Chapter 2: Who are you?
It was early morning and the sun slowly risen on the horizon. The light of dawn bask upon the earth, the sight was exhilarating. Yet, the beauty of nature cannot mask the bleak and foulness of the Earth.
A young man sat in a coffee shop, leisurely sipping his coffee. Occasionally he would glance outside the shop as if he was waiting for someone.
The young man was none other than Ink who was waiting for his client at the appointed location.
He was quite skeptical about the meeting location as it was quite public and that left him somewhat confused.
What they were about to discuss was not something to take lightly and therefore should not be held at such a casual place. However, Ink understands that he was young and quite inexperienced about matters such as this, so he didn't put too much thought into this matter any further.
His subordinates back at Dragon Den even tried to convince him into having them as escorts, due to their worries for him, however, he refused.
This was something he must investigate alone, and in some case, bringing along more people will only make this stealth op much harder.
Time slowly passed and eventually many people had come in and out of the cafe. At some point, an extremely chubby man walk in the store. He scans around the cafe for a moment before his gaze finally stopped and stare at a particular table.
Ink had long since noticed the fat man but he gave no further notice to him.
He was about to take another sip of his coffee when to his surprise, the fat burly man came up to him and sat directly across his sit.
Ink gasped, inside he was extremely surprised, but he did his best to not show it on his face. The fat man casually called a waitress and made an order.
When the waitress left, he immediately clasped his hands on the table, his face towards Ink.
"Let's get down to business, " he said, he looked at Ink meaningfully before continuing. "There are several methods to enter the White Hand's estate but I suggest entering as an actual member would be the best way to go."
"The estate itself is really big, " He continued. "I know a couple of guys there that owe me, I'll try to contact one of them tonight. Since your father is my benefactor, I'll try to get one of them to let you assume their identity. How's that sound?"
Though he was confused, Ink managed to piece things together quickly. This person was definitely his dad client!
He could never have thought that the person his father had acquainted with, was actually somebody like this. However, he had no qualms about other people's appearance so he didn't mind about it too much.
He smiled wryly and replied, "That sounds like a good plan, I don't need to stay there for long, just a few days to gather some info about the disappearance of my father at the estate."
"Is that so?" the burly man replied, he scratched his chin, he seems to be thinking of something. "Well word of advice kid, don't act TOO suspicious, alright?"
Ink didn't reply. He only nodded understandingly and took another sip from his coffee. The fat man slipped a piece of paper on the table towards Ink and sighed.
"As your father's friend, I should actually be stopping you from going instead..." he paused momentarily before sighing again. "Just don't do anything stupid ok?"
Before Ink could reply, the waitress arrived with a tray at hand. She placed down a white muffin with bluish frosting on top, the fat man made his payment and left immediately. Ink watched as the fat man disappeared through the door, then glanced back at the muffin.
"Is this for me, or did he just forget to take it with him?" He murmured, not knowing what to do he unfolded the piece of paper the fat man gave him and read it. "Meet me at Six Avenue, Pakenham at seven tomorrow night..."
Surprisingly, in the note was another note.
"Oh, and by the way, I choose this place as the meeting spot because there was a delicious dessert called the 'Blueberry Milk Muffin' that I wanted you to try..."
As of now, Ink wasn't sure who's more mature anymore. Was it him or the adults of this generation? He didn't know. He could only contemplate silently at the cafe for several minutes in confusion.
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The streets of Central Unity bustle once again as red lights flashed across the road, creating a scenic evening. However, there was one particular street that was exceptionally quiet.
A cab parked just right next to an alley at the street and the door of the car swung open.
A young man stepped out from it, dressed in a black trench coat. He paid the driver and waited for him and his cab to disappear before walking deeper into the alley.
This young man was none other than Ink.
He took a turn at an intersection and stop in front of a metal door. He knocked twice, kick it once and clap his hand thrice. Suddenly a small hidden lever unlocked itself and the door creaks open.
"What a weird a code..." thought Ink. "Dad's client is quite unique, isn't he..."
Ink noticed that the door was not manually opened but was open by some kind of weird mechanism instead.
He unhesitantly proceeded onward and ascends the stairs just ahead of him. Surely enough, the fat burly man was there, along with another person.
"You're finally here!" exclaimed the fat man, he smiled then laugh heartily. "How's the muffin?"
Ink ignored him and look towards the person next to the fat man. The person was a young man that appears to be just a few age older than him, however, the man's youth was apparent. That coupled with his ashen colored hair made him looked dashingly handsome.
"You must be the guy who's going to take my place in the estate, " said the person next to the fat man. "My name is Trident, well my nickname that is, nice to meet you."
Trident gave off an air of politeness and courteous bearing, this made Ink somewhat nervous. He didn't hate this sort of people, he only disliked them, that was because he found the majority of them somewhat suspicious.
Perhaps it was because he'd never really encountered anybody truly honest before. Not even his father was considered truly honest, that's why it left him on guard all the time.
He simply nodded back at the young man and smiled.
"Oh crap!" the fat man gasped. "I don't think I'd told you my name yet, it's Wu Henpang, or if you prefer my nickname instead, it's Handsome."
