Charlie subconsciously put his hand in his pants pocket at this moment. He still hadn’t figured out the purpose of the ring Vera had given him, but he had always kept it close to him out of fear that something might happen to it or that he would lose it. The reason why Charlie valued this ring so much was not because it was precious, but because he had invested too much Reiki into it. If the Reiki was converted into a labor force, it would be equivalent to working hard for this ring for three years and then being owed wages by it without being paid a single cent. Therefore, Charlie could not let this thing escape his control.Charlie was slightly relieved after confirming that the ring was still in his pocket, and he could not help but think of the girl named Vera. He could not figure out what was so special about this ring and the girl that the British Lord of the Qing Eliminating Society would place such importance on them. Charlie felt somewhat regretful. He regretted not a
Eliam smiled slightly and said, “Your father is just like a brother to me, so you don’t have to be so polite with me. Do not hesitate to contact me if you need my help with anything in the future.”With that said, he took out a business card and handed it to Charlie.Charlie put the business card away with both hands and said, “Thank you, Uncle Eliam!”Eliam smiled and waved his hand, then looked at the time and said, “Charlie, it’s getting late, and I have to rush back to Eastcliff. We’ll end the conversation here today, but I’ll be sure to let you know immediately if there is any further news in the future.”Charlie bowed slightly and spoke up, “Thank you, Uncle Eliam. I will also inform you immediately as soon as there is any news.”Eliam nodded and said seriously, “Do contact me if you come to Eastcliff when you’re free.”“Okay!”***After the conversation with Eliam, Charlie let the helicopter parked at the resort at the foot of the mountain fly back up to the courtyard of
Charlie could not help but feel worried when he thought of this. He still had the certainty and confidence that he would be able to handle one of the great earls from the Qing Eliminating Society, but he was afraid that he would not have a chance of winning if two of the great earls were to appear before him at the same time. Moreover, Charlie was confident that he would be able to deal with them if they did not have the foresight and came to attack him in Aurous Hill. But if the four great earls from the Qing Eliminating Society were to appear before Ten Thousand Armies or the base of the dead soldiers in Cyprus, neither Porter nor his master, Pilos, would have any chance of winning against them. The two of them might even be beheaded by the other party directly! Moreover, Charlie knew very well that the group of Armed Calvary Guards who had captured Vera in the first place had been sent from the dead soldiers’ base in Cyprus. If the Qing Eliminating Society wanted to find clues
Charlie took out his cell phone and called Porter who was in Syria. When the call was connected, Porter asked respectfully, “Mr. Wade, what are your instructions for me?”Charlie asked him, “Porter, can you get the best life detection systems including but not limited to military-grade life detection radar, infrared, and thermal imaging equipment?”Porter said, “Mr. Wade, infrared detection equipment and thermal imaging equipment are all standard equipment for all special soldiers in Ten Thousand Armies. As for the life detection system, this is relatively general, so I wonder what are your general needs for this system?”Charlie explained, “I don’t know much about military equipment either, but I want you to help me realize a function.”Porter replied immediately, “Please say it, Mr. Wade, and I will take note of it first.”Charlie said, “First of all, I want a device that can cover the entire Ten Thousand Armies’ base or the dead soldiers’ base that we took down in Cyprus. This
Charlie was not afraid of the four great earls from the Qing Eliminating Society. He was worried that Syria and Cyprus, which were two places that he could not keep an eye on as they were out of his reach, would suddenly be attacked by these people one day. This was especially so for Cyprus. The fate of those dead soldiers and Armed Calvary Guards as well as their families were already exceptionally tragic, so if those four great earls were to discover anything unusual, they would definitely suffer a tragic disaster. Therefore, Charlie needed Porter to make preparations in advance, especially for Cyrus. If the opponent were to follow Vera’s movement, Cyprus would definitely be a destination that the opponent would not forgo.Charlie’s intention was for Porter to seize the time to equip Cyprus with close-defense missiles so that they could use a saturated attack to blow the other party to ashes once he came knocking on their door. They would then activate the previous plan to overt
