“What others?” Ray asked immediately.

“The other assassins,” Mr. Xue explained casually. “We need to leave.”

Ray heard the sound of running water just then. He figured it was probably Laura.

“How do you know they’re coming?” Ray furrowed his brows. He found it hard to believe that this man knew the right call since he saw him bleeding out on the floor earlier. Ray was a little dubious about his decision-making skills.

He felt that he was a bit better than this man, who lost to just two of those goblin assassins.

The lanky Asian man smiled. Then, he disappeared. Ray felt a gust of wind but couldn’t understand what he was seeing.

Then he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Ray whirled around instantly, turning his head. He saw Mr. Xue smirking at him, arm outstretched in a lazy pose.

How did he . . .

“A frog at the bottom of--”

“Alright, dearest Elder,” Laura waltzed into view with a towel rubbing her face. Ray saw that the blood was mostly cleaned up from her face and upper body. “Take it easy on Ray.”

The smirk was removed from Mr. Xue’s face, as if he was reminded of something bad. Ray saw the man shrug his shoulders and begin walking towards a random door.

“If you say so, cherished niece.”

“He means well,” Laura explained. She threw the towel away as she followed her uncle. “You should come with us, it’s not safe here anymore.”

Ray’s mind was in shambles. The man clearly had the ability to fight off the goblins. How had he gotten that strong so fast? Instead of getting answers, he had gotten a million more questions.

Was the system different for everyone?

“Uhh,” was all Ray could manage as he stumbled forward to follow suit. Things were moving fast.

As soon as he stepped through the door, a cloth hit his face. Ray immediately jerked his hands upwards to defend himself, only to realize that it was only a shirt. A clean shirt, along with a clean jacket.

He immediately got the idea. Ray stripped off his ripped jacket and dirty clothes to don the new ones Mr. Xue had thrown at him. He achieved this in record time, thanks to his newfound power.

“Where are we going?” Ray called out. He got the idea that they needed to evacuate the house but to where? If he got to choose, he would go back home to check up on his mom.

He needed to get back.

“Relax your mind,” Mr. Xue looked back at him, before opening another door. Laura was close behind him. They were in a slightly smaller hallway now, one that housed a washer and dryer. Ray was further to them than before since he had to put on new clothes. “Just watch.”

At this, Laura turned and gave him a knowing smile.

That bitch, Ray immediately thought back to high school. That one dredged up memories. He felt his anger flare up at the thought of her actions earlier. She set me up.

He saw those two go through the door with no care for him at all. They clearly expected him to follow.

Ray was stuck there, hesitating for a split second. The front door was still open, the two wouldn’t be able to catch up to him if he decided to slam the door closed and run for it. He didn’t know what would happen to him if he stepped forward to follow them through the hallway. It had also been years since he’d talked to Laura.

There was a lot to consider here. But there was too little time.

Ray shrugged and ended up stepping forward to follow them. If Mr. Xue had wanted to harm him, he would have done it back then.

Ray immediately understood when he arrived.

The garage was built into the house. His eyes were immediately drawn to how two expensive-looking cars were parked within a massive garage. Ray couldn’t recognize what make the cars were immediately, he just didn’t know the brands. They looked like a pair of foreign electric cars.

He heard a slight whoosh as something hurtled through the air toward him. Ray reached out and grabbed it, more alert now that he’d had practice. He closed his hands around the object and opened them in his palm.

They were keys.

Ray heard two beeps as he saw Mr. Xue and Laura getting into one of the cars. The garage doors separated slowly.

“Hey! Don’t you need these?” Ray dangled the keys in his hand. He didn’t understand why they were leaving so fast.

Mr. Xue completely ignored him as he slid into the driver's seat. Laura looked over at him and shook her head. She then winked at him before sliding into the fancy car.

“Hey!” Ray couldn’t believe this. He was being left behind. The garage door was completely open now. He saw Mr. Xue say something to Laura and watched her laugh in return. The Asian man pointed at him and spread his hands.

He was getting laughed at.

Ray watched the supercar drive out into the dark. He looked at the keys in his hand and suddenly had an idea. He pressed the button to unlock the other car in the garage and felt enlightened as the car came to life in front of him.

“Oh,” Ray said out loud. He felt like an idiot. “Fuck, did they just give me that?”

Ray looked over at the supercar in front of him. He then circled around the car, looking at every detail he could. There was a faint whitish outline of a dragonfly on the front. Ray could tell that was the logo. On the front below that was the maker “Qiantu Motors” written out in black.

Damn, this is the sexiest car I’ve ever seen, Ray couldn’t help but think.

He climbed in with no hesitation.

Ray could feel the leathery substance of the car as his hands gripped the wheel. It felt sublime in his hands like he was touching hard silk. He put his foot down on the brake pedal and the car softly thrummed to life.

There was a touch screen in the front with options beyond his comprehension. They were in Chinese. He’d have to switch the settings later.

Ray was still appreciating the car when he saw something approaching in his rearview mirror. It came from the corner of his eye.

It was another goblin assassin. This one looked healthy, strong, and angry. It was also holding a nasty looking weapon.

Ray didn’t waste any time, reversing the electric supercar and backing out of the driveway. He switched to drive as the goblin assassin lunged with its weapon.

The supercar narrowly missed the goblin as it headed out into the darkness of the Dublin backroads.