So, she immediately took out her cell phone and called her father.As soon as the call was connected, she cried out and said, “Dad, I want to leave them! I don’t want to have anything to do with them again!”Her father was very surprised and asked, “Who are you talking about? What happened?”Lolita said angrily, “It’s the humanitarian organization that you’re collaborating with! They have no respect for me at all. They asked me to be on standby for them today and promised to give me a Hermes Himalaya handbag, but they suddenly went back on their word and kicked me out of the truck!”Having said that, she added aggrievedly, “Dad, I want to draw a clear line with these people from today onward. I’ll be myself from now on, and I want nothing more to do with them!”Lolita thought that what she had said would make her father feel sorry for her and that he would support the decision she had just made, but she never dreamt that her father, who was on the other end of the phone, would sud
As Lolita left the airport depressed, the shipment was passing through customs.Since there was nothing unusual about these goods and it was all charitable supplies, the customs clearance was also very fast. So, the Boeing 777 finally returned to Nigeria at the scheduled time, loaded with a plane full of goods.***Meanwhile, a cathedral-like stone building stood majestically on the top of the rocks on a certain island in this world.What the public did not know was that this magnificent castle was actually just the tip of the iceberg.The entire island had been completely hollowed out under the castle, and the scale of the internal building was more than a hundred times larger than the ground.At this time, a luxuriously dressed man in his forties knelt on one knee in the central hall of the castle. He looked at the empty throne in front of him and said respectfully, “British Lord! The plane has already returned to Nigeria. There are still no clues on the other seven members o
At this moment, the man asked respectfully, “British Lord, how credible do you think the words Vera left behind are?”The British Lord was silent for a moment and said coldly, “Her character is similar to her father’s character. Although she is resourceful and can even be said to be wise, she rarely engages in any conspiracy, so I believe the sentence that she left behind.”With that said, the British Lord added, “Vera must also know very well that it’d be pointless for her to lie. Even if I see this sentence and even if I believe that she is not lying, I will not give up pursuing her before I find the ring. Even if she does not have the ring on her, she must know the whereabouts of the ring, so the reason why she wrote this sentence is not to confuse me. Instead, it’s just to provoke me!”The man could not help but say, “British Lord, if Vera is not lying, could this mean that she has abandoned the ring somewhere in Northern Europe?”The British Lord said, “Although the ring is of
He then raised his head and asked respectfully, “British Lord, you know Vera best, so I wonder if you have any clues or suggestions that you can give me regarding her whereabouts, then?”The British Lord said indifferently, “I know her and her father very well, but they have both done things that I never expected them to do. Perhaps my understanding of them is too solidified that I’ve fallen into a state of making one mistake after another. So, it’d be better if you don’t ask me for advice, Mr. Chardon. Get things done according to your own intuition. Perhaps that might work wonders.”“Okay!” Mr. Chardon nodded heavily and said, “I understand, British Lord!”The British Lord asked curiously, “Mr. Chardon, I wonder if you have any plan in mind?”Mr. Chardon cupped his hands together and said, “British Lord, I plan to go to Oskia to take a look!”The British Lord was rather surprised and asked, “Do you think that Vera will return to Oskia?”Mr. Chardon smiled and said, “I don’t thi
So, if she really wanted to see, communicate, and get along with Charlie normally, her only opportunity to do so was when Charlie came to Northern Europe to look for her.However, based on Charlie’s style of action, he definitely would not come to Northern Europe to meet her unless it was necessary.As Helena thought of this, she felt sad and reluctant. So, she looked at Charlie, sobbed softly, and said, “Mr. Wade, you must come to Northern Europe again if you have time. Even if you can’t come, don’t forget me...”When Charlie saw that her tears were falling uncontrollably, he could not help but feel a little distressed as he recalled what he had discovered in her bedroom this morning. However, although there were no outsiders here, it was still crowded with people. Not only were Albert and Isaac present, but the crew and royal guards were also there.Therefore, Charlie could only comfort her, “Helena, I will definitely come again if there’s a chance. You have to take care of you
Two hours later, the Concorde airliner that Charlie was on landed in Damascus, the capital of Syria.Porter and several core members of Ten Thousand Armies were already waiting at the airport. When Charlie got off the plane, Porter rushed forward and said respectfully, “Mr. Wade, I thought that you would return to the United States directly from Northern Europe. I didn’t expect that you would make a special detour to Syria, so our preparations are a little hasty. If I’d known that you’d be coming over, I would have definitely made the arrangements in advance.”Charlie said with a smile, “There is still deadly poison in the bodies of the seven men that you brought back with you. These seven men will die within a few days if I do not remove the poison from their bodies.” Charlie then asked him, “Have those seven people settled down?”“They have already settled down.” Porter said, “I left Zayne behind with a few five-star War Generals to guard those men in order to avoid any accident
