While everyone else was busy mingling, Yang Chen made his way to a luxurious room away from the noise where the laptop he requested for was present. After connecting to the WiFi onboard, he contacted Sauron who was situated in the United Kingdom.
Although it was relatively early due to their time zone difference, Sauron answered Yang Chen’s call. A shirtless muscular man with messy red hair appeared on the screen of the video call and asked monotonously, “Your Majesty Pluto, although I am aware that you have something urgent to discuss with me, I have to say that you called at a bad time.”
Yang Chen ignored his complaints. “I need you to locate someone. He had hired the Lapland Rangers, a mercenary group from Sweden, to hunt me down along with the head of the Red Thorns Society. From what I can gather, he chose not to enter Zhonghai and executed his plans at sea, providing him with an easier escape route. Because of that, I’m not entirely sure where his location is and I need you to find him for me. We will formulate a course of action once he has been found.”
Sauron contemplated for a moment before replying, “May I have his name?”
“Situ Mingze.”
Sauron nodded. “Give me half an hour. It should not prove too difficult if a mercenary group was involved.”
Yang Chen left the room and headed to the deck of the ship. Sauron had promised to notify him if he secured a location.
The deck was filled with all kinds of facilities for entertainment purposes making it a perfect place for swimming and sunbathing.
However, everyone expected this issue to be wrapped up within a day or two and packed lightly in accordance. So, most of them resorted to drinking cocktails and chatting to kill time.
Rose brought Chen Rong along with her and was chatting with the upper management of the society, filling them in about the emergency that had occurred.
Everyone was shocked to know that Situ Mingze resurfaced and almost succeeded in killing Rose. Some people started speculating among themselves about the incident.
Yang Chen moved over to Rose while holding a glass of chilled champagne. He was about to ask her something but was interrupted when he heard a familiar voice calling out for him.
A chubby guy in a blue flower shirt greeted Yang Chen with a huge grin, “Brother Yang! It’s so good to finally see you. It’s been too long!”
Yang Chen eyed him up and down. “Are you… Xiao Zhao?”
Xiao Zhao laughed. “Oh my. And here I thought you wouldn’t be able to recognize me.”
When Yang Chen first met him, he was only a bartender in Rose’s bar.
He had an adolescent face full of pimples in the past but now sported a more mature face despite having doubled in size.
Rose walked over and smiled. “Xiao Zhao, I told you to control yourself. You can’t go around being so carefree now that you have a wife.”
Xiao Zhao rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Things have been quiet lately and my wife, she’s an amazing cook. She’s the one who feeds me and makes sure I eat well.”
Yang Chen was surprised at the revelation. “You got married? When?”
“Half a year ago. We had the ceremony in my hometown so not many people knew about it,” Xiao Zhao responded with a face filled with satisfaction.
Rose shook her head and chuckled lightly. “He got his wife pregnant before their marriage so she’s expecting in two months or so.”
Yang Chen grinned suggestively when he realized the insinuation. “I couldn’t have known. I heard that you’re a hall master now so money wouldn’t be a problem for you.”
Xiao Zhao grinned. “I owe it all to you, Brother Yang, hehe…”
Yang Chen sighed. It had been almost two years ever since he returned and things had changed without him noticing it.
He placed a hand on Xiao Zhao’s shoulder before turning around to Rose and asked, “My dear, are all your subordinates here?”
Rose turned to Chen Rong and relayed the question. “The ones that you informed, are they all here?”
Chen Rong replied in embarrassment, “The absent ones are the heads of the sixteenth and twenty-third zones, plus the hall master of the Bing Nang area.”
“Reasons?” Yang Chen asked.
Chen Rong responded with a stiff smile, “They were unwilling to come without proper explanation. They mentioned something about disrupting their plans if they came.”
“Did you mention that Rose ordered them to come?”
“I did,” Chen Rong replied and added cautiously, “Perhaps they had urgent matters to attend to…”
Yang Chen remained silent and shifted his gaze towards Rose.
Rose sighed faintly, but her gaze was firm. “Those no longer loyal to my orders will have the favor returned.”
She extended a hand towards Chen Rong. “Rongrong, hand me the mobile phone.”
