Chapter 604 The Game Plan

"There's too much to do with so little time…" Keng whispered. "I have to find Lee Seng who is somewhere on the outskirts of the city while also having to juggle school, the investigation and the cup…"

"It's not a lot to deal with. I can help. Just let me do something other than wait around for you." Calis perked up. "I know I'm here for the cup but if you have to deal with other matters, I can do an investigation on my end. If you need me to help you find your Vessel, I can do that."

"He has a name." Keng turned. "Lee Seng. Use it… I get that people will call him Vessel, but if you're going to be a thorn in my side, you might as well use his name."

"Fine, Lee Seng. I can help you find him. Where did you even last see him?" Calis asked folding his arms together. The man was large and distracting. Keng looked away, trying to remember where exactly the blip even came from.

"The edge of the city… I think it might've came from the East side. Honestly, I'm not a hundred percent sure because I don't have most of the city mapped out in my head."

"How can you keep all of that information up there?" Calis asked. "You must be good if you can remember a lot of things and keep it up there for later." He tapped his head, trying to compliment Keng. It didn't go that way and Keng rolled his eyes at him.

"Try the East side. I felt it over that way…." Keng shut his eyes, cocking his head to the side. The image flickered in his head as his skill activated. He could see fragments of the space. It seemed like an apartment of sort? "Nice apartment…" A view of the city appeared in his head. "With a nice view… He was here for a bit then…"

The image changed. It was dark now. The image fizzled out and a frustrated sigh escaped Keng's mouth. He shook his head and tried again. It would always stop there. Something was blocking him from gathering more information.

'The demon?' Keng wondered.

"So an apartment with a nice view? Did this apartment have anything interesting in it?" Calis asked.

"Yeah… Not really sure where we're even gonna get that… I don't know the city too well…"

"Knock, knock." Akali knocked on the door, peeking in. "You two want some pizza?"

The steam rose off of the hot meat pizza as Akali and Akio casually ate their pizzas. Keng picked the pizza up, taking a small bite as Calis looked strangely at it.

"I haven't tried pizza before." Calis told them. "Honestly not one of the things I would've thought to try. Is it any good?"

"It's a meat lover's pizza. Of course it's good." Akio answered with his mouth full. Calis looked between the others and his pizza, slowly picking it up as it brought it up to his mouth. He took a gulp before biting into the hot pizza

As Calis pulled away from it, ooey and gooey cheese pulled away, creating a string of extra cheese. He munched, pulling the cheese towards his mouth as he tasted the marinara, bread, cheese and meat toppings collide in his mouth. It was good. No, it was delicious!

"Wow!" Calis's eyes lit up. "That is good!* " He took a bigger bite, fully enjoying himself as Keng finished his pizza and grabbed another time.

"So, what're you going to do?" Akali asked after some pizza munching time. She looked at Keng and Calis. "Lee Seng is missing and you're him. What's the plan?"

"Calis will look around for Lee Seng while also dealing with his other tasks. As for me, I'll try to dig around on the inside if I can." Keng replied. He set the plate down and sighed. "Though it's going to be a pain in the ass, I think this is the best thing we can do."

"You're sure the two of you can find him? Maybe Akio and I can whip up some of our guys to find him for you." Akali suggested.

"No," Keng shook his head. "I don't really want any outsiders involved, so if you could refrain from using others and keeping this as tight as possible, it'll be fine with me."

"I know someone who could help us locate our brother them." Akio spoke up. He had set his pizza down on the side while he clutched at the hardened paste. It was getting uncomfortable to do anything with that on him. "I just need any leads you got, if you have any."

"You got paper and a pen or pencil?" Keng asked, leaning forwards. Akali stood up and grabbed some paper and a pen. She handed it over as Keng moved some stuff aside on the coffee table and started to sketch. They were rough sketches of the images he saw in his head, but they could definitely help with the search.

"These are what I saw when I focused on it. It's spotty in places because I couldn't see much more than this." Keng pulled away from his drawings.

"Huh, didn't think you had Lee Seng's sketching talent either." Akio commented as Akali pulled the drawings to them. The two studied the drawings. "This will do. This will do just enough… Give me a couple days at least and I'll give you a call."

"Speaking of that, your phone." Akali motioned. "It'll look less suspicious if you have our phone numbers at least." Keng dishes for his phone and handed it over. Akali inputted both her and her brother's phone numbers and handed it back. "Don't worry about trying to find it, Calis. Akio's guy is skilled when it comes to tracking people down."

"You sure? I can help." Calis insisted. Akali and Akio shook their heads, waving him off.

"You focus on maintaining your cover." Akio told him.

"So I'm to just be a guard for Keng while you two do your thing?" Calis asked.

"Yup. Do your job and help him when you can." Akali nodded, pulling her phone out. "Oh look, the email about you came up… It says you're gonna stay with him and his group. 'Guard Lee Seng Chang at school and at home.' There's your order." Akali looked up at him. She stuffed her phone into her pocket as Keng sighed.

"Do we really have to do this?" Keng complained. "It's already a lot that I'm Lee Seng and doing his thing, but you? Do we?" Keng looked at Calis.

"You already heard the orders, twice. I'm only here to do what I need to do. Once we get your Ve– I mean, Lee Seng. out, it's cup looking time." Calis reminded him. Keng sighed and nodded.

"What's this cup about?" Akio asked, curiously.

"I need it to save some people." Calis lightly put it. The twins nodded. They wouldn't press him. He was already exposed enough as is and missions were missions. The twins knew exactly what it was like to be in his position.

"Anything else then?" Calis asked, shifting the conversation back to its previous subject. He took the last bites of the pizza, smacking his lips in approval.

"Other than finding Lee Seng? No." Keng shook his head. He grabbed his plate and put another pizza on it. He leaned back into the sofa and began to eat again as Calis put his attention onto the twins.

"For now, just take Keng back and act like a butler and a bodyguard. The Academy should be informed about your presence. You'll attend classes with him, take him to and from the home and wherever he needs to go." Akali elaborated to Calis.

"Except when I go on jobs." Keng interjected. He looked at Calis. "I gotta get my Specialization hours in for both of my classes."

"Except for that." Akali pointed. "Other than that, you'll basically be watching him like a hawk for the Creator - Lee Seng's dad."

"Who is the Creator anyways? People we know have been mentioning this Creator, but nobody gives me much about it. They give me weird looks." Calis asked.

"Lee Seng's dad. Creator of the Biohuman serum that made Number 9 and 10 the first ten Biohumans in the world. It's the same exact serum that runs in every person's blood. The serum gives us Dark Matter energy which is used like mana - in fantasy terms - and we get powers from it."

"This serum gave you powers?" Calis cocked his head to the side in disbelief. Keng and the others nodded. Calis scooted up in his seat, leaning into Keng and the others. "You're all given this?"

"When you're like 14/15 years old." Akali nodded. "We're unsure if it'll carry within our blood and kin. There's research showing it does work and it doesn't. It's too early to tell."

"Wow. The Creator did all of this?" Calis looked at them in disbelief. They all nodded at him as he settled into his seat. "That's… That's crazy. To think magic could come to people in a serum… Wow." The sounds of crackling and Akio's gasps broke Keng's attention from the conversation to Akio.

"Ahhh." Akio gasped touching the hot crackling hard paste. "It's burning a lot now."

"I think that's my queue." Keng set the plate down and stood up. "Let's rip that sucker off."