Charlie smiled slightly before he said, “Miss Hart, you truly have too many questions. However, I can tell you with certainty that I am not from the armed opposition force. Your father entrusted me with the task of rescuing you just a few hours ago. So, I rushed here, all the way from Oskia, in a hurry.”At this time, an Asian male spoke up with an expression filled with shock. “This… this… how could this be possible? We have only been captured for a little more than half a day. So, there is no way that you would have been able to rush all the way here from Oskia within such a short time!”Charlie smiled as he said, “What you feel is impossible might not truly be impossible.”After he was done speaking, he looked at Autumn before he said indifferently, “We are pressed for time. I will prepare a set of the opposition force’s uniform for you shortly. You should leave with me after putting it on.”Autumn blurted out as she asked, “Then… then what about my friends?”Charlie shrugged a
When he heard Charlie’s question, the boy blurted out and retorted, “First of all, I don’t believe that you came here from Oskia! That is simply too unrealistic!”After he was done speaking, he looked at everyone before he said in a serious tone, “All of us have studied world geography, and we have also researched Oskia's geography as well. You should know the distance between Oskia and this place!”“If a person were to fly here from the central part of Oskia, the straight-line distance would be at least six thousand kilometers, right?” “If a person were to fly here from the western region of Oskia, the straight-line distance would not be less than five thousand kilometers.”Charlie gave him a thumbs-up as he smiled and said, “You are indeed so f*cking intelligent! You know everything!”After he was done speaking, Charlie turned the conversation around as he bantered, “But you guessed it wrong. Smartypants, I did not come here from Central Oskia or West Oskia. I came here from Ea
“Do you know what it means when this news is not reported? It means that your fellow Americans do not even know that you guys have been captured!”“So, the United States army will not bother to send any troops here to rescue you, let alone mobilize troops to come and rescue you guys. The United States Embassy has already rejected the opposition force’s demands for a ransom of eighty million US dollars yet you are still expecting them to send troops here to rescue you? Do you think that your father is Buffett or Bill Gates?”“I don’t believe you!” Several of the American youngsters retorted in unison. “You must be lying!”The Indian-American boy just now looked at Autumn as he said loudly, “Autumn, you have to be careful of this man. I strongly suspect that this person is a member of the opposition force! Otherwise, even if he has great abilities, it would be simply impossible for him to arrive here within such a short time. Besides, don’t forget that there are still one to two thous
As soon as Charlie mentioned his name, Autumn was extremely shocked, and she had a very startled and astonished look on her face.She had never met Charlie before, and the both of them had only spoken through voice chat on WhatsApp once. Since the both of them had not talked much and there was not much content to their conversation, she did not have a very deep impression of Charlie’s voice. So, she had not drawn the connection between this man before her to Charlie, who had contacted her through WhatsApp.But now that she had heard his name, Autumn finally made the corresponding match!At this moment, she blurted out excitedly, “Mr. Wade… why are you here?”Charlie shrugged as he sighed helplessly and said, “I already told you that this place is not safe, right? But you did not believe me. Do you know how worried your father is for you?”Autumn could not hold her tears back when she heard these words.The Indian-American boy at the side subconsciously said, “Autumn, don’t be foo
The Oskian boy shook his head at the side as he said, “Autumn, I know that as a girl, you will certainly be afraid of death. Nevertheless, you have to believe that in this world, no one would dare to randomly kill an American citizen. Therefore, we will certainly be rescued in the end!”Charlie could not help but feel amused as he burst out in laughter because of him. After that, he could not stop himself from asking him, “Brother, I’ll say something fair and objective. Various shootings are emerging endlessly, one after the other in the United States all the time. This leads to several or even dozens of innocent civilians deaths at every turn. You still dare to say that no one would dare to simply kill an American citizen? Don’t you think that is very contradictory?”The boy of Oskian descent turned red in the face out of extreme anger as he retorted, “The incidents that you are talking about happened within the country, not overseas! So, how could you take the incidents that happen
“Concorde airliner?!”Everyone was stunned and dumbfounded when Charlie said those two words.Who would dare to believe that the legendary king of speed in civil aviation, the Concorde airliner, which had already exited the scene more than twenty years ago, would actually still be in operation now?!The kid of Oskian descent subconsciously laughed mockingly as he said, “You really know how to brag and exaggerate. The Concorde airliner has already retired from the scene a long time ago. There are no civil airlines in this world that own any supersonic airliners that are currently in operation. Do you treat us all as fools?!”Charlie simply shook his head and laughed in a self-deprecating manner as he said, “Sigh. I honestly do not understand myself. Why am I talking so much nonsense with you here?”After he was done speaking, Charlie looked at Autumn before he said, “The situation is very urgent now. The opposition force has already announced to the public that they will start kill
