“Oh? Are you trying to make me an example, boy?” Narrowing his eyes on Kaze, Gerard said menacingly. His two dozen men eyed Kaze mockingly. They did not see Kaze as a threat. Kaze nodded at Darcy and Hart and led Daphne into the hall to Gerard. “Well, this is why you’re here. Isn’t it?” Kaze said with a smile. His eyes brushed past the two dozen men, and he shook his head regrettably. “It’s a shame you’re just a bunch of hooligans. Where’s the challenge of it all?“Even if I hurl you out, it doesn’t send a strong enough message.“Taking the trash out doesn’t reflect much on the awesomeness of Lilyrose Commerce Guild.” Gerard made a face. “You’re asking for it, boy! We are not trash!” “Who do you think you are? Money in your pocket is no reason to look down on us.” The two dozen thugs clamored and yelled at Kaze. They were enraged by Kaze’s disdain. Kaze grinned without sparing the hooligans another look. His dismissal attitude got on their nerves more than his
Gerard’s voice was tinged with a hair-rising malice. However, Kaze took his words as meaningless grunts of a sore loser.“One slap will cost me the rest of my life? But I’m not finished with you.” Kaze shook his head and approached Gerard. Violence was the answer to ending conflicts with unreasonable thugs. Gerard was taken aback. Not only was Kaze not afraid of him, but Kaze wanted to take another swing. “Don’t just stand there. Get him!” Gerard waved his arm and shouted through his gritted teeth, “End him and trash the guild! “Oh, and the boy’s beautiful wife…” As Gerard’s gaze fell on Darcy, he licked his lips greedily. “Get him!” “Fuck his wife in front of him!” Gerard did not need to finish his sentence for the two dozen thugs to fill in the blanks. The hooligans pounced on Kaze like animals in heat. “Die!” Narrowing his eyes dangerously, Kaze charged into the crowd and grabbed two thugs by the throats. “Bang!” Kaze slammed two heads together. “
Since Kaze was not going to back down, Gerard prepared himself for the worst. “Crack!” Kaze stomped his other hand. “I’ll get to your boss later. “I can loosen up with you since you’re here. I have to make your trip worthwhile.” Kaze told Darcy to summon the staff members of Lilyrose Commerce Guild. “What can we do for you, Mr. Lee?” The staff members arrived on the scene and spoke with a shiver. Although they knew Kaze was protecting the guild, they were still afraid of him. The president’s husband was ruthless. Kaze pointed at Gerard and his crew. “Strip them to their underpants and hang them up the flagpoles. “You can decide on how long you want to keep them there. Just make sure they don’t die.” While it was easy to set these gangsters straight, there was no telling if they would return to start a commotion again. So Kaze came up with a solution. He needed to do something that was both attention-grabbing and intimidating. It would make troublemakers thi
“Sigh…” Hart turned solemn at the mention of Kailan. “Mr. Lee, I don’t know much about Kailan, but he came from Sunrise City not too long ago. “After the fall of the top three families, many businesses from Sunrise followed the Vinlands and Lees to expand to Lilyrose. “Kailan registered Skyfort Investment in Lilyrose around that time.” Lined with deep pockets, Skyfort Investment acquired a few local shoe factories. The company had been in touch with Rove with the intention of taking over the business. After much hesitation, Hart finally made up his mind to sell Rove. An agreement was reached, but Kailan turned around and cut the offer in half which led to the recent conflict. “He popped out of nowhere. My guess is he’s cleaning up ill-gotten gains from some company in Sunrise City.” Kaze contemplated for a while and got up. “Come on, Mr. Lyfe. Let’s go and meet Kailan.” “Huh?” Taken aback, Hart said, “I feel bad to impose on you, Mr. Lee.” While he understood
“We’ll see if Lilyrose Commerce Guild would hang me up the pole too.” Hostility was written all over Kailan’s face. Gerard was Kailan’s long-time confidante. For Gerard to be reduced to his boxers and left hanging on the pole was a slap in Kailan’s face. Besides, Gerard had been doing the run-around for him since their arrival in the city. Others would perceive Kailan as a pushover if he did not straighten Lilyrose Commerce Guild out today. “Smack!” Stunned, the secretary was hit in the face. Kailan shouted with a grimace, “Don’t just stand there. Do it now!” “Yes, sir.” Terrified, the secretary held her cheek and walked out of the office to summon help through calls. She ran into Kaze and Hart on her way back to Kailan’s office. “You have the nerve to come here, old fart,” the secretary shrieked, her eyes filled with malice. The secretary dared not voice her grievance after Kailan hit her, so she took her fury out on Hart. From her perspective, Hart started i
Kailan was speechless. He knew Kaze was taunting him. “Are you here to repay the gesture? “It so happens I just set up my business here, and the locals don’t seem to take me seriously. I need someone to make an example of,” Kailan said with a pretentious smile. Sure, Kaze held a bit of sway in Lilyrose, but Kailan was a highly influential figure. Kaze humiliated his men and showed his face at Kailan’s door. Kailan would lose his foothold in the city if he did not show Kaze a thing or two. “What’s the point of shooting your mouth off? I’m not here to argue. Let’s get right to it.” Kaze shook his head. Skipping Kailan’s question, he said, “If you’re honestly interested in acquiring Rove, Mr. Lyfe is happy to offer the business at the price that was originally agreed on. “We can then forget about the fact you threatened Mr. Lyfe’s family and barred entry to Lilyrose Commerce Guild.” It was true that Rove was going bust. Otherwise, Kaze would not have taken matters in
Hart was baffled by Kailan’s words. Kailan acquired Rove, not to make money out of it but to destroy it? What did it mean? Hart took a deep breath and then shouted at Kailan, “You are working for foreign brands! Kailan Skyfort, you are a villain!” He shouted with anger and frustration, even his eyes teared up from all the emotions. He suddenly realized why Kailan would say such things. Kailan acquired Rove to destroy it with his own hands, not to milk it. It was the same as what foreign brands did. Some local brands that were thriving and developing would see oppression from the start. Once the local brand grew strong enough and managed to free itself from the oppression, then foreign brands would try to acquire it so that they could crush it from the inside. They would ruin the brand from the inside out once acquired. Had foreign brands allowed local brands to thrive, they would not have been able to seize the local market and disregard the local consumers as if th
Kailan was an ostentatious man. His office was by no means small. It could fit a few families with slight modifications, yet he claimed that his office could not fit that many people. In other words, he must have summoned an army. “Kaze Lee, afraid now? If you are afraid, kneel and apologize to Mr. Skyfort! I will also slap your face off with my own hands!” Phoebe covered her face that was slapped by Kaze earlier and spewed her anger through clenched teeth. Kaze did not even look at her. He got up and said with a smile, “Fine, let’s go have a look, shall we?” Kailan had no idea if Kaze was terrified or simply fearless, but he did not care. There were always overconfident people. Kailan would know if Kaze was simply fearless or just pretending when they went downstairs. “After you, Mr. Lee,” Kailan said as he gestured. The more confident he was, the more humble he looked. If one had not known better that he was a vicious hound that would leave no remains of his pre
“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