One moment ago, Max cockily put down the Vikroms, Logmans, and Joestars. Now, Max dropped to his knees after Kaze asked a question. No one saw it coming. Even Darcy’s jaw dropped to the ground. Something must have happened when Kaze went to Landor residential area as Max appeared terrified of him. Bernard and the others were taken aback. The members of Lilyrose Commerce Guild were dumbstruck. Max was the commissary of Four Ocean Commerce Guild. He basically ran the South River state with a giant like Four Ocean Commerce Guild backing him up. Yet, he kneeled before Kaze. “Yuri wanted you to kneel, not me, Mr. Lee!” Dismissing the looks all around, Max shouted at Kaze with a crying face. He did not expect to see Kaze there. As a witness to the incident in Landor residential area, Max knew how scary the man was. Even a highborn like Leigh was not saved from Kaze’s rough handling, much less Max. Kaze sat next to Darcy on the sofa with no intention of getting up. H
Now that Max kneeled before Kaze, Yuri no longer wanted to get into it with Kaze. However, Kaze walked ahead without looking at Yuri. Standing still, Kaze stared at Bernard, Jack, Peter, and the members who withdrew their membership from Lilyrose Commerce Guild. “Mr. Lee.” Close to a hundred members acknowledged Kaze’s presence. Darcy’s eyes welled up. Once upon a time, the public saw Kaze as the loser who mooched off his wife. Now, Lilyrose’s finest entrepreneurs showed respect to Kaze. “You are so badass today, babe,” Darcy murmured while covering her mouth. Not catching his wife’s remark, Kaze said with a smile, “Thank you for the honor. I have met many friends in Lilyrose’s business scene.”“We’re just doing our part,” the group answered. Kaze waved his arm, and the chatter quieted down. Kaze said, “I humbly seek a favor to rejoin Lilyrose Commerce Guild.” Huh? Everybody was taken aback by Kaze’s request. The members including Bernard, Peter, and Jack dec
“Huh?” Yuri slumped to the ground, his eyes losing luster. It never occurred to him that Kaze would forcefully boot him out of the commerce guild. Yuri did not know what he was supposed to do now. All members of Lilyrose Commerce Guild looked at Kaze as their leader. Max, the representative of Four Ocean Commerce Guild, kneeled near the sofa and kept slapping himself. Yuri fell into despair. Kaze had decided his fate. Yuri did not even have a chance to retaliate. “Take your niece and students and leave.” Without looking at Yuri, Kaze said his piece and went to Max. With his back facing the crowd, Max whipped his face to the point of bleeding.However, Max dared not stop until Kaze said so. “That’s enough.” Kaze’s voice from the back was a godsend. Max put down his sore arm and turned to face Kaze with a swollen face. He said, “Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Lee?” “How’s the vehicle ownership transfer coming along?” Kaze asked while taking a
With Darcy setting the scene, others followed suit in pledging donations. The group was born and bred in Lilyrose. Not to mention, they had assets and businesses in the city too. Putting the city back on track would do everybody good, so they were on the same page and united as a group. To Darcy’s surprise, Hart Lyfe, the CEO of Rove, pledged to donate 50 million dollars. Darcy tried to talk him out of it. “Mr. Lyfe, don’t go above your means. We all know Rove is struggling at the moment. It’s okay to donate a smaller amount. The donation comes from the heart.” Compared to Yuri, Hart was a discreet and pragmatic old man who had earned Darcy’s respect. The others persuaded Hart because he was known as an all-around great guy. “Don’t convince me to donate less.” Hart said with a wry smile, “Truth be told, things might not work out for Rove soon enough. I have buyers getting in touch and expressing interest in taking over. You might read on the news soon about Rove changi
The rescue workers were livid. However, the administrator did not care and even rolled his eyes. “No one is forcing you to do volunteer work. It’s not as if you’re working for me.” That was true. If it were not to provide emergency relief, the rescue crew would not take the abuse. They simply took off their red vests and walked away. Kaze observed from a short distance away, but he could not bite his tongue anymore. He drew close and told the administrator curtly, “You have three minutes to distribute lunchboxes to the relief workers. I will slap you for each missing meal.” “Oh? Why are you back, Kaze?” “Did you come back to help with the rescue?” “Oh, my god. I knew you’d be okay, Kaze.” The rescue workers were happy to see Kaze again. Although they had not spent a lot of time together, they had formed a beautiful friendship. Recognizing Kaze, the administrator of Red Star Charity grimaced. It was hard to forget the guy who beat Desmond and scared him off. Wi
The Red Star Charity committee withheld the boxed lunches to starve rescue workers. If giving the rescue workers food was not a priority, Kaze would have notified Don to arrest the Red Star Charity committee. “What? Keeping the food from us?” “The bastards are trying to get even with us by starving us.” “Why would you do that? Even if you don’t want to help, don’t add to the trouble.”Livid, the nearby emergency responders encircled the administrators of Red Star Charity. Several women teared up angrily. Things were about to get out of hand. Grabbing Bobby by the collar, Kaze stared at him. “Are you going to distribute the food, or should I do it for you?” “W-We’ll do it.” As tensions ran high, Bobby grew scared and said with an ashen face, “Let me go. We honestly didn’t withhold the food. “The food truck arrived a few minutes ago. The staff is still tallying up how much food we have.” “Just distribute the food now.” Not interested in hearing another word from
“I have already eaten. Why should I have more?” Bobby snapped back. Bobby would not fear Kaze when his uncle was to arrive later. “Oh, you ate, but the emergency responders who did all the hard work hadn’t had anything to eat yet. “You starved them for an hour and fed them stale food. Aren’t you ashamed to call yourself a charity organization?” Kaze dragged Bobby over by the collar and said chillingly, “I don’t care if we have to force-feed you, but you are going to finish every bit of the boxed lunches.” He threw Bobby aside and pulled out his phone to call Jack. “Get the nearest hotel to the rescue tents to deliver packed food to the rescue workers here as soon as possible, Jack.” It was not the end of the stale food incident, but the emergency responders needed immediate sustenance to go on. The Joestars owned hotels across the city, so Kaze could count on him to deliver quickly. “Got it. I’ll inform my people.” Jack was on board right away. Kaze put away his
“Uncle Chris!” Overjoyed, Bobby went up to Chris and whispered something while pointing at Kaze. Chris’ expression gradually turned glum. He looked up at Kaze and approached him. “Mr. Lee, Ms. Kosky dismissed you as a volunteer after you attacked Lil Dee and ruined our organization’s reputation.“It’s inappropriate of you to disrupt our relief efforts now.” Chris pinned an accusation on Kaze the moment he arrived. After leaving the commerce guild with Yuri, Yelena went to get treatment for her face and did not have time to notify her people. Chris had been out and about, unaware that Kaze had booted Yelena and Yuri out. “No need to point fingers at me, Mr. Hoot.” Kaze said with intrigue, “It’s undetermined who’s ruining Red Star Charity’s reputation.”Chris grimaced. The way he saw it, Kaze held a grudge and caused a scene because he was sacked as a volunteer.Unfortunately, Kaze also happened to witness Red Star Charity’s shady business. Although Yelena fired
“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