As soon as Charlie heard these words, he was immediately very alert and vigilant.At the same time, he could not help but feel contempt and disdain for the seven highly educated fools in front of him. Weren’t they waiting for the United States Navy SEALs to come and rescue them? As a result, the United States Navy SEALs had not come, but the King of Hades had come first!He could hear Commander Hamed exchanging a few words with Faizal and the others. He was probably asking them about the situation with the hostages inside.One of the guards hurriedly replied that everything was normal. After that, the leader said, “Open the door.”Immediately afterward, there was the sound of the door getting unlocked.After a short while, the iron door was pushed open from the outside. A man wearing a desert camouflage uniform took a step forward as he walked into the room.What was interesting was that his figure was swaying toward the left the moment he stepped into the room. Charlie instantly
“F*ck!”Hamed immediately felt very disappointed deep down in his heart when he heard this. After all, he had been leading the army for many years, and he could make a very accurate judgment of the strategic situation.At this moment, he had already realized that both Charlie and himself had control of half of the advantageous position to call the shots.‘The power to call the shots inside this cellar lies in the hands of this Oskian man. That is because he has a gun pointed at me, and he has even bought off my subordinates. So, he can kill me at any time inside this room…’‘Still, I am not exactly in a completely passive predicament either. After all, no matter how powerful he is, it will simply be impossible for him to buy over one to two thousand of my men in the entire base.’‘That is because, if he really had the capability to do so, he would have already chosen to overthrow my rule directly. Why would he make so much effort just to sneak into this cellar?’When he thought a
"Alright!" Trippy was at once fawning, tagging along behind Raymond like a little child.Around thirty people were waiting in front of Treasure Measure by now. The collectors came in twos or threes, and all ten numbers had since been taken.Before Raymond arrived, he had a brief look at the collectors' faces through the security cameras before walking over, and he was really relieved to see no familiar faces.Having traded Oskian antiques for years abroad, it was only natural that he was acquainted with some of the elite collectors in the country.He also knew that they were especially demanding with the quality of their collection and wanted almost flawless items. As such, the bronze sculpture which had been completely lost wouldn't interest them.Still, he was also a little concerned that amongst the elite collectors he knew, there might be some who were losing money and losing purchasing power in turn. If they happened to take an interest in the bronze sculpture on top of that,
Trippy grinned. "I mean, just look at my stall—ain't no way I'm getting any business here. Why not let me check out this item of yours? And see how interested they are? I'm really interested in learning and upping my game."Then, as if worried that Raymond would refuse, he quickly added, "Don't worry—I promise to stay in a corner and just watch."Still, Raymond could guess right then that someone must have sent Trippy to spy on him.It didn't matter whether it was Mick, Jacob, or Zachary either—they were all in this plot together, and one knowing meant all three knowing.Trippy was a gossiper in nature. If he was allowed to witness the whole process, everyone down Antique Street would definitely know before long.In fact, he could use someone like that right now, and Trippy had come straight to his doorstep.With that in mind, Raymond smiled, "Come join me if you're interested. It's not like there's anything to hide…"Pausing, he then warned Trippy, "But since you're going in my
After watching Mick's video, Jasmine's opinion of the man improved considerably.She was actually well aware that the decline of Vintage Deluxe was mostly due to Mick's incompetence.However, as Jasmine was now managing a billion-dollar company, she couldn't spare any time to ask many questions about Vintage Deluxe's performance. In her opinion, as long as Vintage Deluxe didn't lose too much money or ruin the reputation they had worked so hard to build, she wasn't interested in a regime change.It was the same mindset as Marianne Long, who begged her father to keep that lane full of food stalls in Hong Kong over sentiment.As such, seeing that Mick actually had some skill pleased her considerably.She couldn't resist checking out the comments of the video too.She saw that many were praising the manager of Vintage Deluxe for taking a tough stand against the scammer as well as how Vintage Deluxe's reputation was long-standing and without comparison.She soon noticed Jacob's comme
