Luis felt like a God. He was all puffed up. The crowd was too distracted by his authority to put a stop to things. “Ugh!” Joel’s throat was slit, and blood quickly spilled.Blood gushed out of his throat. “Uh… You…” Joel let out an inaudible grunt, his half-raised arm going limp. Throwing his head to the back, he breathed his last. Even to his death, he could not believe he lost to Luis. “Argh! Murder!” Zenika and the other women shrieked. Kaze buried Rose’s face in his chest to shield her from the gruesome scene. “Clang!” Luis dropped the knife as he regained composure from his manic episode. He retracted his foot from Joel’s chest and backed away, his eyes fixating on Joel’s dead body. “I-I didn’t kill him.“I didn’t mean to kill you!” Luis raised his trembling hands, his body shaking. He was done for. Luis killed Joel. His plan was to get rid of Joel through Kaze. How did he end up killing Joel instead?Luis turned to Kaze and yelled angrily,
“Thud!”Luis slammed into the corner of the wall, feeling the pain in every inch of his body. The physical pain, however bad, was nothing compared to the fear of death that gripped him.Fighting back the agony, he raised his arms and crawled his way back to Zoro. Luis coughed out copious amounts of blood, his insides churning violently as he stayed on all fours.However, he did not care one bit. Luis understood that he would not live to see another day without Zoro’s help. “I didn’t mean to kill Joel, Zoro. “I was only following through with your plan, but Kaze somehow walked up to Joel and slapped him in the face. “Most importantly, Joel wasn’t as great as rumored. He got upset and swung a knife at me after I beat him down to the ground multiple times. I was only defending myself. “Tell him, guys. That was what happened, right?” Luis snapped an angry look at Zenika and the others. They were all in the same boat now, so they were in it together. Zenika and the ot
“It’s all my fault, Zoro. I’m a fool! I’m a loser!“But Joel is dead, and nothing can change that. Yelling at me won’t solve anything. “Please help me, Zoro!” Luis got down on his knees, his back hunched over. “Given our years of brotherhood, I’m begging you for one last favor.”He was freaked out. It was a good thing Luis rushed to Bronze Sparrow when things went awry. Otherwise, he would be stuck at Drake Gym and killed by the people of the Viper’s Den. Even now, the Viper’s Den members were scattered outside Bronze Sparrow. If Luis were to step outside Bronze Sparrow, he would be drowned in the deep ocean. “Help you? “Are you expecting me to risk my life to save yours?” With a callous look, Zoro kicked Luis away. “Jude called me just now. I should hand over the killer by tonight, or he’ll come straight to Bronze Sparrow for you. “Do you know what that means? “It means he has the means to carry out his promise. “Don’t forget that Joel trained under a senior me
Gillian, a fearsome man in Riverbank, lost his spine in the presence of Zoro. “What now?” Zoro furrowed his brows in annoyance. Despite the fear in his eyes, Gillian got his act together and said solemnly, “I found the diamond seller. “Bring him in.” Gillian turned back to wave at several members of his crew. They escorted a man and a woman into the office. “You are scammers!” Luis sprung to his feet when he saw the man and the woman. He had been cursing them all day. The man was the diamond seller while the older woman with glasses was a renowned diamond appraiser in Riverbank City. They worked together to sell a fake diamond to Luis, embarrassing him at Bronze Sparrow last night. “Thump!” The man and woman fell to their knees before Luis. “That’s not true, Mr. Presley! I would never sell a fake diamond to you. I bought the diamond from a prince of Sandia.” “You know me, Mr. Presley. I’ve been in the jewelry appraisal business for decades. I have never been
Gillian was not quite done with Kaze. He dreamed of the day he would become strong enough to kill Kaze. After learning that Kaze had crushed a real diamond, Gillian gave up on that thought. Gillian knew that not a single bone in his body was more solid than a diamond. “Mr. Weather’s calling, Zoro.” While Zoro was lost in his thoughts, a pretty woman approached and whispered in his ear. Zoro waved his arm for silence in the room before taking the phone from the woman. He put the phone against his ear. “This is Zoro. What can I do for you, sir?” The air hung heavy with tension. Apart from a selected few, Luis and the others never witnessed Zoro behaving so respectfully on the phone. It was Casius, one of the Riverbank Seven. The name struck terror in everybody’s heart. “I heard that Jude is out to get you.” Moments later, a flat tone boomed from the other end of the line. His voice was unreadable. Everybody held their breath and made no sound. “Here’s the thing,
“Don’t stress yourself. Joel deserved to die. We have nothing to do with his death anyway.” Rose nodded. “That’s true. Just be careful, Kaze.” Kaze smiled and shuffled her hair. “Don’t worry about me. Conan will take you home.” Soon, Conan arrived and said, “The people assigned to protect Rose haven’t made it here yet, Kaze. Um…” “It’s fine. All eyes are on Joel’s case now that he is dead. No one will get any ideas about Rose. Just assign a couple of your men to watch over her,” Kaze waved his arm and said indifferently. Hannah and Collier stood by Jude on Kaze’s instruction. Kaze suspected that the Gwakes and possibly Bronze Sparrow along with Casius had their hidden agenda regarding the Viper’s Den South River State Branch. He would not allow things to go their way. Kaze pitted the united South River branch against Bronze Sparrow to see if Zoro could take the heat. If Casius had other plans in mind for the South River branch, he would reveal himself when Bronze Spar
The Viper’s Den members, dressed in mourning, were either aloof or angry. Some of them were driven by the desire to kill when they saw Kaze. They were the Viper’s Den members present at the gym when Joel died. These people knew Kaze. Kaze came with Luis before and started the fight by slapping Joel in the face. They took a step forward, ready to attack Kaze. There was chatter among the crowd. The other members of the Viper’s Den were eager to hurt Kaze when they learned the truth. Their intention was either to assess Kaze’s skills or just to pick a fight with him. Instead of keeping the members in check, Serene stepped back without a word. Kaze was met with aloofness and malice. Anyone would cower or break out in a cold sweat when faced with such hostility. Nevertheless, Kaze simply walked ahead, brushing off the looks. His disregard only infuriated the Viper’s Den members further. “Kaze?” Before the members could strike Kaze, a pretty face showed up. The be
Sure enough, Buffy’s remark only egged hundreds of the Viper’s Den members on. Kaze grinned faintly. “We can talk about any issues in private. It’s not proper of you to threaten me in front of outsiders.” Tsk! Outsiders?Kaze acted like he was Buffy’s husband. Buffy heaved heavily, her cheeks flushed. The Viper’s Den members were livid. Kaze managed to ruin the somber mood. Unable to take it anymore, Serene said icily, “Mr. Gwake is waiting for you inside, Mr. Lee.” “Oh. Just lead the way.” With his hand under his chin, Kaze asked Buffy with a smile, “Are you coming with me? I’m a little intimidated by your dad.” Kaze’s expression of meeting the father-in-law nearly drove Buffy crazy. Nevertheless, she took a deep breath to calm herself down. She said curtly, “I am here because of you. I am worried that my dad will kill you.“I can give you a chance to walk away now since you are still somewhat useful to me.” Seeing that Buffy was trying to get under his skin
“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