Standing up to get back to his room, the boys scurried away fearfully, thinking he was coming for them again.

" Shit, Casey has only been in the orphanage for just a few months; he has never been close to anyone. This is the first time they saw him fight despite his cold temper. No one expected him to be so strong.

°~°~°~°~°~°~°

At night,

This was one of the largest orphanages in Los Angeles, with a large number of orphans. The people from the base arrived at the orphanage in the afternoon, but due to the huge amount of orphans on the list, they had to stay there for the night and continue the screening tomorrow.

Casey retired to her room, seeking refuge in sleep. After all, she had nothing else to do than sleep, eat, and stroll around, but due to movements around the orphanage, she couldn't go to sleep peacefully.

She opened her eyes, sat up on her bed, looking out her window, thinking maybe she should just go for a dip at the natural hot spring she found a few weeks ago at the back of the orphanage playground while taking a stroll; then she got up and went out.

As she walked towards the forest behind the orphanage, the shadows cast by the faint moonlight were her only guide. She caught sight of boys who fought with her day and heard them cursing her from a distance vehemently.

" Where did that bastard come from? How dare he hit me so hard. I pray he gets killed soon." Hearing his words, Casey walks towards them, saying coldly, "Whether I get killed or not is a matter of the future, but if you dared curse me more I won't mind and hesitate to kill you now."

Hearing his voice, the boys were frightened, they all turned pale.

"You... When did you get here?"

Casey didn't answer. She keeps on walking towards the forest.

" Ptuu.. What's the point of your fighting skills when you're doomed to rot away here? We've warned you that you will rot away in this place after we are selected by M base. The boys mock Casey.

However, as if not hearing them, Casey just glanced around causally and ignored them. The boy whose forehead was injured in the afternoon flew into a rage. "Damn it! How dare you ignore us! I don't think he dares touch us since there are M base people around. Let's throw him in the pool in the forest. Let's teach him a lesson today. This is not a place he can boss around!"

There were twice as many people gathered tonight than in the afternoon in the cafeteria. The group thought that they would be able to subdue Casey.

Casey stopped her movement and turned to look at them casually, waiting for their moves.

But seeing Casey still looking carefree as if all of them put together wouldn't cause any trouble, the other boys who had already witnessed her martial skills dared not come forward and hesitantly drew back.

Seeing them hesitating," If you are not blind, you should know I have a bad temper. Don't mess with me. Otherwise, I don't mind disabling you all here tonight," Casey said coldly.

With that, she continued to walk towards the hot spring in the forest as if nothing had happened, ignoring the boys who froze and putting her attention on the men hidden in the shadows. The reason why she keeps on ignoring the boy's provocation is due to her sensing some glares in the shadows.

After Casey left, in one of the guest rooms not far away, some members of the M base discussed among themselves, " This boy is not bad. He is way better than the kids we checked today.

Another member glanced at the boy going towards the forest and said meaningfully, "An assassin broke in, probably to kill the boss. This boy was able to notice our men in the shadows, hence his vigilant behavior, but the path he is going towards is the same as the boss has taken, which I am sure the assassin has also taken, but trusting the boss to avoid implicating others, especially a kid like this. Don't worry. Let's just wait and see."

Hearing his words, the others watched as the boy hurried into the forest, wondering why the boy was going there.

Their Boss likes having a hot bath at night, Although the orphanage doesn't have one except a natural hot spring behind the orphanage, which he decided to use like that; now he is having a bath there.

