1 In the Beginning x Mission (I)
X University, England
Thud...thud...thud.
The sound of high heels touching the surface of a cold marble floor echoed within the walls of the prestigious university.
Following the footsteps, a creaking door sound could be heard in the hallway before being shut right after.
"Sigh."
Hui Lan stared at the large red folder in her arms through the lens of her winged glasses, "This seriously needs to be done by tonight..." Although she was weary from all her classes, she still opened the red folder with a Chinese character written in gold and walked over to her desk.
Her cat-like eyes looked through the contents of the folder like a hawk. From time to time, she would brush away the loose strands of hair from her bun.
Hui Lan had just returned from a one-week family trip in Shang Hai, which was why all of these folders were left for her to finish and sign.
Though the trip was not long, she had just been promoted to head of the Faculty of History at her university.
Despite not wanting to use her vacation days, she could not say no to her family. It was Qing Jie1's son's birthday and Chang Ge2's Engagement day. If she did not show up, more complaints would surely befall on her. Just moving to work in England had caused a big commotion in her family, especially her mother and uncle Xiao Bai, who did not approve of it.
Nevertheless, she was already here following her solitary heart.
While being immersed in her work, something out of the ordinary had caught her attention.
Something that was heading straight towards her.
Hui Lan got up from her chair without making a noise and swiftly moved beside her office door. She then patiently waited like a predator waiting for its prey.
Soon enough, the door to her office was forcefully opened. Seven men in black then barged into the room, ready to take the person inside by surprise.
However, the office room was empty. Not a single soul was in sight.
Dumbfounded by the situation, the men in black staggered left and right in search of their target, but they found no trace of the young professor who was supposed to be in the room.
Hui Lan revealed a devious smirk.
...Too easy.
Hui Lan slashed her long leg upward and stabbed her black stiletto heels precisely behind the neck of the closest person to her. Even before her first victim fell onto the ground, another soundless strike landed on the next victim.
Her movements were so fast that none of her opponents had seen her shadow. One after the other, the seven men were knocked unconscious until no more were standing.
Hui Lan nonchalantly dusted her hands and blew her loose hair away from her face. Although she wore a black pencil skirt with a side slit, she was able to pull her moves effortlessly. She merely tidied her skirt and her long sleeves like nothing had happened.
Just as Hui Lan had bent down to inspect one of the men's black combat suits, suddenly more footsteps could be heard coming from the hallway.
She rolled her eyes in irritation, "You have got to be kidding me."
...Whoever it was, they were really giving their all.
...Sigh, the same trick was not going to work twice.
Hui Lan dashed towards her desk and picked up her bag before opening the window. A cool breeze gently brushed past her face and hair. She took one last look at her office room before jumping through the window.
Clang!
Her heels landed on the university's polished rooftop with a sharp noise. She bit her lips and worryingly looked back at the doorway. When she saw nothing unusual, she heaved a sigh of relief.
However, their growing shadows and footsteps indicated that her pursuers were going to arrive at any minute.
The only thing left was to close the window. Hui Lan carefully pushed her creaky window whilst checking her doorway. Just when she thought she was not going to make it, the windows finally settled into its own slot.
Seeing the shadows at the door, Hui Lan quickly squatted down and hid herself in the knick of time. She could hear them cussing and rudely knocking over her stuff, but she choose to swallow her boiling anger and walk away.
As she walked, her heels made clinking sounds on the rooftop, making her purse her lips in annoyance. This would probably be the only time she loathed her favourite pair of high heels.
...It wouldn't be long before those men realized how she had escaped, but she was not going to walk on the dirty rooftop with her bare feet.
Her walking pace was fast, and she had almost reached the end of the rooftop when she heard the pulling of trigger sounds behind her.
She came to a halt and sighed.
...It was definitely because of her heels.
"Stop right there, young lady!" A voice shouted from behind.
!!!
Hui Lan gripped her bag tightly.
...Young lady? Ha!
"If you don't want to get shot in the head, turn around!" The same voice spoke again.
Hui Lan rolled her eyes. Nonetheless, she slowly turned around as she was told.
As she turned around, the voice cautiously spoke from behind her, "That's it," "That's a good girl."
Hui Lan could not help but roll her eyes again. Was this person an old man or something? She was not that young. Twenty-nine was not that young to be called a girl or young lady.
Once Hui Lan had fully turned around to face them, she was given more instructions, "Now, throw your bag away."
Unlike how she had been ordered, she dropped her bag in front of her. Hui Lan slowly revealed a sly smile.
"You!? You—" But before they could utter anything else, they suddenly had the urge to scratch their throats. Sensing something wrong with their bodies, they glared at Hui Lan menacingly.
...It must have been her doing!
Soon enough, their urge grew worse. Some could not breathe properly, while some felt itchy all over their bodies.
