[AFYC] Chapter 53

At Oscar’s words, a man approached from behind. Unlike the others dressed in formal suits, this man looked dishevelled, as if he had just returned from a battle. He had been hiding in the underbrush, waiting for Oscar to arrive. In a tightly controlled voice, he quickly reported the situation.

“The search team has recovered the bodies of three deceased members. However, we have not yet located the team leader and deputy, who appear to have been captured alive.”

“Their chances of survival?”

Oscar knew the answer even before he asked.

“We are conducting the search with the aim of retrieving their bodies.”

Oscar took a deep drag from his cigarette and then let out a low, bitter laugh. In other words, an entire espionage team that had infiltrated the Beta Mercenary Group—a secret force supposedly working for the Luxen king—had been annihilated.

At Oscar’s laugh, the man who was reporting, along with Simon and the other wolves, fell silent. The laughter was as dry and brittle as the ashes of a fire that hadn’t completely burned out. Oscar then tossed the half-smoked cigarette onto the gravel along the tracks and slowly crushed it under his heel.

“For an entire team, not just a few members, to be discovered one by one...”

This wasn’t even within the Luxen royal palace but within a mercenary group that served as one of its secret auxiliary forces.

His icy blue eyes gleamed with a cruel light through the exhaled smoke.

“It means I’ve been dancing in the palm of someone’s hand.”

What’s more, the bodies had been dismembered and fed to hunting dogs, making it a blatant display of the wolves’ defeat.

“What are your orders?”

Oscar’s gaze lingered on the seemingly endless stretch of railway tracks as he spoke.

“Destroy all information gathered by Espionage Team 3-2.”

It was only logical to discard any intel that came from a compromised team.

“Cease the search for the two who were captured.”

The wounded wolf raised his head at this cold command. He was about to plead for another search attempt when he saw his master, Oscar, calmly slipping on his black gloves and lowering his head in submission once more.

A distant train was approaching.

Oscar took a few steps back, undoing a few buttons on his shirt that felt too tight. Then, with his gloved hand, he shoved his hand into his pocket just as the train’s head roared past him, accompanied by a fierce gust of wind. The train screeched to a halt.

Once the train had stopped completely, Oscar ascended the steps.

Unlike the luxurious train that had carried Seo Ah, this one looked like a skeletal structure left behind by a fire that hadn’t completely consumed it. The interior was all exposed steel, and the people inside were just as raw and unrefined.

Reinhardt’s elite reconnaissance and combat units bowed deeply to their summoned master, and Oscar walked straight through the rows of wolves, sharp as blades.

The train started moving again with a clanging of metal.

Reaching the seat of honour, where he could oversee everyone, Oscar continued his final assessment, looking at the weapons before him.

The mercenary group that the compromised agents had infiltrated was an armed force used by the Luxen king for his dirtiest work. The mercenary group also sent the assassins that had followed them to Felphe. These were the scum who handled the king’s dirty deeds, and so the plan had been to infiltrate and uncover their secrets.

But they had been discovered.

“They tore apart the wolves and fed them to their hunting dogs.”

As he spat out the words, those who had been bowing their heads slowly lifted them.

Oscar’s eyes, deep with thought, met the eyes of the agents, simmering with a thirst for revenge. When all the agents finally raised their heads and looked at him, Oscar concluded his review.

If they couldn’t uncover the schemes the king was planning, the next best course was to cut off the hands that could execute those schemes. A hand dipped in filth couldn’t be picked up after it had been severed.

“Five days.”

Oscar issued his order.

“Bring me the head of the Beta Mercenary Group’s leader within five days.”

The agents, still haunted by the sight of their comrades’ brutalised bodies, responded to the command as if they had been waiting for it all along.

“Yes, sir!”

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