“Aaaargh! You little fucker…” Mr. Ceb screamed in pain as blood gushed from his mouth. He almost lost his mind. He had never been insulted like this before. “Two slaps and that’s it? We are just getting started.” Kaze curled his lips into a frosty smile and stepped on Mr. Ceb’s wrist. Crack! A loud and freaky crack of the bone resounded. With just one step, the bones in Mr. Ceb’s wrist were crushed. “I’m going to crush every bone in you.” Crack! “You got yourself a few dogs and you’re trying to scare people?” Crack! “You want to punish my wife with the Hackses’ family rule? What nonsense is that?” Crack! “You threatened to break her legs? Who gave you the nerve?” Crack! “Rose is my niece, how dare you slap her?” Crack! “You are just a dog for the Hacks family, what gave you the confidence to slap my mother-in-law?” Each sentence uttered was followed by a loud cracking of the bone. After he was done, Mr. Ceb’s wrists, ankles, elbows and knees were
“Kaze, this old bastard is a jerk but it’s enough. You broke all his limbs, though I think you can do better like stepping him to death, you can let him live on in humiliation and suffer…” Rose and the other young ones tried to persuade Kaze to stop as well. To be honest, even as family, they were shocked by how cold and brutal Kaze was. They knew he was angry because Mr. Ceb threatened them but they still had goosebumps. Therefore, they tried to speak softly and not trigger him further. Little did they know, Kaze was not angry at all and he had been calm throughout the whole confrontation. Otherwise, he could have killed Mr. Ceb with the first blow. “Take your master out of my place,” Kaze bellowed and kicked Mr. Ceb away. The three dog slaves came over to carry Mr. Ceb. They wanted to bring the hounds away but Kaze said he wanted to make a stew out of the dogs, so they dared not defy him and simply turned a blind eye to the carcasses. As the dog slaves brought Mr. C
Conan and his men arrived. They worked together to clean up the mess in the house and even fixed the broken tiles. The three hounds were dragged out together when they left. The family was no longer surprised that the second son of the Queen family came over just to clean the house for them. They knew he was Kaze’s biggest fan and would do anything for him. When the living room reverted to how it was, it felt surreal to everyone, as if Deborah and Mr. Ceb’s arrival was just a nightmare. “Kaze, you’re awesome!” Rose cried excitedly and jumped over to Kaze, hugging his arm and cheering. The girl’s energetic scent filled Kaze’s nose and he felt rather uneasy. He wanted to pull his hand away but Rose clung to him tightly. “Rose, you are not a little girl anymore! Behave! Go put some ice on your face! And don’t you mess around again next time.” It was Agatha who pulled her daughter away in the end. Rose pouted. “I’m not messing around. I know Kaze could protect me and
The situation reminded Kaze of Gareth’s death. It was exactly the same. Someone was targeting him in the shadows. After a while, Hector and Agnes woke up as well. Without saying much, the family hastily arrived at the funeral home, having no time to collect themselves. The funeral home was unusually lively in the middle of the night. When Kaze and family arrived, the place was already crowded with mourners. Mr. Ceb was with the Hacks family of Geranium, so his status and position were considered prestigious to the folks of Lilyrose. Of course, most of the mourners were just there to find out more about what happened. The two major incidents caused by Gareth’s death still left most of the factions in Lilyrose unsettled. Mr. Ceb was from the Geranium Hackses and his status would only be more prominent than Gareth. No one knew what would befall the city with Mr. Ceb’s death. Therefore, it was necessary to gather as much information as possible and take a stand before
“Grandfather, please don’t be like that. Mr. Ceb is dead. If something happens to you, then the killer will gloat at us.” “That’s right! Grandfather, you must stay strong and find the killer! We must demand justice for Mr. Ceb!” The Quint family spoke up to console him. Deborah, who had just regained her senses, spoke up as well. She even said they must avenge Mr. Ceb and while she spoke, she shot a vicious gaze at Kaze. The more they talked, the angrier Master Quint got. He stomped his walking cane on the floor and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Where are Hector and his family? Come out if you are already here!” The others were frightened by the loud shout. No one had ever seen him so angry before. “Father, we are here…” Hector was in his wheelchair. He bit the bullet and urged Agnes to wheel him forward. Agnes said timidly, “Father, Mr. Ceb’s death has nothing to do with us. We would never dare kill someone…” Before she could finish, Master Quint raised his wal