Their hands grew weak, and soon, they lost control of themselves. Consequently, the sounds of dropping multiple guns echoed on the rooftop, followed by sounds of large bodies falling on a hard surface. The men began shaking in pain until they were unable to take it and fainted.
On the other hand, Hui Lan slowly covered her mouth due to the unexpected results.
...Whoops, had she thrown the wrong needles at them? Aya, sorry, sorry.
Although she felt slightly apologetic towards them, she swiftly grabbed her bag and ran to the edge of the rooftop. This time, without any interruption, she finally jumped off the rooftop.
More men in black arrived on the rooftop just in time to see her jump off. They quickly ran to the edge of the rooftop, expecting to see a bloody scene.
However, Hui Lan pulled two hand springers from her bag, and her body bounced into the air with the springers. She pulled a cartwheel in the air before gracefully landing on the ground.
"Dammit, go get her!" One of the men, who looked like the leader, ordered angrily. With that, the men in black all rushed down the building. He swept his cold gaze at those who were lying unconscious on the floor and heaved a long sigh, "Clean them up." The leader spoke through his transceiver before leaving the scene.
After the leader was gone, another group appeared at the scene and dragged everyone out of the building, leaving no traces behind.
The prestigious university returned to normal in no time, as if nothing had happened.
Hui Lan had heard a tearing sound when she did her cartwheel a minute ago, so she quickly checked her skirt and found a large slit. She instantly shot her laser eyes toward the empty rooftop and yelled spitefully, "Darn you!"
Despite the anger brewing inside, she stormed her way to her black Ferrari 250 GTO. Hui Lan hopped in her car and checked the rear-view mirror with her cat-like eyes before starting the engine. The black Ferrari roared thunderously in the middle of the night.
Hui Lan swerved her 250 GTO onto the empty road.
Not long after her, three black SUV vehicles drove out of the university and began chasing her car.
...Sigh. They were getting on her nerves.
...But let's see if they can catch up with her baby.
Hui Lan smiled before stepping on the accelerator. Her 250 GTO instantly took off at lightning speed.
The distance between her and the SUVs speedily grew wider and wider.
As she had time alone, she began to ponder over who these people were. What did they want from her? She was only a professor...unless they wanted something from her other identity? Something related to her family's business, the Xuan group?
...Tut, she knew she shouldn't have listened to Qing Jie3!
Originally, she was living a normal life, working as a professor and taking care of her students. That was until her good sister had asked her to temporarily take over their family business, the Xuan group for three months.
Three months was their deal.
However, this lovely sister of hers not only did not take back the Xuan group but even went travelling the world with her brother-in-law and her nephew! Her mother never complained about that and even asked her to continue on looking after the Xuan Group.
When she thought that things could not get any worse, her great brother had made up tons of excuses just to avoid taking this responsibility. She was utterly helpless.
...Why was being the youngest this hard?
Since then, her peaceful and normal life had taken the turn for the worst. It was not that her mother and father did not prepare her and her siblings for this day, but it was just that, she just wanted a quiet life. Was it too much to ask for!?
As she was thinking away (mostly complaining), a beautiful deer was crossing the road. Immediately, Hui Lan stepped on her breaks and with that, her entire body followed the force of the sharp breaks.
Her hands were grabbing tightly on the wheels before she slowly looked up to check on the deer.
...Sigh, good thing nothing bad happened to the poor deer.
She watched as the deer turned away from the car as if nothing happened and slowly walked across the road.
"Tut tut, how do humans these days drive?" A woman-like voice fuzzed in Hui Lan's mind.
Full on alert, Hui Lan quickly turned around but saw no one behind her. She looked around the car and saw no one either.
From behind the deer, a small baby deer trotted along his mother's side, "Mother, what's with that woman? Why does she look so freaked out?"
"Who's there?" Hui Lan threw a question into that part of her mind.
The little baby reindeer froze on its spot. His fur was all standing all over his small body, "Mu..mmy.."
The mother reindeer sensed her baby's fear and looked back, only to see her calf looking freaked out as well, "What is it honey?" she asked soothingly.
The small deer looked sideways from his pupils and did not even dare to turn to face the woman in the car, "I think...she just spoke to me."
"That is impossible dear, no humans can talk to us. It has been like that for centuries."
"So you mean they could talk to us before?"
"Well, I doubt that but…"
"Who are you?" Hui Lan's voice blurted in between the mother deer's sentence.
With that, not only was the baby deer frozen on his spot, his mother was also alike.
"Run!" cried the mother deer and the two deers quickly trotted away from Hui Lan.
The voices were gone and Hui Lan seemed to have found some peace of mind again.
...What on earth was that?
However, there was no one she could ask this question to, and so, she changed her gear and was about to press on the accelerator when she had to quickly change her foot on the break again.
This time, there was no deer or any kind of animal.
But a woman in white...with features as white as snow…
"Greetings Hui Lan, long time no see."
