7. THE SECRET MESSAGE

The Daren of today was not the Daren who would bow in resignation when others insulted him. Now Daren puffed out his chest, challenging the man he had knocked down.

Daren had no quarrel with the man. His words earlier, however, had disturbed Daren.

"Hey, mister! What's your problem, you want to challenge me to a fight?" The man raised his voice, immediately getting up. Originally calm, he now looked like a lion about to pounce on prey.

Daren grinned triumphantly. "You started it first and I was just defending." He reasoned and that reasoning didn't necessarily make the man believe him.

He was about to retaliate. His right hand was clenched tightly, ready to punch Daren in the face. However, before his action was realized, Daren had already caught him with one hand, then grinned a little.

BRUGHT!

Daren delivered a second hard punch. This time, it was the stomach that was the target. As far as Daren was concerned, a man's weak point was his stomach.

The man bounced, a few steps back. A little fresh blood spewed out. However, it was nothing to cry about. He wiped the blood from his lips.

The visitors, mostly women, screamed hysterically. In front of their eyes there had been a fight between two men.

Those who were there held their breath, just as the man ran. Shouting at the top of his lungs, giving the impression of fierceness to scare his opponent.

Again Daren looked away lazily. Just shouting would not make him run away crying. He was no longer a child.

The man pointed his right hand at Daren's face. Daren was still silent for a split second. Not doing anything yet, just a few centimeters away, Deren caught the man's hand again.

This time Daren didn't throw a punch, but instead he turned his body clockwise, so that his back was to the man. However, he still held his opponent's hand.

Daren summoned all his strength. He put all his strength into his shoulders and arms. Daren lifted the man's body, which was twice his size.

Daren slammed the man from back to front. The impact was so violent that the sound of bones cracking could be heard.

Those who saw the incident, no one did not close their eyes and screamed hysterically. Especially when the sound of the loud bang, burst out.

"You should be more polite to others," Daren said coldly.

After saying that. Daren put his sunglasses back on and walked away. Now there was only a man lying limply on the floor, feeling his body crumble.

Daren walked out of the restaurant. He looked to his left and right, looking for something there.

The surroundings were quiet and there were not many vehicles passing by.

"Where are they?" muttered Daren who was starting to feel hot. He blocked the sun's rays, using the palm of his hand. At least the rays didn't hit his eyes directly.

"Daren!" Someone called out to him. The voice came from the right.

The owner of the name then turned his head. The almost twenty-five degree heat made it easy to sweat.

"Joshua." Daren recognized the big man.

"Where's Miss Xena? Why did you just come alone?" Daren asked flatly.

"Miss Xena's waiting for us in the car, over there!" pointed Joshua, in the direction he had been traveling.

"All right. Let's go! I'm starting to feel hot in here!"

There was no denying that this heat might turn his skin black if he stayed outside for too long.

Daren and Joshua left the area. Meanwhile, there was a mysterious figure who had been watching Daren all along. More precisely when Daren asked about the restaurant manager.

The figure was seated inside the restaurant. The position of his seat was right in front of the window, so he was privy to the brief conversation of the two men he did not recognize.

"I have to tell this to the boss immediately. The Black Shadow Organization has arrived in this district. That means, they came with a well-thought-out strategy."

The figure of the man wearing a black hat, then left his place with hasty steps.

.

Daren had already gotten into the car. So did Joshua.

Due to the intense heat, Xena decided to wait inside. The beautiful woman would not like her skin damaged by the sun.

"How was it? Did you manage to get a job at the restaurant?" Xena popped the question right away.

Compared to Joshua. Xena was more curious about the results Daren had brought. Hopefully it wasn't bad news.

"Not yet, Miss! The manager of the restaurant is away. According to the waiter on duty. He will come to the restaurant later in the afternoon or evening," Daren said, explaining the information he had gotten a few moments ago.

Daren also added that the restaurant was quite crowded. However, visitors to the fund did not show any suspicious movements.

"If the restaurant manager wasn't there, then why didn't you go back to the car?" Xena dropped another question. This time she folded her arms across her chest.

Daren coughed softly, while Joshua shook his head quickly.

"Sorry about that. I had a fight with a guy when I was leaving the restaurant earlier."

Being a bodyguard as well as a member of the Black Shadow, made Daren a man who couldn't tell a lie. Especially when Xena was by his side like the current situation.

"A man you say? What kind of man was he, that you had to linger at the restaurant?" Xena probed further.

I wonder what Xena was trying to prove? She wanted to see how honest Daren was.

"The guy was big and muscular. I accidentally bumped into him and he started ranting at me, calling me small in front of everyone."

Daren looked away lazily, while Xena chuckled.

"So, what did you do to that guy?"

The more the story was told, the more interesting it became. It had been a long time since Xena had felt this way.

"I hit him and broke his spine, like when I break a branch."

Xena clapped her hands loudly. Daren's story was like a fairy tale that she wanted to know the ending of.

"All right. Joshua, let's go back to the hotel!" ordered Xena, who was now cool again.

Joshua nodded his understanding. Meanwhile, Daren looked out the window.

Xena turned on the screen of the cell phone she was holding.

There was an incoming text message. Xena gasped slightly. She saw the name of the contact on her phone screen.

[Xena, What are you doing in District S01? Do you want to take EAGLE EYE to war?]

Xena was quite surprised, reading the short message. However, she immediately deleted the message. As if the content of the message was not important.

"How did she know where I was? Did he put her people to watch me?" Xena muttered while stroking her chin and trying to remember something.