The blueprint of the building was quickly presented to Kaze. “Thanks.” Kaze took the blueprints, glanced over it, and said, “I have to go to the 98th floor, please take me there through the fastest route.” Elevators in five-star hotels required access key cards, so it was unlikely that he could go up by himself. “This way please.” The receptionist quickly guided Kaze to the elevator. When he walked past a trash can, he took the “warrant” from the state police department and crumpled it into a ball before throwing it inside, all under the receptionist’s confused gaze. There was no way he could get a warrant from the state police department. The piece of paper with the official stamp on it was just a document of his previous release. He thought he could reuse it once more before throwing it away. …The presidential suite. Soon, the sniper recovered her composure. She removed the black robe on herself and moved away from the table. She actually covered herself with
“Thud!” The moment the case fell onto the floor, the sniper revealed a black dagger in her right hand. “Swoosh!” She quickly lowered her body and lunged out, thrusting the dagger at Kaze’s neck. The woman was not only skilled with a sniper rifle, but she was also quick and ferocious like a viper with the dagger during close combat. “Zwoo!” Kaze advanced on her instead of moving away. With a slight tilt of his head, he dodged the incoming dagger narrowly but easily. The sniper did not expect Kaze to be this quick. She clenched her teeth and grip before turning her wrist at Kaze, trying to stab him. Kaze did not give her a second chance. He slightly twisted his waist to lift his leg and then kicked forward. “Thump!” A heavy thud sounded. The sniper groaned in pain when the kick landed at her abdomen. She was sent flying back, crashing onto the wall before sliding onto the floor. “As a sniper and a woman, you are skilled not only with the sniper rifle but also in c
“Whip!” Kaze twirled the cloth in his hand and used it as a whip, smacking the sniper in the left cheek. The force of the whip sent her sprawling to the floor again, breaking a tooth in the process and making her spit it out along with blood. “Hiding a poison capsule behind your tooth?” Kaze stepped forward and stomped on the tooth-like capsule to break it. He then said coldly, “So you were trained by Siber and are ready to die for him?” The sniper tried to kill herself with the poison behind her tooth but Kaze just stopped her. Lying down on the floor, the sniper looked at Kaze in fear. She finally had a taste of despair. She could not even kill herself in front of him. Without sparing a glance at the woman lying on the floor, Kaze pulled out his phone, which had been buzzing incessantly moments ago. “Kaze, Albert and I are at Bronze Sparrow now. How’s your side doing?” It was from Snow and her voice sounded concerned. Kaze smiled. “You are calling me. Doesn’t
Siber’s secret killer? No wonder not even South, the so-called diplomat of the Steelclaw Guild, had no idea of her existence. The sniper, Samantha, was even sent to Ryokan to train as a ninja. “Interesting.” Noticing the pondering look on Kaze, Collier lowered his head and said, “I am sorry, Branch Leader. The woman is only a killer. I thought I could make her tell me who contacted Siber and contracted him to kill you, but she had no idea.” “It’s normal that she doesn’t know. If she does, then the mastermind is being unprofessional and careless,” Kaze said. He waved his hand and said, “There’s nothing much to get out from her anyway. As soon as I walked out of the state police department, she came for me. So, there are only two people who eagerly want me dead. “It’s either Reiko Hara, or Aiden Krad, but I tend to lean more toward the latter. Reiko is much more difficult to deal with and the Ryokanians are powerful here in Riverbank. If I can walk out of the state police d
The men spread out and quickly surrounded Kaze and Collier. One of them, in a black uniform and a headband over his forehead, stepped up and said coldly, “Kaze Lee, I am Senji Kadota from the Refined Blade Clan. I heard you have taken Anzu Okita. You have one minute to hand her over and I will take her away, or else I will level Bronze Sparrow to the ground and make this place your grave!” Senji peered down at Kaze condescendingly as if he were looking at a dead man. He did not take Kaze seriously at all. Kaze did not even look back at Senji. He grumbled, “What is Miru doing? I put her in charge of Bronze Sparrow and this is how she does things? Some random people came down here and she told me this is a safe spot?” Miru had become the kingpin of Riverbank’s underworld. With her connection to Kaze, she was able to secure a tight relationship with the Viper’s Den South River Branch as well. Collier knew Kaze was annoyed and not necessarily criticizing her like a mere employee.
