65 They are delicious

Naruto dragged the two bodies inside one the booth and stacked them together. He went to the restroom's door and opened it slightly, "Hey, you got to see this."

"What is it?" The leader raised his eyebrows, his posture stayed on alert.

"This... I really can't explain it because it's too weird, you have to see it yourself," Naruto eyes showed hesitation color.

"But what about the hostages?" The leader frowned.

"Just take the pretty lady with you," a chuckle breeze from Naruto's mouth, "I believe the old man will mount your duty, willingly."

"Really now?" He squinted his eyes, staring at Mr. Liu who closing his eyes, "you do that for me old man?"

A pregnant pause masked the elder's face before his venerable voice pierced through it, "If you promise won't hurt the young miss, then I'll do it."

"Oh? You willing to kill any of this staff if they attempt to escape?"

Mr. Liu became silent once again, then with both eyes still shut, he nodded his head.

"Uncle Fu!" Liu Ruyan stared at the old man with horror in her face, the staff's countenance also turned grim, bitter gripped their heart and dread filled their senses.

The leader curled his lips, he unsheathed his knife and offered it to Mr. Liu, "Prove it to me."

Everyone eyes almost blurted out from their socket, except the leader, Naruto and Mr. Liu. The elder raised his lids and fixed his pupil on the knife. Liu Ruyan's hands held her red lips, her body shivered as her mind went into a tumult. She has seen the elder killed people before but only those that tried to assassinate her. She turned toward the leader, face full of entreaty replaced her seductive perk, "Please, please, don't make him do this, they get the message, I promise you, none of them dare to escape!"

"Yes, we won't dare."

"Please sir, don't make him kill us!"

Looking at her all sappy and soppy, made the leader less fierce, but his intention still hard as steel, "Fine, at least wound one of them to convince me!"

They let out a mouthful of air, better be wounded than losing your life, except Liu Ruyan still looked sad akin to a pitiful child, "No, that won't do! A wound can cause a permanent change in ladies' reputation, it causes damage for a lifetime then make them hard to find a future partner,"

"Uh, ok... then don't hurt the women."

Liu Ruyan shed tears, "But large wound on man also bad, it makes them look so terrifying like a bunch of biker gang with tattoos, chain necklaces, bleached hairs, and nose ring, you understand my point, right?"

"What's wrong with bleached hair?" A hint of sadness tainted the leader's voice.

"Well, you know... They looked like a bully and selling drugs, take the wild guess," she shook her head.

"Ugh, fine, just inflict a small scar on one of the staff," he grumbled.

'Wow, the gal's natural,' Naruto nodded as he leaned against the door's gate.

Mr. Liu accepted the knife with a temperate smile and strolled toward one of them, he grabbed the staff's arm, rolled up his left sleeve, and inflicted a small line on the staff yellowish skin. The leader nodded after seeing that, he raised his rifle toward Liu Ruyan, "Move out lady!"

She let out a sigh then headed toward the restroom, the leader followed in a tail, Naruto opened the door with his back and let them in.

They startled after witnessing spray of blood in the floor, the leader's danger awareness went through the roof, "What happened he-"

Before he managed to finish his sentence, Naruto approached him from behind, kicking his back leg and forced him to kneel, then he held the leader's head from the side then smacked it to the wall, instantly sent the man's consciousness in the realm of dream.

Liu Ruyan widened her eyes at the change of event, she never thought this henchman would hurt his own comrade, Naruto briefly looked at the passed out man then sent his eyes toward the seductive lady, "Ms. Liu, I'm sorry for the inconvenient."

"Who are you?" She tilted her head.

Naruto lifted the balaclava mask, up to slightly above his forehead, "I'm the Yu Lei guy, Naruto."

"Ah, so you not dead..." She nodded, then her eyes looked upward, "then this means Uncle Fu also pretending all this time."

"Yeah, sorry for deceiving you," Naruto smiled faintly, "and it was my idea, not him."

"I know, Uncle Fu put me as his priority above everything else, so he will probably just rush out to save me without care for the staff's lives, so I kind of glad that you stopped him..." She smiled beautifully, there was a rare gentleness in her expression, "on the behalf of my staff, I thank you for the effort you put."

