Zayn answered the call with a direct request. “Cut to the chase.”Infuriated, Shaelyn harrumphed loudly enough for anyone to hear the resentment and embarrassment etched in her voice. “What, is this your way of telling me I don’t mean a thing to you?”“Can you please stop flirting with me already, Shaelyn? Get down to business already before my wife gets the wrong idea,” Zayn retorted snappishly.Shaelyn was confused. Why is this specific man such a tough nut to crack? Why was her charm not working on him as it should?Of course, since Zayn had made it clear that he was in no mood for flirting and fun, she did go straight to the point. “Since the Great Hunt starts tomorrow, we’ll have to be there by this evening. The venue isn’t anywhere within Waltz City but a remote location deep in the northern forest. This is the real reason why you should be here already.”After confirming her information with what Mr. Hyde knew, he finally exclaimed with an undertone of resentment, “For God’
Zayn jolted backward right there and then. Him—sharing a room with Shaelyn goddamn Peach?! To hell with that!“You’ve got to be f**king kidding me. Since when am I supposed to share a room with you?!” Zayn cried, his eyes widening. He might have inserted a few conspicuous steps between himself and Shaelyn, but his heart was still beating like a drum despite himself.How could this not be a joke? To share a room with a renowned sex bomb like Shaelyn Peach was precisely the sort of impression no masterclass explanation or defense could possibly clear. To add more into the impossibility, Zayn was a married man—how was he supposed to say “this is okay”?Worst of all, one look at the way Shaelyn carried herself, and Zayn knew how possible a very messy entanglement between them was.Shaelyn seemed oddly surprised at Zayn’s surprise. “Are you telling me you didn’t know so many joined the Great Hunt to the point of room shortage, which is why many of us have to share a room with someone el
Shaelyn might have as well slapped Stephen on the face with a retort like that. Naturally, the man’s scowl deepened. Of course, the real target to bear the brunt of his fury and malice was not never going to be Shaelyn. To Stephen, the culprit had been no one but Zayn.“Oh, so you think you can just come out of nowhere, snatch someone I’ve been working on, and think everything’s cool now? You got nerves, pal. What’s your name? I want to see if you’re worth any sh*t,” Stephen grunted, his malicious eyes drilling through Zayn like stakes.Zayn was starting to get very annoyed at how frequent this happened to him. People just keep finding new ways to misunderstand him! Now, he would have tried to be a bit more amicable if they were still within the bounds of Waltz City, but the Great Hunt was about to begin, and the fact that it allowed participants to murder each other in the process quickly made maintaining civility a pointless effort. Trying to explain himself to small fries like t
“Alright. He’s gone. You can unhand me now, right?” Zayn intoned, rolling his eyes in annoyance.She widened her eyes and gawked at him with disbelief, as though this was the first time they had ever met.Zayn rubbed his cheeks, confused. “Okay, now what? What’s on my face?”Shaelyn drew her eyes away from him without releasing her grip. In fact, she doubled down on the strength of her hug and let Zayn’s body smash against her soft, fleshy assets. Nothing was more ludicrous than the expression she wore, though, evident in her swooning, “Oh my god. Oh! My God! That was soooo manly, I don’t even think I know you anymore, Zayn! That was like, so hawt—I’m crying in love right now!”Zayn was at a loss of what to say about her acting chops that he could only roll his eyes. For crying out loud, Shaelyn was a grown woman who was acting like a swooning teenager! “God, can you act your age for a change? You’re too old to put on those teenager mannerisms! Aren’t you embarrassed of yourself?”
“God, just thinking about how we never got to f**k him up pisses me off so hard!”“I know right? You know, I’m starting to think that even if we did punish him, the Aeolus House isn’t gonna really hold it against us, man!”One by one, Stephen’s friends began to rant and whine about missed opportunities and their chief stopping them.Stephen narrowed his eyes as they glinted in icy killing intent. “What do you people know about punishment, hmm? All a beating could do to him was inflicting some bodily harm—he doesn’t deserve that kind of charity,” he growled with a sadistic edge. “It’s the Great Hunt tomorrow, after all. If he has the balls to attend it, good. This competition would just turn into a manhunt. I want him to die watching himself bled dry. I want his hopes to die before he joins them.”His friends, who started out more as a rowdy band of indignant brothers, froze. Chill began to crawl through their spines. For them, the punishment was simple—they gave him a lesson that,
Zayn did not feel threatened by him at all. He sneered and woke Shaelyn with a gentle tap. “Wake up. We’ll be there soon.”Shaelyn opened her eyes to find herself leaning against Zayn’s shoulder and her drool on his shirt. She could not help blushing, despite her shamelessness. She said, “I’m sorry for wetting your top.”She hastily took out a napkin in an attempt to dry the spot. Zayn was speechless and said, “No need. The wind will dry it in a while.”It did not take long before the airplane landed. After disembarking, they could feel a frosty wind blowing their way. The cold could make one tremble because the temperature there was much lower than in Waltz City. Zayn was fit, so he did not mind as much. However, Shaelyn was not in such good shape, so she could not stand it. She sneezed and hastily wrapped her arms around Zayn next to her. Shivering, she told him, “It’s so cold.”“Hey, why are you hugging me? Put on a jacket or something if you’re cold,” said Zayn in a haste.
Zayn had very sharp senses that allowed him to spot numerous fowl and game within a few kilometers of them. There was even a huge tiger staring at them ferociously about 300 meters to his left. Other than that, there were many monkeys leaping about the trees above them. Perhaps it would be difficult for an ordinary person to leave this forest alive. Many people from the group expressed their excitement by sticking their heads out to look around. “The location for the Great Hunt this year is awesome. I’m sure that there are more wild animals to chase in a huge forest like this,” someone exclaimed excitedly. “That’s right. I heard that there are even many tigers and bears. It’s certainly going to be very interesting to hunt here!”“I believe that it’ll be more interesting than the previous year regardless!”“I wonder who’ll be the best hunter? I heard they have incredible rewards for this year’s winner.”“Why do you care who’s going to be the best hunter? It’s not going to b
The scene that emerged before them was a hotel that was neither elegant or classy. It was about ten stories tall and stood on a mountain in the middle of the forest, appearing rather out of place within its surroundings. “We’re here. Let’s get off the bus,” Shaelyn said somewhat excitedly. Zayn nodded and followed her. After they got off, they bumped into some acquaintances. A few of them were experienced businessmen in Waltz City. They were just ordinary people, yet they were brave enough to take part in a hunting competition like this which made Zayn admire them. Besides them, there were more customers that Zayn had encountered at Aeolus House’s auction previously. However, they did not come forward to greet Zayn when they saw him. Instead, they looked at him with pity, sympathy, and schadenfreude. Moreover, many were whispering to one another. “I couldn’t be mistaken, could I? That man standing next to Shaelyn is the chairman of Violet Vision Media Corp, Zayn Larson, right