“Ms. President!” The other guild members were shocked when Lilian slapped Darcy. They quickly stepped up to protect her and glared at Lilian. “Lilian Wheel, this is too much!” “How can you slap our president?” “You are just some person in charge of this supercar club! You have no right to choose violence!” The guild members stood up and defended Darcy. Not only did Lilian slap Darcy but her action was an insult to the Lilyrose Commerce Guild. Despite being scolded, Lilian reacted coldly and shook her hand. “Haha, you look down on us? Can’t you see we have that many club members here?” Following Lilian’s words, all the other club members were upset as well. Bang! A young man in his early 20s slammed the table and got up, shouting at the guild members, “You bastards! You look down on us? My father is one of the execs at South River Commerce Institute! Tell me your company’s name!” A woman wearing a baseball cap, smoking a cigarette, said, “My father is also a member
“Lilian Wheel, what do you mean?!” Upset, Darcy glared at Lilian, wondering what she meant. Could it be that this meeting with Tank was not just about investment? Lilian pursed her lips. “You will know what it means soon. There, Mr. Gebach is here.” The door was pushed open. Surrounded by his men, Tank strutted into the club. “Mr. Gebach!” “Uncle Tank!” All the club members greeted Tank upon his arrival. Most members were from powerful and wealthy families but were merely juniors compared to Tank, a titan in the investment world who shared the same status as Samson. Some of their fathers were actually close with Tank. Lilian went up to the man with a big smile. “Mr. Gebach, you’re finally here. Darcy Quint of Lilyrose Commerce Guild is also here.” Tank nodded. He then looked at Darcy, asking, “I believe you are President Darcy Quint?” “Mr. Gebach.” Darcy nodded with the bare minimum of respect. She skipped the chatters and asked, “Mr. Gebach, can I assume
Tank was surprised by Darcy’s persistence. He did not expect a mere commerce guild president of a small city to speak against him. “So you’re not planning to give it back?” Tank narrowed his eyes. The warmth in his tone was replaced by coldness. Darcy took a deep breath and said, “Glitter gave it to me, why should I give it back?” Everyone else in the club was shocked. What made Darcy so stubborn? Tank switched to a fiercer tone to express his dissatisfaction, yet Darcy did not seem to notice it. “Darcy Quint, you really have the nerves!” Lilian bellowed. “You stole Mr. Leigh’s car. Mr. Gebach only wants you to return it and nothing else. This is letting you off easy, yet you don’t appreciate his kindness?!” Every word she spoke was fanning the flames. Tank raised his wrist to glance at his watch. “My guest is arriving soon. I do not have time to speak with you, it’s a waste of time. “If you do not want to return the car, please leave. We’ll deal with this aft
Lilian never would have thought the guest would be Kaze. “Kaze Lee, are you the driver?” Lilian looked into the rear seat but saw no one. Kaze strangely looked at her. “Are you okay? Stop acting strange beside me.” “What? I’m not strange!” Lilian was upset by his words. She bellowed, “You shouldn’t be here! Our club is having a gathering and the owner of South River Group is meeting an important guest here! Get the hell out!” She pointed at the main entrance, asking Kaze to leave. Kaze was surprised and amused. “If I’m not wrong, I’m the guest Tank Gebach wants to meet.” “You? You useless piece of shit? Are you dreaming?” Lilian did not believe a word Kaze said. She turned around to Tank’s men and bellowed, “Get him out! This isn’t right! This idiot is here to cause trouble!” “Ms. Wheel, he is indeed Mr. Gebach’s guest.” Tank’s men stood to the side and drew distance from Lilian. They looked at Kaze and politely said, “Mr. Lee, Mr. Gebach is waiting for you insi
Bang! A moment later, the supercar club’s door opened with a bang. “Aaaah!” Lilian was thrown inside, shocking everyone else. “Ms. Wheel!” The closest club members approached her immediately and helped her up. Upset, they then shouted at the door, “Who did it? Who threw Ms. Wheel inside?” “Someone hit a woman without holding back? What a cheap move!” “How dare someone hit Ms. Wheel at our club? He must have a death wish!” Tank stood and watched in silence. When he saw Lilian’s swollen face and miserable state, he frowned. Holding Darcy’s hand, Kaze then strutted inside the club confidently. “Supercar club? What even is that? My wife is a woman too but when that woman slapped her, no one stood up for her. “You dare hit my wife? I think there’s no reason for this supercar club to exist anymore.” Kaze stepped on the door he kicked down earlier, crushing the supercar club’s logo with it. It was a blatant provocation to everyone in the club. “Darcy Quint is your
All the supercar club members grinned when they heard Tank. They worried Tank might defend his guest, Kaze, but it seemed like their worry was unnecessary. Tank did not emphasize Lilian slapping Darcy but seemingly held Kaze responsible for being too harsh on Lilian. Kaze’s gaze turned cold. “Lilian Wheel slapped my wife and it was impulsive; I slapped her back and I’m being too much?” Tank nodded. “If that’s what you want to make of it, please do. I am just stating from an observer’s perspective, speaking objectively. “You are a man. You are naturally stronger than a woman. You should have held back. Moreover, you kicked down the door, which is basically getting the innocents involved.” The club members were delighted that Tank defended Lilian and them. “You heard Mr. Gebach, Kaze Lee! You almost hurt the innocent! How could you?” “There’s something wrong with your personality. What did the club do to you? Why did you knock down our door and provoke us?” “Ms. Wheel s
Kaze’s words silenced the entire club once again. Everyone’s jaw dropped when they heard Kaze call the Glitter family a bunch of cowards. He was courting death with such provocative words. To the supercar club members, Kaze had already lost his mind. All the members had strong backgrounds. Their family, parents, connections—everyone they knew was their strongest support and they could easily solve any conflicts with power or money. Yet none of them dared to challenge the Glitter family, let alone call them cowards. Kaze did not only scold one of the Glitter family members, but he called the entire family cowards! He challenged an entire family known for its wealth, influence, and power. The old saying went in Arcadia—wealthy families should not be looked down upon, or insulted. The slightest disrespect toward a family with a history and strong background was considered the heaviest of crimes, despite having no laws about that. There were no laws stating one could
Cetus spoke the mind of every member. Not only Tank, but not one of the supercar club members took Kaze seriously. Kaze was just a useless man who relied on his wife. They would never have noticed him if not for this occasion. He was like an ant no one cared about. Kaze and them were from two different worlds. Kaze glanced at Cetus and said, “You keep yapping. Don’t you feel like a clown? I don’t think I’ve answered any of your questions either, so please shut the hell up. I’m tired of slapping people today, don’t challenge my patience.” Cetus was furious instantly. He shouted, “What did you say?!” “You relied on your wife to reach your current position yet you have the nerve to talk to me like that? I have no idea what is in that brain of yours!” “How could you even speak with such arrogance in front of so many supercar club members? If not because of Mr. Gebach, whom we respect, we would have slapped your face off!” The other members voiced support for Cetus. They
“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