Free Web NovelChapter 88: Chapter 88 Leading Role Appearance_1
Two days later, at night.
Aiden stood atop the clock tower in the old city district, gazing down at the abandoned dock below.
"That bungalow with the white roof is Borbo’s office. He spends every Saturday night there, dealing with the accounts submitted by his territory," Veronica said, standing beside him and pointing it out to him, "According to the informant, he’s there right now, and there are about a dozen people inside and outside the office..."
"The villains and the supporting actors are all in place," Aiden nodded and handed his staff to Veronica, "It’s time for the lead to make an entrance."
Unlike other days, today he wasn’t wearing his uniform, but instead, he was dressed in night travel gear, with a wide hooded cloak covering his entire body.
"Is it really okay?" Veronica asked with concern.
"Honestly, I’m not entirely sure if this will work out, but at the very least I can assure my own safety. Don’t worry, Daili is helping to monitor the scene," Aiden said as he shook the cat’s eye ring in his hand, "If anything happens, she will inform you through her familiar, and then you can raid the place with the cavalry police."
"Understood," Veronica nodded.
"Before I make my entrance, I need to put on some makeup first."
No sooner had he finished speaking, Aiden started to use his ability to transform his body.
A tingling sensation spread throughout his body as it quickly shrank down, soon he was only as tall as Veronica’s chest.
His limbs proportionally shortened, his body slimmed down, while his face became slightly rounder, not as gaunt as before.
In just a few seconds, he had turned himself into a child who appeared to be no more than eleven or twelve years old, his features bearing only a faint resemblance to his original appearance. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
After many practices, he had become quite adept at using this special ability.
Still, he confirmed with Veronica, "How is it? There shouldn’t be any flaws, right?"
Not just his appearance, but even his voice had changed to match the corresponding age of his new form, no longer as deep as before.
Veronica stared at Aiden in a daze, then silently gave him a thumbs up.
"Veronica?" Aiden was puzzled by her reaction.
"Ah, sorry, sorry," Veronica snapped back to reality, hurriedly retracted her hand, and laughed awkwardly, "I think the transformation is perfect!"
"That’s good," Aiden replied flatly.
This girl... surely she’s not into young boys?
"I’ll head over now; you keep watch here," Aiden said as he took a mask and lantern hanging nearby and quickly walked down the clock tower.
At the entrance of Borbo’s office at the abandoned dock, two watchmen were idly chatting.
One of them caught a glimpse of a light approaching.
"Hey, someone’s coming," he immediately alerted his companion.
"Who is it? The boss didn’t mention any visitors," the other said with confusion.
Although they were aware of an uninvited visitor, both felt no sense of danger, because the person approaching was alone and seemed quite short.
By the time the figure approached at an unhurried pace with a lantern in hand, the two looked at each other instinctively, reading a hint of surprise in each other’s eyes—this "guest" was shorter than their chests, either a child or a dwarf.
What was even stranger was that this person was dressed in a long black cloak that dragged on the ground, and a black mask obviously too large for his face covered it.
"Hey, what are you doing?" one of the henchmen shouted at him.
"I’m looking for Mr. Borbo, can you take me to see him?" the mysterious person—Aiden—replied.
"A kid?" Hearing the slightly immature tone of the other party, both of them were taken aback for a moment.
One of them replied harshly, "This is no place for kids to play, beat it!"
After speaking, he also used a crowbar next to him to knock on the concrete dock floor to intimidate the other person.
"I need to find Mr. Borbo." Aiden remained unmoved.
"Are you f*cking asking for death?" the other guy, impatient now, prepared to walk over and kick the other party to force him to back down.
Occasionally, there would be clueless kids trying to join the underworld, then they would sneak into a gang based on some rumor they heard.
The gang would sometimes recruit fifteen or sixteen-year-old hoodlums to work as thugs, and these adolescent kids were quite easy for the gang to exploit. They thought simplistically, acted recklessly without considering consequences, easily drawn into fights and willing to risk their lives for a little benefit, yet when caught, they could expect lighter sentences. In the event of trouble, they made perfect scapegoats.
But this kid in front of them was too young, and judging by his bizarre attire... his mind also didn’t seem quite right, he probably had some misconceptions about the underworld.
More importantly, Mr. Borbo had long since climbed to a high-ranking position in the Skull Gang, times had changed, and it was unlikely that the recruitment of low-level henchmen would disturb him; even the gatekeepers would be beaten for lesser disruptions.
But the man had only taken two furious steps with the crowbar when he suddenly tripped and fell forward, feeling something strange suddenly grabbing his ankle.
He instinctively turned to look at his feet, crying out in horror.
What had grabbed his ankle was a pitch-black claw that had reached out from his own shadow. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
But before he could cry out again, his voice was cut off—more black claws emerged from the shadow, clasping his neck and limbs, pinning him firmly to the ground.
The other gatekeeper, witnessing this scene, felt his mind explode. In this world, while black magic was widely recognized, it was strictly regulated, and common people rarely had the chance to witness such supernatural forces first-hand.
Aiden did not give him the chance to recover from his fear, summoning claws from the shadow demon to press him down to the ground as well.
For an ordinary hoodlum like this one, Aiden himself could’ve easily dealt with them without using the shadow demon Daili had summoned, but Daili’s demon obviously had a more dramatic effect, so it was foolish not to use her.
Aiden moved closer to the two men forced to the ground and, like bestowing alms on a beggar, he tossed a "coin" in front of them: "Recognize this?"
They struggled to focus their eyes on it and noticed that it was a copper badge the size of a coin, intricately carved with a poppy flower. The badge emitted a faint, peculiar fragrance, as if it had been coated with some special concoction.
This item, although not many in the underworld had seen it with their own eyes, most had heard of it.
There was a group of assassins skilled in the underworld, who used this token to prove their identity.
"Offspring of the Meiruki gang?" the two gatekeepers lifted their heads in terror.
"I’ll say it again, I’m here to see Mr. Carlo Borbo, could you be so kind as to show me the way?" Aiden spoke with a hint of a smile, "Don’t worry, I’m not here to kill him, I’m here to... discuss business with him."
