Death was uncommon in the slums, as even though the people who lived here were kind of unruly, they were still afraid of the law enforcements as no one ever got back after being captured by them, not even the supposedly powerful gang members can get away if they commit murder. After the mayor was stripped of his position and a new one was elected, the authorities have been much stricter in the past 5 years.

'I reckon there must be hidden undercurrents happening in the slums lately, I hope it's not connected to our gang, I might get arrested even though I'm a low-level member.'

Zach slowly went in front of the scene, the situation in front of him reminded him of his parents and he could not help but think of the circumstance of their death. Zach loathed himself for it, the way they died and how powerless he was to help them made him hate the people who did it, it only made it worse as he did not know who caused it. The only thing he knew about the what happened was that someone of high status did it. And if given the chance, Zach would unravel the mysteries that covered his parent's death and exact justice not only for his family, but also for the ones who were affected by the disaster as well.

People that surrounded the body were murmuring to each other, guessing who the unfortunate person was, and why would someone inflict such brutal and grievous things to the person. The death of a person and the situation in the slums made a disturbing atmosphere, it was though as if nothing can cleanse the slums and things will only get worse from now.

As Zach saw the scene in front of him, his curiosity got the best of him and he decided to go near the body to see what clearly happened. And what he saw made him deeply regret the decision he made. He almost wretched if not for his timely reaction of looking away, as he managed to swallow what he was going to vomit. Finally gathering the courage to look at the corpse clearly, he was creeped out at what he saw as his hair stood on edge.

The corpse was lying on the ground peacefully, as if the person was just asleep on the comfort of his own bed, in contrast to the situation, his head was nowhere to be found, his fingers were broken, it seemed that someone must have just tortured the person before committing the murder, his chest was hollow, it was though as if someone took the person's heart with a bare hand. The corpse was still fresh, it must have happened while Zach was bathing earlier.

The corpse's outfit clearly indicated that he was someone of high status, as his clothes were clearly made from the finest of silk that Zach had never even seen once in his life. His forearm had a mark that clearly looked like the 2 weird people's insignia that were pinned on their chests.

'What the f**k?! I shouldn't have listened to my urges, now I'm going to have nightmares every night because of this!'

'Why did this happen here? I never heard of such bizarre death that happened in this city.'

'Is it related to those 2 weird people? It must be, only weird people like them can attract a situation as weird as this.'

'Did they do it or is this person their companion? That mark seems eerie compared to their insignia.'

'But I never saw anything like them here in the slums. These weird people must be hidden forces by the Empire to keep 'them' in check. They are acting really shady lately.'

'What is the use of guessing these things? I'm just a low-level thug that can be ordered around in that place, it's even better if someone could finally end their actions.'

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'I should go home now. I still have more urgent things to do.'

Putting away his thoughts, Zach finally decided to go home. However, as he started to walk away, he felt someone tap his shoulders. He looked behind his back to see who would do such thing.

He was scared sh*tless of what he saw. One of the hooded people was standing behind him. He looked up and saw the person's face. He was a person who seemed to be in his 50's, he had wrinkles at the side of his eyes, he had an unkempt beard and his face was showing clear signs of fatigue. His eyes were sore, he had dark circles his eyes, yet his face remained flaccid and serious, it was as though he was tired of the recent nonsense and just want to rest yet his job does not want him to.

'What now? Why does he want my attention? Why does he look so fierce? I did nothing wrong!'

"Excuse me sir, what do you want from me, I don't have anything."

Zach nervously said, as he was sweating bullets due to the intimidating aura of the man.

"Don't be nervous, I only want to ask questions."

The hooded person was confused at why the young man was reacting so intensely. He only wanted to ask something as he recognized the young man was one of the lowly members of the gang in the slums. He now thought that the young man must have been involved in the incident because of the intense reaction that he had, so he grabbed Zach and dragged him to the other hooded person.

If Zach was only a little bit nervous before, now he was truly scared of why the person would drag him when he did nothing wrong in the first place.

'What an unlucky day! First that excruciating pain that I wished I could die from, now this!'

Zach rapidly thought of ways to quickly escape the situation. His instinct was shouting at him to get away fast as he might get into an unfavorable situation later.

"May I ask why you are dragging me away? I swear I know nothing of the situation, I was just passing by. I still have things to do, I would highly appreciate if you let me go."

When the hooded man heard Zach, he only got more suspicious as why would the young man become defensive. 'Does he know something? I just felt a weak pulse of mystic power within him. If he doesn't know anything, it's not bad to have one more comrade in the future.'

'I'm dead… I must have said something wrong. Mom, Dad, I'll see you soon...' When Zach felt the man's hand tighten more around his arm, he began to get more scared, as he tried to pry his hands away from the grip of the man he deemed to be the harbinger of death.

Without Zach realizing it, they were already in front of the other hooded person. And when he saw the person in front of him, Zach already resigned to his fate. The woman's stature made him even more scared, she was around 2 meters in height, her shoulders were so wide she could ram a house with it and probably remain unscathed. She had a wide smile making it seem as if she was kind and amiable, yet she had a giant stature, and her giant arms hidden underneath her robe was obvious that they could punch a person to the afterlife.

'God… If I'm going to die, at least let me die in the hands of a beautiful woman.'

The hooded man dragged Zach in front of him to show the young man to the woman. When the woman laid her eyes on him, Zach saw a dangerous glint pass through her eyes yet her smile remained, and that made him even more scared.

"Please, all I want is a peaceful death, away from the pain. What I've experienced earlier this morning is already enough for my weak mind." Zach kneeled and solemnly stated in between tears.

When the hooded man heard the latter part of what Zach said, he was finally sure of what he thought and it only made his decision firmer than before. The first thing he said though made him unsure whether to laugh or cry.

"Why would we kill you? I only dragged you here so that we can ask you questions."

When Zach heard what the hooded man said, he heaved a sigh of relief, as if a great burden was finally lifted from his mind and he felt blissful now that he can live, but when he thought of his debt, he again sighed, not of relief but of misery.

The woman, who did not say anything up until now, finally uttered something maliciously despite her virtuous smile, and that made Zach's situation go back to the precarious situation he had before.

"Do you want me to torture him for the answers? I have various ways to make a man tell the truth, and none of them is less painful than the others."

'Cr*p! I thought I got out of that situation already!'