“Old man, whenever something happens, you shift the blame to us and it’s nothing new already. We have gotten used to it. “I understand you want us to take the blame so you can explain to the Hacks family, but at least try to come up with some evidence. You are trying to make me admit that I killed the dog man without any evidence, and you think the Hacks family will believe you? You think they are as stupid as you?” Kaze did not hold back with his sneers. He lost his respect for Master Quint a long time ago. “You little bastard! You called me stupid?” Master Quint choked with rage when Kaze humiliated him in public. He diverted his anger to Hector and Agnes once more. “You two, you two incompetent fools! How can you allow your son-in-law to talk to me like that! Disrespectful!” He glared at his son and daughter-in-law before he turned to Kaze again. His eyes were still burning with rage. “You little bastard, I’m warning you. Our family is going home, to our main family
Kaze suddenly felt a terrifying presence locked onto him, much more terrifying than the men armed with guns. “Darcy, watch out!” Without a second of hesitation, Kaze quickly hugged Darcy, looking pale, and scuttled out in between the two men. Swish! Swish! As soon as he darted out of the encirclement, several black shurikens flew in and aimed at where he and Darcy were standing. Fortunately, Kaze and Darcy had moved away. The shurikens continued flying after missing them. Thump! Thump! Following a few heavy thumps, three of the Hackses' bodyguards who tried to seize Kaze were hit by the shurikens and fell onto the ground with disbelief on their faces. Each of them had a shuriken embedded in their neck. At the next second, the skin around the shuriken started to turn black and the blood that gushed out was black as well. The shurikens were poisoned! The sudden twist of events shocked everyone at the scene. “Aaaah!” As people started streaming, a rather short
“Ninja from Ryokan?” Kaze narrowed his eyes. Based on the shurikens that killed the bodyguards and the sword in the killer’s hand, Kaze was able to identify the man’s nationality. The man was obviously a trained ninja from the island country, Shimada. His accent proved that he was not from Arcadia, or any of the western countries. Could it be the Well family? Kaze pondered. After he settled down in Lilyrose, he no longer had contact with people from Ryokan. Other than Kai Well’s death being slightly related to him, he could not think of any reason a Ryokan ninja would attack him. Kaze felt aggrieved. Kai was killed at the hands of Samson. Sirius already came after him with the Viper’s Den agents, accusing him of the crime and now killers from Ryokan were after him. Could it be related to the Viper’s Den? Kaze could not be sure since he lacked information. After all, Magnus died because of him and if someone within the organization wanted him dead and unable
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
“Can you make him stop? If the man comes back, we’ll be done for,” someone said. The kid’s crying made everyone anxious. “What can I do? He’s crying because he’s scared. I can’t just stop him.” The mother was afraid as well, and she did not want her son to be taken advantage of. “Calm down. Just don’t alert the men and we’ll be fine,” Miguel said, hoping to ease the situation. “I’ll fight him if he comes in. I believe I can make it,” someone said. Those with an impulsive nature grew restless from being kept on the bus for too long, feeling like livestock being kept in cages. “Shut it. They are coming,” Barney said after a glance outside the window. The other passengers fell silent, sat back down, lowered their heads, and tried their best not to look out the window. The mother quickly hugged her son and covered his mouth to prevent him from crying. Kaze felt peace and quiet once more, even the air felt smoother. He knew the passengers were merely ordinary people and
