Translator: Mary Proofreader: Nara
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Chapter 1: Shadow – Asura
If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁
On the Pacific Ocean, on an isolated island, there is a mysterious and formidable assassin organization. The name of the organization is Shadow, and they rank first in the assassination world. The missions that they experience are extremely dangerous, and always leads to flirting with death.
However, what surprises people is that this organization’s main combatants number only 6. Their individual codenames were: Asura, Princess, Phantom, Rebel, Nightcat, and Hawkeye. All six of them are not ordinary humans, they all have a common codename, “Power Users”. In this world, a lot of powers exist which the great majority of people don’t know about, and power-users exist among ordinary people. However, they all are very good at concealing their powers. Shadow principally is an organization made up of power-users. Shadow’s captain, Asura possesses the most powerful team ability, his ability is [Mechanical Era]. [Mechanical Era] can bestow his team with equipment exceeding the capabilities of modern machinery. When paired up with all kinds of attribute powers, this results in formidable combat power.
At this moment, Captain Asura was sitting on top of a boulder on the shore looking outwards at the boundless sea. He had short hair and keen facial features, a cachectically thin body, and was approximately 180cm tall. His most noticeable feature was his light blue pupils, which gave off the feeling of pellucidity.
“Father, I have found the whereabouts of the enemy family, I can now immediately take revenge on your behalf. After I have taken revenge, I will search for mother and fulfill your wish.”
Tang Ke thought, as he stared out silently at the sea. Suddenly, a pair of delicate arms embraced him from behind. Tang Ke didn’t turn around as he already knew who it was.
“Thinking of family matters again? Rest assured, no matter what happens, we will always help you.”
Hugging Tang Ke was Princess. Princess’ original name was Gu Xin. She had beautiful waist-length hair and delicate features, and she treated people especially tenderly and had a friendly demeanor, thus the team dubbed her Princess.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m blessed to have you all.”
Tang Ke said, then kissed her. In fact his relationship with Gu Xin was very intimate, so much so that they’ve already done things that married couples do. Even though they are not engaged, the other members of Shadow are understanding of the relationship between Tang Ke, Princess and Phantom. Even though the modern era doesn’t permit polygamy, those who walk the fine line between life and death on a daily basis could hardly care about such conventions.
“Oh? You’re stuck to each other again after such a brief parting, Xin-er, you’re trying to get a one-up on me.”
Tang Ke and Gu Xin immediately separated. Tang Ke looked towards the voice, which was Phantom Meng Yuting. Meng Yuting’s figure was extremely provocative, especially when she wore a black leather coat in addition to her head of red hair. Matched with beautiful features, her entire person perfectly embodied temptation.
“How come you’ve also come here?”
Tang Ke asked, puzzled,
“How come? She can find you, but I can’t? Wahwah, I’m deeply hurt.”
After saying that she put in an expression of heartbreak. Tang Ke, upon seeing the act that Meng Yuting put on, had an astonished expression, and helplessly said,
“Okay, okay, please stop acting, tell me, why were you looking for me?”
Meng Yuting tutted. “At least go along with it for a bit,” her expression returning to normal.
“Fine, there is one order of business. Did you forget a particular promise?”
“Huh? Promise?”
Tang Ke thought for a moment. Suddenly he thought of one matter which he particularly wanted to avoid.
“Ah! I’ve remembered, Old Man Hong wanted me for something, I’ll leave first, Xin-er, let’s chat again some other time, ”
Tang Ke, holding on to his wits, turned around and was about to slip away.
“If you dare to run away, Xin-er and I will ignore you forever, you do as you please.”
Tang Ke stopped in his tracks, having heard those icy lines, and helplessly turned back to face them.
“Does it have to be this way?”
“Of course, you promised me.”
“……..”
“……”
And so Tang Ke finally still had to obey.
Soon after, at Shadow headquarters, there was a beautiful scene. Three people were wearing maid uniforms providing service in the dining hall. Among these, two of them were Princess and Phantom. The other one was a crossdressing Tang Ke. Clad in a black and white maid uniform with a white wig, combined with Tang Ke’s originally plain and neutral facial features; dressed up like this he felt only a thread of unease. Shadow’s other members faced their captain with surface-level indifference, though in reality within their hearts they have already laughed till the blossoms bloomed. Most of all, Rebel, who is usually quite talkative, was struggling to keep it in. Tang Ke saw clearly through their expressions, and the corner of his mouth twitched,
“Fine, if you want to laugh just laugh.”
“P-Pfffft! hahaha!! I just can’t anymore!!”
As soon as Tang Ke finished talking, the crowd burst into laughter. For a while, the entire dining hall was drowned in it. Being the centre of laughter of the entire team, Tang Ke lived through the worst day of his life.
As they had just recently completed their last mission, the team had a brief period of respite. During this period, Tang Ke naturally had some intimate time with Gu Xin and Meng Yuting.
After a month passed, Shadow had found their next mission objective. Captain Tang Ke walked to the door of Hong Wei’s house and knocked on the door. A deep voice could be heard from inside.
