When Matilda heard Autumn’s words, she nodded in agreement as she laughed and said, “It is indeed very rare to meet someone with similar life experiences. So, of course, we have much more in common.”Matilda meant these words from the bottom of her heart.She had not gone through a very difficult and challenging life, but she had also had her ups and downs.She had gone abroad, immigrated, gotten married, given birth to her child, lost her spouse, and then chosen to return to her home country together with her child.This short sentence represented more than fifty years of her life experiences.Interestingly, Yolden’s experiences were almost identical to hers.Yolden had also decided to return to Oskia after his wife had passed away.Matilda had originally thought that the difference between Yolden and herself was that Yolden had come back to the country alone while his daughter stayed abroad. However, now that she was suddenly meeting Autumn, she realized that Yolden’s child ha
“Of course!” Autumn replied seriously, “I’m not an old feudalist. You’re already old, and you should also have a companion in the future. I’ll definitely give my complete approval if you really manage to pursue Aunt Hall hereafter. So, you do not have to worry about anything and just pursue her. Just let me know if you need my help with anything.”In truth, Autumn was somewhat originally resistant to the thought of her father falling in love again.This was because she had always been very angry with her father because of her mother’s death. She believed that her father had a somewhat unshirkable responsibility for her mother’s death.However, because of her experience in Syria this time, she had become more tolerant and understanding toward her father.The reason why her father had been traveling everywhere and working so hard all these years was because he wanted to give his family a better financial foundation so that they would have a better living environment. He had never had
After Charlie had sent the Hart father and daughter duo home, he instructed the MPV to head to Shangri-La.Rosalie had been waiting for her mother, Yashita, and she was already getting impatient after waiting all night.When the car arrived at the entrance of the hotel, Charlie said to Isaac, “Mr. Cameron, you can send Madam Harker up. I’ll not be going up.”Yashita hurriedly asked, “Master Wade, aren’t you coming up for a short while?”Charlie smiled and said, “No, I won’t. It’s already getting late, so I’ll be going home directly.”Yashita nodded and then said, “Alright, then. Thank you for making this trip specially to send me here. Master Wade, you can just call me directly if you need me for anything in the future!”Charlie then said, “Okay. We can get in touch through our phones. We have already agreed in advance that I’ll pay the Harker family one hundred million dollars a year. So, please send me a bank account later, Madam Harker. I’ll transfer the money directly. As for
“Okay.” Charlie did not say much either, and he said, “Please send me a text message, then.”Very soon, Charlie received a text message with a string of numbers that made up an American phone number.Charlie dialed this number directly, and he waited for a few seconds before there was a prompt stating that the line was connected.Chandler’s voice sounded over the other end of the line. “Hello, who is this?”Charlie spoke up, “Master Chandler, it’s me, Charlie.”When Chandler heard and recognized Charlie’s voice, he said in surprise, “Oh! It’s Young Master Wade! Why are you calling me so suddenly?”Charlie then said, “This is the case. I’d like to ask you about a person. I wonder if it’s convenient for you?”Chandler hurriedly said, “Please go ahead and speak.”Charlie asked, “Do you know an old man named Carvalho Mason? He is also an American-Oskian.”“Carvalho Mason?!” Chandler asked in surprise, “Young Master Wade, did you see him?”“Yes.” Charlie said indifferently, “I saw
Twenty minutes later.The taxi stopped in front of the entrance of the Mount Phoenix Cemetery, which was the largest cemetery in the suburbs of Aurous Hill.The cemetery here occupied several nearby hills, and it had a very large area. Many people would usually come here during the day to pay their respects, but at night, there was not even a dog in sight here.The taxi dropped the great-grandfather and great-grandchild duo off at the gate of the cemetery before the taxi driver stepped on the accelerator and scurried away.Mason surveyed the white jade large gate in front of him under the dim moonlight, and he could not help but feel a little nervous as he said, “Great-grandpa, why is there not even a single staff working at this place?”Carvalho shook his head. “I’m not sure either. The gate is closed, but we do not know whether it is locked. Why don’t you help me go over there and take a look?”The both of them came to the gate. When Mason pushed the gate, the iron gate did not
“He’s really dead?!” When Mason heard this, he was immediately frightened to death as he said nervously, “This… isn’t this the zombies that we see in movies?!”“No!” Carvalho waved his hand and said seriously, “This is what happens when a person is infected with a parasitic worm. He is no longer driven by his consciousness, but he is driven by the parasitic worm.”“Parasitic worm?!” Mason was dumbfounded as he asked, “What is the principle behind that thing?!”Carvalho said seriously, “There is not much principle. It is just a kind of ruthless metaphysics mystery. For parasitic worms, the lower level is to just raise a bunch of poisonous worms so that they can kill one another. The worm that survives to the end is the parasitic worm. However, that kind of parasitic method is relatively lowly, and it is similar to raising a poisonous snake or a wolfhound so that you can release it to bite people. There is not much technical content.”As Carvalho spoke, he changed the topic and said,
