Awakening

“I’m fine, perhaps I didn’t have a good night sleep. This is the week’s translation manuscript.” Naoko handed her a paper bag.

After taking the paper bag, Mari looked at her somewhat quizzically, “You sure you’re okay?”

Looking at her worried eyes, Naoko smiled and said: “I’m fine, really. Also, can you give me some other draft?”

“Do you really need money recently? This is the third manuscript that you give back to me.”

“No, I just have more free time recently, and looking for something to do. The fee is as normal.”

“Your boyfriend didn’t accompany you?” After thinking about it, Mari asked.

“He has some matter to do, so he went out to the field.”

Carefully looked at her face, Mari suddenly asked: “Naoko, you honestly tell me, is that guy broke up with you? If that’s the case, you don’t need to be sad for that kind of people.

Naoko shook her head gently, “It’s not like that, he really has some important things to do and need to leave for a period of time. He promised me, he will definitely come back.” At this point, she involuntarily clenched both her hands into fists.

Watching her determined look, Mari didn’t say anything.

“Drafts that need to be translated, are indeed a lot, I’ll get some of them for you. Moreover, your last few essays are very popular with the readers, the Editor in chief want you to continue doing that, I was about to inform you about it. Don’t know if you have the interest in that?” Mari suddenly remembered something and said.

“Very well, I’ll give it a try.” Naoko nodded her head in affirmation.

Looking at the table, Mari said: “You haven’t had dinner? Wait for me, after I pack my things I’ll go out to dinner with you.”

Naoko nodded.

Not long after Mari walked away, two men immediately came up.

“Hello, my name is Hiroshi Watanabe, Mori’s colleague.” A bespectacled man took the initiative to introduce himself.

“Hello, I’m Hasebe Naoko, Mari’s college classmate.”

“Hello miss Hasebe, my name is Hiro Toshiaki, is also Mari’s colleague.” Another younger man said with a smile.

“Hello.” Naoko nodded to him.

When the two men saw Naoko entered the Editorial office, their eyes shone. The moment they saw Molly walked away, they immediately seized this chance to meet the beautiful woman.

When the two men sputtered to say something, from behind them suddenly came Mari’s sneering voice, “I knew you two perverts would find the opportunity to strike up a conversation.”

“Mari, you come back so quickly.” Hiro Toshiaki said with a smile.

“Of course you don’t want me to come back so soon. Naoko, let’s get out of here.” Mari pulled Naoko’s hand to walk outside.

“Miss Hasebe, and Mari, why don’t you let us invite you to dinner today.” Hiroshi Watanabe kept up with them and said.

“Yes, yes, it’s rare for Miss Hasebe to be here, might as well letting us play the host to eat a meal.” Hiro Toshiaki hastened to add.

“This is what you said.” Mari suddenly exposed a sly smile.

Seeing the smile from Mari, the two men’s heart suddenly felt cold. They forgot that there was this witch.

“Since they are so keen to ask us for dinner, we’ll give them some face. Am I right, Naoko?” Mari Said.

“But....” Naoko a bit hesitantly said.

“Yes, since even Mari said that, come with us Miss Hasebe.” To hell with it, Hiroshi Watanabe thought that he might as well went all the way and invited the beauty.

With Mari and the two men’s persuasion, Naoko finally agreed. The two men immediately excited and almost howl like a wolf.

Mari agreed to go with them because she saw Naoko’s mood was very low. She still believed that the guy named Gennai Masashi abandoned her, letting her turned like this. Moreover, going along with the two guys that have been her colleagues for years, she knew they were the type of guys who have the intention but no guts. She just let them go along to stir up the atmosphere.

In the dining room, the two men continued to look for opportunities to talk to Naoko, while Mari surprisingly didn’t bother with that, just quietly eating her meal.

“Miss Naoko, your ring is very beautiful, is it the gift from your boyfriend?” Hiro Toshiaki accidentally saw the ring on Naoko’s hand, casually asked a sentence.

“Yes, it is a couple’s ring, there’s also one on his hand.” Naoko lovingly stroke the ring on her finger.

Hearing her answer, the two men’s faces suddenly became very strange. They now just remembered that they forgot to ask if she had a boyfriend.

Seeing their expressions, Mari couldn’t help but smile. Turning her head to look at Naoko, she found her expression was a bit strange, and can’t help but ask: “Naoko, are you alright?”

“Sorry, I need to go to the bathroom.” Naoko stood up and walked toward the restaurant restroom.

Looking at her hurried footsteps, Mari showed a thoughtful look.

