Despite Helen going that far for Frank, he refused to help even though her uncle's life was on the line, and it hurt.It did make sense, however, with the many beauties hovering around Frank—even Helen was herself just one of them, and it would not hurt him to lose her.Seeing her devastated reaction, Frank rubbed his brow in slight irritation. "Calm down. I said I'm not going to give the Bloodcrane Spiritbloom, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to help.""Help? How?"Helen laughed miserably. "They have Uncle Gavin and would kill him at any moment, but you're refusing to give a single herb!""Can you stop being unreasonable?"Frank retorted, "I'm telling you—the Bloodcrane Spiritbloom means a lot to me, and it's not a question of money. I wouldn't even bat an eye if I had to give you anything else, but this is really impassive.""Did you just say that I'm being unreasonable?!"However, Helen was clearly insulted, and her temper flared as she turned her head aside. "Right, I'm
Frank was not bothered by Gina's outburst at all, since he knew very well how rare the Bloodcrane Spiritbloom really was.As a treasure that would only appear once over a thousand years, she was saying that someone would be willingly parting with it?Only Gina herself would be believing such bullshit.However, Helen could not pretend that she did not hear what Frank said.Even if Frank knew it was slightly inappropriate to say it, women never liked to hear them being called unreasonable.Since Frank could not change what he said, he braced himself and said, "Just give me time, Helen. I'll have someone search and rescue Gavin.""Hah! It'd be too late!"Gina snorted in disdain and kept pulling Helen away, huffing. "Let's go. All men are pigs and are always ready to dump you when they have someone new. See here? He doesn't care about you even before you remarry! What do you think would happen once you remarry? Who knows how many others he has out there!"Frank was left bristling.
Roth nodded politely at Frank before leaving too, leaving him alone in the spacious drawing room of Cologne Court.Frank reclined against the couch in silence but eventually jumped to his feet."Helen, wait!" Frank ran out of the mansion, ready to say something when he saw the black Cadillac parked outside, and a thirtyish man in a suit was speaking with Helen and Gina.Naturally, it was none other than Huub Droitner, heir to Droitner Inc."What…"Before Frank caught himself, Gina turned and sneered at Frank. "Hmph. Speak of the devil! Even if you refuse to give us the Bloodcrane Spiritbloom, Mr. Droitner here just happened to have one and is willing to part with it. It's really frustrating when someone one-ups you, isn't it?""What?" Frank was left frowning.Huub turned on Frank right then and sneered. "Hmph. It's just an herb, but you're treating it like treasure? How embarrassing.""Do you even know what the Bloodcrane Spiritbloom is?"Frank's expression was cold, and tho
The man with the poker-face was flanked by a dozen officers armed with guns, which they trained on Frank as soon as they strode through the front door."Frank Lawrence?" the man asked."Who are you?"Frank glared at them coolly, noticing soon that they were law enforcement officers with ties to the government.He realized it with a start when he remembered Huub's threat.It seemed that despite the modest scale of Droitner Inc., it was still the first time Frank had a government official in Zamri moving against him."I'm Podrick Daffey, a captain working directly under Zamri's commissioner."Podrick flashed his badge at Frank and announced coolly, "You're accused of being directly involved in the deaths of Larry Jameson and Kit Jameson. Considering the seriousness of the accusations, you must come with us for questioning."Frank did a double take. "An anonymous tip? Who, exactly?" "Don't worry about it." Podrick snorted. "We will never reveal them to ensure their safety, while
As they advanced, Frank could feel air getting more damp, with the stench of blood and rot getting even more pungent, to the point that one could throw up."A torture chamber?" Frank asked interestedly.He was no stranger to torture chambers as he met Burt Yorkman in the one at Riverton.In this case, this place was definitely the one in Zamri."Cut the chatter," someone growled as he was led into an elevator that descended below the surface.Eventually, the thick steel doors parted, and Frank immediately heard the screams.And they were all, men whose very will was crumbling under the audible crack of whips, and the sizzling hiss of branding iron burning into their skin.There was maniacal laughter on top of that, along with a stench that was worse than before. And he could feel from the wetness of the floor that it was flooded with ankle-deep puddles down the hallway.The rug sack on Frank's head was then taken off, and he found himself staring down a pitch-black hallway, as
The jailer who just left did not turn back in spite of Scarface's screams, as it was way too common around here.He paused for a moment before chuckling and left without looking back.Meanwhile, Scarface was clutching his almost broken thumb and cowering in a corner, wheezing."Yo!" Someone chuckled. "It seems the newbie can throw down, almost snapping Scarface Tucker's thumb in an instant. Interesting!"Hearing the gleeful laughter around him, Frank looked around and asked, "Can anyone tell me where I am?""Eh…?""Pfft…""No way. The kid doesn't know where this place is?""Makes sense. Just look at his blank stare—doesn't look too smart, does he? Someone must have tricked him."Clang…"Ahem…"As Frank's fellow inmates chuckled and commented, silence quickly ensued with the clanging of metals.A geezer could then be heard coughing, as every eye turned toward him in the darkness.Even the cells nearby were silent, a far cry from the liveliness when Frank had just entered th
If Frank really wanted to leave, not that many people could actually stop him.His brow easing, he turned toward the fettered geezer again. He could certainly notice from the other inmates' reaction that they feared the geezer too."In that case, may I ask how you ended up here, sir?" Frank asked."Oh, it's really not worth mentioning…"The geezer avoided the subject, shaking his head and smiling when he discerned Frank's mood. "Word of advice, kid—you're not getting out of here now that you're here. I tried to escape with the strength in my arms… and well, you can see how that went."He gestured with his chin at his fetters, and Frank walked up to him.He studied the geezer and saw that he had overflowing vigor and a rich meridian nexus.Judging from that, he was definitely halfway into Ascendant rank. And if someone of his caliber was kept here, it was clear that this prison was worse than it looked.The geezer then calmly continued, telling Frank about the brutal truth. "K
"Well, the jig's up."The fettered geezer shook his head and sighed. "I guess you'll be getting the Willbreaker.""Willbreaker? What's that?" Frank asked."To bring the new inmates down a peg, they would all be beaten up their first day in… though the severity depends on what you can offer the jailer."The geezer shook his head and sighed—Frank would definitely be getting a world of pain since he was not paying off the jailer.Still, he advised, "Look, if you can't pay him off and have nothing of value, you just have to endure the stick and be as agreeable as possible. That way, the jailer just might take it easy on you.""Exactly." A skinny inmate sighed in agreement. "I had nothing to offer when I was brought here, so I had to suffer fifty strikes. Fortunately, I was healthy enough to recover after two weeks' worth of lying down."He then looked pointedly at Frank. "But judging from your small frame, it'd take you a month to recover.""Yeah, but surviving is better than nothi