The Other Side of the Mask

"Uh… where are we going?" I ask XiaoLong.

"To buy the collars."

"And where is that?"

"Uh…"

We pause in our footsteps, stupefied by our stupidity.

A tourist's child passes by, "Look! There's two new statues!"

I fought the urge to yell shut up at the three-year-old child. Both XiaoLong and I blush in embarrassment by the insanely great timing comment.

The tourist immediately pulled the child away and scolded him.

XiaoLong and I finally recover after a good ten seconds.

"What a … child…" XiaoLong facepalms.

I get back on topic, "So, where do we get them?"

"... let's do plan T…"

"... and what's that?"

"Take them by storm," XiaoLong nonchalantly puts out.

I recall the scene of me dragging 2745 out with her overbearing makeup, her screaming, me stuffing her into a freaking barrel, and chucking her off the cliff.

I facepalm but agree, "I guess there's only custom made and what not… we'll have to disguise too."

I spot a local couple with the collars, "Let's disguise as them."

"Sure," XiaoLong agrees, quickly zooming off to deal with them.

It only took a moment, and XiaoLong carried back the unconscious bodies. I memorized their looks and disguised ourselves to look like them. Then, dressing in their outfit and wearing the collar, we walk with the townspeople as they leave for their night prayer tonight.

None of us spoke a word, and XiaoLong and I walked with the line, trying to maintain as expressionless as possible. We entered the mine, looking as if we belonged there, following the crowd. This time, we walked even further than last night. A door appeared behind the statue and we all piled in. We stopped at an amazing room, larger than ever. If calculated, the size could even rival the Yue castle, only second to the Eclipse Palace.

XiaoLong grips my hand, as I spy some foreign villagers and townspeople.

We pick a back corner to stand to and stay there, occasionally whispering.

" So they have people of other kingdoms," I mutter.

"Yes, most likely they'll pose a threat to other kingdoms later on, since all cults are like that," XiaoLong whispers back.

Since the rest of the meeting was quite unimportant, I had to muffle so many yawns to prevent drawing attention.

"How do these local people stay awake like this?"

"Dunno…"

… and we confirmed that they will target other kingdoms after us.

We walk out at about 1 am. The children seemed to be sleepwalking out of the cave, tired. Some of the parents carried them on their backs.

XiaoLong and I walked hand in hand back to the hotel.

XiaoLong sighs, "I had the Commander tell our parents. They sent letters to the other kingdoms, but the other kingdoms didn't seem to care."

"It doesn't seem like they believe us."

"Aargh!"

I put my palm on my forehead and sigh, "So what now?"

"Hmmm…"

He frowns, "There's not much we can do…"

We rack our brains in the dilemma. Even the maids and servants around us start to worry.

However, "Don't tell the public, it will only make things worse," XiaoLong and I commanded them, sternly.

They could only nod and agree.

I trained my 'self-defense' skills like crazy for the next day, if it could help.

"At this point the only thing we can really do is fight them head on. The other countries will then probably take this as an advantage and join in at a later time, wiping us both out and taking our land…"

XiaoLong stops in surprise when he sees me smile with a glint in my eye.