Charlie’s unquestionable tone as well as his unrelenting threat made Carvalho feel extremely nervous. What Carvalho feared the most in his life was getting into trouble. The true portrayal of his adult life over the past seventy to eighty years was to escape at the slightest whiff of trouble.This time, if it was not because he was really moved after seeing Chandler’s good opportunity, even if he were to get beaten to death, he would not have come all the way to Oskia to take such risks when he was already more than a hundred years old.When he saw that he had provoked a ruthless person such as Charlie at this time, the only thing that came to his mind was to hurry up and withdraw.So, he softened his tone as he looked at Charlie and pleaded, “Mr. Wade, I really do not know Falco Xanthos well. I’m already very old, and I also have various illnesses. Please do not make things difficult for me…”Charlie did not look at him. Instead, he simply spoke loudly through the door, “Mr. Cam
Charlie spoke up at this time, “Master Lennard, you have also heard it for yourself. This person is extremely timid, and he has no sense of responsibility at all. I naturally cannot let him go just like that. I’ll spare his life if he helps me catch Falco Xanthos, but if he continues being so slow-witted and stubborn and is going to allow Falco Xanthos to continue terrorizing and harming people, I’ll have to kill him!”Carvalho became anxious, and he blurted out, “You’re such a young man, but you’re so cruel! I’ve already been friends with Chandler for so many years! So, don’t you have any feelings at all?!”As soon as Chandler heard this, he immediately said, “Carvalho, don’t try to sow discord here. I’m not asking Young Master Wade to give you a way out for my sake!”Carvalho had originally planned to make use of Chandler so that he could ask for Charlie’s leniency. However, he would not have expected Chandler to draw such a clear line with him. So, he felt very indignant as he sa
When Charlie saw Carvalho pleading desperately as he knelt on the ground, Charlie felt a little nauseated, and he said coldly, “If you want to be able to return to the United States in this lifetime, you’d better cooperate with me honestly to catch Falco Xanthos. If we manage to catch Falco Xanthos before he kills again, I’ll allow you to go back alive. Otherwise, you should be prepared to die in Aurous Hill just as I’ve mentioned before!”When Carvalho heard these words, he naturally did not dare to refute Charlie’s words or show any resistance at all. His face was filled with tears as he said, “I’ll do as Young Master Wade asks of me. I’ll act according to your command…”At this time, Carvalho also realized that Charlie, who was in front of him, was someone that he could never afford to provoke.‘Everything else aside, Chandler’s ability is already way above my level. However, Chandler is treating Charlie with so much reverence and respect. It is already obvious that this man is a
Charlie spoke up, “It’s simple. Just tell him that you want to discuss a condition with him face to face before you give him this relevant clue.”Mason asked again, “What would the specific condition be?”Charlie said indifferently, “You can just say that you feel that he is earning money too easily. You’re already so old, and you had to come all the way here and work so hard over the last few days in Aurous Hill. You’ve worked much harder as compared to him. So, you hope that you’ll be able to obtain a certain amount of reward from him.”Carvalho nodded. After that, he was a little nervous as he said, “Young Master Wade, you might not understand Falco Xanthos’s personality. He is an extremely ruthless person. When he asked me to meet him at the Mount Phoenix Cemetery the last time, he obviously did that to show me what he is capable of. If I were to negotiate terms with him at this time and ask him to give me a share of his money, he will certainly want to kill me…”Charlie said,
Falco was indeed secretly observing Carvalho and Mason.However, just as Charlie had speculated, he did not enter the interior of Shangri-La directly. Instead, he chose to stay hidden in the shadows outside Shangri-La. This was mainly because Shangri-La was too crowded and had a very good surveillance system. If there was no help, the possibility of completely concealing himself from the surveillance cameras was basically zero. Falco felt that based on his skills, he would be able to keep guard and keep an eye on every single person who entered and exited the hotel closely. As long as Carvalho and his great-grandson were to leave the hotel, he would be able to tail them all the way. He did not trust Carvalho at all. On one hand, he was afraid that Carvalho would slack off from working to help him find the mysterious person, and on the other hand, he was also worried that Carvalho would take all the credit for himself.After all, in Falco’s opinion, Carvalho was not easy to deal
Carvalho forced out another burst of laughter as he said, “Master Xanthos, as the saying goes, ‘When men stop looking out for themselves, that will be the end of the world’. I came all the way to Oskia from afar just so I could make some money. After all, I’ve never done this kind of harmful thing before, so I might have a guilty conscience for the rest of my life in the future. That is the reason why I’ll have to make some more money to make up for this fact.”As he spoke, Carvalho continued saying, “It has already been a few days since I brought Mason to Oskia with me. The both of us have truly faced quite many difficulties, and we’ve worked extremely hard to look around for various clues everywhere before this.”As he spoke, Carvalho then said, “But Master Xanthos, you’ve just arrived in Aurous Hill. If I were to give the clues to you today, perhaps you might even be able to kill that man tonight. After that, you’ll be able to receive your share of the money and leave just like th
Falco had a vicious expression on his face after he hung up the phone.He really would not have expected that the old b*stard, Carvalho, would actually dare to negotiate terms with him.Just as he was feeling a little resentful in his heart, he suddenly felt something writhing around in his pocket. Falco hurriedly reached out his hand as he took out his native parasitic worm from his pocket.After the fat white worm came out of his pocket, it began twisting its body as it made squeaking sounds, almost as though it was protesting out of extreme dissatisfaction.Falco stroked it gently as he comforted it and said, “Don’t be anxious. I know that you’re not full from your last meal. Don’t worry. I’ve already prepared two meals for you tonight, and I’ll certainly make sure that you have a good meal!”What was rather interesting was the fact that the fat and white worm seemed to be able to understand Falco’s words.After Falco had said that he would make sure that it’d have a good meal
Albert did not dare to cause any delay, and he hurriedly handed a key over to Charlie as he spoke up, “Young Master Wade, feel free to contact me if you have any problems.”“Okay.” Charlie nodded slightly, and he shook the car key as he spoke up, “I’ll leave first.”After he was done speaking, Charlie got into the driver’s seat and started the car before driving toward Shangri-La.When Charlie arrived at the entrance of Shangri-La, Carvalho also walked out of the hotel lobby.Charlie drove the car in front of him as he rolled down the car window, spoke up, and asked, “Do you need a taxi?”“Yes!” Carvalho nodded and said, “I’m going to Mount Phoenix Cemetery.”“You want to go to Mount Phoenix Cemetery?” Charlie pretended to be horrified as he said, “It is already so late at night, so why would you want to go to that kind of place? I won’t go there. That place is bad luck.”Carvalho hurriedly said, “Young man, there is something that I have to do at Mount Phoenix Cemetery. If you
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