Upon getting close to Kaze, Rio pulled out his sword. “Clang!”As the sword was drawn, a powerful energy came from within the shining blade. A wave of dread washed over the crowd. Channeling his rage, Rio unleashed his full power. He launched his most devastating blow to slice Kaze in half. Only a good revenge could quell his rage and prove his dominance over the Arcadian. Hannah, having faced Rio head-on, blurted, “Watch out, Mr. Lee. There’s something weird about this Ryokanian’s technique…” “Swoosh!” Kaze raised his arm and struck with his broken sword. The blinding flicker of the blade carried a low humming sound. The crowd wondered if their ears were deceiving them. Kaze retrieved his blade while Rio stopped advancing. As no one made a sound, a shadow of dread loomed over. “What’s the matter, Mr. Sho? Why aren’t you moving?” Casius, Hank, and the others were taken aback, oblivious to what was going on. The strangest thing then happened. A stark, whit
Casius would kill one of the best fighters if he could draw his sword quickly enough.The words sounded like sarcasm to Casius, and he froze. It was like a Harvard grad telling a community college dropout. “Getting into Harvard is easy, anyone can do it.”Casius was lost for words. The gap between him and Kaze just struck him, at least when it came to combat prowess.With Casius turning pale, Kaze said indifferently, “Now do you finally know why I let you go, Mr. Weather?“I don’t need to hold you hostage. “You and your people are no threat. “I’d suggest that you don’t fight back because it’s pointless.“Now kneel and tell me everything about you and the Ryokanians that is important and not privy to me. “I might spare your life for now if you come to use for me,” Kaze said with a smile while throwing the broken sword back to Hannah. It appeared Kaze’s streak of violence ended after Rio was dead. “Kneel and explain my ties with Sanwell Finances?” Snapping back to re
“Go on, Mr. Weather. I’ll hold them off.” With Kaze dodging the shrapnel, Hank’s head sank. Ready to die, Hank blocked Kaze’s path with his body and shouted angrily before raising his double-barreled rifle. “Bang!” As Hank took the shot, Kaze came close and pulled a kick. Knocked back, Hank fired upward. The sound exploded in the air, smashing the chandelier to the ground. Hank rammed into the wall with a thud, and his bones snapped from impact. He crashed to the ground as Kaze went after Casius without looking back. Despite the will to fight on, the life within him was gone. Kaze’s kick was fatal. Out of the living room, Casius cocked his head back and found Kaze right on his tail after finishing Hank off. Casius was scared out of his mind. Casius shouted angrily, “Forget the woman. Just kill Kaze!”Hannah did not just hang around while Kaze launched an attack. She dragged her injured flesh to help. The last twelve suited men were scared off their wits. Now that
With Kaze’s experience, he should be able to recognize the weapon. Yet, he still had the mood for ridicule. Even with Casius pointing a gun at him, Kaze looked relaxed. Kaze’s composed demeanor showed Casius that he did not take Casius as a threat. “Mr. Weather, I killed your little foreign friend and your people back there.” Kaze took a step in the face of the pointed gun and said with a chuckle, “You lost. You lost big time.” “Don’t get too excited. I’m not dead yet!” Casius shouted with a sneer. However, his hand holding the gun shook violently. Casius was a sitting duck. “I told you. You might not have to die.” Kaze patted Casius’ face and said callously, “Tell me why the Ryokanians have been aggressive in activity lately. What are they after? “If you have information of value, or if you come to use to me, I can consider sparing your life for the time being.”Kaze was curious about the Ryokanians’ motivations. Before, Sanwell Finances controlled Riverbank’s
As Kaze said, Casius had not given up on life yet. He believed that his bad luck had marched him to his death at the hands of Kaze. Casius was one of the Riverbank Seven, backed by the Weathers and Sanwell Finances. He had resources and connections to fight back with. Based on his previous experience, Casius trusted that with careful planning, he could have turned the situation in his favor. Though Kaze was the Viper’s Den West State Branch leader, Casius was confident he could have outsmarted him. It was a pity, though. His target was Buffy today. Casius brought a lot of backup to the Gwakes’ residence, but they were not the best. Even with Rio’s help, Casius scrambled to put a good team together. Casius had more people working under him, but they were stationed at the South River State Branch to help Jude become the branch chief. Most importantly, Casius never took Kaze seriously. Kaze had been nothing more than the Quints’ son-in-law who had earned recognition f
“Click.”The cylinder spun around empty, making a clicking sound. No bullet was fired. Kaze stood there unharmed, his expression stoic. The smirk on Casius’ face froze, and he broke out in a cold sweat. He did not expect Kaze to dive straight into it. The revolver had six chambers, and Kaze survived after firing the first shot. Casius had a higher probability of landing on a loaded chamber next. Most importantly, the bet was not money. They were gambling with their lives. They would experience death with each shot. “Your turn, Mr. Weather.” Kaze hooked the revolver with his finger and handed the gun to Casius. Casius shifted his gaze. After an internal struggle that felt like a lifetime, he finally took the revolver shakily. With the revolver in hand, Casius felt his cheeks twitching. “This is your chance to change the course of your life. Why are you hesitating?” Kaze carried a faint smile. “You didn’t back down. Why should I?” Gritting his teeth, Casius rai
“Click!” Empty! The empty click caused Casius to sweat profusely, and in no time, he was drenched. He was still alive! He made it to the second round! He was thrilled! The revolver had six rounds of bullets and he made it through the second round! His luck was off the charts! A single round consisted of his and Kaze’s chances. There were two more shots left in the revolver and one of them was loaded with a bullet. Kaze had a 50-50 chance of getting shot the next time! However, before his excitement faded, Kaze took the revolver from him, aimed it at his temple, and pulled the trigger without a second thought. “Click!” Kaze’s third shot was also empty. The excited smile on Casius’ face froze. Five shots were empty, so the bullet must be in the sixth shot! In other words, the last shot would be deadly and it was Casius’ turn. His hands turned icy cold and his face paled. The tad bit of hope he had in his heart was robbed away when Kaze fired the fifth shot.
“So, you disappoint me. I guess it’s right because people like you who love to humiliate others will never learn how to play by the rules. “If I let you go today, you won’t be grateful. You will come after me with vengeance. That’s why, you should just die.” Before he even finished, Kaze started to tighten his grip over Casius’ neck. “Crack!” Following a heavy crack, disbelief, horror, and sorrow appeared on Casius’ face, but he had no time to reflect on his choice anymore. His body twitched uncontrollably, and his mouth started to foam before his head cocked backward. “Thump!” Casius then fell onto the floor like a pile of dead meat. Kaze glanced at the body for a second before he bent over to pick up Casius’ phone. He tossed the phone to Hannah, who was limping over to him. “Unlock it and send me whatever you find inside. Call someone to clean up this mess.” “Yes, Sir.” Hannah nodded and bowed. Kaze noticed Hannah’s pale look and he frowned. “The match tonight
“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