The Dawn of the New World

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Hao Xuan looked at the slender back in front of him as she pulled him through a long empty corridor and entered a lush green area without any guards. It was enclosed with a glass dome.

It looked like a garden with tens of different types of plants and small animals running around. There seemed to some sort of a noise-canceling formation around this place because Hao Xuan couldn't hear the hustle-bustle of the hall even though they were relatively closeby.

Ceni walked to the middle of the garden and stopped in front of a wooden bench. She let go of Hao Xuan's cuff and listlessly sat down.

Her demeanor which was always pretty formal despite how she was dressed, relaxed significantly. She leaned back and closed her eyes. The sky was clear and the moon was in the night sky overseeing everything. The moonlight was magnified a couple of times by the glass dome which illuminated everything with white light.

Hao Xuan peered left and right. This place somehow resembled the garden outside the club he had seen before.

"So what brings you here?" he heard Ceni's voice and turned around to face her. She was looking at him with half a smile. It was strange kind of smile, like she knew something Hao Xuan didn't.

But Hao Xuan ignored it and quickly got to the point.

"There's a company called PAR owned by you guys. I want to buy something from it but they don't deal with outsiders. Can you get me in?"

Although it was for just an instant, Ceni's expression changed after hearing his response and Hao Xuan didn't miss it either.

'Disappointment?'

Ceni let out a deep breath and looked up towards the moon.

"Is that the only reason you came here?"

Hao Xuan's brow slightly furrowed. What did she want him to say?

"Yeah," he replied coldly.

Ceni nodded lightly.

"Alright, I'll take care of it. But you owe me one, okay?"

"...Okay...I guess..."

She was still looking at the moon when he spoke up again.

"Good. I'll have them contact Henrik Biric tomorrow, you can deal with them directly. If there's nothing else, the door is right behind you."

'So easy?'

Hao Xuan was pretty skeptical about the whole deal but there was nothing else he could do. The nanotech was too important and he needed it as soon as possible. So without saying anything else he turned around and walked back the way they had come from.

A minute or so after he left, Ceni pinched a gold bracelet on her left hand and it turned into black smoke. The smoke continued to increase and soon took a vague shape of a person. This person sat right next to her and yawned.

Ceni who was looking at the moon turned to face it, her eyes completely black without any pupils.

"Are you sure he hasn't noticed yet? How did he come here again?"

The figure who was still yawning bobbed its head up and down before speaking in a strange voice that sounded neither masculine nor feminine.

"The Lord made it so it would look like it happened naturally because of his physique. Until you activate it, no one will know."

"Will it...hurt him?"

The figure looked towards her before breaking out laughing.

"Hahaha, of course it will hurt, both physically and mentally. He will slowly loose his mind as it happens, slip away into the darkness. Everything that made him....'him' will be gone. But the best part is that he won't even realize its happening until its too late. The bloodline will fester inside him until you're ready to accept it. Only an empty shell will be left behind. A drooling mess of flesh and blood."

Ceni grew more and more despondent as the figure talked.

"Is there no other way?" she asked so lightly that it sounded more like a murmur, but the figure still heard her.

It froze for a second before looking in her direction. The pitch of his voice turned lower.

"Don't be foolish, little girl. You reached out to us for help. What did you think was going to happen? Huh?" the figure stood up and gazed down at her coldly. Its eyes as black as the abyss.

"You made a deal. In exchange for power, in exchange for not being sold and traded like cattle, you agreed to follow our ways. And our ways are bloody, girl. Don't speak such nonsense again. The seed has been planted. All you have to do is follow the plan."

"Don't disappoint us. It wasn't easy to find such a good host. It was your luck that he came to your doorstep when he did, otherwise you probably would have had to do much worse things."

It turned back into black smoke and morphed into a gold bracelet around Ceni's wrist. Her eyes also returned to normal soon after.

She looked at the bracelet thoughtfully, many things going through her mind but not even 30 seconds later the sound of footsteps was heard behind her and Dai Yuan walked up.

She looked at her with a meaningful glance before let out a breath of relief.

'Looks like thing's haven't progressed that far yet..'

"You know, I used to have the same look a long time ago," she said while taking a seat next to the dazed Ceni.

"Does your mom know about him?"

Ceni shook her head dejectedly. It wasn't clear whether this was just acting or were those her actual feelings.

"There's nothing to know aunty. It's not like....that.. Not to mention that he already has someone."