Master of Time

It couldn\'t be. Could it?

"Yes. It is because of the serum, Miss Xi Shi. This is my intention."

Lu Bu confirms my suspicion, making me look at him in bewilderment.

Dreadfulness fills my being as I quickly realized what he just meant.

That monstrous creature could have been me.

He returns my gaze, causing me to flinch. A smile manifests itself upon his lips. A very charming smile, yet it is hiding a frightening undertone. A truly frightening undertone.

"You don\'t need to be fearful, Miss Xi Shi. If you have taken the correct dosage of the serum, it will be incredibly beneficial to you as it will vastly improve your physical powers and abilities. The serum was modified by our Master after all, and he is never wrong. Or do you believe otherwise?"

Lu Bu asks. It is not a question, but actually a statement. Even so, he is expecting an answer from me.

"No. Master is never wrong."

I hastily response. Nothing goes through my mind in this very moment, for I fear of upsetting Lu Bu by thinking anything disrespectful.

It is very scary talking to someone who knows exactly what I am thinking. Very scary.

"Here. A replacement for the serum that was destroyed when your plane was shot down. You did take one before leaving the room, right?"

Lu Bu produces a serum, making me freeze up. Is he expecting me to take it? Do I have a choice?

But he did say that it would be beneficial to me. Then again, why did Yang become something like that after taking the serum?

My hands shakily accept the serum. It feels so heavy in my hands despite being so small. Only roughly about the length and width of a finger.

"You can take it orally, Miss Xi Shi. But the choice is up to you. If you do not wish to use it, you can cast it away. But don\'t expect me to gift you anything else in the future."

Lu Bu resumes fanning himself and turns his attention towards the monstrous creature. There is little resemblance to a man aside from four limbs and a head.

Deadly blades protruding from its body, capable of cutting through steel and concrete alike. Its hide is so tough that bullet couldn\'t fully penetrate.

The only thing that deal any form of lasting injuries are cold sharp steel wielded by Chimeras, but even then, the wounds are superficial at best.

"No, I will, senior brother. Thank you."

Despite his words, it isn\'t really my choice.

If I do not take it, I will be on his bad side. I would definitely lose his support, thus making my life within the organization even more difficult.

I know how the game is played, but I choose to believe in his words. He hasn\'t lie to me yet, and if he is right, the Master is never wrong.

As that is the case, I remove the cap off the capsule and swallow the serum without any hesitation. It settles in my stomach before being absorbed into my body.

I did not feel any difference, however. Perhaps, it takes time.

"Good, junior sister. Trust in me and I will protect you, at least from the other factions. If you displease the Master, not even God can save you, and you will suffer fate worse than him. His greed has become his undoing. He is nothing more than mindless monster. A monster that must be put down."

Lu Bu is referring to Yang, hinting that Yang must have taken more than the correct dosage.

"Let\'s just take a seat and enjoy the show. There is no need to get your hands dirty at this stage."

Lu Bu adds and walks towards higher ground to a better view.

I follow him closely behind while keeping an eye on the battle. Not much of a battle. More of one-side massacre due to the vast difference in power. Some people have already attempted to flee.

"My hands dirty, senior brother?"

I question. Shouldn\'t it be our hands, as he is here to help as well, isn\'t he?

"Yes and no, junior sister. I am actually here to spectate only. The Mater expects you to destroy them on your own in order to gauge the limit of your potential. Deal with them all as you will, for their fate is sealed the moment they displeased the Master for doing the same kind of business as the Triad near his home."

Lu Bu tells me, making me widen my eyes in surprise. The Mater lives in New York City? I suppose it is one of the better cities to live in within America.

"Keep that knowledge to yourself I you know what is good for you, junior sister. I only tell you to make you aware and prevent you from doing something stupid in the future. Ignorance is not an excuse, as many have already learned."

Lu Bu warns me.

"Yes. Thank you for warning me, senior brother."

I response and bow my head.

"That is not all, junior sister. The Master enjoys his privacy, and any harm come to those who\'re under care is considered a disrespect to his authority. That means cease any operations you have running in the city as soon as possible. Within a day or two."

Lu Bu tells me, seemingly knowing everything thing. I cannot hide anything from him or anyone within the organization, especially the Master.

"Yes, I will, senior brother. And I am very thankful for the Master allowing me that chance. I will prove myself to you and to the Master."

Lu Bu looks at me before smirking. He is finding something amusing.

"You are most welcomed, junior sister. It has been a while since I had taken anyone under my tutelage, so I am a bit rusty. Do forgive me if I can be direct at times. That said, don\'t be a kiss-ass, unless you\'re doing it literally, but that is for another time."

Lu Bu stops fanning himself and looks into the distance.

"There is nothing to forgive, senior brother. I am glad to study under you. If there is anything that you need of me, you just have to ask."

I response and bow again.

"In that case, I need you to make sure no one escape alive. You are free to use whatever method most efficient. Don\'t make me have to step in for something like this. Also, there is no need to taunt them or anything like that. It is a waste of time."

Lu Bu points his fan at several peoples who are fleeing from the battle.

"Yes, senior brother."

I immediately take actions. Almost invisible strands of spider silk surge forth, allowing me glide along the air as if I could fly. I land before the fleeing Yakuza and without hesitation spin my hands, wrapping the strands around their neck.

