With his gesture met with rejection, Raph chuckled dryly, his eyes harboring malice. Kent nodded and said earnestly, “I want to apologize for earlier, Kaze. “You must be on your way to Riverbank City. Why don’t you stay over at my place? I’ll be a good host to you. “May I know why you are heading to Riverbank, Kaze? I want to help you whenever I can. I owe you my life.” Kent was certain that Kaze was a person of extraordinary abilities. He wanted to make a friend out of such talent. Kaze was fond of Kent too. He said, “I’m not some Superman. I’ve witnessed a similar situation before, so I know what to do. I just got lucky. “Don’t worry about paying me back. Just count it as a favor, Mayor Synder. “I might need your help in the future,” Kaze looked at Kent and said with a faint smile. Kaze could be sure that the Ryokan hex on Kent had something to do with Sanwell Finances. He and Kent would cross paths a lot. Kent was taken aback at first, but he quickly took out a
Raph was oblivious to the fact that Cole wanted him gone. He was still trying to win Kent’s favor after the embarrassing stunt he pulled. Thanks to his tricks of the trade, Raph could read the room and deduce Kaze’s purpose of visiting Riverbank. Kent nodded. “You have a point, Dr. Tyson. In that case, why don’t you pick a couple of things from Dr. Tyson? I’ll foot the bill.” “These herbs are meant for medical treatment. Let’s not talk about money. Besides, the herbs aren’t worth much. Just take whatever you want, Kaze,” Raph said with a smile. Though just a scammer, Raph had amassed a lot of wealth over the years. Kaze glanced at Raph and said with a smile, “Since I’m free to take whatever, why don’t you just give the whole sack to me? I can present them as a gift to a friend I’m visiting this afternoon.“The herbs aren’t worth much, but it’s the thought that counts.” Raph was speechless. His herbs were worth over 10 million dollars. Yet, Kaze wanted him to give the
Hamlin nodded. “Got it.” Cole returned not long after Hamlin and Kent’s conversation. By then, the train had arrived at Riverbank East Station. Kent asked with a frown, “Where’s Dr. Tyson, Cole?” “Dr. Tyson has a patient who urgently needs his care, Uncle. He left ahead of us.” Cole said with a smile, “I’ll contact more doctors to help Myra get better, Uncle.” He did not tell Kent that he had chased Raph and the other two out. “Alright.” Kent nodded. After the earlier incident, he realized that Raph could not be trusted. Nevertheless, Kent ran a background check on Raph beforehand. Since Raph was popular among the rich and powerful in Riverbank, Kent did not want to have a falling out to avoid any unnecessary trouble. It was a good thing Raph left on his own accord. Meanwhile, the train started decelerating into Riverbank East Station. The passengers waited for the doors to open. Due to a recent assassination, Kent was surrounded by heavy security. His party got
“I was thinking about a way to get this thing out of the station. The guy can help me out now.” Butch snickered grimly. Raph asked curiously, “How do you plan on doing it?” “Just watch me.” Butch chuckled and hid the weapon in his sleeve before approaching Kaze. The first-class cabin had a seating arrangement of two seats per row. Since Butch’s girlfriend was hesitant to sit next to Kaze, she left the seat vacant. With the seat empty, Kaze put the sack of herbs on the one closer to the aisle. Not in a hurry to get off, Kaze closed his eyes for a rest. “Plop!” He felt the sack falling to the ground and opened his eyes. Butch smiled and picked the sack up from the ground. “I’m sorry, Kaze. I bumped into the bag while passing through. Why aren’t you getting off yet?” Butch put the sack on the seat like nothing ever happened. He slipped the weapon into the sack while picking it up. “The doors aren’t even open yet. Everyone else can go ahead and leave. I’m not in a h
The advanced security system at the gate triggered a loud alarm when a high-level threat was detected.The sudden blaring startled everybody around, stirring a commotion. The security officers nearby stayed on high alert. They radioed for backup while drawing close to the threat. As the alarm grew louder, Kaze and those around him became the center of attention. “Don’t move! “Put down your bags and put your hands in the air.” A team of heavily armed police officers stormed the scene, their guns drawn and aimed directly at Kaze and those around him. “Thud!” Kaze threw his sack out of the scanning range. The others, in a panic, followed suit. However, the siren did not stop piercing everybody’s eardrums. The police officers narrowed their eyes. They had initially suspected that the scanner picked up on a prohibited item in one of the bags. Besides, the level of noise from the alarm determined that it was the highest level of threat. ‘A suicide bomber?’ The po
"Hands up! Put them over your head and don't make any sudden moves!" the security squad leader shouted at Kaze.Kaze replied calmly, "Sorry, I've served in the military. I can't bring myself to make a surrender gesture."He served in the military?Everyone immediately raised their assessment of Kaze's threat level by several notches.“Then, what about the items you’re hiding? Hurry up and take it out!” the squad leader shouted.Kaze shook his head. “I’m not hiding anything…”“That’s impossible, the alarm wouldn’t have sounded off otherwise!”The squad leader ordered sternly, “If you were to hand it over voluntarily, your punishment would be much lighter compared to us forcibly searching you! You’d better think twice before you answer again!”“I really am not hiding anything dangerous though. What do you want me to hand over?” While eyeing Raph and Butch, Kaze calmly added, “As for the opium and the firearm that you found in the bag, they were planted by these two to frame me.”“
“Order him to hand over the prohibited items once again, or he’ll be searched otherwise!” Aegon sternly instructed.The squad leader turned back and faced Kaze, saying, “The Deputy Director of our police force, Aegon Gwake has arrived. I’m sure you understand the consequences of defying him, so once again, please hand over any prohibited items you have on you!”“But I’m not carrying anything prohibited,” just like before, Kaze maintained a calm tone and expression as he replied.This surprised Aegon, who glared incredulously at Kaze. Regardless of the situation, being able to remain so composed showed a rare strength of character in someone so young.“Get the bomb squad to search him! Be extra careful!” Aegon barked the order with a steely expression. He would no longer waste any time talking with Kaze.With that, the surrounding officers spread out, leaving behind only a few equipped with bomb suits, who were now in charge of searching Kaze.Despite a thorough search, however, t
”S-Sir, you have several shrapnel pieces lodged within your body. Why haven’t you tried to remove them?” Aegon was tongue-tied. Even after recovering from his disbelief, he was still stuttering to get any words out.His former commander in the military too, had two shrapnel pieces stuck within him. As his commander grew older, these shrapnel pieces caused him great suffering, especially during rainy days, when the pain would grow more severe.Compared to his commander, however, Kaze was way worse off.Aegon could not fathom how Kaze was still able to move about so freely despite having so many shrapnel pieces lodged within him.As Kaze put his clothes back on, he casually answered, “The surgeons who operated on me have already extracted as much shrapnel as they could. Those that you see here are the ones they dared not operate on.“One wrong move and my central nervous system could be damaged, leaving me paralyzed, or even worse, cause fatal bleeding.”“These… These shrapnel piec
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