Under The Veil of Night

"Alan," Kanae murmured as she looked at the document in her hand. She didn’t expect that the friend she had from school would have some dealing with Wells Family too. Should she expect this since Alan’s family was quite rich?

Playing with the document on her hand, she sighed to herself. To be honest, she didn’t expect to get a friend in Lima School. Her original intention was staying there for a short time to gather information before leaving. The meeting with Alan was nothing but coincidence.

’Let’s pay him a short visit.’

Even though she was not that close with Alan, he could be considered as her friend too. Kanae headed back to her room and changed her clothes swiftly before making her way towards Alan’s house.

Alan’s house was not too big. Although his family was quite rich, they were taught to spend their earnings frugally. This caused Alan to not appear too rich nor too powerful in school.

’His room is over there.’

Sneaking inside someone’s house has become one of her expertise as she was very familiar in dealing with them. It took her a few minutes just to reach the inner part of the house and then found the location of her friend.

Alan was busy typing something in his laptop. His expression was solemn as he did his work carefully, not wanting to make any mistake.

"You won’t be able to get away from spreading such news," Kanae suddenly spoke out.

Alan was stunned to hear someone else’s voice near him. He turned around and saw Kanae, dressed in all black. Because she was wearing a cloth to cover up her mouth, he was unable to see her appearance.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously.

"You don’t have to know that," Kanae replied calmly.

Alan’s eyes narrowed. He picked up his books and threw them towards Kanae before sprinting towards the other side of the room. Opening the door, he slipped into the smaller room. His room was separated into two, one of them was for his work and the other one was for his bed.

The place where he stayed before was his workroom. Right now, he could only hide in his own room.

’Has he gone?’

Alan’s heart was beating so fast. He was worried that the person who sneaked into his room would do harm for him.

"If you think that this is enough to stop me, then you’re terribly mistaken."

From behind him, he could hear the cold tone. Shiver ran down his spine as he closed his eyes. He didn’t even know how the other party managed to get inside his room as he believed that he had locked the window.

Kanae stared at Allan. She was known as this city’s most powerful fighter. Fighting like a madman with a speed far surpassing the norm. Merely sneaking into a room was child play for her. Not that she would use this skill very often as it was not really a skill she was proud of.

"What do you want from me?" Alan asked in a quivering voice.

Kanae pointed to the other room. "Why are you helping them out?"

Them?

Alan was confused about what Kanae was talking about when his brain thought about the newspaper that he was trying to make. It was all regarding Ivan Wells and his achievement so far. Although there were things that they had to gloss, it was fully picturing the man in his glory.

At this time, his heart grew cold. It didn’t take a genius to understand that Kanae was on the side of the other person.

"I’m not making them because I want to but because I don’t have any choice," Alan replied. "My father wants us to repay the debt we have to the Wells Family from this report, so I’m doing my best to finish them."

Kanae was not surprised to hear that. Jason had told her about what Ivan may do, so she came here with the intention of clarifying the matter. It turned out, their conjecture was rather correct.

"If you provoke the Wells Family for the sake of debt, you’re just throwing your life."

"What are you talking about?" Alan raised his head. For the first time, he was looking at Kanae’s direction.

"The debts towards one’s family should only be claimed by the family head and not their future family head. As the one who delved into many matters of this city, I’m sure you can find out more about this."

Alan’s eyes widened. While it was true that there might be new regarding this matter, he had never tried to search for it. After all, they were too worried about what Ivan would do if they didn’t follow his order.

Kanae looked back at Alan for a few seconds. She turned around with the intention to leave.

Allan snapped back to reality and shouted, "wait!"

Kanae stopped in her tracks. "What do you want?"

"What should I do? He has the protection of the government, and if I make news against him, my family will be in danger," Alan asked.

Kanae didn’t answer immediately. She knew for sure that it would be hard to go against the government and Alan’s words were not wrong. However, Ivan alone was not enough to make the government make their movements.

"You should fight them back. If you don’t try, you will never know," Kanae replied calmly. "Try to understand your enemies fully. Know your enemy and know yourself, that way you’ll be able to win in every battle*."

Alan was stunned. Did this person think they were in the midst of war? However, her words were true. He didn’t know much about Ivan’s relationship with government and the power that man might hold behind him. All that he knew was the man’s skill and achievement in the past.

There were still so many things he could study if he wanted to win this battle.

"I see. Thank you," Alan muttered. "May I know your name...?"

The person before him had disappeared into thin air. Alan blanked for a moment before pinching his cheek, making sure that he was not dreaming. Feeling the pain, he sighed to himself.

’I guess, it means I’ll have to convince Father to release the news that’s not according to his wish.’

It wouldn’t be easy, but he wouldn’t back down before trying.

...

After Kanae dealt with Alan, she gathered the information that she had collected that sent them to Jason, who gladly accepted them. When he saw the long list and detailed matter, he nearly cursed out loudly.

’Why the Family allowed Ivan to get a lot of work?’

This would make him work harder, but he didn’t have any other choice. As the time for the court drew nearer, he didn’t have much time left to finish the preparation. This was the case that he didn’t want to lose no matter what.

---

*It’s from the art of war.