Chapter 101 Endless Coercion
It was the voice of a middle-aged man. His voice was deep with a hint of authority. He was calm as he said, “Mr. Lawson, I hope you will arrive at Ms. McDaniels’ coffee house in twenty minutes. You will bear the consequences if you are even a second late.”
The call ended as soon as he finished speaking. Jonathan paled at the man’s words. He had a bad feeling that something big had happened.
This man has Polly in his hands! But how? How did someone like Polly, who is stronger than me, fall into his clutches? Since he easily took her as a hostage, I have no choice but to head there myself. Isn’t this action of his targeted toward me?
Jonathan’s thoughts were all over the place. Suddenly, he thought of Strikezone Martial Arts.
Only Strikezone Martial Arts have the guts to do something like this. If I go there, won’t the odds be against me?
“What’s wrong?” Jessica and Yasmin were shocked at Jonathan’s expression. To them, Jonathan was a person who would remain calm and collected in the face of chaos. They had a bad feeling after seeing Jonathan’s response to the phone call.
“It’s nothing!” Jonathan quickly stood up and said, “I’m heading out for a bit.”
With that said, he rushed out of the cafeteria and left the company. He got on the BMW and drove toward the coffee house.
At the same time, he quickly mapped out a plan in his mind. He took out his phone and called Amber.
The call got through quickly.
It was obvious that Amber did not know what was happening. She chuckled as she answered the phone. “Hey, what’s up? Why are you calling me all of a sudden? This is so rare!”
“Amber, something happened. Strikezone Martial Arts sent an opponent that I can’t go up against. He has Polly in his hands and he wants me to be at the coffee house in twenty minutes. I need you to gather the chief officer, the chief, and any high-ranking officers and meet me there as soon as possible.”
Amber could hear the panic in Jonathan’s voice. She knew he was rarely serious. To her, he was someone that would still smile like an idiot even with a knife against his throat. If he’s this nervous, then this must be quite an issue! Amber dared not waste more time and quickly replied, “All right. I’ll get to it.”
Amber would not turn her back on Jonathan, and she was more than willing to help him as much as she could.
Jonathan ran through several red lights. In twenty minutes, he reached the coffee house.
The sun was shining brightly. Nothing seemed to be out of place at the coffee house. Jonathan got out of his car and stood outside the coffee house. He used his senses and tried to sense for danger, but there was none.
Jonathan felt more nervous as the time passed. His opponent’s cultivation was at an unbelievably high level. That was the reason he could not sense any danger.
Without wasting any time, he walked into the coffee house.
The coffee house was operating business as usual. However, Donovan and Dominick were anxiously glancing out the window. Now that Jonathan was inside the coffee house, they were overjoyed.
The two brothers made their way toward Jonathan. Donovan said, “Ms. McDaniels and the two men are at the parlor.”
Jonathan nodded and replied, “Okay. Thank you.”
He made his way toward the parlor and pushed the door to enter.
When the door opened, Jonathan saw Yasir and Levi.
The two men were sitting opposite Polly, who was quiet. It did not seem like they had harmed her.
Jonathan scanned his opponents and noticed something was off.
Yasir was definitely the one who had the highest cultivation. He was composed and inconspicuous, just as a high-level martial artist should be. Even though he was just sitting there, it seemed as if the entire universe was surrounding him.
On the other hand, Levi had a gentle aura, which made it difficult for Jonathan to tell his cultivation level.
Polly looked helpless, and the state she was in was a little awful.
“You’re right on time, Mr. Lawson.” Levi stood up to greet Jonathan. He flashed the latter a smile and said, “Please have a seat.”
Jonathan sat next to Polly.
The atmosphere in the parlor felt heavy. Even though Yasir and Levi were outsiders, their presence made Jonathan and Polly, the owners of the place, feel uncomfortable.
Polly felt terrible. Although she was silent, she could not help but think that her peace had been destroyed.
Jonathan was doing much better than Polly. He inhaled deeply before glancing at Yasir. “I don’t know who you are or what your name is, but I’ll be straightforward with you. I know you are from Strikezone Martial Arts.”
Yasir was momentarily stunned before he regained his senses. He looked at Jonathan calmly and replied, “You are a smart one. I enjoy talking to smart people.”
“You want me to join the Golden Sword Tournament?” Jonathan asked.
Yasir nodded. “That’s right.”
Jonathan huffed and smirked. “Oh, I see now. The host of this competition, Edgar, must be someone from your side. You must be hosting this competition to target me. What a tremendous effort.”
Yasir uttered impassively, “I will neither agree nor disagree with what you said. My goal is to make sure that you join the tournament.”
Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “And if I don’t?”
Yasir grinned. “If you don’t join, then Polly will die. Her death will be the first of many. After her, the next person will be Jennifer and then Yasmin. For every one day that you don’t agree to join the competition, a person close to you will die.”
