System X: Bloodline Awakening System

"This won't take long," he whispered to himself, his voice filled with a quiet resolve.

After saying those words, he raised his hand to his ear and pressed a button. Then, he spoke with a commanding tone, "Let's begin."

Without hesitation, he dashed off.

Meanwhile, over the fence and at various points around the hospital, ninja-like figures began to crawl into the premises, moving stealthily as they obeyed the pre-issued commands.

Once inside, some of them were tasked with eliminating the guards. However, this came only after Sulan had already taken care of those in the security room on the top floor. Remaining hidden in the shadows, the figures positioned themselves near their assigned targets, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Using his dash skill, Sulan ascended the stairs at incredible speed. The elevator was an option, but to him, it was far too slow. Besides, taking the elevator would have made him visible to the security cameras, and he knew they might tighten the hospital's defenses if he were spotted.

Tonight, nothing could be allowed to hinder his mission. Failure was not an option—not after the humiliation of losing the briefcase to that boy. Master Zorin would never believe that a kid, barely eighteen, had managed to escape him with such ease.

According to the boy's history, he had never stolen an ability, nor had he attended military school. There was no logical explanation for the sudden surge of power and resistance he'd displayed. But Sulan knew better than to offer excuses—they would only make him appear foolish.

While he could have hacked into the security cameras to disable them, he preferred a more direct approach. Taking over the security room himself would eliminate any external threats or the risk of triggering an alarm.

Hacking in this era was almost obsolete. Advanced technology had evolved to detect intrusion attempts instantly, rendering even the most skilled hackers ineffective against systems operated by amateurs. As a result, hacking was no longer a viable option.

Sulan stood just a step away from the security room door, a rough plan forming in his mind based on the intel his spy had provided. There were only five workers inside, and his task was simple: catch them off guard and strike. He knocked on the door and paused, listening for a response.

As expected, there was no verbal response—just the sound of footsteps approaching the door. Sulan swiftly placed a small device on the doorframe and stepped to the side. Within ten seconds, the door opened and closed again.

"Perfect," Sulan muttered under his breath as he caught sight of the feeble figure who had opened the door. They were the ideal opponents—easily dealt with and requiring minimal effort. He couldn't afford to waste energy, not when he needed to reserve his strength for the real challenge: the external threats coming to take the kid away from him.

After the door shut, Sulan moved silently to the nearby window. He slid it open and climbed out, his face greeted by the soft, cold night breeze brushing against his skin. Staying low, he made his way to the adjacent window—the one belonging to the security room.

With a quick tap on the screen device in his left hand, Sulan triggered a subtle knock on the security room door.

Inside, the same weak man who had opened the door earlier stood up and opened it again, only to find no one there. He glanced around, his expression unchanged, then shut the door and returned to his seat without saying a word to his colleagues. Sulan smirked. Everything was going according to plan.

Sulan tapped the device again, this time triggering a sharper, more forceful knock that echoed against the door. The sound immediately caught the attention of all five men in the room. Disagreeing chatter broke out as they turned to the weak man, questioning why he kept insisting no one was there.

Seizing the moment of distraction, Sulan slipped inside unnoticed and melted into the shadows of the dimly lit room. The faint glow of tiny white bulbs provided just enough light to maneuver without drawing attention.

The room's layout played to his advantage. Two desks occupied the center, where his first two victims sat side by side, their backs to the window. Across from them, two more men backed against the door, their seats directly facing the first pair. Near the door, a fifth man sat at a small desk that doubles as his makeshift office. He was of the lowest rank among them, tasked with menial chores, which explained why he had been the one opening the door earlier.

Moving swiftly, Sulan targeted his first two victims, who remained unaware of his presence. The faint tension in the room was palpable, but Sulan thrived in moments like these.

Sulan initially planned to eliminate only one man in the room to avoid raising suspicion too soon, which could lead to increased patrols and tighter security in the hospital. However, with the two men seated so closely together, he realized he had no choice but to take them both out at once.

With calculated precision, he slit their throats, ensuring they made no sound. Carefully, he laid their heads down on the desk, their lifeless forms giving no hint of the swift attack.

Sulan then discreetly plugged a device into a nearby terminal and whispered into his mini-phone. His message was transmitted to one of his men stationed outside, tasked with disabling the cameras, since they already had access to one of the hospital systems, the task would be simple and subtle. The use of an official system ensured the interference would appear routine, preventing any immediate alarm among the remaining systems operators. Everything was falling into place as Sulan executed his plan with cold efficiency.

But it wasn't over yet. Just as Sulan was about to slip out of the control room, a commanding voice rang out behind him.

"Come out!" The tone was sharp and authoritative, freezing him in place. He had failed this small yet critical task.

