Without having a chance to register Alex’ words, the muscled guy’s eyes rolled to the back of his head; then, he directly fell backward.

“Ai!” the girl to his left screamed as she did not sidestep in time, tumbling down with him.

“Aah!”

She quickly struggled free and pushed him away; as he was out cold, it looked funny.

The other girl had evaded him in time and was now staring at Alex and Weite.

Finally, the shock in her eyes gave way to disbelieve, and she exclaimed,

“What the fog?!? You just punched him in the face?

“He was only talking. Fogging crazy!”

Weite was still staring blankly at the man on the ground; the girl was obviously talking to Alex.

Hearing her words, Alex smiled:

“So, you think it is unreasonable to punch someone who spits in your face?”

“What ‘spit in your face’! He was merely a bit irritated.

“Howbeit, this isn’t the Du Desert! We have laws in Central! The fog...”

Alex interrupted her,

“Funny that you mention laws; as I recall your ‘friend’ here threatened me earlier.”

The girl looked annoyed as she replied,

“Point is, he used words. Look around yourself, this isn’t some back alley where you can brawl!”

The while the other girl had stood up and run downstairs, presumably to enlist the help of the men downstairs the guy had mentioned earlier.

“As I see it, his mouth was spilling sewage nonstop; it would have been a crime ‘not’ to close it.

“As for your second point, this location looks just right to me; and honestly, how can you even call this a fight, much less a brawl.”

After directing another scowl at the girl, he turned around, pulling along the still stunned Weite.

 

He heard the men rush up the stairs behind him, but he did not mind it; he knew the bar would take care of them.

And they did. Before those men had reached the halfway mark, they had been stunned by security drones.

But then...

“Waaait!”

... he stopped as he heard the shout.

“What” he said flatly without turning around.

“Umm... Can you... can you take me in with you?” the girl, who had called him ‘fogging crazy’ just moments ago, asked.

“Heh!”

“This situation is slightly interesting”, Alex thought.

“Do you think I will ditch my friend for you?” he asked out loud.

“Of course not, but...”

“Did you not listen to your friend’s earlier conversation then? Normal members may only bring one guest.”

“I did, but...”

“But?”

“I know you aren’t a normal member?” she said in a slightly lowered voice.

Alex finally turned around and looked at her curiously; her voice was not low enough for anyone to not hear it.

Lowering it seemed to serve no purpose.

“Interesting, why do you think that I am no normal member?”

“Uh, during the earlier incident, I took the chance to glance at the tablet...”

Alex was not convinced; he certainly would have noticed if she had indeed done so.

“So... You do not deny it, right? Can you...”

“I do not deny it and I certainly could; but why would I?”

“I can help you have a good time a...”

“As you would have helped that guy?” he said and nodded at the unconscious man on the floor.

It seems the bar’s security dared not move him in front of Alex.

The girl actually blushed, “You misunderstand...”

“Anyway, I am not interested; but if you tell me the truth regarding the question earlier, I might consider it.”

“Ah!” the girl exclaimed surprised.

“Umm, it was a guess earlier, haha.”

“You’re still...”

 

But then the results of his earlier query popped up in front of his eyes:

“Fu Murong, Centraler, male, born in Bak Island City, ...”

“Cathy Chang, FcL2c, Centraler, female, born in Toi City, ...”

While the girl was the family member of a L2 member of the organization, both of her parents were apparently dead.

 Although she received financial assistance, her influence in the Organization should be worse than Zhunni Gao’s, family of a L1 member.

Fu Murong, on the other hand, like David Po, had some distant family members in the Organization, and L4 and L3 ones at that!

The Murong was a very large and influential family: although they were originally from Bak Island City, they had multiple successful branches in different cities.

While Fu Murong’s came from Bak Island City, he was not from the main line.

There were no Organization members in his direct family; they rich but nowhere near enough to become L3 members.

As for lower levels... would that not be a shame for the family?

And so, his parents put much hope in Fu Murong; giving him the name Fu, meaning turn over, in the hopes that he would restore their family line’s glory.

 

While the author thought all of this very interesting and important, Alex did not care for Fu Murong at all.

“Just another ant coming to be crushed.”

Cathy Chang, however, was quite interesting...

... for she too would be a Xin University student starting this year!

“To run into someone like that here... The money from the Organization should be enough to see her through so why... did she take this kind of ‘part-time’ job!?” he thought.

Shooting Fu Murong another glance, he made a decision.

With a few taps and a swipe on his Wristpie, he sent an authority identifier.

Cathy’s Wristpie lit up as it acknowledged his authority.

The girl was not wearing shades, so she did not immediately understand what had happened; she only saw a prompt urging her to confirm privacy to view classified information.

She quickly searched her tiny pink purse for glasses and put them on.

After connecting, identifying, and confirming, she finally read:

“Temporary transfer of authority to <picture>.

“Name: You are not authorized.

“Authority Level: You are not authorized.

“...: You are not authorized.

“Please follow the member’s instructions until this command is revoked or overwritten.”

“The fog...” an exclamation escaped the girl’s mouth.

As a family member of Organization members, she certainly knew about those things, but...

Why would someone take control of her, a ward with only basic internal education?

After her parents’ deaths she had mostly received ‘normal’ upper-class education from external schools.

As things stood, she had little chance of becoming a full member...

 

After she had acknowledged the ‘transfer’ of authority, she received another notification,

“Your authority has changed: FcL2c → TL1c (FcL2c)”

She had been promoted to a level one trainee?!

She was pulled out of her stupor by the amused-sounding voice of Alex,

“Now, why don’t you do a little thing for me and in exchange I’ll let you tag along today?”

“Gladly!” Cathy Chang answered immediately.

Could she refuse now? Even if she could, she wouldn’t.

Alex certainly knew this; what he had said, he had said for the benefit of Weite.

“Then ‘please’ take care of your ‘friend’ here; find him a ‘quiet place’ to rest until you have time to properly care for him later.

“After he has come to his senses, I certainly would like an apology.”

After a few seconds of thinking, Cathy acknowledged his command:

“Very well, I will take care of it as you ‘advised’.”

Then she took of her glasses, stowed them away again, and finally, bowed to Alex with ‘sincere eyes’.

“I apologize for my prior rude conduct. I let my emotions get the best of me.”

Alex raised an eyebrow and thought to himself,

“I will certainly get an honest apology later.”

Openly, he said,

“Miss is too polite; we all make mistakes.”

This certainly was not an acceptance of her apology, yet it was indistinguishable to one in the eyes of Weite; his grasp of the Central language was great, but such cultural nuances were usually hard to understand.

He sent Cathy Chang his contact, then he turned to leave again.

“Then please go ahead! I will contact you once I finish here.”

Alex did not respond; his thoughts were elsewhere:

“So much nonsense! I hope there won’t be any further disappointments...”

After a few seconds, Weite noticed that his friend had left and hurriedly turned around to follow him, leaving behind only Cathy Chang, Fu Murong, and the burly bar employee.