“Pft!” Even Kaze could not hold back his laughter. Collier was amusing at times. “You bastard!” Senji was infuriated by Collier’s words, but he was on a mission to retrieve someone important, so he suppressed his erupting anger and said coldly, “Anzu Okita has another name here in Arcadia—Samantha Oakland. “She might be an Arcadian but the martial artists here are all show and no power, charlatans if you may. She studied under a famous teacher in Ryokan and was given a new name.” Kaze was not concerned by Senji’s insult but he glanced at Collier. Collier tacitly understood Kaze’s glance and quickly lowered his head, with his forehead glistening with sweat. He said timidly, “I am sorry, but my men did whatever they could to make the woman talk. “We thought she had spilled everything but it seems like she still kept something from us.” It was a serious mistake for not being able to extract all the information from Samantha. Initially, Kaze thought she was just a kille
Collier knew exactly who Albert was—the ex-chief commander of the South River Strategic Department. He was certainly powerful. If it was one-on-one, Senji might not even make it through the first round even if he sounded intimidating. Yet there were almost fifty of them and all of them were experts, equipped with a katana. One slash from each of them could easily slice Albert into a thousand pieces. Collier was worried that Albert might be overwhelmed by the numbers. “Calm down.” Kaze explained, “I know better than anyone how powerful Albert is. After going through the lengthy fight at Drake Gym the other day, he’s reaching the point where he could break through to the next stage. “If he could overcome this situation, then he would be able to take the final step to the next stage, thus becoming an expert Warlord. Only then will he be worthy of being the chief commander of the South River Strategic Department.” He ignored the other Ryokanians and focused his gaze on Albe
If nearly fifty elites of the Refined Blade Clan were wiped out in Bronze Sparrow, Reiko would likely have to lay low for a while. “Yes, sir. I’ll open my eyes and watch closely.” Collier put away his messy thoughts and focused on the scene. “Arcadians! You are fools to send one man against us! This is pure disrespect!” Senji was infuriated when Kaze and the others talked about how to wipe them out in his face. He turned to Albert and raised his hand at his men, shouting, “Kill him!” “Rawr!” The two elites closest to Albert drew their swords and jumped at Albert. Albert was not deterred at all. Instead, his eyes showed a strong sense of battle intent. He advanced on his opponent despite being barehanded. Fists and kicks were thrown at the two men, causing a few heavy thuds followed by agonizing cries. The two men were sent flying backward as they groaned in pain. Blood gushed from their mouths as they slid across the floor. Their faces paled rapidly, losing all
With the secret out in the open, the housekeeper dropped his attitude. He pointed at the basement not too far away. “My employer is in there.” The housekeeper grimaced and kept his head down. Kaze laughed. Unaware of his impending doom, Perry was still living it up. It was absurd. Perry was playing with fire by hurting Leah. “About time you wise up.” Arthur smiled and patted the housekeeper’s face. He opened the door to the basement. Kaze walked to the bar counter and picked up the best bottle of champagne there. He fiddled with the bottle before carrying it to the basement. The other Viper’s Den members followed him. Kaze took a stride down the steps, to the basement. The noisy music was blasting before they reached the entry. Kaze was filled with a mix of emotions. Nevertheless, he said nothing. He opened the door and walked in. The light in the basement was bright, making everything perfectly clear. However, the people inside were not bothered by the
“You know him. It’s Perry Duncan, Leah’s ex-boyfriend.” Snow did not see the point of hiding the truth, so she laid everything out. “Leah must be feeling foul because she was unaware that she was being stalked. By the time she realized what was going on, she was taken into a vehicle. “We spotted the vehicle they departed in from the surveillance footage. They headed to the mountain up north.” Snow had a general idea of the location. “I got Arthur on the job. He’s putting up a team from the Viper’s Den.” Snow was uncertain of Kaze’s stance toward Leah, but now that she was made aware of the situation, the least she could do was help. Katie belonged to the Viper’s Den, so Snow was lending a hand to a friend in business. “Thank you. Please save my daughter.” Katie was nervous. The Viper’s Den was the people she could count on. “Arthur is good, but he’s slow. I’ll do it,” Kaze said. The whole thing was unrelated to him. Kaze was well within his right to stand on the si
Even so, Elsie was out to get Leah. Elsie could pick up on Perry’s delight when she took a swing at Leah. Poor Elsie was just trying to survive by catering to others. People like her learned to pick up social cues and read body language to please customers for money in return. Their income would double if their customers were happy. Leah was the obstacle. If the women could not get rid of her, they would lose their profit. They had no hard feelings for Leah, but they stood on opposing ends. “You should be fawning over Mr. Duncan, not begging me,” Elsie said while grabbing Leah’s hair to pull her up. Leah snatched Elsie’s wrist to try and break free. “Let me go. I never did anything to you.” Leah was no doormat. She did not want to cross these people or get involved with them. She still hoped that by waiting here, her prince would arrive to save her. However, all she got was a cruel beating, and she had enough. “This isn’t my fault. Blame Mr. Duncan for your cir