Realizing there was no escape, Sulan straightened, his resolve hardening. Determined to fight without triggering an alarm, he stepped forward.

"Okay, I thought this would be a quick in and out, but it seems you want it to last longer."

"Who are you?"

"A friend."

"You're here to steal, but you've made the wrong decision."

"Oh."

Sulan didn't fully realize who he was speaking with until the man stepped into view. The weak-looking man, his deep tone and commanding voice surprising Sulan, made him chuckle in disbelief. As the conversation continued, the two men by the other desk stood ready for a fight.

But Sulan's frustration was building, anger simmering beneath the surface. Without warning, he made a swift, invisible motion summoning his daggers. In an instant, he struck, each blade carving a deep wound into the left side of the two men's chests.

Sulan didn't stop. Before the bodies of the two men could hit the floor, he moved again, a blur of speed, withdrawing his daggers and aiming for the weak man. But he missed.

In a single fluid motion, the man dodged and countered with a crippling strike to Sulan's spinal cord, one Sulan couldn't evade.

The blow left him vulnerable, and before he could react. The man held him hostage.

Sulan hadn't seen that coming. He had underestimated the man, belittling him as a weakling.

The man trapped Sulan's hands and pressed his dagger against his neck, then whispered

"Do you want this to continue the hard way or will you surrender?"

The pain in Sulan's spine rendered him motionless, powerless for the moment. But as he assessed his opponent, he noticed a flaw. His second dagger was still free, not trapped.

With his other hand, Sulan summoned his dagger.

Feeling it slide into his palm, a faint smirk tugged at his lips as he whispered, "You're fast, but dumb."

In a swift motion, Sulan drove the dagger into his opponent's leg. With his hand now free, he thrust the blade into the man's chest, a spray of blood splashing across his face.

After completing his task, Sulan worked out of the security room and returned to the main hospital floor, blending seamlessly into the shadows as he awaited updates on the kid's location.

Meanwhile, his men had begun systematically taking down the guards at the hospital's entrances, taking advantage of the camera blackout. Now, their focus shifted to locating the kid using the CCTV footage. However, the task was proving far more challenging than anticipated. The hospital was massive, capable of housing over a thousand patients at once, with countless wards spread across multiple floors. Each minute felt like an eternity.

"Drake! What the hell is going on? This is taking forever!" Sulan hissed into his mini-phone, his patience wearing thin. Drake, the head of the hacking team, had yet to provide any updates. It had already been over five minutes, and Sulan's frustration was mounting. Time was slipping away, and every second increased the risk of being discovered.

"Boss, we're doing our best. We've already checked the ground floor and the second-floor wards, but there's nothing," Drake reported, his voice tense.

"Are you dumb?" Sulan snapped, his frustration boiling over. "The child would be on the top floor—that's the safest part of the hospital!"

"There's a problem," Drake admitted hesitantly. "This system only gives us access to two floors. We can't access the others without logging in to a different system, but doing that will send notifications to the other users and alert the system."

"Shit…" Sulan muttered under his breath.

From Drake's explanation, Sulan quickly pieced things together. "So, each system only controls two floors," he thought, his mind racing. Time wasn't on their side, and every passing moment increased the risk of detection.

"Damn it," Sulan hissed, his fists clenching. They needed a new plan, and fast.

As Sulan mulled over the issue, a new idea struck him—he could seek assistance from his spy inside the hospital. The spy had access to sensitive information, and a little extra money would surely secure their cooperation.

Without wasting another second, Sulan dashed off to put his plan into motion.

Meanwhile, in the underground garage, events were already unfolding. Before Sulan had even reached the security room, the secret agents who had arrived earlier had been unleashed to take down every member of the WOI team.

These agents came equipped with far more advanced gadgets than the WOI men, enabling them to track every movement of Sulan's team throughout the hospital. Their tech allowed them to pinpoint the exact locations of the WOI men using nothing more than their watches. But the gadgets weren't the only difference between the two groups—these agents were faster, more coordinated, and highly trained, making the WOI team's situation even more precarious.

The secret agents were far more skilled than the WOI operatives, boasting superior training, advanced experience, and unwavering dedication. Each agent was prepared to lay down their life to protect their targets, embodying loyalty and selflessness.

In stark contrast, the WOI operatives were a disorganized and reluctant group. Most of them were coerced or forced into service under Zorin's command. Some had their families held hostage, while others were drowning in debts owed to Zorin, leaving them with no choice but to follow his orders. For them, the mission wasn't about loyalty but survival.

The grim reality of being a WOI operative was clear—there was no escape. The saying "Once a WOI, always a Zorin to BOSS" held true. Their servitude was a lifelong sentence, with freedom just an illusion dangled before them but never truly attainable.