Inspired by Dorothy’s speech, Quinn trotted back to her private lounge alone with her cell phone.There, she immediately called Charlie.At that moment, Charlie was lying on the recliner sofa in the hotel. He was bored out of his mind.Claire had gone to class, so he was left alone in the hotel with nothing to do. He was dying from the sheer boredom. Porter’s subordinates had arrived in New York one after the other, but they still couldn’t find any clues related to Finley. He seemed to have disappeared without a trace, not even leaving his scent behind.Upon realizing that Quinn was calling him, he pressed the answer button immediately to answer the call.Quinn's sweet voice reached his ears. “Brother Charlie, are you busy?”“No…” Charlie stretched his back and laughed. “I'm just being lazy. What's up? Is there something wrong?”Quinn said in a somewhat coquettish tone, “It’s like this, Brother Charlie… I’ll be going to the United States soon, and the New York Oskian Chamber
After all, there was a large difference in strength between the two sides.Trying to find someone who was an acquaintance of the Acker family in the Oskian Chamber of Commerce was even more difficult than picking out Lionel Messi from the national football team.After that, Charlie’s worries were no more.However, he was unable to push away the lingering unease within him, partly because he and his men had yet to find Finley.As such, he ordered Porter to send some men to secretly protect Quinn's safety after she arrived in New York....Meanwhile… After Quinn confirmed that Charlie was willing to accompany her to the charity dinner, she relayed her reply to Nathaniel.Nathaniel was thrilled beyond words to have received a positive reply. He was quick to inform Homer of the good news as well.Homer was naturally ecstatic.He didn’t expect Finley’s bait would be so effective! To think he was able to lure Quinn Golding, the number one female singer in Oskia, into his trap so e
The Ten Thousand Armies deployed over a thousand soldiers to New York for several days in a row, but they still failed to track down Finley's whereabouts.Porter was very ashamed about this, and he called Charlie almost every day to apologize.Charlie didn’t blame him. He knew that in looking for clues, a complete chain was necessary. If a link was missing, it would be impossible to restore the chain. Without a proper trail, nothing could be found. Forget the Ten Thousand Armies, even the United States' National Security Agency would fail. Finley couldn’t be found at all since his arrival at the New York JFK Airport, and the Ten Thousand Armies was temporarily unable to fill in this small hole in their search. Naturally, it was impossible for them to find Finley's whereabouts.Porter soon thought of a way to break out of their predicament. He planned to investigate all the vehicles and helicopters that entered and left the airport within a few hours after Finley's arrival in New Y
After pausing for a moment, Finley continued, “Once their customer enters an indoor environment, they would conduct a security check of the surroundings to sniff out any bugging or filming equipment inside, and to determine if there are any security risks. If they confirm the room to be safe, they will only focus on the entrance and the exit of the room, which is generally the door and the windows.”“In guarding indoors, they’d generally arrange for guards at all of the windows and the doors. The only exception is the bedroom window. If it’s a room on the first floor by the window, they’ll arrange for manpower outside the window. It’s quite complex, you see. If someone attacks from the outside, the bodyguards inside will react first. Their colleagues inside will also be informed about the attack immediately.”“If we attack from the window on the first floor, we’ll have to deal with the bodyguards outside first. If we go to the upper floors, we’ll have to deal with the bodyguards insi
Finley’s perfect plans sent Homer into a world of excitement. It sounded flawless, as if everything had been well thought out.After the accident, The Palace Hotel belonging to Homer's family won’t have to bear too much of the blame. Everything happened because of the mole, after all. As the saying goes, it was difficult to prevent a thief in one's own home. Fisher would take the fall. Thinking of this, Homer asked, "What about Fisher Charles's family?"Finley curled his lips, his face sinister. "There’s no other way. We have to kill them all. I’ll get the ninjas to kidnap Fisher’s family and pass them to my subordinate. After the incident, I’ll have the ninjas leave the United States and order my subordinates to kill Fisher’s family. When the police find the corpses, they’ll definitely think that it was the ninjas’ doing. They’d believe the story I made up even more!"Homer was rather startled. It took him a long while before he spoke. His voice was slow as he said, “You’re…goi
Ito Yahiko eventually had the last laugh. The Igas couldn’t fight back and were repeatedly suppressed.When the Iga family's strength plummeted, Yahiko threw them an olive branch.For the sake of the Iga clan’s future, Hattori Hanzo, the current head of the Iga family of this generation, could only submit to the Ito family.Hattori Hanzo was in truth more of a title rather than a name. Every Iga clan head would change his real name to Hattori Hanzo after inheriting the position.At this moment, the current Hattori Hanzo had just received a phone call from an American.The strange American gave him an offer that he could hardly refuse.That American was willing to pay eighty million US dollars to hire eight Iga ninjas for a mission in the United States.Although the other party didn’t specify exactly what the mission was, the offer of eighty million US dollars still made Hattori Hanzo's heart skip a happy beat.Ever since the destruction of the Matsumoto family, the Iga family w
