Since Rosalie and several of the other members of the Schulz family were still on the helicopter, Charlie asked the helicopter to send them directly to Shangri-La.Isaac had already prepared several very private rooms on the top floor for Rosalie and the other Schulz family crew members.However, Charlie still felt a little worried about them. So, he requested Isaac to put these people under house arrest and complete surveillance.Anyone in Shangri-La, including Rosalie, would be able to enjoy comprehensive and meticulous services after checking in, including meals and accommodation.However, all the telephones and any form of external communication methods in their rooms had been cut off completely because Charlie did not want them to have any contact with the public at the moment.Rosalie knew and understood that Charlie still had to be wary of her now. So, she naturally did not have any opinions about this.After settling Rosalie and the rest, Charlie brought Jasmine and Kazum
The longer Jasmine had gone missing, the more relaxed Tyler felt.He felt that over time, Jasmine’s chances of survival had already become smaller and smaller.Reuben was not as open-minded as him. He simply stood aside as he nervously said in a low voice, “Dad, Charlie will certainly have his own means of doing things. We have to be careful not to leave any clues!”Tyler nodded as he said, “That is for sure. All we need to do now is to play our roles well.”Reuben said again, “By the way, Dad, I’ve still felt a little uneasy in my heart over the past two days. Where did Jasmine go? How could she just have gone missing? How could there be no news about her at all, no matter whether she is dead or alive?”Tyler sneered as he said, “I think Jasmine is very likely to be dead already, but they simply have not found her body yet.”Reuben hurriedly asked, “How can you be so certain?”Tyler replied indifferently, “Everything depends entirely on the survival rate. If a person suddenly g
Therefore, even though he was currently in Aurous Hill, Tyler could still get through to him. Coincidentally, the helicopter had landed near Moore Group at this moment. Charlie heard a ringtone in Hashimoto’s pocket. He took the phone out and saw the name ‘Tyler’. When the Japanese saved the names of people in their phones, they normally used Oskian characters. Hence, when they recorded the names of Oskian people, the Oskian characters would be used as well. Once Charlie saw that the call was from Tyler, he immediately warned Hashimoto, “If you want to stay alive, obey me. If not, I’ll send you to the dog butcher, and you’ll be chopped into pieces and fed to the dogs. Do you understand?” Nodding frantically, Hashimoto’s face turned pale as he pleaded, “As long as you spare my life, I’ll do whatever you ask of me without any hesitation…” Charlie coldly uttered, “When you answer Tyler’s call, if he asks about your current situation, tell him that eve
At 10.55 am in the morning. Suddenly, Moore Group had a stock suspension. The stock suspension signified the temporary halt of trading. From this moment, the shares of Moore Group were sealed. There was no rise and fall until trading resumed. To apply for a stock suspension from the commission required a very strong reason. For Moore Group, the reason for the stock suspension was because the group had a huge announcement to make. Generally, stock suspensions happened before a listed group made an important announcement. This was to prevent insider trading and stop the informed from being opportunistic. For example, in the past, Amazing Tiger 360 used to be a very famous internet company. They sought to be listed in Oskia and were able to be listed in the local A-shares albeit via the backdoor. This was the so-called backdoor listing. To put it plainly, when a company could not fulfill certain requirements set by the commission for public listin
After all, Charlie was known as the true dragon. Therefore, Reuben dared not neglect him at all. Seeing Charlie arrive alone, he immediately stepped forward and said to him respectfully, “Master Wade, you’re here!” Charlie nodded slightly. With a tinge of regret, he said, “Reuben, I’m sorry. In regards to Jasmine’s case, I’ve tried my best…” Charlie purposely said “tried my best”, these three words, but there was no response. On the other hand, when Reuben heard these three words, he immediately assumed a scenario where a patient was brought to the hospital with little hope of survival, and these words were spoken to the patient’s family. Thus, in his mind, he added elements that were not meant by Charlie. He quietly mulled, ‘Indeed, it looks like Charlie couldn’t find Jasmine’s whereabouts. Moreover, Charlie is now back in Oskia, so he must’ve given up on searching. This means Dad and I can finally have peace of mind.’ Reuben’s heart was invigorated, but he pret
Once the female secretary finished her opening address, the crowd gave a roaring round of applause. The ten board members of Moore Group entered through the side door one by one. Charlie did not know these people who walked in front except for the last two, which were Reuben, and his father, Tyler. Despite entering last, the central seat on the podium was empty and reserved for Tyler. After he went on stage, he straightaway sat in the central seat. Just as he was seated, he saw a person who was seated in the VIP seat in the first row—Charlie. Seeing Charlie, Tyler became a bit nervous inside, just like Reuben. As the saying goes, a thief was bound to have a guilty conscience. Tyler was also worried that all his evil deeds would be exposed one day. He was especially scared of Charlie, because to him, Charlie posed the biggest threat. If his deeds were to be exposed one day, he would not be scared of the police looking for him. Instead, h
