The subtle scent lingered in the room like a gentle breeze. It felt both familiar and unfamiliar, like an echo from the past. When she had lived in Japan after leaving the country with her father, the floral aroma had always been around her as she trained.

She had gotten used to it because she had stayed in that place longer than she had any of the other places she had visited, including Russia. Therefore, she could recognise even the subtlest hint of that flower, and not only because of her keen senses.

However, there was something else about the fragrance in the room. The scent of the flower itself was not the reason she felt cautious. On the contrary, it was because there were hints of something else like coolness in the smell as if the cherry blossom had been crossed with mint.

It was a fragrance she knew quite well.

She put her laptop away and opened the window. With cat-like movements, she jumped out of the opening and landed on her feet in a crouch. She looked around like a fierce feline predator hunting for an elusive prey.

After a moment, she was able to detect the disturbance on the lawn by looking at the differences in the appearance of the turf. She could already see where the intruder who had been in her bedroom had gone. She smiled a little eerily before standing up.

With silent movements, she began following the tracks left on the grass. Eventually, she found herself at the fence of the Huo residential property. She scaled the wall and leapt down. When she was in the air, a shuriken flew towards her.

She shifted her body slightly in the air and avoided it. When she landed on the ground, she rolled to the side immediately, avoiding a kunai which got stuck in the hard ground. Without allowing her to take a breath, the attacker threw another knife.

It seemed like this person was still a chuuni with an unhealthy attachment to classic Naruto weaponry. At least, he had yet to begin carrying a giant gourd on his back.

This time, Hu Lei was prepared, she caught the throwing knife by the handle and threw it back immediately at the other person with precision.

"Are you trying to kill?" A displeased person shouted from the shadows before appearing before Hu Lei with a disgruntled look on his face. He was a handsome man with relatively long hair and a lazy aura around him.

Hu Lei was speechless as she stared at him.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you this question?" She shouted at him.

The man smiled a little. "I was just testing if you have been slacking off. It is my duty as your senior brother."

Hu Lei looked at him flatly. "First, you are not my senior brother. Our school did not promote such loyalties. Second, if I had been slacking off, you would have injured me or killed me."

"I doubt it. I did try to kill you on several occasions when you joined the school, but you still managed to escape." He admitted without shame.

Hu Lei felt vindicated. "I knew you were trying to kill me. I told our teacher, and he insisted that you were playing around because you liked me."

"I have always liked you. I once took you out on a date." The man defended himself.

"Because you wanted me to help you fight those yakuza members that were after you." She responded with frustration.

"Well, it still counts." The relaxed man shrugged.

Hu Lei could not handle this ridiculous person.

"Kaito, why are you here?" She asked directly.

The man smiled as he walked closer to her. "I am here to kill you."

"Really?" She asked, not taking him seriously.

"Not really, but you would be surprised how many bounty lists you are still on." He laughed. "If I go broke, you will be my emergency fund."

"So, why are you really here?"

"I am here to capture you."

This time, Hu Lei asked a follow-up question. "Why?"

"I want you to join my Shadow Brotherhood. You know that we can rule the world if we join forces."

Hu Lei was surprised. "I thought you wanted to give me up to that organisation which has a bounty on my capture."

"You have a low opinion of me." There a sad sigh.

Actually, Hu Lei knew that he would not give her up to those people. Even though he was an unreliable trickster, he would not give her up to be tortured. He did things that would benefit him through some questionable means, but he had a somewhat stable bottom line.

"You know that I am no longer in that type of business. I am a housewife who writes novels and shops in my free time." She responded.

Kaito was exasperated by this response even though he had done some research on his former schoolmate and knew her words were technically true. He had always followed her whereabouts until she had mysteriously disappeared. At first, he had assumed that she had gone underground to hide after offending some powerful people.

It was not an uncommon thing for them.

However, when she had appeared again in Supreme City and at the top of bounty lists, he had realised that maybe, things were not as simple as he had thought. After all, he knew most of the organisations that had listings for capture or assassinations.

The group which had put out the order was somewhat well-known because they often hired mercenaries to traffic people for them occasionally. They had also ordered a few abductions of some doctors a couple of times.

However, they had always been low profile and did not stand out. When he had seen Hu Lei's name and picture at the top of the list with a high reward and the order was by that low-key group, he had felt something was shady. Therefore, he had decided to see the matter for himself.

He looked at Hu Lei who seemed indifferent in spite of the aggressive capture order on her.

Had she moved on completely from the underworld?