Anyone could plainly see that Abel was furious. “I am not arrogant. However, those who want my respect have to earn it,” Dustin said. Abel’s expression turned even darker. There was no way he could stand such an insult. “The Lotus Sect is a threat to public safety. I think there’s no point in its existence anymore,” he said in displeasure. “Don’t think too highly of yourself.” Dustin looked immensely displeased. “Since you’re old, I’ll warn you so that you can scram back to wherever you came from. That way, you won’t lose.” Dustin waved his hand like he was chasing off an annoying mosquito. “I really don’t know where he gets his confidence,” Margaret said in confusion. Dustin was really different from the way he used to be. He used to be so respectful and obedient like a pet of the Wyatt family. He was humble to her whenever she visited. Yet, he had transformed into someone else. He was wildly brazen and did not respect anyone anymore. “Hmph! He’ll regret offendin
“What’s going on, Mr. Gould?” Amara immediately went up to ask him when she noticed the odd look on Abel’s face. Abel folded the document in his hand. His face turned icy. What could he do anyway? Dustin had even involved the king in this and got him to send a document to warn him off. Although the document was written very politely, Abel would definitely be in trouble if he kept causing a scene. If it came to that point, it would not help even if he involved all his students. Abel looked at Dustin standing far above and sighed. He had never had to bow down to a youngster like him before. As everyone watched, Abel bowed to Dustin. His posture was stiff because he felt offended. “I’ve caused trouble today. I apologize. Please forgive me. I will be leaving now.” The humble way in which he said this stunned Amara and Margaret entirely. Their eyes widened in shock. Even the higher-ups of the Lotus Sect were taken aback. Dustin had gotten the renowned Abel Gould t
Soon, the others accepted the call. Bella, Clara, and Delia were all there. The moment they got onto the video call, they saw Elijah tied up and kneeling before Dustin. From Elijah’s side, Drake raised his blade. He looked ready to behead Elijah. “Stop!” “Don’t hurt him!” “Don’t you dare!” In an instant, three enraged voices rang out. “My sisters, I tried my best, but Dustin won’t let Eli go. He wants to behead him!” Amara shrieked angrily. The three sisters were in disbelief. “The elite fighters from the Winter and Philips families weren’t able to defeat Dustin. Meanwhile, Mr. Gould decided to go into isolation after reading a document,” Amara said. “How can that be?” The three sisters were stunned. “What other ideas do you have? Put them into action now!” Amara shouted. “Dustin, if you dare hurt Eli, I will use all my connections in the entertainment industry to make your life hell! Didn’t you turn Simone’s little sister into a film star? I’ll ruin her re
Dustin was unfazed after Elijah had been beheaded. The Wyatt sisters all reacted differently. One was crying desperately, one had fainted, and another one cursed Dustin. Dustin did not care either way. He was not interested in dealing with Elijah’s body, either. Amara could settle that herself. “You will die in the same way as Eli one day!” Amara said viciously. “I’ll be waiting. I hope you actually find a way to follow through,” Dustin said indifferently. Among the four Wyatt sisters, Amara was the eldest and always acted high and mighty. She gave the orders and thought of herself as the smartest. Dustin did not think she was all that impressive. Rather, it was Clara who played her cards more closely and was more likely to succeed in life. However, whether she could get to a height to challenge Dustin remained to be seen. As for the other three sisters, they were spoiled and posed no threat to Dustin. They were even more useless than ordinary, powerless people. “Y
With Wilhelm dead, Dustin was at a dead end. Dustin had been ready to reunite with Diana and had been looking forward to it every day. To respect Wilhelm’s request, Dustin had not sent any elite fighters to tail him. He never imagined that the waiting would result in Wilhelm’s death. He should have sent someone to follow Wilhelm, even if that meant he had to go against his word. At this point, however, he only wanted to know what had happened. “Please calm down, Mr. Fox. You can’t bring him back to life,” one of the Martial Saints of the North Border branch of the black market said. “There’s something fishy about our leader’s death. By the time the Hattan branch received his distress signal and rushed over, our leader was already dead.” “Who went with him?” Dustin asked with a frown. Wilhelm could not fight, which was unusual when it came to leaders of the black market. Still, he must have had an elite fighter accompanying him wherever he went. The fighter had to be ver
It was a bright and sunny day, and there were no clouds in the sky or wind in the trees. Dustin got out of the car and took a deep breath. Only then did he relax a little. He was back in Rivenesco. The message that Wilhelm had left needed to be decoded, and that required some time. Once it was done, Dustin would rush back. At this point, he also wanted to return to Rivenesco to check on Simone and her family. It had been a long time since he had seen her, and he kind of missed her. “Dustin, you’re back!” Simone’s family all came to welcome him when they found out that he had returned. “David, Monique, Simone, I’m back!” Dustin treated them the way he would his family and smiled warmly at them. David and Monique asked after him, while Simone looked askance at Dustin. She looked a bit sad. “You’ve gotten thinner,” she said softly. “Have I?” Dustin grinned. Their eyes met, and the tension rose up between them. Right then, three cars drove in. More of the Langley
