When Shunpei heard that Roger was asking him to lead a team to conduct research and investigation in Oskia, he was overjoyed. He basically agreed without hesitation, and he stood up straight like a soldier as he bowed and said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Roger. I will do my best to complete the mission!”Roger was very satisfied with Shunpei’s attitude, and he said, “You have to make sure to give me all of the details without letting go of any clues when you arrive in Oskia!”Shunpei nodded repeatedly and said without hesitation, “I will do my best!”Although Shunpei had already been working hard in the United States for many years, he had never been given much attention in the European and American-dominated teams because he was of Asian descent. So, he had never been given any good opportunities for promotions either. As he grew older, Shunpei had begun to worry about his future ever since the past two years. His current income in the United States was not much, but it would not be r
When the outside world learned that The Apothecary Pharmaceutical had a new drug and a new health product that was about to be launched into the market, almost everyone awaited the official release of these two products eagerly. This was because in their opinion, if The Apothecary Pharmaceutical could develop a special drug for cancer and the Apothecary Stomach Pill was also extremely good on its own, the level of the other products that it released naturally would not be too bad either and might even be amongst the best.The Apothecary Pharmaceutical’s several factories in Oskia and Japan were all soon producing at full capacity. According to Liam’s plan, the Apothecary Liver Protection Pill and the Apothecary Gold-Life Renewal Pill would officially be launched worldwide in a month. The Apothecary Pharmaceutical was working in full swing in no time, and Liam felt a hint of discomfort.Ever since the news of the Apothecary Restoration Pill had come out, he realized that there wer
When Porter heard Charlie’s question, he explained, “Ten Thousand Armies used to be in the mercenary field, and our biggest competitors were all in the United States. So, we set up an anonymous intelligence trading network in the United States, and theoretically, anyone who feels that they have some kind of valuable information can then submit an application to sell clues and information in this intelligence network of ours.”Charlie asked curiously, “I want to know how exactly this trading network of yours operates?”Porter continued speaking, “Firstly, we searched for more suitable breakthrough subjects amongst the more elite group in all walks of life in the United States. Such subjects are generally the kind of people who have a greater desire for money or are facing a major problem with their financial situation. They would be bent on making money, and as long as the opportunity presents itself, they would never let it go.”“After finding such a person, we would then contact th
With that being said, Porter then added, “By the way, Mr. Wade, in addition to them taking the initiative to sell the intelligence to us, we will also take the initiative to occasionally acquire the information. For instance, we will push some keywords to them such as the Apothecary Restoration Pill. If we are very concerned about it, we will send the information out to our informants directly, telling them that we are currently seeking information related to the Apothecary Restoration Pill. This way, the probability of us collecting the intelligence would be higher. So, if you need to pay any attention to any aspects of intelligence in the future, you can just tell me the keywords, and I will have the person-in-charge secretly follow up on this matter and get him to release information soliciting for leads directly, then.”Charlie was grateful, and he said “Okay! This intelligence network has really exceeded my expectations! It’s excellent! Perhaps it might really be of great use in
Porter’s intelligence network quickly impressed Charlie again soon.As Porter searched for news of the Rejuvenating Pill within the intelligence network, he immediately found several pieces of intelligence information that were being sold anonymously. Porter bought all of this information and forwarded it to Charlie. Charlie then carefully sorted through this batch of intelligence information that was related to the Rejuvenating Pill, and he realized that not all of this intelligence information contained good content.There were only three relatively reliable ones. The first one was: “It’s now known that there is a divine medicine that can bring the dead back to life and rejuvenate the old. It is called the Rejuvenating Pill, and the reason why the last Queen of Northern Europe could recover from her illness was because of this medicine. This medicine comes from Oskia, and it is extremely mysterious!”The second was: “The famous Oskian-American Fengshui master, Chandler Lenna
Charlie asked him, “Since these informants of yours are developed offline, their identities are not confidential to you, right?”“Correct.” Porter explained, “We know who they are so that we can ensure that they will not make up some fake information on the intelligence network to sell to us. However, we will also do our best to protect their privacy to ensure that only we will know about it and that no one else will be able to find out about them after they sell the information to us.”As Porter spoke, he then added, “By the way, Mr. Wade, if you are interested in this intelligence network, I can send you a software installation package later. I can create a top authority management account for you so that you can operate directly on it if you want to search for any intelligence in this network in the future.”Charlie smiled and said, “That would be great, if it’s convenient.”Charlie was really eager to search for his father’s name on the system to see if he could find out any re
For the next two days, a large number of Albert’s subordinates were gathered at the airport and the high-speed railway station.They were all dressed up in various disguises, and they secretly photographed all the foreigners who entered Aurous Hill over the past two days before they then sent the photographs over to Isaac.More than ten soldiers from Ten Thousand Armies hid near The Apothecary Pharmaceutical’s factory, and they screened every suspicious person who appeared. However, after Shunpei and his team arrived in Aurous Hill, they did not go to the vicinity of The Apothecary Pharmaceutical directly. Instead, they rented a villa in the suburbs of Aurous Hill first as they were waiting for the United States to use a special channel to give them the instruments and equipment they needed for various experiments. At the same time, the popularity of the Apothecary Restoration Pill continued to rise.This was because the Americans did not dare to violate the terms of the agreeme
Several pirate forces in the Gulf of Aden had decided to combine forces to hijack six cargo ships at one go at noon on the same day.As soon as the news came out, the whole world was shocked!This included Charlie, who also received push notifications from all the major news media right away.The method employed by the pirates in the Gulf of Aden to hijack cargo ships was very simple and brutal. It was nothing more than employing the use of speedboats to intercept the slow-moving cargo ships as well as using a variety of weapons to deter the opponent and force them to give up resistance. After that, the pirates would then board the ship and control all the crew members before driving the cargo ship back to their home base as they waited for the owner of the ship to pay the ransom in order to redeem his men.This time, when they hijacked several other ships, they were met with resistance from international security personnel, and both sides suffered casualties.However, only the pr
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