Gino sounded condescending as if he was giving out charity. He believed Kaze had to play nice with the former employees to survive at the company even if he managed to pull some strings to get the COO position. A loser like Kaze would not miss the chance to expand his network. “Alright. I’m in.” Kaze nodded in agreement with a smirk. Gino was not helping out of the goodness of his heart. He had something up his sleeves. Kaze only accepted the invitation because many former employees of Shangrila Group would be there. The re-establishment of Shangrila welcomed back many former employees. Most of them were loyal to the previous management and they were competent at their jobs, but a few with ill intentions might slip through the cracks of Snow’s hiring. Kaze could use the opportunity to check these people out.Soon, Gino sent a text with the address of the place they were meeting at. The venue for the party was Golden Key Lounge, a bar located adjacent to the office
Megan spotted the girl and assumed a commanding tone, her voice dripping with condescension. Sophie once worked at the former Shangrila Group too. She was hired back as one of the leaders in the HR department, working under Megan. “I’m sorry, Megan. My mother fell ill. I admitted her to the hospital before coming straight over.” Sophie knew Megan had a reputation for being harsh, so she would not miss the latter’s birthday party unnecessarily. She rushed over to the venue without getting home for a change of clothes. Still, it gave Megan a reason to rip into Sophie. Megan would not have any of it. She pulled a long face and gave Sophie a piece of her mind. Swallowing her discontent, Sophie avoided talking to the leaders and sought solace in a quiet corner, only to find Kaze there. “Hello, sir. Thank you for letting me catch the ride ahead of you.” Thinking Kaze belonged to higher management, Sophie expressed her sincere gratitude. “I’m Kaze. No need to call me ‘sir’.”
Megan got herself thinking the moment she decided to invite Kaze to her birthday celebration. She wanted to humiliate Kaze tonight to release the pent-up anger of the last two years. Now, she finally had her chance. Despite being ignored, Kaze managed to draw attention to himself like a walking target. It was only right that she did him the favor by putting him back in his place. “Who do you think you are? Megan is extending the courtesy by inviting you, but you have been rude to her. You should ask yourself whether you have the skills to match before jumping the gun.” “If the loser can afford any car at all, he wouldn’t have taken his wife’s family name. He has no dignity.” The senior executives around Megan commented in disdain. “Took his wife’s family name?” Sophie glanced at Kaze in surprise. She was skeptical. Kaze’s grace left a strong impact. Sophie could tell from the brief chat with him that he was a man of depth and taste. How could he possibly marry i
“What? A Ferrari 488? Did I hear that right?”“Um… Can the loser even afford a sports car? Are pigs flying?” “The server probably got the wrong guy.” Gasps erupted in the room. People looked at Kaze in surprise, distress, and envy. However, most of them were doubtful. They refused to believe that Kaze would drive a Ferrari 488 to the party. Kaze had outdone all of them. Megan stood there, utterly embarrassed. It took a while before she said curtly, “What’s great about a Ferrari 488? Sure, it’s a multimillion-dollar car, but it only costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to give any scratch a fresh coat of paint. I can still afford that.” That was the truth, but anybody could read the aggression in her tone. Put in the spot, the server could not say anything without risking offending either party. Kaze was not unreasonable like Megan. To end the server’s dilemma, he fished out the car key from his pocket and handed it over. The car key bearing the Ferrari log
Everybody in the room except Sophie taunted Kaze. Even when Kaze drove a Ferrari 488 to attend the party, the group interpreted it as Kaze showing off. It slipped their minds that Kaze made no mention of it the whole time. That was not their concern anyway. They wanted to humiliate him to ease their awkwardness. Faced with harsh criticisms, Kaze remained unfazed. He kept a smile on his face. Kaze watched them like they were clowns in a circus. They were oblivious that Kaze could not be bothered to stoop to their level. The group took Kaze’s silence as a sign that he was overwhelmed by the mockery and had nothing to say for himself. They believed he was a loser. “Don’t forget that we have gathered here today to celebrate Megan’s birthday. We got a cake for her. Come and enjoy it,” one senior executive said. Soon, he and another friend pushed a cart over with a candle-lit three-tier cake on it. Megan made a wish and blew out the candles as everybody watched on.
