“Nevermind. I got used to it anyway. I shouldn’t have unrealistic expectations for a bumpkin like you.” Hope grunted at Kaze’s words, trying to save face. She feared that Kaze might expose the recording of her admitting she wanted Jude dead.Kaze was a wild card and he would do anything as he saw fit. “What’s the matter, Kaze?” Buffy sharply caught the unusual reaction on Hope’s face when she faced Kaze and she asked him what happened. Kaze chuckled. “It’s nothing. If she makes you do whatever thing you don’t like and tries to be the evil stepmother to you, just tell me. A villain needs to be punished by another villain. I am the stronger villain in this instance.” “Kaze, you!” Hope pointed at Kaze, her teeth clenched in frustration. However, under his frosty gaze, she forced herself to swallow her words and slowly withdrew her hand. Seeing the scene, Buffy was more surprised than ever. Hope was an arrogant woman who could even drive Jude mad, yet she behaved like a
“I can tell you this much, Kaze. From the moment Newell died in Lilyrose, Jude has been preparing for this day. “He has a lot of trump cards prepared and you won’t even see them coming. Even Alfonso Longwind, the ex-deputy chief of the Butterworth Branch, is part of the plan. “You really think Jude spent a fortune to invite him here just to ask him to persuade Buffy to marry Casius? You would be naïve to think that. “You want to stop him from becoming chief? You and what army? You really think that you still can beat Jude just because you escaped Casius’ grasp alive? “Jude is much more experienced than Casius! Since you cured me, I’ll give you a friendly piece of advice: don’t overestimate yourself, you will burn for it. “Don’t be overconfident. I don’t want my savior to die in Drake Gym today.” Hope spoke a lot in a single breath. Rather than saying they were advice for Kaze, she was trying to save face and vent her emotions. She was toyed with earlier in the day and K
“I said he cannot be the chief, which means he cannot be the chief. Anyone who wants to be chief must get my permission.” Hope was baffled by Kaze’s words. What shocked her most was that Buffy nodded with agreement as if Kaze spoke the absolute truth. Why would her nominal stepdaughter trust Kaze that much? Was she brainwashed or drugged? Hope could not understand. She looked at Kaze for a moment and then scoffed. “Kaze, you cannot just tell lies like that. “Who do you think you are? The branch leader of the West State Viper’s Den, or the Viper Queen herself? “Your permission? You are full of nonsense! My impression of you changed for the better after everything. I really think you are a capable man but now it seems like you are still the insolent fool who brags. “People like you won’t go far. There’s no way you can achieve anything big, even if you have what it takes.” Hope showed obvious disappointment in her gaze at Kaze. Earlier in the hospital, her impression of
Though Kaze could not care less about Hope for now. She had a complicated history of hate and romance with Jude. Kaze was looking forward to her reaction when she learned of Jude’s defeat. Ever since he arrived at Riverbank, Jude and Hope disgusted him the most. He did not mind waiting a little longer for a better show between them. Buffy did not walk with Hope. She stayed and followed Kaze to Hannah’s side. Her action stirred resentment from Jude’s supporters. As Jude’s biological daughter, she chose to side with the opponents at this critical moment. It was embarrassing for the father. Hope saw the scene as she returned to Jude’s side. She raised her brows and sneered. “Jude, your daughter openly stands against you.” Jude was unfazed. He calmly looked at the battle in the ring and said, “Just ignore her.” He was fully concentrated on the match tonight. It was the last step for him to reach the position of chief. Other than that, nothing could steal his focus awa
The dead agent was dragged away. “Bump!” Suddenly, a large figure, at least two meters in height, came out from backstage and jumped into the ring. As he landed, the entire ring trembled as if an elephant had entered the ring. “It’s him!” When the man stepped into the ring, Hannah, who had remained calm and expressionless until now, suddenly appeared afraid. Not only did she not know the man but she was also afraid of him and his strength. If even the prodigy of the West State Viper’s Den feared him, his strength spoke for itself. “Next match, Bruce Payne versus Al!” The emcee announced the next match to the audience. Bruce made a fierce entrance and it captured everyone’s attention. “Bruce Payne? Who is he?” “I have never heard of him.” “I have never heard of him but I know he’s strong. Just look at him!” “That’s right. Jude Gwake is left with the last candidate and he will certainly give his best. This might be his strongest man.” “This Bruce guy might b
“Deputy Chief Gwake is going to win this! Bruce is here! He’s almighty! Who else can beat him?” “Yeah! Al might be powerful but he looked like a child in front of Bruce!” “Bruce is not just all brawn and no brains, he’s extremely talented and smart, rivaling Hannah Delmore.” “Hannah wasn’t able to fight in the ring because she was hurt, that’s why she got Al in her place while she stayed in hiding. I don’t think this guy can match Bruce at all.” “We are in for a good show.” The audience erupted into a sea of excitement. Those who cheered on Jude were thrilled, gloating at Hannah and her followers. Hannah’s followers and supporters reacted with bitter looks. The match was crucial to decide who the next chief of the South River Branch would be. It was unfortunate that Hannah got hurt and could not participate herself. Given Bruce’s background, even if Hannah was in her prime and healthy, she might or might not be able to overpower Bruce either. With that in mind, a
Kaze was also looking at Bruce with interest. In the north of Arcadia was a less developed country named Barhmans. People from various barbaric tribes there were born with unique physical traits, making them ideal candidates to be trained as killers from a young age. They were sent into the woods for rigorous survival training. They hunted wild beasts, drank their blood, and fought the fiercest of them all. Once they came of age, they would be stronger than other people of the same age and could kill a grown tiger with their bare hands. Kaze met a lot of barbaric mercenaries from Barhmans on the foreign battlefield and all of them shared a similar physique with Bruce. They looked like people with superhuman strength. However, Bruce was also labeled as a genius in martial arts, not just raw strength. Kaze wanted to see how powerful Bruce was. “Then I will kill you and strip that mask off your face.” Bruce curled his lips into a sinister grin and exercised his neck. “
“Is he out of his mind?” “Hannah, please stop him! He should prolong the fight and exhaust Bruce Payne’s stamina first!” Collier was nervous. He disagreed with Albert’s decision to settle the fight in one move. It was because Hannah brought Albert in and he had been performing well until now, or else Collier would have shouted at him in the face. “Shut up!” Hannah then looked at Kaze, who remained silent and observant, closely watching the match. She was unaware of Albert’s true identity, but since Kaze was the one who brought him here, he must be closely connected to Kaze. Before the match started, she was able to have a brief conversation with Albert. By instinct, Hannah sensed nobility in Albert’s presence and she knew he was not an ordinary man. It was great to have someone like Albert to take her place. Collier was in no position to criticize him. “Kaze, what do you think about Al beating Bruce? Can he win?” Buffy asked. She knew Kaze was in a league of his o
“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