Chapter 589: School of Assassins
Since that night, Aden stopped visiting Gabi.
Of course, she thought it was just because Aden was busy. She already expected him to stop checking on her anyway. By now, it should be fairly obvious that her body is doing well. In fact, it's doing really well, she felt like she had been reborn. Even Glen who would spar with her during her morning exercises said that she had become lighter, faster, and stronger. It felt like she had been reborn.
And this was all thanks to Aden's help.
The next time that Gabi saw Aden was during the third dose. This time, she felt even better. To her surprise, Aden was a little quiet. He didn't argue with her or ask any more questions. This made her wonder if she did something wrong. Was it because of that thing?
"Miss Gabi…"
"Hello, Mister Tureis." Gabi greeted the man. By now, Tureis was already a little friendly towards her. And by a little friendly, she meant not frowning when talking to her. This was actually an improvement from the previous way that he treated her.
"Cyrus will give you the things that you need for the training. Here is the plane ticket. You will be leaving the day after your event. Everything is already set. However, you cannot use your identity. Here are your new passport and bank account numbers. Everything is already prepared so you don't need to worry about anything else. "
A change of identity?
Seeing Gabi's confused look, Tureis continued. "We don't usually train someone like you."
"What does that mean?"
"It would not be good if anyone in the camp would know your real identity. We just want to avoid trouble." Tureis handed her a folder. "New Identity and background. Study that. Memorize it. From the day that you step foot inside the camp, you would use that identity. And for the sake of Aden, never use your real identity when you are in that place."
Gabi nodded. She thought Aden would train her. It turns out, he is going to send her somewhere? She started wondering about this camp. Is this the place where Aden grew up? Was it possible that he learned his skills in that place?
"Also… everyone who is inside that place already knew martial arts. You have to prepare yourself. You can't show weakness or… you will die."
"…" Was he trying to scare her? Still, Gabi nodded. She wasn't sure what camp is this but judging from Aden's skills, this camp should give her something good. Smiling, Gabi bid Tureis goodbye. She ignored the confused look on his face.
Maybe the fact that she was smiling confused him. After all, he just tried to scare her about death.
Isn't this just training? Gabi was confident that she would be able to withstand it. She was doing this for her future!
Again, she felt like she already owe Aden a lot. Then maybe she should give him another piece of information? However, everything that she had right now could easily make her a suspicious individual. For instance, she knew a few market crashes and future things that would happen to some families.
This is not good.
All that she had now are things that concern Alfons.
This was normal as her world revolved around that man in the past.
"Hmmm… Kasper?"
"Miss?"
"I will give you a week to investigate the Helion Conglomerate."
"The … the one who owns oil, hospitals, mining, and pharmacies?"
"Yes. Just the basics. No need to delve deeper into their issues." For now, she is going to start with the things that she could control.
After a few more days, Gabi received news about the Helion Conglomerate. Just as she expected, nothing important can be seen on the surface. The events that would affect the market aren't showing any signs yet.
Gabi could only sigh in disappointment. She badly wanted to repay Aden and Archy. But she doesn't have anything important that does not involve Alfons.
Meanwhile, while Gabi was wracking her head on how to repay Aden. Aden was arguing with Tureis about his decision to send Gabi to the camp.
"You are crazy. She would probably die in that place. She won't survive." This wasn't the first time that a simple conversation about the topic ended up with an argument. To Tureis's defense, he was genuinely concerned about that woman's welfare.
What would happen if Gabi would die in that place? It would be lucky if they would have a complete body to return to her grandfather!
Obviously, that old man would raise hell about this matter.
"Look… I know you are not scared of old man Ren but he is still your father's friend! This would…"
"She won't die."
"Did you look at her body?"
"Don't underestimate her."
"Her heart had holes. Let me repeat that… holes! The thing that you are giving her doesn't guarantee success. And Nanotech could be very painful."
"Yeah… I know… please pass me the grapes. Thanks."
Tureis rolled his eyes and gave him the peeled grapes. "I don't know what you are thinking."
"You don't need to know."
"Tsk. You are well aware of what kind of training the people in that camp experience. Even my father didn't agree to put me and my brother in there. And you actually wanted to put a woman inside that deadly camp."
Aden snorted. The thing is… he was originally planning on training her. But the look on her eyes that night made him decide otherwise. If she wanted to stay in his world then she needed to become like him. She needed to blend in the night, bathe in blood, and be reborn.
He won't introduce her into his world unless he was sure that she could defend herself.
Of course, no one else but him knew the real reason why he was doing this. He let out a sigh and started eating his grapes. Things like this require too much mental energy. It is better to stop thinking, relax his mind and eat food.
"Also… I receive a call from Aunt Lyca. I don't know why she called me to ask about Gabi."
"Ah…"
"I told her the truth. That woman won't survive in that place."
"What did she say?"
"She laughed at me."
"Ah…" She was his mother after all. It would be weird if she believed Turies's words instead of her very own son's instinct. "Stop thinking about Gabi or I would take it as you like her."
"Ridiculous!" Turies said. "I'm leaving."
Aden gestured him to leave without saying anything.
After a few more days, Gabi had her fourth and last dosage. This time, Aden didn't act weird around her. He was the usual man that insulted her small frame and told her she got fatter. It was irritating, but this was the Aden that she knew.
So, she decided to let it pass.
Seeing that she wasn't so interested in his teasing, Aden also started to get serious. This time, he finally told her about the training camp.
"Xu Country?" Gabi asked. "I've never heard of this type of training before."
"It's a secret training camp."
"For the military?"
"No. It's for another special unit. They train assassins. But no need to worry, the training is only four months. After that, you would be given two months to hunt down a target."
"Hunt down a target? Like, kill someone?"
For a moment, Aden studied her reaction. Seeing that she was still calm, Aden nodded. "Yes. Ex con's, corrupt officials, drug lords, gang leaders, rap*sts, murderers are mostly the target. They won't let you kill some innocent bystanders. Once you succeed then you are considered a graduate."
"So it is like a school for assassins?"
"Yes."
Gabi lowered her gaze. Four months is really short to train assassins. However, Tureis already told her that people inside already knew the basics of martial arts. Maybe he actually meant that these people have killed someone before. And that was the reason why he wanted to scare her.
"I'm going." She lifted her head and met his gaze. She showed him a resolute expression.
"Have you killed someone before?"
"No." But she had been killed before.
"And you still decided to go?"
"Yes."
"They won't give you any special treatment. If anything, they would give you a harsher training because you are clearly lacking."
"Not a problem."
"I thought you were scared of pain?"
"Not when it's going to make me better," Gabi said.
"Good thinking."
She nodded. She still has questions, lots of them. However, she knew that this wasn't the right time to ask those questions. "You won't have any phones inside," Aden said. "No way of communication. So... you should take care of everything before your flight."
Again, she nodded.
"Three days from now, I will give you the nanoparticles. It would be painful." He sat opposite her. "There is the ninety percent chance that I would be able to fix your heart. The other ten percent is a failure. But it won't kill you."
He started talking about some specifics that Gabi didn't really understand. Some computations, numbers, even the size of her heart were included. In the end, she nodded and acknowledged everything before signing another contract with him.
Right now, Gabi couldn't really describe her feelings. She was nervous but excited at the same time.
She felt like this is going to change her whole life.
"Thank you," Gabi said.
"No problem."
"Then... would you like to have dinner with me?" Gabi blurted out as she smiled at him. "I mean... as a thank you for everything." When she saw his face turned serious, she immediately added, "Don't worry... no one will see you. The dinner will be in my room."