Night fell.

  The sky was covered in dark clouds, not a single ray of starlight piercing through.

  Because of this, the already dim docks grew even darker.

  The daytime patrols had withdrawn to the warehouse building, leaving only sentinels behind. While the underground organization knew better than to let their guard down at night, patrolling openly would only attract unwanted attention and trouble—something they couldn’t afford.

  This approach, however, worked to Hulim’s advantage.

  Without visible patrols, only scattered sentinels stood in her way—no match for her infiltration.

  A shadow moving along the wall edges was nearly invisible in such darkness. The organization’s members never imagined an enemy would attack from beneath their feet; their attention was fixed on the streets and open spaces.

  "......Five, six...... nine...... twelve."

  Twelve sentinels total......

  Hulim frowned slightly.

  They were too spread out, making it tricky to handle. Plus, their shifts changed frequently—if she acted, she’d have to take them out in an instant.

  But Hulim quickly found a solution.

  First, she recalled the layout of the base.

  The warehouse above ground was just a decoy; the organization rarely used it.

  The underground space below, however, was built to be extremely enclosed—typical of underground organizations. Only one main passage connected it to the surface. During her earlier investigation, Hulim had discovered two hidden escape tunnels, but she guessed fewer than five people in the entire organization knew about them.

  One was in the boss’s room, and the other......

  In the deepest cell of the black prison, a place everyone avoided.

  Since the underground space was seemingly airtight, ventilation shafts were a necessity—and this was the key to Hulim’s plan.

  She had already identified the locations of all the ventilation shafts.

  Now it was time for the Dragon Sleep Incense to shine. The potion didn’t take effect immediately; those affected would show no symptoms for half an hour. But once that time passed, they’d fall into a deep sleep—unresponsive to any noise, and remaining unconscious for a full day and night!

  ......

  Inside the warehouse building.

  Hulim merged with the shadow and moved to one of the ventilation shafts.

  Each shaft was disguised by the organization, and the passage was narrow—only as wide as an adult’s arm—making it impossible for enemies to sneak through.

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  But shadows faced no such barriers. The moving shadow slipped into the shaft, and halfway through, a hand emerged to place a vial of Dragon Sleep Incense there.

  "Pop~!"

  As the cork popped open, the potion began to evaporate rapidly. The colorless, odorless gas flowed along the air currents into the underground base.

  "Hmm?"

  A sentinel hiding in the corner glanced suspiciously at the shaft’s hidden location, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

  While they didn’t fear intruders through the shaft, the ventilation system was critical to the base’s safety—so the organization had stationed sentinels near each shaft permanently.

  "Just a rat or something?"

  To be safe, the sentinel approached to inspect it carefully. Naturally, he found nothing at the shaft opening.

  The Dragon Sleep Incense’s gas was undetectable, and placed halfway up the narrow passage, it was invisible to the naked eye.

  The sentinel scratched his head, thinking he’d been overreacting. He returned to his post without another thought.

  As he turned away, a shadow slipped out of the shaft and darted toward other areas......

  In less than ten minutes, Hulim had placed Dragon Sleep Incense at every ventilation shaft. The rapidly evaporating potion gas filled the entire underground base—but no one noticed a thing.

  "Underground is taken care of. Now the outside......"

  A dozen sentinels remained above ground. When the potion took effect underground, they’d surely realize something was wrong. If left unhandled, they’d become a threat to Hulim.

  So the shadow merged with Hulim moved outside the warehouse building......

  "Hmm?"

  A sentinel looked around strangely, then stared at the ground. He’d thought he’d heard a noise near his feet, but saw nothing that could have caused it.

  Already on high alert, the sentinel felt uneasy.

  "Tch, why isn’t it time to switch shifts yet? Staying out here gives me goosebumps. It feels like some terrifying monster is watching me from the dark!"

  The chill creeping up his spine made him want to run, but the organization’s rules were strict—he dared not leave his post. He could only pray for time to pass quickly and for the relief to arrive soon.

  ......

  Inside the boss’s room in the underground base.

  Silabain paced back and forth, his brows furrowed into a deep frown. As a powerful figure in the underground world, his sense of danger was razor-sharp.

  For some reason, he’d felt a faint sense of unease ever since the goods had begun their journey to Langard.

  That unease had grown stronger after dealing with Zev. He’d expected major trouble when the goods entered the city, so he’d made extensive preparations.

  But the goods had arrived in Langard without a hitch, traveling along the canal directly to the docks. Along the way, there hadn’t been a single accident—no obstacles at all!

  Even after all the goods were moved underground and locked up, the anticipated danger never came. Yet Silabain’s unease didn’t fade; it intensified—now reaching a peak, his heart racing involuntarily.

  "Someone! Someone!!"

  Several subordinates pushed open the door and entered.

  "Boss, what are your orders?"

  "How’s the situation outside? Any abnormalities?"

  The subordinates looked confused by Silabain’s agitated state, but replied nonetheless:

  "Reporting, Boss—everything is normal outside!"

  "Normal? How can everything be normal?"

  Silabain’s brows tightened.

  "When was the last check! Are you certain nothing’s wrong?"

  "This......" Faced with Silabain’s almost accusatory tone, the subordinates didn’t know what they’d said wrong. They could only reply cautiously: "Boss, the last check was...... about ten minutes ago."

  "Ten minutes ago......"

  Silabain muttered to himself, deep in thought. Then he looked up.

  "Go! Check again immediately!"

  The subordinates exchanged glances, confused by the boss’s behavior, but bowed to accept the order.

  "Yes!"

  Silabain waved his hand impatiently.

  "Hurry! Go!"

  He then walked toward his private seat.

  Thud!

  A dull sound suddenly came from behind him.