Charlie was slightly startled and asked with a frown, “What other industries are there in this closed loop of yours besides the copper refinery in Turkey and the copper mine in Cyprus?”“Many.” Lucian replied, “There are natural gas companies, large farms, and shipyards in Turkey. In addition, there are also some garment and stone processing factories. Basically, all walks of life are involved, and the overall market value is about eighty billion US dollars or so.”In Turkey, an organization with a total market value of eighty billion US dollars could already be called a super business empire, and this was only the industry under the responsibility of a deputy governor under one of the five military governor offices under the Qing Eliminating Society. If any deputy governor was assigned to the economically developed Western Europe, the closed loop he was in charge of may have a market value of more than hundreds of billions of US dollars. This way, the asset strength of a Right M
As he said that, Lucian then added, “However, they receive better treatment compared to that of the Armed Calvary Guards. Firstly, they don’t need to practice martial arts hard, and secondly, they do not need to take the antidote weekly but they only need to take it once every six months. If they study hard and have real talents, they will be able to live in society as white-collar elites or even well-known entrepreneurs after taking over the company in the future, so their living conditions are definitely much better compared to that of the Armed Calvary Guards.”When Charlie heard this, he could not help but come to a realization.From this point of view, his aunt-in-law as well as her family members should not be regarded as high-end members of the Qing Eliminating Society. They were probably descendants of the Armed Calvary Guards, but they had the opportunity to live a normal life in real society.As Charlie thought of this, he asked Lucian, “During your years in the Qing Elimi
At this time, Charlie could not help but think of his own third aunt-in-law whom he did not know.In Charlie’s mind, he could not help but rely on the clues provided by Lucian and his own imagination to outline the woman’s tragic life.During her teenage years as well as her youth, it was likely that she had studied hard in order to change her whole family’s fate.Her father may have experienced the tragedy of being a dead soldier firsthand, so he must have instilled the belief to study hard to save the whole family in her since she was very young.She must have lived up to expectations and was admitted to a top university.At this time, the Qing Eliminating Society had given her the difficult and significant task of approaching his uncle, Jaxson, because of her excellent academic performance and outstanding external conditions. Merlin had once told Charlie about the process of how his aunt-in-law had gotten acquainted with his uncle.Back then, his uncle was in the second year
Charlie frowned and asked, “Does your assistant usually meet your needs in that area?”Lucian replied, “He wanted to join the Hubbert Battalion, but to join the Hubbert Battalion, he needed a recommendation from someone who had been trained in the Hubbert Battalion. That’s why I used that as a condition to ask him to satisfy my...”Charlie reached out a hand to interrupt him. “Okay, you don’t need to say anything else.”Lucian shut his mouth immediately.Charlie then asked again, “Is there any way for you to let me sneak into the copper mine with you?”Lucian said without hesitation, “That would be simple. You’d just need to wrap yourself up in a black robe with me.”“A black robe?”“Yes.” Lucian stood up, took off two black robes from the hanger behind the door, and said to Charlie, “Because I am a special envoy, only my superiors and my assistant can see my true face. I’m always wrapped in a robe so that no one can see any of my features.”Charlie nodded and asked again, “Has
The Reiki in the antidote was minimal, which allowed Charlie to conclude that the person who had refined the pill must be proficient in Reiki, but Charlie was unable to guess the other party’s cultivation through the pill.After all, the potency of this antidote was too low. Charlie felt that its greatest use was not to suppress the poison in the body of the person taking the antidote, but it seemed to be just to send a signal for the poison in the body not to rush the attack first for the time being. As Charlie looked at these antidotes, he could not help but speculate that if the Qing Eliminating Society had ten bases for dead soldiers in the whole world, there would be at least tens of thousands of dead soldiers, their families, and also members of the Armed Calvary Guards. In addition, there were ‘scholars’, ‘guides’, ‘special envoys’, ‘governors’, ‘Hubbert Battalion’, ‘Far East International Express’, and various other supporting personnel. It was roughly estimated that the
Just then, the ship emitted an ear-splitting whistle, and the speed of the ship also slowed down a lot at the same time, which made Charlie realize that the ship was about to dock.So, he threw the antidotes brought by Lucian back into the closet immediately, wrapped one of the black robes around himself, and said to Lucian, “I will disguise myself as your assistant and go to the copper mine with you. You will hand the antidotes over this time, the same way you usually do.”Lucian nodded without hesitation, “Understood!”After that, he also took a black robe, put it on skillfully, and covered his head completely with the huge hood.Charlie followed suit and covered his head with the hood of the black robe.He found that the hood of the black robe was very wide and the fabric was light. Even if the hood covered the face completely, it would not hinder one’s sight.Subsequently, Charlie and Lucian came to the door. Charlie looked at the martial artist who was standing still like a
