Charlie looked at Janus Campbell with a little surprise before asking in a low voice, “Janus, what do you think is the problem here?”Charlie had learned to be calm at all times as his strength continuously improved. Therefore, he no longer had to be tense at all times. After all, he was powerful enough to deal with any emergency at ease.However, it was different for Janus.Janus had come to the United States many years ago, and ever since then, he had stayed vigilant and lived cautiously.On one hand, he was worried that the immigration bureau would find out about his illegal immigrant identity, and on the other hand, he was worried that Long, a rich man from Hong Kong, would send someone after him. That was why he constantly stayed vigilant about everything around him. He was very alert with an acute sense of danger.Janus was very stern as he said in a low voice, “Charlie, something about the details just feels wrong to me.”Then, he shared all his doubts and suspicions wit
Charlie realized that Homer was Kathleen’s nephew after reading the message.Charlie told Quinn, “Well, I happen to know Homer’s aunt.”“Huh?” Quinn asked in surprise, “How do you know his aunt?”Charlie scoffed and replied with a smile, “It’s a rather long story.”Charlie soon received another message on his phone: [Mr. Wade, Finley and Homer used to study in the same college. Their enrollment years were the same. They were collegemates.]‘F*ck!’ Charlie quietly cursed in his heart. After reading the message, everything became crystal clear in his head. He thought to himself, ‘No wonder we couldn’t find Finley anywhere at all! He had come to New York for Homer’s protection!’‘The Fox family is strong. Besides, New York is their territory too. How can Ten Thousand Armies fight the Fox family along with their power and resources in New York?!’‘If Finley had continued to stay in hiding in the Fox family, Ten Thousand Armies would never have been able to find his whereabouts even
Janus could not understand. He had told Charlie everything about the matter’s danger and severity, but despite that, Charlie was unmoved.He sighed quietly and pondered, ‘Does Charlie really think he can keep this under control?’As he thought of that, he could not help but sigh. ‘Charlie’s courage is commendable. He is brave, but he just can’t see the big picture... What if he can’t escape today? Will Master Curtis’s descendant be doomed?’Janus was shocked by his thoughts. He knew Curtis only had a son, which was Charlie, however, he had only recently learned that Charlie was still alive.He could not allow his benefactor’s only son to die here.He had survived for more than twenty years and had no regrets. However, Charlie was still young. He was the child of Curtis and Ashley. Janus could not just watch him die here!Janus immediately took out his phone and attempted to call the police at once.He no longer cared about Charlie’s reaction. Charlie might stop him or get angry,
Only Charlie could hear everything happening outside the door.He recalled his experience when he had faced the Fujibayashi family ninjas in Japan. He could sense the movements outside with his keen senses. The enemies outside were using the shuriken as their weapon. It was the same weapon that Fujibayashi Aota had used at that time! He frowned a little and scoffed disdainfully. “Hmph. It’s the Japanese Ninja!”Right after that, he quietly grabbed the Soul Blade in his hand.Quinn overheard his mutters and asked in a surprise, “Charlie, what are you talking about? What Japanese Nin-”Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by someone suddenly kicking the door open!Immediately afterward, Kazuo led seven Iga ninjas into the room.As the two girls screamed in fright, Kazuo coldly ordered the ninja beside him, “Kill everyone here except for the women. Don’t let them li-”Kazuo was then unable to finish his sentence because when he looked up and saw Charlie sitti
Janus and Quinn were completely stunned.Quinn had absolutely no idea about what was going on. Meanwhile, Janus could not understand why the group that had come in with murderous intent was now kneeling and begging for mercy as soon as they had seen Charlie. Janus, Quinn, and Dorothy had no idea what had brought upon Kazuo’s fear. They could not understand why Kazuo was scared to death upon seeing Charlie.Kazuo could feel the abnormal heartbeat in his heart, and his heart rate became so fast that it hurt badly.He could not help recalling the shocking scene he had witnessed on Mount Wintry that day. Charlie had merely used a small stone and easily killed a War King by kicking the stone at him. Charlie could easily end their lives if he was unhappy!Kazuo had no choice but to keep begging for mercy. He hoped that Charlie would spare their lives.Charlie then spoke with a playful smile, “Kazuo, right? Close the door first.” Kazuo nodded pathetically and hurriedly stood up befor
