The sound of a radio crackling in the hand of a young woman in a black suit grounded her as she stood inside the building, where to her left sat a small table with a lantern providing light to the dark surroundings.

  She raised the radio in her right hand to glance at it briefly before a voice rang out.

  "Have you found it yet?"

  The man's voice over the radio made her fall silent for a moment before she pressed the button and spoke.

  "Apologies, Boss, but we haven't found the item yet."

  "Then find it. I want that item before dawn."

  Static from the radio flared up after the other side finished speaking, causing her to lower the device while looking straight ahead.

  Revealing soldiers in suits, holding guns resembling M16s, walking back and forth beside the wall amidst the darkness under the moonlight.

  "If that sniper hadn't screwed up, we wouldn't be stuck looking for the item like this."

  The voice of someone speaking up from her left made her turn to look, revealing a man in a cloak who was currently sitting on a wooden chair beside the small table where the lantern was set.

  He raised his right hand, holding a black pistol, to inspect it briefly, then turned to the young woman, resulting in the lantern light falling upon the black mask he wore under his hood.

  Making her, upon seeing that, turn back to look ahead.

  "If you had handled that courier from the start, we wouldn't have needed to use him."

  The man let out a soft chuckle in his throat while leaning forward, resting both arms on his knees and staring out straight to the outside of the building.

  "Killing is easy, but catching those couriers is a different story entirely, especially when it's him."

  He stood up from the chair, the light from the lantern falling onto his grey cloak, causing him to stow the gun behind his waist under the cloak before turning to his left and walking away.

  "If we had followed the plan I stated from the beginning, we wouldn't be sitting here searching for what he hid."

  Ending his sentence, he disappeared into the darkness, which made her—standing staring straight ahead without moving—take a deep breath before picking up the radio, adjusting the frequency, and speaking up after pressing the button.

  "Hurry it up. If we don't get the item before dawn, I don't need to tell you what will happen if the Boss finds out about this."

  She lifted her hand from the talk button and let out a huge sigh.

  Inside a building several hundred meters away amidst the darkness, a soldier in a grey cloak was currently standing holding a radio in his left hand.

  Upon hearing the final order, it made that soldier turn to the friend beside him, who was dressed identically and holding an assault rifle with a flashlight attached underneath, though the flashlight was currently switched off.

  It made the two of them look at each other before that man stowed the radio at his left waist and spoke up.

  "I'll go left, you go right. After finishing this floor, let's meet back at the stairs."

  "See you then."

  Ending his sentence, the man turned to his right and walked forward while turning on his flashlight, using the light attached to his gun to sweep the floor and the rooms to the left and right, which resembled a hotel.

  Causing the man standing watching from behind, upon seeing the person in front leave, to turn back to his own path and walk forward while turning on his flashlight.

  With the flashlight shining on a door to the left, which no longer had a wooden door, it led him to pass to the right, using only his right hand to hold the gun.

  Revealing a room that still had a wooden door, which made him, seeing that, go in and use his left hand to open the door while using the flashlight from the gun to survey the front and right.

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  Revealing two glassless windows with moonlight shining into the room; seeing this, he turned the barrel of his gun to the right and found a steel bed without even a sheet.

  Seeing that, he walked slightly into the room while looking to his left, but what reflected in the flashlight was only moss.

  Causing him to look at it briefly before backing out of the room and using his left hand to pull the door shut, before turning to observe the front and walking on.

  Resulting in the sound of footsteps rising as he walked forward and leaned to his left to look inside the room.

  At that very moment, he was yanked inside immediately! Causing the assault rifle to fall to the floor with the flashlight beaming out.

  But then the flashlight was turned off by Ark, who was crouching to the right of the door wearing a hood, causing him to poke his head out to look left and right; when he saw no one...

  He turned back to look inside the room and found that man lying motionless on the floor in the shadows beside the window; seeing that, I looked down at the gun in my left hand.

  Before using my right hand to remove the magazine and pull the charging handle, causing a bullet to eject from the gun.

  That made me turn back to toss the empty gun onto that man's body, then I stood up and walked outside, before dropping the bullet into the left-hand room and walking straight down the corridor where that man had come from, while the magazine was tossed into a room on the right as I passed.

