Gina was certainly worried that Frank would change his mind, and all her fawning smile and cajoling over the past half hour would end up pointless.However, she was obviously worried over nothing since Frank really would not care about a mere 500 million dollars.In fact, he called Trevor Zurich right away, asking him to wire the money to Gina's account and sign his name on the agreement.Helen was scowling grumpily once he was done, while Gina beamed."Oh, Frank," she chirped. "Why don't you stay for the day? I'll treat you and Helen to dinner.""That's unnecessary," Frank replied quietly, shaking his head. "I'll be surveying the land and see if there's any use for it, so that I won't lose too much money."Frank's reply was sincere, just as Gina received a notification from the bank.Gina was hugely relieved to see that and was immediately less enthusiastic than before.In fact, she was laying down in bed and closing her eyes. "Alright, I won't keep you since you want to surve
Cold disappointment gripped Helen's heart when she stood at the edge of the land lot, surveying it.Forget an office building—even factories were impractical when this land lot is so far from the main road!While there were projects within the area, every block was starting to lean to one side. Cracks were showing on the walls too—they were obvious signs of disrepair."Frank… 500 million… For this land! We've really taken the fall here." Helen sighed dejectedly—in her point of view, the land was worthless!The projects were mostly empty too, and most units were unoccupied."Well, you'd never know." Frank smiled just then and headed toward the projects before Helen did.They did not make it too far when they found a group of thugs huddling together, playing poker at a rundown lobby. They all looked very young but were dressed ridiculously.One of them, who was facing the entrance, spotted Helen and Frank entering and was at once stunned."Hey! It's your call, Blackie!""What,
"Hahaha…"Frank was suddenly laughing out loud after looking around at the place, which left the approached thugs stunned."What's wrong?" Helen turned worriedly toward Frank—did he snap mentally because he spent 500 million on a useless plot of land?As various possibilities came to mind, Helen was left staring as Frank turned to smile at her and winked. "If my hunch is right, your mom really dropped the ball here.""What?" Helen's eyes widened in confusion, increasingly worried that Frank had really snapped.Frank, however, looked pointedly around him at the land. "This plot of land and everything built on it is due for demolition in two weeks. Zamri City Hall is ready to build a highway through this land.""Do you know what that means?" He grinned at Helen, and finished before she could answer. "The value of this land lot will increase more than tenfold! Hahaha… We've really hit the jackpot here, Helen!"Helen frowned suspiciously at his words. "How would you know? The city
The thugs were all clearly armed with baseball bats and machetes, cutting off Frank and Helen's escape.In an instant, the quiet rundown building was suddenly lively.Vroom!Bike engines roared and catcalls followed as over a dozen biking thugs sped down the road, their tyres screeching as they came to a halt beside Frank and Helen.Now, they were really surrounded."It's too late to leave now!" Terry gloated and laughed out loud.The other thugs started laughing too—with over a hundred of them doing it at the same time, one could almost feel the building rumble."What do you want?!" Helen snapped, even as she realized in dismay that they had entered the literal wolves' den.While she was absolutely confident in Frank's abilities, she was still worried since there were too many of them in the Blood Wolves."What do I want, you asked?!" Ted suddenly spat on the floor and glared at Frank threateningly, sneering, "I should be the one asking what you want! Buying this land?! Did
At Terry 'Ted' Cotton's orders, the thugs would charge at Frank and cut him into pieces!Still, Ted was narrowing his eyes at the immeasurably arrogant man, feeling just a hint of wariness.Could he be a member of some important family or the apprentice of one of the South Sea Sects?"You have balls, kid," he said. "Where are you from?""Nowhere. I'm just Frank Lawrence, head of Lanecorp's health and security department," Frank replied confidently.Ted actually did a double take.Lanecorp? As in the company?And the head of Lanecorp's health and security department… It actually took Ted a while to come to a realization, though he felt humiliated when he understood what Frank was saying. Head of Lanecorp's health and security department?! That just meant he was some glorified security guard!And a security guard had the balls to threaten him?!Incensed, Ted bellowed while pointing at Frank right then, "Go! Break every bone in his body! Spare that woman—I will have her warm
Seeing that the Blood Wolves were ready to run away, Frank moved to stop their leader, Terry 'Ted' Cotton, from doing the same.He had to admit that he appreciated the man, especially since he had been overly dramatic with that punch earlier.And yet, Ted quickly recognized from that single strike that he and his gang would never win against Frank, and he surrendered unconditionally.That alone made him a decisive person."Trying to run? Well, too late." Frank returned Terry's threat word for word but soon smiled. "Anyway, this isn't everyone in your gang, is it?""What…?" Terry was sweating bullets at Frank's question—was he going to attack the Blood Wolves now?!Still, he gulped and braced himself to answer. "You're right, sir. We're just a small cell of the Blood Wolves… there has been some disagreements in the gang, and I had no choice but to move here with my boys…""Disagreements? Really?" Frank moved closer, rubbing his chin.Seeing that Frank was curious, Ted could not
After some thought, Frank said "In that case, I have an offer if you'd like to hear me out.""An offer?" Ted did a double take, but his eyes showed hope as he looked at Frank.They certainly would not leave Zamri if they did not have to!Frank nodded. "I'll help you bring down the other two gangs so that you can return to Zamri. The condition for that is that you serve Lanecorp. In other words…"Then, pointing at Helen with a smile, he finished, "You answer to her, Lanecorp's board chairwoman.""What?!" Helen was left gaping.On the other hand, Frank deliberately scowled when he saw Ted and his thugs gaping at him too. "What, are you saying no?""Of course not!" Ted exclaimed. "We'd never leave Zamri unless we really have to, since our friends and family are there. But…"As Ted trailed off awkwardly, Frank pressed, "But what?""But…"Ted was left staring at Frank, unable to say it.After all, Frank was just one man. Could he really defeat the ten martial artists among the ra
"Wait, don't pay your respects." Frank waved the Blue Fangs off. "I'm not interested in becoming a gang leader. Just watch yourselves and stay out of trouble."Then, handily grabbing Ted's mohawk and shaking it, Frank said, "Also, clean up your act. I will make arrangements for everyone to be given a set of uniform—starting today, you are all employees of Lanecorp's health and security department!""What?" Ted exclaimed, not quite understanding what was happening."What do you mean, 'what'?! Do you have something to say about that?" Frank demanded, glaring pointedly at the thugs.Most of them were quickly kneeling out of gratitude. The thug life was not at all their dream, since most of them were just scraping by. They simply had the poor fortune of an unfortunate birth, lack of education, and skill.As such, while some were resistant to the idea of being recruited by a major company, most of them appeared hopeful.One of them even mustered his courage and asked, "Excuse me, Mr.