Lucian simply hummed lightly in the face of the people’s respect and apprehension. He did not even look at the person talking and walked directly toward the three cars.The man in the lead quickly ran a few steps, rushed to the Mercedes-Benz in the middle, helped Lucian open the door, and then helped Charlie to open the passenger door. Lucian, who was dressed in a black robe, got into the back seat of the car. Charlie also followed suit and got into the passenger seat. After that, the people who had greeted them quickly got into the cars at the front and back. The convoy quickly left the pier and drove to the copper mine which was only about a kilometer away from the pier.The convoy circled out of the dock and drove to the main entrance of the copper mine in the blink of an eye. The automatic gate opened in advance, allowing the three cars to drive in directly without slowing down. This copper mine looked somewhat similar to Ten Thousand Armies’ base from the outside, but it w
Charlie’s guess was right.When he arrived at the top floor with Lucian, the middle-aged man brought them into his office.The young man from the Dark Realm and those martial arts experts from the Illuminating Realm also came in.The moment the door closed, the young man came to Lucian first and suddenly knelt on the ground as he groveled heavily and sobbed as he said, “Special Envoy Master, please show mercy and save the more than three thousand seven hundred people that we have here!”The others also followed suit immediately and knelt as they sobbed, “Special Envoy Master, please have mercy on us!”Lucian was suddenly caught off guard. The psychological hint that Charlie had given him was for him to meet these people according to the usual practice.However, these people were suddenly kneeling in front of him and begging for mercy, which suddenly caused him to be a little at a loss for what to do. The current Lucian was more like a machine that executed orders. If the orde
Jacob zipped toward Raymond, his attitude immediately subservient, "I'm sure you've seen what Zachary Evans posted on his Twitter page, and to be honest, it's so terrible that my position in the Calligraphy and Painting Association has been affected too. I mean, you've made a lot of money, right?"Hell, even if you donated ten million, you'd still have another ten million and 970 thousand in net profits. So, all I'd like to ask is for you to post something to disclaim Zachary's post.Jacob's words left Raymond in thought.For Jacob, just being suspected of fraud would definitely be terrible. In fact, his position in the Calligraphy and Painting Association would definitely be threatened—if not dismissed altogether—if he wasn't cleared of suspicion.Since Jacob was Charlie Wade's father-in-law, Raymond had reason not to drive Jacob over the brink.But that also begged another question—it must be under Charlie's intention for Zachary to post his confession, and that meant Charlie in
Raymond couldn't help chuckling just as Jacob finished—he had honestly never heard of anyone who demanded a refund after donating to charity, but he was certainly seeing one now.Still, the receptionist was clearly experienced and slowly explained, "Sir, it's a legal clause of the country that all donations for philanthropy purposes can not be refunded under most circumstances—""It truly was a mistake," Jacob quickly said, cutting the receptionist off. "I was going to donate thirty thousand but pressed an extra zero by mistake. Please discuss this with your management—you just have to refund 27 thousand, see?""Sorry, sir," the receptionist apologized. "But it's a strict rule that we ourselves do not get to access the funds that have been donated into our accounts. Every donation will be screened extensively, and if you consider that there was a major oversight on your part, you may seek legal counsel to appeal for a refund. If the courts back your appeal, our organization will the
Nonetheless, Jacob darted into Treasure Measure and plucked off his mask, asking nervously, "Excuse me, Mr. Cole? It's me… Jacob Wilson…"Raymond looked up, pausing for a moment before acting as if he was actually curious, "Mr. Wilson! What brings you here? Don't tell me—you want that bronze sculpture back too?""No, no, no…" Jacob quickly shook his head. "I would never… I returned all the way from Dubai to apologize!""Apologize?" Raymond smiled faintly, and he did not play dumb this time as he asked bluntly, "Did you come back because of Zachary Evan's post?"Knowing he couldn't deny it any longer, Jacob nodded, "Yeah…"Raymond nodded and said calmly, "That's unnecessary. I was the one who benefited in the end."Jacob wasn't quite keeping up—thinking that Raymond was just trying to be nice by telling him he didn't have to apologize, he quickly pulled out his phone.Tapping on it and bringing up his transaction records, he handed it to Raymond reverently, "Mr. Cole, I understan