Soon, more collectors had gathered outside Treasure Measure even before Raymond showed up at Antique Street, with over ten of them gathered outside in no time at all.Since Raymond had only prepared ten slips, the rest left in disappointment seeing that they had no chance.Even so, the ten collectors who had gotten a number were nervous—save for the first man who had arrived.The details on the online sales post insisted that the price was fixed, and that first-come first-serve applies.If he bought the bronze sculpture, the other nine would have come all this way for nothing.However, if the seller decided to make it an auction, they would have a chance too, although their net profit would thin in turn. After all, they could have acquired the bronze sculpture for just 20 million, and that meant a solid 8 million in profit.An auction would at least raise the price to 27 million, and more would make it chicken feed.If they gave up at that point, it was a waste of a trip.If
Trippy naturally wasn't going to tell Mick everything word-for-word, so he said vaguely, "Uh, they were just being stubborn and refused to listen to anything I said. They kept saying that they wouldn't know until they saw the actual item."Mick got out of bed, staring at his phone as he mused to himself.This was getting a little ridiculous, was it not? A fool who was scammed, actually able to scam someone else? But if he really could sell it, wouldn't all their work be for nothing?With that in mind, he promptly called Zachary, who wasn't even up yet.Ever since he had started working for Don Albert, his daily routine was no longer the same as the days when he was a humble stall owner working on Antique Street, but a man of importance who slept late and woke up late.In the evening, he would be spending his time patrolling Don Albert's night entertainment properties as well as holding meetings with subordinates to decide on management policies and the like. That was why he wo
Seeing that Mick had a favor to ask, Trippy was naturally eager to seize the opportunity to get in his good graces."Don't worry, Mr. Crane!" He promptly replied. "Just leave it to me!"Returning to Treasure Measure, he went up to the first man who had come and said, "Hey, brother… Did you come to buy the bronze sculpture from Mr. Cole?"The man asked warily, "You know about the bronze sculpture?""Of course!" Trippy grinned. "I know all too well—it's actually famous here in Aurous Hill."Whipping out his phone, he played the short video that Mick had spent five grand promoting, saying, "Here—check this out!"Curious, the man took the phone and watched the video solemnly.The other latecomer soon hurried over as well and stared fixedly at the screen too.They watched as Bill entered a room with the bronze sculpture with Mick, the latter who checked it out and started commenting on it.The first man exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, it really is that bronze sculpture."The second ma
The other antique traders who were keeping tabs on the situation were left confused by Trippy's message.[Maybe even those out-of-towners know that Raymond is a sucker? So they traveled overnight just to see what happens?][I know Raymond is in trouble, but is it really worth traveling hundreds of miles just to watch?][Maybe they know he's a sucker, so they came to sell him more counterfeits?][Shit, that must be it! Suckers are rare these days, after all!][Damn straight! Just knowing that there's one in Aurous Hill, you'd be eager to come over.]Even Mick Crane who had just woken up and saw the message immediately sent a voice message: "Those conmen are just like flies flocking around shit as soon as they smell it.""Oh, but what they don't know is that Raymond has no more money! I heard he only had a few hundred thousand for the startup, and the bronze sculpture must have cost most of it. I'm afraid those people won't even get their gas money and toll costs back after travel
Trippy rolled his eyes as he texted back: [Hell no. I need to start my business instead of wasting my time. You morons can come get a number yourself if you like. Haha!]Still, Trippy had just sent his text when a trio arrived in a hurry outside Treasure Measure.Seeing that the doors were closed, the leader asked Trippy, "Excuse me, can I ask if this is Treasure Measure? Owned by a man named Mr. Cole?"Trippy was at once surprised. "You mean Raymond Cole?"The leader quickly said, "We don't know his first name, only that his last name is Cole, and his handle name was Treasure Measure's Mr. Cole."Trippy chuckled. "That'd be him. Has to be, since he hand wrote that shop sign."Pausing, he then asked in curiosity, "So, you've come to see him being a sucker?"The leader was naturally curious as to what Trippy was talking about. However, he was also reluctant to reveal why he had come since there was a killer bargain at stake. In fact, every other collector who was coming was k
Raymond also added that the 20 million price tag wouldn't be cut or increased. To put it simply, the bronze sculpture was right there in Aurous Hill and waiting—it was a race.Hence, many reputable collectors contacted expert appraisers throughout the night, some even booking night flights straight to Aurous Hill.The best amongst them was a fanatic collector of bronze items in Eastcliff.Following a brief exchange with Raymond online, he immediately called an expert who was also a close friend. As soon as his call was answered, he asked the other man if he had time to travel to Aurous Hill so that no one else would beat them to it—and they would drive out in the night if at all possible.After all, the earliest flight was at six in the morning, and it'd be eight by the time they made it to Aurous Hill Airport and nine by the time they got to Antique Street in a cab.Therefore, the ideal way to get there was by driving over six hundred miles at top speed, and that meant reaching A