Now, Tyler himself had acknowledged this fact. Thus, this matter was cast in stone and could be regarded as official news to be announced to the public right away. However, at this moment, Charlie suddenly asked coldly, “Mr. Moore, Ms. Jasmine Moore is only lost at the moment. There is no confirmation of her death. I would like to ask. If Ms. Jasmine comes back safely one day, would you return the position of chairman to her?” Tyler thought that today would be the easiest transition of power. Moreover, he also felt that he had convinced the entire board. The only thing left was to announce it to the public. Under these circumstances, it would be impossible for anyone to cause trouble. However, he would never have thought that Charlie would actually trouble him suddenly at this moment. Despite feeling very furious in his heart, he still answered politely, “Don’t worry, everybody. During the board meeting, we agreed on a basic principle. Even though I was v
The moment Jasmine appeared, everyone was struck dumb except Charlie. No one would have imagined that Jasmine, who was missing with no news about her life and death, would suddenly appear at the press conference. Just a second ago, Moore Group had just announced Tyler as the new chairman after a board meeting because the company could not confirm whether Jasmine was still alive. However, the next second, Jasmine was suddenly back! Almost no one could accept this huge twist. Even the movies were not scripted this way! The one who could not accept this reality the most was naturally the new chairman of Moore Group—Tyler. At this moment, Tyler looked at Jasmine. He was so angry that eye sockets were about to crack open! His eyes goggled widely, his eyeballs reddened. At the same time, blood veins crawled all over them. That pair of eyes almost fell out of its eye sockets. He would never have dreamt that Jasmine could return from Japan ali
Elaine may have led a life as if she was above the rules, but beneath that tough exterior lay crippling insecurities and a horrific inferiority complex.She was always afraid of being belittled—but more than that, of being ostracized and betrayed.Over the years, the greatest source of her complexes could all be traced back to Matilda.After all, Matilda had been a star back in their school days. Because Elaine was a close friend of hers, many boys would get chummy with Elaine, but only because they were interested in Matilda.Being from a poor farmer's family, Elaine had been scorned plenty and therefore felt exceedingly inferior around Matilda.It was from that sense of inferiority that Elaine had inadvertently developed a one-sided rivalry against Matilda, and she believed her greatest triumph over Matilda in this life was the moment she had stolen Jacob from her.However, while Elaine presumed that she could hold that victory over Matilda's head, Lady Wilson had soured that v
Moreover, given Elaine's ridiculous temper, Jacob knew she would definitely go overboard and destroy him.He wouldn't even have a place to live at that point, and it would really be game over if she held a grudge and stormed the Calligraphy and Painting Association!Under such circumstances, he couldn't ask for a divorce—hell, he might even refuse a divorce if Elaine asked for one!However, that was when Elaine laughed coldly. "Oh, my… You're really not going to divorce me?""Come on—how long were we married?" Jacob quickly reasoned. "Getting divorced at our age? People would laugh at us."Elaine scoffed. "Now I'm curious… Matilda's quite old too, and she's a divorcee marrying again. Won't people laugh at her?""Technically, she's a widow—"Jacob blurted out, but soon turned pale, tensing up again not a second after he had just calmed down, asking gingerly, "W-Why would you suddenly mention her?'Elaine stopped pretending right then and snapped, "It's actually impressive that y
Horrified, Jacob promptly grasped the steering wheel and brought the Cullinan back under control while not hesitating to snap, "Are you crazy?! We're on the highway—that could have killed the both of us!"However, Elaine ignored him and seized the moment to open the armrest box, pulling out the large white envelope.As she opened it, she muttered, "So, it really was a wedding invitation… You really are a terrible friend, Jacob Wilson, hiding a wedding invitation like this! What's the point? Just look at that nervous face of yours—would I suspect you of having an affair with the bride-to-be?"She flipped open the card and was experienced enough to check the names first while disregarding the usual preamble. She wouldn't care about the venue or the time either, focusing solely on the professor who had somehow made Jacob very nervous.That was how Elaine found the names in less than a second: Yolden Hart and Matilda Hall.Matilda?!The name could well be knives stabbing Elaine in th
