"Send someone in?"Kathleen blurted at first and gasped in bewilderment, "M-Mr. Wade! Are you implying that you want me to send you in?""Yes." Charlie nodded. "Please help me get a fake ID and send me to Brooklyn Prison. I want to meet Biden."Kathleen thought for a while and cautioned, "It's not a problem to send you in, but I can't guarantee you can meet Biden. After all, his case is so special that it's worth the core member of the Rothschilds going to great lengths for him. No matter what he did, it must be a great deal, so he must be given special attention in prison. I don't think it's easy to see him.""Don't worry about it." Charlie chuckled. "I'll see what I can do when I'm in there.""Okay. When do you plan to go in?""As soon as possible, preferably before noon. Can you do it?"Kathleen affirmed in a crisp voice, "No problem. I'll arrange it right away."When Charlie ended the call, Janus asked, "Are you going to see Biden in prison?""Yes." Charlie nodded. "He had
"I will."-After breakfast, Charlie drove to the Shangri-La Hotel in New York. He had booked a luxury suite for Janus since he was going to Brooklyn Prison today. They were resting in the room when Kathleen called.Kathleen's voice echoed through the phone. "Where are you now, Mr. Wade? I'm almost done. If it's convenient for you, I will come over now and walk you through the details.""I'm at Shangri-La," Charlie informed. "Come over here."Kathleen arrived at the hotel ten minutes later and bowed respectfully at Charlie. "Mr. Wade, here's the thing you requested."She then handed him a passport. "This is a Malaysian passport. You can claim to be a Malaysian Oskian. There is no entry record in the States, and this will increase the security of this identity from being discovered."With a nod, Charlie took the passport and flipped it open. It was his photo, and the name on it was Charlie Curtis. It didn't stand out since many Malaysian Oskians put their names as such on their
At noon, as Charlie was having a meal alone in a restaurant in Oskiatown, the sound of sirens echoed across the street, and two police cars from the Immigration Bureau screeched to a stop at the door of the restaurant.Charlie observed everything silently. He donned an indifferent expression and continued eating with his head down. Several policemen rushed into the restaurant with a picture in their hands and compared it with the patrons in the restaurant. Suddenly, they strode toward Charlie and asked loudly, "Are you Charlie, who smuggled into the United States from Malaysia?""What?" Charlie raised his head and shook it in confusion. "No..."The policeman checked the photo, sneered, and notified his colleagues, "Guys, it's him. Take him!"Several policemen rushed forward, grabbed Charlie's arms to the back, and handcuffed him.Charlie struggled as they grabbed his arms but immediately stopped resisting when a policeman made a gesture of going for his gun.After handcuffing h
"Yes, but by boat."The buzz-cut man sighed with a hint of disappointment. "The boat is indeed the better option. You can get on the boat from your country, and it will take about a month. Damn, the road option is so hard! It's like hell! I thought I would die at some point."Someone in the crowd muttered, "Bullshit. Taking a boat is not as good as you think. You were at least walking on earth. If you took a boat, you might have to swim the last stretch. There were about 60 people on the same boat, but only half of us got ashore. I bet the other half were swept away by waves."The buzz-cut man shuddered slightly and lamented, "Anyway, I'm freaking regretting this. They said that America is a paradise. Fuck them! It's nothing but hell! The fucking agent told me that I could make at least seven to eight thousand dollars a month even if I just washed dishes. When I got here, at least a dozen people fought to wash one plate in a restaurant!"After that, he turned to look at Charlie and
"Yup, he's calling me." Charlie nodded at the buzz-cut man. "See ya.""Are they releasing you now?" The buzz-cut man blurted with a disappointed expression on his face. "But you just got in." The officer looked at the buzz-cut man and announced in a flat tone, "He's being transferred to Brooklyn Prison.""What?!" The buzz-cut man yelped in shock and jolted. He then shouted toward Charlie's back, "Bro, what did you do?! Did you kill someone? I heard that American prisons are worse than hell. You’d better be careful!""Don't worry." Charlie waved his hand without looking back. "Goodbye."The officer took Charlie to a quiet corner of the office area and whispered, "We've already taken the fast-track procedure and will send you to Brooklyn Prison soon. I have an informant there. His name is Leandro, a Brazilian. He is a know-it-all about Brooklyn Prison. You can go to him when you get there and ask him about the situation in the prison. Just tell him that Andrew introduced you,
The prison guard led Charlie to the door of cell number 8.The prisoners inside were laughing and chatting. As soon as the prison guard shouted through the door, all the prisoners stood in a line in the middle of the cell.Two guards stood at the door and checked the number of prisoners through the iron bars. Then, they used the intercom to inform their colleague to open the door. Next, they went inside to check the cell. After confirming that everything was clear, the guards signaled to the prison guard behind Charlie. The guard nudged Charlie and gestured for him to go in.An awful stench hit Charlie's nose as soon as he entered the cell and made him frown in disgust. He could smell a sour and rusty odor, body odor, and foot odor mixed with the odor of bedding in addition to the smell of the toilet, which was disgusting.Charlie's wrinkled expression was a stark contrast to the other prisoners who didn't seem to care about the stench at all.Among them, a muscular and beard
The prison guard nodded and left the cell with the other two guards, ignoring Charlie.Then, the gate closed on its own.As soon as the guards left, the dozen men who were standing in line relaxed their shoulders and moved away casually. The muscular man named Dean glared at Charlie and sneered, "Hey, new guy! I'll walk you through the rules of the cell."Charlie ignored him and walked straight to his bed, number 16.Enraged by Charlie giving him the cold shoulder, Dean grabbed Charlie by the collar, clenched his fist, and gestured to Charlie. "Hey, I'm talking to you! Are you fucking deaf?!"With an annoyed frown, Charlie huffed, "Your mouth is foul, and so is your body. The whole cell smells awful. It seems like we’ll have to do something about the hygiene of the cell."Then, he brushed Dean off and started to make his bed. Dean was taken aback and confused by Charlie's audacity in talking to him in such an indifferent manner. He was concerned that Charlie had some background
With a perverted grin on his face, Dean snarled, "Enough with the chattering. Why don't we go to the bathroom now? I'll show you step by step so that you can have a taste right away!""Woah!" the crowd guffawed. One guy whistled and quipped, "Boss, are you going to do it in broad daylight? Can I have a taste of him once you're done?""Of course, but let me check him out first!" Dean snickered. "After I'm done, anyone interested can try him out!"Then, his expression darkened. He glared at Charlie and directed coldly, "Come on. To the bath."Charlie nodded, pointed to the footprints on his bed, and said monotonously, "Okay, I'll settle this with you later."With that, he spruced up his shirt and headed for the bathroom."He's got an attitude. I like that," Dean snorted and swept his glance over the excited crowd. "Wait outside and don't peek, or I'll kick your ass!"Everyone nodded with a perverted grin. Then, Dean went into the bathroom. He slammed the door shut as soon as he
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