Mandy had to go through Caleb for him to evaluate if the project was worth Kaze’s time. However, Mandy was not having it. She said indifferently, “Deputy Mayor Leed, I think you should inform the mayor right away. “I represent Mr. Connor Lewis from the South River University’s School of Arts. Mr. Lewis intends to set up a campus in Lilyrose New City. “South River University ranks in the top ten in Arcadia. There’s no doubt the school holds prestige. We have received invitations to start campuses in many cities. “The establishment of the campus would add value to the neighborhood. The price of the land and properties would only go up. “I believe the mayor wouldn’t pass up on the opportunity to develop his city.” Mandy talked confidently. It was profitable to have a campus of South River University anywhere. The campus was an appeal to Lilyrose and the city council. Caleb nodded and said, “Can I have your business card, Ms. Yipz? I’ll report back to the mayor.” Mand
Mandy sneered. She wanted Kaze to lose hope and dwell in despair. Mandy’s yelling startled the staff at the mayor’s office. Caleb rushed over upon receiving the word and grimaced at Mandy’s sarcastic remarks. He was about to say something when Kaze turned to him and asked with a fake smile, “This woman said she has met with the mayor and hit it off? Why didn’t I know about it?” “Um…” Caleb scowled at Mandy, who looked embarrassed, and said, “She left her business card, talking about South River University’s intention to build a campus in Lilyrose New City.” “Setting up a campus is a good thing.” Kaze nodded. Lilyrose needed the influx of good schools, and it was something worth considering. Mandy felt awkward to be exposed, but she quickly mocked, “Know your place, Lee. “It’s true that South River University would be good for the city’s economy, but this has nothing to do with you. “I hope you’re not thinking about getting a piece of the pie. I doubt Shangrila G
What? Hand over her task? Mandy froze with a scowl. She did not understand where Connor was coming from. He was casting her aside. “What’s going on, Mr. Lewis? Everything was fine. Why am I handing over my task?” Mandy panicked. Connor replied indifferently, “Setting up a campus in Lilyrose is important. You worked as a reporter at Sunrise News, so you don’t have the experience to carry out the task. “I’ve decided to let someone else take over. That’s all I have to say.” Connor then hung up, leaving Mandy’s blood running cold. That was not what Connor said when he sent her to Lilyrose. He said she had the charm to deal with men. Connor believed only Mandy could convince the mayor to give the green light to build the campus. Yet, Connor denied all that. “Why? How did that happen?” Mandy stood there in a daze. “Maybe because I donated 100 million dollars to South River University,” Kaze said with a fake smile. “You?” Mandy cocked her head back in disbeli
“Sure, Mr. Lee. Your participation will guarantee results,” Caleb said excitedly. There were too many eyes on Lilyrose New City. Even the four top families in Geranium City came early to set up shop.The neighboring powerful and rich families were tempted to dip their fingers. Behind these good schools lurked multiple, different entities. Caleb was afraid he could not hold the ground on his own. Even Mandy, a head of admission for South River University, turned her nose up at him. It would be a different story if Kaze were involved, though. As time had proven, anybody starting up issues would pay dearly. With Kaze in charge, no one would dare to mess around in Lilyrose. Soon, Caleb had several meetings with his team at the mayor’s office and determined a plan before making a public announcement. Lilyrose New City welcomed good schools from in and outside the state. The establishment of campuses in Lilyrose would be met with incentive policies. The well-established sc
“Just be straight with me. “I’ll help you if it means getting Kaze permanently out of the picture,” Cosmo said indifferently, brushing off Mandy’s flirting. Cosmo had been involved with too many women that he was immune to Mandy’s coyness. Cutting to the chase, Mandy said, “Kaze knows I have dirt on him, so he donated 100 million dollars to South River University to fire me. “You must help me, Mr. Cosmo. I want to make sure his wife’s cousin doesn’t get enrolled in South River University. “It’s not a big deal, but it will cause problems in the home. Heck, his wife might even divorce him.” Mandy’s voice was tainted with bitterness. Her mind was filled with nothing but getting even with Kaze. “You have a point.” Cosmo said, “You know what? Frederick Yale, a teaching faculty member at South River University is one of my people. I’ll get him to give you your job back at South River University. “Lilyrose is appealing to good schools to set up campuses there right now. My
“Oh, you’re more important to the school than the 100-million-dollar donation. “Even a billion-dollar donation doesn’t matter more than you,” Connor said uprightly while playing the whole thing off with a laugh. It did not occur to him that Mandy would seek help from the Sunrise Lees. Hence, he swallowed his pride and took the humiliation. After the call from Frederick, Connor agreed to let Mandy remain at South River University right away. The 100 million dollars was already in his bank account, and Connor had no intentions of returning the money. He had learned whatever he needed to know about Kaze. The Sunrise Lees disowned him, he took his wife’s last name, and earned a few quick bucks by chance. Connor saw no repercussions in defying him. With Connor saying good things on the other end, Mandy kept a smirk on her face. Connor no longer meant anything to her anymore. However, Mandy had no plans to cut ties with him just yet. Mandy said with a smile, “Alright. I’ll
Rose threw herself into Darcy’s arms and wailed. South River University had always been her dream school. To obtain the guaranteed admission spot at the School of Arts, Rose put in a lot of hard work. Now, she lost the right for admission. She lost it. Failed?The sudden change threw everybody off. “That’s impossible. How could you fail? I’m sure there’s some sort of mistake,” Agatha cried with an ashen look while scrolling through the name list displayed. Rose was on the list with several others, and all of them passed the observation review except for Rose. “Oh, my God. Rose is an amazing candidate. Why did they fail her?” Feeling faint, Agatha cocked her head and yelled angrily, “Are you sure everything went well, Kaze? What’s with this?” Kaze frowned and said, “South River University must have made a mistake.” Mandy was fired, so it made no sense something would go wrong. With the family getting on Kaze’s case, Darcy said, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
“Admittedly, this individual isn’t the immediate family of the candidate, but they lived together under one roof. “We had to consider whether the living situation would have a bad influence on her well-being. “Hence, after careful consideration, we decided that the candidate isn’t a right fit for South River University.” Mandy spoke eloquently in the video. Standing in front of the screen, Darcy and the others had a bad feeling. Rose was the only one who did not pass the observation test, so Mandy was talking about Rose. Mandy said, “I’ll put on the interview tape with the family member, and you can be the judge.” Everybody held their breaths and stared intently at the screen. “Please introduce yourself.” “I am Kaze Lee, a family member of Rose Oceanid.” The camera angle cut to Kaze. “I heard that the Sunrise Lees disowned you because you committed an offense. That was when you married into the Quint family and took their last name.”“That’s right.” “Did you b
“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