“Mr. Ceb.” The man was Mr. Ceb, not the dogs. Master Quint inhaled deeply and got up to meet the man. He was afraid of the man who was overflowing with wickedness. “Mr. Ceb, I would like you to follow me to Horizon Mirror Mansion,” Deborah requested politely. “Not a problem!” Mr. Ceb grinned and nodded. …Horizon Mirror Mansion. After returning from the Quints’ mansion, Agnes made a feast and asked Darcy to bring Kaze back immediately. Darcy was surprised by her mother’s unusual reaction but believed it was with good intentions, so she called Kaze. Sky and Agatha’s family were also around. Everyone sat down at the table to eat a meal. “Kaze, I have to return to Sunrise in a few days to continue my studies. Can you visit me at my grandparent’s house next time?” Rose said to Kaze. Since Nelson was working in the military, Agatha usually stayed at the Otters’ place with her children. Rose might still be young but she knew her aunt, Agnes, rarely spoke to her b
The moment Kaze’s words subsided, Darcy’s heart skipped a beat. She knew her mother’s temper. If Agnes was happy, she could be an angel; if she was unhappy, she could be worse than the devil. “Not suitable?” The smile on Agnes’ face froze at the next moment. She slammed her spoon on the table and glared at Kaze. “Tell me, why is Mason not suitable as mayor?” “Mom, I saw his profile.” Kaze did not mind the sudden shift in attitude. He patiently explained, “He’s too driven by results, impatient, and greedy for gains and credits. He’d do anything to achieve his goal. If he runs the city as mayor, it won’t be good for the people. “In fact, when I received the candidates’ profiles, he was the first one whom I rejected.” The profile that Kaze received was not the brief one released to the public, but a detailed version intended only for the city council. Through the details on the profiles, Kaze was able to see things others could not. He put a lot of effort into choosi
Agnes’ expression turned gloomy after hearing her husband. She grunted at the end and stayed quiet. Since her husband and daughter had spoken up, she realized she might have been carried away. “I knew it. It’s always Grandfather and them.” Darcy’s expression turned bitter. She had yet to tell her parents about the Quint family maliciously acquiring the shares of Sky Ocean Corporation. She did not expect them to be so shameless as well. How could they pretend nothing had happened and instigate her mother to coax Kaze? If Master Quint and the others got what they wanted, they would surely get back at Darcy and her family ten times over. “Dad, Mom, there’s something you guys…” Darcy told her parents about the Quint family’s malicious intentions and Deborah trying to force her into submission. Hector’s and Agnes’ expressions shifted when they learned what happened. “Father and the others are too much! Whenever they get the chance, they always try to hurt us! Since whe
“Mr. Ceb!” All the adults, including Darcy, got up and bowed to Mr. Ceb politely. The younger ones were so scared that they stood still like a statue. Only Kaze did not respond and continued eating at the table. “Sky, go make some tea for Mr. Ceb!” said Agnes. She then forced a smile and said, “Mr. Ceb, please have a seat and we will serve you tea shortly.” “I’ll pass on the tea.” Mr. Ceb stepped forward and spoke in a horribly hoarse voice, “I am here today for two things.” Following his words, the three hounds stepped forward as well. Their fierce eyes gave the family goosebumps. “What can we do for you, Mr. Ceb?” Hector asked. Agnes nodded in agreement. Mr. Ceb put his fingers out. “First, Deborah gave you guys the Victim Impact Statement to release Young Master Kingston. Hand it over. “Second, about Mr. Mason Quint becoming Lilyrose’s mayor… Your son-in-law, Kaze Lee, shall call the governor, Loid Farland, and give his approval. “If you can’t fulfill my re
Darcy’s face turned pale but after glancing at Kaze, she shook her head strongly. “Mason Quint becoming the mayor is a serious matter. It’s not something our family can change. I cannot agree with that. “As for releasing Kingston Hacks, unless Madam Hacks can openly promise that Kingston won’t come after our family after he is released, it won’t happen. That’s my final offer.” Darcy knew she could not just simply agree to the terms but also did not completely shut off the possibilities for negotiations. “You want Madam Hacks to openly promise you?” Deborah scoffed, “Darcy, who do you think you are? Why would you think my godmother would make an open promise? “My godmother told me this morning that not only must your husband sign the Victim Impact Statement, but you will also have to sleep with Kingston for a night upon his release—consider it a welcome-back gift! Who gave you the courage to decline it? “Do you know what the Quints of Ridgesouth represent? The family is po
“Rose! Get over here! Don’t speak when the adults are talking!” Agatha quickly dragged her teary daughter over to her side and consoled the girl. She too was afraid and dared not raise her voice at Mr. Ceb. “You guys step aside.” Kaze finally stood. He went over to Sky and Landon and tapped on their shoulders. When he saw the slap mark on Rose’s cheek, his gaze turned frosty. “Kaze, what are you doing? Sit down! Are you trying to make things worse?! This is happening because of you! I’ll deal with you later! Sit down!” Agnes bellowed when she saw Kaze showing intentions of starting a fight. She knew Kaze’s temper well and she was afraid that once Kaze spoke up, the conflict might get worse. She shot a warning gaze at Kaze and then went up to Mr. Ceb. “Mr. Ceb, back at the Quint family’s mansion, we’ve already promised Master Quint that we will handle this, but Darcy and Kaze are still thinking about it. We are still trying to work our way around things. “But don’t wor
The three dog slaves were experts. They jumped in front of Darcy so quickly that the others did not have the time to react. Darcy shut her eyes in fear. She might be resolute but when danger arrived, fear still consumed her. Bang! Suddenly, someone appeared in front of her and kicked the first dog slave away, sending the man crashing and bleeding. “Kaze Lee!” Deborah screamed with hatred and resentment. Darcy instinctively opened her eyes when she heard his name being called. When she saw the familiar figure standing in front of her, her eyes teared up. No matter how dangerous it was or when it was, there was a man who would always stand up for her, protecting her from everything else. Agnes and the others looked at Kaze in shock. They knew Kaze was strong but little did they expect him to have the guts to fight back against Mr. Ceb and his hounds. Turning a deaf ear to Deborah’s scream, Kaze went up and kicked two more times. Thud! Thud! The other two dog sla
On top of that, Mr. Ceb’s hounds were not just any hounds. Each of them won more than a hundred underground dog fights. Their ferocity was honed through countless ruthless battles. The underground dog fights in Geranium were known to be brutal. “Punk, you have no idea how fierce my hounds are. They’ve won more than a hundred fights in underground dog fights!” The three dog slaves looked at Kaze as if he were a pile of dead meat. They strongly believed he would be ripped to shreds later. Darcy and the others shuddered in fear. Agnes’ face ashened as she cried, “Kaze, don’t do it! If you offend Mr. Ceb, you are going to get us all killed!” “Tsk. Tsk. Your mother-in-law is a coward, but it’s the right thing to do. If I were you, I would start kneeling and begging. Though it’s unlikely that Mr. Ceb will spare you. Hahaha…” Deborah cackled with her arms crossed, gloating at Kaze. She did not need to imagine how terrible things would get for Kaze soon, as it was a scene s
“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