Carol was in a bad mood for the past three days, Xiaoxia had left for somewhere and there was no way to contact him.

They needed to train, and it needed to happen sooner rather than later.

No doubt she has feelings for him, but it was not something she is brooding over. She has her fair share of crushes and flings, and besides, he was too young for her.

Not being a local, was also another issue. Her past relations with outsiders, have given her sufficient experience on that matter.

It is only a matter of time before they left, and some even wanted to bring her along. But Carol refused, there is nowhere better than home.

“We need to go now, and how is your sole plate?” Meiling said out of nowhere, breaking Carol from her reverie.

Back when Xiaoxia rescued her, her sole plate had failed, causing her to plunge.

“Nothing Jane couldn’t fix,” Carol replied.

Jane is their group’s engineer, while Carol trains them. On the other hand, Meiling was their strategist, and is the leader of the group. Finally the person they depended on when it comes to battles, is Cailing.

“You haven’t been looking too chirpy these few days,” Cailing suddenly pounced on the spot left of Carol.

“It’s nothing that concerns you,” Carol retorted.

“Haha! It’s about that boy huh?” Cailing smiled, pushing the matter.

“I already said, its none of your business!” Carol this time raised her voiced in irritation.

“Relax! No point getting your panties in a bundle,” Cailing smiled impishly.

“Anyway, that is beside the point. We need to equip ourselves with the proper weapons and devices, or face total defeat like we have the previous 2 tournaments,” Carol digressed.

She was overall in charge of their training, and deemed that they are still lacking in the area of weaponry. The previous two years was a very bad showing for them, when compared to the time they first started.

All four of them came from a local academy, and took part in their first World Cup the moment they graduated. They even made it to the top 50 spot in the rankings, and gained valuable sponsorship from many advertisers.

However the preceding two years were really bad, and they did even make it into the top 100. New hybrid weapons, using both Ki and ancient technology, were beginning to make the rounds in the world.

They were fortunate with their lives, only because their opponents have used stun devices, as well as concussive devices to disable them. Many others were not so fortunate.

It was not uncommon for deaths to occur at the World Cup, as there was no regulations against killing. Due to this, It is the most barbaric competition to be held in Yuan Zhong.

That and being organized regularly every year, made it the top event in the world.

“Meiling and I need to go somewhere, I need your sole plate, while mine is being repaired by Jane,” Carol told Cailing, noticing time has gone by quickly in her reverie.

Cailing did not even say anything, as she happily passed her sole plate to Carol, her eyes twinkling in mischievousness.

“And stop giving me those looks! Nothing is going happen and I am will make sure of it,” Carol snapped.

“Let’s go quickly, before it gets dark,” Meiling cut into their exchange, a look of urgency appearing in her eyes.

“Are you sure its ok?” Carol was asking.

“Sure! Perhaps you could not see it, but the things he did in a fraction of the time it took, is inhuman. There is no way anyone could believe it, even if we told them,” Meiling answered, thinking she was talking about letting Xiaoxia join.

“No, that is not what I was referring. I mean is it ok to do this and procure these things? Besides the obvious fraud, the things we are going to buy with it, can easily kill someone, just as easy as it can defend us,” Carol told her.

“Oh! I am sorry. And yes, It is. We won’t be so lucky every time and be able to survive. Besides this, if we do not get at least top 50 this year, we will lose our sponsors,” Meiling replied, realizing how off she was with her initially statement.

Sponsors pay their teams very well, and it goes to explain why there are many who fought for higher placing even if they could not get top 10.

The top 10 spots were regularly dominated by well-established teams, and some even formed their own alliances to train individuals especially for this. They place as many teams as they can to gain sponsors.

The word cup is a huge business, thousands of quadrillions of rhodium exchange hands easily. Many businesses placed advertisements on the teams they sponsored.

Local shops and businesses grew exponentially every time there was a World Cup.

(AN: the value of currency in the world of Yuan Zhong are as follows, rhodium>gold>silver>copper)

The teams themselves, have a huge following worldwide.

It is a fact that no other event was this great, and even the freshmen competition paled drastically in comparison.

“Besides, it’s only because you agreed that we are doing this,” Meiling added.

“Yes, I hope it is really worth it. I don’t feel good having done this to him,” Carol replied.

When they were paying for the registration entry fee, she noticed that Xiaoxia had a peculiar card. It just took a tap on it for money to appear.

It is a universal spatial bank, and she had stolen it from him.

After all, the girls were really good at distraction and pick-pocketing others. They were all orphans, that scrapped through life and school by earning from this method.

They were going to commit fraud, by bringing the card to a shady technician and have it tweaked to their details. After this, they were going to purchase the new hybrid weaponry with it.

Since Xiaoxia was so naïve, and won’t be expecting this, they have nothing to worry about when he rejoined them. Even if he did, it was for the sake of the World Cup, and they were sure he will overlook it.

