1 Chapter 1: First Encounter
At precisely 8 p.m. A man celebrating his 50th birthday stood on the stage of the Xanthe Hotel, situated in the center of the bustling city of Beijing, with spotlights focused on him and four bodyguards three steps behind him.
He spoke to the guests, completely unaware of what was about to happen. "Let's not think or worry about tomorrow tonight; just enjoy the night, and thank you, everyone, for coming at such an important time in my life—"
"Thud!!!" A loud thud echoed throughout the room, and the old man couldn't finish his words as a bullet buried his forehead. There was a moment of silence before everyone began to panic and scream.
The three bodyguards immediately checked the surroundings, while the other one checked the old man's pulse. “He's dead,” the bodyguard declared.
Meanwhile, on the 31st floor of the Wangs-Royal Hotel and Restaurant, a man in his late twenties was dressed entirely in black, including a mask with rose petals carved on it. He is dissembling the sniper rifle with a silencer in a hidden compartment of the black guitar-like case.
He dangled a few strands of hair on his pretty face and quickly changed into ordinary black jeans and a plain white t-shirt. With his new look like one of those pop stars, skinny frame, and pretty face, who could have guessed that he had just assassinated a man?
He then picked up the guitar case containing a sniper rifle, along with his black suit and mask. He fished out his phone and then dialed a certain phone number. The other end of the line picked up his phone with just one buzz.
"Hey, Black Rose, how's your job?" asked the man on the other end.
"Piece of cake," Black Rose replied, shrugging his shoulders.
“Now work with the hotel CCTV; you know what to do, right?” He said it with a smirk plastered on his bow-shape red lips.
The man on the other line grins and says, “Okay, give me a second.” He gently pushed his glasses up, then his fingers began dancing over the computer screen in front of him.
Black Rose puts a small device in his ear and then strides toward the elevator. "Hey Neutron, I'm going down now,” he said while the elevator was closing.
“Hey, man, I told you many times to stop calling me Neutron,” Luke on the other line grumbles while working and hacking the hotel CCTV cameras and deleting Black Rose footage and records at the hotel.
The elevator stopped at the ground floor of the hotel, and Black Rose, in his normal attire, walked out casually as if nothing had happened.
He was busy admiring the hotel lobby interior designs and was walking without looking at the front when he suddenly crashed into something, or more like someone.
“Ahh... ahh...Ouch!” He was taken aback and internally cursed at himself for not paying attention. Meanwhile, the other man he collided with was staring at him with astonishment. Black Rose immediately bowed and apologized.
“I'm sorry, sir; I was just admiring the elegance of the hotel and didn't mean to bump into you. I wasn't looking, and I'm sorry again.” He said, then bowed.
“Oh, it's fine; it didn't hurt me at all, so it's okay,” the man replied with a slight smile on his lips.
Black Rose bowed again, excused himself, and quickly sprinted out of the building, leaving Kyle, who was still in a trance.
“How can a man be so handsome and yet so beautiful at the same time?" "wow!” He exclaimed after snapping out of his trance. Pulling himself together, his eyes wander, looking for the said man. He ran outside, hoping to find him and introduce himself to the beautiful man, but unfortunately, the beautiful man disappeared just like that. So Kyle came back inside the hotel, entered the private lift, and pressed the button to the highest level where he lived.
While in the car, “Hey, Ryder, who is that guy, huh?” Asked Dylan.
“I don't know; I didn't bother asking his name,” replied Ryder while shrugging his shoulders as if he didn't care.
“So how's the job?” asked Dylan while starting the car's engine.
“Well done, I think the police are coming in any minute; let's go, hurry up!” Ryder taps Dylan's thigh, and Dylan just grins, then accelerates the car.
Dylan drives off to their headquarters, where they meet with the team.
Luke is an expert in terms of computer jobs like hacking and so on. Ryder called him Neutron, as he is not only an expert in hacking but also has a very high IQ. Luke is a small man with 167 cm in height, a cute face, and looks like a junior high schooler but has the brain capacity of 3–4 people combined.
Dylan, on the other hand, serves as Ryder's buddy and driver when they're on the job and is also an expert in martial arts and close combat fighting. Like Ryder, Dylan is handsome and beautiful. The team called him “White Fox,” as he can move swiftly like a fox. beautiful, yet dangerous.
At the headquarters
“Let's celebrate, guys; today's job is well done," Ryder said while flopping his bottom on the couch.
“We always do our job well, you know?” spat Dylan
“Marius is on his way; I told him to grab some food and beer,” said Luke while dabbing his fingers on the computer keyboards.
A few minutes later, Marius arrived, and he pressed the high-tech gate of the house with his right index finger.
The gate has a fingerprint scanner, and only registered fingerprints could be used to open the gate, just like the doors in the not-so-big house that also serves as their headquarters.
Marius entered the house, but the house was empty. He sighed. He stood in front of the bookshelves and then pulled out the thick book before pressing the keypad on the bookshelves.
There was a hidden keypad behind the thick books. After he pressed some number combinations, the bookshelf slowly turned clockwise. There is an elevator going down. Marius then enters the elevator, presses the keypad inside, and the bookshelf slowly turns back to its original place.