Carvalho looked at Mason and explained, “You might think that things such as parasitic worms seem to be untraceable and are very unscientific, but in truth, it is actually very scientific.”As he spoke, Carvalho then explained further, “A parasitic worm feeds on the human brain. Moreover, it needs to be a fresh human brain. This also means that the person must have just died not too long ago. Although the human brain has been devoured by the parasitic worm and has lost the entire central control nervous system, the person’s bodily functions do not lose their vitality immediately. It is just like how a brain-dead person would often still have a heartbeat and blood circulation.”“The reason why a parasitic worm is so magical is because after it feeds on the human brain, it can temporarily take over the human’s central nervous system and perform a simple manipulation and control of the human’s body.”“For instance, the security guard just now could walk all the way here because he is u
Carvalho did not know how to respond to his words. So, he could only respond with a bout of forced laughter.Falco looked at the security guard who was standing motionless beside him as he reached out his hand and suddenly shouted, “Come back!”At this time, a white worm that could be compared to the size of an adult sea cucumber suddenly drilled out of the security guard’s hair. The worm was white and fat, and it had a large mouth that was filled with black and broken teeth. There was also some red and white residue left on its teeth, and it looked incredibly disgusting.After coming out from the top of the security guard’s head, it suddenly twisted its body like a carp before it flew up into the air and flew directly into Falco’s hand.Falco held the fat worm with one hand as he stroked it lovingly with his other hand.As for the worm, it rolled back and forth on the palm of his hand as it emitted some strange and bizarre squeaking sound. Falcon continued stroking the worm as
As Zachary agreed to do a favor for Vintage Deluxe's Mick Crane in passing, he and Jacob agreed to meet up at 7pm at the car park by Antique Street.He first took Jacob back to the Calligraphy and Painting Association and called Billy, one of his boys whom he thought was smarter than the rest, giving him the gist of the plan and telling him to familiarize himself with the script.Then, he took the sculpture back to Heaven Springs and met up with Billy in office, telling Billy what to do in finer detail and making sure he committed everything to memory.Zachary's strength as a judge of character certainly proved itself—Billy had never done anything like this before, but he took to the plan like fish to water. He committed the script to memory soon enough, and he was flawless.Once he made sure that Billy was fine, Zachary called Mick.As soon as Mick answered, he immediately asked, "Hello, Mr. Evans. How is that thing we talked about going?"Zachary chuckled. All the arrangements
Zachary continued, "Why do you think casinos are always making a profit? It's exactly because no matter how unassuming a guest is the first time, they would be allowed to win a couple of hands, making a little profit.""And suddenly, they would think that they are the chosen one, destined to win against all odds and always come out triumphant! Once such radical, blind confidence hits them, every last bit of his money would be lost to the casino!""At that point, you can get anything from them—their house, their wife, their children… hell, they'd be willing to die if you'd just let them gamble again!"Turning toward Jacob with a grin, Zachary then asked, "So, with all the points I made and that sculpture you're holding… Do you still think Raymond wouldn't fall for it?"Jacob laughed out loud. "Oh, talk about a plan within a plan! No one would ever see it coming! Raymond Cole is so screwed!"Zachary smiled and nodded. "That's why there's no reason to rush—I'll arrange a man to get r
As soon as they drove out of the village, Jacob asked Zachary eagerly, "So, when do you think we should make our move? I can't wait!"Zachary didn't hesitate, "Let's do it today. It's better than waiting! I'll get someone reliable to bring this to Treasure Measure and get him interested. I'm sure that since he has just returned to Antique Street, he'll need a hot deal to generate hype and make himself known. That's why I'm sure he'll take this sculpture."Jacob nodded repeatedly as he chuckled. "I think so too. Today is definitely best since I'll be going to Dubai soon and probably leaving once I'm done with this. Once you get this settled by the end of today, I'll get tickets for the flight tomorrow!"Zachary grinned. "Don't worry, chief. We will definitely get it settled today…"He trailed off for a moment before continuing, "Still, you should be a little patient. We should do this in the evening—at the second just before Raymond Cole closes shop.""But why?" Jacob asked in curi
