Under the Veil of Night

Master Rudy's Place

Time passed swiftly as Kanae spent the night practicing under Master Rudy's supervision. She was only allowed to rest when she was completely exhausted. It was quite inhumane in her opinion, but she didn't have any other choice. Master Rudy told her that the best way for her to improve was breaking down her body completely and letting it rebuild from the bottom up by itself. Beside her, the young man has stopped practicing from a long time ago.

"Master, you brought another monster here again," the young man complained.

Master Rudy laughed. "You're also great. Don't compare yourself with her. She's on a different level than you."

The young man nodded his head. "I know that."

"1000!" Kanae yelled and collapsed facedown on the ground. She finally managed to finish her one thousand push-ups for today. That damnable master of hers, he actually told her to do this insane practice with her limiters on her arms and legs. Right now, she could barely feel them as she was terribly exhausted.

Master Rudy nodded his head in satisfaction. If he should say, Kanae was the best disciple he has ever had. Not even his most prized disciple from before could compare with Kanae's perseverance.

"You should take a rest."

"Yes, Master."

Kanae flipped onto her black and lay on the ground for a couple of minutes before she sat up. Her hand reached into to her pocket and took out a beautiful envelope.

"Master, I want to ask you about this."

Master Rudy's eyebrows shot up when he saw that envelope. "Sakura Nali's birthday invitation? Now, I'm truly curious about your relationship with the four big families. You seem to be able to receive news about them very quickly."

Hearing that, Kanae could only smile wryly. Her relationship was complicated, and she didn't wish to implicate her master. To put it in simple words, their relationship was that of hate and constraint. Both of them hated each other to the bone, but they had to rein themselves in because of the rules.

 Of course, if in the future she needed to tell him, she would do that.

"I want to know about the underworld's reaction to this party. They seemed to be quite adamant in creating trouble for the Nali Family months ago."

Master Rudy nodded his head. Kanae was referring to the incident on the cruise ship. At that time, a group of men who was extremely interested in the Nali Family created trouble for them and nearly killed everyone on the cruise ship.

Their plan failed and there was barely any news about this mysterious group anymore. However, Kanae had the feeling that they might make a move again during this party. To be able to uncover the secret that the Nali Family had guarded so heavily, they were clearly unordinary.

"Normally, I would request for a fight with you again before I answer your question," Master Rudy sighed. "But I'll make an exception today because you're not in the shape to fight."

Kanae laughed dryly. Whose fault was it that she couldn't fight right now? Her body was extremely exhausted, and she could barely move her body around. It would be a miracle if she still could hold her ground in her condition against someone of Master Rudy's caliber.

"Yes, they're still aiming for the letter that the government sent to the Nali Family. They have been gathering news for the past few months and recently, they got the name of the recipient of the letter."

When she heard that, Kanae's facial expression changed slightly. She also knew the name of the recipient. However, should the name get leaked out to the public, the entire Nali Family was going to be destroyed. This was especially true if that group also knew the crux of the matter regarding the letter.

No matter how much she hated the Nali Family, she couldn't let the news get leaked out before she finished her business and left the Nali Family. Against those people, even she herself knew that she was not powerful enough to face them. She didn't want to get killed just because of her surname.

"Do you know their aim?"

"They want to discover the source of the hidden power of the governments from the letter. As you should have known, the recipients of the letters are all those whom the government has its eyes on," Master Rudy stopped for a moment. "As well as those who had some abnormality when they were born."

Kanae tried her best to control her facial expression. This matter was something that she also knew because of certain circumstances. However, the number of people who knew was extremely limited. It was a secret guarded by those who knew because if the news leaked out, this city would never be in peace.

She still couldn't let Master Rudy know too much about her. Knowing that secret alone would mean she has connections one way or another, and it would make it easy for Master Rudy to track her identity. Or worse, he would know the secret she hid from everyone around her. Even if he was her master and she already spent hours training with him, he was still a big mystery for her. She couldn't bring herself to tell him about her personal matters too.

The sound of a car stopping near them caused the three people to turn their heads. They saw Jason stepping out of the car leisurely.

"Captain, you're still not finished training yet?"

"I'm currently asking them about the letter from the government," Kanae answered back. Her expression already returned to normal as she looked towards her master again. "Do they also know the truth about the letter?"

"No, they only know that the letter is their ticket to the government's secret base. Right now, they're trying their hardest to find out those who received the letter."

"They're not entirely wrong," Kanae murmured.

Master Rudy looked towards Kanae with a smile on his aged face. "You seem to know much more than what you show on the surface, little girl."

Kanae smiled back. "Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't."

"I won't pester you if you don't want to tell me," Master Rudy shrugged. He couldn't just force someone like Kanae to tell him if she didn't have any intention of doing that. "I just want to remind you that you have to be careful. Even if the government rarely appears in public and seems to be weak, they're the hidden king of this city."

"Thank you for your advice, Master," Kanae stood up and bowed politely.

"Considering you have the invitation, I assume you also have your plan for that party. Be careful."

"Yes, Master."

Master Rudy watched as Kanae bid her farewell and got into the car. He only averted his eyes when the car was already quite far in the distance. By his side, the young man was baffled by Master Rudy's sudden apprehension.

"Master, do you think Rei will be alright?"

"I honestly don't know, but I have the feeling that this city will be thrown into great turmoil with her in the eye of the storm," Master Rudy chuckled. "Quite a weird feeling, isn't it?"

The young man's face turned rather solemn. Even though his master was a normal man on a usual day, he had quite a keen sense. In terms of discovering talent, he was clearly number one as he only needed to beat up a random person. By the time they met again, that person turned out to be someone extremely talented and had improved even more than before. (This was the incident with Rei)

Aside from that, he also knew that Master Rudy sometimes had certain feelings towards the future. Whenever he got such a premonition, usually it would happen.

"I hope nothing bad will happen."

Master Rudy scoffed. "There are a lot of ambitious people in this age. If they don't clash, that would instead be the miracle."

The young man didn't answer. He merely thought about what his master said to him. Indeed, they have met several remarkable people and saw how grand their plans were. The future of this city was not going to be very peaceful.

"Now, it's time for your practice again."

"Master, didn't I have enough already?"

"What are you talking about? You stopped even earlier than Rei and you say that's enough? Get back here you brat!"