Darius put his hands behind his back and smiled. "I wouldn't be standing here, and we wouldn't be on opposing sides if you could find out the truth. The actual truth, not a convenient one." His gaze turned cold.The officer narrowed his eyes. "I hope you realize what you're saying, Darius."Darius raised an eyebrow. "Of course. You, though …"He slowly approached the officer. "You show up here and claim you're gonna find out the truth. In other words, anything that helps you achieve your objective is the truth. It doesn't matter whether it's what actually happened."The officer's gaze turned menacing. "I've already made myself clear, Darius. You made a huge mistake, and that's why you need to come with me. Obeying me is the only way you'll get out of this!"Darius rolled his eyes. "You're all talk and no walk. If I were your boss, I would've fired you in a jiffy." He looked at the officer scornfully.The officer started to tremble with rage. If looks could kill, Darius would already b
Then, Darius channeled his life force to his leg and stomped on the ground. He moved so quickly that regular individuals didn't even see him coming. He shot toward the officer.The officer frowned and quickly stepped back. At the same time, he cried, "You're an enlightened martial artist, Darius. How can you treat me like this?"Darius raised an eyebrow and smiled. "It's amazing that you even know I'm an enlightened martial artist! You know that, but you know nothing else about what I'm like and what I'm capable of."His smile didn't reach his eyes. He looked at the officer mockingly. "I thought all bad guys were intelligent, but you've proven me wrong." He rolled his eyes and snorted.The officer trembled with rage. "I've been nice to you this whole time, Darius. Now, your actions are telling me that I was wrong to do so! I have to make you pay for this!"Darius sneered. "I didn't expect this of you. I should be the one saying those things, you know. I tried being nice, but you're th
The officer gulped and stared at Darius in horror. Darius smirked. "You look terrified; that's laughable. Didn't it occur to you that you were slandering an innocent man when you did those things?"More black life swirled around Darius as he spoke. The officer shook his head vigorously. "No, wait! You already know what happened to me. You might not have meant for that to happen, but that's the only reason I started going after you!""No." Darius cut him off. "It's not that I didn't mean for that to happen. I had nothing to do with it at all." He rolled his eyes. "And now, I see how dumb you are."After pointing out the officer's stupidity, Darius stretched out his arms. Black life force swirled around him. It formed a replica of him, which darted at the officer. To the officer's horror, the replica lifted him off his feet.The officer trembled violently, and his eyes widened with terror. Then, he squeezed his eyes shut, looking pained. He knew he couldn't go against Darius. He waited
Darius' breathing sped up. He didn't expect to run into yet another one of Dream Investment Group's experiments. He shut his eyes to conceal his fury. To the outside world, he and the person behind Dream Investment Group had yet to truly stand against each other.Few people knew of this, and Darius wanted to keep it that way. Still, he felt like he was on the losing side whenever he had to face Dream Investment Group. He exhaled and tried to keep his anger from showing.The officer smiled at him. "Look, you're getting mad because I tricked you." He looked pleased with himself.Darius exhaled again. His expression was calm when he looked up at the officer. "Do you know you're an experiment?"The officer's eyes widened in shock. "What? When did you …"Darius raised an eyebrow. Instead of answering, he said, "You look surprised. But it's not because you're an experiment. It's because I know you're an experiment. You already know about the former."He tucked his hands into his pockets and
"I believe you're desperate to know where your family is and what they're doing," said Darius.The officer paled and shook his head in despair. "No, you can't do this to me."Darius' attention was on his phone, so he didn't see this. That didn't mean he was oblivious to the officer's actions, though. He dialed a number as the officer watched in horror. As the phone rang, the officer suddenly felt a surge of strength.He lunged at Darius, wanting to snatch the phone away. Unfortunately, he was still a weakling in Darius' eyes. Before he could even get close, he was swept off his feet. He landed on the ground with a crash, his hands scraping against the ground by Darius' feet.Darius didn't even flinch. He looked down and showed the officer his phone. He said icily, "Let's wait for an answer to your claims, shall we? I want you to listen to this phone call calmly. Otherwise, I'll take it to mean you've still chosen to help the bad guys despite knowing your family's in trouble."He held
"If I could choose, I wouldn't have wanted to become who I am today. I wanted to be kind," rasped the officer.Darius narrowed his eyes silently. The man on the other end of the line heard this. He roared, "What have you done to my man, Darius? Why is he saying things like that?"Darius shut his eyes and exhaled. He didn't answer the man. Instead, he said mockingly, "It's a little too late for you to wonder about that. Everyone here heard our conversation, and I'm sure many of your experiments now know the truth.""You coerced them into agreeing to become your experiments by holding their families hostage. You promised you'd let their families off the hook and treat them well. But those were all lies! I wonder what will happen to you now that they know the truth." Darius hung up.He looked at the officer, who was staring at the ceiling blankly. He struggled to say, "Darius, I think enlightened martial artists like yourself and the person behind Dream Investment Group can save me. But
