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
“But I have an appointment with someone.”Kaze furrowed his brows for a split second before returning to his neutral expression.Fortunately for him, he had already made arrangements once he noticed Butch stuffing the firearm into his bag.Just then, outside the train station, several military vehicles with South River Strategic Department license plates arrived.Fully armed soldiers jumped out of the vehicles and completely sealed off the exit.Soon after, two brigadier generals with two bars and four stars on their shoulders strode purposefully toward the security checkpoint area.The moment these two appeared, Aegon's expression changed abruptly. He knew the situation had escalated significantly.The South River Strategic Department was an institution on par with the Governor's Office.The commander of the South River Strategic Department could even sit as an equal with the Governor in meetings.Although Aegon held the powerful position of deputy director of the police depar
Aegon instinctively turned his head toward the source of the voice, and instantly, his vision darkened again.The owner of the voice was none other than Kaze, who was now fully dressed.This young man was Commander Hiden’s former superior?!“God of War, Sir!” Aruto and Brent immediately straightened their backs and saluted at Kaze. Their eyes were filled with palpable reverence toward him.Since both of them were Commander Hiden’s closest confidants, it was no wonder that they would be influenced by him as well. Due to this, they also held utmost respect toward Kaze.The surrounding soldiers also raised their guns in unison to show respect to Kaze, their eyes filled with fervor.After recounting the incredible feats accomplished by this legendary figure, there was not a single soldier present who would dare look down upon him.Boom!Aegon felt a thunderclap rumble within his mind as waves of nausea washed over him.The God of War!To think that he had ordered his men to point
“S-Stop it! I’Il go with you!” Raph was shocked. He knew words would not work for people who refused to reason with him. Moments later, the doctor was taken away with a devastated look on his face. Even after he was taken away, he still did not know what he did wrong. “Deputy Director Gwake, I want things to be confidential. I am here in Riverbank to settle some matters and I do not want to be disturbed,” Kaze said indifferently. Aegon nodded repeatedly and said, “Don’t worry, God of War. I will take this to my grave. Not another soul will know about this.” “Very well. You can go back to what you are doing.” Kaze nodded. Aegon knew it was time for him to leave, so he bowed and exited the room. After Aegon left, Kaze looked at Aruto with furrowed brows. “What happened to Albert? Why did he step down as chief commander of the South River Strategic Department?” The chief commander of the South River Strategic Department had stepped down. The news was not yet released a
Albert’s amazing achievements on the foreign battlefield made him a decorated soldier, which also promoted him to chief commander of the South River Strategic Department at just over 30 years old. With the Hidens behind his back, his future was considered limitless. In time he would be a prominent figure, if not the leader, of the Harrowdale Hidens. Albert’s promotion was unstoppable. Even if he was forced to step down from the position now, it would only delay his career for one to three years. However, be it one year or three years, time mattered the most in a soldier’s career, especially for someone in his position. One step slower would hold him back forever. Whenever he reached a turning point, his ascension or promotion might be curbed because of the delay in his career. Therefore, for the sake of Albert’s future, Kaze called Autumn. After the call got through, Kaze said, “Someone is still trying to bring up Magnus’ death and led an investigation to the South Rive
“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