“Even if the agreement has to be broken off, I should be the one to do it. No matter what, you shouldn’t have to go to the Douglas family to face that danger,” David said seriously. Dustin wanted to say something more, but David raised a hand to stop him. “Listen to me, Dustin. I will deal with this. If you make a move secretly, I will be very mad.” Dustin could do nothing more about this. Since this was David’s decision, he could not intervene any further. After all, Simone’s branch of the family did not know who he was, and he did not want to reveal anything just yet. Dustin already faced a lot of danger going up against the Divine Hall. Thus, he would have less to worry about if the people around him did not know too much. He prepared to send someone over to work on the Douglas family before David went. That way, the matter would be solved much easier by the time David got there. Margot’s phone started ringing. After she answered it, she looked aggrieved. “The
Keller entered the Langley family villa. He wanted to take Simone with him that very day. “The timing works out. I want to meet the newly hired members of the company, and you can come along as well. After all, you will be their boss, too,” Keller said with a smile. “I…” Simone looked hesitant. She did not really want to go with Keller. “Dustin can come along as well. We’re all young, so we should get to know each other. We can be friends and have a friendly competition. Of course, it should be a peaceful one.” Keller made sure to invite Dustin. “Simone has not been feeling well in the past couple of days. Dustin, you should go with her and help look out for her,” Monique said to Dustin. Dustin raised an eyebrow but did not say anything else. The unexpected thing was that Keller actually encouraged Dustin to come along. He was not worried that Dustin would be a third wheel at all. Naturally, Dustin would not allow Simone to leave with Keller alone. He wanted to se
“It’s fine. Trust me, I will win all the money back,” Dustin said reassuringly. Simone’s face froze. Was this not the sort of thing that gamblers said all the time? When had such words ever come true? Simone never expected that Dustin would say such a thing and suddenly felt troubled. “What? Do you still have the guts to keep competing?” Killian and the others asked gleefully. “Let’s continue,” Dustin said. ‘You really overestimate yourself. You don’t even know what’s coming,’ they thought. Dustin was falling right into their trap. They wore disdainful looks and did not think that Dustin was a threat. What did it matter that Dustin had a decent eye for antiques? They were still playing with him like a cat played with its prey. Simone really wanted to stop the competition, but the second round had already begun. This time, two jade sculptures were placed on the table. The jade was magnificent and translucent, and the sculptures were about five inches tall. “T
The competition was the most important part of the Antiquities Trading Hall. Sometimes, it was even more eventful than the auction of the precious antiques. The competition today was definitely very interesting and attracted a lot of attention. The competitors included the son of the chairman of the powerful and rich Boreal Group in Hattan, and Darren Langley, a renowned authenticator, who was helping him. The other was a brilliant newcomer to the scene. This sort of match-up was unusual indeed. As the organizer began the proceedings, Dustin and Killian sat facing each other at a table. Darren and Luna were standing behind Killian and smiling sinisterly. They could already imagine the tantrum Dustin would throw when he lost. Meanwhile, Simone looked worried as she stood behind Dustin. Although she knew that Dustin had a lot of skills, experience and a discerning eye were not the only things needed when it came to these competitions. Besides, even the most impressive peop
The room was filled with whispers and disapproving murmurs. Darren, despite his reputation, was throwing a fit and blaming others for his mistake. It was embarrassing. Dustin had warned him twice, but he did not listen. After finding out the results, he blamed Dustin for it. Darren’s face turned pale. He was embarrassed. “Mr. Langley, let me handle this for you,” Killian said softly behind Darren and stepped forward. “Hey, are you very confident in your judgment?” Killian asked with a cold glare. “I never said that,” Dustin said calmly. “Whether you said it or not, it’s not important. The next event is an antique competition. Are you brave enough to face me?” Killian challenged Dustin with a smug face. “Of course, if you’re too scared, you don’t have to accept.” Everyone in the hall turned to watch. “What’s an antique competition?” Dustin frowned. “An antique competition is a betting game in the antique industry,” someone nearby said. “The organizers offer one real
