The Ancient Genes

The sound of flushing entered Max\'s ears and he heard the door of the washroom opened.

"You done Ben." The other guy asked.

"Yes I am, let\'s go." The first guy replied and he could hear the sound of their footsteps leaving.

"Axle hurry up, they are leaving. We need to trail them." Max spoke while getting up from the toilet seat and leaving the washroom in a rush.

Following the two huge guys, they reached the cafeteria and found them loading dishes on a big tray cart with wheels.

Seeing them, Max\'s eyes shone. The amount of food they were loading was definitely worth several persons.

"Axle get ready we are about to put our plan into action." Max whispered to Axle standing behind him.

....

....

Getting no response, he moved his hand behind him.

Since Axle was under his formation, Max couldn\'t see him, but he could still feel him..

But as his hand moved, it passed straight through the air.

what!

Damn it!

Where in hell did he go?

...

\'Don\'t tell me.\'

\'Washroom\'

\'He didn\'t follow me.\'

\'That idiot.\'

As Max was about to turn and go back to get Axle, he saw the two guys moving out of the cafetaria pushing the tray cart full with food.

Shit!

\'I will have to leave him behind.\'

Max knew Axle could protect himself as long as he maintained a safe distance and didn\'t do anything too daring.

Besides, at that moment, he couldn\'t afford to lose that new found lead.

With that in him, he reluctantly left Axle behind and followed the two guys.

"I can\'t believe there would be a day like this." The guy named Ben spoke with a sad tone.

"Brother, why are we suffering this type of behaviour." The other guy spoke.

"Ron, it\'s not our local gang areas. It\'s the Dark Society. We are not at the top anymore." Ben spoke mocking himself.

"But...." Ron seemed to be reluctant to accept his fate.

Seeing his brother wavering, Ben spoke, "Let me tell you. This people you see here are the lowest rug in this branch. They are all either trainees or fresh graduate. Do you think that the association in Dark Society will be this weak."

"What!?" Max could see Ron\'s eyes widen in surprise as his mouth became wide open.

"So, we need to stay calm and climb our way to the top. Besides even though this task looks bad, it can be considered very important." Ben further spoke with a wide smile.

"How can this not be bad?" His brother asked with a scornful look in his eyes.

"Ha...ha.. Those girls we are taking food for are captured on the order of the Master Greed. He even sent his right hand to complete this task."

"Shsss..." Hearing him, Ron took in a deep breath and sweat started to form on Max\'s face.

Things were getting messier.

He needed to find a way to contact Murcas, ASAP.

Finally, turning around the corner of the hallway, they found a dead end.

Max knew about it. After all, a while ago, they had literally searched that whole damn floor and failed to discover a single hair of the missing girls.

He peeked his head from the corner of the wall and saw Ben twisting the painting on the wall vertically.

Grrr..

With a slight rumbling sound, a small passage appeared in the wall.

\'F*ck!\'

\'Are you serious!\'

They were already hiding in a deserted place.

Even inside that they hid in a luxurious underground floor.

And even inside that they built some secret room.

Max couldn\'t help but spew out a few curses at them.

Seeing them leave and the passage closing, Max too got out of Stealth and moved toward the painting on the wall.

But suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and all the hairs on his body rose. Following his instincts, his dagger slipped out of his sleeve and fell into his hand.

He turned with a full speed and carrying that moment, He attempted a side stab.

But a strong hand grabbed his arm. He could tell from the grip that that guy was strong. But before Max could make another move, he heard a familiar voice.

"Max calm down, it\'s me."

Turning his head around, Max found Axle blocking his attack while maintaining a horse stance.

\'This guy was strong ?\'

\'Are you kidding me. Is this how Otakus are nowadays.\'

He could remember Mark. He wasn\'t that strong, even the wind could sway him.. Max wondered how he was doing then.

As Axle released the grip on his hand, he spoke, "You are strong."

\'Don\'t take me as arrogant. Even though I am not that strong, I am a bit stronger than any average adults.\'

If he could block Max\'s full on attack with his own body without any use of Mana, you could probably get what he was trying to say.

"Of course, I am. Back in the days, the old Grandpa in the orphanage taught us Martial Arts and he was very strict. Earlier, if you hadn\'t caught me off guard, it would have been you lying down." Max didn\'t know how much truth was there in his words. But he would leave that for another day.

"Where were you? Do you know, we could have lost our lead because of you."

"Ahm....sorry, I was not feeling well because of my decision this day and it affected my stomach." He spoke in apology.

Max twisted the painting vertically while speaking, "I have confirmed the hostages are behind this wall. Let\'s go."