Chapter 548 Summerbank Abyss
In a private room on the top floor of Mirage Plaza in the city center of Summerbank, a meeting between two men was taking place.
A young man with a pale face was leaning against the couch. Sitting opposite him was a bald man who wore a thick gold chain on his neck, and the man was puffing a cigar and crossing his legs as he stared at the former.
“I’m just trying to survive in Summerbank, Hubert. As you can see, I’ve not crossed anyone ever since I took control of Mirage Plaza.”
The young man lifted a bottle of wine to respectfully pour the bald Hubert a glass, putting on a gleeful smile the whole time. “As for what happened here back then, I wasn’t aware of the rules at that time. I’ll gulp this down as a token of apology.”
Upon finishing that sentence, the young man picked the bottle of wine up and began swigging one mouthful after another. In a matter of seconds, that entire bottle of wine worth more than a hundred thousand went down the young man’s belly. Hubert let out a chuckle as he saw the young man’s demeanor.
“Are you trying to role-play for a film or something, Ryan? Rules are rules. They were never meant to be broken. Do you really think that you can shirk responsibility for bending the rules simply by knocking back a bottle of wine? Why wasn’t I ever learned of such a liberty?”
Hearing Hubert’s words, Ryan wiped the corner of his own lips and sat on top of the bar table, placing the red wine bottle on his knee. A cackle escaped from his mouth on the spot.
“I’ve traveled to all sorts of places, all the way from Lumonburg to Summerbank, Hubert. I truly come in peace and—”
Before Ryan could finish saying his piece, the door to the private room was pushed wide open with brute force. “Boss! Bad news…”
A burly man staggered into the room, following the opening of the door. Ryan raised his leg and hurled a hard kick right at that burly man’s chest. With that, the burly man who weighed more than two hundred pounds was sent flying backward, eventually crashing to the floor outside.
“How dare you be so rude! Didn’t you see I’m having a discussion with Hubert? Learn how to knock,” hollered Ryan as he fixed his gaze on the burly man in the corridor.
At that very juncture, Hubert’s visage became all the grimmer. What a load of crap! That Ryan isn’t even trying to lecture his subordinate. He’s clearly showing off before me.
Suffering a kick from Ryan that abruptly, the burly man was dumbfounded. Yet, he didn’t have the courage to allow even a hint of displeasure to creep up his face when facing his superior.
That would make sense, for prior to that, Ryan had slaughtered the previous owner of Mirage Plaza before his subordinate’s very eyes, just so he could be in charge of Mirage Plaza instead.
His cruel and merciless means of handling things would instill fear into even the most ruthless man’s heart. The burly man then scrambled back into the room, clenching an already deformed metal pole in his hand.
“Boss, I-I bumped into someone exactly like you…” came the burly man’s utterance as his lips quivered. Concurrently, Hubert threw the cigar in his hand into the wineglass.
“I request that you spend some time to ponder, Ryan. I couldn’t care less about what a legendary being you are, but if you intend to gain a foothold here in Summerbank, you’d have to play by our rules!”
Boom! With a deafening banging sound, Hubert was seen covering his head, wailing in excruciating pain on the floor. Outside the door, Hubert’s men heard the noise and wasted no time hustling into the room.
Alas, they were too little, too late. All they could see was Ryan locking Hubert’s body and stabbing consecutively the latter’s neck with a broken piece of the wine bottle.
The carpet was awash with blood in seconds. Hubert was gone with the wind in no time at all, his hands still covering his own neck. Ryan rose to his feet before wiping ever so casually the bloodstain on both of his hands.
“You should’ve waited patiently but not intervened while other people are having an exchange. Is this how the leader of a pack ought to behave? Where the hell have all your manners gone to?”
Gazing at Hubert, whose eyes remained open when he breathed his last, Ryan was all smiles.
He then pointed at Hubert’s lackeys in the room and commanded, “You there! Take this body away. Oh! By the way, inform all the other big shots in Summerbank that they’re more than welcome to cut a deal with me.”
Immediately afterward, Ryan averted his gaze altogether, paying the horde of minions no heed. Instead, he crouched down and sidled up to the burly man, who was still lying on the ground at that point in time.
Grabbing the metal pole, Ryan scrutinized the crystal clear palm print on it.
“Someone exactly like me, huh? How interesting…”
Behind Triplex Manifesta, there was a huge, flat boulder that was tens of square meters in size.
Below that very boulder was an abyss as deep as a bottomless pit.
