Bar Lucid Dreams, VIP lounge.

“So? Why are you guys here again?” Lucid, the owner of Lucid Dreams asked with a weathered look.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re having a housewarming party.” Amara replied with a nonchalant tone. She swirled the wine glass in her hand as she leaned into her seat in a relaxed manner. It had been a while since the lot of them celebrated so lavishly, so she intended to savour her beverage slowly.

“…” Housewarming parties should be held at your own house! He wanted to retort. However, just one glance at Amara immediately caused him to shut his trap. The girl was probably drunk, and that might not bode well for whomever that decided to offend her right now. He wasn’t going to take any chances. He still valued his safety, after all.

“Are we bothering you, uncle?” Belle tilted her head worryingly.

Seeing the girl, Lucid could only helplessly smile. “No, of course not. I haven’t had many customers around lately, so having you kids around livens my mood.” Lucid’s tone changed to a more amiable one as he spoke to her.

To him, aside from Belle, the other six were hooligans. Heck, some of them were downright criminals! But Belle was different. Even when she was younger, she was a sweet and gentle girl. Even if he was discontented with the rest, he did not dare to take it out on the girl.

“If you say so, uncle. Thank you!” Belle smiled sweetly.

“Seems like the profits from your last heist was big enough to afford a new place. Did you guys give up on going to the mainland?” Lucid raised his eyebrow.

“Eni received a hefty inheritance for his 18th birthday. Not just spaceship tickets, we can even afford a whole spaceship now!” Amara cheered, raising her glass. She freely told the information to Lucid, seeing as he was an old acquaintance that she trusted.

“Inheritance? Did you find your family?” Lucid snapped his head towards Enigma. He knew that Enigma only had one family member: Mystery. These past eleven years that he had known the boy, Lucid never stopped searching for any clues related to Mystery, just as he had promised the younger boy a long time ago. However, despite exhausting all his connections and searching everywhere, nothing came up. The search was fruitless but neither of them ever gave up.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Not yet. There are leads, but…” Enigma pursed his lips. The storm in his eyes showed his uncertainty.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” Lucid’s face changed into seriousness. Despite his attitude towards the group of rebellious kids, deep inside, he still cared for them. Back when he was a social worker, he had been in charge of their cases, after all. Having been in direct and close contact with the now-grown children for so long, obviously he held some affections for them. Even after he retired and opened up a bar, he still kept up his relationship with them.

“I’ll contact you when I think of something,” says Enigma, bobbing his head in gratitude.

“Please do.” Lucid scratched his head and sighed.

“Wipe those solemn expression on your faces! It’s time to par-tayyyyy!” Jumping on the leather seats, Dean shouted. Clearly, he was inebriated.

Since it was a special occasion, the group had decided to splurge on alcohol, which they would come to regret the next morning as they suffered from its consequences.

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Unknown Building, B City.

“Boss, I’ve finished calculating the most optimum route. Preparations are almost complete.”

“Hm, I see. Show me.”

“Right here, boss.” The man swiped a blueprint towards the man he called ‘boss’.

“The second emergency staircase? Amazing, I never would have thought to use that one since it’s so obscure.” The boss nodded in approval.

“We’ll set out in a month. For now, monitor that person’s movements.” The boss says.

The man nodded. He closed the screen showing the blueprint and watched as the boss busied himself with the other materials relevant to his masterplan. “Um, boss?” The man hesitantly called out. “If I may ask, just what are we looking for…?”

The boss raised his head from the thing he was reading to look at the other man with an unreadable gaze.

Seeing that look, the man panicked. “Ah—no—I mean—if I know exactly what we’re looking for, then I might be able to devise a much better route to increase our success…!”

 The boss narrowed his eyes, “ah, I see. Well, I suppose it would not do me any harm to tell you.”

The other man silently heaved a sigh of relief at his boss’ words.

“This is the ‘goods’ that I’m looking for.” The boss raised a corner of his lips, smiling wryly as he passed a file towards the other man.

“…!”

The man’s eyes widened as he went through the file. His hands trembled due to his newfound knowledge.

Attached on the front page, was a picture.

A white-haired girl, eyes closed as if she was asleep.

The picture was labelled: Project M – Subject 0; Mystery [codename: Queen Bee].