Jacob was naturally gleeful that he could get the late medieval bronze sculpture along with its base. Right after he wired the agreed upon ninety-eight grand to Mr. Cardensky, he was already imagining how Raymond would buy it from him for several hundred grand.On the other hand, once Mr. Cardensky received the transfer, he saw the name on the account: Jacob Wilson.He was left perplexed—wasn't that man's last name Montague? Who was this Jacob Wilson?Still, he didn't worry about it too much since most antique hustlers preferred to work with anonymity and therefore, using a different name was perfectly normal.He then carefully wrapped up the bronze sculpture before passing it Jacob, asking politely, "Would you happen to have any other requests, Mr. Montague? I have plenty of other items here if you'd permit me to give an introduction."Jacob shook his head, "Just this sculpture will do. I'm not fully confident in your work either since this is our first deal, so I'm just trying i
Jacob asked, "Then, what would this sculpture be worth if it was genuine?"Mr. Cardensky thought about it. "Well, there are standards when it comes to Renaissance relics, but with something this exquisite, it'd definitely be auctionable for one or two million—and that's the conservative estimate.""How much would you sell it to me for?" Jacob then asked."Thirty percent of the market price," Mr. Cardensky quickly replied. "As I've said, the conservative estimate for this one is around one to two million, so we will set the price with the median estimate value at 1.5 million. And thirty percent means 450 grand."Jacob shook his head right away. "No, no, no… that's too expensive. What if I end up unable to sell it, on top of that?"In his mind, while he could barely accept that pricing, he still needed Raymond to be able to afford it if he wanted to swindle Raymond for twice the money.Mr. Cardensky quickly chuckled, "Oh, Mr. Montague—now you're being too serious. In this business,
"Okay!"Mr. Cardensky smiled and pointed at a nearby farmyard. "There's our workshop—the good stuff is all in there. Allow me to take you there!"The farmyard seemed uninteresting at first glance, but Mr. Cardensky soon led them to the stables and brushed off the straws covering the floor, revealing a plank laid flat on the ground.Mr. Cardensky then lifted it, revealing a passage below—they had dug a cellar into the ground beneath, with the stables as an entry point.As Jacob followed Mr. Cardensky down the cellar, he exclaimed in awe, "Your operation is definitely big, digging such a huge cellar!"Mr. Cardensky smiled humbly. "Anyone working in the business would have sustained their losses before. In the end, we're all folk of humble origins, starting out with raiding tombs or excavating artifacts. Just digging a cellar is really nothing."As they conversed, they cleared the stairs and arrived at the main hall.It was certainly a hall as it was around a hundred square meters,
Zachary nodded repeatedly. "Mr. Montague? Very well!""Yes!" Jacob grinned smugly. "Longer last names are simply better—it just sounds so authoritative."With that agreed upon, both men alighted, where the master was waiting nearby.Seeing them get off, he hurried over to them, smiling, "Please, follow me."Zachary looked around and huffed, "Honestly, Mr. Cardensky, isn't this way too far from the highway? The road is narrow and terrible, and I have to park my car all the way out here. Just coming here is taxing."Mr. Cardensky smiled in turn. "My friend, that's exactly why we picked this place. Do you remember seeing a couple of cars parked by the road, occupying half of it?""We arranged for them to be there. Anyone coming by car would have to slow down that way, buying time for us to see who they truly are. If it's cops, our watchers would quietly text us while we clean the house and bail."Zachary exclaimed in realization, "You boys really run a tight ship!""For sure," Mr.
After working in Antique Street for years, Zachary's connections and influence were naturally special. And yet, though he was acquainted with some of the more impressive individuals, he was not that close with them either.For example, the forgery masters who worked specifically to deceive experts only accepted jobs from major clients, usually antique traders high in social status and wealth.In contrast, they wouldn't ever be interested in frivolous people like Zachary. Even if he could reach them, they might not look at him twice.If one would describe them as the cartel boss, then Zachary would be a low-level enforcer, managing night joints or goofing off.But now, Zachary had turned over a new leaf—he worked under Don Albert, so one of those masters was pleasantly surprised when he called one of them, inviting him to his own workshop for a visit and further discussion.As such, Zachary picked up Jacob and went over to the master's hideout where the latter worked on his count
Zachary was naturally shrewd enough to read Jacob's intention.In reality, he wasn't offering to pay just because he wanted the profit. He merely wanted to get in Jacob's good graces. After all, wouldn't Jacob be even more grateful that he wasn't just helping his revenge but also helping him make money?As such, he didn't hesitate to tell Jacob, "Well, chief—since you'll be paying, I will make sure that you will get every cent of profit that you deserve."Jacob was grinning ear-to-ear, but he said, "Oh, you don't have to! If we really are making a profit, there's no way I would let your good work go unrewarded!"Spreading his arms, he continued generously, "How about this? I will pay the full cost while you get twenty percent of the net profit!"Zachary laughed. "Now, that can wait, chief. We need to pay as soon as we decide on the item we want, and there's no time for buyer's regret. But if Raymond doesn't take the bait, all that money will go down the drain, and whether we can s