Jonathan was sitting on the boulder at that moment, and opposite him sat a handsome young man with tapered brows.
“Back then, Mr. Windt, it was all thanks to you reaching out to me with the miraculous pill when I was badly wounded. You saved my life. Please forgive my tardiness, as I’m two years late to finally paying you a visit.”
Jonathan had hardly ever been that courteous to anyone in Chanaea, for he was Asura, after all.
Be that as it might, he wouldn’t dare to portray a disrespectful mien to that young man sitting face to face with him. That was logical because the latter was his lifesaver who had offered him a life-saving pill two years ago, the one-and-only Sofus.
“You give me too much credit, Mr. Goldstein.”
Sofus was only sixteen, yet he appeared so mature for his age.
Even when he was informed of Jonathan’s true identity, he wasn’t even one bit in shock. He had a pair of bubbly eyes, seemingly sparkling and lively, but upon a closer look, one would find an overwhelming serenity lurking behind those eyes of his.
What astonished Jonathan the most was the spiritual energy emanating from Sofus’ body. The latter was giving off the air so strong that could hold a candle to that of an individual who had mastered the Grandmaster Realm.
A sixteen-year-old Grandmaster… What kind of terrifying existence is this?
“Mr. Goldstein, you’re already the top person of Chanaea, reigning over the provinces, so I believe you must have a reason to invest such a hefty sum of money just to be the first to pray. Even so, I failed to put my finger on what that could possibly be.”
“I’m ashamed to admit it.” A faint smile was etched on Jonathan’s countenance as he added, “Mr. Windt, the reason why I went all out just to be the first to pray is that I want to request a pill from you.”
Hearing Jonathan’s revelation, Sofus froze momentarily.
“Pill? You don’t mean the same life-saving pill that was provided to you the last time, do you?”
“It’s precisely that.” Jonathan bobbed his head slightly on that note. “I wonder if you’re still in possession of such pills, Mr. Windt. If you’re willing to grant my wish, I’m willing to do any of your biddings without hesitation, as long as it’s something within my power.”
As he spoke, his gaze was fixated on Sofus the whole time, wishing to catch a glimpse of the latter’s reaction.
The pill that had saved Jonathan’s life was extremely rare and precious. Not even Jason had the skills to replicate something like that. Because of that, Jonathan was all ready to be greeted by Sofus’ out-of-the-world, bold demand.
However, his earnest stare only found Sofus shaking his head.
“You must know that Lady Luck has always been smiling on you, Mr. Goldstein. Otherwise, my master wouldn’t have stumbled across your presence years ago with the pills in his hands.”
Sofus paused for a bit before going on, “Since you’ve journeyed here and successfully emerged as the first to pray, I’m supposed to oblige to your will no matter the subject, according to the rules set by us at Triplex Manifesta. Still, if it’s the pill you ask, unfortunately, there is nothing I can do for you.”
Then came Jonathan pleading in a deep tone, “But Mr. Windt, I’ve got to rescue my aunt. She’s critically injured. Without the pill, I don’t think she’ll be able to pull through. I sincerely hope that you can grant my only wish. If you ever deem me of any use in the future, I’ll only be one call away.”
If his words were to reach the ears of the public, without a doubt, there would be a parade of people willing to go to the ends of the earth for him.
Such was the compelling siren song of Asura’s invaluable favor.
Nevertheless, Sofus shook his head once more in response.
“You’ve misunderstood me, Mr. Goldstein. I wasn’t declining your plea, nor was I asking for an equivalent exchange. The truth is, I don’t actually have the pill anymore.”
“You don’t?” Startled, Jonathan gaped at Sofus in consternation. “What do you mean, Mr. Windt…”
Sofus gradually got up and approached the edge of the cliff, pointing toward the distant unknown beneath his feet.
“Those pills were formulated by my master. Back then, he managed to refine only three of them. Other than the one given to you the last time, my master gifted someone else one of the two remaining pills as well. As for the last pill, he had taken along with him down there—Summerbank Abyss. He’s already been there for about half a year long. So, it’s not that I’m turning you down, but I really don’t have it.”
“Half a year?” Looking at the ethereal fog far beyond, Jonathan furrowed his brows to a tight knot. “Do you know when your master will be back?”
Sofus heaved a sigh the second he heard the query. “My master told me before he left that it could take him days or even months to make a return. I’ve been waiting for him ever since that day, not even knowing whether he’s still alive…”
