Chapter 10: Newbie—Dark Fang

Li Chi practically fled from the park restroom area. The super speed granted by his Omega armor left him as nothing but a blurry afterimage in the eyes of any passersby—if there were any.

“I almost died…” 

Li Chi thought back to the scene from earlier.

He really had almost died, in every sense of the word.

Li Chi leaped and weaved between the buildings, his heart still pounding with lingering fear.

That guy in the stall earlier was probably going to haunt his nightmares for the next few days.

About ten minutes later, he stopped in front of a nondescript office building.

It was twenty stories tall, its glass curtain walls reflecting dazzling light in the afternoon sun. 

A sign at the entrance read “Shanghai City Creative Cultural Industries Center.” 

The foot traffic was sparse and ordinary—mostly suited white-collar workers or young professionals with backpacks.

Since he’d been there once that morning, Li Chi knew how to truly enter the Dark Organization.

He dispelled his invisibility and walked openly toward the main entrance. 

The security guard at the door was dozing off, completely unresponsive to the black-armored monster passing by—or rather, he couldn’t see him at all.

There was a faint, extremely subtle ripple in the air straight ahead, constantly undulating.

He reached out to touch the anomaly. 

The surrounding scenery rippled like water. 

The bright, clean lobby vanished, replaced by a completely different space.

The hall was bustling with activity—or rather, “people” coming and going.

Li Chi saw all sorts of beings: monsters, half-beasts, ordinary humans, and mages.

Everyone was doing their jobs, busy but orderly.

“Ah, you’re here!”

A familiar voice came from the right. Li Chi turned his head and saw Lina, in her dark nightgown, walking toward him.

She had removed her mask, revealing a mature, stunning face. 

Her silver-white hair was tied back in a neat ponytail.

Right now, she looked more like a capable office professional than the seductive danger from last night.

“Welcome to the Dark Organization.”

Lina had a professional smile on her face as she gestured for him to follow.

“Come with me. White Lion is waiting for you. He specifically instructed me to bring you to his office.”

“Who’s White Lion?”

Li Chi followed.

“The one in the tuxedo this morning.” 

Lina nodded, then pursed her lips and lowered her voice. 

“But he actually hates that outfit a lot. He only wore it this morning because he had no choice… If possible, try not to mention the tuxedo thing.”

The two crossed the busy hall and headed to the elevator area on one side. 

The elevator doors were heavy metal, etched with intricate patterns, giving off a vintage feel.

Lina pressed the button. 

The doors slid open silently.

“By the way, my workstation is actually over there.”

While waiting for the elevator, they chatted casually. 

Lina pointed to an elegant, shell-shaped curved reception desk near the hall entrance, with a “Smile Service” sign behind it.

“Reception and front desk. But work’s been heavy lately—basically one person doing the job of five. I even ended up as a temp cadre, catalyzing some base-form monster… and you know how that turned out.”

She shrugged, her tone full of the helplessness of a wage slave.

The elevator rose quickly and stopped at the 19th floor.

The corridor was lined with dark carpet, the walls adorned with abstract paintings or weapon displays—eerily quiet.

Lina stopped before a heavy wooden door. No label, just a simple lion-head knocker. She knocked.

“Come in.”

A low, pleasant male voice came from inside—the tuxedo youth from that morning.

Lina pushed the door open, gestured for Li Chi to enter, and stayed outside. 

“You two talk. I’ll head back to the front desk. If you need anything, use the internal comms. My code is 007.”

She winked and turned to leave.

The office was simpler than Li Chi had imagined.

A huge floor-to-ceiling window, bookshelves full of files, and an inconspicuous stand in the corner.

On that stand was a straight, sharpened longsword. 

No decorations—it looked like an ordinary blade just for chopping people.

The tuxedo youth—White Lion—was standing by the window.

Sure enough, he wasn’t in the tuxedo anymore. .

He’d changed into casual clothes that looked incredibly comfortable.

Hearing the noise, he turned around, revealing a sharply defined face with a touch of weariness but piercing eyes.

“Have a seat.” 

White Lion pointed to the chair across from the desk and sat in his wide armchair, relaxed yet naturally authoritative.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself properly. White Lion, one of the heads of the organization’s ‘Strategic Support and Special Operations Department.’ This morning… thanks for holding back.”

The corner of his mouth twitched up, as if recalling that close call.

Li Chi didn’t detransform and sat directly opposite.

“Omega.” He paused. “About this job…”

Clack clack clack clack clack—

A strange noise suddenly came from the ceiling, like glass balls bouncing endlessly on the floor.

At first, Li Chi paid it no mind.

“Straight to the point—good.” White Lion interlaced his fingers on the desk. 

“Lina probably gave you a basic intro. Our organization… well, externally it’s called the ‘Dark Organization,’ internally we call it the ‘Shadow Side.’ As you can see, our members are diverse, but our core goal isn’t pointless destruction.”

His gaze was sincere. 