Arriving at the headquarters basement, Marius rolled his eyes and stomped his feet. There, he saw his friends watching the news.
"Oh, come on guys, why are you here and not upstairs? You know I don't like coming down here, ahh! This house is so annoying; why do you have to install so many tricky security systems?" Marius complained but was ignored by others.
“Marius, come here; let's watch the news.” Dylan motioned with his hands, asking Marius to sit down.
“I already know what that is about, duh!” Marius rolled his eyes.
“Here are the foods and beer; let's dig in first," he said.
“Ah, you're the best, Marius,” said Luke, then got up from the computer seat.
"Wooaahh!!!" "Look at the guy on the TV; isn't he the guy you just bumped into earlier at the hotel?" said Dylan
“Oh, ho. . . ho. . . so he is a police officer, huh?" Ryder smirked cheekily.
"Hey man, be careful; don't stumble into him next time," Luke warned him.
"Better to avoid him next time you see him," Marius said, agreeing with what Luke said.
"Hey! Hey, easy, guys, easy." I'm not that careless, you know?" Ryder spoke confidently.
***
"It's been a long day for Kyle, and he wanted to take a nap before dinner after arriving at his place. But before his bottom could even touch the bed, his phone buzzed. It's a call from the chief.
“Officer Kyle Wang, we have a new case; go to the hotel Xanthe penthouse; let's meet there with the team.” Chief Wells is on the line.
“Roger, sir,” Kyle responded, then picked up his key and shoved it into his trousers pocket.
At the Xanthe hotel penthouse, the lifeless old man was still laying on the floor with a bullet stuck to his forehead. The visitors have already gone; only the family and the bodyguards with the hotel staff are there when the police and the media arrive.
The police immediately checked the place, and they saw the glass window with a crack on it where the bullet made its way to the old man's forehead.
“Chief, I think I know where the shooter was positioned, at the W-Royal Hotel," Kyle stated after examining the hole in the window.
“There was only one taller building, across from the Xanthe hotel, the Wangs Royal Hotel.
There are five lower establishments between the Xanthe Hotel and the Wangs Hotel, so it is impossible that the shooter came from there; the only option is the Wangs-Royal Hotel,” explained Kyle.
The chief examines the old man's body to look for some evidence, while officer Kyle immediately calls the Wangs-Royal hotel and requests the CCTV footage and guest's information, and so on.
“Officer Kyle, come here,” called Chief Wells.
"Yes, Chief?" Replied officer Kyle
"Look at this, aren't they rose petals?" Chief Wells held the petals he found in the old man's suit. Kyle and Chief Wells exchange glances and nod in understanding.
Chief Wells called Officer Kole to gather the evidence, and so on. Then they requested the media to retreat as the body would be brought to the laboratory for an autopsy.
The police put some yellow caution tape around the crime scene, then left and headed to the W-Royal Hotel for further investigation.
"Gather the managers and the security staff of the conference room, right now!" Kyle ordered the staff After a few minutes, she asked, "How is this possible?" "Why is the footage empty?!" Chief Wells shouted
“We're very sorry, Chief; maybe the security cameras had been hacked,” one of the staff members said.
"Give me the list of the guests right now!” Kyle demanded
"Sir, here is the list," the hotel manager said, swiveling the laptop in front of Kyle and showing him the guest list.
Kyle then looks at the computer containing the list of the guests that are facing the Xanthe hotel from the 30th floor and up.
Kyle's brows furrowed. "Black Rose! damn it! This man strikes again, huh?
"I think this case is close," Chief Wells stated. "We have to find out why Black Rose killed that old man."
Kyle sighed, then ordered the hotel staff to go back to their respective jobs. He knows how Black Rose handles the job. It's not the hotel staff's fault that there's no CCTV footage.
Black Rose leaves only his name after he does his job and disappears without any trace.
They have been following Black Rose cases for quite a while now; it's just that they can't figure out who this Black Rose is or why he's doing all of this. Although they know that Black Rose only kills those who are corrupt politicians, greedy rich people, and those who abuse innocents and commit heinous crimes.
However, Kyle believes that you should not put the law in your hands and seek justice. But Black Rose didn't think that way; he lost trust in the justice and law system of this country.
The police returned to their office quarters, and after an hour, they received an email from an unknown sender containing the information about the old man.
Philip Wen, 50 years old
Running for the next prime minister was involved in human and drug trafficking. Molested and raped four minor-age girls, 15 and 16-year-old high school students, and two 17-year-old senior high school students. He threatened the families of the victims, killed two of his houseworkers, and did numerous evil deeds.
Along with the email is all the evidence that the said man had done that the law keeps turning a blind eye to.
Chief Wells and Officer Kyle just heaved a sigh.
"Why is this man always ahead of us?" Wells mumbled
Kyle didn't answer; he also didn't know what to say, whether to thank Black Rose for doing their job or chase him as he was putting the law into his own hands.
The evidence is also sent to the media. Black Rose believes the people should know what kind of person the old man is that is running for the next prime minister of the country before wasting their tears on such a hideous man that they think is a very good man, and because the old man had his reputation for being a good Samaritan behind his heinous and evil deeds.
