"So, you've finally remembered about your dear dad, huh?" A deep, indignant voice sounded from Frugal's star watch.
Frugal felt embarrassed before replying, "Sorry, Dad, we snuck out."
"Hmph, tell that to your mother. I'm afraid she's gonna ground you forever." The voice replied with scorn.
"The last time I remember, we were always grounded!" Frugal retorted faintly.
The voice coldly said, "Heh, you finally learn to talk back, huh? Very good!"
Frugal eyes shimmered with panic, and quickly explained, "I-I wasn't talking back. Anyway, did you see my message?"
"Afraid, now aren't we?" The voice sneered, "Yeah, I've seen it. The Viper, I'm afraid there is no one with this code name in our organization."
Frugal wasn't surprised by it as he gravely said, "I knew he was hiding his identity. Do you send him to look after us or Mother perhaps?"
The voice sternly asked, "I'm afraid not. Tell me more about his Viper and how he approaches you or his traits. And don't hide anything."
Frugal was surprised, and then he gravely started to tell his father about their encounter with Viper from the start.
After hearing Frugal, the voice furiously roared, "Bastards! You really deserve a beating! You not only revealed our name, but you revealed it to a city lord?! Are you out of your goddamn mind?
"And not only that, you believed someone to be one of us just because he showed you a Vermin Transponder, and have you ever heard about a barbarian being a rune artificer!? Fools! Utter fools!"
Frugal was startled before he showed an indignant expression, "It's not our fault! Don't only our members should have Vermin Transponders? Furthermore, the water is under the bridge!"
"You disgraceful vermin, still dare not to admit your blunders?!" A voice furiously shouted, "You do know that we can track every member's whereabouts, right? Do you know there is not a single active member in your vicinity? Not before, not right now. You two fools have been tricked. Take your sister and get the fuck out of there!"
"B-but what about…"
"If you don't move your ass, then you won't just have your mother to worry about! I shouldn't have let you take the map and key. I thought you could handle yourself, but now I fully believe your mother that you two are just na?ve children! Get out there. I'll send someone in your way! And don't you dare forget about being DISCREET!"
Frugal shivered as he never heard his father so furious before, and he sheepishly said, "A-alright, stop yelling!"
"Why shouldn't I?! For crying out loud, I birthed a pig for a son!" A voice roared with anger before the call was cut.
"He calls me a pig?" Frugal muttered with indignation and humiliation.
"He was right, you know." An icy cold voice suddenly rang, making Frugal jump with trepidation since he was very familiar with that voice, "Sigh… I also have a son like you, so that I can relate to him. The sheer despondency, when your expectation shattered, only a father could understand…"
---
"That fool would be the death of me!" A giant with absolute fury was cursing while making a quick way in a large hallway towards a metal door lit with runic symbols.
The moment he approached the door, the symbols on it shimmered before it automatically opened. A high-tech hall filled with holographic technology revealed itself.
There were five giants seemingly busy operating those monitors while a woman seemed to be supervising them.
The woman looked back, and seeing the giant's furious expression, she frowned and asked, "What the matter?"
"My son is a pig!" The giant yelled with anger, making the other giants flinch as they held back their urge to look towards him.
He then ignored the woman's dark expression and yelled at those five giants, "Show me the position of Star90 and Star91!"
The giants instantly started to tap on the virtual keyboards, hearing the furious giant's command.
"Just what happened? Are they fine?" The woman instantly approached the giant with a cold expression. She knew something big might've happened to make her husband so furious, and she was even more worried about her children as their mother.
The giant sighed ruefully, seeing his wife's worried expression, "You were right. I shouldn't have left them alone. Let's bring them back first. I'll explain later."
"How is that possible!?" A bald giant jumped from his chair in alarm.
The giant felt amiss as he asked, "What happened?"
"T-there are no traces of Star90 and Star91!"
"What nonsense! Step aside!" The woman alarmingly approaches the virtual screen, and with lighting fingers, she starts to tap on the virtual keyboard.
But her expression started to change from disbelief to pale before she was horrified and started muttering madly, "It's impossible! Not even space rings can make star watches' unique signatures vanish. It must be a system malfunction. Yes, it has to be!"
She then quickly approached the other giant, the throw to side, and started to do the same. However, the results were the same, even on the other sides.
The giant's expression was ashen as his heart sank. He quickly said, "Control yourself! Search for their last location and send all the agents active in the areas towards it, and then send it in my way. Also, send me a copy of the Vile Witch Layer's map to my star watch. I'm going!"
"I'm coming with you!" His wife instantly chases after him, riddled with killing intent and anxiety.
The giant stopped as he sternly said, "You need to stay here. I promise I'll bring back our children!"
"No! You stay here if you want, but I'm going!" His wife roared with absolute resolve. She seemed to be ready to fight if she had to.
The giant showed a deep frown, but he knew just how much she cared about her children, and in the end, he nodded, "Alright, you go. I'll stay here."
His wife didn't even say anything before she vanished.
The giant sighed as he moved back towards the monitor with a dark expression shining with killing intent, "Keep trying. I don't believe whoever did this can block the start watches forever. Even if the star watches were to destroy, the signal can't be destroyed."
'Viper! Whoever you are, if you harm my children, I'll kill every person in the epic plains until I find you and rip you apart!'
---
The man who had no idea the storm he just stirred appeared nonchalant in front of the One Fist Team and said, "I've sent both captains to get us some reinforcement. In the meantime, I'll try to open the door. Let's go without further ado; leader Bryan's life is on the line here!"