The sun was shining brightly in the sky, and faint footsteps sounded in a long corridor. The footsteps was so faint that it was almost impossible to detect if one didn't pay close attention to it.
Knock! Knock!
"Commander."
"Please come in."
The door opened and the black haired girl walked in. Her footstep was restrained and stopped not far from the door. Her movement was neat and natural yet polite and gave people a sense of ease.
It was perfect.
The man saw the girl's movement and smiled. "You don't have to be so formal. Are you nervous?"
The black haired girl shook her head.
No, she's not nervous.
It was just…
The man smiled. "Then I will leave this to you, is it alright? I don't think there's anyone better suited to do this than you, Little Arya. It might be a bit difficult but you know that your ability is the most covert one."
Covert…
The black haired girl, Arya, nodded and pursed her lips slightly. "Yes, Commander."
"In that case, let's go through the procedure. If you need any help to prepare things, I'll get it all ready for you. Thank you for your hard work, Little Arya."
"Yes. Thank you and excuse me, Commander."
The exchange was very brief. In fact, things have long been decided and coming here was nothing more than formality.
Arya was not nervous either.
She only felt a little reluctant, even if it couldn't be seen on her expressionless face.
After coming out of the commander's office, she made her way to the dressing room and then changed out of her uniform. With this mission, Arya didn't know how long would it take before she could wear this uniform again.
And she hadn't worked here for long.
Arya sighed and then tapped the butterfly knife that she carried with her.
She's reluctant… because she wouldn't be able to contact anyone she knew for a long time with this mission.
But it's necessary for her to do this mission.
…
In a dilapidated orphanage, Arya looked at the director who came to pick her up and looked up blankly.
"Director," Arya called out, her milky voice still has clear trace of childishness.
The director looked down at Arya and sighed deeply. "Come with me to the new orphanage. There, you will be able to meet new friends."
"Uhm." Arya nodded, looking like a well behaved child.
With the director's guidance, she entered the car and the car itself started to drive out. Along the way, the director asked a few questions to Arya.
"So your name is Arya Heinz?"
"Yes, Director."
"11 years old?"
"Um." Arya nodded, showing bright innocent eyes as she spoke while her hand played with the pendant on her neck.
The director's eyes moved to the pendant before moving away. The record stated that the pendant was most likely left behind by Arya's parents but there was no clue about who it belong to.
Because this kind of cheap pendant could be found almost anywhere.
The so called clue was not exactly a clue.
Besides, the world was destroyed once and was rebuilt a few decades ago. There were still many broken families in various regions that it was impossible to trace all of them back. It was already good enough for them to be able to live.
Of course, there were also many places where technology developed and all.
His task today was to bring this child from this dilapidated orphanage to another orphanage.
But…
The director looked at the girl in front of him and felt that her appearance was not that bad. She was a little thin, but it didn't seem to have much effect on what he was planning to do.
Arya was silent after answering the questions and looked outside. This identity is perfect and no one knew about her past since she's nothing more than an orphan girl.
The car stopped in front of a mansion where there was a bus and Arya turned to look at the director with a confused look.
The director smiled. "There's an adopted request, so you can come too and see if they will fancy you, Arya."
Ah..
Arya nodded blankly, looking like a confused girl and walked out of the car. She looked around with her small backpack and made her way to the mansion. There were already a few other girls there, fidgeting and looked confused.
At the same time, there were a few middle aged men who were looking at these girls as if they were evaluating their value.
Really disgusting.
Arya lowered her head, concealing the haze that appeared within her eyes.
If it was not for her mission, she would not come here in the first place.
It was too…
Disgusting.
But it seemed that they had found the right director for him to bring her directly to this place.
The disgusting human nature was shown greatly after the big war that almost destroyed the entire world. It took a long time for humans to be rebuild and the countries to develop on their own, but what never disappear was these disgusting people who treated humans as nothing more than consumable.
The planet is recovering and civilization was thriving but the gap between the good place and the bad place was too big.
Besides, there were still many people with various ambitions lurking all over the world.
That war and destruction created a chance for many people to build an organization on their own for their own ambitions.
"There's a new girl from another orphanage and I brought her along just in case," the director said with a bright smile on his face. "Have you found the one whom you liked?"
"Well yes, Jack has already taken one of them to the back." One of the middle aged man laughed.
The other smiled and said, "Heri, has those people arrived?"
"Tsk, to pick this place to do transaction. I doubt they want these girls more than the money." The first middle aged man snorted.
