“Now that you are practically asking for it, shouldn’t I grant your wish?” Kaze said condescendingly as he pressed his foot on Tao’s chest. Even the other customers in the coffee shop believed that Tao had it coming after what he said. “He’s the one who started it by harassing someone’s wife and he trash-talks like a whiny ass. Cheap.” “He dresses properly but he behaves like shit.” “He really had it coming.” Tao was drowned in his own anger and embarrassment when even the customers commented on his actions. He came from a prestigious background, was successful, and had a bright future. He had never been humiliated like this before, especially by someone he deemed trash. “Aaaaaa! Waiter? Anyone?! Get this fuck out of the coffee shop! Where’s the security? I’m friends with Jun Joestar, the hotel manager of Starocean Hotel, your boss! If anything happens to me, all of you will be fired!” The waiter and the manager, who refused to be involved at first, were afraid. The c
Tao grinned when Kaze successfully made Jun angry. He had to admit that Kaze had some influence in Lilyrose. As an outsider, Tao could not gain any advantage over Kaze, so he had to seek help. Jun was a member of the first-tier family in Lilyrose, the Joestar family. Ever since the top three families were taken down, the Vikrom, Logman, and Joestar families were the strongest. Jun’s status saw an upgrade following the fall of the top three families. Given the Joestar family’s history and roots in Lilyrose, it would not be too difficult for them to crush Kaze. “Kaze Lee, if you don’t kneel and apologize, this won’t end well for you. Jun is my bro, and he has a bad temper. If you know what’s good for you, you should be on your knees now.” “Jun Joestar? Never heard of you. I do know a few people from the Joestar family,” Kaze said with a smile. Jun was a proud man. Kaze’s nonchalance made his expression turn gloomy. He pushed his glasses slightly and said with an evil gr
Jun looked at Kaze with interest but did not take him seriously. Deep down, he was angry. The nonchalance and the frivolous attitude were subtle but Jun was able to sense them. He was no idiot. If Kaze was able to stand before him casually and with such calmness, it must mean that Kaze had a strong support. Jun said strongly, “Punk, this is your last warning. There are only less than a handful of people in Lilyrose who I am afraid of. “If you apologize to my friend and compensate twenty million for the two slaps, this will be over; if you insist on opposing me, then you will pay more than twenty million.” Darcy had been observing Jun from the moment he came in. She saw his brazen arrogance and absolute confidence, which were signs of him having a powerful background. Kaze had just offended Leigh and it was already pressuring enough. Darcy wanted to settle this dispute before the matter escalated further. However, she could not accept the terms listed by Jun. She said,
Jun’s eyebrows twitched. His expression turned grim and then pulled out his phone for a call. “Bro, someone started a fight here in my hotel and he’s not apologizing. I need you here to help me with the situation. I’ll buy you a beer after this.” The man Jun called seemed to be someone with power. “I see. No problem. It’s a piece of cake. I just came back from the hospital and the doctor told me to stay clear of alcohol for a few days. We’ll drink another day. I’m on my way to your hotel now, give me around ten minutes.” A bold and strong laugh came from the phone. “Alright. I’ll mark that down!” Jun then put his phone down and grinned at Kaze. “Hear that? My bro is coming in ten minutes. He’s one of the most powerful people in the police force. “I’m giving you a chance to make whatever call you can get and use all your connections to get help.” The other customers present at the coffee shop were surprised. One phone call and Jun was able to bring forth a powerful pol
Ten minutes flew by in the blink of an eye. Wrrr! A sharp siren of a police cruiser came from outside the coffee shop. Then, more and more sirens, and police cruisers, arrived. A mini motorcade of police cruisers arrived in front of the coffee shop in Starocean Hotel. A group of uniformed officers came down from the cruisers. Under the lead of a strong man, the group of police officers strutted into the coffee shop. “Jun, I’m here!” The strong man came in with a loud voice and pushed the surrounding customers away. “Bro! You’re here already!” Jun went over with a delightful laugh. Just before he could give the man a cigarette, he had a close look at the man’s face and was surprised. “Bro, what happened to your face? Did you get hurt on some mission?” Jun could already smell antiseptic from the man from a distance. The man was none other than the deputy chief, Pierce Woodcock. Pierce shook his hand and said, “I was slapped.” Jun was stunned. “Who?! Who slappe
Pierce’s mind went blank. A moment ago, he was bold and arrogant, trying to hold the bastard responsible. Now, however, he was like a rat before a cat, shuddering and struggling to piece his words together. Jun was stunned by the strange scene. His lips shuddered and his mind went blank as well. Pierce was the deputy chief of the police force and soon-to-be police chief; even the Joestar family had to respect Pierce. Yet Pierce was stuttering and shaking in front of Kaze as if he had seen a ghost. “Deputy Chief Woodcock, we’ve met again so soon,” Kaze teased. He had just slapped Pierce back at the mansion, and now Pierce came to confront him because Jun called for the man. Even Kaze started to feel pity for the guy. “Uh…” Pierce’s lips were shuddering, not knowing what to say. “What’s wrong? You know this bastard?” Jun asked, seemingly annoyed. Pierce ignored him. He stared at Kaze blankly. “Come here.” Kaze waved his hand at Pierce. “Mr. Lee, I…” Pierce