Porter also understood Charlie’s plan, so he said immediately, “Don’t worry, Mr. Wade, I will find a way to purchase the close-defense missiles immediately and then dismantle the close-defense missiles and transport them to the copper mine to be reassembled.”Charlie identified the key point in his words and blurted out, “Porter, the only possible clue to the entire plan is the close-defense missiles! Even if we destroy the entire copper mine, it’s impossible for the clues related to the copper mine to evaporate. Once the close-defense missiles are fired, we have to retreat quickly. I’m afraid there won’t be enough time for you to take down the close-defense missiles. Moreover, it will be useless even if there is time to remove the close-defense missiles as it’s impossible to clean up the fragments of the hundreds of shells that are fired in one second. Therefore, if the cleaning committee for the Qing Eliminating Society comes to investigate later, they will definitely find out that
After hearing Charlie’s instructions, Porter said without hesitation, “Don’t worry, Mr. Wade, I’ll do my best to make the arrangements before the other party comes. When the time comes, I will head to the copper mine personally to take charge and make sure that he has no way of coming back!” Charlie said, “Okay. By the way, Porter, I have one more order for you. Since the plan to overthrow the base is on the verge of being realized, I suggest that we might as well start the evacuation of the personnel in advance.”After saying that, Charlie added, “Once the other party suspects that there is something wrong with this base or wants to come to this base to look for clues, they will only use the ground as an entry point. We will open fire and kill him at the first opportunity, so there is no need for the dead soldiers underground as well as their families to continue staying underground.”“I suggest that you prepare a cargo ship now and evacuate all the dead soldiers and their familie
With that said, she sighed and added, “Well, Mr. Jothurn, there are two paths for us to take now. We can either find out exactly how Vera left Northern Europe or find out how the Armed Calvary Guards we sent disappeared in Northern Europe. I’ll be generous and let you pick one out of the two paths first.”The man in the driver’s seat was Mr. Jothurn, one of the four great earls of the Qing Eliminating Society. His name was Brody Orlen. Brody caressed the steering wheel, pursed his lips, and said, “Ladies first. I’ll let you pick first, Miss Dijo!” After saying that, he could not help but tease, “Miss Dijo, don’t forget about me if you can become Marchioness Dijo or Lady Excellency Dijo in the future!”The woman in the passenger seat was Ruby Chain, who was also known as Miss Dijo, one of the four great earls.Although Ruby was a female, she was very strong and had fought for the British Lord in the early years. Therefore, the British Lord had appointed her as Miss Dijo, and she
However, to Jacob's shock, Elaine wasn't misled at all as she growled icily, "Why would I ask anyone else?! If there's someone I must question, it's Matilda! She's getting married, isn't she? Good! I will be there and ask her why she hooked up with my husband!"Jacob turned pale right then.Matilda's son and even some of their old classmates would be attending her wedding.If Elaine went, he would be exposed, and he wouldn't be able to stay in Aurous Hill out of shame!His nerves gnawing at him, Jacob could only plead, "Please, just trust me this once! Anything else aside, she's getting married, anyway—there's no way that I'd have anything to do with her! That alone should prove my innocence!"Elaine snorted. "If Matilda returned when I was arrested, it means she has been back for a while! And you're saying nothing happened since? Hell, even if she's married, it doesn't prove that she wasn't up to some hanky-panky with you! Maybe while I was arrested and refused a divorce when you
The driver was left dumbstruck—this wasn't how it was supposed to go.Still, he blurted, "C-Crashing into a Cullinan? I might end up dead instead…""Fine! Then let's change cars, and you crash into ours—how about that?!" Elaine promptly retorted before continuing, "Or we could just stand right in front of your car while you run into us! I just happen to have a death wish, but if you don't kill me now, I'll kill you! Don't think about getting away either—I know your car plate! I'll sell this car and use the money to put a bounty on your head! I don't care what happens to me now! I'll claw my nails into the devil's face even if he shows up!"The driver was actually quite experienced, but even he had yet to meet someone as ridiculous as Elaine.Barely able to keep his hands steady, he threw them up as he apologized, "I'm so sorry, ma'am—I just lost my cool. I'm merely a humble driver of a Honda Civic while you own a Rolls. Hell, I spent fifty bucks buying that red emblem from Amazon,
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