The eighty million US dollars promised by Finley to the Iga family would be paid in two installments.Firstly, fifty percent was paid in the form of a deposit. The remaining fifty percent would be paid after the mission had been successfully completed.Finley also gave a promise of an additional two million US dollars pension for each ninja, in case they died during the mission.In order to ensure the successful completion of the task, Hattori Hanzo sent his only son, Hattori Kazuo, for the mission.He specifically instructed Kazuo to lead the team to the United States. Kazuo must ensure the smooth completion of the mission and a triumphant return, as much as possible.Hanzo called Kazuo into his study for this very reason. After informing Kazuo the situation, he told Kazuo, “Kazuo, you should select seven of your best men and go to the United States as soon as possible!”Kazuo was a little concerned. “Father, we’ve already sworn allegiance to the Ito family. Shouldn't we report
Once they stopped paying , the ninja profession would lose its ground for survival.Therefore, the Iga family must find a way to stand on its own feet. As Kazuo thought of this, his face grew solemn and serious. “Father, I understand what you have in mind! Please don’t worry. I’ll do my utmost best to complete the mission!”Hanzo nodded, satisfied. He urged, “Kazuo, you have to be careful. Make sure you keep a low profile when you go to the United States. Don’t use your original identity when you enter the country, and don’t let the Ito family find out about this mission.”Hanzo then added, “I also want you to examine the situation in the United States when you’re there. The ninjas’ survival in Japan might already be very poor, but it’ll certainly be much better in the United States. If the conditions are appropriate, we might as well bring the entire Iga family over to the United States!”“To the United States?!” Kazuo’s eyes widened in surprise. “Father, the situation in the Un
No one except Raymond expected that the terms would be agreed upon so quickly.He was utterly confident in his judgment and even more so in his value appraisal.He was convinced that once they had a good look, any one of these collectors who could afford twenty million wouldn't miss this bargain.After all, an opportunity to secure an item worth millions more than the price they paid was very rare.In fact, when the other nine collectors heard that the first collector was buying it, it was only to be expected even if it left them all gloomy. They had all held the bronze sculpture in their hands—they knew it was definitely worth that much.However, no one in the room was more shocked than Trippy.He looked utterly flabbergasted, his eyes wide and bulging as he stared at the bronze sculpture while asking himself the same question repeatedly.Was that crap really worth twenty million? How?!While Trippy was still stunned, Raymond had already sent his payment details to the first
Unable to nitpick on the air stewardess' response, Elaine pouted, "Well, try to ask management to improve on your first-class cabins anyway. Maybe even make a premium-class or something since it's not like we can't afford it."The air stewardess quickly said, "We will definitely relay your message to the management."Nodding in satisfaction, Elaine waved her off. "Alright. You can go back to work now."Clearly relieved, the air stewardess bowed her head respectfully. "Always happy to be of service."After the air stewardess left, Jacob asked Elaine in curiosity, "Was the private jet that good?"Elaine rolled her eyes. "Didn't you see the stuff I posted in the chat group?""Not really," Jacob blurted. Elaine was ready to snap at him for not caring, but considering that they had made up now and she shouldn't fuss too much over the little things, she snorted, "Just remember to like and comment on all my posts in the chat group, otherwise, I will make you regret it!""No problem!"
While the ten collectors were taking turns studying the bronze sculpture, Jacob and Elaine were boarding their flight.As they were flying first-class, they had priority over the other passengers and boarded from the separate plug door at the first-class section.The capacity of the Boeing 777 was huge, and the wide-body aircraft could be connected to a special double corridor bridge where first class and business class passengers boarded separately from the economy class passengers.As the terminals to economy class and business class were connected, Elaine and Jacob were able to get through the first-class terminal unimpeded, but the passengers in economy class had a queue of over two hundred passengers. Even as she walked, Elaine was looking over her shoulder and exclaiming at Jacob, "Must be nice being rich! We used to have to queue like the rest of them, waiting for over thirty minutes just to board our flight." "In first class, we may be in the same plane, but we don't hav
Meanwhile, once Raymond had briefed everyone about the rules, he opened the door and invited everyone into Treasure Measure.It was not that wide but appeared spacious since the interior was mostly empty—it was not really crowded even with thirty-ish people.Then, locking the door from the inside, Raymond told them, "I can tell from everyone's faces that we are all veterans here, so I'm sure you understand the rules while appraising: no photos or videos, thank you very much."Indeed, there were many rules that governed the hobby, the most important being respecting the seller's requests and privacy.As the collectors listened, they knew that Raymond was selling but did not want the public to know too much about him.They all nodded, and those who had their phones out slid them back into their pockets.With that, Raymond took out the bronze sculpture that he had brought, leaving Trippy a little surprised.He had never seen the bronze sculpture with his own eyes before, only from
"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