They couldn't imagine what would happen there

~~~~~~~~~~~

As Casey moved closer to the spring, she noticed someone moving sneakily. She stopped and watched, wondering why the person was sneaking around except if someone was in the spring, so she followed him silently down to the spring.

Uhh_ Why did that guy suddenly disappear?

She had followed him down here,

Now she can see the spring through a glimpse of the trees. She would have seen the guy if he had jumped into the spring, but he just suddenly disappeared.

Splash!!, Hearing that she immediately climbed the nearest tree to the spring.

Only for her to spot the guy dead beside the spring. She became alert immediately. Rushing down to check the cause of his death, she misplaced her feet.

Before she could grab hold of herself, she was already sliding into the spring. With a splash, she falls into the hot spring. She immediately rises from the water, wiping her face off the water. Turning around to step out, only to find a pair of cold, black eyes in the mist looking at her....

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

The mist obscured her view, but she could sense coldness in the dark eyes.

She hadn't expected that she would fall off the tree so easily and slide into the spring, nor did she expect that someone would be in the spring...

The man in the spring concealed his surprise, looking at the boy sticking his head out of the water and staring at him in the mist. "What? You want to join me?" Lucas asked, his voice low and even.

Casey hesitated, unsure how to respond to why she fell from the tree into the spring; her gaze darted between Lucas's imposing figure and the darkness beyond the spring, her mind racing. Water droplets clung to her lashes as she weighed her options, her voice caught in her throat. She hadn't seen him in an orphanage before; he must be a member of the M base, but she was unsure of his position in the base.

She slowly slid down to hide half of her face underwater calmly so only her calm, cold eyes could be seen.

Seeing him staying motionless, Lucas stays in the water calmly. He narrowed his eyes and noticed the alertness and wariness in the boy's eyes and he knew he wanted to escape.

He coldly smirked. When the boy suddenly jumped out of the water, he reached out and dragged her back.

Casey wasn't expecting him to drag her back; besides, Lucas moved so fast that Casey had no time to dodge him. Having been controlled by tranquilizers for almost a year and hadn't trained for so long, she was easily captured by him, but she began to fight back immediately. Slipping her wrists out of his hand to attack his chest.

Casey's fists clenched, her arms coiling as she sprang into action. Water splashed around her as she struck Lucas's chest, her movements swift and precise.

Avoiding the attack, Lucas finally sees Casey's appearance clearly as she spins, her profile illuminated by the moon. Her features, sharp and angular, seemed chiseled from the night itself.

It was just a teenage boy, not the assassin accomplice as he thought, but is there a boy so good at martial arts in this orphanage?

Quickly grabbing the towel to cover his indecency, he chases the boy; the moment Casey is about to run back into the forest, her shoulder is grabbed. However, Just as Lucas was about to turn the boy around, the latter quickly pulled down the towel around Lucas's lower body and covered his face with it.

Lucas wasn't able to see the boy's face because of the towel. Lucas's gaze collided with the towel, his eyes tracing the contours of the boy's hidden face. The fabric muffled his breathing, but Lucas sensed the boy's tension, his coiled energy waiting to strike."

Coldly pulling the towel with force, the towel was flung to the floor with force.

Casey moved very fast; knowing she was unable to escape through the forest, she turned around to run back to the spring to distract the man, but as her shoulder was about to be grabbed by the man again, she kicked up dust into his face.

Lucas kept the dust from his eyes with his hands. Seeing the boy was about to turn back to the forest, he pounced at him like a swift cheetah, took her by the left sleeve, and pulled down hard.

With the sound of the cloth around her shoulder tearing, Casey's fair and smooth skin below her shoulder was exposed. They both froze.

Casey was feeling ashamed and angry. Lucas paused, raising his brows with interest, seeing the boy's smooth-white skin and his chest.

Although this boy was a teen, his boobs are too big for a boy to have.

A girl?

As soon as he realized her gender, he grabbed another towel and rapidly wrapped it around his lower part.

Casey's body aura turned murderous. She attacked him angrily. Lucas dodged and stopped attacking her after realizing her gender. However, Casey began to attack him harder, and her eyes were full of killing intent.

But Lucas kept on dodging her moves easily. Instead, he pulled off her torn sleeve suddenly, saying nonchalantly, " Angry? It's surprising for a girl to have such a mastery of martial arts. Where were you taught? How did you get in here?"

Casey, being furious, refused to reply to him; instead, she kicked hard at a tree and then kicked sideways at him with the counterforce. Lucas didn't attack her again after finding out that she was just a little girl. He kept on playing defense causally despite how fiercely she attacked him. He grabbed her leg, using it to pull her closer to him. To Casey, he doesn't seem to take her seriously but teases her.

Casey had been through a lot of bloodshed but had never been molested by a man. Now she just feels the urge to kill this man, but she knows within herself that this man is more skilled than her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man's clothes placed nearby, in which there seemed to be a pistol.

