Kai, with a strong will to live, opened his mouth and begged for help in a struggle. The holder of the phone drew close, only to stomp on Kai’s chest. That kick took Kai’s life. In the end, the holder of the phone switched the phone camera to the front view, revealing his face. Kaze recognized the person. The face belonged to the driver who drank and caused the accident. The video ended. Kai clearly did not die from the car crash. It was no accident that he was dead. Kaze put down the phone and looked at Samson. “So you plotted the car accident last night? “Why did you do it?” “Would you believe me if I said that I hate these idiots?” Samson asked. Kaze smiled offhandedly. He did not believe Samson would kill a citizen of Ryokan out of hatred. Samson was all about the profits. Besides, Kai belonged to the Well family. Caleb validated through his investigation yesterday that the Well family was a member of Sanwell Finances’ K division. The family in Ryokan
The Lees had betrayed Kaze before. The excruciating agony was cutting. Kaze would be happy putting the Lees through the same pain. For that reason, Kaze did not mind doing Samson a favor. “Your word is my command.” Samson nodded solemnly, got up, then said, “But I need to remind you, Chairman Lee. There is more to the Lees than meets the eye. “The Lees have a member in the military, and the individual seems to be doing well there.” The military held an extremely important place in Arcadia. While the military generally avoided involvement in local matters, the region’s influential families dared not brush off its presence. Having someone who served well in the army would also elevate the family in their social circles. Kaze understood what Samson was talking about. Moreover, no one knew better than Kaze. “Someone in the military, huh? So what?” Kaze commented indifferently. Kaze sounded disinterested, his tone reflecting his disdain. The news Samson brought d
It appeared Samson made the right choice. Kaze’s confidence in every way gave him assurance. Briefly after Samson’s departure, Snow walked into the private lounge from another room. “Samson is two-faced, Mr. Chairman. “He vowed loyalty to you because you could overturn the Lees. I doubt he’d betray the Lees entirely.“Given a chance, he will stab you in the back.” Kaze said nonchalantly, “It doesn’t matter. If he stays out of trouble, we can leave him alone. “Just sort him out if he tries anything.” In any case, Samson’s character did not matter to Kaze. He went along with the plan not to put hope in Samson to retaliate against the Lees. It was just to get under the Lees’ skin. That was all there was to it. …Then, Kaze told Snow to return the five percent shares to Lee Investment. Samson worked fast too. At the authority of Lilyrose’s mayor’s office, the private hospitals were sold off to both local and foreign enterprises at a low price. The businesses a
“We meet again, mayor.” Sirius drew close, staying several feet from Kaze before looking up with a smile. Only, there was nothing friendly in his eyes. His gaze was chilling and venomous. “Yes?” Kaze said indifferently without glancing at the dozen Viper’s Den agents. Sirius was out of the organization when Magnus came to Lilyrose looking for trouble. Now, it appeared Sirius must have found friends to get his position back in the Viper’s Den. Sirius lit a cigarette, took a puff, and then said, “There has been a murder in Lilyrose. The victim is Mr. Kai Well, the head of the Ryokan’s Cherry Capital branch in the South River State.“I was ordered to investigate the case.” Kaze replied callously, “Oh? And what does this have to do with me?“Besides, we aren’t close enough to meet when you’re here in the city on a case.” Sirius chuckled. “Aren’t you too quick to say you’re uninvolved?” “What do you mean?” Kaze kept a straight face. He knew Sirius was here for troubl
The members of the Viper’s Den were all pleased watching Kaze in trouble.Kaze glanced at the gleaming handcuffs on the ground expressionless and stomped his foot.‘Crack.’Kaze crushed the handcuffs beneath his foot followed by a jarring sound of metal breaking.“You dare to obstruct us to perform official duty!”Sirius looked furious, then flashed a murderous intent in his eyes and reached for his gun.Kaze’s gaze turned cold.A confrontation seemed imminent.At this moment, a Toyota Alphard drove up suddenly.Sirius frowned when saw the vehicle and holstered his weapon while approaching the car.“Ms. Hiden!” Sirius bowed slightly, showing utmost respect as he greeted the woman stepping out of the car.It was clear that Sirius feared the woman, with a mix of reverence and caution.The woman was Fanny, Miru’s aunt.At that moment, Agar also stepped out from the other side of the car, positioning himself behind Fanny.“Hmm.”Fanny gave a nonchalant nod and then turned
"Silence!" Fanny snapped.Kaze’s brazen disregard for Jerome infuriated her.In her heart, she believed Jerome and Miru to be a perfect match. As for Kaze, he was nothing but a son-in-law who had married into wealth and who was now meddling in her niece's marital affairs.To Fanny, Kaze was overly presumptuous."Kaze, who are you to speak so sarcastically about Jerome?" she spat. "A word of warning, I know all about your past affairs!“Not only were you chased out by the Lees, but you had to rely on your wife’s wealth to get to where you are today!“I have to hand it to you, though, you really are an expert at riding coattails. Not every gold-digger is as capable as you.“However, no matter how capable you are, in the end, you are still nothing more than a man who married into money.” Fanny’s words were laced with venom as she added, “Your potential was decided by your origins! Regardless of how you struggle, you will never reach Jerome’s heights!” She paused, her words hang
“I think a part of you still loves Miru. You don’t look like the kind who sells their niece for personal gains.” If not for this reason, Kaze would not waste so much time with Fanny. “Hmph! You don’t need to care about my relationship with Miru.” Fanny grunted coldly and continued, “Kaze, I have said many times that you are narrow-minded. You really have no idea what you are doing. “Just the mayor of Lilyrose? You think the mayor of Lilyrose is just a mayor, like when you are in office? Lilyrose is getting an upgrade and the mayor will have the same rank as the vice governor! “This is just the start! Using this as a stepping stone, the mayor might be the regional commander or even the ruler of the entire state! Do you know how many people are fighting for the position? “Aside from my household, all the other competitors have powerful backgrounds. You have no idea how powerful the Fowlers are in the West State. Whoever they support, that person will be the mayor! “If I can
Not to mention the relationship between Kaze and Albert. When Magnus came looking for trouble and Albert got involved to help, he inexplicably became a suspect and had been under investigation ever since Magnus was murdered. Kaze could not ignore Albert’s request. Therefore, he looked at Fanny and said, “Ms. Hiden, I do not allow others to force my friend to do something against her will…” “Enough!” Fanny grew tired of his nonsense and stopped him. “Cut the crap! Just get straight to the point.” Kaze said, “What if I make your husband the mayor of Lilyrose? Would you still force Miru to marry Jerome?” “You? Making Jared mayor of Lilyrose?” Fanny was slightly surprised before she curled her lips and scoffed. “Kaze, I know you are close with the governor, Loid Farland, but do you think just by speaking to him, you can decide who becomes mayor? “Don’t be so naїve. I told you, all the candidates for mayor are backed by powerful families. You think a mere governor has the ri
“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