Leah had not had it easy these recent days. However, she had learned to be submissive and give in. It never occurred to her that Perry would do this to her. After repeated beatings, she quickly wised up. “Mr. Duncan, why is this disgusting person here? She’s an eyesore.” Dressed in a red number, a woman with wavy hair sat next to Perry. She clung to Perry intimately. She spoke in a sultry and mesmerizing voice. “Oh, she’s just a bitch. “She got on my nerves, so I punished her. I’ll dump her once I’m bored with her.” Perry had the time of his life getting back at Leah. He got a kick out of it. However, he did not feel that it was enough. Every time he looked at his injured hand, his resentment toward Leah grew. “How did she upset you, Mr. Duncan?” Another lady extended her arms to knead Perry’s shoulders while gently murmuring into his ear. With women gathering and fussing over him, Perry felt his ego thoroughly stroked. He was thrilled. “Well, she doesn’t kno
Katie thought about everybody. Kaze was the odd one out, so he had to be the suspect. It made sense that Leah would elope with Kaze. “There must be some sort of misunderstanding. We can talk it out. Don’t do anything reckless.” Snow stopped Katie from doing anything extreme. “How could there be a misunderstanding? There can be no one else but him.” Katie was stubborn. “We can help with your daughter’s disappearance. You won’t get anywhere by picking on him.” Snow tried her best to defend Kaze. She would not let Kaze be hurt on her watch. Eager to find her daughter, Katie believed her suspicion to be the truth, and Kaze must have stashed her daughter somewhere. “I don’t have time to waste, but no one could’ve taken Leah away.” Katie was naїvely convinced that Kaze was behind it. Kaze had only just learned about Leah’s disappearance. It was quite late for Katie to finally look into the matter. “I didn’t take your daughter, but we can dig deeper into this.” Leah w
The blue gem necklace around Snow’s neck brought out her elegance and class. Snow was educated well. She carried herself with ease at the social event. She exchanged pleasantries with business partners and greeted them all. Snow shared a few drinks with several prominent families. Aloysius and her secretary stayed with her and drank on her behalf.The party was a success. Kaze held a glass of wine to sip in a corner. Snow’s brilliance was the assurance he needed. He did not have to worry about her leading the Frosts now. “I guess I was worried about nothing. I didn’t even have to be here. She has gotten everything covered.” Kaze was concerned about Snow because she had always been his assistant. He was apprehensive that Snow would have no control over her staff after her promotion. He even asked the Viper’s Den to lend a hand. Nevertheless, Snow did not let him down. She had done a great job. Kaze drank wine and enjoyed the music. Soon, men and women entered the
Aloysius looked at the business venture at hand with a mix of emotions. Jet was supposed to make a comeback with the project, but the defeat was a huge slap to his face. “Can I ask whether Kaze was behind this?” Aloysius braced himself to ask the question. Even though Aloysius had an inkling, he feared receiving confirmation of his suspicion. “Chairman Lee helped me. If Jet hadn’t hurt my mother, I wouldn’t have rushed back to take his place. “He did this to himself,” Snow said blatantly. “How did you know about the island project? We have been discreet about it.” Aloysius was eager to find out. The question would burn on his mind unless he got some answers. “You can’t keep anything from the Viper’s Den, but this is the end of the matter. If you’re interested in the project, I can put you in charge of it.” Snow could not be bothered to explain herself. Aloysius played it smart. He had been carrying out Snow’s orders without a hitch. Snow was happy to honor her prom
“Tell them that the company is expecting funding, and all the projects will be launched in a few days. Everything will be back on track. It’s a good thing that the higher management is gone. We will be opening the positions for internal employees to apply.” Snow got the right solution to handle the situation. She had to give these employees hope to gain their dedication in return. Aloysius was surprised. “Who would pour money in when our finances are in a mess?” Having worked with Jet, Aloysius had a good understanding of the company’s ins and outs. Several business ventures were up in the air, and the company was bleeding money. Even with a relaunch, these projects would not bring in much of a profit. Most importantly, the relaunch had to be backed up by some funding. The business got a loan from the Viper’s Den. If payment was not made in time, the company’s shares would be used to make up for the loss. The whole thing spelled trouble. Snow just joined the company.
“This is the financial report you submitted today. Any intern can do a better job than you.” Snow mocked Jack. She was disappointed in his performance. A finance director who could not even get his basics right should not be working in finance in the first place. “Who do you think you are, doing this to us?” The others are only out to save their own asses. They did not sympathize with Jack. “I’m sure you are well aware of what you have done.” “You’re on your phone all day at work. You put your daily expenses on the company card, and we’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars a month. You only bought stuff for your personal use. “Let’s not forget about you. Your so-called business trips are to take your mistress out for expensive hotel stays and vacations.” Snow looked at each one of them while detailing their deeds. She shamed them in public, utterly humiliating them. “Why were these allowed before? Why are you stopping these practices now? If you can change