Kaze wiped the cream and cake bits off his face in silence. He was not the type to take the humiliation lying down. It had crossed Kaze’s mind to retaliate against Megan and the other executives. None of the close to twenty in the room would survive the blow. Nevertheless, he put down his hand when Megan explained the motivation behind the humiliation. Megan and the others were making him pay for ruining Shangrila Group. They were acting out on the anger and resentment that gnawed for two years. If that was the sole reason, Kaze could consider a lighter punishment for these people tomorrow. It would still be a consequence that Megan and others could not bear though.“You got your payback. I should get going.” Kaze walked out. “Hold it right there. Who said you could leave?” Gino and another male associate stood in his way, staring him down. Megan scoffed. “You’re naïve to think that this is over.” “What else do you want?” Kaze stopped in his tracks and tur
“Ms. Pamela, when Mr. White moved the company back to Lilyrose, you were just a fresh grad looking for a job. He took you in even when you didn’t have related work experience and he helped you a lot in your career. How can you just forget about that? “When Mr. White’s wife, Winnie, was pregnant, you tried to seduce Mr. White but got turned down. Mr. White showed you mercy because you were still young and transferred you to another branch so that his wife wouldn’t suspect anything. He saved your career as well! How could you forget that?!” Megan’s expression turned grim as she glared at Sophie who fired shots like a machine gun. Her dark past was displayed on the table, exposed for everyone to see and hear, yet she had no words to argue back. Sophie then switched her attention to Gino. “Mr. Hebrew, you were one of the pioneers of the company but we all know you were not capable enough to keep up with the company’s expansion, yet you still embezzled money from the company. “M
Sophie was no one and she could not possibly threaten Megan and the other executives. Megan and the other executives focused their firepower on Kaze after they got rid of Sophie. “Kaze Lee, you piece of useless garbage! Listen up! If you dare to set foot in our company, I’ll ask security to throw you out!” “If you get an arm or a leg broken in the process, don’t blame me.” Even the security chief, Carlos, who barely had any power in the company, joined the rest in threatening Kaze. Insulting Kaze and preventing him from entering the company was the main objective of Megan and the other executives. There were only so many executive positions in the company. If Kaze became the COO, he would hinder more than one person’s career. Kaze was quiet as Megan and the rest ganged up on him. They took his silence as their victory. “That’s what we have to say and you better take our words seriously. Or else, we are business elites who have multiple powerful resources and we have m
“Old bastards? They made you the scapegoat?” Kaze narrowed his eyes. He did not expect to get something useful out of Patrick. Based on what Patrick said, the elders of the Weathers wanted Patrick to take the blame, so they gave him to the Ryokanians. If that was true, then someone else in the family was working for the Ryokanians, not just Casius alone. Even the entire family might be involved. However, it was not a good time to ponder the question as Kaze had to deal with the imminent danger first. As the gas spread, the black color became lighter, ultimately turning into nothing. Kaze did not lower his guard. He gestured at the nervous Snow to stay in the car. Fortunately, they were halfway down the mountain and the wind was able to dissipate the gas. “Hehehe, you’re lucky, but you can’t escape!” The eerie voice came from the woods again. This time, Kaze got a clear visual of the ninja. The ninja dressed in a camouflage outfit, revealing only his eyes, was squa
Kaze scoffed, “You Ryokanians really love using cheap tricks to cover yourselves. It’s not really that hard to locate you.” “You bastard!” The owner of the voice was furious. Suddenly, the car door opened and Snow came over with an anxious look. “Mr. Chairman, we must go now…” Swoosh! Before Snow could even finish, black gas erupted from the woods, forming the face of a monster. The cloud of gas shaped like a monster’s face approached Kaze rapidly before dispersing and shrouding the entire area with it. The dark color of the gas became lighter as it covered more ground. Surprised, Kaze turned to Snow and shouted, “Get in the car and lock the door!” He then quickly took a deep breath, using a special technique to keep himself conscious. He grabbed Patrick on the ground and rapidly retreated. Snow had unconditional trust in Kaze, so she quickly went back into the car and locked the door. The driver had exited the car as well and wanted to help Kaze bring Patrick in,
Kaze’s phone rang. The call was from Snow in the car. He knew she was concerned about the situation, so he answered the phone and said, “It’s someone I knew. He was tortured and then tossed on the road. Stay in the car, and tell the driver to stay put.” Kaze realized someone set up a trap to keep him busy there. The mastermind behind this must be related to the person in the car that tailed them earlier. In other words, they might have been surrounded already. That was why he dared not let the driver drive Snow away. The driver was just an ordinary man, not a professional bodyguard. Based on his reaction to the crash, his mental state was fragile. If Kaze allowed the driver to drive Snow away, literally moving Snow away from his sight, it would only put her in danger. Kaze had to keep Snow close to himself. “Snow, call Conan. He’ll know what to do.” Kaze hung up the phone and took a pouch from his inner pocket. Inside the pouch was a set of silver needles. After per
There was only one mountainous path back to the city center from Emerald Bull Palace, and it was usually less crowded. After the car drove off and stopped tailing them, Kaze finally breathed a sigh of relief and got a shuteye.The Ghastly Thirteen Needles was indeed a powerful technique. He performed on Sasha yesterday and it consumed a lot of his energy. He had yet to recover fully after a whole day. Bang! Suddenly, a loud bang came from the front of the car, seemingly hitting something. The driver, assigned to Snow by St. Mary Hospital, immediately stepped on the brake and caused the car to screech to a stop. The car shook violently for a few moments before it stopped by the side of the road. “I’m sorry, Ms. Frost! Something suddenly appeared on the road and I couldn’t react in time. I think I hit it…” The driver turned around and apologized before he went out to check. When the driver had a better look at what happened, he was petrified on the spot, his face paled.
