Just as predicted, the path was quiet with Stan hiding by a corner of the street patiently waiting for his target to come that way so he could make his move. He had been there for about thirty minutes as he listened to the voice of the men conversing in the open space as they patrol the environment, probably for someone who would fall victim to them.

While the conversation continued, he heard clearly when one of them excused himself to take a pee and that was a clear sign to tell that the time to act was now, so he became more ready than before as his heart beat increased drastically. It was the first time he was going to attack someone and most of all he did all whether they had implants in them and what kind it was.

The man walked casually into the dark path to pee and as he stood facing the wall while he urinated, Stan sneaked up to him and stood steadily behind waiting for him to finish his pee.

At the moment the man finished and was about to make a turn around, Stan landed his face with a blow. But instead of the man wailing in pain, he was to do so. “Ouch.” He had never hit someone that hard before so his hand had to feel it.

The punch was for sure hurting the man as it caused him to move his face backward, but then brings it back to look at Stan slowly so as to see who the idiot was and also scare the person with his look.

Stan was surprised that even with the force he used, the man did not feel any pain, so he launched another punch but this time he was stopped out as the man caught his fist, squeezing his hands that he began lowing himself to the ground all with the aim of reducing the pain.

As he reduced himself to the ground while the man increased the pressure, he forced himself not to make a sound that would draw the others to that place; he tried as much as he could to endure the pain and when he had come to the point where a knee was on the ground. He then entangled the legs of the man so that he fell and also let go of his hand.

Refusing to take any chances, Stan rushed him on the ground and began releasing a series of heavy punches to his face. At this time he did not care if his own hands were paining him, all he cared about was to make sure the man received quality beating that would drain his strength from retaliating when he finally stands up.

For the fact that he needed some information from the man, he stopped punching him after about seven minutes and this after he had seen that the man was not having the strength to retaliate as intended. But still he did not get up from the man who was at this point bleeding from his cheek, nose and mouth because Stan had really done a great job disfiguring his face.

“Do you recognize me?” Stan began with a question.

“Who the hell are you? And what do you want from me?” The man replied, though his tone seems harsh but he was humble due the beating he had received from Stan and it was obvious he did not recognize him.

“Perhaps something to refresh your memory,” he said as he brought out the picture and showed it to the man.

“Impossible…..” The man was extremely shocked as the picture made him remember Stan. He could not believe that he was still alive after all the beating they gave him. What surprised him most was that Stan was even strong seeing that it wasn’t up to twenty four hours since they almost killed him.

“I guess you remember me now. I will only ask you this one, why did you try to kill me?”

“Help!!!” the man screamed instead of answering his question.

At the same time, Stan’s wristwatch which he had set to alert him once it was fifteen minutes just as Adoth had told that the man will be alone for only fifteen minutes beeped so he did not take the man’s shout for help as a coincidence. Immediately he fled, leaving the man on the ground as his partners arrived in response to his call for help.

“What happened?”

“Who did this to you?”

Two of them asked separately as they were surprised because it was rare for someone to attack any of them. One of them helped him up as he spoke.

“Those chips, they have more effect than we thought.” The man that was beaten said instead of answering the question that he was asked.

“Hey, go straight to the point and don’t beat about the bush.” The leader scolded him as he looked around but it was useless looking around as the surrounding was dark.

“That kid with a picture of his parents. The one we killed earlier today. He is still alive, his chip brought him back and now he is stalking us.”

“Lie,” the leader disagreed with him. “No chip has the potential to bring anyone back to life.”

“Are you supposing I saw a ghost? He showed me the picture and I know who I saw.” The man stood by his claim hundred percent.

“Boss, I think we should listen to him.” The other said after seeing the looks on the face of he that was beaten.

“If that is the case, then we must find him, extract that chip because it will worth a fortune.”

“He went that way,” the man was eager to point and the other made the move.

But the leader stopped him, “Idiot, do you think he is still there? He’s far gone by now. Since he is looking to hunt us, we’ll simply lure him into a trap.”

*****

“Woo hoo.” Stan exclaimed as he came to a stop after running away from danger. He was happy that he was at least able to beat the hell out of one of those men even though he did not get the information he needed.

He never believed he was going to beat a man as hefty as that. Since he was safe now, it was time he took a rest and also looked at those hands which he used to deliver punches to the man’s face.

[Attributes upgraded. Strength: seven. Speed: Nine. Agility: five. Stealthily: five. Stamina: three.]

Instantly Stan paused all he was focusing on to think about what Adoth just said. The arrangement of words was so familiar to him that he had to ask a question which once neglected. “Adoth, what did you say you were again?”

[I have been called many names by different species in the universe, more often I was addressed as a system, so I guess you can call me that too. My aim which I already told you is to help my host save their planet from destruction but they have all failed in the planets which I’ve been to and now earth is next and it is up to you to save it or watch it be destroyed.]

The whole thing was now clear to Stan Gibson, “So that is why my attributes need to be upgraded?”

[Yes. You are beginning to understand the entire scenario.]

“What rate must I get to and how much time do I have left before the invasion of this army?”

[They can’t be predicted as the strength of their army increases each time they conquer a planet. As for time, they can attack even now. I understand earth is very large, so I can’t tell if they are already here.]

Stan was about to speak to Adoth again when he heard footsteps approaching, so he chose to be quiet and listen while he readied himself to strike whoever was coming.