Charlie nodded before he spoke, “To tell you the truth, one of the masterminds behind this incident today is here now. He is Homer Fox from the New York Fox family.”“I would like you to help me kidnap him and take him away according to the plan you’ve just mentioned. Transport him to the port, but not to Finley George. I will arrange for someone to contact you and take him away. Once this is done, the eight of you will follow my men and leave. They will keep you safe.”Kazuo had never met Homer Fox in person. However, he was aware of the New York Fox family’s reputation and strength.The Fox family was powerful, and even the Ito family from Japan was incomparable to them. Despite that, Charlie had ordered him to capture the Fox family’s eldest young master, and this scared him to death.He cried and hurriedly pleaded, “Master Wade... We Iga ninjas are already surviving in the cracks! Provoking the Fox family would probably bring disaster to us...”Charlie sneered and warned him s
Charlie wanted to ensure his plan was in order. He had received Homer’s profile on his phone from Porter earlier, and he opened it. Then, he clicked on Homer’s photo and handed his phone over to Kazuo and his men.He urged them, “Remember this man’s face carefully. If he comes over with his men later, you can wait until he comes in before killing all of his men. If he comes alone, kidnap him right away and bring him to me. Understand?”Kazuo dared not delay his response, and he hurriedly nodded as he said, “Master Wade, please rest assured! I understand...”Charlie nodded and added, “If he has sent someone to come and check on the situation, you don’t have to do anything. Just let them in.”“Understood!” Kazuo solemnly agreed and stared at Homer’s photo carefully. Finally, he said, “Master Wade, I have memorized Homer’s face!” Charlie nodded slightly and waved his hand. “Since you have memorized it clearly, you may leave now.”Kazuo let out a sigh of relief, and he hurriedly sai
Charlie agreed, “That's right. I also suspect that Finley has been hiding in the Fox family.”Janus smacked his lips and said, “Since you plan to let these ninjas kidnap Homer, you might as well let your men keep these ninjas under control. Tell the ninjas to demand a huge ransom from the Fox family first before disappearing. After that, the Fox family will assume that the ninjas are the ones who kidnapped Homer. Then, they will follow the ninja’s trail and continue the investigation.”“Once they uncover the ninjas’ identity, they will head to Japan to search for their whereabouts. However, they will not be able to find them while the ninjas are still in your hand. They will find the ninjas family and interrogate them only to learn that Finley is the one who hired them.”“As a result, the Fox family will think that Finley is the one who hired these ninjas to kidnap Homer. When the Fox family interrogates Finley, Finley will not be able to explain himself.”“Finley will panic once t
As Ian Cash's trio turned and left Treasure Measure, Trippy was still standing there, staring blankly as they headed off to the distance, utterly dispirited.Seeing that, Raymond returned his phone and said coolly, "We had agreed on some ground rules, but not only did you break them, you even tried to sabotage me.""Since you refuse to be honorable, you can't blame me for being cold—starting now, we shall have nothing to do with each other. We'll be strangers even if we bump into each other."Trippy was already choking, and he snatched his phone back before dashing out of Treasure Measure, calling Mick Crane as soon as he left.Mick had just arrived at Vintage Deluxe and hadn't even sat down when Trippy called, and he asked as soon as he answered, "How did it go? What did you find out?"However, Trippy was so exasperated he burst into tears right then, "M-Mr. Crane… My dear Mr. Crane…"Mick was left reeling from shock, and he promptly snapped, "Can't you fucking talk? Why are you
Seeing that the transaction was complete and that the bargain deal had been taken, the other collectors all excused themselves and left.As for Ian, once he had bagged the bronze sculpture, he nodded at Raymond. "I apologize for leaving early, Mr. Cole, but I must return to Eastcliff. However, you can contact me again should you pick up another treasure. I'm quite a spendthrift, and I pay up right away if the item is good and the price is right."Raymond smiled. "Very well. I shall contact you first the next time I get something good."Ian nodded and was ready to leave with his two friends when Trippy chased after them."Please, Mr. Cash!" He cried urgently, his anxiety overcoming him. "You shouldn't buy that! It's a forgery!"Ian frowned at him. "Are you trying to sabotage Mr. Cole? Aren't you supposed to be his friend?""Hell, no!" Trippy promptly replied. "I'm no friend of his—I'm just here to watch, but I didn't think he dared to trick you for 20 million! I can't bear to see
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