682 Threats and Promises - Part 1

Even without much combat experience, Sea Mesh's CEO could feel that something sharp was merely a millimetre away from his neck. It never moved away as he tried to swallow down his fear. Not just aimed at his neck, it felt like there was something pointy and sharp all around his body and away from his peripheral vision.

Was he overthinking things? Overreacting since Jin had been able to defeat a Triad Boss? Yet the dungeon supplier before him continued to drink his sip of tea without a care in the world. There were no visible weapons, and he was over an arm's length away with nothing but a cup in his hands.

However, his body was denying his logical reasoning. There was something or things around him, waiting for him to make one wrong move, say one wrong word. Beads of cold sweat profusely went down his body, and the perspiration made his heartbeat even more palpable in that silent room.

It wasn't until Jin stared into Ke Loong's eyes.

"You must think I am new to this," Jin stated calmly. "I could have easily reached some sort of compromise with you. I did respect you and your company and would have been willing to comply with your demands. You could have easily just asked me for permission to activate the two portals between Germany and China for you to gain additional funding and support. Sure I would have added some conditions in it as well considering both of us are businessmen. And here I thought that we can do something to be beneficial for us both and eventually to the public too."

"But for some reason, you decided to be greedy. From the first time I met you, I knew you were ambitious. Still, you always had that scent of caution around you. You made me believe that entrepreneurs of the new and old could come together and get rich together. Yet, for some reason, after mass manufacturing all of these portal devices, you seem to have changed your opinion. You decided you would prefer to keep everything for yourself, and if not for the failsafe device, I don't even want to imagine what kind of atrocious contracts and promises you would have made. Still, I was not angry...we were tolerant." Jin said, and for some reason, Ke Loong thought he heard wrongly.

"We...?" That one spoken word suddenly made the intent of murder even more explicit. He could feel as if the blades around him were already touching him even though he could not see anything. However, the intent was so heavy, he could hardly breathe another word out.

"Yes, We. We thought of trying to work with outsiders, trust other people aside from the ones that were contracted under us. Heck, we've overlooked so many things you did. Trying to reverse engineer the cosmetic inscriptions, trying to headhunt our people. Your only saving grace so far was that you had yet to cross that final line. But that went down the drain when you showed us those photos." Jin replied solemnly.

Jin snapped his fingers, and suddenly a giant mirror appeared right behind him, allowing Ke Loong to see what it was that he felt behind him. Several Minotaurs who worked under Qiu Yue and Moloch had their weapons pointed at Ke Loong, all just waiting for the command to act.

At the same time, dozens of those penguin NPC waiters stood on their shoulders with their weapons at the ready. Those exact penguin waiters who had been so courteous in their mannerism and playful with the customers were filled with the same bloodlust aimed at cutting Ke Loong down.

"If you think any of this is fake, feel free to test your theory. They are dying for you to do something stupid." At this time, their Penguin Waiter entered from the side of the first class carriage and placed the food they had ordered on the table. Faminished from all the meetings in the afternoon, Jin did not hesitate to start his dinner.

"I thought you'd at least be smart enough not to wield your threats in other people's home. It was rather rude and arrogant of you to do so." Jin berated the other, and right now Ke Loong could not deny any of those allegations.

"Psst, don't forget to add that 'eternal pain is not impossible'. My experience tells me he is just one threat away from soiling his pants." Kraft's chi transmission advised him. The old foxy man sat in the corner, filming the entire process. He was quite proud of Jin to have asked him to stay on standby in case Ke Loong decided to do something funny.

After being on the receiving end of the subtle blackmailing from the Police Captain, Jin had begun to review his outside contacts and promised himself to act warier against them. While they were great allies to have in times of need, the dungeon supplier had learnt his lesson that they would ultimately wish to fulfil their own agendas too. No merchant or businessman would be kind to one of its own.

After all, theirs was a dog eat dog world.

Sea Mesh's CEO did not feel like testing his luck. He had no doubt that any abrupt movements or just the attempt to release any chi would leave him in small pieces. But instead of retaliating, Ke Loong started giggling, which turned into a peal of innocent laughter.

Jin gave them a sign to not act yet, and somehow this laughter suddenly loosened the heavy atmosphere. Nevertheless, the Minotaurs and Penguins did not drop their guard. They had a job to do, and they would be ready if the situation demanded it.

"Excellent! Truly excellent! When Mr Know-It-All told me to test you every once in a while, I certainly did not expect that you might have been prepared to this degree. Guess I should not make the test so obvious." Ke Loong laughed heartily as he slowly stretched out his hand on the table. Only now did Jin notice that his last finger was missing his distant phalange.

"This finger was cut to make an eternal pact to my master and comrades, including Mr Know-It-All." Ke Loong admitted that he had lied to Jin. He even revealed that most of the things publicly known about him were not true.

"Why are you showing me this?" Jin asked with a confused look. Ke Loong just continued to smile, yet it started to deform into a sickening grin.

"Cut the tip of your finger and offer it to me. That way, we shall be considered equals. I swear to you on the life of my master and my comrades that I shall become your ally for days to come no matter what." Ke Loong said with a shocking amount of determination and Jin furrowed his brows at that idea.

"That is my pledge and promise to you, Jin."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Jin summoned out Bam in katana form and without hesitation, cut off his entire last finger. Now it was Ke Loong's turn to be in disbelief. Despite the emanating pain he was feeling, Jin did not allow himself to flinch as he presented his bleeding severed finger to the other.