Pierce lowered his head in silence, allowing Kaze a slapping spree on his face. His head was buzzing in pain but he clenched his teeth to endure all the slaps without making a noise. He was able to hold on because of his iron will. “What’s wrong? Say something.” Kaze tapped Pierce’s face and said, “You came in here like a lion looking for prey. You have a gun, don’t you? Use it and put a bullet in me–do it! No? I think that’s a toy to scare common citizens away.” He spoke with the most insulting tone. “Back at the mansion, I gave you a chance to turn over a new leaf and didn’t hold you responsible but now you come to me again, trying to hold me responsible before finding out what really happened. You even tried to abuse your power to help your friend. “You didn’t bother looking for the truth, and you tried to curry favor with the rich and powerful. Do you really think it’s that easy? “You’ve run out of chances. I’m not sparing you this time. I’ll tell Don to relieve you
Jun, who heard Kaze, was shaken. Starocean Hotel was the Joestar family’s property and if it shut down, his family would wreck him on top of him losing face. Knowing the odds were against him, Jun decided to surrender. He took a deep breath and went up to Kaze with a cigarette, “I am so sorry about what happened today. Please spare us this time and we can talk. Whatever terms and conditions you have, just name it. There’s no need to resort to extreme methods.” Kaze took the cigarette and let Jun light it up. He took a drag and then smiled. “You are a smart one, knowing when to back off.” Jun held his emotions back and forced a smile on his face. “You must be joking here. We are friends—brothers! It’s normal for little squabbles to happen. So why not just wipe it off and we can…” Slap! Kaze slapped him in the face. The sudden slap caused the cigarette to fall off his lips. Jun fell on the floor. He glared at Kaze and bellowed, “Kaze Lee, you!” He thought Kaze would sim
“How dare those men hijack the plane and take Kaze. They must be punished…” Despite her grumbles, Snow grew anxious. “Given Mr. Lee’s capabilities, he won’t be hurt.” The agents around her tried to comfort her. They believed she was being too nervous. “I know, but we as subordinates have failed him by allowing this to happen. We have to do our best to make up for the mistake, and not rely on Mr. Lee to get out because he can.” Snow drowned in self-blame and regretted not being able to help. It was her negligence that allowed the hijacking to happen. “But there’s nothing you can do now. It’s late. Even the hijackers need to rest. They won’t do anything yet.” “It’s because the hijackers need to rest that we have to hurry and beat them to it. That’s the only way to solve this matter!” “But we’ve searched high and low and didn’t find anything. No one knows where they have gone. Even if they transported the passengers via buses, we didn’t see any tracks.” The agents discu
Kaze breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly went over to Miguel and pressed his hands with the gun down so that it would not misfire. “Good job.” “Thanks.” Miguel curled his lips into a nervous smile. He frequently trained in the gym and mixed martial arts but had never encountered any real-life incident before, thus being inexperienced. Fortunately, his mentality was stronger than the others and allowed him to act accordingly. “I’ll be taking the gun. This is self-defense, you won’t be charged and you won’t need to take responsibility,” Kaze said. Miguel’s pale face looked relieved. “What should we do now? Are there more of them?” Miguel dared not let go of the gun, worried there might be more enemies. “I’ve counted the numbers and this guy here should be the last one.” He then took the gun from Miguel’s hands. “Really? Gosh! That was crazy! I was so terrified!” Miguel finally loosened up and let his instinct take over. His heart was pounding so fast that it
Manson came over and saw the mercenaries lying in their own puddle of blood. The gore shocked him and made him sick. He tried his best to hold back the urge to throw up as it would attract attention. “Don’t look if you can’t take it! Don’t make things worse!” “Yeah! Professor! Grow a pair of balls!” “I have never seen dead bodies like this before!” he explained with a flush of embarrassment on his face. “Can we go out now and run away?” The hostages were eager to leave as things had settled down outside. They thought the danger was over. A dead mercenary was inside the container with them and they were still horrified. Once the others found out about this, the hostages would be shot to death. “If you want to die, be my guest. The moment you step out, you’ll be shot!” Callahan said as he looked at the others scornfully. One of the hostages had already put his hand on the handle of the door and was ready to dash out, but he quickly pulled his hand back after listening