With a gun, he will be even harder to deal with.

She held back her anger and kicked him hard between his legs; not expecting her to kick him there; he failed to dodge this attack, and his lower body part hurt him so much.

Lucas paused in pain, missing the time to counterattack; by the time he could get himself together, she had already run into the forest.

Watching her escape, he didn't look surprised but narrowed his eyes and looked at her back view.

Wondering who she could be, he thought at first that she was an accomplice of the assassin, but obviously, she did not aim at him. Otherwise, she wouldn't have escaped so quickly.

A girl in the orphanage who was so good at martial arts couldn't be an ordinary person. She was just a teenager

_What is her real identity?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, the radio in the orphanage rang out, and the voice of Director Steve ordered all the children in the orphanage to gather in the assembly hall. Both boys and girls must be present.

After the News, Director Steve turned around and looked respectfully at Lucas who was expressionless."Mr Blackwood, all the children will be present soon. We thought you would select from the list we provided to you, but you said you wanted to see all the children so that no child with potential would be left out. That's a great blessing for them...."

Lucas didn't respond to him; instead, he watched the children through the balcony as they gradually showed up, half of which were boys and half were girls.

The children chattered in excitement as they saw the man above; seeing the legendary Lucas Blackwood was a dream come true for the children.

The Blackwood family is very powerful, and they're in charge of the most powerful training base in the United States. Boss Lucas, who is quite mysterious, is a god in their hearts.

The children all became excited as if they were already recruited into M base. It is known that the base had connections to the country's police and army. As long as they become a member of the base, they wouldn't worry about food or clothing for the rest of their lives.

If they developed well in the base and thus entered military and political circles, they could have a skyrocketing rise in their lives.

All the children of the orphanage were present. There were hundreds of them ranging from age five to eighteen years old.

Names are being called, and the bearer of the name will step out and answer.

However, after more than an hour, all the children had come out but Lucas hadn't found the one he wanted to find.

He was sure that the girl stayed at this orphanage because she was wearing the uniform of the orphanage, which was a long-sleeved blue uniform similar to a school uniform with the logo of the orphanage printed all over it.

But he can't find her among the children in the assembly hall.

Lucas's eyes swept over the faces of the children one by one, asking indifferently, "Are you sure all the children are present?"

Yes, they are all here. Our orphanage is the largest in Los Angeles, and there are 220 children under the age of 18 who are yet to be adopted. They are all here now. Director Steve said respectfully with a flattering smile. " I am curious about something. Isn't it true that the base never accepts girls? Then why did you suddenly ask that the girls should also come out today, Mr Blackwood?"

Lucas didn't answer him but looked deadpan at the children who were looking at him earnestly and their uniforms.

Two hundred and twenty. No one is missing indeed.

Seeing Boss Lucas looking at the children's faces and figures with a straight face, The Director and the instructors of the orphanage are confused and wondering what he is looking at or waiting for but dare not ask him.

The children are gradually in an uproar. Everyone who was looked at by Boss Lucas was very excited, feeling that happiness was coming to him.

Casey Angeles's name was not put on the list of the children by the director when she was brought in because she was too peculiar. Although she also attended classes, no one ever thought of adding her name in.

So when Lucas asked to see all the children, the staff of the orphanage was so excited that they forgot her. They forgot the boy locked up in that dark room.

Casey rarely communicates with people, and she is always sedated every morning. She never showed up or made contact with anyone except when necessary, so she was easily forgotten.

And even if someone thought of her, they wouldn't allow her to show up due to her bad temper; if she offended the M base, they would be in serious trouble, so she should never show up here.

However, The Blackwood heir seemed to be dissatisfied. He is a man of low profile and mystery, So none of them could guess what he is thinking, but.... Lucas's eyes were so cold that they couldn't help but panic.

In an unsettled state of mind, they are wondering why he is gazing at them with such a look. His oppressing aura made those who stared at him change from being excited to being nervous gradually and even unable to breathe in the end.

On the other side

Casey lay on her bed, her eyes slightly open, staring into nothing as usual.

When she got back last night, she changed her wet torn clothes and went to bed. Although she remained alert throughout the night, The man at the spring didn't show up, and it wasn't until the doctor came in to sedate her at dawn that she finally fell asleep.

Towards noon, she gradually regained her strength and sat up in bed.

Meanwhile, there seemed to be many footsteps approaching outside.

Casey paused and turned her eyes to the shut door.