22 Partnership with a Devil!

"Your mother was a thief, and you want to become like her?" Ace repeated her words in exasperation.

"Yes. That's been my dream ever since I was young, but after I became a Grant Family slave, my life didn't belong to me anymore. They trained me to become an Assassin after discovering my unique abilities. I didn't have any choice but to obey their order. After completing my training, Lyla Grant gave me to her son, Asher Kelby, to do his bidding.

"He was adored by both his father, the current head of the Kelby family, and his grandfather, the head of the Grant family; he's also Lyla's father. He was also the one who planted this slave mask. That's why he let me go to Asher's side, knowing I couldn't do anything because I had this mask on my face." Black Fox's eyes turned cold when she mentioned Kelby and Grant's family.

She loathes both families to the bones, and how could she not? Because of them, she lived as a slave all these years.

"But if you are bound by this slave mask, how can you resist the orders and seek my help?" Ace asked in puzzlement.

Even if Ace was new in the cultivation world, he clearly knew how slave marks worked. The bearer of this mark can't resist their master's control.

Thus, if this fox mask were really more powerful than the ordinary slave mark, it would be nigh impossible for her to resist Asher's will.

Black Fox said gravely. "This is because I can bypass this mask control with one of my lineage skills that no one knows about. But it can't help me get rid of it. If they find out about this skill, they will kill me." 

"YOU?! Are you an idiot? Are you not afraid of me telling them your biggest secrets? What if I sold you out to save myself from Asher or killed you right now to shut your mouth after that? No one will ever know about my secret." Ace continued gloomily, "As for Kelby and Grant's family, I can hide or even leave the city, and you know that I'm fully capable of doing it. So why are you trusting me so much!?" 

Ace didn't know her, nor were they relatives or anything important to each other. Then why was she telling him her secrets one after another like it was nothing? It made him quite uneasy.

Because this girl was by no means a fool, she found his hidden identity with so few clues.

"Heh heh, you would do it because you are like my mother. You robbed that Fatty because he was evil and always bullied the poor. You even helped those innocent people's families who were killed by Billy in his rampage. You gave all those dead people's families ten ruby coins without letting them know. But do you know? They all know the 'Black Ghost' helped them when no one was listening to their pleading.

"They called you a Hero of Justice. My mother was also this kind of thief. She always stole from rich and bad people and helped the needy when no one wanted to help them." Black Fox nostalgically said as she remembered her mother's words and stories because she was her Hero.

Her Father always scolded her mother not to tell her this kind of story, but she never listened to him and always told her about her incredible adventures and achievements.

Black Fox still remembered her mother telling her about the varieties of thieves, "Remember Eva, there are three types of thieves—first, those who stole for poor and rich people, whether good or bad. The second type is those who stole from only the weak because they are cowards who ran from the strong and bullied the weak. The third type is the rarest; they stole from evil people and helped the weak and needy."

That was also the last story she told Black Fox before her tragic death.

"Your mother was really a good person, and I can't compare with her." Ace sincerely said without hiding his awe for that great thief.

Eva giggled after seeing Ace's goofy face, "That's why I wanted to find you and form a partnership. Because you are a loyal person, and you will not do something so shameless to sell your comrade for saving your own neck." She had deeply investigated Ace before she made her decision to form a partnership with him.

"Tell me how I can free you from this slave mask and about Kelby's family strength. I want to know all about it," Ace asked. He wanted to help her and, more importantly, complete his mission.

Now Ace has some idea what kind of family Kelby was after hearing her story. He has to empty their treasury in two years, a number three family of the whole inner region. He nearly cursed the system.

"Oh, your next target was the Kelby family. It looks like I didn't misjudge you. You really are a 'kind-hearted thief' just like my mother." Black Fox seemed relieved after confirming her hypothesis that Ace was a 'kind-hearted thief.'

In her eyes, he was going to 'Judge' Kelby's family, the black-hearted family who treated her like a slave and did all kinds of evil deeds.

Ace's face flushed when he heard Black Fox's admirable words. He wanted to clarify her misunderstanding but was afraid that she would beat him if he told her he wanted to do robbery for his own selfish purpose.

'She has definitely some screws loose in her head.' Ace nodded and decided to let her be.

Ace was not the 3rd category thief. He was a new type of thief who robbed others to get stronger. It was that simple.

"Cough... cough," Ace coughed twice to hide his embarrassment. "Listen? Can you not talk about this and tell me how I can help you get rid of this mask? In return, you can give me all the information on the Kelby family."

Ace gave in. He didn't want anything from this crazy girl anymore. If she could give him information about Kelby's family security or even help him get in there, he was happy with just that.

"Humph. First, you must form a partnership with me; we will be a team from now on. After that, like a real team, you will help your partner first, and then we'll take care of official business together." Black Fox snorted, clearly dissatisfied with Ace forgetting something so important this quick.

'What official business? That's a mission from the system!' Ace really wanted to shout this but held himself back.

'Sigh,' Ace sighs helplessly, "Fine, we will form a team, and I'll help you first, but if your skill is not enough, or you slow me down, I'll escape and leave you behind. Now tell me how I can help you!!!" There was apparent frustration in his voice.

"See, that wasn't so difficult. I promise you that I will not slow you down and will always follow your order. Since you're the team leader, name our team first." Black Fox said excitedly. She was looking at Ace with great anticipation.

"What team leader? And why do we need a name??" Ace asked hurriedly he didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Since you're more skilled than me in thievery, and you are already a 'famous thief,' you will be our team leader, and in the future, our team will be famous throughout the whole world, so we should have a magnificent name that stuck fear into bad guys' hearts." Explained Black Fox while imagining their glorious future with gleaming eyes.

'She is definitely a madcap.' Ace smiled wryly.

"Fine, fine! I'll be the leader, but for the team's name, let's talk about it in the future when we become famous or something like that." Ace didn't even want to form a team, much less name it, so he just said random things to assure Black Fox.

"You are right. We will decide on a name when we become famous." Black Fox thoughtfully nodded in agreement.

Just as he expected, 'She totally bought it!'

"Now we are a team and partners, so we should introduce ourselves. My name is Eva Jude, and you can call me Eva from now on." Black Fox or Eva introduced herself while advancing her snow-white hand towards Ace.

"Ace White, just call me Ace, not the team leader." Ace smiled wryly as he shook her delicate hand.

However, what Ace doesn't know is that his forced-formed team will shatter the peace of the entire world in the future!

"OK, Ace. Now you have to help your partner." Eva tittered.

It was clear she was pretty happy.

"Just tell me already!" Ace was on the verge of going insane and didn't even want to know about Kelby's family anymore.

He only wanted to know how to solve her problem and shut her annoying mouth. Because in Ace's eyes, she talks too much!

But if Asher saw her talking like this, he would think that this was someone else in the black fox mask. Because she never said more words than she needed. She only answered if you asked her questions and became mute after answering the question. This was how the usual Black Fox behaves: icily!

But in front of Ace, she acts like a spoiled child, and why she was doing this even she doesn't know. The moment they met, she felt close to Ace for some strange reason.

"OK! I'll talk. Stop annoying me." Eva annoyingly said after seeing Ace was going to explode anytime.

'YOU'RE THE ANNOYING ONE HERE!' Ace rolled his eyes and retorted in his heart.

"If you want to help your 'precious partner,' you have to infiltrate the Grant Family's treasury!" Eva sounded like a little girl who was quite excited about her big adventure with her team leader.

"W-WHAT?!?"

That night, the whole Inn heard a shrill scream filled with regret and resentment!