Anom and the girls walked till they arrived outside Crystal's house.

Seeing him ready to leave, Crystal spoke, "Don't do anything reckless." Her sweet voice laced with worry made her sound like a carrying wife.

Hearing her speak, Anom turned to face her with a teasing smile.

"So you're worried, huh? Then giving me a good luck kiss is a must," said Anom as his face neared Crystal's.

Her heart thumped, but after going through his intense 'training', her self-control had improved. Collecting her emotions, she closed her eyes while her lips moved to welcome him.

"Umph!" Crystal felt a sweetness inside her mouth, but it was different from what she had expected.

Opening her eyes, she saw Anom holding a golden crystal which he had put inside her mouth.

*Crunch*

Identifying it as one of the Golden Syrup crystals that they had raided back in the Zeru forest, she took a crunchy bite.

While enjoying the delicious flavor, she made a pouty face as she looked at Anom, who was giving some crystals to Luna.

*Crunch*

"It's so sweet! So delicious!" Exclaimed Luna.

*Crunch*

Crystal kept her eyes on Anom while munching on her crystal and waiting for a reply…

*Crunch*

…only to be answered by more crunching and chewing sounds.

"What?" Anom asked as he took another bite.

"Humph!"

*Crunch*

Anom smiled as he took out all the syrup crystals and gave them to Luna.

"I don’t think I need to sell them anymore. Keep them and eat them regularly, they are good for your growth… Oh, and share some with your Madam too." He rubbed Luna's head as he found her satisfied expression very adorable.

Before the girls could react, Anom gave them both a peck on their foreheads and left without even leaving a shadow.

"I'll be back!" His words lingered as the girls looked towards the city with worry and longing in their eyes.

…

Bolting through the empty alleys, Anom reached the gang's lair.

After taking a measure of his surroundings, he climbed back through the window and entered the Gang Leader's room.

"Tomorrow is going to be fun," he muttered. "Well, time to get some rest."

Placing his blade and storage bags on the table, Anom jumped on the bed for a rest after his lively day.

Soon, his breathing evened as his consciousness drifted towards the Soul Realm to enjoy another exciting sight with Della.

…

*Knock* *Knock*

"Enter."

The door opened as a muscular man with short hair entered the room.

"Everyone is ready for departure, Boss." The man bowed in greeting as he reported.

"Alright. Let's go." Anom nodded as he stood up. He walked in the front while the muscular man followed behind him.

They both left the room and made their way down the stairs.

Arriving at the bar, which was also the place for their meeting, Anom looked at the people standing in a neat line.

Just this morning, he had been racking his brains to think of a sensible excuse to arrange a meeting with the Handler family. Who knew, just as he was about to call for someone to arrange the meeting, an underling came knocking on his door.

This person was the same muscular man who had come to inform Anom just now. He acted as an intermediary between the gang and the Handler family and supervised the communication between the two parties.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

He had come to the leader's room to inform him about an invitation from the Handler family.

Having no reason to refuse, Anom agreed quickly, and ordered him to arrange for a small team to go along with him.

Including him and the messenger, a total of thirteen people were present in the room.

Scanning through the ten people standing in the front, Anom, like a leader was supposed to, nodded in satisfaction.

"Good." He praised the underling for his arrangements, who replied gratefully with a bow.

Finishing his analysis of the team he was going to take with him, Anom shifted his attention towards the last person in the room.

Unlike the other muscular and ferocious looking members present, this man looked like a shady and dishonest merchant who always kept trying to think of ways to take advantage of his customers.

Seeing Anom looking at him, the man bowed hurriedly, making his pot belly wobble.

"Judin at your service, Boss!" The chubby man exclaimed, too excited to meet the leader directly.

Anom nodded while wondering the purpose of his visit. Suddenly, remembering something, he gestured to the rest to leave and wait outside the building.

When only he and the man named Judin were left, Anom ordered, "Speak."

The man gave a quick nod as he began, "The mission you assigned to me has been completed without any problems." Judin said while puffing his chest. He continued, "Though I must say, the target was quite… feisty… But no worries, everything went without a hitch after we used the drug you provided us with." The man finished his report while looking at Anom with sparkling eyes.

