a skill orb ? " Cao Pei asked the man. 

" A skill orb ? " the man's eyes flashed with greed. 

" Yes. a combat skill. " Cao pei told the smuggler. 

" Dude ! If you are a fraud, you better be ready to die. It won't be pretty. " the man scolded Cao Pei. 

" I am not kidding, brother. You can appraise the skill orb. " Cao Pei assured him. 

" Alright. Bring the orb, and be ready to sail tomorrow morning. " 

" Shouldn't we have a code ? " Cao Pei asked. 

" I will ask ' Dude, don't you want to be a dragon ? ' " 

" I will answer ' Dragons are imaginary. I'd rather be an eagle in reality soaring the sky freely. " Cao Pei answered. 

" You are one M****rf**king SOB ! " The smuggler answered, shaking his head at the guy. 

" Brother ! Stop being so conservative. There are no countries in the world any more. " 

" Aye Aye ! whatever you say. " 

The next day, At the port, in the middle of the day, the smuggler waited for Cao Pei. As they met, they confirmed each other's identity with code. The smuggler was a caucasian man, with a tan. 

However, looking at the smuggler, Cao Pei was sure, this man was in disguise. The skin looks rubbery, then the eyes are small and have black lashes, while his hair is blonde. The eyebrows are blonde once again. He felt a strange trust in the smuggler. Such a cautious man would be able to smuggle me across, even if Wulin starts looking for me. He was sure. 

Yesterday's night, he inquired around the area about Cao Pei. It was found that he was an Inscriber, who usually worked with Wildnest Orphans. The wild nest orphans have a certain reputation in the town. 

' Satan spawn ' that's what the town folks called them. 

When young, they are wild, and it's bloody difficult to beat one away from their fields. Moreover, strange things happen around these children, like a person dying of drowning while standing up, or an entire field of wheat fields getting flooded on a clearly sunny day. 

This is the guy who put contracts on such Satan Spawn. 

The smuggler made sure the appraiser was with him when he received the skill orb. 

The appraiser looked at him and nodded. The skill orb is genuine. It does throw a fireball. 

" Look, this skill orb only gets you to the border of the snow country. From there, how you get out is your problem. If you agree, get on to the boat. Otherwise, I will return this to you now. We go our separate ways. " The smuggler said, making sure Cao Pei understood the deal. 

" Alright. " Cao Pei agreed. 

They started their journey on the water, traveling upstream. 

❖✜❖

In a rundown office in the dilapidated part of the base, a telephone rang. 

" Report. " The guy on the phone said. 

" Base owner's son Dinkin Wale's clearing of Paradise Beach dungeon was cut short abruptly due to random dungeon pirates. They left the armored turtle with twenty percent of life, and escaped the dungeon. Currently, a base wide search is announced for the perpetrators. The armored turtle was killed by the dungeon pirates, we believe with an explosion of a bomb, or extremely strong fire energy. The Base owners think the porter who brought the dungeon pirates is a high school student. He has blue eyes and blue hair. Mixed middle eastern look. The end. " The officer ended. 

" Received. " The operator answered. 

Wang Guo put the phone down and frowned. Almost all of his tingly senses are telling him this is not a small incident. 

He is the handler for three annoyances, namely the 89, 90 and 91 bases. The 89'th base was located in a country that was impassable in modern times due to inhospitable terrain. It's even more impossible to do it in these troubled times. However, it is also almost decimated to nothing after the break of apocalypse. However, due to this reduction of manpower, they were able to take over half the underground infrastructure in the country, putting their information department in there, along with their secret vault.

His position is a delicate one. To say it's unimportant, it's the closest to the headquarters. To say it's important, it has too little power. He was able to stay in power this long, because he knew when to cover up a failure, and avoid a storm by lying low. All of his spidey senses are telling him this is the beginning of a storm. 

The phone rang once again. 

" Officer Morde Zelle, reporting from the SK base. Base owner Dick Wale ordered an internal review. He believes there are moles in the city working for the dungeon pirates, leaking information to them. All our moles are informed to lie low. I request for the preponement of the cargo transfer. We have a S-ranked fire seed with us. The K base is ripe for a power struggle. Current paradise beach incident was forced by his son Dinkin wale as part of sourcing materials for defense armor for his own troops. The hounds and the wales will clash in the near future. 

We have confirmed information that the base has received an awakening stone. This awakening stone is of the slave type. It comes in pairs, one awakening stone for the masses, which merely measures the mana size. Then places a leash on the mana core, always transmitting ten percent to its paired stone, which will collect mana. Then it inscribes the runes for each tier, however, this depends on the awakener's ability to keep the process going. As such, most hunters will only end up with the leash, and no spells in their arsenal. 

The mana on the awakening stone meant for nobles collects mana, and has a library of the strongest combat spells. However, it only holds one combat spell per element. To get it inscribed the hunter must be either A to S ranked elemental. The 91st base intends to lie to the UBO confederation that this is the only awakening stone they ever used. I believe it will be easy to obtain evidence for this act. I request permission to use the memory crystal. " 

" Approved. Remember this officer Zelle, If this goes south, you will bear all the responsibility. However, if you succeed, I will recommend you to the first base to become an official citizen. The organization will also grant you the right to choose your wife, and two others from the stock, as long you want. " 

" Thank you, Sir. I will do my best. Can I ask for a favor from you ? " Zelle asked. 

Wang Guo frowned. Asking for a favor before the work is done ? not a good sign. 

" Go ahead. " he said. 

" Can I receive the mission requests that were opened in the SK base for the past twenty five years ? " he asked. 

' That's confidential information. More importantly, it's equal to exposing the client list. This guy has a wolf's heart. ' Wang Guo concluded. For now, he will give access. However, as soon as the guy landed ashore, he would have to kill him to avoid any future troubles. 

Ambitious go-getters are nice, but visionary ambitious go-getters must die for a black organization to survive well. 

" Alright. You can submit a request, I will approve it. Officer Zelle, remember this is an exception, not the norm. You must be aware of how important that information is to the organization. If I see a single information leak, no matter how it happens, it will be your head that flies. " Wang guo warned. 

" I understand sir. I will keep the matter most confidential. I promise I will not fail your trust. " 

Zelle knew that Wang Guo was not kidding. The mission requests include the information about shipments as well. As such, if a single information is leaked, they would have a thousand hunters on their trail. 

Wang Guo put the phone down. His frown deepened. 

" Siri, is there a tier 1 seed scheduled to go to paradise beach ? " 

" Yes. Caspian Orca, age: eighteen. Has one brother by the name Deeepsi. Caspian Orca is declared dead as of three pm today. " the AI assistant informed him. 

' Damn ! ' 

" Run me a search on the client who hired him, and the fatalities among the hires by this client. " Wang Guo ordered, his expression becoming ominous.