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
After pondering and putting much thought into this matter, Hamed ground his teeth as he tried to put up a final fight and said, “Brother! It must not have been easy for you to come all the way here. Besides, it seems as though both of us are predestined. I cannot turn down your request entirely, but you also have to give me a little face. You cannot simply allow all of my efforts to go to waste, right? Don’t you have an old saying in Oskia? Don’t burn bridges and always leave some room in whatever you do in case you meet again in the future?”Charlie smiled as he said, “I have to admit that your Oskian literature is indeed not too bad. You can even mention an old saying in front of me!”Hamed smiled embarrassedly as he said, “If I were to describe it in one word, no matter what it is, I was also a top student back then.”Charlie nodded before he asked him, “You said that you wanted me to give you some face. I wonder, how do you propose I do that?”Hamed waved his hand as he spoke u
While Charlie was waiting for Claire at the airport, Jacob and Elaine were taken to the traffic police station.But even in the patrol car, Elaine did not stop lashing out at Jacob.As such, the traffic police had no choice but to call up another patrol car to bring them over separately.Charlie was hence left wondering what those two were up to this time as they were nowhere to be seen when Claire's flight was about to land and weren't answering his texts.Fortunately, Charlie never considered them reliable, so he was fine whether they showed up or not.If they did, they could all head home in the same car.If they didn't, he just had to take a cab home with Claire.It was past three when Claire's private jet landed, and Claire herself cleared the checkpoint in just half an hour, wheeling a trolley with her luggage.Seeing Charlie from afar, she couldn't help quickening her pace as she beamed.Charlie hurried toward her as well, and Claire shoved her trolley aside when they w
However, to Jacob's shock, Elaine wasn't misled at all as she growled icily, "Why would I ask anyone else?! If there's someone I must question, it's Matilda! She's getting married, isn't she? Good! I will be there and ask her why she hooked up with my husband!"Jacob turned pale right then.Matilda's son and even some of their old classmates would be attending her wedding.If Elaine went, he would be exposed, and he wouldn't be able to stay in Aurous Hill out of shame!His nerves gnawing at him, Jacob could only plead, "Please, just trust me this once! Anything else aside, she's getting married, anyway—there's no way that I'd have anything to do with her! That alone should prove my innocence!"Elaine snorted. "If Matilda returned when I was arrested, it means she has been back for a while! And you're saying nothing happened since? Hell, even if she's married, it doesn't prove that she wasn't up to some hanky-panky with you! Maybe while I was arrested and refused a divorce when you
The driver was left dumbstruck—this wasn't how it was supposed to go.Still, he blurted, "C-Crashing into a Cullinan? I might end up dead instead…""Fine! Then let's change cars, and you crash into ours—how about that?!" Elaine promptly retorted before continuing, "Or we could just stand right in front of your car while you run into us! I just happen to have a death wish, but if you don't kill me now, I'll kill you! Don't think about getting away either—I know your car plate! I'll sell this car and use the money to put a bounty on your head! I don't care what happens to me now! I'll claw my nails into the devil's face even if he shows up!"The driver was actually quite experienced, but even he had yet to meet someone as ridiculous as Elaine.Barely able to keep his hands steady, he threw them up as he apologized, "I'm so sorry, ma'am—I just lost my cool. I'm merely a humble driver of a Honda Civic while you own a Rolls. Hell, I spent fifty bucks buying that red emblem from Amazon,
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