“Come in”
Tang Ke pushed open the door and entered to see Hong Wei sitting on a chair. The 58 year old gentleman was just starting to sprout grey hairs, but thanks to his body-focused powers he did not appear too old. Hong Wei used to be one of the main combatants a few decades ago. Upon entering old age, he did not choose to live the life of a hermit, but instead continued to train newbies. In addition, he had a good standing in Chinese upper-class society, it’s just that it was rare to meet someone who knew him and knew about the existence of this organization.
Hong Wei, upon seeing Tang Ke enter, smiled at him. Tang Ke similarly eschewed formality, he walked up to and sat down opposite Hong Wei.
“Tang-xiaozi, your complexion isn’t bad. These few days.. have you been particularly well moisturised?”
“Well, this is your territory, so you’d clearly know what I’ve been up to…… let’s just get on with business.”
“Oh you, so anxious to get on with work. Fine, let’s get serious.”
“There’s been a secret intelligence broadcast, stating that on a small island in the D sector of the pacific ocean, there’s a mercenary organization who lives there year-round. Ordinarily, this kind of request doesn’t normally come to us, but starting from last week, there has not only been a continuous stream of American transportation helicopters landing on that island, but also more and more patrol boats surrounding the island.”
Upon hearing this Tang Ke, sat upright in his chair, and said straightforwardly
“In other words, this mission is an investigative mission, eh.”
“Yes, it’s just as you say, but don’t underestimate this mission, there’s one more thing which just might catch your eye.”
“Eh? What is it? Tell me.”
“A photograph attached to the intelligence, take a look.”
As he said this, Hong Wei took out a photograph out of the folder. Tang Ke took it and had a look, this wasn’t a terribly clear photo, it was clearly taken covertly. It was of a transport helicopter, but the focus was three letters on the helicopter.
“IST?”
Tang Ke looked at the photograph and said, unconvinced.
“That’s right, perhaps you don’t understand what meaning this holds, but……”
At this point, Hong Wei was hesitant to continue.
“Say it, don’t beat around the bush, this is not like you.”
“Hey…… actually, I understand the resentment you harbor in your heart. You know, becoming a mercenary, these feelings can cause you to lose your rationality, so much so that you could forfeit your life.”
Tang Ke heard this and knitted his brow without saying a word. He implicitly understood Hong Wei was referring to his father.
“You are the most talented child I have ever come across, therefore, I want to help you let go of this hatred. However, over these past few years with you, I also know that you find it hard to let go. Hence, I secretly sent people to investigate the last mission your father undertook that year.”
“But…… wasn’t there nothing that could be found?”
Tang Ke felt his heart flutter. He lifted his head to look at the middle-aged man in front of him. He felt touched by Hong Wei’s secret investigation into his father’s circumstances. His own investigations into the same only ended up empty handed.
“That’s right, there’s indeed no way to investigate it. Just as the record says, it was an unexpectedly sudden outburst and there the team was completely wiped-out.”
“However, when I approached the investigation from a different angle, I did manage to get a bit of information.”
“Oh? What kind of information?”
Tang Ke, hearing this, felt his emotions stir up. After all, Hong Wei possessed a greater breadth of capabilities than himself.
“I looked into the mission records for that year, and found what mission they were tasked to carry out.”
“What was it?”
“The mission at that time was a similar investigative mission into a group of Americans from a research institute. The logo they used at that time was also IST.”
“……”
Silence hung in the air. Tang Ke looked down and went into a pensive state, and Hong Wei didn’t interrupt him. After ten minutes passed, Tang Ke raised his head again.
“I must go on this mission.”
“I know. You’re not the type of person who would abandon this type of mission, thus I will not stop you. What I will say is please prepare appropriately before embarking.”
“No problem. Since this is an infiltration mission, I would be able to sneak in alone.”
“No, I can’t let you go in alone, it’s too risky. There are still too many unknowns about the target.”
“It’s because we don’t know much about the situation that I should go alone. If this organization really has the strength to annihilate my father’s troops, bringing along Rebel and the rest of the team with me wouldn’t change the outcome. On the contrary, it would make retreat difficult.”
“But you……”
“Old man, I know what you’re worried about. I will exercise control over my mental state. After so many years of training and tempering, I will not foolishly play around.”
“……”
“……”
Hong Wei considered it for a bit, looking at the unwavering determination in the gaze of the young man standing in front of him. He felt a little moved.
“Well…… Fine, I’ll believe you, but you must promise me, if there is anything amiss, you must retreat immediately.”
“En, don’t worry, I won’t play around with my life.”
“Okay then, the mission has been assigned to you. Go back and prepare, you’ll set out tomorrow.”
“En, no problem. Right, old man, regarding Xin-er and the rest of them……”
“Relax, I know, I’ll tell them that this is an ordinary mission. But you must keep the promises you’ve made just now, or your girlfriends will never forgive me.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll be leaving now.”
Tang Ke departed from Hong Wei’s room and walked towards the coastline. He stood on the large boulder, gazing out at the flocks of birds flying in the sky above the boundlessly vast sea, his mind filled with a multitude of thoughts. Eventually Tang Ke shook his head and returned to his room to rest and prepare for tomorrow’s mission.
If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁
Might be a good idea to add spaces between the paragraphs.
Too lazy