The cabbie chuckled. "You're a local yet you're heading to Antique Street right away as soon as you land instead of going home? And you're still saying you're not trying to pick up a killer bargain deal?"Come on, man—it's not just you, I want that too. We cabbies work ourselves to death only for ten thousand per month at best while our friend over there made twenty million in one night. I could keep driving cabs for the rest of my life and still not make that much money."Jacob knew that the cabbie must be talking about Raymond and became even more miserable then, grumbling unhappily, "I'm going to Antique Street for business—I'm not trying to pick up some missed bargain.""No? Then you didn't hear what happened yesterday?"The cabbie was immediately curious, and without waiting for Jacob's answer, he exclaimed happily, "Look, man—it was so ridiculous not even Hollywood would put it in their script. There were these fools who were trying to sell an antique trader a replica, but th
It was nighttime in Dubai as Jacob dragged his weary body from the hotel back to the airport.As he was flying economy this time, he was left sitting at the hard bench near the boarding terminal, waiting for it to open.While he waited, his heart was torn as he tapped into the website of the Aurous Hill Charity Fund, found their donation account, and wired the entire 300 thousand he had made over to them.He had picked the Aurous Hill Charity Fund because the circles of antique collectors in Aurous Hill were all discussing how Raymond had donated half of the 20 million he had made to that same charity fund.After Raymond skyrocketed to prominence in Antique Street and became a star, it could not be denied that people admired his profound ability.However, there were also people who envied his skill in turning the tables just as there were those who were jealous he had made twenty million in a single night.Still, Raymond moved fast—soon after word spread that he had made twenty m
Elaine quickly asked, "Well, what if you can't get it done?"Jacob was apprehensive even as he sighed. "If they really pressed the issue, guess I can't even stay at the Calligraphy and Painting Association now… We will see. If things get bad, I'll just resign. I won't ask for much right now, just as long as I don't have to go to jail."Elaine nodded. "Then you should try to reason things out with Raymond Cole or ask for Charlie's help if push comes to shove. Being humiliated is still better than prison.""Okay!"-It was nighttime at Aurous Hill by the time Elaine and Jacob arrived at their hotel.Charlie and Claire had just had dinner, and Claire pulled out her phone, saying, "I just checked my flight app, and it says my parents should have landed two hours ago. They are probably at the hotel, so I'll check in on them with a video call."She had yet to open her WhatsApp when Elaine called her on a video call.Jacob was planning to check in with Claire and Charlie to put their
Hearing what Jacob had said, Elaine became anxious and pressed him as he hung up, "What's going on? You're leaving? But we just got here! My shoes have just caught Dubai dirt, so why are we leaving so soon—"However, Jacob was wiping the sweat off his brow as he mumbled quietly, "Well, at this point, I have to leave or I won't be vice president anymore."Elaine immediately fumed. "We've been married for half our lives, and this is supposed to be our honeymoon, yet we're just leaving? I've posted about this on social media too—there are plenty of people who're waiting for more posts on our trip!"And don't forget—we spent a lot on our flight tickets and our hotels! The hotel bookings can't be refunded either!"Jacob scowled dolefully. "Well, what can we do? Why don't you stay? I'll go home and get this sorted out first….""Well, how long would that take?" Elaine asked."How should I know?" Jacob sighed, uneasy and annoyed. "Don Albert is saying I have to go back and donate the 300
"But I spent 98 thousand on that bronze sculpture!" Jacob exclaimed in agitation before he knew it. "I made 300 thousand from it, and that means my profit was 200 thousand at best, but I'm supposed to return that to him as well?! That means I'd have lost my own capital too!""I can't help you if you can't bear to part with that money, Mr. Wilson," Don Albert said quietly. "In that case, you'll just have to handle it yourself.""Wait, wait, wait!" Jacob immediately became antsy and cried out right then, "Please, Don Albert! I'll return the money! I'll return it, alright?! The entirety of my profits—202 thousand, okay? At least let me keep the money I spent, okay?""By that reasoning, Mr. Wilson, when a phone scammer is told by the cops to return the money they've made from defrauding, should he be allowed to keep the money he spent on telco charges? ""Oh, I…" Jacob was left stumped and could not come up with an answer.Don Albert then pressed on, "Mr. Wilson, I've offered a prom
"Mr. Wilson, what you boys did was truly heinous!" Don Arnold growled. "I scolded Zachary myself when I found out, and I was the one who told him to post that statement!"Jacob was shocked. "But why, Don Arnold? Are you friends with Raymond Cole?""Never met the guy," Don Arnold replied.That left Jacob even more confused. "Then why are you taking his side?""I've been doing my best to clean up my image over the past couple of years," Don Albert replied coolly. "I rarely get involved in mob business or anything illicit, and everyone in Aurous Hill knows that Zachary is my right-hand man, yet he confessed to committing such a heinous crime behind my back. What is that if not sullying my reputation?"Jacob was left reeling as he didn't expect Don Albert to be so serious, but he quickly explained, "I'm sorry. I didn't expect it to affect you so terribly… It's all Zachary's fault! I wouldn't have been aware that Raymond had returned at all, but he just had to tell me and come up with