Naruto dazed for a while, then he let out a chuckle, "No need."

"So I guess... the next step is digging information from him?" she glanced at the unconscious leader.

"Yup," Naruto crouched and picked the man up, putting him on the shoulder.

"How... will you do that?" She stepped back and let Naruto passed by while carrying the man.

"Well, torture of course, what else?" He said simply like it's no hold any weight.

"T-Torture?!" Her face turned a tad pale.

"Yeah, are you uncomfortable with it?" Naruto entered the first booth in the line and placed the man on the toilet.

"Not... casual," she bit her lips, then stared at her own feet, "what kind of torture are you talking about?"

"Hmm, which one you prefer; tickle his feet, pluck his armpit hairs, or pinch his nipple?" Naruto leaned his back against the sink's platform, crossing his arm and glanced at the seductive lady.

Liu Ruyan snapped her head upward, startling her eyes before titter slipped past her mouth, "What kind of torture is that?"

"The kinds that make you spill any bean within a matter of seconds!" He curled his lips.

"I don't believe you!"

"Well, let's make a bet if I can make him talk with one of those I mention before, you let me slap your ass!"

"What?! Not gonna happen, mister!" Her eyebrows drew together, her face turned red like boiling teapot.

"OK, turned out the CEO of Liu Corporation don't have any guts..." Naruto shrugged.

"You might want to take back that word," cold collected on her face, she's the leader of enterprises with multi-billions worth of assets, owning many varieties of market in the world of business, she accomplished those feats not because she's good at management or high number of IQ, but due to her fearless move in making any decisions.

"Give me a reason," Naruto smirked, his eyes taunted her.

She hugged her own waist and stood tall with her provocative curve all displayed for his eyes, "Fine, let's bet, but what if you lose?"

"I praise you three times!" Naruto rubbed his chin.

"Not fair! You slap my ass if you win but I just receive three praises if I win?!" She sneered.

"Hey, I already make a big compromise, I slap you once or praise you trice, you receve all the benefit!" He honked his mouth in discontent.

"What benefit, You shameless man!" She stomped her feet.

"Or you want to slap my ass for the return?" A slope slanted his lips one side.

"Ew, who wants to do that?!" She curled her lips, "enough! Let's do this, if I win, you have to save every people in this hotel; the staff and the guest."

"Nope, not gonna happen!" Naruto laughed, "not all lives in here is my responsibility."

"Well, no deal then," she chuckled.

"Fine, no deal," he threw his face away from her, he strolled toward the booth and took off the man's mask. A twenties-year-old face, undercut hair with slight bleach, and wide jaw entered his visage. Naruto grabbed the water hose, performing a quick seal with his hand, blew a handful of white mist at the head of the hose then showered the leader.

"Cold!"

He instantly awoke but Naruto decked his jaw, slamming his face to the booth's wall on his left.

"Nice sleeping, eh?" He smirked

The leader blinked his eyes while grabbing his face, he stared at Naruto with an angry face, "Who are you?!"

*Bang!*

Naruto punched the leader's nose and made his head snapped backward then hit the toilet behind him, he recovered but Naruto punched him again, the same process happened until blood smeared the man's nose and crack appeared on the toilet.

Liu Ruyan observed the situation from outside the booth, she winced everytime a bang sound occured in this room. She started to think maybe she should just take his deal from before, at least a tickle will make her heard laughter instead.

"Please... don't hit me again," the leader pleaded, his sickly voice cast hurt within her heart.

"Then you know what to do," Naruto's face devoid of any emotion.

"W-what... What do you want to know?" His breath heaved because the difficulty his nose experienced to inhale without choking on his own blood.

"Everything."

The leader opened his mouth, telling Naruto and Liu Ruyan all the information they need to know. He said he originated from Iron Hand gang, a low reputation underworld organization who was part of Community in the Northen side of Zhong Hai city. They used to operate at Ping'an street; collecting protection money, selling drugs, and extorting merchant. One day, their leader, Ling Yao decided to expand their influence by breaking away from the Community's agreement and challenged other gangs around the area, one by one fell into his hand until no one left and Iron Hand gang was the only one in the vicinity of the area. Ling Yao refused to make a Society, he rejected to share his influence with other leader and forced them to abide under his reign.

