Shi Lang faced the two enemies, tolerating their snarling onslaught. He was not given a single chance of counterattack, and Amelia on the side could not find a clean shot to take out the Shamanti warrior.

As soon as she would aim at the person fighting with Shi Lang, the other guy would jump in and disrupt the rhythm. She was not a fool, she could deduce that this warrior was sensitive to her killing intent and that was why he would disrupt her thoughts by a sudden move and retreat.

After one minute, Amelia recalled the scene where Shi Lang led the technological class against the battle class back in school. How they were all able to sneak attack without rousing the alarms. She lowered her handgun and knelt on the ground as she stood in a patch of moonlight. All her weapons were coated with a layer of camouflage and were almost invisible after blending with the surroundings.

Shi Lang had told her during their date about his meditation technique and how it helped him clear his mind and enter a focused state. Amelia never tried it before, she closed her eyes and let go of the control she had on her thoughts. Time seemed to have accelerated inside her consciousness, but she was unaffected. Shi Lang had described it all to her.

She found calm in the chaos of wandering thoughts. When her mind turned blank, the girl opened her eyes and stood up. She did not aim at the guy who was fighting with Shi Lang, but the one observing the surroundings. Then without a moment of delay, she squeezed the trigger. The phasor beam flashed through the void and the shamanti warrior could not even react.

It was because he could not sense the intentions radiated from Amelia. This was a blank shot, not many people can discern this. The shamanti warrior fell on the ground after the phasor beam poked a hole in his head.

The warrior standing against Shi Lang sensed this and his concentration wavered for a blink, and this blink was enough for Shi Lang to stab his knife in the assailant’s rib cage, he did not even give the target a chance to groan from the pain, as his right hand twisted the hilt of the knife, his raised his left hand and with the tip of his fingers, stabbed the throat of the Shamanti warrior.

The breathing was disrupted, Shi Lang extracted his knife, and back away. He took out his handgun and in a jiffy, poked a hole through the shamanti warrior’s head. Then he bowed to the corpse, and said, “You were a strong one, may you rest in peace.”

Amelia tilted her head at this act of compassion from him. She could not comprehend, and just as she was about to ask him, the guy raised his left hand and tapped the communicator. He turned to look at her and said, “Let us go, the chopper is here.”

Amelia nodded and they turned back. The whole encounter with the shamanti team lasted for two minutes. This was the speed and intensity of the fight. Shi Lang was not as unscathed as he seemed to be. The youngster had his black uniform riddled with cut marks. The scimitar of the warrior was very close to taking his life. Thankfully it was just his clothes, otherwise, Dalia might test some poison on his body in the name of treatment.

They returned to the shore, where the flame leopard was lying unconscious, and the blue bird inside the cage was back to its fluttering ruckus. Shi Lang picked up the cage and the bird turned silent. The chopper lowered itself and came to hover above the lake. Three Terran soldiers got down and after saluting Shi Lang, they began to transport the leopard inside the helicopter.

The trip back to the base was quiet for Amelia and Shi Lang, while the other three soldiers were shocked beyond their wits. They did not expect this black-clothed officer to be this ferocious. To venture deep inside the woods, and then to kill a few shamanti warriors, and even capture this big beast?

The Flaming leopard was so big that it occupied the whole floor after they curled its body. The groans from the beasts were good enough to scare the shit out of the people. It took then three hours to get back to the base. The speed of the chopper was a lot faster and they did not have to take any turns in the sky.

When the chopper landed inside the base, a lot of soldiers gathered in a distance to see, what sort of mission did the secret division guy finish. They were not the only bystanders, the commanding officer, Major Tiberius, also stood at the forefront with his chest popped out.

Shi Lang asked the soldiers to administer a dose of sedative on the beast and deliver it to the gates of the campsite. He turned to face Amelia and said, “You can take a rest, Lieutenant. I will handle the mission report.”

Amelia saluted the guy and said, “Yes, Sir.” then she left after giving him a hug. The mission was finished the moment, he gave her the orders to take a rest.

Tiberius fumed at this public display of affection and said, “Agent Ace, would you mind telling me the information of the mission, and why are you, a strong person wearing tatters? Do not tell me that it is because the cat scratched you a bit too hard.”The debut release happened at N0v3lBiin.

He was covering his intent of insult with a chuckle, Shi Lang was not a fool to not be able to differentiate. He said, “I would have loved to entertain you, Major Tiberius, but, I have a report to finish, and goods to deliver.”

Then he turned on his heels and walked away leaving Tiberius standing with a smirk. This arrogant guy thought that Shi Lang was being quiet because he was weak. Silence is often interpreted as weakness, this was nothing new. So he decided to poke one more time. He said, “Agent Ace, I would like to invite you to spar with me when you are done with the report. I wonder if you would be interested?”

Shi Lang did not turn back and said, “You can pick the place, I will pick the time. See you.”

He was not going to let all these pricks walk over them. Earlier the commander had deliberately delayed their mission progress by not handing over the information. He was pissed because of that, but since his magnanimity was not valued, he decided to settle all the accounts together.

Shi Lang walked inside the camp and found, Carlos and John pushing a stretcher with the flaming leopard on it inside the infirmary. The cage with the blue bird was missing. Carlos noticed his expressions and said, “Do not worry, I promised you a delicacy, I will get you one, finish the spar with that mutt and come back here with your girl. I will treat you.”

Shi Lang almost could not believe that this rude person was being so kind to him. He did not say anything except a thank you. John nodded and said, “You performed well, the last two warriors were at the peak of five-star Terran level by our systems, you held your grounds and even took them down with nothing more than tattered clothes, good. However, do not get high on success, you still have a lot to improve.”

Shi Lang nodded and accepted the advice. They pushed the stretcher inside the infirmary and Shi Lang took out the herbs mentioned by Dalia using forceps. He had been carrying them inside his utility belt. He said, “Ma’am there are a few more than what you asked me for, I hope they prove useful to your experiments.”

Dalia smiled charmingly and said in a soft voice, “Awww, young Lang is trying to seduce teacher.”

Shi Lang could swear that his head almost exploded like a ripe watermelon when he heard this comment. He shook his head and asked with a poker face, “Ma’am how long till you can get me that tonic to breakthrough?”

Dalia smiled and said, “I had that tonic made for you already, I only needed you to pay for it so the mission was designed, also, I would like you to provide a detailed explanation of the place you just scouted for us in the mission report. You see, that region is the least explored, so, you have done us a big favor.”

Shi Lang took a deep breath and with a nod, he left the room. He was aware that it was not useful to fight and argue with these silly old people. They would always have him do the things that bring them some sort of entertainment.

He went to the mess hall and began to type a ‘detailed’ report of his mission on his communicator to submit it to the higher-ups. He did not have the mind to think about the upcoming spar at all.