Reiko spoke those words with a smile on her face, yet her expression remained frosty. Even when she opened her mouth, her teeth glared coldly. Aiden said, “The Krad family doesn’t care, and neither do they want to care, what the Refined Blade Clan wants to do. I came to Riverbank just to deal with Kaze Lee. “How dare a live-in son-in-law lay his hands on the woman my brother fancies? He’s already dead! Even though Snow and my brother are not yet married, for the sake of my family, he must die! Only then can the true strength of the Krad family be demonstrated.” His tone was calm but the murderous intent was obvious. To the Krad family, killing Kaze was like squashing an ant. Reiko smiled and nodded. Her hand moved upward, subtly unbuttoned Aiden’s shirt, and then reached into his shirt to stroke his chest. “Your goal is aligned with ours. There’s a saying in your country that we should always pick on the weakest. We also have to crush Kaze Lee first, so we can flush out his
“That’s right.” Reiko nodded and added, “More precisely, we are after the ones behind Kaze Lee, like Hannah Delmore, the chief of the Viper’s Den South River Branch, and Kent Synder, the mayor of Riverbank. “We tried helping Casius to get control of the South River Branch and then slowly infiltrate the West State Viper’s Den.” Her words put a frosty smirk on Aiden but it faded quickly. Reiko did not notice the unusual expression. She continued, “Too bad our actions fell short. We’ve been planning for so long and spent countless efforts, but Hannah recovered even after she was completely stripped of her powers. She made a comeback and became stronger than before. “Yesterday, Casius was decapitated and Jude Gwake, the deputy chief of the South River Branch, was defeated. We lost big time…” “Wait!” Aiden interrupted her and asked, “Casius really died at Kaze Lee’s hands? If that’s true, then this guy is more than meets the eye. The so-called Riverbank Seven is a joke to the
The killers from Hell might not be the strongest but they could easily overwhelm the target with numbers. Not all organizations had the power to withstand their relentless attacks. It was also the reason that the Frost family lived in fear once they found out Midas King was after them. The fact that the Frost family members were not frightened by the news was a testament to their strong mental fortitude. Snow nodded and said coldly, “That’s why the Frost family hired the Krads and sent Aiden…” …In the car tailing Kaze and Snow sat Aiden, dressed in a white suit. He leaned back with legs crossed and a cigar smoldering between his fingers. He expressionlessly stared at the car in front, his gaze icy. Beside him was a woman in a traditional Ryokanian outfit. Her black traditional outfit had golden linings around the edges and an open chest design, showing off her large bosoms wrapped in bandages and her shoulder with a tattoo in red and green. The woman’s hair was tied i
The Frost family wanted to unite with the Krads by marrying Snow to Aaron. Therefore, when Kaze mentioned the Krad family, Snow turned to him and asked softly, “Mr. Chairman, did you know which organization of assassins was after the Frost family?” “Which one?” Kaze had no idea. When May visited Lilyrose, he overheard a mention of the Frost family’s enemies returning for revenge, with the leader being Midas King. Snow said, “The organization has many names. At first, they were known as Hellsearch, but people eventually just called them Hell. “I heard they don’t take normal payments to take lives. It’s either gold bars or a debt.” Kaze narrowed his eyes and said, “So once they had their eyes on a target, they would do whatever it takes and send them to hell?” There were meanings behind their name. The first would be that the killers of Hellsearch were difficult to find, or in a more direct iteration, as hard as hell to search. Secondly, once Hell received an assignment
Draig’s expression might have darkened but he was able to hold his emotions back. He knew Snow was trying to make him mad. As for Kaze, if even Cyan had no respect for him, he believed Snow would never lower herself to such standards. Draig was confident that he could move Snow with his actions and eventually, he could get under her pants. “What’s the matter with Draig?” Kaze asked Snow after they got into the car. Snow lifted her chin slightly and said, “We were at St. Mary Hospital for a while back then. This guy wanted to protect me 24/7, and on the first day, he tried to hold my hands and said it was love at first sight. “The second day, he tried to get into my room. After I scolded him, he said he grew up in Uleania and people there are open-minded. “I kicked him out, but then he got to Cyan and used her to bring me here. He’s just a shameless guy. I hate people like him.” After going through thick and thin with Kaze, Snow started to show her more vulnerable and fe