Charlie asked, "Isn't this the same as what you said earlier?" Helena stuck out her tongue cheekily. "At least the order has changed. There's still a difference." Speaking of which, Helena said, "What you asked me to do is a piece of cake for me. It isn’t right to accept your money again..." Charlie affirmed earnestly, "Listen, this is the last price. Go to Harrison, and we will split the money 50-50 when it's done. If that's fine, we'll proceed. If you don't want to take the deal, I'll find someone else to help me." Helena felt both joy and concern as she looked at Charlie, with his overwhelming display of masculinity. The joy was obvious—not because of money, but because Charlie was always thinking of her and cared about her. As for the concern, it wasn't about being unable to repay the favor, as that was already impossible. Her real worry was that none of her fantasies about men could ever compare to even a fraction of Charlie himself. Having fallen into this love trap,
Meanwhile, Harrison was on the verge of collapse. Although his men had already cleaned up the scene and he had hidden Hank and the others away, even planning to send them overseas at the right moment, he was still extremely anxious. He had expended so much effort and endured so much pressure from the public, yet he had not been able to locate the Four-Sided Treasure Tower. That was still not the worst part. He had even implicated the Qing Eliminating Society. What was even worse was that he had inexplicably killed a core member of the Qing Eliminating Society. The misery would be worth it if he could hide the truth from the Qing Eliminating Society and recover the Four-Sided Treasure Tower. But if, by any chance, the tower could not be retrieved and the Qing Eliminating Society came after him for revenge, he'd really be wishing for death. The torment over the past few days had caused his blood pressure to rise continuously. After examining him, his personal doctor strongl
"No problem," Emmett reassured with a smile. "Don't worry about it. Everything has already been arranged. The flight will land in Eastcliff in two hours, and military journalists will be there to capture some footage. At 10 p.m., some edited footage will be handed over for the evening news broadcast. You can keep an eye on it." "Wonderful!" Charlie beamed. "I'll wait for the news to be released." - Just as Emmett's plane took off from Aurous Hill, the Boeing 777 plane that Fleur was on finally landed at New York Kennedy Airport. On the plane, Fleur was feeling a little cramped and agitated. Despite her determination to come to the United States for the Four-Sided Treasure Tower, she couldn't help but feel a subtle sense of unease when she thought about how she'd recently broken decades of low-profile living and had been going out frequently. Fleur had almost never left the base since the beginning of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union in the last ce
The disappearance of the coordinate points did not necessarily mean that the corresponding member of the Qing Eliminating Society had died, but it did mean that he had lost contact. The Qing Eliminating Society had very strict disciplinary requirements for members like Zekeiah who were on long-term missions outside the base, and the punishment for losing contact was very severe. If the disconnection was intentional and malicious, once caught, the person could be executed on the spot. Even if they managed to hide, it wouldn't help as the poison in their body had a set activation period. If they didn't receive the antidote within the deadline, they would surely die. If the disconnection was due to negligence, such as forgetting to charge the special phone or equipment malfunction, the organization would not let it slide easily either. Depending on the situation, they would send an envoy to punish the individual. In the lightest case, that person would have to take a special poison
The medical staff were busy with their duty of tending to the patients, while the security department was like a cat on a hot tin roof. The reason for their anxiety was that two very bizarre incidents had happened this morning. The first incident was that the patient in Ward 1707 had been found dead in his bed earlier that morning. The preliminary cause of death was acute morphine intoxication, and the autopsy report from the police was in progress. The hospital reviewed the patient's medical records. As he had been admitted to hospital following a car accident, he had indeed been injected with morphine last night to relieve the pain, but the recorded dosage was very safe and unlikely to cause morphine overdose, so the possibility of homicide was not ruled out. Secondly, this morning, as the staff responsible for the surveillance system discovered that the system had some minor vulnerabilities that needed fixing, they opted for an automatic repair, but after the repair was comp