Polly’s pupils constricted, and a cold glint flashed across her eyes. “You may have a high level of cultivation, but do you think that I’m made of paper?”
Yasir turned to look at Polly and said, “I will show you respect if you are a Nascent Soul expert. But right now, you are not qualified to challenge me.” He looked back at Jonathan and continued, “The same goes for you. It’ll be a piece of cake for me to kill you. But today, I’m inviting you to join the competition as a courtesy. After all, we are all courteous people. You should also know, for someone in my cultivation stage, my words are the law. If you don’t join the competition, then I’ll just proceed with killing off the people you care about.”
Yasir’s words sounded indifferent yet carried an unquestionable and irresistible power.
Jonathan and Polly could feel the determination in his words. They could tell that he was not joking.
Polly felt terrible. She knew that Jonathan would be left with no choice if someone like Yasir, who had a high level of cultivation, came to talk Jonathan into joining the competition.
If Jonathan does not agree to join, then I’m dead meat. If he agrees to join, then he’ll die in the competition.
This a trap that had no loopholes.
After all, strength would always beat skills.
The entire Strikezone Martial Arts was too big. With Jonathan and Polly’s current power, they would not be able to go up against them.
Hence, Jonathan would have no other choice but to agree to join the competition.
Unexpectedly, Jonathan started laughing.
He even clapped his hands and said, “How bold and lawless of Strikezone Martial Arts! Even between talks and laughter, you are mentioning death. Let me ask you, does the law still exist in your eyes? Don’t forget, we’re in Chanaea.”
Yasir and Levi were confused. People like them never left traces after killing. No one would be able to investigate and track them.
However, at that moment, Jonathan was childish enough to bring up the law. Why is he not reacting the way we expect him to?
Jonathan took out his phone and grinned. “Sorry, but seeing as you were so delighted to chatter, I secretly recorded it. What do you think will happen if this recording reached the police? Will Strikezone Martial Arts ignore it?”
Yasir glared at Jonathan and said, “People in our world should act and follow the rules of our world. I’m afraid you’re breaking the rules.”
Jonathan smirked. “There are many experts at Strikezone Martial Arts. This whole thing started because of you guys. Why is my resistance a form of provocation against you guys? Now, the entire Strikezone Martial Arts wants to bully me and I’m resisting once more, but you said that I’m breaking the rules. Haha! Are these rules set by Strikezone Martial Arts? Are you guys God? You like to decide whether a person lives or dies, but you don’t like it when they resist you?”
At that moment, Levi finally spoke. He smiled and said, “Please don’t be angry, Mr. Lawson. You are someone who has seen the world, so you should know that there are such rules. These rules are established by those that have power and money. And what are these rules for? Of course, it’s for the survival of the fittest! The poor can never afford even a glass of wine that the rich drink despite working hard for their entire life. This is the reality. Unfortunately for you, in this situation, you are the poor and we are the rich.” He paused before continuing, “I suggest you delete that recording. It will be a wise choice for you to do so.”
Jonathan chuckled. “Sorry, but there’s no use in deleting it anymore. I’ve already sent it to a good friend of mine. Let me introduce this friend of mine to you. Her name is Amber Johnson, and she’s a captain at a police station. Coincidentally, her grandfather also has the surname Johnson. Have you heard of Old Mr. Johnson from Yaleview?”
Yasir and Levi immediately frowned.
The man Jonathan was talking about was Arthur Johnson, one of the high-ranking officials in the army.
No matter how arrogant Strikezone Martial Arts was, they would not dare to mess with such a person.
Yasir was angry, and his eyes turned cold. In a few seconds, the air in the parlor thickened. Jonathan and Polly immediately coughed as they could not breathe properly.
Yasir’s said in a flat tone, “Don’t you know that manners make a man? Your presumptuous ways make my blood boil.” He paused before continuing, “If you kneel before me and apologize, I might just forgive you. Otherwise…”
Jonathan and Polly stood up at the same time. Jonathan huffed, “Manners make a man? I could say the same to you.”
“Do you want to die?” A murderous glint flashed past Yasir’s eyes as he suddenly made a move.
In a flash, it felt as if a thunderstorm had entered the parlor. Yasir stood up and took a step forward. His body was like a thunderstorm, surrounding the room with a powerful and unmatched force.
The coffee table in the middle of the room exploded into pieces when his leg touched it.
Yasir raised his hand and used the Force of Damien technique.
The force of the technique felt like a building was pressing down on Jonathan’s head. His vision blurred and turned black for a moment. He could not even think of a way to fight against this technique. It felt as though he was at death’s door.
Jonathan closed his eyes and thought hard. In his state of panic, he tried to focus on which technique he could use to escape the Force of Damien. Soon, he used the Antelope Rhythm technique to force himself out of the range of the Force of Damien.