He was planning big, desiring to conquer the entire north but he knew his current gang capability wasn't enough, so he planned a heist toward several small banks, out of five operation, he succeed in four of them, while the last one managed to prevail by the authority and caused him a big loss. Since that, Ling Yao forced to lay low for quite a while.

After receiving an information about the charity banquet in this hotel, Ling Yao decided to... 'visit' the hotel but know that the event must be under heavy protection thus he postponed it till tomorrow, he invested a lot in this operation even didn't hesitate to buy a jammer and hired people from outside his gang.

Naruto and Liu Ruyan listened to the leader's words with a dignified expression.

"Despicable!" She greeted her teeth, "those sums of money are for orphanages and hope schools! Their chance to receive a wellbeing life and expectant future, and you dare to rob that from them?!"

"Hey, we just follow order, OK?!" The leader snorted, "it was Boss the one who desired it!"

"Heh, but you just followed his wishy-washy intention without even considering it, what makes you different than him?!"

"Then you don't know the difference between brain and hand, if the hand punched someone, would you blame it for executing the action or the brain who stimulant it to do the action?"

"Your metaphor held no meaning because hand had no control over its action since it can't think for itself! But you... you are a human being, you have a brain and a feeling, you have an emotion, but you threw them all away with such a selfish egoistic excuse that is following orders!"

The leader shook his head, he glanced at Naruto who just stays silent, "Talking with women is annoying, they just a bunch of emotional farts, but you understand me, right man? The way you conduct your action, you had a soldier kind of experience, you must be know how it feels to be under pressure of an order..."

"You... you dare to insult me?!" Her face changed greatly.

"Am I wrong?" He glanced at her, "I wonder why such a creature like you be a leader of a large corporation, you couldn't even differentiate between two different positions and you dare to claim you are a CEO?! Tsk-tsk, you must be using your body to reach that kind of position right?!"

"You... take that back!" Her hand clenched while shivering.

He laughed mockingly, even with a red snob dripped from his nose, "I lamented for those who fell under your leadership, they must have received a lot of blame for the faulty that you caused!"

"No, I'm not..."

"How many had you sacrificed in order to cover up for your mistakes, hundreds?! Thousands?!"

"No!" She covered her ears, her heart beat speeded up like an over-pumped piston, a faint pain slowly crept up in her heart.

"Alright, that's enough..."

In the brink of a moment, she felt a hand touched her slender shoulder and warm aura rushed into her system, the pain began to dissolve while her complexion gradually returned to normal. She turned her head and saw a blonde with fixed face stood at her side.

"Tell me; are you part of Iron Hand gang, or just a mercenary?"

The leader startled, then he curled his lips, "I'm Iron Hand gang."

Naruto nodded, his hands still stayed on her shoulder, "while I agree with you about following an order but there is one thing you need to know and understand.

"You are not a soldier."

Naruto left her shoulder and strolled toward the leader, "You just a thug, you don't have military rules set upon you and sure hell won't have soldier dedication even if there is.

Follow orders without any objection? Sure, but that's what soldier do, not you...

Escape from the army camp? It's called desertion, punishable by death, their name and family marked as traitors and shames for centuries.

Refused to shot the marked target? It's called aiding the enemy, and they can be executed anywhere and anytime.

I could keep going and list all of the rules but my point is, all of these rules bind these soldiers, forcing them to give their soul, fame, and body for the belief or country."

The leader declined his head, "You can say this because you don't know Ling Yao..."

Naruto crouched, "Then make me understand, what kind of person he is?"

"He is ruthless, very ruthless person," he sighed, his tone held a shiver in it.

Back at the hall, Ling Yao laid lazily on the edge of the stage, his left hand and leg dangled.

"Oooh, this is boring... what the hell took them so long..." He yawned.

"Boss, the surveillance said the hostages were held up in front of the restroom at the corridor," one of the henchmen approached him.

He sat up and squinted his eyes, "And you just thought about telling this to me now?"

"I... I thought it wasn't something important, so..."

"Heh..." Ling Yao chuckled, he stood up and approached the man, he curled his lips before leaned to the man's ear, "I can smell it on you."

"W-what?!" The man took a step backward.

