Eternal Thief



The Enforcer Sector was like a large fortress city, and there lived the Reinforcer Division's mysterious members who were selected by mysterious means. No one knew what the criteria for becoming a reinforcer division member were, but they always wore masks, and no one had ever seen their faces. 

That's what makes them even more terrifying, as they were all a ruthless bunch who would do anything to impose the laws of the Union and always be impartial. 

There were a few legends about this mysterious division. One of them was once a Union High Elder who tried to bribe a very high-ranking officer of the Reinforcer Division to let his son go from detention because of some crime he committed. 

However, not only did he not give the Union High Elder any face, he even detained him for trying to bribe a reinforcer, and the terrifying thing was that Union High Elder couldn't even retaliate against that officer. 

That's why everyone was afraid of the Enforcer Sector, and no one dared to poke this hornet nest. 

Ace landed outside the massive gates, which were guarded by two white armored figures holding long white spears. Not only that but their faces as well as eyes were hidden behind a white faceless mask, their skin was also covered in white cloths, and their hair was also hidden under a white helmet. 

They were completely white like statues, and Ace found it quite strange because he couldn't sense any kind of fluctuations from those two either and wondered if they were really some decorative statues. 

"State your purpose Outer Union Dweller!" A deep imposing voice rang from one of the white figures. 

'So, they are alive after all.' Ace thought and had an itch to soul probe them, but he couldn't even sense their cultivation, so it was a gamble he didn't want to take right now. 

He respectfully replied, "I'm here to reevaluate my union rank!" 

"Your Union Token?" The same voice impassively asked again. 

Ace took out his token without hesitation, and thereafter, the token suddenly flashed in a golden light before it returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

The same voice rang again at this moment, "Union Student White, you may enter the Enforcer Sector area# 21. Someone will escort you to your destination. Do remember that if you try to derail from your given path, you will be punished according to Reinforcer Division Rules!" 

Ace's eyes narrowed as he found this restriction a little bit too much, and he became even more curious about just what kind of place this enforcer sector was that everyone was afraid of. 

Hiding his actual thoughts, he respectfully replied, "I understand." 

No further reply was given, and the next moment, Ace saw a small pathway slide open within the massive red gates. So, he knew it was most likely his cue to move along, and he did just that. 

The gateway was actually a dark pathway that was over fifty meters long, which should be the true thickness of those large gates which were quite a lot in Ace's mind. 

Anyhow, he continued to walk while trying to probe his surroundings, but his thief sense was completely stable without anything out of the blue. But he knew better than to believe it blindly. 

Then he opened the fate map, and it appeared red, and the compass point of still pointing straight up ahead. However, Ace suddenly noticed someone very strangely. 

'Why didn't those two outside gates show in the fate map?' 

Ace was bewildered since he could still see the passage behind him, and he wasn't in some other space either. The fate map range was three miles wide, just like his thief sense, so it was impossible to miss those two outsides. 

It had never happened before, so he asked Moira the same question. 

However, Moira's reply shocked him. 

"Sir Ace, only living beings have fate points!" 

"Wait? Are you suggesting that the two guys outside are not alive? Are they like corpse puppets or blood puppets?" Ace felt alarmed by this revelation as it was too hard to believe. 

"Although they didn't have any life fluctuations, they are not like those corpses either as they didn't seem to have any death aura to them. I think you might've already noticed it if they were corpses because of your close encounters with them. So, they might be some other sorts of puppets. Nevertheless, they didn't have a fate since they are not alive, which results in no fate points." Moira replied.

"So, that's why I didn't feel any kind of fluctuations on them." Ace grimaced as this turn of events was too strange for him. 

'If they are not corpses, then does this mean someone in the union is using a technique like Undead Puppetry to make the members of Reinforcer Divisions? Or the entire reinforcer division is built on these puppets?' Ace felt this possibility is simply too absurd to be possible. 

But when he thought about how mysterious the reinforcer division was and their stories of almost blind loyalty towards the union, he felt a chill run down his spine. 

Because if this was true, then someone was playing a terrifying game, and the union's true face might not be as commendable as it would appear. 

However, it was still just a baseless conjecture, and Ace truly hoped it wasn't true because things would turn very grim for him if someone like Moon Fiend King were controlling everything behind the scene. 

With a heavy heart, he stepped outside the passage and found himself standing in a valley. Not only that, but he saw another White figure standing a few meters away from him, and when he saw the fate map, his heart sank because he also didn't have a fate point. 

"Follow me." A crisp voice rang from the white figure before it turned around and started walking in the valley. 

Ace took a deep breath and followed the white figure like he had no idea it was a freaking puppet walking. When they walked about fifty meters deep in the valley, Ace saw multiple roads emerge, and the white figure took a particular road and continued walking. 

This time, they were walking between a road that was made of tall walls like an alleyway, and Ace couldn't see what was around him. Only the fate map was showing pathways around him. 

Nevertheless, it just made it even more clear that someone was trying to hide something. 

Ace finally understood why the Heaven's Stealer Mission was triggered in this place, it was filled with unknown dangers and mysteries, and with just one wrong step, he might find himself falling!