Chapter 7: The Plan

"Nice work."

Mo Ying had appeared on the first floor at some point. She struck the back of the head of the man Ansel had just sent flying, ensuring he stayed down for good. Then, she swiftly moved to the building entrance and took down the last remaining opponent.

"How did you get down here?" Kagumo asked in surprise. She looked up, barely making out the shattered glass on the 40th floor. Did she just jump down?

"My ability lets me travel through shadows. I was worried about you, so I came down," Mo Ying said.

"You don't trust us?" Ansel asked.

"It's not that. I just figured neither of your abilities are combat-oriented," Mo Ying shook her head.

"What made you think that?" Ansel asked, surprised.

"Kagumo is a healer. I already knew that. And if you had a combat-type ability, you wouldn't have resorted to using a staff to hit people in that situation," Mo Ying replied.

"Oh, I see… Wait a second. You came down just when I hit him with my staff—so you originally planned to save Kagumo!" Ansel concluded.

Mo Ying blinked. Oops. Busted.

After all, she had only known Kagumo was a healer.

"Let's hand these guys over to the police and head back to continue our discussion," Mo Ying said, very obviously changing the subject as she walked toward the building.

"No, that won't be necessary," Ansel shook his head.

"Why not?" Mo Ying stopped in her tracks.

"Ah, we forgot to tell you earlier. Chairman Kraf only gave us thirty minutes to convince him. We've already run out of time," Ansel glanced at his watch. It was 7:33 PM.

"This attack really came at a bad time. We'll have to ask the police later who sent them," Kagumo said, glancing once more at the shattered glass on the 40th floor before walking out.

"Let's go back."

The car drove down the nighttime streets in silence.

"So now our only option is to rescue the hostages within the next two days?" Mo Ying broke the quiet.

"If we want to meet the client's request, then yes. But we should discuss it with the leader and the others when we get back," Ansel replied.

When they arrived at their base, Yvette called.

"How did it go?" Yvette asked.

"We failed. The conversation got interrupted," Kagumo said.

"Interrupted? Sounds like something interesting happened. Got it. Davis and I made some discoveries too. We're on our way back now."

"Alright, we'll talk when you're back," Davis said.

"I wonder what they found out." Ansel set his phone down on the table.

"What were they doing?" Mo Ying asked.

"No idea," Kagumo shook her head.

Well, they'd just have to wait.

"In the meantime, carry me in ranked," Kagumo pulled out her phone.

"You still remember that I used to play games? And it's been three years—you're still playing the same one?" Mo Ying was shocked.

"This is the only game I've played for over three years," Kagumo opened the game interface.

Mo Ying also opened her phone. She had the game too, but it had been in deep hibernation for a long time. "I haven't played in ages. My skills are probably rusty."

"Still better than her, for sure. She's really bad at this. She once finished a match with zero kills—She was either getting killed or about to be killed. In a fifteen-minute game, she played for less than five minutes total. The rest of the time, she was waiting to respawn," Ansel said with a cheeky grin.

Kagumo shot him a death glare. "Why would you say that out loud?! I curse you lose the 50/50 for both the next character and weapon banners!"

Ansel's face went pale. That was a truly wicked curse!

Despite her claims of being rusty, Mo Ying effortlessly carried the matches, wiping out the enemy team and securing two solid victories.

Just then, Yvette and Davis returned.

"Looks like you're getting along well," Yvette said, looking pleased—like a mother watching over her kids.

Davis wore the same fatherly, affectionate expression.

Mo Ying, Kagumo, and Ansel all shuddered under their gaze. They did not want another set of parents!

"Uh, let's discuss today's findings. I'll go get some water," Ansel shot to his feet.

"I'll go cut some fruit," Kagumo quickly followed.

Mo Ying was left behind.

…Wait a second. Wasn't the fridge only stocked with a single head of lettuce? Where is she getting fruit from?

Fortunately, Yvette and Davis had already returned to their normal expressions and sat down on the couch.

Ansel came back with four glasses of water. Kagumo returned with… one glass of water.

She set it down and got straight to the point. "I'll go first. While negotiating with Chairman Kraf, we were suddenly attacked…"

Kagumo explained everything that had happened.

"Who were the attackers?" Yvette asked.

"No idea. Knocked them all out. We'll have to wait for the police to investigate," Ansel said.

"I acted too quickly. Sorry," Mo Ying said. In the heat of the moment, she hadn't thought to leave someone conscious for questioning.

"It's fine. Let's focus on how to rescue the hostages. The deadline is the morning after tomorrow, so we only have one day left," Davis said.

"Good news—we've already found out where the hostages are," Yvette said.

"Seriously? That's impressive!" Ansel was surprised.

"Had to call in some favors." Yvette brushed it off and pulled out her laptop, bringing up a map.

"We're here. About forty kilometers away, there's an abandoned factory."

"They're being held there?" Ansel asked.

"No, that was their old hideout. The police found it," Yvette shook her head and moved the cursor to the building next to the factory.

"They're here now."

"They moved right next door?" Kagumo was stunned.

"This is what they call 'hiding in plain sight.'" Mo Ying commented. These criminals had some guts.

"Yeah. It used to be a shop, but the lease ended, and the owner moved out. It's been vacant and up for rent. No one usually goes there, so hiding inside wouldn't draw much attention," Davis explained. Some homeless people had tried staying there but were killed and dumped outside, which became a clue.

"Any deeper intel?" Mo Ying asked.

"No. Davis and I aren't suited for stealth. We didn't want to alert them," Yvette said.

"What if I pretend to wander in by accident?" Kagumo suggested. She was well aware of her deceptively harmless appearance.

"Too risky," Davis rejected the idea.

"I'll go," Mo Ying said.

All four turned to look at her.

"Are you sure? It's dangerous," Yvette didn't want Mo Ying, who wasn't even an official member, to take such a risk.

"Conveniently, I can hide in the shadows. Stealth is kind of my thing," Mo Ying wasn't worried at all.

Yvette and Davis exchanged a look. Davis finally said, "Alright, you'll scout ahead and report back. We'll follow up after that."

"Through phone contact?" Mo Ying asked.

"Yeah, but for real-time intel, we'll rely on him." Yvette smirked at Ansel.

Mo Ying turned to him. Ansel nodded. "One of my abilities is 'shared vision.' I can link someone's vision to the rest of the team, but the range is limited—the shared and receiving parties can't be more than one kilometer apart."

Interesting ability. Mo Ying mused. "If you use it on an enemy and share their vision, wouldn't that make things way easier?"

Kagumo's eyes lit up. "That's genius!"

But Ansel shook his head. "I've thought of that, but my ability has a condition—the target has to agree to share the vision."

"Oh, you never mentioned that before," Yvette remarked.

"Looks like we're sticking to the original plan. I suggest we move tomorrow night. For now, let's rest," Mo Ying said. Nighttime was ideal—guards would be more relaxed, and her shadow movement ability was strongest.

"Alright. Get some rest, everyone," Yvette announced.

Darkness enveloped the land. The crescent moon hung in the sky, stars twinkling.Look, the stars seem to fall into the room!

In the dim room, two glowing dots of light appeared in Mo Ying's vision. She stared at the eyes.

When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you.

And that abyss turned out to be…

Mo Ying switched on the light—

A black cat sat on her bed.

"Meow." The cat licked its paw, then continued staring at her with big round eyes.