"You didn't tell me not because you think it's not important, but because you want to postpone it for a while..." He sneered, "you enjoyed it didn't you?

The feeling in control, Watching this bunch of deep pockets people cornered, staring at you with fear in their eyes.

Yes... that greed, I love it..."

In a swift movement, Ling Yao pulled out his knife and stabbed the henchman through his bullet-vest. The audience gasped while some children screamed in terror.

"Gagh, boss..." His stuck up voice unable to cease Ling Yao murderous intention.

"Ssshh, it will be over soon..." He pulled out the knife and stabbed the henchman again in his chest this time. He held the body until the henchman no longer showed any further movement. He pulled out the knife, wiped the red tint into the body's shirt, he let go the deceased henchman and threw his body the side.

"Sent two men there, get them here immediately," he sheated his knife while strolled toward the edge of the stage.

In the restroom, Liu Ruyan held her mouth while her body shivered, she felt the churned within her guts as if she stood at the top of a ship in the middle of a storm.

'That man... killed ten of his henchmen in front of the hostage?!'

Even Naruto couldn't help but frown deeply.

"In our last heist, boss ordered us just to take the cash while ignored the gold and other stuff. The team that designated to clean up the vault swayed by the mound of gold bars inside and decided to take them without the boss knowing. In the main hall, things seemed OK at first, but boss suddenly kills one of them in cold blood then exposed his treachery, they convinced him that he's the only one that committed such treason, but boss knew they're bullshitting, he killed another. Unable to just give up being slaughter by him, they instigated other to rebel together and took all the golds along with jewelry, some of us including me refused to do it while others agree."

The leader face turned bitter, "In a brief of time, boss... swept them all up, he... killed them all without blink once."

*Cough!*

Liu Ruyan turned around and threw up on the sink, she unable to stand against such a picture of cruelty. Naruto glanced at her, then returned his gaze toward the leader, "Why you still stick around him even when he dare to do that?"

"Some of us not, the reason why boss received a huge loss in the last heist because many of our comrades quit, they fear for their own life."

"And you? Why not leave him too?"

"Because I know it was their own greedy intention that killed them and disobedient. If... if we just... stay with what he ordered us to do, then I believe... he will not kill us..." The leader nodded, Naruto stayed still before followed his gesture then grabbed his shoulder, "thanks for telling us."

"Are you... going to kill me?" He stared at Naruto with a scared expression.

"..." Naruto curled his lips, his fingers reached out to the leader's back of the neck, "no, have a good sleep."

He closed the booth's door and strolled toward the sink beside Liu Ruyan, he turned the knob and poured water on his face.

"What... we should do know?" She wiped her lips while looking at her own reflection on the mirror.

Naruto sighed, "Are you willing to surrender the charity money?"

"If that can save many lives, then I'm willing," she nodded without hesitation.

"Then that's the only option..." Naruto paused, then glanced at her, "but you have to tell me the detail about the charity including the fund..."

"Eh, why?" She raised her eyebrows.

"We need to prepare for the worst..." Naruto stared at her honey-colored eyes, "I just need you to trust me on this..."

Their gazed clashed against each other, after several minutes later, she nodded, "I give you a chance."

(***)

Mr. Liu waited in the corridor with anxious polluting his heart, after all, Liu Ruyan had been inside for such a long time, thus he unable to make his body stay calm. Then he heard two footsteps approached them from the end of the path, two henchmen with a raised rifle walked toward them with careful movement.

"What are you guys doing here?! Where are our people?!" One of them said in a harsh tone.

The staff crouched in the floor with frightened expression had written all over their face, Mr. Liu faced them with a steady tone, he pointed his thumb toward the restroom "they all inside with young miss, I don't know what they're doing..."

"Shit, do you think they played with her?!"

"Boss going to kill them!"

They rushed across the crowd and about to reach the restroom's gate, but the door immediately opened and revealed 4 people; three people in the same suit with them and Liu Ruyan.

"Oh? Did the boss tell you guys to check on us?" one of them spoke.

They exchanged glance then observed Liu Ruyan condition and complexion; no bruises, no shred on her JoJo dress, no reddish on her skin, no messy hair, and lastly, no trouble with her face.