**********

Universal spatial banks, are uncommon devices only owned by VIPs and CIPs of various banks around the world.

(Very-Important- Person, Commercially-Important-Person)

They employ a similar spatial technology like the quantum bags, where a finite void and space is created for storage.

The difference is that the spatial bank employs spatial communications, to update withdrawals, deposits and other forms of transactions.

It has tiny nano void crystals, the size of dust particles, which absorbs Ki from its user, to employ the spatial technology.

Quantum bags on the other hand, absorbs Ki from the natural surroundings, to employ its technology.

*********

At about the same time, in another part of the world, it is currently night. A figure lay in hidden in the shadows of an alley, waiting for its victim.

It has been waiting for hours in the deserted alley, and it did not even moved an inch.

A while later, voices could be heard heading towards it, and it tensed suddenly.

“Finally,” it thought to itself, as a few men were walking towards where he hid.

All of them looked like professional mercenaries, who were armed to the teeth. Even from where the figure waited, he was downwind from them, and could smell their alcohol soaked breath.

There is a total of five of them, and the target is right in the middle.

With drunken gait, these five were singing in their tone deaf voices. The lyrics were obscene and most were directed at what they would do to women.

“How appropriate, today you will die singing that,” the figure said to itself.

When the group of drunks passed only a few yards where the figure was, it zipped out of its hiding place and headed right into the group.

In one pass, two of the men were down, their throats slit opened. They could not even utter a single word, as their vocals chords and jugular were cut right to the neck bone.

Even as they grasp in shock at their spurting wound, the other did not have time to react, before the figure made another pass.

Another two went down in similar fashion, and the last remaining man was the one the contract was out for.

“S .. st .. stop! Wait!” the man cried out, falling on his buttock as he tried to moved backwards.

The figure did not say anything, but continue moving towards him unhurriedly.

The last man desperately tried to launch Ki attacks at the figure. But all of it was in vain, as the figure easily side step those attacks.

His Ki defense was also useless, as the figure drew a weird looking stiletto and pierced it right into his heart. He could only scream a short scream, before it was cut off, with a penetrating slash across his throat.

The ground began to pool with the scarlet blood of all five men, who are lying close to each other. If it wasn’t for the unmistakably iron like smell indicating it was blood, anyone could have mistaken it as pools of water in the dark of night.

“A few more times, and I can finally have my revenge!” the figure thought in exultation.

It was a he, and he was the young child that was seeking revenge against the Princess Huiling. He is now a hired assassin, working for one of the many assassins guild.

He was given the code-name ‘Xue’, which could mean snow or blood. It was a perfect fit for his ice cold personality, and swift killing methods that always left a pool of blood.

He chose assassination as a fitting job, in order to hone skills in this area, so that he could be ready this time when he confronted the princess.

Today’s contract was extremely pleasing, the target was the leader of a small band of mercenaries. The leader had methodically raped, tortured, and murdered women and young girls alike.

His whereabouts were not known, and it was a pure stroke of luck that Xue managed to find him. It seems his appetite for women and young girls have not been abated by the execution demands of his native empire.

He continued his demented ways even in other empires, and it left trials of breadcrumbs which Xue initially had extreme difficulties following.

Xue have been in the same town by chance, when the mercenary leader raped and murdered the town chief’s daughter. The modus operandi was clear as day who did it, and it gave Xue who has been following his trail for over a few months, a chance to finally vent his frustrations.

Having not killed someone in a few months, was like telling Xue not to breathe. It was extremely suffocating and he was barely able to hold on before lashing out at innocent people.

He was not a murderer, but he worried someday his lust for revenge will overwhelm him with unwanted blood-lust.

However, these thoughts were not in his mind right now. He was counting how much more contracts he needed to fulfill, before he could buy the information of Princess Huiling’s whereabouts.

The assassin guild he was in, were alerted to the fact, that Xue wanted information about this. It was about two years earlier, that they have obtained a credible source.

Unfortunately the information will not come cheap, even though he is one of their members. He have joined them six years ago, after failing to enter the year before, due to the lack of skills.

By constantly training with the restricted relic, he grew remarkably in that year. But it was still lacking, and if it wasn’t for the fact he had that relic, they would not have entertained his membership.

It was made of an alloy of Void Crystals, and could penetrate any Ki defenses like a hot knife through butter. The handle was specially fabricated to prevent the user from suffering its effects.

It made assassinations of certain powerful Ki Realm targets a breeze, and Xue have killed his fair share of Grandmaster Realm Lower Tier pugilist.

He is Master Realm Middle Tier now, at the age of 16. He needed a little more push, before he can achieve Expert Tier. Once there, with his relic and current skill set, he could take down anyone below Unknown Realm.

The more he thought of things, the more he became happier. Soon he realize something, and a big smile formed.

“To be more exact, two more times, and she is mine! Things has only just begun! It will be interesting soon enough!” he said out loud, while walking off into the night laughing.

“Hahahahahahahahaha!”