The next moment, there came a disgusting crunch, and was soon followed by a bloodcurdling scream. Kaison slumped to the ground, clutching his shattered kneecap and howling in agony. Darion sneered at Grant, then pointed the bloody steel bar in Kaison's direction and said, "I'll give you one last chance to reconsider, Grant. If you try anything, my mates here will continue where I left off with him."Everyone knew what he was hinting at. "Darion!" Grant bellowed, then pointed the blade of his knife at Liam and said, "Let go of Mr. Nasso right now, or I'll stab him!"Darion, however, ignored him and instead gazed at Liam with a look of admiration. "What do you say, Mr. Cole?"Grant froze, then whipped around to stare at Liam incredulously. Did Darion just call this man Mr. Cole?Although he still looked down on Darion, he had to, very reluctantly, admit that Darion had made quite a name for himself after all these years. He was now the ringleader of the most notorious gang in thi
"You twat! You're going to pay for this! How dare you hurt Mr. Nasso right in front of me!" he hissed through gritted teeth, his knuckles cracking dangerously. Liam, however, did not seem at all intimidated. Instead, a taunting smirk flashed across his face as he replied, "Why wouldn't I dare? He almost tried to break my limbs! I'm just giving him a taste of his own medicine!"Liam lifted his head to stare coldly at Grant. The two of them locked eyes. "What's wrong? You were a gangster before this, Grant, so surely you know that's how things work around here."This, no doubt, ignited a fiery rage within Grant. He could not take this anymore."Take this!" he snarled, then lunged toward Liam, aiming the blade of his knife toward Liam's chest!Liam dodged him agilely, and as he did so, he aimed a blow straight at Grant's back while kicking out at Grant's wrist with his right leg.The knife flew out of Grant's grasp and landed on the ground with a clatter. Grant, on the other hand,
It was not until Grant witnessed Liam in action that finally realized just how wrong he was—clearly, judging from the lack of effort in his strikes, Liam had not utilized his full potential. As Grant himself was a War King, the only explanation for his defeat was that Liam's power far surpassed that of a War King!The thought of this made the color drain from Grant's face. It turned out Darion had been right to warn him; times were different now, and things had changed drastically since the last time he reigned. During his peak, Grant had been one of the most powerful martial artists in the region, which was why he had managed to amass a group of loyal followers. He never paused to think that someone better and younger would come along eventually!Grant knew full well that he was no match for Liam at all. He did not say anything but merely wiped the blood from his mouth and got up slowly. Then, with one last reproachful glance at the whimpering Kaison on the ground, he turned and
Was this still the high and mighty Kaison Nasso that everyone knew?Finally, after Kaison had begun to tire himself out from all the pleading, Liam gave Darion a wave of dismissal. Then, he knelt down before Kaison and said, grinning, "Are you pleading with me for mercy, Kaison? Well, look how the tables have turned. You want me to let you go, huh? Well, we can arrange that…"He paused deliberately, so Kaison could lift his head up in ecstasy. "Really? Thank you! Thank you so much, kind sir!""Don't get your pants in a twist. I haven't finished," Liam cut him off. "If I remember correctly, you had threatened to break all of my four limbs and kill me at the end. Well, what do you say about giving me yours? How much do you think an arm of yours will cost? Didn't you used to say that you have so much money in the world that you don't know where to spend it?"Kaison froze, then burst into tears and stammered, glancing fearfully at Liam, "What… What are you trying to say? Do you want mo
Liam, however, took no notice of his threats and merely stared at him, sneering. "Mr. Nasso, you're far more gullible than I thought. The audacity to threaten me when your fate lies in my hands!"Instead, he took the steel bar out of Darion's hands and propped the end of it against Kaison's chin so that he tilted his face up to meet his eyes. There were still streaks of blood stained on the bar, making it look somewhat frightening. "Mr. Nasso, I do not have the patience to bargain with you here. Since you are not willing to put a price on your own life, you shall have to abide by my terms. If you agree with them, just nod, and if you do not… I'm afraid you'll be spending the night out here on the streets."The coldness of the metal against his skin made Kaison shudder, and his fear was further exemplified by Liam's words. "What… What are you talking about? What price? Li—Liam, I'm warning you… You don't know who you're messing with…"Kaison was both outraged and terrified at the sam
This finally made him realize how futile his attempts were and that he had no choice but to admit defeat. "How… How much do you want…" he stammered.Liam smiled at this and shot him a look of admiration. At the same time, his gaze landed on Kaison's uninjured arm, and he said, "Very good! Imagine how easy things would've been if you had agreed to this earlier! Well, I'm not as unreasonable as you think. Let's make it four hundred and fifty thousand, then! Four hundred and fifty thousand dollars for an arm. That's a steal, isn't it?""What?" Kaison could not resist letting out a yelp when he heard this. For a moment, he thought he had misheard and kept staring incredulously at Liam. "Are you insane? Four hundred and fifty thousand dollars?"Kaison had no idea what to do. As wealthy as he was, he still could not possibly fork out such an exorbitant amount of money, not to mention the fact that this was the amount for one arm. He was certain that Liam would ask for far more than this.
Upon hearing this, Liam removed the bar from its original position against Kaison's arm, then patted him with an air of roguish playfulness. "Very good! You're just as generous as I thought! It's no wonder you've made such a name for yourself as a businessman! Well, that settles the arm, doesn't it? What do we say about this?"With that, he turned his gaze towards Kaison's groin, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Let's not beat around the bush, shall we? One and a half million! What do you think, Mr. Nasso?"Kaison was too stunned for words and stared transfixed at Liam for a few moments before whimpering, "What? One and a half million? Why the sudden leap? That's… That's too much… Can we agree on something lower?""Too much?" Liam cut him off with a rather wistful look. "I don't think one and a half million dollars is a lot to you, Mr. Nasso. After all, your entire family lineage relies on this moment. Surely you don't think one and a half million dollars is too much to pay for carr
The Nassos owned an array of properties in the capital and had an accumulated net worth of tens of millions of dollars, but even then, it was not for Kaison's to spend, but an accumulation of the entire family's shares!Although Kaison had a rather successful company of his own, he still could not afford to pay Liam's ransom, for his monthly income just barely cleared two million dollars!Liam was asking for practically six months' worth of his salary, and this was no doubt a great blow to Kaison. His mind raced at a hundred miles a minute as he tried desperately to think of ways to bargain with Liam. After all, he could not possibly justify handing over such an exorbitant amount of money at one go!Liam, however, seemed to see right through his hesitation, for the next moment, he said, "You have to think long and hard about this, Mr. Nasso. Which is more important to you—your life, or a few million dollars? I'm sure you must be furious at me for making things difficult for you, b