Luke alerted Zhiang immediately, and the two of them fixed their eyes on an orange minivan entering the establishment through the parking lot. The two followed behind on foot, trying as much as possible to hide their presence.
The garage was huge, and completely empty, the minivan was parked far from the entrance, and no one came out. The motion-detecting lights even turned off, it was just sitting there, still.
"Now we have to wait for them to get out to confirm whether they really are the targets."
"Zhiang, it's them."
Zhiang did not hesitate for even a moment before accepting Luke's statement, the two drew their blades from their sheaths and prepared for the fight.
The lights came back on, the van doors opened, and it was possible to hear some voices, all male, though it was impossible to know exactly how many there were. Even so, Luke was certain that those were exactly all of his targets.
"Man! Long day today, I need a beer." one of the voices said.
"Tell me about it, we already failed one mission, the boss is gonna tear us apart."
The system reappeared at that exact moment, just as one of the men finished speaking.
[ Update: Number of targets ]
[ Before: 4 Now: 5 ]
It can do that in the middle of a mission?
It's going to take me a long time to understand all of this.
From the now-open rear of the van, four men stepped out, all wearing different uniforms, they were coveralls, green, blue, red, and black. Luke and Zhiang adjusted themselves for the attack, they needed to catch two of them by surprise, to make the fight as balanced as possible.
"Zhiang, which one do you think is the best one there? It'd be really good to start with the strongest."
"A guess, just by instinct, I'd say the one in black."
Luke looked at the man in the black coveralls, and for some reason, had the same instinct, the posture, physical build, and the way the others behaved around him indicated that he was at least the most prominent one there. It was a gamble they would have to take.
"Great, then I'll go for the one in black."
"Pretty confident for someone who almost burned bacon this morning! I'll take the one in blue."
The one in black and the one in blue were side by side, with their backs turned, but the other two were facing forward, and could see both of them coming, it had to be done with extreme speed so that the reaction time of the ones facing them would not be enough.
Luke prepared himself.
[ Skill: Executioner's Step ]
Zhiang adjusted his stance, signaling a full-force charge.
One step, Luke had his blade at the black one's neck, and Zhiang had his at the blue one's throat, the ones facing them began to react the moment they arrived, but it would not be enough. Luke made a deep and clean cut, sending blood spraying everywhere, Zhiang did the same.
The one in green coveralls stepped forward.
"HEY! Explain yourselves right now! Bastards!"
Luke pointed the dagger at him.
"There's nothing to explain, you're targets, that's all."
The two who remained exploded with rage, seeing the bodies of their companions on the ground, they saw no option except to fight. Luke focused on the skill he still had not had the chance to use, "Deadly Parry," the one in green and the one in red came running toward Luke and Zhiang, respectively.
The green one arrived fast, preparing a diagonal slash toward Luke's torso, the strike was analyzed, and Luke had enough time to parry.
[ Skill: Deadly Parry ]
The knife came from below, and Luke smoothly brought his own against it, the instant he parried, the exact same cut was reflected back against the enemy, making the target fall to the ground, while Zhiang simply made a basic counterattack, aiming once again for the throat.
[ Targets 4/5 ]
"So they were the right ones."
"Good thing! Just imagine if we'd taken out some random guys!"
Luke and Zhiang looked at each other for a few moments, and then fixed their eyes on a door that apparently connected the garage to the inside of the place, the two started walking toward it. As they got close to the door, it opened, it was one of those sliding ones that opens with movement.
When they entered the place, all the lights were off, it was an ordinary reception area, there were couches, a TV mounted high up, several plants, and a front desk, connected to the room was a small hallway, with a few doors attached to it, and at the end, a staircase.
The two went to the stairs, and climbed all the way to the top floor looking for someone else. When they reached the top floor, there was only one door connected to the staircase in a small space.
[ Target behind the door ]
[ Stay calm ]
Excuse me?
Zhiang slowly opened the door, it was a huge office room, with a desk and chair at the far end, where a man was sitting, a bald man, with a thick beard and a suit, in his hand he held a revolver, but he was not pointing it at either of them.
"You made it! I wasn't that anxious, but I knew you'd get here eventually."
Zhiang pointed the knife at him.
"What are you implying? And you should know those pathetic weapons of yours haven't worked on people like us for a long time."
"Ah, don't worry, I know... I'm just an ordinary man, unlike you two, I couldn't do it even if I tried my very best."
"You know you're a target, right?"
"Yes... I never received any gift from the system, but yesterday it spoke to me! I received a mission! Me! An ordinary man!"
Zhiang did not hide his disbelieving expression.
"Stop talking nonsense, we both know very well that-"
"No! You don't know! This isn't normal! I'm just an ordinary man, I have a daughter and a wife! I don't even know what I'm doing here..." He slammed the desk, and let out a long sigh. "It was very strong, much stronger than any killer or hunter I've ever seen, and I've seen Kipig in action."
Zhiang took a step back.
"Stronger than... Kipig?" he muttered to himself. "Stop lying! You're trying to make us feel sorry for you, he received a very clear mission, to kill four members of the Portre group, and you."
The man began to cry. "I... didn't know who those damn Portre bastards were until that damn system gave me that damn mission!" The man placed the revolver against his temple, and unlocked the gun. "On this desk, there's a note with my home address written on it, and some money I took from here, please, deliver it to my wife and daughter."
Luke started running toward him.
"Wait-"
Boom. A shot, the man dropped the gun, and fell face-first onto the desk, forming a huge pool of blood beneath the desk.
[ Mission complete: Targets killed 5/5. ]
[ Skill unlocked: Assassin's Concealment. ]
What just... happened?
Zhiang was pale, and slowly walked over to the man's desk, picked up the suitcase full of money, and the note on top of it.
"Luke... tell me the truth."
"I don't know, Zhiang, all of this is strange... now it's clear, there's someone behind this."
"I want to believe you, Luke.... let's at least go deliver this money, and after that we'll figure out what's going on."
Who was he?
Why did he commit suicide?
[ Boom ]
This has to be messing with me.