“We study monsters, contain or guide certain special entities, and explore the other side of the world’s rules. Of course, clashing with magical girls is a tradition—call it maintaining a balance and gathering combat data.” 

“Your job will mainly involve two things: one, assisting in subduing or handling troublesome monsters; two, engaging in ‘friendly sparring’ with magical girls when necessary—set the scale yourself, just don’t cause serious casualties or public panic. The organization has a full cleanup and PR team.”

Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack—

The noise from the roof came again, interrupting White Lion. But he seemed used to it.

“Benefits as Vivian said: full social security, five days on two off, no forced overtime, base salary 100,000 a month. For field work—”

Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack—

Li Chi clearly saw a “#” pop up above White Lion’s head. He looked pissed.

“Um… what’s on the floor above…”

“It’s nothing. Our boss—ignore him,” White Lion muttered viciously, glancing sideways. “If I hadn’t lost to him back then, I’d be the boss…”

Li Chi’s view of this place was constantly shifting. 

He kept feeling like the higher-ups’ relationships here were way too complicated.

“Where were we?”

White Lion immediately straightened up, back in senior wage-slave mode.

“You were talking about field work?”

“Ah… right. Field work gets extra subsidies. Loot or research results can be distributed based on contribution. You’re a temp, so your permissions and task levels will be limited, but basic benefits stay the same.” White Lion pulled a document from his drawer and slid it over. “Here’s the temp worker agreement details. Take a look. There are NDAs for the confidential parts.”

Li Chi skimmed it quickly. 

The terms were absurdly generous—almost made him want to kneel. 

The restrictions were reasonable too. 

Compared to those black-hearted capitalists from his past life memories, this was heaven versus hell.

He looked up. “Why me? Because I can fight?”

“Pretty much.” 

White Lion nodded. 

“Your power system is unique—different from magic and common superpowers. We need that diversity. More importantly—”

He looked into Li Chi’s compound eyes, speaking deliberately. 

“Vivian’s magic can sense the soul’s true color. She said your ‘light’ is special. Not blinding, but solid enough. Here, we don’t care about faction or background. We look at ‘potential.'”

Li Chi was silent for a moment, then picked up the pen. “I’m in.”

Actually, the reason for his silence was just wondering what the hell White Lion was talking about—he didn’t understand a word!

Damn riddler!

“A wise choice.”

A genuine smile spread across White Lion’s face. He took the signed agreement and fiddled with a device on his desk.

“Your internal permissions are now active. Comms device, ID badge, and dorm key will be sent to Lina at the front desk shortly. Report to HQ tomorrow night at 9 PM. Lina will show you around and give you your first task. Oh, and you can move into the dorm anytime. As long as you’re employed, treat it like your second home.”

“That’s it? So simple?”

Li Chi looked at White Lion in confusion. He felt like there should be a bunch of tedious steps.

“What else? Want a combat test?”

White Lion gave him a subtle look, saying nothing—but his eyes said it all.

Yeah, they’d already fought that morning. It was a total stomp, even if the other side hadn’t reacted in time and was unarmed. 

A win was a win—no need for round two.

Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack—

The glass beads on the roof sounded a bit sharper this time. 

Li Chi finally sensed something different from White Lion—a killing intent!

“Speaking of…” Li Chi lowered his head so no one could see his expression (not that they could anyway). “Our boss…”

White Lion knew what he was asking. 

“That guy’s up there right now, entertaining his daughter. You know, that little girl with the nice voice from this morning—Vivian.”

Maybe thinking of something, White Lion’s expression softened. 

He took a few deep breaths, trying to regulate his emotions with a special breathing technique.

After a few breaths, he stood up and extended his hand.

“Finally, per tradition, you need a codename. Makes it easier for us to promote you. Any ideas?”

Li Chi thought for a second. 

“I’m terrible at naming. How about you pick one for me?”

“Obsidian Fang? How’s that?”

White Lion eyed the features of the transformed Omega—those black claws and the bone blades on his arms stood out especially. 

So he offered his suggestion.

“Pretty good, but a bit chuuni.”

“Where’s the chuuni? It’s totally cool!”

And so, the two of them started bickering in this bizarre setting.

They went through several similar names until they finally agreed on “Dark Fang.”

Actually, the codename sounded pretty standard to both of them. 

But whoever suggested one would immediately get shot down by the other, so they settled on this as his temporary name.

Just as neither was willing to back down and they were about to debate the difference between chuuni and flashy…

Clack clack clack clack clack—

“…”

White Lion dialed Vivian’s phone. 

Once he confirmed she wasn’t in the boss’s office, he hung up and tossed the phone far away.

“!!”

The elegant, dignified White Lion let out an unprintable string of curses. 

He grabbed the longsword from the stand beside him and was about to charge out.

Li Chi seized the moment and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“Bro! Bro! It’s not that serious, bro! He’s just trying to make his kid happy!”

“I’m gonna f***ing—! That office was specifically left for me back then! He’s doing this on purpose, the bastard!”