The Ancient Genes

Plum District, Ocien.

Argus sat in a restaurant enjoying a meal as he looked through his phone.

"I am here.." At this moment, Max's voice rang in his ears and his movement paused for a second before resuming.

"Do you see them?" Argus asked in a low voice.

"The three guys on the left table? The middle guy is wearing a blue shirt?" Max asked as he had noticed that those people's eyes seemed to glance at Argus occasionally.

"Yes.." Argus confirmed.

"I have arrived towards the back of the restaurant." Ragnar informed.

"I am on the next street as well." Bell voice sounded through the transmitter as well.

"We already have enough people. Should we go in and catch them?" Ragnar asked.

"They haven't made any move. We don't have anything to act on." Bell didn't support the idea, and Max agreed as well.

These people weren't demons, not a low class one for sure. And, Max didn't think that a high class Demon would be out here to hunt people of this level. At least the chances were very low.

"I will lure them out, let's see if they will make a move or not." Argus suggested and everybody agreed.

Besides, it will also be helpful in buying time for Synthia and Rihanna to arrive.

With that in mind, Argus soon got out of the restaurant, and as expected three people seemingly got up a second later and cleared their bill before moving out.

As soon as the three got out, they exchanged a glance, one of them turned around and took a different path while the two maintained their trail on Argus.

"Bell, follow the one who separated. The rest keep your distance and trail the two." Max commanded.

Argus slowly led the people into the outskirts of the District. There were usually less people around these places during this time.

Suddenly, the two guys who were following Argus paused for a second. And, then for some reason, the two looked at each other and waved their hands at each other before separating as well, like normal friends who had separated after a tough day.

"Do we follow them?" Ragnar asked in confusion.

Even Max couldn't help, but paused not knowing what just happened. "Send two of your team members behind each guy. Just tell them to keep an eye, and report back if they find anything strange."

With that, the communication channel turned silent.

"Did they sense something was wrong? Or we caught onto the wrong people?" Max muttered with a frown a minute later.

"Something seems wrong.." At this moment, Bell's voice was heard through the transmitter.

"This guy seemed suspicious until a moment ago, but all of a sudden, things seemed to change. He just went to a bar, and met with some of his friends." He further informed me.

"Do you think they discovered us?" Argus asked with a frown.

"If they were capable of discovering us, it would have happened the moment we started following them. Not after such a big trail.." Max shook his head with a heavy frown.

"They were clearly mages, why don't we just catch them, and pry open their mouths?" Ragnar asked.

"So, what if they were mages? It's not like mages can't exist like this. Even mages work alone, and as mercenaries as well. And, what if they were just retired fellows?" Argus asked, and then shook his head. "Remember, we are not allowed to cause a commotion."

If they were going to just use brute force without any basis for their actions. Things wouldn't end well. Besides, Scarlet's ruled the Ocien and their jurisdiction came under Kingsman. Hence, he didn't want any kind of trouble.

After all, his grandfather, the Lord, had been very upset recently. It was all because of the increasing connection between the Storm and the Scarlets. They were even discussing some engagement between their children recently.

And, both the Lord of Kingsman and Storm had exchanged a couple of fiery words on this topic. Their generation members were anything but friends. Those guys would probably be willing to slice a knife across each other's throat if given the opportunity.

So, it was best for the peace of the two families if they really didn't create anything unnecessary here.

"I am here.." At this moment, Synthia's voice rang through the transmitter. And, a minute later, she stood in front of everyone else.

Bell had also returned to join them.

"Why is Rihanna not here?" Max asked as he looked around. Even though she was the farthest from this district, he could see that her team had already arrived a little after Synthia. But, there was no sight of her around.

"She said she had something to look through. Something seemed suspicious to her, and hence she went to take a look," Synthia replied, and others shook their heads as well.

"Why didn't she inform me about it?" Max asked with a frown.

"It was better she didn't.." Ragnar shook his head.

They guys knew each other for a long time. They knew this girl just watched too many detective dramas. There was never a time when her suspicions had come true.

She had once even speculated of her grandmother having an affair with the Lord of Kingsman, while the enmity of their generation was just a facade to hide it.

Later, she got her ass whooped.

It was a sad story.

When Max heard about it, he choked for a second.

"Still, let's just hear if she has anything…" Max still gave it a try. After all, they might be very well aware of her antics, but he wasn't.

"Did you find anything, Rihanna?"

"…"

There was no reply from her.

Max couldn't help, but exchange a look with people around.

"She must be embarrassed, I will give her a call on a private channel.." Synthia said, but there was definitely worry on her face. It seemed that she was saying those words to herself rather than to Max.

Even other people's expressions began to change when Rihanna didn't pick up the call from Synthia.

"She never fails to pick my call up.." Synthia said with a ghastly look on her face, and everyone's faces turned dark.

"Check her location.." Max looked at Argus with a frown, and he immediately contacted the team.

A second later, his expression changed. He slowly looked at Max, and spoke, "They have lost her signal a minute ago.."

The place immediately turned silent.

"You all go and look through the Wokers District and inform your trusted people to start a search for her.." Max commanded as he looked at everyone, and then shifted his gaze towards Ragnar, "You follow me.."

With that, everyone immediately rushed into action.

"Where are we going?" Ragnar asked in confusion.

"Those guys from earlier, we are picking them up.." Max replied with a serious face.

"But, we didn't have evidence.." Ragnar looked at Max.

"We were supposed to not cause any commotion at that time.." Max spoke as he looked at him, "But, with Rihanna disappearing, it's already started…"