My strings can cut through steel at its strongest, so flesh and bone aren\'t that difficult. However, I do notice it is relatively easier even if they are merely humans. Chimeras are harder to cut through thanks to greater muscle and bone density.

Nevertheless, anyone who are caught within my webbing become headless before they could scream or fire a single shot from their guns.

And once they are lifeless corpse, spraying blood onto the wet grass from their blood stump, I look up to see whether Lu Bu is watching me.

Sadly, he isn\'t. He is looking into another direction and gesturing his fan there, telling me to hurry and go over there before the people gets away.

I immediately did, but this next group has a Chimera amidst them, thus managing to escape out of my webbing before I could execute them all.

"What the fuck!? We had a deal, you bitch. You don\'t step on our toe and we will not step onto yours!"

The only survivor calls out. He is a Chimera, crossbred from a tiger and a human. There are also several secondary traits within him from what I can tell, but it didn\'t matter since the Master wants him dead, so he has no choice but to die.

"You have an agreement with the Triad, not with me."

I response before tensing up as an enormous pressure crush against me from behind. It is from senior brother. He is displeased, and I realize that I just disregarded his words.

The killing intent has also made the man before me speechless. He probably has never sense someone as powerful as senior brother.

The shock on his face didn\'t disappear as his face didn\'t disappear even when I cut of his head

I didn\'t have time to look at my handy work as I have to hunt down the next group of escapees.

Just like the Chimera from before, the men curse and scream and shout at me, but I did not response to any of them. I simply execute them and move on to the next group and the next and the next.

Even those who are pleading for their lives are killed without hesitation. It is natural to me.

"Excellent, junior sister. You have done well. Only a couple drops of blood. Are you tired?"

Senior brother asks me. When did he get behind me? He makes absolutely no noise when he did, thus I am unsure. It is also quite a distance from where he had stood.

"Thank you for your compliment, senior brother. And no, I am not tired."

I answer and notice there a few drops of bloods on my hanfu. One of the Chimeras is faster and nimble than usual. This is because he has traits of the feline family. Which one, I am unsure.

"Your stamina and endurance are impressive, not even breaking a sweat even though you have been running around for the last hour. Since you don\'t need a break, go and take down the big boss."

The instant Lu Bu has said that, the overgrown monster that was once known as Yang roars deafeningly and charges out of the compound. Bloods cover its entire body.

It sniffs the air, looking around, trying to find more victims. Even though it has looked in my direction on multiple occasions, it did not proceed to charge and attack me.

"Senior brother. I notice that Yang did not attack anyone other than the Japanese Chimeras."

I speak up.

"And your point being, junior sister?"

Lu Bu questions while fanning himself leisurely.

"I am just curious if the Master has something to do with it, and whether there is a way to lure it."

I answer.

"The Master wishes for a full conflict to happen between the Chinese, Japanese, Soviet, Korea, India, United States, and so on, so you can safely assume that he has the mean to make them kill each other."

Lu Bu speaks up before snapping his fingers.

That causes the monstrous creature to look in my direction. It then roars mightily, hammering it chest before charging at me as if it was being ordered to. Did senior brother has ways to control it? It seems very likely, considering that Pittsburgh is a good distance away.

However, since I have already set up my web, the creature is easily caught, and the more it struggles, the more it gets tangle in my web.

But that is the extends of my silks. As much as I try, it is unable to cut through the thick hide. And it is strong enough to eventually break out.

"Interesting ability, junior sister, but you cannot kill it if you cannot cut through its armor. Maybe you should try to use your poison?"

Senior brother comments without a calmed and relaxed expression.

The poison he refers to is the poison that has been running through my body ever since I was a child, all thanks to my parents. Extremely deadly. It is one of my secret weapons.

I leap up into the air and land onto the massive creature. It roars at me as I bite down my finger, letting my blood dripping into its mouth. Being a mindless monster, it swallows the poison.

And within seconds, it lets out its last roar before slipping into the warm embrace of death.

I return to the ground as I look at the unmoving creature. Even as powerful as it is, it is not immune to my poison. No one ever has.

"Remarkable, junior sister. The poison in your blood is extremely deadly, killing anything with seconds without fail. How many people have you killed with it?"

Senior brother asks. Despite the excitement in his words, he did not express it on his face. He is calmed and collected as usual.

"Many, senior brother. At least a hundred. But do not worry, only my blood is poisonous. Everything else can be consumed without any problem."

I point out.

"I will accept your invitation another time, junior sister. Although, I am quite curious to know whether you are aware of the real reason to your poison immunity?"

Senior brother asks.

Unfortunately, that is something I do not know.

The poison that my parents fed me is extremely deadly, but they didn\'t know that, not until I bled into their drinks. It also doesn\'t last very long outside, thus no traces of it could ever found once it has left my body.

"I do not know, senior brother. I just know that I have always been sick when I was little thanks to my parents. They fed me poison every day, hoping to kill me, but it did not."

I answer.

"Is that so. Well. Perhaps you will find out one day. The poison is called the Black Death. It is extremely deadly since it was designed by the Master to destroy everything at the cellular level. Even so, it is not very effective against infectors due to their regenerative power."

Senior brother tells me before gestures his fan towards the dead creature, being hanged by my strings.

And within an instant, the monstrous creature explodes into a pool of blood. Whatever he did, it was so fast that my eyes couldn\'t keep up.

"Your webbing is sufficient, junior sister. You are free to go wherever you need to go until the Master requires your service again. Shall I drop you off somewhere in China?"