Hearing the policeman's answer, Fleur felt even more depressed. Zekeiah and Mr. Zorro had both disappeared from Manhattan Hospital, and Zekeiah's assistant had died in this hospital. It went without saying that there had to be an enemy behind the scenes. Now, there was only one body left of the three, and the other two seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. It made Fleur extremely anxious. Zekeiah's assistant was found dead in the morning. The coordinate point of Zekeiah and Mr. Zorro was in the hospital at midnight, and they had disappeared before dawn. Fleur figured that if they were attacked, this person would have killed Zekeiah and Mr. Zorro first and Zekeiah's assistant next. She mumbled under her breath, "Why did that person kill Zekeiah's assistant? What kind of threat would an injured patient pose to him? Could the assistant have seen him?" Thinking about this, she immediately asked, "Is there any evidence that the patient was murdered?" The policeman s
Enraged, Fleur queried, "Zekeiah disappeared early this morning. How did he leave the hospital? Don't you know?" "No," the policeman answered honestly. "All the CCTV footage is gone. To find clues, we can only rely on forensic experts to search the crime scene bit by bit, but the clues at the crime scene have been destroyed. Not even a complete footprint or fingerprint can be extracted, so for the time being, we don't know how they left." As Harrison's henchman, Hank might not be the most powerful martial artist, but he was a professional agent and very good at handling various clues. Charlie had ordered him to stay here yesterday to clean up all the clues and make it difficult for the police and Fleur to make any breakthroughs, and Hank had completed his task flawlessly. Fleur felt a deep sense of powerlessness. At the thought of the Four-Sided Treasure Tower, she queried, "The antique dealer... B-Biden Cole, right? Isn't he admitted here? Where is he now?" The policeman answe
"No." The policeman shook his head. "I have nothing to add." Sighing in disappointment, Fleur glared at the two policemen and commanded, "Listen, don't tell anyone about your encounter with me. If you have any leads, come to the Starbucks across the hospital. I'll be there." "Okay." The two policemen stared ahead blankly, but they nodded firmly. Fleur ignored them, turned around, and walked out of the hospital. Tarlon was waiting outside the hospital. Seeing Fleur come out so quickly, he hurried forward and whispered, "Lord, why did you come out so quickly? Have you found any clues?" With a gloomy expression, Fleur shook her head. She felt that she had reached a dead-end, but she couldn't give up. So, she coldly ordered Tarlon, "Call Esteban Briggs of the Left Military Governor Office and ask him to mobilize all the intelligence networks of the office in the country to locate Zekeiah, Mr. Zorro, and that antique dealer at all costs! Whoever finds them will be handsomely rewar
Mr. Cardensky's forgery syndicate had made the bronze sculpture—all Zachary had done was talk Jacob into buying it, and Jacob himself had made some money after Raymond bought it.That meant the entire plot had nothing to do with Zachary as he was just a mediator at best.In other words, if the bronze sculpture was worth nothing, he didn't lose anything… although he wouldn't make a cent even if it was worth a hundred million.However, he also knew all too well what Jacob Wilson was like.In fact, in this world, he was only second to Charlie when it came to knowing what type of man Jacob Wilson really was—not even Claire or Elaine would win against them.He was a dead man.That was Zachary's immediate thought on the matter, should Jacob ever find out.After all, Jacob was precisely one of those people who didn't play by any rules—no buyer's regret? No seller's remorse? None of that applied to him.Not even the Gods could make Jacob offer a refund if he scalped them. And vice vers
As Mick Crane had established a corrupted hierarchy in Vintage Deluxe, he had to make sure his position was never threatened by Raymond Cole.That was why he wanted Raymond gone, and it was obvious from that how important self-gain was to him.However, though he plotted to protect this job with a salary of several hundred grand per annum and incentives worth just as much, he didn't think that doing so meant he had missed out on 20 million.And to add insult to injury, that 20 million had ended up in Raymond's pocket.Mick wasn't just thunderstruck—he wished he was dead.Hanging up on Trippy right then, he called Zachary directly since Zachary had told him earlier that text notifications from his number would be silenced.Zachary was just about to fall asleep when his phone began buzzing.Already annoyed when he picked up his phone, he immediately snapped at Mick when he saw who the caller was. "I told you! Text me if you have any updates, and I'll check it when I wake up! Why ar
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,