The officer enveloped the crowd in his white life force. Soon, the horrified looks on their faces disappeared.Darius crossed his arms and watched silently. He nodded and smiled. "You seem to be familiar with this."The officer nodded. "I specialize in cleaning up after you people, after all. You'd be able to do it with your eyes closed after a few times."Darius raised an eyebrow. "Do people like me constantly create messes like this for you to clean up?""There's no point in trying to probe me for more information. You won't get what you want. I'm used to dealing with you enlightened martial artists," the officer said calmly. He even smiled.Darius' smile widened. "It's been a while since I've last met someone as interesting as you."The officer retracted his life force and crossed his arms. "The name's Gabriel Andrews. I'm in charge of enlightened martial artists like you."Darius said, "You're a conundrum. You're polite and impolite at the same time."Gabriel smiled at that. "Well
"I know a little something about the person behind Dream Investment Group. It's something that no one else knows." Gabriel gave Darius a complicated look. "I also know there's something wrong with my body and emotions."I've prepared myself to retire and rest after this is over. I didn't expect you to give me such a surprise, though." He sat opposite Darius.The crowd had dispersed so they could talk in peace. Gabriel seemed somewhat haggard as he said, "I know bits and pieces of everything. I've never tried putting them together, though."Darius looked calm. He didn't seem surprised by Gabriel's sudden switch from hostility to anticipation. He looked at the ground as his mind raced. He didn't really know how to deal with these experiments. Their emotions seemed rather unstable.It was as if they'd been designed to deal with enlightened martial artists like himself. Darius raised an eyebrow. A small smile curved his lips but soon faded. He sat up straight. "You guys were created to de
"If you hadn't picked on me, I wouldn't have ended up like this. No matter how wealthy I've become, I'll never be able to take these black robes off!" The mysterious man's voice was shaky. He was extremely agitated.James frowned at that. He said curiously, "You keep saying I've done you wrong, but everything I did to you was what you did to others. I only gave you a taste of your own medicine."The mysterious man's breathing sped up when he heard that. He barked out a laugh and sneered, "I'll be honest with you. I never thought I'd have the chance to meet someone as dumb as you again."He shook his head. "I find it hard to imagine what your grandson will do when he sees you like this." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the door was kicked open with a loud bang. The man was caught off guard. He looked at Darius as his body trembled violently.Darius frowned when he saw this. It was completely different from what he'd imagined. He narrowed his eyes at the mysterious man, his
Gabriel smiled and nodded. "Alright, then. I'll return to my workstation and prepare a proposal on what to do with Noah."Darius nodded and smiled. "Good. That's all I ever wanted." He turned to leave. "You need to get to work, and I need to return to my hotel to get some rest."Gabriel stopped. Darius' words made him hesitate. "I'm sorry to be asking this because I don't think it's my place, but it's probably better for me to ask anyway. I don't remember there being any hotels nearby."You should head home if you wanna get some rest. I don't understand why you're heading to a hotel to rest."Darius raised an eyebrow, looking surprised. He turned with his hands behind his back to look at Gabriel helplessly. "I don't know how to feel about what you've just said. You're making me think you're a little silly. Wouldn't I know how to search for a hotel?"It won't take you long to prepare a proposal, but it'll take me ages to get home from here." Darius turned and left.Gabriel's lips twitc
"Because you realized the risk was far greater than what you were comfortable with," Darius said calmly.But Noah started trembling. He looked at Darius in terror. He didn't expect Darius to see right through him after some simple back-and-forth. His eyes widened in fear.Everything that was happening now made him feel like he was dreaming. Noah had only been a step away from success, yet Darius had ruined everything.Tears filled his eyes as he gazed at Darius. "I've said everything there is to say. I'm the lowest rung on this ladder, and I only have one purpose for being here. It's to make you come under the authorities' control. Once you're here, my mission's accomplished."Someone else from the authorities will be here to deal with you, but that has nothing to do with me. They wouldn't have told me about it, anyway."Darius put his hands behind his back without saying anything. He turned to leave. Noah's eyes widened as he stared in fear at Darius' back.Darius didn't see this, bu
