Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At midnight, teams of armed security were patrolling the perimeter around the small manor in the remote part of Shermanton. A faint sound of music and laughter could be heard inside the mansion.
“My dear Adolf, it has been a long time. You used to fish in the Red Wisteria Villa, but time flies. Here you are an adult already.” Muniwah Zeon, with his swept-back blue hairstyle and a cultured smile on his face, was clinking glasses with Adolf’s father.
“Glad to see you, my dear Uncle Zeon,” said Adolf, bowing his head in a gesture of respect.
The avuncular Muniwah Zeon, who was also called Zeon Sr., continued chatting in a low voice with Carney, Adolf’s father. As the two most prominent business tycoons in Shermanton, their every word and action were always in the limelight. However, Adolf did not want the spotlight. He preferred to keep a distance and observe his father from afar. What happened last night appeared like a dream to him, and until now, he still found it unreal. The words of the man, who self-proclaimed to be a Blackfeather swordsman, still lingered in his ears.
He held his glass in hand and slowly came to a quiet corner in the villa. He just wanted some quiet moment, but a girl with long blue hair was already standing there. Adolf recognized her; she was Marfa, the second daughter of the Zeon family. Out of politeness, he raised his glass and smiled at her. Marfa shot him a despising glance before walking away. She did not even want to be standing next to him. Despite that, Adolf could not have cared less as he knew how low his reputation had been in Shermanton; such cold-shoulder treatment was all too common to him.
He stood in the corner, listening to the melodious music while shooing away his admirers with his cold eyes. His mind was busy figuring out how to show due respect to his teacher. Deep inside, Adolf was an innocent child, overly protected by his father and elder sister. He could be even considered as a spoilt child. As he grew up hearing enough verbal abuse and being taken advantage of, he got wiser and more mature. He was now a person who would give his best in everything he did when he decided that he wanted it.
Marfa Zeon came to a dark spot in the garden, not far away, where another girl was already there rolling her eyes at her. The girl was tall, shoulder broad, well built, and wearing a black suit. Her muscles and body were in perfect proportion and exuding an aggressive aura.
“If not for Father has forbidden me, I would have snapped the neck of that fellow!” Marfa sounded irascible.
“We can’t help it. We need to take the influence of the state assembly into consideration,” the beefy girl said with a smile.
“Haven’t Laurence decided to come back? His veins are flowing with the blood of the Dark Demon! Why the heck he wants to become a cop at all? Does he want to make the Zeon family a laughing stock in the dark world?” Marfa’s face turned grim.
“The blood of the Dark Demon has a periodic urge of brutality. The damn media have exposed his last outbreak. Father might not care, but I am utterly disappointed!”
Lifna, the beefy girl, just quietly listened to Marfa venting her grievances.
“What is more ridiculous is that he has even called the cops to seize the properties of his own family. This guy must have hit his head somewhere!” Marfa became even angrier when she spoke about this.
“Perhaps the patriarch has his own plan and arrangement,” Lifna said with a smile.
“I don’t care! If he dares to do that to my assets, I will kill him!” Marfa looked cold and vicious, a plume of purple flames flashing in between her fingers. That said, she strode away, her dress floating around her, leaving Lifna stood quietly in the shadow.
“Your Excellency, do we have to do something?” Lifna turned her head slightly, looking at the Zeon Sr. who emerged from the shrubs behind her. His face wrinkled like the bark of a tree, almost friable as he let out an avuncular smile.
“That’s all right… whatever Laurence does, his body still flows with the Zeon’s bloodline. Let Marfa become his offerings. The Dark Demon will grow even better if watered with the blood of the closest next of kin.”
…
In a hotel, Lin Sheng looked at the beautiful black gift box before him, reaching to untie the ribbon gingerly. After recruiting Adolf as his temple disciple with the Blackfeather swordsman as his go-between, the young man had swiftly sent him a gift. As the box was opened, the content was laid before him. It was a white bank card.
“This guy is quick. I have just given him a hint, and he has immediately come back with his offering.” Looking through the Blackfeather swordsman’s eyes, Adolf had to be drooling at the sight of sacred power. His physical strength may have been less than ideal, but he had an innocent heart and a strong, unyielding mental will. There was little wonder why he scored the best match with sacred power among the three candidates.
Lin Sheng took out the bank card. Using the notebook he had at the ready, he went online and did a quick verification. After entering the account number and the password, a figure popped up.
“Fifty million. Not bad, considering it is just a start—Wait a minute! Fifty million?” Lin Sheng was startled. He did a double-take just to confirm he did not read it wrong.
It was, indeed, fifty million.
His smiling face became a little at ease now. He was only thinking of getting some money at first so that he could summon more soldiers to expand his influence. Before this, Lin Sheng had conducted a background check on Adolf, whose monthly expenses were about 6 million. 50 million was by no mean a small amount to him. Even if his father had a billion-dollar business empire, he could not possibly have access to such a large amount of funds at whim.
“This chap is interesting.” He kept the card and left the hotel room, which was only a transition point that would be discarded after use. Next, he planned to collect new ingredients and start another round of summoning. Lin Sheng had come up with a list of hard-to-get ingredients and given it to Adolf through the Blackfeather swordsman, just to try his luck. To Lin Sheng’s surprise, however, Adolf sent a second gift box in less than two days. The gift box contained a key to a warehouse with the address stuck at the back.
Lin Sheng went to the location to check it out. Many containers, all stuffed with various ingredients, piled up in the warehouse. This was significantly quicker than searching around from shop to shop himself. So, Lin Sheng decided to add in the rest of the ingredients into the list and let Adolf run all the errands. As before, Adolf did not disappoint.
Two days later, new containers arrived at the warehouse, all stuffed with the ingredients that Lin Sheng needed. It was complete with two cartons of gold nuggets, which weighed about 100kg, and 500kg of pure silver powder. What really amazed Lin Sheng, though, was the speed and method in which Adolf collected all those things.