“Sizzle…” The dark blood, when met with fire, erupted in a soft explosion that echoed through the air.The fire started quickly, and smoke filled the air, forming the face of a menacing ghoul before disappearing. Everybody, including Raph, shuddered in fear. They had never encountered something like that before.“What was that?” Kent asked fearfully, his face pale. The thought of the mass coming out of him sent chills down his spine. “It’s a Ryokan hex.” Kaze said indifferently, “Someone is out to get you. You were planted with a Ghoul Parasite.“The Ghoul Parasite feeds on your blood. It takes two to four weeks for the parasite to fully mature. Once it’s fully grown, you will die.“You would probably have three more days to live if I hadn’t knocked the Ghoul Parasite out of you.“You’re fine now.” Those infected with the Ghoul Parasite would have black undertones under their wrinkles. Kaze had seen fellow soldiers infected with the same dark arts during his time
With his gesture met with rejection, Raph chuckled dryly, his eyes harboring malice. Kent nodded and said earnestly, “I want to apologize for earlier, Kaze. “You must be on your way to Riverbank City. Why don’t you stay over at my place? I’ll be a good host to you. “May I know why you are heading to Riverbank, Kaze? I want to help you whenever I can. I owe you my life.” Kent was certain that Kaze was a person of extraordinary abilities. He wanted to make a friend out of such talent. Kaze was fond of Kent too. He said, “I’m not some Superman. I’ve witnessed a similar situation before, so I know what to do. I just got lucky. “Don’t worry about paying me back. Just count it as a favor, Mayor Synder. “I might need your help in the future,” Kaze looked at Kent and said with a faint smile. Kaze could be sure that the Ryokan hex on Kent had something to do with Sanwell Finances. He and Kent would cross paths a lot. Kent was taken aback at first, but he quickly took out a
Raph was oblivious to the fact that Cole wanted him gone. He was still trying to win Kent’s favor after the embarrassing stunt he pulled. Thanks to his tricks of the trade, Raph could read the room and deduce Kaze’s purpose of visiting Riverbank. Kent nodded. “You have a point, Dr. Tyson. In that case, why don’t you pick a couple of things from Dr. Tyson? I’ll foot the bill.” “These herbs are meant for medical treatment. Let’s not talk about money. Besides, the herbs aren’t worth much. Just take whatever you want, Kaze,” Raph said with a smile. Though just a scammer, Raph had amassed a lot of wealth over the years. Kaze glanced at Raph and said with a smile, “Since I’m free to take whatever, why don’t you just give the whole sack to me? I can present them as a gift to a friend I’m visiting this afternoon.“The herbs aren’t worth much, but it’s the thought that counts.” Raph was speechless. His herbs were worth over 10 million dollars. Yet, Kaze wanted him to give the
Hamlin nodded. “Got it.” Cole returned not long after Hamlin and Kent’s conversation. By then, the train had arrived at Riverbank East Station. Kent asked with a frown, “Where’s Dr. Tyson, Cole?” “Dr. Tyson has a patient who urgently needs his care, Uncle. He left ahead of us.” Cole said with a smile, “I’ll contact more doctors to help Myra get better, Uncle.” He did not tell Kent that he had chased Raph and the other two out. “Alright.” Kent nodded. After the earlier incident, he realized that Raph could not be trusted. Nevertheless, Kent ran a background check on Raph beforehand. Since Raph was popular among the rich and powerful in Riverbank, Kent did not want to have a falling out to avoid any unnecessary trouble. It was a good thing Raph left on his own accord. Meanwhile, the train started decelerating into Riverbank East Station. The passengers waited for the doors to open. Due to a recent assassination, Kent was surrounded by heavy security. His party got
“I was thinking about a way to get this thing out of the station. The guy can help me out now.” Butch snickered grimly. Raph asked curiously, “How do you plan on doing it?” “Just watch me.” Butch chuckled and hid the weapon in his sleeve before approaching Kaze. The first-class cabin had a seating arrangement of two seats per row. Since Butch’s girlfriend was hesitant to sit next to Kaze, she left the seat vacant. With the seat empty, Kaze put the sack of herbs on the one closer to the aisle. Not in a hurry to get off, Kaze closed his eyes for a rest. “Plop!” He felt the sack falling to the ground and opened his eyes. Butch smiled and picked the sack up from the ground. “I’m sorry, Kaze. I bumped into the bag while passing through. Why aren’t you getting off yet?” Butch put the sack on the seat like nothing ever happened. He slipped the weapon into the sack while picking it up. “The doors aren’t even open yet. Everyone else can go ahead and leave. I’m not in a h
The advanced security system at the gate triggered a loud alarm when a high-level threat was detected.The sudden blaring startled everybody around, stirring a commotion. The security officers nearby stayed on high alert. They radioed for backup while drawing close to the threat. As the alarm grew louder, Kaze and those around him became the center of attention. “Don’t move! “Put down your bags and put your hands in the air.” A team of heavily armed police officers stormed the scene, their guns drawn and aimed directly at Kaze and those around him. “Thud!” Kaze threw his sack out of the scanning range. The others, in a panic, followed suit. However, the siren did not stop piercing everybody’s eardrums. The police officers narrowed their eyes. They had initially suspected that the scanner picked up on a prohibited item in one of the bags. Besides, the level of noise from the alarm determined that it was the highest level of threat. ‘A suicide bomber?’ The po
"Hands up! Put them over your head and don't make any sudden moves!" the security squad leader shouted at Kaze.Kaze replied calmly, "Sorry, I've served in the military. I can't bring myself to make a surrender gesture."He served in the military?Everyone immediately raised their assessment of Kaze's threat level by several notches.“Then, what about the items you’re hiding? Hurry up and take it out!” the squad leader shouted.Kaze shook his head. “I’m not hiding anything…”“That’s impossible, the alarm wouldn’t have sounded off otherwise!”The squad leader ordered sternly, “If you were to hand it over voluntarily, your punishment would be much lighter compared to us forcibly searching you! You’d better think twice before you answer again!”“I really am not hiding anything dangerous though. What do you want me to hand over?” While eyeing Raph and Butch, Kaze calmly added, “As for the opium and the firearm that you found in the bag, they were planted by these two to frame me.”“
“Order him to hand over the prohibited items once again, or he’ll be searched otherwise!” Aegon sternly instructed.The squad leader turned back and faced Kaze, saying, “The Deputy Director of our police force, Aegon Gwake has arrived. I’m sure you understand the consequences of defying him, so once again, please hand over any prohibited items you have on you!”“But I’m not carrying anything prohibited,” just like before, Kaze maintained a calm tone and expression as he replied.This surprised Aegon, who glared incredulously at Kaze. Regardless of the situation, being able to remain so composed showed a rare strength of character in someone so young.“Get the bomb squad to search him! Be extra careful!” Aegon barked the order with a steely expression. He would no longer waste any time talking with Kaze.With that, the surrounding officers spread out, leaving behind only a few equipped with bomb suits, who were now in charge of searching Kaze.Despite a thorough search, however, t
“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