Anom felt weird at being stared at like that, and was confused for a second before he realized…

"Uh… Good job… I'll remember you." Anom praised him while wondering if it was the same mission that Gamus had mentioned as the result of his interrogations. But now was not the time as he could attend to it later.

Judin nodded with a satisfied face as he bowed. "Always at your service, Boss." His face radiated joy as being able to impress the leader made his day worth it.

Seeing Anom turning to leave, Judin hesitated for a brief second before he gathered his courage.

"Boss…"

Anom stopped and turned, giving a quizzical look.

"So Boss… When will you come to check the prisoner?" Judin asked, and as if hungry for more praise, asked additionally, "Would you like me to prepare some 'special arrangements' for your interrogation?"

Anom didn’t quite catch the meaning of the "special arrangements" he mentioned, but the words "prisoner" and "interrogation" did make him realize the nature of this task.

He nodded in agreement. "Do as you wish. I will check the situation after I'm back."

Not waiting for anything else, Anom turned and left…

Wandering through the busy streets, the group only took about thirty minutes before arriving at the meeting spot.

"What an interesting choice for a 'secret' meeting," Anom muttered as he lowered his cloak.

In front of him was a fancy restaurant. People belonging to the upper class could be seen entering and exiting the establishment.

The arrival of his group attracted some attention as they were all covered in cloaks and hiding their faces.

Anom gestured to his team to ditch the cloaks. Secrecy was the last thing the other party seemed to care about.

Entering the building, the intermediary asked a staff member for directions, causing the latter's expression to stiffen.

Going towards the private room, Anom realized that they could have found it anyway, as the people they were going to meet stood out a bit too much.

'Looks like they really don't care about keeping it a secret.' It was clear that the Handler family had already considered the situation to be in their favor.

"The Young Head has been waiting for you." A guard informed them as they arrived outside the private room.

Anom nodded while scanning through the team of guards standing outside the room.

The guard held open the door as Anom entered with his team following behind.

The room felt luxurious with all the furniture being carved with intricate patterns and embedded with colorful gemstones. The large window on the side allowed the occupants to enjoy the scene of the tranquil pond with fishes jumping around. It was probably the best room the establishment had to offer.

Seated within the room was only a single person while the rest of the people, around twenty guards, were standing attentively.

Anom focused on the only man sitting and was not surprised to identify him as Selvo Handler, the son of the Handler Family Head, Kino Handler.

His face still contained the same arrogance Anom remembered from their last meeting.

Shifting his attention to the man standing beside Selvo, Anom's eyes narrowed.

This person wasn't wearing the brown guard uniform, instead, a black robe covered his thin frame. His black hair was greying at the temples while his sharp eyes looked as if waiting for a prey… What attracted Anom's attention was his aura, which was clearly at the peak of the Materialization realm. Ignoring Selvo, who had broken through recently, this person was the strongest among their group.

Selvo put down the wine he was sipping on and settled his gaze on Anom and smirked.

"You're late, Nedar. And what's with the mask? Why do you have to worry about someone recognizing you?" said Selvo, while looking at Anom with a smug smile.

Anom didn't reply, walking towards the chair opposite to Selvo, he sat down.

"This is called keeping a low profile." Copying the hoarse voice of Nedar, the Gang Leader, he replied. "Maybe you should also learn to do the same."

"Haha! And my father says you are a serious person." Selvo cackled. "But really… Do I look like someone who likes to keep it low?" His tone was arrogant as he spread his hands and gestured towards his team of guards. Surely, a low-profiled person wouldn't travel with a procession like this. This was the opposite of trying to keep a low profile.

Anom shook his head as he got to the point, "Tell me if you have any requests or intelligence to share."

Hearing the word 'request', Selvo's cheek twitched, but he maintained his smile and replied, "Firstly, my father wanted to know if all the pieces are in the right places."

"It's done." Anom nodded as he had received the report about the gang members that had been scattered around all the major spots in the city, with the majority of these places being related to the Safaira Family's businesses. This was ordered by the Handler family as they wanted to know about every move made by their opponents.

Selvo nodded and asked his next question, "Do you know about Red Jedzar?" His voice suddenly turned serious as he focused on Anom and waited for his reply.

Hearing his question, Anom's expression turned weird. Not because he didn't know about the thing Selvo mentioned, but because he knew exactly what it was.