“Tsk. Hold on.” Vexed, the man clicked his tongue and then waved at his colleague. “Come here. Someone fainted. Help me get him out.” The man wanted to take the professor out of the container. Manson’s heart pounded as he listened to the man. He was afraid he might be exposed, but there was no turning back now—he had to play along. Kaze stood behind the door, calming his breath down to lower his presence. “Get back. Stay away from the door. If anyone gets close, don’t blame me for being rough,” said the man as he unlocked the container. He opened the door and saw a number of hostages still sleeping. He then looked at the professor on the floor. He went closer to nudge him but did not get a response. It seemed like the professor needed medical attention. “Come on. Help me get him out.” The other man outside the container was on edge, looking as if he would pull the trigger at the slightest movement. “Why don’t we do it?” Callahan and Miguel volunteered. “You two
“It’s freaking troublesome.” “Boss, don’t worry about it. We’ll get an update tomorrow.” “Yeah. It’s late. Get some rest.” Tiguan’s men told him to get some rest and not worry so much. A few of them were already snoring on the chair. Tiguan sighed and killed the cigarette. He then closed his eyes to get some rest, too. The container that Kaze was in fell into silence once more. No one dared to make any noise but they all looked at Kaze, hoping to find out about his plans. Kaze’s eyes remained fixed on the window and showed no intention of revealing his thoughts. Miguel and Callahan were annoyed by the other hostages. “If you people want to get out of here alive, you better cooperate or come up with your own idea. No one is responsible for saving you.”“Yeah. I don’t want you guys to turn on us after we do all the heavy lifting. It will cost us our lives and you people won’t even be grateful.” Miguel’s tone was sarcastic because he disliked how the others looked at t
Kaze read the hostages’ minds and refused to be used. He wanted to leave but not under such circumstances. “That’s not true. We just don’t have the skills for this kind of situation. You guys are stronger, of course, you should be in the front,” said the man in glasses and a suit. A hint of sharpness gleamed in his eyes. Miguel knew what the man was planning, either. “That’s some plan you have there. You are just trying to use us to escape this place and no matter what happens, you’ll win.” “That’s not it! I just want everyone to stand together and get out of this place. I’ve never thought of using anyone!” the man argued, trying to look innocent. Even a monkey knew what he was planning, yet no one dared to speak up because they would benefit from it too. “Why don’t you guys think of something? If you need our help, we’ll help,” said another middle-aged gentleman who looked more just and fair, as if he could lead the group. “Then what is your plan?” Kaze suddenly wante
The hostages were locked up in the containers. Some of them were elites in their own field while some were ordinary people with average income, yet all of them got into trouble when they boarded the plane. Most of them could not accept their fate. Yet they dared not defy or resist the mercenaries. When things started to calm down, they broke down in tears, weeping in silence as resentment consumed them. Kaze sat down at a clean corner that allowed him to look outside the window. The window was dirty but at least he could see outside. The space inside the container was filled with people sitting closely, offering comfort to one another. They were aware they were just temporarily safe in this container. No one knew what the mercenaries would do to them at the next moment. “My parents must be worried. I said I would call them when I land but now I can’t even get in touch,” Barney muttered as he sat beside Kaze. He too looked outside the window, his feelings mixed. He watc
Kaze thought of what he had overheard in the toilet. If he told the hostages about that, they would probably panic. “It’s nothing. They are just going to separate us into different rooms or containers. They said the buses would be disposed of,” he said. He did not want to reveal too much because it would cause panic. Once the hostages knew their lives were on the line, things might spiral out of control. The mercenaries could kill a few of them to make an example, and none of the hostages would dare to cause problems anymore. Kaze kept it a secret because he wanted to protect the people. “That’s it?” “Is there anything else? How many men are there? What is their plan? Who are they looking for?” “We want to know because we want to survive. This isn't our problem—we just got caught up in it.” The hostages looked at Kaze, their eyes filled with worry. They felt aggrieved because they should not be caught in such a huge problem. “I don’t know either.” No matter how m
“There’s a room there. Get in.” The mercenary pointed his gun at the mother and son, which led them to look at Kaze nervously, seemingly asking for help. “What do you want?” The mother was nervous. She clutched her son’s hand tightly, nearly making him cry, but she reacted quickly enough to cover her son’s mouth to prevent him from doing so. “All women must go into that room. You go in now,” the mercenary explained. He did not want the woman to get the wrong idea. “You people won’t hurt me, right?” the mother asked, worried that she might be ravaged. “We are not into MILF,” said the other mercenary who was escorting Kaze, indirectly assuring the mother. Kaze shot a glance at the mother and nodded at her. “They told us they were going to separate us, so there’s nothing to worry about,” he said, worried that the mother and son would not cooperate. The mother then carried her son and followed the other mercenary into the room. It was called a room but it was actually ju