Liu Ruyan covered her body as she felt their gaze all over her figure, they noticed her reaction, it made them daze for a while because instead look terrible, her charm increased much. One of them broke from the spell and set his eyes at the henchmen, "What are you doing inside there?"

"One of us needed to release himself, but got jump by one of the staff inside, yeah he's dead..." The man beside Liu Ruyan sighed, "what worst is he pretend to be him and killed two another guys with a rifle, huff, the man's cowboy..."

"But you kill him right?"

"Yeah of course, though my ass got graze by a bullet but, pff, I experience worst," the man waved his hand, "do you guys want to check?"

"Nah, Boss just kill another person again, we don't want to be add in his dead body list," he shivered, "move out!"

Liu Ruyan minced as she joined the group, Mr. Liu approached her, "Young miss, are you OK?"

"Yeah, don't worry, Mr. Liu," she nodded. The elder expression became delayed for a while but he still kept walking.

They went through the gate led to the lobby, walked across the place into the half-spiral stairs, climbing them then headed toward the second floor. The banquet hall's door several meters to their left, there were two henchmen waited in front,

"What the hell took you guys so long?!" one of them grumbled.

"My ass got graze by a bullet and I shot the guy, enough?" He snorted.

"Ok..." They flabbergasted by the response. The group burst through the door and entered the hall.

At the stage, Ling Yao did some sort of yoga, then he turned his face in response to the sound of march from the hall on his right, his narrowed eyes lighted up in the spot, he rose from his spot, "Oh finally! The main guest had arrived! and... other insignificant people..."

He faced at the audience, "Please everyone, let's welcome her into the stage, Ms. Liu Ruyan!"

She swept her eyes into the room before mincing toward the stage, escorted by one of the henchmen. Every step she took created a spark of jealousy within any person who observed her.

'I want that curve...'

'I want her wealth...'

'I want that face...'

'I want her...'

'I want her fame...'

Ling Yao grinned getting wider as he anticipated her present up in the stage, the hand that held the microphone somehow shivered.

"I'm so glad to finally meet you Ms. Liu, ooh, imagine my friends ugly face when I show them our picture together, hah, I slapped them in the face, virtually..."

Liu Ruyan stopped quite far from him, she hugged her own body and said without looking at him, "And you are...?"

"Oh yeah, where is my manner, I'm Ling Yao... my friend like to call me Yaoyao, I know sounds girly, but you know, that's why punch and kick exist," he bent his body and rotated his left hand, making a polite introduction.

"What do you want from me?" She closed her eyes.

"What do I want from you? Ooh, this is tough... from a woman so rich and hot beautiful dynamite like you, I can ask a lot of things!" He nodded, "but first, let me know, why did you care so much about orphanage and hope school?"

Liu Ruyan raised her lids while wrinkled decorated her eyebrows, "because they deserve care and proper attention, they had been in the dark and it's our job to guide them toward the light."

"Oh... beautiful, truly beautiful..." Ling Yao wiped the tears, "smart, rich, beautiful, and good-hearted, you are one hell of a perfect woman."

Whisper started clamoring among the crowd of the audience, talking about how she's a generous and sympathetic person. They craved to be like her, desiring more about the things she had.

"What is your intention?" She felt uncomfortable with all of the staring eyes, it's like they worshipped her or something.

"You see Ms. Liu, greed is not only about money and power..." He strolled closer, stopped right beside her, his narrowed eyes revealed their purple color and cat-like pupil, "everybody wants something that they don't have..."

His mouth grew closer into her ear, "And it's delicious..."

In the surveillance room, Rookie glanced at the monitors with his both legs on the table, even with a dead body beside him, he acted as if he didn't care, at this moment, the door leading to the room swung open, one of the henchmen strolled in.

"What are you doing here?" Rookie puckered his forehead.

"To kill you," the henchman raised his rifle and rattled the Rookie's body with tons of bullets. His body dropped dead into the floor. The henchman strolled without care, he crouched and checked the body then grabbed his walkie-talkie, "No suspicious activity, over!"

"Copy that!" A voice punched through the walkie-talkie's speaker.

He rose up and observed the monitors, a smirk pulled the corner of his lips, Guys, time to do this.