Under The Veil of Night

"We have to stop digging," Dean said as he glanced at the snow around them. During the fight, which started from morning until noon, the weather was rather bright. But now, it was snowing. The snow that was covered with blood on the ground was covered with the pure and white snow.

"We can’t," Patrick replied. His breath has turned rough because he was forcing himself to move around all these times. They had managed to clear up most of the rubbles after hours of digging, but it was only one small part of the tower, near the entrance.

His grip has turned weak because he didn’t have much strength left.

"You have to rest or you’ll collapse like them," Dean pointed to the ambulance behind them. Neo and Mike have collapsed in the middle because they couldn’t hold on doing this work continuously. Lou also nearly collapsed, so they forced the man to rest in the ambulance.

Patrick’s expression turned grim. "I have to find them."

So far, there was no trace of human life at all. There were only rubbles after rubbles, pushing their hope away from them. It was so vexing to see the rubbles without end. What they wanted was to find their friends again.

Dean shook his head as he looked at the broken floor below him. Patrick had managed to reach some part of the floor. His eyes caught something that was different.

"Patrick, this should be the first floor, right?"

"Yes."

"If that’s true, what’s that thing over there?" Dean pointed to the rubbles that seemed to pierce the floor. This place was supposed to be extremely hard because this was the tower foundation. If they found a place that was different, there would only be one answer.

There was a secret place.

"Oh?" Patrick arched his eyebrows. He gathered his strength on his arm and pierced the rock in front of him as hard as possible. With several thrust, the rock was destroyed into smithereens.

The two of them stopped moving once they sensed the killing intent from inside the tower. The floor was opened, showing a pathway down. The only question left was: who was the one inside?

"Dean, do you want to check?"

"I think Senior Pat is more suitable for checking something unknown like this," Dean refused the offer and returned it back to Patrick.

Patrick frowned. He didn’t mind checking inside, but in this condition, he would die if the one inside was Ferdinand. After all, he was completely battered with his hand barely able to hold the spear right.

However, the thick killing intent disappeared. The two of them looked at the hole on the floor as they pondered whether they would go inside or not.

"Uncle, can you clear up the path?"

The cold and indifferent voice sounded from inside caused joy to appear on Patrick’s face. Even though it was the usual annoying tone of his nephew, it meant that the boy was still alive.

Without any hesitation, he jumped into the floor and looked around. Near one of the walls, Kevin was sitting with Kanae in his embrace, sleeping peacefully. His eyes widened as his jaw dropped open. He stomped on the ground and dashed towards the two of them.

He swung his fist towards them, intending to give his nephew a lesson. Unfortunately, Kevin caught his fist as the young man gazed coldly at his uncle.

"Brat! What did you do to my daughter?"

Kevin frowned slightly. His other hand was blocking Kanae’s ear as he didn’t want the girl to wake up. "Be quiet, she’s tired."

Patrick glared at the young man in front of him. He could see that Kanae was tired, but why did she stay in his embrace? Right now, he truly wanted to check his daughter to see if that young man dared to do anything to her.

Towards the inquiring gaze that his uncle gave him, Kevin paid no heed. He stood up slowly as he carried Kanae outside the place. His steps were rather slow, but it was firm and didn’t show any difference with his usual self.

Only someone who knew him better than anyone would know that it took everything for him to walk.

"Brat, I can help you take her out if you want."

"There’s no need. You should take care of your hand, Uncle. If you can’t use the spear again, you’ll be very sad."

Patrick covered his hand as he looked back with a dark expression. "You ungrateful brat!"

Even though their words were showing their annoyance, their tone was rather warm. As Kevin got out of the place, he looked around and saw his men around him. Seeing their faces again made him relieved. At least, they didn’t die in this place.

He looked at Lou, who tried to stand up. "Just rest, Lou. We’re going to the hospital."

"Yes, Boss!"

Kevin swept his glances to the men that he gathered from Black Street. "Many thanks to all of you who come here today. You’re all a great help. You may take your reward tomorrow and rest for today."

"Yes!"

The men cheered up. They came here for money and nothing else. Even though it was out of their expectation that they have to wait, no one cared about it. They were used to betting their lives just for a small amount of money, so this was nothing different.

Kevin looked back at the rubbles behind him. He was unsure whether Ferdinand was still in this place or not, but normal people wouldn’t be able to survive. Even the two of them could stay alive because they were lucky to find the place that Ferdinand prepared for himself.

"Inspector," Kevin turned his head to the leader. "You have to watch this area, but be careful because there are possibilities that Ferdinand is still alive."

"Alive?" The leader was stunned. He looked at the rubbles and the secret basement where Kevin came out from. Was there more secret rooms in this building?

Kevin didn’t know whether there was another secret room or not, but he knew that Ferdinand was not an ordinary person. It would be hard for them to defeat that man. No, not only hard, it was nearly impossible to destroy that man. Even when he combined his power with Kanae, they were nearly killed numerous times.

"Brat, what do you see?"

Kevin glanced at his uncle, but he didn’t reply. His gaze alone was enough to tell Patrick that he and Kanae failed to defeat Ferdinand in the fight. They were only lucky enough to get away. There wouldn’t be anything weird even if Ferdinand was still alive one way or another.

"Oh yeah, brat, is there any missing person from those that you fight in this place?" Patrick recalled the discussion he had with Dean not long ago.

"Megara and Jon Aida," Kevin replied. "Try to find out about their whereabouts as fast as possible."

"Ok," Lou nodded his head. He added it to his notes as he reminded himself to tel Neo about this. In terms of gathering information, it was Neo and him who were the best in their clan.

Kevin gave a few more instructions before heading to the ambulance. He put Kanae on the bed as the ambulance drove to his hospital. "Check on her. Make sure that she’s alright."

"Yes, Boss."

The doctors quickly checked on Kanae while one of them treated Kevin’s wounds. The man’s eyes were cold, making the doctor tensed up when they met with his gaze. No one made any sound as they worked on treating the girl as best as they could.