"Right... Back to business, so I heard you can provide me with your identity temporarily right?" asked Ink, completely ignoring Wu Henpang. "I've been thinking about this plan for quite some time, but how will we actually pull this off? Won't the people in the estate know how you look like already?"
"I got that covered!" replied Trident.
As he said that, he took out a mask and hand it over to Ink.
"This is a disguise mask that was developed by a hidden organization in Redstone Black Market. The technology was said to be smuggled from a government-private facility several years ago.
"I don't know the whole detail of how it's manufactured, but basically all you need is a little bit of DNA and a face scan of the desired person you want to disguise as to get it to work. After saving the samples into the mask, all you have to do is slip the mask on and it should change your face and hair to the desired person."
Ink stared deeply at the mask. It was incredibly thin, like paper, yet it was surprisingly sturdy. He noticed that the back of the mask had several chips and buttons, probably for inputting the DNA and face sample.
Astonishment filled his face, as he had never heard of something like this before. Even when holding the mask, he couldn't believe something like this was real.
"Whe - where did you get this from?" He asked hesitantly. He simply couldn't believe the genuineness of the object and needed further confirmation.
"Hahaha, " Trident laughed. "Don't worry about that, let just say that I have - a special position in the Estate. I got it as a gift from the Don!"
Knowing that he couldn't press on the topic further, Ink slips on the mask. As soon as he placed it close to his face, a strange force like a magnet dragged the mask all the way down on his face tightly.
He closed his eyes and waited for a moment, however, nothing seems to happen. He opened his eyes and looked towards Wu Henpang and Trident.
Wu Henpang's eyes widen and he gaped astonishingly. Trident's eyes shone brilliantly and he smiled pleasingly. At the same time, he handed a hand mirror to Ink who received it immediately.
"This..." Ink looked into the hand mirror and was surprised to see that his face was no longer his, but Trident's.
Even though he knew that something like this would happen, he was nonetheless surprised to see it for real.
Wu Henpang had the same thoughts, he'd never thought that the result would be so perfect. He was certain that it will only partially alter the face, not perfectly change the whole thing!
"Here are some clothes that you need to change into before entering the estate and in this handbag are all my details and IDs, " said Trident hastily, he looked like he was about to say something else but hesitated for a moment, he decided to continue after a while. "The mask will only work for five days per face, so whatever you plan to do at the estate, do it fast,
"Also you have to be careful not to give away your identity, it will be detrimental for both you and me if you are exposed. Also, you have to be careful of - no, you should be fine, that person won't look for you with my identity..."
Trident had a tinge of sadness on his face for a second but he quickly composed himself soon after. Ink didn't notice the change as he was busy removing the mask to not waste the time limit on it.
Wu Henpang just slightly noticed it, but he didn't voice any comments, instead, he looked meaningfully at Trident.
The preparation was complete and the plan was set in motion.
Ink, with the mask donning on his face, made his way into the estate of the White Hand Gang. The estate itself was extremely large but in terms of quality, it didn't quite match up to his Dragon Den's extravagantness.
Ink had a good temperament and therefore didn't have much problem making his way into the building. He quickly found his room in the estate and to his surprise, the room that belonged to Trident was quite luxurious and even flamboyant.
"Does everyone in this estate have a room such as this!?" Ink thought.
He then remembered Trident saying that he had some sort of special position in the estate.
Ink decided not to give it too much thought anymore. He put away his belonging and start to roam around the residence.
Occasionally he would chat with a member of the White Hand or two. His interaction with them was somewhat awkward as most of the questions he asked were answered ambiguously.
He'd noticed that anybody he came across with, act very politely to him and even treated him with utmost courtesy. They would greet him like a young lord and some would even salute.
This caused Ink to wonder even more about Trident's position in the estate. He was tempted to make use of this status to gather more information from the people here, but he decided that on the first day, he would search around the buildings for clues instead.
Of course, he made sure not to act too suspiciously and would only go to places he thought was appropriate to go.
At one point, he came across an intersection that leads to a corridor. It was quite secluded, with not a single person present.
Since there was nobody roaming around here, Ink had the impression that this place was somewhere he must not enter either.
He was just about to leave when suddenly he heard a voice called out to him.
"Why are you here!?" shouted the voice, somewhat angry in tone. The voice was extremely feminine and though it obviously sounded mad, it had a surprisingly sweet tone. "I told you that I never ever want to see you here again brother!"
Ink was momentarily shocked when he heard the voice, he was sure that nobody was there at the corridor a moment ago. What astonished him, even more, was the words the voice said to him.
"Brother?" Ink whispered.
He hesitated, but he eventually turned around slowly, facing the voice.
What he saw was an extremely pretty girl in a simple blue dress.
The girl had huge almond eyes which were quite charming to look at. Her was ashen in color and her skin somewhat pale. She seems to be only a few years younger than him but emitted an air of maturity.
As soon as he turned around, the girl gasped.
She looked somewhat frightened as she saw him. She gave Ink a menacing glare and pointed at him nervously. The girl slowly edges backward and started to mumble to herself loudly.
"Dammit, who-who are you!?"
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