“This is where I stand.” Kaze looked at Sieg from above and asked with a faint smile, “Happy, Mr. Lyfe?” “Ugh.” Sieg struggled to get up when Kaze’s sarcastic remark rubbed him the wrong way. He coughed out blood. “Mr. Lyfe!” “Are you alright?” With reality sinking in, Sieg’s sidekicks rushed over to help him up. “Get lost!” Sieg rose to his feet and shook off his sidekicks, his face grimacing. Known as a gentleman, Sieg was not one to express his feelings openly. Yet, he saw red. Sieg wiped the blood off his lips, his eyes fixating on Kaze murderously. “How dare you hit me, Kaze! You asked for it!” Sieg said, his broken voice filled with rage. Sieg had to admit that he was proved wrong. He assumed that Kaze would submit to his power. He misjudged Kaze’s unpredictable lunacy.Kaze knocked him to the ground in public. “Hit you? “Didn’t I hit you at the auction?” Kaze fearlessly stared at Sieg’s menacing face and sneered. “I guess I didn’t go hard enoug
“Anyone who sides with Kaze will be dealt with accordingly.” Tension rose to an all-time high following Sirius’ remark. The Ridgesouth Quints and the Geranium Lyfes did not hit home so badly. The wealthy families were established far in the south, so they would be limited to economic means of revenge. The most they would do was hurt everybody’s wallet. The Viper’s Den was a different story. The special institution could take lives. Established in the West State, the Viper’s Den could find any reason under the sun to destroy anyone on their turf. Anyone would fear for their lives. “Hahaha!” Mason burst out laughing. “I want to see who would go against us!” He was utterly humiliated by Kaze. Sieg’s presence turned the tables. Surely, everybody would bow down to the threats of the Ridgesouth Quints, the Geranium Lyfes, and the Viper’s Den.With the crowd succumbing to submission, Sieg gave Kaze an eerie look and glanced up at the huge screen. As the share price in
“Go and inject the 10 billion dollars into the market. Let’s hope Kaze enjoys wealth in his afterlife too.” Sieg clapped his hands, and his sidekick went to make the phone call. The trading market went into a frenzy in no time. The market was still reeling from the influx of the first seven billion, and now it faced another massive injection of 10 billion dollars. The Geranium Lyfes stepped in to short Rove. The shares stood no chance against the influx of funds. The Geranium Lyfes’ clout in the stock exchange contributed to the sharp decline of Rove’s shares. 10 points. That was right. Rove’s shares were only worth 10 Geranium dollars. Those who kept an eye on the trading market were dumbfounded. Rove’s share price experienced unprecedented volatility, soaring and plummeting like a roller coaster.The share price hit rock bottom and plummeted even further, basically making the shares worthless. The investors, who jumped the bandwagon and bought Rove’s shares at
“Autumn?” Kaze narrowed his eyes, recognizing the woman in the front right away. Though he had never met Autumn, the submissive behavior of Scarlet, the chief delegate of the Viper’s Den, was a dead giveaway of the woman’s identity. Furrowing his brows, Kaze knew why Autumn had come along. Her name was as dark as her soul. The leader of the Viper’s Den seemed to be shrouded in an air of intimidating darkness. “Chief, I am Sirius, leader of the Viper’s Den branch in the West State.” While the crowd was left guessing who the woman was, Sirius and a dozen members of the Viper’s Den approached with quick paces. Steps away from Autumn’s group, Sirius and the Viper’s Den members fell to their knees. It was a welcome of abject submission. This was undoubtedly the respect of the highest form. Chief?Only one individual within the Viper’s Den deserved that title. Autumn was the queen of the Viper’s Den, one of the four government-sanctioned leaders.Everybody was shocked
“My Queen!” Swallowing the humiliation, Sieg hissed through clenched teeth. “The Geranium Lyfes are part of Geranium City high society, and we have always been a tight-knit community—” “Smack!” Scarlet raised her hand and gave Sieg another slap. “Tight-knit? Are Geranium City elites going to retaliate?” Autumn’s indifferent voice resounded. Color drained from Sieg’s face. He could never accept the accusation Autumn pinned on him. Even Geranium City high society could not face the charges of conspiracy. “Not at all!” Sieg jumped back and said indignantly, “Is it worth your while to attack me because of Perfect World Group, my Queen?” In the corner, Mason, Sirius, and the others made faces. They knew Kaze would not go down without a fight, so they predicted powerful figures to back him up during the event. In other words, they had run all possible scenarios that could happen. However, Autumn’s presence threw them for a loop. They could not believe their eyes.
Mason shuddered and approached Autumn apprehensively. “My Queen, Kaze has stepped down from his mayoral position. Yet, he still wants to control the city and insult the Ridgesouth Quints. It’s only fair that I retaliate by squashing his business. Don’t you think so?” Mason hissed through clenched teeth. He knew Autumn would not go easy on him. However, he did not want to be publicly slapped just like Sieg. “Smack!” Autumn whipped her hand across Mason’s face. “While running for mayor, you try to ruin the local business out of personal vendetta. You don’t care about the people at all. Don’t you think the problem lies with you?” “Smack!” “Did Kaze pick a fight with you, or did he fight back because you were aggressive to assert your dominance? Do I need to spell it out for you?”“Smack!” Autumn viciously attacked Mason while talking. The sound of whacking echoed across the hall. Blood seeped from Mason’s lips after he sustained multiple blows. Mason, a deputy-gover
“Mr. Lyfe and I have apologized to you, Kaze. Just take the win.” “So I should just take the win after you apologized?” Kaze smirked. “I can tell you now that I don’t accept your apology.“We can talk about moving past this after you kneel and apologize. “Otherwise, you can forget leaving Perfect World Group.”Sieg and Mason scowled. The only way forward was to kneel and apologize, but Kaze would definitely rip them off. They could not believe the audacity of Kaze. Even those who came for the show were speechless. They believe Kaze was pushy on the matter because of Autumn’s support, and it was a bad look on him. “You should quit while you’re ahead, Kaze. Must you take things far?” Sieg gritted his teeth and uttered menacingly. Autumn furrowed her brows, wondering if Sieg had something up his sleeve. Mason was taken aback at first, but he was filled with glee. He said, “I know you have additional resources at your disposal, Mr. Lyfe. Now is the time to use it befo
“Maybe we can discuss getting the one who wants my life to come here. What do you think?” Kaze lifted his head and said with a smile, his gaze meeting Sieg’s. Sieg smirked. “What? Scared? Are you thinking about asking that person to spare your life?” Kaze shook his head and replied, “Idiot.” “What did you call me?” Sieg blew up. Not wanting to waste another with Sieg, Kaze went up and knocked him down to the ground with a slap. “Crack!” Kaze then stomped on Sieg’s leg, fracturing his bone. “Argh!” Sieg let out a heart-wrenching scream and rolled on the ground in agony. Mason and the others widened their eyes at Kaze. It never occurred to them that Kaze would be so savage to break Sieg’s leg. Sieg was part of the Geranium Lyfes and one of the top bachelors of Geranium City. Though Kaze had the Viper Queen’s support, he was insignificant. Surely, he would quiver at the prospect of revenge by the Geranium City high society. “Smack!” As Sieg was hit in the face
“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