In recent days, Ian has been receiving information from Kari, who he has under his control, about the mysterious organization.
Curiously, one piece of information told of suspicious illegal activities happening within a famous hospital in the city.
Hospital A.
Who would've ever thought that such a long-standing, prestigious hospital was actually under their control.
Ian certainly didn't. That's why his interest was piqued by this news and why he is here today.
Kari reported that from the bits and pieces of information she obtained in her organization, she deduced that a large part of the organization's financial resources come from a hospital they own. Then tracing the clues from that deduction, she eventually found Hospital A.
As for what exactly is happening underneath the clean facade of the hospital, Kari could not find out at her level in the organization.
So it was left up to Ian to check out the real situation and confirm the guesses.
Ian smirked, a strong emotion bubbling within him. Exhilaration.
He was exhilarated that he was getting closer and closer to the man behind the destruction of his family.
If this hospital is truly owned by that organization, then there must be their people employed here as well.
Meaning, more information.
Meaning, he is getting closer and closer to his ultimate goal.
Plus, he can cut off another one of their financial sources and set their plans back a few years or even decades. By then, they will have weakened and wouldn't have as much influence and power to do anything to Ian's people.
Without money, they cannot hold the hearts of their minions.
Without enough people, they have no way to do big things.
Rendering them poor and powerless.
Just thinking about it made a beautiful smile bloom on Ian's face.
Of course, just making them penniless would not lessen Ian's fury. He will destroy them, torture them, and let them taste the same excruciating pain he felt when they cruelly tore apart his life, transforming his past innocence into a murky darkness.
The past lingered like a ghost in front of Ian's eyes.
His light purple eyes glowed a deep and dark purple, mesmerizing and charming yet dangerous.
Shade felt his hair standing on edge. He quickly scanned around him but didn't see any danger. Feeling confused, he was surprised to find that that feeling had come from his master Ian.
'Who's going to be unlucky this time?' Shade thought to himself.
The two traveled through the plentiful halls of the huge Hospital A.
Eventually, they came to a door labeled with a warning sign: "Employees Only."
An ID scanner by the side of the double doors blinked at a regular interval. Its blue light was gentle yet firm, denying all unauthorized entry.
Ian reached into his pocket and miraculously took out a metal card silver in color. Nothing could be seen on the surface of the metal card, neither on the front or the back, only a square chip was planted visibly at the center.
Moving his hand, Ian stretched his arm holding the metal card and passed the metal card through the blue light of the ID scanner.
Beep!
The metal card's chip was successfully scanned and detected.
Ding!
The metal card was recognized by the system as a card owned by one of the hospital's employees.
The double doors opened automatically as soon as the 'Ding!' sound was heard in the empty corridor.
On the touch screen above the blue light of the ID scanner, a small rectangular screen displayed the standardized words, "Welcome back,"
With a surprising, yet unsurprising, familiar name.
"Doctor Isaac :)"
Ian smiled, put away the metal card, and walked in after gesturing at Shade to follow.
The double doors closed behind them.
"Thank you, Brother Isaac," Ian smiled and murmured to himself. With light steps, he continued to navigate his way through the hospital, now on the employee side of the hospital that patients and non-employees had no access to.
Thanks to Doctor Isaac who works at multiple different hospitals as a guest doctor, and so has many access cards, Ian easily entered the "Employees Only" section.
However, Ian did not hold much hope that he can find anything useful in this section of the hospital. Not for any other reason, but that, that organization should already know that Isaac was one of his brother's men. There's no way that they would allow Isaac to access their dealings, so even with an employee ID card, one would not be able to find out anything.
However, since there are suspicious activities being done in Hospital A, they must happen somewhere. If not in the hospital, if not in the employee-only section, then there must be a hidden section of the hospital where only restricted personnel can access.
Ian plans on finding that hidden section.
But…
"This hospital is too big… I've been walking for so long already and I still don't see the thing I want to find," Ian complained. Yet a gleam was in his eyes, as if he had thought of something interesting.