The five helicopters took off almost simultaneously and flew toward Ten Thousand Armies’ base.After an hour’s flight, the helicopter flew over the base. From the air, it could be seen that Ten Thousand Armies’ base was a huge construction site with buildings under construction and many transportation vehicles everywhere. There was an airstrip that had already taken shape on the east side of the base.Charlie could not help but feel a sense of relief when he saw that the construction of the entire base was in full swing.Ten Thousand Armies was currently his strongest striking force aside from himself, and it played a significant role in every step that he would take in the future, especially in his battle against the mysterious organization.Therefore, he hoped that Ten Thousand Armies’ strength would continue to grow and improve, and his goal for the first stage of the development of Ten Thousand Armies’ strength was to be able to counteract all the dead soldiers belonging to
Charlie nodded. “How many workers are working in the mine now?”Porter said, “We are speeding up the progress regardless of cost, so if we count all types of work in the mine, there are currently about five to six hundred people working in the mine.”Charlie asked again, “By the way, what are those Sicilian mafias that were brought here from Canada doing now?”Porter smiled and said, “The mafia from Sicily are all organized into the excavation team, and they specialize in the construction of underground fortifications. Our normal construction team works in three shifts a day and works eight hours a day. However, for these mafias, it’s a twelve-hour working day with two shifts a day. We do not pay attention to labor laws for them as long as we don’t tire them to death. After all, they are a bunch of b*stards who lived a life full of crimes.”Charlie could not help but laugh and say, “There are more than eight hundred Sicilian elites. They commit murder, arson, and bully all the time
Reservations in Heaven Springs had always been unpredictable, and most rooms weren't open to the general public—even if said rooms were vacant for the night.It was not as if Albert Rhodes didn't want to make money when he built Heaven Springs. He simply didn't do it solely for profit, but only mostly for social events and posturing.Back when he was a humbler member of society, he realized that many bigwigs and even his fellows cared for pride a lot. Be it food, liquor, or even simply everyday consumption, they always strove for the best and the most expensive.That was why polite society valued their privacy and established their respective social circles, which was why Heaven Springs ensured that everything was first-rate: atmosphere, service, food, and clientele.Just like how bigwigs wouldn't dine at the same table as their goons, said goons wouldn't eat at the fancy places those bigwigs frequented even if they had money, as it may appear as if they were overstepping.That wa
As such, intent on keeping up his pretense, Jacob answered the phone, "Looking for me, Matilda?""Uh-huh," Matilda replied, and asked, "You didn't show up at Senior University, and your sub is saying you probably won't be coming for a while? Is that true?""Oh—right, that," Jacob quickly said. "Well, it's true—the gist of it is that the Association is getting busy with a project. As the vice president, I probably shouldn't be staying at Senior University all the time, right?""Heck, Mr. Bay called me last minute, telling me how busy we're going to be and that I was needed. That's why I had to go back, but I will head over to campus again when I have the time."Matilda knew right then that those were all excuses.However, she did not expose Jacob, instead asking, "Well, when are you free? So that I can send you my wedding invitation?""Oh, the invitation?" Jacob quickly chuckled. "You really didn't have to come to me—just pass it to Walker, my sub lecturer. He can pass it to me wh
The next afternoon, there was a sudden change of lecturers for the calligraphy class.Despite being the vice president of the Calligraphy and Painting Association, Jacob never showed up, instead getting a substitute instructor to replace him.Matilda had come with the invitation Yolden had written for Jacob, but seeing that Jacob wasn't at the lecture hall, she waited until the class was over to ask the sub, "Excuse me, can I ask why Mr. Wilson wasn't teaching this class?""He's busy at the association," the sub replied. "So, I'm taking over his class."Curious, Matilda pressed, "Then, would you happen to know when he will be coming?""Probably not for a while," the sub replied. "He delegated other classes to me as well, telling me that I could just stick to the PowerPoint slides."Then, he asked, "Do you have business with Mr. Wilson?"Matilda nodded. "Yes, but I can call him myself. Thank you."Leaving the lecture hall, Matilda called Jacob, who was goofing off in his office
