Chapter 326 - 209: Julian, You Are Suspended
'Rockefeller? Du Pont? Or some tech giant from the West Coast who was humiliated by the Mellon Family?'
Julian mulled it over. For the first time, he felt a twinge of regret, thinking he should have done some background checks on this mysterious offshore buyer before making a decision.
Suddenly, as Julian was lost in thought, the four-monitor Bloomberg Terminal in front of him flashed without warning. The streams of financial data vanished instantly, replaced by a line of cold, block letters:
[ACCOUNT PRIVILEGES HAVE BEEN FROZEN]
His heart skipped a beat. He shot up from his chair, knocking over the pen holder on his desk. Four or five expensive fountain pens crashed to the floor with a clatter.
Julian had no time to worry about anything else. He reached for the intercom on his desk, only to be met with a dead dial tone.
He suddenly felt dizzy.
Just as he was about to pull out his personal phone to call Adam, the glass door to his office was forced open from the outside. Two stone-faced senior investigators from the Compliance Department entered, followed by four burly internal security guards with batons on their belts. They filed in and immediately blocked all exits.
"Julian," the head of Compliance—a man who used to play Texas Hold'em with him—spoke in an unprecedentedly cold tone. "You're suspended, effective immediately."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Julian shot to his feet, the unease in his heart swelling into a gaping pit. "Do you have any idea how many billions I'm managing?! I'm a Senior Managing Director! I'm calling Damon!"
"The order was signed by Mr. Damon himself." The head of Compliance pulled a document from his briefcase and tossed it onto Julian's desk. "You are suspected of abusing your position to illegally interfere with the cross-border clearing network, fabricating risk control directives, and potentially engaging in internal corporate crime. Your access card, all system privileges, and your corporate credit card were all revoked five minutes ago."
'An order from Jamie Damon himself?!'
"Impossible!" he shouted. "I was just concerned about financial security! On what grounds are you doing this to me!"
The head of Compliance gestured with his hand. Two security guards instantly moved forward, grabbing Julian's shoulders from both sides and roughly hauling him out of his executive chair.
"You can't do this! I was framed!" Julian shrieked, struggling wildly. "I want to see Damon! I've given my life for JPMorgan Chase! I've bled for JPMorgan Chase!"
"Save it for the federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. Take him away!"
In his desperate struggle, the coffee on the desk was knocked over again. Scalding liquid splashed all over Julian's pants, burning his leg once more and making it look as if he had wet himself.
Under the shocked gazes of hundreds of analysts, traders, and interns on the floor, the once high-and-mighty, impeccably dressed Senior Partner Julian was led away. With his arms twisted behind his back by several guards, he looked like a common thief caught in the act, disgracefully marched toward the private elevator to the underground garage.
Meanwhile, as Li Wei was taking an exam, a dialog box suddenly popped up in his vision:
[Mission: The Royal Court's Conspiracy (Justice) - Completed]
[Thanks to your ingenuity, the tax officer's plot has been thwarted. The internal strife of the Royal Court did not disturb the surface-level peace of the Kingdom. You have once again upheld the virtues of a Knight, and your good name is beginning to spread throughout the Kingdom.]
[Mission Reward: +0.2 Free Attribute Points have been distributed.]
Li Wei's eyes lit up. He glanced at his watch—it was only 10:15 AM. 'Jamie Damon really is fast,' he thought. 'He took care of Julian in no time.'
Li Wei almost hummed in satisfaction at the prompt that had appeared before him. With this newly acquired 0.2 points, he now had a total of 0.9 attribute points.
Just as he finished his exam paper and was about to leave the classroom, the rubies in the eyes of the [Jester's Skull] beside him began to glow again.
Li Wei had been letting it out recently to see if its foul mouth could trigger any more missions.
But this time, the dialogue box—usually filled with biting sarcasm and mockery—had a rare change of tone:
[By the gods, I can't believe my eyes... wait. I don't think I have eyes. My eyeballs rotted away long ago.]
[I originally thought your head was filled with nothing but moldy hay and the brute force needed to swing a lance. I never expected you to understand the art of courtly intrigue. It seems my previous assessment of you was wrong. You're quite the little schemer.]
'Shut up,' Li Wei thought. 'Even if that's a compliment, it sure doesn't sound like one.'
[Does my opinion matter? I'm just an insignificant skull.]
The skull spun around, its ruby eyes continuing to flash.
[But I never expected you to be studying at the Royal Knight Academy. You know, that's a sanctuary countless Knights would kill to get into! Everyone else at the Academy is trembling under the weight of all that knowledge, yet you're just strolling through it with ease.]
Li Wei shrugged, striding down the steps to the lecture platform. He placed his exam paper in front of the old professor.
"Professor, I'm turning in my paper," Li Wei said politely.
The old professor pushed his reading glasses up the bridge of his nose. He glanced at the wall clock, then back at Li Wei, his brow furrowed. "Mr. Li Wei, there is still an hour and a half before the exam ends. I must remind you, this course has a notoriously high failure rate. Even if you are a football star, I will not give you any special treatment on your grades. Are you sure you don't want to check it over?"
[Tsk, a Great Sage of the Knight Academy.]
"No need, Professor." Li Wei gave a faint smile. "I'm confident every letter is exactly where it's supposed to be. Have a good day."
With that, Li Wei turned without a second glance, pushed open the classroom door, and walked out.
[Arrogant! Arrogant! So arrogant! How could you be so disrespectful to a Great Sage!]
The [Jester's Skull] flew around Li Wei, uncharacteristically starting to praise him.
Li Wei stuffed the [Jester's Skull] into his inventory and waited until the exam period was over before calling Elizabeth.
"It's me," Li Wei said as he walked toward his Cullinan in the parking lot. "I just got word. Julian should have been taken away by now."
On the other end of the line, there was a soft gasp, followed by Elizabeth's long, relieved sigh.
"So... we're okay?" Elizabeth asked in a daze. "We're completely safe now?"
"I think so. There's not much he can do in a month and a half," Li Wei said as he got into the driver's seat and started the car. "Richard Mellon should get the news in a few days and give you a call."
"Thank you, Li Wei, really," Elizabeth's voice softened. "I'll take you out to dinner once I get through the next few days."
"It's a date. Talk to you later."
After hanging up, Elizabeth, who was on her way to her art gallery office in the Brooklyn Danbo Region, looked out the car window at the gloomy gray sky and thought the weather was absolutely wonderful.
However, Richard Mellon moved much faster than she had expected.
At 3:00 PM, while Elizabeth was reviewing the budget approval forms for next month's art exhibition, her personal cell phone on the desk suddenly vibrated.
She picked up the phone and looked at the area code—it was from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The stronghold of the Mellon Family.
She took a deep breath and answered the call.
"This is Elizabeth Mellon."
The other end was silent for a second, then a deep, mellow, middle-aged man's voice came through, carrying an air of authority that was impossible to refuse:
"Liz, good afternoon."
Elizabeth's hand, holding a pen, tightened slightly. In the past decade or so, she had heard that voice only a handful of times.
"Uncle Richard?" she asked tentatively.
"It's me," Richard's voice was as calm as ever. "I'll be in New York this Wednesday. If you have time, I'd like to have dinner with you."