Chapter 3

The Walther stared right at her forehead. Her eyes followed his thumb as it pulled the safety pin. A cold sweat dripped down her neck. Her left hand was a few inches away from the pocket knife in her jacket and all she had to do was reach for it without raising any suspicion. Easy, right? The only problem was she realized this guy was not just any crazed Tom, Dick, or Harry that needed some quick cash or anything else to that.

The man was basically made of hard muscle and protruding veins. His stance as he held the gun was to give him a upper hand if she decided to attack or escape. He had prepared for this and had memorized the time she would come back home, probably by watching her for a while and making sure she was oblivious the whole time. She could feel his intent to kill and there was no doubt he would pull the trigger he would pulled the trigger if she made any slight move.

'How do I even describe this day?'

According to the massive amount of confidence exuding from him, massive enough to make him come at her alone~ he seemed to be a professional at this. Too bad he or whoever sent him gravely underestimated her.

She could not see his face but could make out small details since the bulb was behind him. His clean shaven jawline and dark hair and eyes were some of his features. He tilted his head and spoke.

"You're going to get a hole in your chest if you keep staring at me." His warm voice made the warning feel more like an advice from a close acquaintance. His attire was a familiar but she couldn't make out where she saw it. It was when she noticed a part of the blue dragon tattoo on the side of his neck that she realized.

"Are you an assasin from the Hian Ji clan?"

She asked without hesitation and continued.

"Yes, you are one. A lone wolf at that if I'm not wrong. What is your purpose here?"

He smirked and replied, "It's not important for a dead man to know why he's dead, is it? Hila?" He said before gripping the gun tighter and pulled the trigger.

It was as if time itself stopped. He couldn't even explain how the atmosphere changed from calm to intimidating in an instant, how she dodged the bullet before his finger gave the command, and how he found himself on the floor and the gun now pointed at him.

Those innocent green eyes from before were now calm, cold and definitely left him intimidated and unable to tell what she would do next. Pull the trigger or leave him barely alive to set an example for the people who were still looking for her.

"How do you know me? I know you're like me, trained not to speak when held captive or tortured but if you know my name, then you know me, and you know why they called me Adolph's Shadow, don't you?"

His Adam's Apple moved up and down as he gulped from the fear she inflicted with that sentence and those dreadful eyes. He could still feel the aftermath of the punch she landed below his chest before sending him sprawling on the floor.

"As expected of the Hian Hoshi clan, to be able to produce such a fine gifted weapon as you must have made them proud and esteemed."

He said and smiled at her. Beneath that fake smile was a man, begging and praying for his life.

"It seems I have not given you enough pain for realisation to hit you right in your smug face. I'll give you some time to think. "

She said clearly annoyed with the horrible luck she had had that day and jabbed his head with the back of the gun.

She pulled his heavy body to her bedroom, cuffed his hands to the bed and took out her phone. She dialed a number she knew off head and called.

"It takes great talent and skill to veil great talent and skill. Little Lotus, how is the brighter side of the world?"

A crooked old female voice answered the phone.

"Only psychopaths and manipulators can achieve hiding their talents and skills Elder Hoshi. Everything is going as  planned thank you for asking. Oh, but a Hian Ji attacked me at my home and knows everything about me. I thought I died and my existence was erased with you and the other Elders' help. What's going on?"

"Did you kill him? How did you dispose of the body? "

"I haven't, yet. What are we going to do about this situation? "

She asked as she took out a bottle of Bourbon from under the bed. She poured its contents into a clear glass and chugged it down. She spoke again after noticing the suspicion emanating from the Elder's silence.

"I haven't killed him...nor tortured him. He'll just come to and find a bump on his head. He seemed a bit familiar so I first had to confirm from you."

She heard the Elder's sigh of relief before she spoke.

"I understand. Just send me a picture of him and I'll send you his information. Think of it as an apology for our inability to control the organisation's hunters. "

"You better. How are-ah...nevermind."

A slight chuckle from the other side followed.

"They're alive and fine. Though your death did hit them hard."

"You know, sometimes I wonder if I'm actually doing the right thing. Would my family be happy if they saw what kind of monster I turned into just for revenge? "

"Oh Little Lotus, you think too much. Just follow what path you want to take and you might find the light at the end of the bloody tunnel. Even though I have never met your family, I learnt a lot about them from you and they would be proud of your strength and resilience."

Her vision got blurry from the tears that welled up her eyes. She cleared her throat and bid the elder a good night before hanging up. Within a few minutes, she received the attacker's information from an anonymous source.

"Wow, I did not expect this." She mumbled in amazement as her eyes skimmed past the files.

PS:

*The organisation Hila used to work in was divide into many groups called clans.

There were the main branches: Hian Hoshi

Hian Ji

Hian Fang

Hian Lao

These groups were considered to birth the best assasins, with the Hian Hoshi (Hila's clan) at the topmost. I This explains why she easily got information from the Elder.

Elders are the most imporant and have the most power in their groups. They have decades of experience and are highly respected.

The Elders change their names after being appointed and are henceforth bamed after their clan. *

*There are other Clans but they have little power and mostly take care of young children.

Once the children grow up, the most talented are picked and taken to the four main clans to start official training*