Chen Rong sensed what was happening and tried to dissuade her. “Sister Rose, calm down. They have done a lot for our society. They don’t deserve to die.”
Some of the elderly from the Red Thorns Society overheard their conversation and looked over worriedly. They did not expect Rose to be so ruthless.
Rose’s eyes turned cold. “Refusing to show up despite my direct orders. Do my words then mean nothing to you?”
“Of course not, it’s just that…”
Chen Rong wanted to keep persuading her but upon seeing Rose’s rage grow bigger, she eventually kept her silence.
Chen Rong had no choice but to pass the mobile phone to Rose.
Rose dialed a number with no hesitation and said coldly, “Get rid of Wang Duo and Zhou He in the sixteenth and twenty-third zones, and Liu Ziqiang in Bing Nang. Leave no one behind, including their families.”
After saying that, Rose hung up and tossed the mobile phone back to Chen Rong.
A chill ran down the spine of those who heard Rose’s order.
The strongest elite squad in the Red Thorns Society trained by the Sea Eagles were loyal subordinates that only listened to Rose’s orders and are in charge of punishing the troublesome ones within the society and from other gangs.
Since Rose had ordered them to carry out the punishment, the three who were sentenced to death were bound by their fate. But killing off their innocent family members, it reminded those present that Chen Rong might seem like the one running operations in the society, but Rose was truly the one in charge.
Rose questioned upon seeing Chen Rong’s face turn white, “Why, you think I’m too cruel?”
Chen Rong shook her head hurriedly. “I… dare not.”
“You are dissatisfied by my orders but dare not question them.” Rose snorted lightly. “I told you this ages ago, there’s no way back after choosing to go down this road. They chose to disobey despite being weaker than me. I have no patience for those who might bring about potential trouble in the future.”
Chen Rong nodded silently.
Rose remained stoic all this while until she turned around to ask Yang Chen with a smile on her face, “Hubby, why did you make everyone leave for the open sea? Is it because you found him already?”
Yang Chen shook his head. “I haven’t gotten ahold of his exact location. I went out to sea to settle our matters because what I have planned might be a little too dicey for the shore.”
Rose was confused and chided, “You never give me a straight answer. Nevermind, I’m sure you know what to do. For now, I’ll just be the dumb woman by your side.”
They both chatted with the upper management for a while after that. However, now that they knew Rose was on a warpath again, they tried to flatter her by showering her with compliments.
Finally, almost half an hour later, Yang Chen received a call from Sauron.
“Your Majesty Pluto, your predictions were accurate. He was found at the open sea outside of Zhonghai. Situ Mingze spent a huge amount of money and hired three squads from the Lapland Rangers. As of now, he is protected by two groups of mercenaries on a destroyer several miles from Zhonghai’s borders. Our satellites identified him moving towards the south. He seems to be escaping from you. His ship travels at eighteen nautical miles per hour, making it almost impossible for you to catch up to him. But if you want, I can have the Yamata Sect deploy some ships to stop them so that you can catch up to him within an hour.”
Yang Chen, satisfied with the results, commanded, “Then contact Hannya in my stead and have her take care of it. Just stop them from escaping but do not attack. Send me the coordinates of their predicted location and let me deal with them.”
Sauron responded and carried out his commands immediately. Yang Chen then had the captain speed up to twenty-two nautical miles per hour towards the location of the coordinates he received.
Since it was already noon, Yang Chen decided to have lunch at the restaurant on the ship with Rose in order to kill time.
The members of the Red Thorns Society watched carefully from the side and tried to make themselves invisible. After hearing several stories of Yang Chen from Xiao Zhao, they became extremely wary of him.
About an hour later, the captain announced that the small destroyer was within sight just as Yang Chen had finished his meal. At the same time, four Japanese warships with flags of the Yamata Sect surrounded the small destroyer.
As the cruise ship moved into the region, the outline of the destroyer became clear.
The cannons on the destroyer were positioned and ready to shoot.
On the deck, armed members of the Lapland Rangers stood surrounding the area with stoic expressions on their faces. They emitted an aura of evil and death.
The man surrounded by them was an elderly one with white hair, who seemed to be around sixty years old. He stood with his hands behind his back, wearing loose clothes which fluttered in the wind.