Jacob's brain blanked out, leaving only a dull hum as soon as Walker mentioned 'Professor Hall'.Already feeling nervous in the first place, he quickly said, "Okay, okay—I got it. Anyway, I'm hanging up if there's nothing else!"With that, he promptly pressed the button to hang up.Nonetheless, Elaine was soon asking in curiosity, "Who's Professor Hall?"If Jacob had any semblance of composure, he would have said 'a colleague at Senior University' as if it was perfectly natural, and the matter would have been forgotten.But the reality was that he didn't—in fact, he was the champion when it came to dropping the ball as a casual question from Elaine left him sweating all over his brow.Even as he slid nervous glances at her face, he stammered uncontrollably, "N-Nobody…"Elaine promptly noticed his strange reaction and frowned. "I'm talking about Professor Hall. What do you mean, nobody? Who are they? And what's this about an invitation? Inviting you for what?"Seeing that he was
Jacob had really had too much to drink and couldn't remember the later parts of what had happened last night—even how he had gotten home was a blur.Naturally, he also forgot that Walker had brought Matilda's wedding invitation, and therefore didn't hesitate to answer the in-car answer button.Over the phone, Walker was positively fawning as he asked, "Mr. Wilson? It's Walker. Why didn't you come in today? Had too much to drink last night?""Uh-huh," Jacob grunted, lethargic. "I did—my head still hurts now… Anyway, what's up? Trouble at the association?""No, of course not," Walker quickly said. "I was just worried you're still hungover, so I called to ask. If you need a driver or anything, you just need to ask!"Then, before Jacob could answer, he continued, "By the way, my wife is somewhat knowledgable in Oskian medicine, and she has recipes for brews that cure hangovers and nourish the liver. I'm sure you'll need the latter since you're always drinking at social events, so I as
Fortunately, Elaine and Jacob's bickering never escalated.Even though Elaine was winning, Jacob found it tolerable.After Jacob finished his lunch and cleaned up, he never looked up as he said, "Charlie sent a text, saying Claire's flight would touch down earlier at three. We will leave at two."Elaine grumbled. "Why leave so early? She's coming back from abroad, and there'd be checkpoints she has to clear—she'd be lucky if she could leave by half past three. I'm sleeping a few winks now, and we'll leave at half past two."As she left the dining room, she didn't even look back as she said, "Clean up for me too."Jacob had a million complaints but said nothing as he kept his head down, throwing Elaine's lunchbox in the trash can as well.With Elaine gone, he sat on the couch as her hangover slowly cleared while his mood soured with the lack of alcohol.In the end, the pleasure of being fawned over at the Diamond Room was but temporary—the pain of his beloved leaving with someone
Vera kept her plan to investigate the identity of the abbess deep in her mind and told Charlie nothing.Instead, she smiled as she said, "It seems that it's both yours and Ms. Ito's good fortune that she has attained enlightenment. You've never had anyone who could attain enlightenment and master Reiki at the same time, so Ms. Ito will definitely be a great help to you in the future."Charlie chuckled and said calmly, "I'm not hoping for her to help. I'm simply happy for her with her enlightenment and excited to have another comrade in my solo ventures into the dark forests."Vera nodded in understanding, and she murmured emotionally, "I've lived for so long, and it's only when I opened my heart to you that I felt that sensation you described."There was a flicker of wistfulness in her eyes.She really did not expect to attain enlightenment before meeting Charlie.Years ago, she thought that she would eventually avenge her father.Now, she no longer hoped to murder Fleur Griffi
Vera was inwardly disappointed to hear that Claire was returning.That meant there were fewer chances of Charlie visiting the Scarlet Pinnacle Manor, as were her chances of seeing him again.Still, she didn't let it show, instead asking casually, "How are things at Champs Elys? Are the warriors improving at a rate to your satisfaction?""Well, most of everyone's improvement is within expectations…" Charlie explained, just as he remembered a certain someone. "By the way, there's something I haven't told you yet. Are you perhaps acquainted with the name Ito Nanako?""Yes," Vera smiled. "The Japanese lady who was with you. What about her?""She attained enlightenment days ago.""Enlightenment?" Vera did a double take and soon pressed, "Enlightenment in what sense? Essential Qi or Reiki?"After all, the former was the path to enlightenment in martial arts, while the latter meant enlightenment in cultivation.But despite the distinction between both domains, enlightenment was a comm
While Charlie had long since gotten used to Elaine and Jacob's bizarre marriage, being near the heart of the storm still took a toll on his senses—to the point that he felt physically sick.Leaving right away was therefore his best solution.Once he left, however, he realized he didn't have anywhere to go. Champs Elys was quite far, and it would take a lot of time.As he started to feel bored stiff, he remembered Vera for some reason and called her.Once Vera answered, she quickly asked in curiosity, "To what do I owe the pleasure? Lunch, perhaps?"Charlie chuckled. "Since you've put it that way… I haven't eaten either, so lunch it is!"Vera giggled. "Come over to my place, then. It's cold outside, and I was just lighting up a hot pot. I'll have Madam Marilyn prepare an additional portion.""Okay!" Charlie agreed to it without hesitation. "I can return her car too. Just wait, I'll be right there!"Once he hung up, he got on the Rolls Roycs he had borrowed from Scarlet Pinnacl