  Light shining out from a room onto the wall and corridor about 20 meters away made me duck into the right-hand side and poke my head out to look slightly.

  Seeing that the light wasn't turned towards me, but facing forward along with a man walking out of the room, made me step out of the room and continue forward; the closer I got to the soldier in front...

  ...the more I heard the continuous sound of his boots as he stopped at the door of a room on the right; and in the moment he was looking into that room, it allowed me, standing 5 meters away...

  ...to swerve slightly to the left to check the front; seeing no light ahead, I looked at him and approached, letting my previously silent footsteps become audible, causing him to turn back to look behind.

  And in that blink of an eye, my palm struck his throat! Causing him to make a small sound as I moved to his side, used my right hand to grab his wrist, and raised my right foot to kick the back of his right knee.

  Causing him to kneel down before I released his wrist and raised my hand to grab his head, slamming it against the doorframe!

  Making him fall to the floor while I stood watching silently, then bent down to grab his collar and drag him inside the room; not long after, I walked out with a magazine in my right hand.

  I used my thumb to push out one bullet, catching it with my left hand, before continuing forward while tossing the magazine into the room on the side.

  Making me walk past other rooms in the darkness until reaching the way up to the next floor; I walked hugging the wall on my right while looking inside.

  Revealing light shining through a window high above the stairs, illuminating parts of the steps; seeing this, I moved by leading with my left arm.

  I looked up before turning to look to my left; seeing nothing inside, I turned back to the stairs, walking close to them before looking down into the small gap between the stairs.

  Seeing not even a light below, I used my hand to grip the edge of the stairs before slowly walking down to the lower floor with footsteps so quiet they were barely audible.

  That had me walking down to the 2nd floor and looking inside; seeing nothing there, I continued down immediately.

  Light from the first floor suddenly shining into the building made me, about to walk down, stop abruptly.

  The faint light shone onto the stairs, making me stand still to listen for footsteps; hearing absolutely nothing from the first floor, I backed up and turned back up to the 2nd floor.

  But light shining through the 2nd-floor door made me, about to pass through, freeze in place immediately!

  Standing there watching the light just a few meters away, along with the sound of footsteps that seemed to be getting closer...

  ...I turned to the wall and crept to press against it, pressing my right ear to the surface, hearing uneven footsteps arising; and judging by the single beam of light shining in...

  ...I grabbed the knife from my right hip in a reverse grip immediately, as the light grew more intense along with the clearly audible footsteps; at that moment, a gun barrel poked inside, pointing in my direction.

  Watching the gun slightly, I glanced to my right and saw the right arm holding the gun emerge along with the enemy's body.

  Seeing that, I used my left hand to grab the barrel and yank it inward! Then used my right hand holding the reverse-grip knife to lung and stab the enemy's neck in a split second!

  That made the enemy freeze instantly! But even so, his body didn't fall to the floor because my hand and the arm holding the knife were propping him up, while my left hand still held the gun.

  In that moment, I pushed the enemy forward while pulling the knife out! Sending his body flying back and collapsing onto the floor.

  Revealing another enemy who was currently with his back to me, using a gun with a mounted flashlight to sweep left and right.

  The thud of the body hitting the floor made him pause, before spinning around rapidly with his gun!

  But the knife flew to embed itself in his head, as I rushed in until I was just 1 meter away! Using my left hand to grab his right wrist and twist it towards me, while inserting my right leg between his legs to hook his leg forward, slamming my shoulder into the center of his chest and throwing him to the floor!

  Causing a loud thud! I quickly stood up and used my hand to pull the knife embedded in his head out, standing still there for a moment while tilting my ear slightly to the left.

  And that let me hear footsteps getting louder, so I bent down to grab the collar of the man in front of me before dragging him to place him in the right-hand corner.

  Then turned to drag the other one to place him in the same spot, along with the 2 guns thrown onto that pile of corpses; at that moment, the footsteps got closer and changed into echoing steps from the first floor.

  Making me stand watching the entrance to the 2nd floor while narrowing my eyes slightly to look for light; seeing light shine up, I placed my left hand on my knife.

  But when the light disappeared not long after, seeing that, I pulled my hand off the knife and turned back to focus on the corpses in front of me, accompanied by the sound of a slight sigh.