Unfortunately, Leah knew she would not get an answer out of Snow since she was refusing to help. Everything seemed to have changed following her mother’s disappearance. She tried to stay for answers but when security came in, she could not resist them anymore. It was the first time she was escorted out by security guards and it impacted her. She used to be the daughter of the CEO of Northborn Group—everyone respected her. She used to enjoy a privileged status. No matter where she went, she was the star of the event. Yet when her mother disappeared, everything changed. She wanted to look for Kaze but she had just lost the chance. Snow turned her down and gazed at her with contempt and irritation. Leah could not accept the changes but some things felt like they were destined to change. She was forced to leave the branch office but then had no idea where else to go. She felt abandoned by the world. Before this, she could still hope for Kaze’s help, but now she had no
Leah went to her mother’s company but did not find her anywhere. Joey was busy working in the CEO’s office. Leah went over and asked, “Joey, where’s my mother? I can’t reach her.” She wanted to know what happened to her mother. “I don’t know about your mother either. We went out together earlier in the day but I don’t know where she went. I can’t get in touch with her.” Joey was so busy that she could not even free herself from the desk to explain to the girl. “Where did she go? How am I supposed to find her?” Leah panicked. If even Joey did not know where her mother went, then something must have happened. A bad feeling rose from her heart. Things just got serious. “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask someone else?” Joey did not have time to deal with the girl. Leah was unfamiliar with Joey’s coldness. Joey had always treated her with kindness and flattery, so the sudden coldness caught her off guard. She felt like something had changed. “Who should I be looking f
“No! My daughter is still in the hospital!” Katie refused to accept her punishment. She started to regret her decision but it was too late. “Now only you think about your daughter? I guess you are not that foolish, but have you thought about her when you betrayed Chairman Lee? “Don’t worry. Leah knew Chairman Lee personally and we won’t hurt her, but she might not live a good life anymore,” Snow said coldly. She did not want to put the girl in a difficult situation but her life as a princess would come to an end. “You can’t do that!” Katie could not believe Snow would do that. “I bet you never thought of the consequences when you leaked the information. Too bad. You’ve lost.” Snow revealed the truth because she wanted Katie to suffer for the decision she made. Katie would now regret every decision she made because she knew she had jeopardized her daughter’s life. She would feel like a fool. She devoted her life to climbing higher to gain more power but she ignored the
“I went to a bar to have a drink and I bumped into an informant of the Viper’s Den.” Katie looked helpless as she explained as if everything that had happened was planned out for her, pushing her to the edge step by step. It was a lively night at the bar. The atmosphere was pleasant and most of the guests were having a good time. Katie was a single woman. She needed care and love at times. She was alone when she visited the bar. She started off by ordering some drinks at the counter, waiting for a chance to meet a man who shared the same ideals. A drink or two later, maybe she could get herself a company for the night. As a grown-up woman, she had her desires. It was a way to release her stress. Katie entered the bar in a casual outfit but it did not diminish her elegant demeanor. When she sat down at the counter, a few young men approached her but she was not interested in immature boys. She continued drinking. She looked at the dance floor occasionally, searching for a
“Who do you think will believe you?” Arthur frowned. There were too many coincidences that it felt like a giant setup. “I’ve explained what I need to. Don’t interrogate me like I’m a criminal. I am the CEO of the Northborn Group.” Katie left them speechless. She had said the necessary and it was up to them whether they wanted to believe it or not. They did not have the evidence to charge her anyway. “You really think we can’t hold you responsible?” Snow was not really looking for a definite answer. The moment she suspected Katie, whether or not she was truly the traitor, Snow already had the right to hold her accountable. It was necessary to make things clear and it was to find out who Katie leaked Kaze’s information to. “It has come down to this. No matter how you deny it, it’s useless. We already know what you have done and you can’t escape. Even if you don’t want to confess, we can continue the investigation, and we’ll eventually find out the truth. “If you come clean