The base of Squad 4 was located in a corner of the Insurgent Trifecta. It had the smallest area and received the least resources from the organization. There was nothing the members could do because Squad 4 was known for being the weakest squad in the Insurgent Trifecta. The members were chatting in the common area when the door was kicked violently by someone all of a sudden. They were startled but then, they immediately broke out a torrent of abuses when they saw Keanu, Alpha and Flame at the door. “Keanu, how dare the three of you losers come to our base? Is it because you haven’t had enough of our instructor’s lesson?”“Have you already forgotten about the lesson taught to you earlier after such a short while?”“In my view, they must be itching for a beating, ha-ha...”The dozens of Squad 4 members began ridiculing these three people loudly. With Zayn as their backer, they were utterly not afraid even if they were confronted by Wolf’s Fang now. In fact, they even had the cou
There was another one who countered, “It can’t be that bad, right? Sergeant Larson is a legitimate master fighter, isn’t he? Maybe Sergeant Cheney will turn out not to be his match.”His suggestion immediately earned him a glare. “How’s that remotely possible? Sergeant Cheney has been a mainstay in the gallery of awesome pros for so long. Do you know how many of the most infamously depraved convicts all around the globe died by his hand? Sergeant Cheney is so powerful that our minds can’t even comprehend its extent, okay? How’s Sergeant Larson gonna compare to that? Even if he were a master fighter himself, I doubt he’s gonna match Sergeant Cheney evenly anyway!”“But what are we gonna do about this? We accepted the offer, right? Shouldn’t we tell Sergeant Larson about this?”“Do we have a choice? Of course not. He has to hear about this by this point! God, what have we done? We really dragged Sergeant Larson down with us right there…”Austin, Rafael, and the rest of the squad look
Compared to his high-rising profile and the buzz it generated, Zayn had spent the past two days in utter idleness to the point of boredom.Under Faye’s helm, Neotech had started a round of new investments and expanded the scope of its business venture. While it started as a standalone company at the outset, Neotech was steadily treading the path to being a business conglomerate. Faye had so much on her hands that she did not have the time to take Zayn to town anymore.Zayn felt bad for Faye, so he set up a professional team to help ease her burden somewhat.With his reputation and influence hanging over the company, Neotech was now, for all intents and purposes, under Faye’s complete control with nary an objection from the entire Carter family. Of course, they would not dare raise a contrary opinion, even if they did hold any, because the old Zayn Larson was long gone. Honestly, the family was basically living off Zayn’s influence and power now, such as using the fact that they were
Zayn stood rooted to the spot, motionless. In this brief moment, he felt like a radar sensing every single person within a radius of a few hundred meters. He could see every single one of their features, their looks. The content of their conversations. The pluck and strum of emotions in their interactions, and even their inner mindscape and all of its fleeting sentiments—their peeves, their sorrow, their joy.He could see them all in his head. He had never experienced something like this before!Now, Zayn already knew that he was psychically stronger than almost everyone else. He could literally influence the moods around him through his will, after all, and yet he had never tried the reverse—he had tried expanding his senses and perceived the lives, both inner and outer, of thousands before.It was an exhausting undertaking not unlike a computer going into overdrive, whereby it went beyond its load and seemed so dangerously close to bursting into flames. Zayn felt the same, too, an
Zayn could tell from the young man’s face that the latter had gotten the wrong impression about him already. Tossing the ad aside, he stood and greeted him back with a smile, “Zack! Good to see you. It’s been a while.”It did not take Zayn a long time to recognize who the young man was—Zachary Lambert, who was only a few years his junior. As a pleasant, amiable guy, Zachary used to sell breakfast in a hawker stall just below the stairs where Zayn used to live and was considered a pretty good friend. Zachary had already, on several occasions, bought lunch for Zayn just because he felt like it.After a few simple exchanges, Zayn asked in curiosity, “Say, Zack, I thought you’ve moved up north! What brought you back?”“Yeah, I moved back here a while ago. I’m with Ron now.”Zayn sized up Zachary’s clean, branded suit, knowing that it cost hundreds for one of these, and gave a lighthearted punch on the young man’s chest. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Zack, you lucky b*stard! Looks like you’ve made
Faron Cole was, admittedly, an old acquaintance who hailed from the same town as Zachary, but it did not mean that Zayn had a good impression of him. Faron was an arrogant, vain showboat who liked nothing more than looking down on anyone he judged as inferior and holding grudges over the pettiest things. Sure, he was smart—or deviously cunning—enough to know how to cut corners and maximize profit, but his unsavory character spoke volumes. Zayn never liked the man that much.On the other hand, Zayn’s nonchalance was rubbing Faron the wrong way, especially since, in his memory, Zayn was just a pathetic, useless doormat of a son-in-law. He was below the successful class of people like himself—way, way below.Disdainful eyes swept all over Zayn. Faron could not help but notice the unremarkable getup, the matted hair, and the look of someone who had really lost much of his fortune. “So, long time no see, Zayn Larson,” he began judgingly, “I trust you’ve found a place to make yourself feel
Zayn’s answer visibly excited Zachary, whose excitement oozed out of his mien as he cried, “That’s wonderful! Just you wait, partner—you’re not going to regret attending tonight’s party. Any fat cat worth their salt is going to be there. You can befriend one or two of them, and then voila! A way up the social ladder is in your hands!”“Wow, that sounds great. It’s all thanks to you, man,” Zayn replied with a smile.Zachary flashed him a smile so earnest that it could only belong to the guileless. “Aw, shucks,” he said, waving sheepishly, “Do you really have to make it such a big deal? You and I go way back! ‘Nuff said.”Zayn smiled slightly. Then, solemnly, he warned him, “Hey, by the way, this might sound a little weird, but there’s something off about you, you know? You haven’t been hitting your stride lately, have you? Think you should be more careful.”“W-what the…? Ha-ha-ha, Zayn! C’mon! When did you start believing in all that new age hoo-ha, huh?” Zachary remarked as he laug
Thanks to his commentary, Zachary was reminded of exactly where Barrow Cove was. He started scrunching his nose in bafflement. Even he had to admit that Zayn’s bluff was a little too much—really? Barrow Cove?Zayn had gotten so sick of Faron’s commentary that he decided to tune him out altogether. He turned his attention towards Zachary. “What? You don’t look like you believe me.”“Uh, well…” Zachary began, a little hard-pressed. How was he supposed to believe Zayn when he had seen the latter squat in a corner all by himself, sopping wet with sweat and eyes focused on an advertisement that offered to hire dishwashers. It would be pretty naive of him to believe that the same man lived in an area famous for its wealthy residents.Still, Zachary could not bring himself to expose him—he respected Zayn way too much to do something so cruel.He chuckled dryly in lieu of finishing his previous sentence and said, “Well, Barrow Cove is pretty far from here, yeah? It wouldn’t be sensible to