Arya lowered her head and sat not far from the other girls, looking like she was afraid and all.
And then, it started.
Bang! Bang!
The sound of gunshots was loud and clear. The girls were screaming and crouched down.
The first middle aged man who was called Heri quickly stood up with the suitcase in his hand. "Stop shooting! What you want is here!"
The door opened and two people walked in, one male and one female. The man glanced at the room and clicked his tongue. "You sure pick the wrong time to do the transaction."
"I… this is the best time to do it as there will be a lot of people coming and no one will be suspicious…" Heri quickly tried to explain.
The man raised the gun in his hand and looked at Heri coldly. "The money."
"Here, here, everything is here."
Heri moved forward and quickly handed the suitcase to the man.
"Hmm." The man weighed it and nodded at the woman who raised her hand and then started shooting.
"I have given you the money!" The man's eyes widened in disbelief as he fell down on the ground.
The ground was splattered with blood and the girls were all screaming again.
"Noisy."
What followed was the girls were shot down and Arya suddenly made a move and raised the bag in her hand to block the bullet as she moved sideways. Her movements were not fast and might look like a professional but it was actually full of flaws, like someone who was used to fight but never learned systematically.
Arya raised her head and her other hand swung the pendant around her neck but actually activated her ability.
"Your shoot to me will miss," Arya said, her milky voice sounded ethereal.
Bang!
The next bullet missed and the woman's eyes revealed surprise but then her hand was grabbed by Arya who snatched the gun from her and backed away.
Her body was trembling and at this time, the man had already finished killing the other girls in the room.
Only Arya was left.
"What are you doing? Kill her." The man was confused.
"That girl is strange and interesting," the woman replied with a faint smile and looked at Arya with great interest in her eyes.
"Tsk." The man clicked his tongue and then throw something in Arya's direction.
Bang!
She hit the thing with great accuracy as if done on instinct but at this time, the man had already reached her and snatched the gun back before strangling her to the wall.
Thump!
Arya grimaced and looked at the man in front of her. In this position, she could see his eyes directly and immediately stared at his eyes while speaking, "Release me."
Her milky voice sounded like normal children but there was something in the voice that made it hard for them to resist.
Thud!
The man suddenly released Arya and she ran to the door, pretending that she wanted to escape in panic.
The woman didn't chase at Arya and instead tapped her chin with great interest while the man looked dumbfounded as if he couldn't believe what he had just done.
Click!
Arya stopped when she saw a gun barrel in front of her.
There were three people, this is something that she had realized it from the beginning, but she had to perform the play to the fullest and made them think of her as an ordinary 11 years old girl.
"When did you become so kind, Taurus?" The man who came in asked in a cold tone. He had platinum blonde hair and looked like a handsome man, yet the aura he emanated was so cold that it could pierce through one's soul.
The big man whose codename was Taurus stammered, "No, I didn't plan to release her. I just… I don't know why I do that."
He himself looked confused.
"I think it should be hypnosis. One that can be done very quickly," The woman said calmly and she took out her phone to text someone. "I think that a kid like her will suit our group very much."
"Tsk." The man clicked his tongue and saw the pendant on the girl's neck. He looked away and focused on the girl's forehead.
Once she did anything funny, he will shoot her.
At this moment, Arya had a terrified expression as she looked at the man in front of her. This person is different from that Taurus who could still be controlled by ordinary hypnosis for a short period of time or that woman who could be influenced by subtle hints.
Unless she used her real supernatural abilities, she had no confidence to 'control' him.
"Name."
"Arya… Arya Heinz," Arya replied, not daring to move.
"Age."
"11 years old."
"How is it, Aries?" The man clicked his tongue but still patiently watching over the girl in front of him.
"Found it. An orphan girl from a recently ruined orphanage." The woman, Aries swayed her phone and then looked at the man. "Boss wants us to take her back and you better be the one to do it unless we want her to run away."
"If she dares to run away, I'll kill her," The man codenamed Leo said coldly.
"I… I won't run." Arya looked like a terrified little girl and seemed like she was trying her best to restrain her fear.
"Be good, little girl. As long as you follow us and follow the order, you can live." Aries came to Arya and rubbed her head. "In fact, you might be greatly valued and you can live well… much better than your life in the orphanage."
"Um." Arya hummed in a low voice.
Carrot and stick method?
Arya's eyes flickered.
It seemed that the first step… is complete.