Chapter 79 - 78: Their Discord is Just a Facade
Along with the sound of a phone hitting the floor, Harrison Lowell’s smug voice rang out from the device,
"It’s just planting a tree, how hard can it be? Didn’t I knock it out in no time? Hey, production crew, can’t you give us a real challenge?"
Director: ’Heh, if the big boss hadn’t said otherwise, you’d be mining coal right now. ^_^’
"Look at your face, it’s filthy. And you’re still talking? Go wash your face!" Wendy Sutton’s disgusted voice chimed in.
’It’s Mom!’
Yvonne Lowell snatched up her phone and pieced together what had happened from the stream of "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA"s flooding the live comments.
’Today’s random mission on the livestream was to cooperate with family members to plant a tree together?’
’And today, only Harrison Lowell and their parents were home, so the three of them had to do it together.’
’Harrison Lowell’s face got dirty because he tripped over his own feet while trying to act cool for their mom?’
’No, that sounds... a little hard to believe, doesn’t it?’
’Her brother might not look like the sharpest tool in the shed, but... he’s not *that* clumsy.’
When the camera cut to Wendy Sutton, Yvonne Lowell saw that although her expression was still a bit pale and weary, she seemed much more relaxed, and her eyes were filled with amusement as she looked at Harrison Lowell.
Yvonne Lowell raised an eyebrow. ’Ah, I think I know why.’
The news of the hostage incident had been suppressed by the local authorities in Country X and hadn’t made its way back home.
And upon their return, Charles Lowell and Wendy Sutton had signed non-disclosure agreements. The agreements only stipulated that they couldn’t disclose information about the rescue personnel.
But knowing her parents’ personalities, they would never mention being taken hostage, which would only cause everyone unnecessary worry and trouble.
’But how could family, who had lived together for so many years and were bound by blood, fail to notice something was amiss with her?’
’Even someone as dense as Harrison Lowell could tell she was in low spirits. That’s why he’s pretending to be a fool to cheer Mom up.’
Seeing that her parents seemed fine, Yvonne Lowell finally felt relieved.
’And so I’ve been watching three people with a combined age of over a hundred squatting together and playing in the mud for almost an hour?!’
Her phone chimed with a notification.
Yvonne Lowell tapped it, and a satisfied smile graced her lips as she read the message.
She tapped out a reply on the keyboard and sent it,
[Your Emperor has reviewed it. You may scram.]
On the other end of the line, Leon: ’Damn it! She’s treating me like a eunuch, isn’t she?! I’m so pissed!!!’
...
「Grant Group.」
Silas Lynch pushed open the door to the CEO’s office and walked in briskly, his expression a little strange.
"Boss, all of the drug-related organizations in the Crimson Triangle, big and small, have vanished."
Leo Grant’s gaze darkened as he looked up at him. "If you don’t know how to organize your thoughts, I can send you back to elementary school for a refresher course in composition."
Silas Lynch secretly pouted. ’Now *this* is the real boss, fierce and sharp-tongued.’
’A completely different person from the little kitten he is in front of Miss Lowell.’
Silas Lynch: ’Doctor, for a suspected case of multiple personality disorder like this, which department should I go to? Does psychiatry take cases like this?’
Doctor: ’You need to see a neurologist, because this is a severe, textbook case of being lovesick.’
Snarky thoughts aside, Silas Lynch still gave him a detailed account.
"William Lynch just sent word. Starting half a month ago, drug organizations in the Crimson Triangle began disappearing one after another without a trace. The other surviving groups are all suspicious of each other. William Lynch thought the same thing, that it was just internal conflict or one gang taking out another."
After a pause, Silas Lynch’s expression grew complicated as he continued,
"But just three hours ago, every last drug-related organization vanished. Not one was left. And... and Moonshadow put the word out on the street, openly taking credit for it. They said they were just eliminating a public menace and, while they were at it, wanted to set up a branch there, so they ’hope’ no one will fight them for the territory."
Moonshadow is an organization headquartered on Continent N. They usually don’t proactively pick fights, but that’s on the condition that you don’t try to take what’s theirs or provoke them.
Although they seem Zen-like, their status in the underworld has remained unshakable for years, which naturally means they have methods beyond the reach of ordinary people.
In the past, if anyone provoked them, they would act directly rather than waste words.
They never proactively announced what they had done, but they never hid it either.
This time, however, they’ve announced it to everyone with great fanfare.
It’s hard not to ponder the reasons behind this move.
A flicker of surprise crossed Leo Grant’s eyes. "Falcon’s people?"
"Yes." Silas Lynch nodded. "But we couldn’t find out who handled it."
The master of Moonshadow is called Falcon. No one in the underworld has ever seen her true face.
Her age, gender, and nationality are all unknown.
It’s said that whenever she appears before outsiders, she wears a mask and uses a voice changer. But even so, no one dares to disrespect her.
After all, who in the underworld doesn’t know who Falcon is? Who would be reckless enough to oppose her? Anyone who sees her gives her a wide berth.
Never mind escaping with your life but losing a layer of skin; if you mess with her, you don’t even get to lose the skin—you just die.
After killing someone, she’ll even clean out their entire fortune to take back and "subsidize her household expenses."
Then there are Moonshadow’s other two elders, Firefox and Scorpion. The three of them are notorious as robbers and bandit chiefs.
Even someone like Leo Grant was both curious about and wary of this legendary Falcon.
"It seems the people over there really provoked her, otherwise she wouldn’t have made such a big show of it. And ’hoping’ no one will fight them? Who would dare try to snatch food from their mouths?"
Leo Grant looked at Silas Lynch with disdain. "Look at the art of their phrasing, and then look at you. You can’t even speak clearly."
Silas Lynch could feel black lines forming on his forehead. ’Your art of building someone up by putting me down is truly masterful, Boss.’
Suddenly thinking of something, Leo Grant quickly asked, "Did the Mercenary Corps get involved in Moonshadow’s operation this time?"
Silas Lynch froze for a second, not quite understanding the meaning behind his question.
"We haven’t found any news of the Mercenary Corps’s involvement. Besides, don’t the Mercenary Corps and Moonshadow always stay out of each other’s way? They look down on each other, but they don’t fight."
Leo Grant waved his hand, dismissing him.
’That person at the club in Country A, the one who was stabbed by Little Marshmallow for his betrayal... I think he was smuggled out from the Crimson Triangle, wasn’t he?’
’The product Kyle Quinn was selling back then was a new variety from the Crimson Triangle.’
’And ’that matter’ she discussed with Leon at the dinner table...’
’The timeline overlaps so perfectly with this incident, but the word on the street is that the Mercenary Corps and Moonshadow don’t get along.’
’Could it be that their bad relationship is just for show?’
’But when Moonshadow first appeared, how old was Little Marshmallow? She was still studying at Loster.’
Leo Grant pinched the bridge of his nose. ’Perhaps I’m just overthinking things...’
...
Yvonne Lowell took a nap after lunch and woke up to find it was already almost five in the afternoon.
She had planned to go across the street and wait for Mr. Grant to get off work and feed her, only to discover she couldn’t even get down to the first floor...