On the other end, Matilda was left staring at Jacob's reply in confusion.She had presumed that Jacob would understand when she mentioned inviting his whole family that he should be coming up with an excuse to skip attending her wedding.That was the most ideal solution.As such, she was shocked that instead of playing along, Jacob's reply was short and blunt.[No problem. The four of us will be there!]Perplexed, Matilda was left wondering what Jacob meant. Was he really going to attend her wedding with Elaine?The thought left Matilda frowning as she absolutely didn't want to see Elaine—especially not at her own wedding.Yolden was writing an invitation when he saw the somber look on her face, and he couldn't help asking, "Is there a problem?""Jacob replied," Matilda admitted. "And he's saying that he will bring his whole family.""Really?" Yolden was confused too, as he was hardly as eccentric as Jacob. "But he's afraid of his wife and shouldn't be telling her at all…
Charlie was driving Jacob to Thompson First when the latter received the text from Matilda.Seeing that they were reaching the front gates, Jacob promptly snapped at Charlie, "Charlie, stop the car now!"Charlie did so and asked in curiosity, "What's wrong?""Matilda just texted me," Jacob replied, showing the chat log between him and Matilda.Charlie was just glancing at it nonchalantly when he saw that Matilda's contact name was 'AAA July Florist'."Wait, why is that Aunt Matilda's contact name?" He exclaimed in surprise."I changed it."Jacob explained gingerly while reading through the text Matilda sent. "Her profile picture is an iris, so I changed her contact name to a florist since I'm mostly worried Elaine would peek into my phone.""Anyway, she's asking if I'm attending her wedding with Yolden. They would send us an invitation if I accept, extended to our whole family… what do you think I should say?"Charlie asked in return. "You're planning to skip it, aren't you? T
Then, Matilda suggested, "How about this—I'll ask him before deciding." "I'll pass on inviting the rest of my former classmates too. They're too vain and love comparing, so I'd rather not have anything to do with that. Also, there are our Korean friends who have it together, and they were telling us to invite them if we were going to get married. We have to keep our promise, right?""Yeah—then, it's basically decided. Aside from Charlie, we shall invite our colleagues and Korean friends while we wait for an answer from Jacob."Yolden nodded and said, "Now, I'll talk about the honeymoon—cut me short if you have a different opinion."Matilda nodded, resting her chin on her hands and smiling. "Shoot. I'm all ears."Feeling a little embarrassed by Matilda's glowing stare, Yolden took a sip of his ice water before continuing, "My idea is to head to the States for our honeymoon after the wedding…"He trailed off, staring at Matilda and waiting for a response.However, she was merely
"Oh, Jacob…?"Matilda chuckled awkwardly. "Just today, he offered to buy me dinner, but I said I didn't have the time, and I also told him about our wedding… So, we should invite him since he's aware of it.""Jacob offered to buy you dinner?" Yolden exclaimed in surprise. "Did he say why?""Nope," Matilda shrugged, smiling. "Probably just dinner between old classmates."However, she was actually smart enough to guess Jacob's intention even though Jacob was inviting her somewhere near campus. That was why she had also mentioned she was marrying Yolden while turning down Jacob, all so that he would give up on her.After she had managed to get over their past fling completely, she didn't want to give Jacob false hopes before she walked down the aisle.In the same regard, she didn't want to worry Yolden, and therefore, had deliberately discouraged Jacob.Be that as it may, Yolden was smart too.He knew about Matilda and Jacob's past and that her son, Paul's full name was Paul Jam
Before Charlie had arrived, Jacob was still furious that Matilda would soon marry Yolden.After Charlie came, however, he was instead worried that Matilda would send him a wedding invitation.Meanwhile, Matilda and Yolden were discussing their list of guests.They had different social circles, but most of their friends were Stateside, and they only had some distant relatives in this country.Still, they had colleagues in Aurous Hill. Matilda had classmates too, but she was out of touch with them aside from Jacob, whom she often met.Still, as they discussed who should be invited, Matilda first suggested, "Let's go through everyone. First, our Stateside friends… I don't think we should tell them at all since it's a long journey, and inviting them would seem tactless. What do you think?"Yolden nodded, smiling, "I was just thinking the same thing. We're close with our Stateside friends and always keep in touch, but inviting them to our wedding might be a stretch. We'd just hit a wa
With that being said, once Matilda was thrown in the mix, Elaine would suddenly become an African honey badger, with every bit of black air force energy that was implied.As such, if Jacob had managed to be brave and take that one step back then, Charlie would have tried to help, stopping Elaine from harassing Jacob or Matilda.However, the reality was that Jacob had to bungle the chance when Matilda offered it to him.That was why the best option was for Jacob to understand that he couldn't get together with Matilda now so that he would feel much better.And since he had always been a coward, Charlie's slight intimidation cleared his head considerably.He then sighed, "Well, that's just life—you don't always get what you want, and you should never try to claim what you couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to choose Matilda over thirty years ago, so not being together now only makes sense.""Now, I can only pray that Elaine never finds out… or at least that things don't get out of h