Shade heard something in Ian's tone. He immediately asked, like the good subordinate he was, "Master, what do you want me to do?"
Ian shook his head. "Hmm, I was wondering about the feasibility of bombing this place into pieces. But…"
Shade looked at Ian intently, waiting for his next words. He would do anything his master wants him to do.
"...the evidence of their guilt might be wiped out then. And their minions would die too easily for my liking. However, an appropriate distraction is still very good."
Ian smiled darkly.
"Shade."
"Yes, master."
"Go and cause a distraction."
"Yes, master."
Shade disappeared from Ian's shadow.
Ian continued to walk and explore.
Ian planned on familiarizing himself with the employees section today and then leaving. He didn't plan on finding out everything and getting the evidence in just one day.
He'll leave them with a lovely surprise.
Wasn't Ian afraid that his enemies would tighten their guard? Well, no.
No matter how tight their guards get, Ian is confident that he can get past them. Instead, what he is about to have Shade do will help Ian be led to his target.
Boom!!
The hospital building shook violently for a moment, startling all the people inside and outside the hospital who heard the noise and felt the violent quakes.
"What's going on?!"
"Is it an earthquake?"
"N-no, it's a bomb!"
"Is it a terrorist attack?"
"Run! Run! Run!"
Everyone from patients to their families to staff screamed and ran away from the hospital.
Employees began emerging from the rooms inside the employees section of the hospital, where Ian is currently located.
They ran in a panic. Because of the unstable ground, some lost their footing and fell, some got trampled on, and some crawled and ran at the same time, fearing for their lives.
In this chaos, Ian was calm. He walked steadily and gracefully as always, as if the ground was not shaking violently at this moment.
Ian's eyes glowed.
Then as if it was all scripted, no one turned their heads in shock or surprise to see an unfamiliar teenager with a handsome face and gentle demeanor walking leisurely in the employees-only part of the hospital.
As a matter of fact, even when Ian was right in front of someone's eyes, their eyes looked past Ian and their body subconsciously avoided colliding with Ian as they moved past Ian without ever realizing that someone was in front of them.
It was a wondrous yet chilling sight.
After all the employees left and the noise faded and the ground stopped shaking, the glow in Ian's eyes went away.
Smiling in victory, Ian quickly took advantage of this time when no one was in the employees section to explore every inch of it.
Ian frowned.
Ian had gone through all the halls, entered every room, and checked every exit. He didn't find any restricted entry doors.
'Strange. According to my deductions, there should be a door somewhere leading to their secret hideout.' Ian furrowed his brows in deep thought.
Leaning his back against the wall behind him, Ian suddenly jolted up. His back left the wall.
Ian turned around and felt around the wall. To his surprise and delight, he traced a door out.
He left he would leave fruitlessly today, but turns out his luck was here.
The only problem is, there is no visible door knob or identification scanner, how was he to open this door?
But soon, he had no more time to think.
Ian heard the sound of approaching footsteps. They were messy and hasty, as if their owner was in an anxious hurry.
Ian thought of something and hid himself.
The person approached and stopped in the middle of the hallway. He looked sneaky as he turned his head left and right. Seeing no one around, he breathed a sigh of relief and neared the hidden door on the wall Ian had discovered.
Ian narrowed his light purple eyes in satisfaction.
A timely rain.
Just when Ian was troubled by how to open the door, someone appeared to show him the way.
Ian watched intently without missing a single detail.
The strange man knocked on the surface of the invisible door in a unique pattern with a rhythmic beat.
Seconds later, a lock was heard unlocking.
The lines of the invisible door that could only be felt and not seen previously now sunk in. The block of the wall, which was the door, moved to the side, into the wall itself, revealing an opening for the man to enter.
The man once again looked around and entered only when the coast was clear.
Ian came out of his hiding place and whooshed in just before the door fully closed. Thanks to his slender figure and agile movements, Ian did not miss that moment of opportunity.
Just as Ian entered the wall, he felt something was wrong.
There was nothing beneath his feet.