“Alright. Talk to you later, Cyan.” Wesley waved at Cyan and then turned around to light a cigarette. He took a puff, then looked at Kaze. “Kaze Lee, are you leaving, or should I make you? Here at Golden Scale Corporation, you are no match for me.” Kaze wore a poker face and said, “Who said that?” “Me!” Wesley spat a cloud of smoke in his face. Kaze smirked and said, “I’m sorry but you are not going to matter very soon.” Wesley scoffed. “What? Are you trying to get me out of the company…” “Who is Wesley Gwake?” Before he could finish, the voice of a middle-aged woman sounded across the office, followed by a group of people entering. The owner of the voice was the leader of the group. Upset, Wesley furrowed his brows and said, “I am. What is this about? You don’t know me? Who are you? Who gave you permission to come in here? Get out!” He spoke sternly like a department manager and scolded the people who had barged in. The woman glanced at him and said, “I am
Wesley turned in shock to see someone who made him clench his teeth. “Collier! It’s you!” Collier, with both his arms in casts, strolled in with a group of men. “Wesley Gwake, I heard you talk shit about me yesterday at Bronze Sparrow. You must have a death wish,” Collier said coldly as he arrived. Wesley might be arrogant but he paled in comparison to Collier. His heart skipped a beat when he heard Collier. He stuttered, “C-Collier, i-it’s a misunderstanding!” “Misunderstanding my ass!” Collier kicked Wesley, sending him crashing into a desk. Wesley fell on the floor with his hand over his stomach, groaning in pain. Collier then gestured at the people from the disciplinary office. “Bunch of useless shit. You can’t even take care of this properly? Take him away and don’t let him ever appear before my master’s eyes!” Master? Everyone else was shocked. Collier’s status and authority were second to Hannah in the company, yet he referred to someone as master. Wesley
“You want to make me the chairman? Is it because you are afraid that I won’t blow my cover?” Kaze had a frosty glance at Collier. Collier’s heart raced. He quickly said, “No, sir! That’s not what I meant! I mean it’s completely fine with the current situation but I think it’s not that appropriate for you to become a new recruit and an ordinary employee. “Why not become a team leader or something like middle management? You won’t have to worry about your identity and you can participate in the company’s affairs.” Kaze nodded in agreement. “Interesting. Then let’s go with your suggestion. Just put me in Wesley’s position.” “The Sales Department’s manager? I guess that’s middle management as well. Alright. It’s fixed!” Collier nodded. He straightened his back, and turned around to the other employees but with a different expression. Kaze smiled. Collier was a natural in serving others as a loyal dog. “Welcome Manager Lee!” The team leader of the department, Ronald, was the
Half an hour later, Kaze arrived at the mayor’s residence. He parked the car outside the house and noticed Kent and his family waiting for him at the front yard entrance. Myra, Kent’s daughter, was also behind her parents, looking lively and healthy. Other than Kent and his family, there was another young man who looked tall and stern. The young man then said, “Mr. Synder, this is more than enough. I’ll have to make a move first. I will be in Riverbank from now on, and there’ll be more chances to visit you and Mrs. Synder. Of course, Myra as well.” A few more chatters later, the young man walked out. An army green jeep with a military number plate arrived before him. Kaze was just walking into the front yard and the young man noticed him. He knew Kaze was also a visitor to the mayor’s residence, so he nodded respectfully. He hopped into the jeep and left the premises. Kent was surprised to see Kaze. He came over quickly and said, “Kaze, you’re here already?” “Dere
It was surprising to Kent and Jane that their daughter displayed such intimacy toward Kaze. Strictly speaking, it was Myra’s first time meeting Kaze in person. Even though they met twice before inside the house, the girl was still under another’s control and was not being herself. The two of them could not understand the situation, so they simply assumed Myra was grateful that Kaze had saved her, hence the intimate interaction. “Okay, Myra,” Kaze said with a helpless smile. He liked the innocent and adorable girl quite a bit. Myra nodded happily. She then dragged Kaze into the house and made him tea. “The girl is like a completely different person now. She rarely even made me tea,” Kent said with a helpless smile. He was quite jealous of Kaze. Kaze smiled, but when he glanced at Jane, he slightly furrowed his brows. “Mr. Mayor, I thought Myra had already recovered. Yet your wife seems troubled. Is there anything else troubling you?” Jane looked anxious. The smile that s
“He’s dead for good. If he had a soul, I would have destroyed it as well,” Kaze said with a shake of his head. As he pondered, he said coldly, “To me, I think someone is playing tricks in the dark after their failed attempt on your life.” “Someone is playing tricks?” Kent and Jane reacted seriously, with their eyes wary. Their family had been through a lot recently. They thought things would revert to normal after Myra’s incident but it did not seem so. “Don’t worry. Since I’m here today, I’ll deal with this once and for all,” Kaze said, raising his hand. “Where’s the blueprint?” Kent signaled Hamlin to bring over the blueprint. Hamlin came back with a stack of papers. “Mr. Lee, this is the blueprints of the mayor’s residence, and the neighboring residence,” Kent explained. Kaze nodded and started perusing it. A while later, he narrowed his eyes. “Interesting. It appears that when this residence was built, the Ryokanians knew a thing or two about feng shui, a co
Looking up at the blazing sun hanging high in the sky, Kaze said, “It’s a good day today. Mr. Mayor, why don’t you get someone to drain the water from the pond? “Then you can get a tractor to clean the bottom. It will be the brightest and hottest later at two o’clock and I will make a move then. No matter what is hiding down there, they will be exterminated.” Kent felt relieved seeing Kaze’s confidence. “Alright. I’ll tell Hamlin to make the necessary arrangements.” Soon after, Hamlin brought back a team of construction workers with machines to drain the water. The machines were loud but sounded like a peaceful melody to the Synder family. In less than two hours, the pond was emptied. The bottom of the pond had nothing but mushy mud. Kaze did not say anything and simply ordered the tractors to dig the mud away. While the tractor team was working, Kaze and the Synder family had lunch in a nearby restaurant. When they returned, one of Kent’s bodyguards approached and sa
“Master Juan comes from a family of feng shui masters. He is not only the chief of Emerald Bull Palace but also the president of the Riverbank Feng Shui Society. “He is talking to the mayor. This is no place for you to interrupt! Slap yourself and apologize to Master Juan!” The female follower berated Kaze loudly and Master Juan did not even spare a glance at him. “How dare you!” As soon as the female follower’s voice faded, Kent bellowed, “Kaze is my guest. Who do you think you are to scold him like this?” “Mr. Mayor, I…” The female follower instantly flushed, looking surprised. She did not expect the mayor to raise his voice to defend a seemingly nameless person. She looked at Kaze with widened eyes, surprised that he was the mayor’s guest. Master Juan finally spared a glance at Kaze and then bellowed coldly, “You useless girl, stand down! Have I not taught you manners?” With one simple word, he shifted the responsibility to her. In fact, if Master Juan did not
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