“Fake?!” Darren’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at the screen. He could not take his eyes off it. When the results were revealed, Darren was not the only one who was stunned. The entire hall went silent. All three of Darren’s antiques were fake. Not even one was real. A moment later, the hall exploded into chaos. Everyone had high expectations for those items. Most of them believed they were real. Darren was a well-known collector in Hattan’s antique industry. He had years of experience, and people trusted his expertise and judgment. But he got all three items wrong. They were all fake. He had been wrong about Dustin’s vase, and his own choices were even worse. Three mistakes in a row. He lost everything! How ironic was that? A respected collector like Darren had a far less discerning eye for antiques than a young man like Dustin. “Fake? How could they all be fake?! Dad, we lost everything!” Luna’s vision blurred, and she nearly fainted. She and Killian had
Dustin paid for it with his card without hesitation. Simone was worried. If the item turned out to be fake, they would lose 250 thousand dollars. Meanwhile, Darren had his three items appraised. Two were fine, and he only had to pay an extra 300 thousand for them. But the antique hand fan was incredibly valuable. A real one would be worth almost 5 million. He had to pay over 800 thousand for it. Darren made up his mind and used all his savings to pay. He trusted his experience and keen observation. “Let me remind you again. All three of those items are fake,” Dustin said. “Shut up! No one asked you!” Darren was feeling unsure, and Dustin’s words made him snap. “I know I’m right. What does someone like you know?” Dustin shrugged and stopped talking. After everyone paid, the results were revealed on a big screen. Images of the items appeared and were marked as either “Genuine” or “Fake.” As the results were revealed, some people were happy, while others were disap
“Acting like you know something but making a fool of yourself instead? How embarrassing!” Luna mocked him after Darren was finished. Dustin did not pay any attention to them. He picked up the vase and examined it again. “Dustin, maybe don’t choose this one,” Simone whispered as she pulled on his sleeve. She was worried he would make a mistake. “I think this one is real.” Dustin looked at the vase. “It’s too beautiful to be fake.” His stubbornness made people laugh again. “You’re hilarious, young man,” someone nearby said and chuckled. “I’ve been in the antiques business for years, and I’ve never seen anyone like you. “Beautiful equals real? That’s a new one for me. “Someone like you buying antiques? You’re going to lose everything!” People around laughed at Dustin and thought he was clueless. He thought that the vase, which even experts would not spare a glance at, was real just because it looked nice. How foolish was that? “Did you hear that? Don’t you real
“You’re wrong there. Mr. Langley is your elder. You should respect him. How can you treat him like this?” Killian chimed in indignantly. “Mind your own business.” Dustin looked at him coldly. “Respect for elders should be earned. Do you always use empty words to act like you’re better than everyone else?” Killian’s face darkened after being insulted like that. “What do you want?” Simone asked. “If there’s nothing else, we’ll leave.” “You’re here to buy antiques, right?” Darren asked as he glanced at them. “Do you even know anything about antiques? What makes you think you can shop here?” “I know a little,” said Dustin and gave him the same reply. “A little?” Darren laughed as if he saw right through Dustin. “The world of antiques is very complicated. If you don’t know anything, you should leave now. Otherwise, you’ll regret it.” “Thanks for the advice,” Simone said coldly and pulled Dustin away. She did not want to stay and talk to them. Darren and the others looked
Two days went by quickly. Dustin and Simone visited a busy market in Somerton. “My dad’s birthday is in a few days. He loves antiques, so let’s find something nice for him,” Simone said with a smile. They were in the outer area of Hattan’s antique market, where street vendors had set up stalls selling various items. The place was packed with people. After they entered, Simone looked around at the goods. She was clearly interested. The vendors noticed her. They shouted earnestly and bragged about their antiques. Dustin sighed and shook his head. It was obvious Simone did not know anything about antiques. She got excited at everything she saw, and it made her an easy target for vendors who loved overcharging those who knew little about it. “Ninety-nine percent of the stuff here is fake. Even if something’s real, it’s probably not worth that much,” Dustin said. “You have knowledge of antiques?” Simone asked. “A little,” Dustin said with a smile. “Yeah, right. Your ‘a
“I’ll need your help to start a pharmaceutical company and later build a private hospital. Both will be set up right across from the Langley family’s ones,” Dustin said with a smile. “I’ll do my best to help you!” Skyler said earnestly. “Are you planning to go against the Langley family?” Skyler asked. “If that’s the case, there’s no need for all this. Just give me the word, and I can make them go bankrupt in less than a week!” Dustin shook his head. His plan was not just to make the main Langley family surrender. Once Simone’s family took control of the main family, there was no need to start other businesses from scratch. With Dustin’s help, they could quickly grow in the pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceuticals made enormous profits. This would be a shortcut to help the Langley family rise to the top of Lovellia’s elite families. Once the Langley family became powerful, it would save him a lot of trouble in the future. Meanwhile, the others were in a room on the vi