When Darius straightened up, his face became devoid of emotion. He said calmly, "I've wasted too much time on you. Now, I only want frank answers. Otherwise, I'll punish you for every lie that you tell me. I don't see any hope in your eyes, but let's see whether you prove me wrong."Darius paused, then continued, "I've already said something similar once. That was a chance I gave you. From this moment onward, I want you to know that I won't repeat myself because I believe you've had enough time to prepare yourself."Gabriel stood beside him and put his hands behind his back as his lips twitched. He'd thought about the various reasons for Darius repeating himself. But the one thing that hadn't occurred to him was that Darius had done it to give Noah time to prepare.Gabriel felt like applauding Darius, but the rational side of him stopped him from doing so. His rationality told him he'd be in for trouble if he were to do that, so he only looked at Darius with a smile.Darius sensed Ga
Darius raised an eyebrow and smiled. Then, he said, "You're too nervous, Gabriel. It makes it seem like you don't trust me. In truth, there's nothing for you to worry about."He stretched his neck and continued, "I know very well how bad the consequences of destroying this building will be. Aside from those silly regulations, I'll also need to pay for it. I might be wealthy, but that doesn't mean I'll enjoy forking out a huge sum of money as compensation."Darius spread his hands and shrugged. At the same time, he pointed at the window and turned to look at Gabriel. Then, he said, "Look. The windows are perfectly fine. They're not even scratched. That shows my life force is non-destructive."That's why you have nothing to worry about. You can put your heart back into your chest."Gabriel straightened up and sighed in relief. Then, he gave Darius an embarrassed smile.Darius grinned but didn't say anything in response. He put his hands behind his back and turned to look at Noah. He sai
"We're classmates from the same major, too! We were interns at Dream Investment Group, remember? And we got kicked out on our first day. You broke my legs because of a tiny argument we had outside the building! The surveillance cameras captured all of this!" Noah cried.Darius tucked his hands into his pockets and rolled his eyes. Then, he said mockingly, "You're the biggest fool I've ever met. Do you think you're the only one who can tamper with the surveillance footage? Any footage that can be tampered with can also be restored."Noah's eyes widened in shock. He gulped and tried to think of a way to explain away the injuries Darius had inflicted on him. Still, he couldn't think of anything. Before he had the chance to think any further, Darius spoke.He said, "There's one thing you got right, though. Gabriel is on my side, so he'll stand up for me no matter what you say."Gabriel's lips twitched at that. He subconsciously opened his mouth to say something in return, but Darius bea
"And I don't think it's my job to make you see sense," Gabriel continued. He put his hands behind his back. He gave Noah a look that was an odd mixture of gentle iciness. "I've given you more than enough time and chances."Gabriel sighed. "It's obvious that you don't care for that, though. And so I think it's time for me to treat you as an officer should." He sat down on the other side of the desk again.Noah's face was white with fear. Gabriel acted like he didn't see this, though. He smiled. "As I mentioned, I gave you plenty of time and chances, but you didn't appreciate them."His gaze turned frosty. "If that's the case, I'm sure you won't object to me doing this per our guidelines."Noah cried, "No, wait! I don't know what Darius has promised you to make you side with him unconditionally, but there's no way I'll let you two get away with this. You have to make sure you do everything by the book. It's a reasonable request, and you have no right to turn me down!"He trembled viole
Gabriel put his hands behind his back as he looked at Noah with a smile. "Now, you've piqued my interest."Noah looked up at Gabriel. His voice was deep and hoarse as he said, "If you help me, I'll give you half of the Reid Consortium's assets once I get my hands on them. You should know that without me, there's no way you'll get a dime from the Reid Consortium."Gabriel snorted with laughter when he heard that. He straightened up and slowly circled Noah. He sounded mocking as he said, "You've lost me there. I tried to puzzle it out, but it doesn't make sense at all."Why would I want to get my hands on the Reid Consortium's fortune? Even without it, I'm perfectly independent. I don't need it to survive."Gabriel crossed his arms and looked at Noah mockingly. "Or maybe you're different from the rest of us. Maybe you'll die without the Reid Consortium's wealth." He smirked and gave Noah a sharp gaze.Noah raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You're the one making me laugh now. I don't know
Gabriel sounded gentle, but everyone knew that was far from the truth. This was especially true for Noah, who sat across from him. He felt incredibly nervous. He shut his eyes and breathed rapidly.Noah never would've expected to still be in danger after being taken in by the authorities. He frowned and looked up at Gabriel. "So, are you determined to help Darius now?" His voice was shaky, and his eyes were wide because of his nerves.His emotions were clear as he looked at Gabriel. Gabriel bit his lip, feeling like he was about to laugh. To stop Noah from noticing, he quickly exhaled and sat down with one leg over the other. At the same time, he leaned forward to place his hands on the desk.He tapped his fingers on the desk quickly but rhythmically. Gabriel's eyes were devoid of emotion as he looked at Noah. "Tell me, Noah. What happened between you and Darius? Earlier, you said he was the one who injured you. Do you have any proof?"Because we checked the surveillance footage, a