Tututututututu...!

Hearing the sound of the helicopter that was approaching overhead, for the first time since the fire incident happened, Mr. Hwang Luo panicked.

More than his panic though, he felt angry.

"Who the f*ck is in that helicopter???" He raged.

"Don’t they know that coming here will expose their CEO and jeopardize his reputation?!"

"This will affect me!"

This CEO felt extremely angry, but he didn’t give up yet.

There was still hope to stop this whole situation from escalating.

His brain whirred as he thought of ways to salvage the situation, and then he remembered that the CEO of Big Joe Enterprises was currently in one of his underground rooms having a good time.

His gray eyes gleamed.

’He can solve this,’ he thought and heaved a sigh of relief. ’There’s still a way to salvage the situation!’

Without hesitation, he picked his smartphone and dialed VVIP Room 006.

Ring... Ring...

He waited anxiously as the call rang.

The call rang for 10 seconds, no response.

It rang for 20 seconds, then 30 seconds, then 50, then a minute and 20 seconds and it finally went off.

Mr. Hwang Luo remained unperturbed as he dialed the number again.

Ring... Ring...

He stared at the phone screen impatiently, waiting for the CEO to pick the call. A minute and 20 seconds later though, there was still no response and finally the look on his face started changing.

’Something’s wrong...’ His heart skipped a beat.

He dialed the number for the 3rd time, still no response. And due to his decision to give the VVIPs of his enterprise privacy as one of the VVIP perks, even he didn’t have camera access to what was happening inside the VVIP room.

’What went wrong?’

He dialed Raye’s number, the trusted guard that he instructed to guard the room alongside the Earl’s guards and he heard a few familiar words.

"Sorry! The contact you’re trying to call is currently unreachable, please try again later! Thank you".

Mr. Hwang Luo stood in a daze. ’Something is wrong...’

’Something is very very wrong...’

Ring... Ring...

He tried to dial VVIP Room 006’s number again, and that was when the door to his office was kicked open.

BAM!

Police barged into his office!

"Put your hands in the air!"

...

Bzzzt!

From a small fire incident matter, with Mr. Dante’s arrival, the matter blew up completely as dozens of police airbus now surrounded Bourdillon Hotel in a canopy!

Customers of the famous hotel panicked as they hid in their rooms.

’How did it get to this level?’ Mr. Hwang Luo wondered incredulously.

The whole situation already escalated, his real business was already unraveled by the unbridled search of the police.

No matter how today ended, he had a hunch that his business was over and over for good, but still he wanted to protect his reputation.

Afterall, he was innocent.

Heck, he still had no idea what was even going on.

"I promise I’m innocent!" He roared at the police officers. "I’ve done nothing wrong, the Earl is still in VVIP Room 006 and he’s having the time of his life!"

"I always prioritize giving my customers the best treatment!"

Standing in front of him, Dante looked at him darkly. "Take me there".

"But," Mr. Hwang hesitated. "I value the privacy of my customers a lot, especially my VVIP customers..."

Dante’s face twitched furiously. "Shut the crap and just take me there!"

...

Restrained in handcuffs, Mr. Hwang led the way to where the VVIP rooms were located. Extremely self-conscious of himself, he could hear his footsteps amid all the commotion as he walked.

Thud... thud... thud...

Walking towards the core of his business enterprise, he felt exposed.

He felt like the world was suddenly so cold and dark, he felt like the shadows in the corridor were wrapping around him like the coils of a serpent. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He felt small and vulnerable.

He knew he was innocent, he knew that nothing happened but still he could not help his heartbeat accelerating as he led the way forward.

Ring... Ring...

Mr. Hwang looked at the police officer who he already paid money earlier but who was now bootlicking Dante. "Someone’s calling me".

The leading police, Officier Liang took the smartphone from Mr. Hwang Luo and answered the call. "Yes?"

The audible sound of gulping could be heard, and a female voice said. "Um, boss, someone tampered with the CCTV cameras".

"..." Mr. Hwang instantly felt his back fill up with cold sweat.

His mechanical face scrunched up in worry but with grim determination, he led the way forward till they arrived in front of the luxurious door of VVIP Room 006. By now, he was already 100% sure that something was wrong.

Afterall, he didn’t find any of the Earl’s Ascended guards by the door, neither did he find Raye.

And for some reason, he felt like he could smell the scent of blood.

His face scrunched up. Still, he scanned his fingerprint on the door and then...

Click!

The door opened.

A few armed police officers led the way inside, and then they froze.

Seeing them freeze, Officer Liang entered, followed by Dante and then Mr. Hwang and together, they silently stared at the large king-sized bed in the room.

The bed was drenched in blood and right in the middle of it laid a headless Earl Joe, and beneath him was his mistress who was still knocked out cold.

The Earl was dead!

"...!" Mr. Hwang felt a cold chill run down his spine.

Dante’s eyes whirred. His boss was likely dead for a few minutes already, and yet his manhood was still standing.

His face twitched in fury and he turned to face the CEO.

"You...!"

...

A few minutes later...

[BREAKING NEWS!]

["CEO of Big Joe Plaza and Enterprises, Joe Curry, an Earl, one of the richest Geneforms in Neo Solace has just been confirmed dead in the outer ring of the city in a motel room where he visited his mistress!"]

["The CEO was found in a pool of blood on his bed with his head already separated from his body, still laying on top his unconscious mistress."]

["Mr. Dante, the deceased Earl’s assistant have confirmed that the assassins did not just kill him, but they hacked their bank accounts and were able to steal money worth a combined amount of 337 million Neo Credits! That’s more than half of the Earl’s total net worth!"]

["The culprits are still at large. No one knows their identities, but Mr. Raye, the valiant guard of Bourdillon Hotel who made headlines a few days ago is a prime suspect in the assassination. He’s currently at large."]

["The other prime suspects are CEO of Bourdillon Hotel, Mr. Hwang Luo; the Earl’s mistress, Anabella; and the Earl’s personal assistant, Dante. All 3 have been apprehended by the Federation Police and taken in for questioning."]

["The Federation Army has already been mobilized to block all entry and exit points into the city. The Inspector General of Police of Neo Solace has taken action and the entirety of the outer ring has been declared a State of Emergency!"]

["Stay inside your homes and wait for the police and military to catch the culprits!"]

["The murderers must be found!"]