More than a month has passed, he still didn’t come back, not even a single phone call he gave her.

Did he....

Thinking of this, Naoko shook her head, wanting to dump this ominous thought.

Lei, please be okay, please be okay....

After a while, Naoko wiped the tears in her eyes with a tissue, then slowly walked out of the bathroom.

—-

Looking at the two average looking men before him, Changan put down the teacup in his hand.

“Are these your conditions?”

“Yes, as long as you give all those data back to us, we guarantee that we won’t look you for trouble.” One of the men said.

Changan sneered, “Guarantee? You think your so-called guarantee credible? We already have close to two hundred people die in your hands. At this time, you want to talk to me about conditions?”

“Mr. Shen, don’t go too far, our people that die in your hands is no less than yours. Do you want to continue this unwinnable war?” The other man couldn’t help but sing out.

“Indeed, no gang could resist in a fight against a country, let alone such a powerful nation such as yours. But don’t forget, you’re the one who started this, we just fought back in self-defence. To be honest, at this point, I don’t care about anything. I’d like to see how much of a stir I could create if I hand those data to the public. Don’t you often boast yourself to be the beacon of human rights?”

Hearing his words, the two men’s face immediately changed.

“Mr. Shen, I apologize to you for my partner’s attitude just now. Our boss wants to sincerely reconcile with you. We hope Mr. Shen would consider our proposal seriously.” The man who talked first immediately apologized to Changan and said.

“There’s nothing to consider, my request is very simple, as long as both sides do not interfere with one another (orig, river water does not interfere with well water), that would be enough. Now, every day there are a lot of people around the world that rely on our company for their livelihood. Unless it is absolutely necessary, we don’t want any open conflict with you. The data, I will give it back to you, as for how and when, we can talk about it on another time. I can assure you, as long as you no longer harass us, this data will absolutely not leak out. Excuse me, I’m a little tired, the two of you please go back.” Changan said dryly.

“In that case, we take our leave.” The two men looked at each other and then stood up.

“Do not send.” With that, Changan walked himself out of the room, leaving behind two white male with awkward expressions.

After they walked to the car, one of the men angrily kicked their white vehicle, “D*mn, I really want to kill that arrogant guy.”

“You shut up, you almost messed things up just now. If we can’t handle this, none of us can escape.” Another man glared at him and opened the door.

That man bitterly entered the car.

“I really don’t understand, why the above want to compromise with this guy. He’s just a gang leader, why we must humble ourselves to these people.” After getting into the car, that man said discontentedly.

“You haven’t seen their data, so there are a lot of things you don’t know. They are not as simple as you imagine. Do you think the hundreds of people who died in their hands are just a motley crew? Wrong, they’re all the crazies that we saw in area C. Especially now that they have that information, if leaked, the consequences that it will lead to are unimaginable. Later on, please use your brain when you work.”

From the window of the room watching the receding car, Changan turned to the several men in suits standing behind him and asked: “Where is your boss?”

“He’s at the bar.” One of the men replied.

Changan sighed in his heart, “Now take me to him.”

“Yes, Mr. Shen.”

—-

In a noisy bar, a more than 30-year old blond man a bit tipsy watching the stripper on stage. Compared to the young girl on stage, the escort girl by his side leave little to be desired. In addition to the relatively large chest, her thighs and waist were a bit thick, and she had a strange body odor.

Drinking the fifth cup, he finally couldn’t bear anymore. Pushed away the woman, he walked to the bar, and loudly shouted: “Are all your beauties here die? How come there’s not even one who is slightly prettier, all are sows.”

The bartender gave him a glance and said: “I’m sorry sir, all the pretty girls have been wrapped up by a guest. That includes the young lady who is now performing on stage, after this, she will go to accompany that guest.”

“What? Which guy is so perverted?”

“I’m sorry, I’m not quite clear either. If there’s no other thing, I’m going to continue to work.” The bartender was too lazy to care for him, bowed his head and wiped the glasses.

“D*mn, what’s with your attitude, you think I don’t have the money to pay the bill? Where is your boss, I’ll tell him to fire you immediately.” Feeling the contempt, the man suddenly flew into a rage.

Having seen many such wild drunks like him, the bartender didn’t even look at him and continued to clean the cup.

Though very angry, the man didn’t dare to touch the bartender. This was not his first time to come out to play here, and he knew he would be the one to suffer in the end if he put his hand on the bartender.

When he scolded while backing off, he was suddenly bumped into someone a bit. The man who has nowhere to vent his anger immediately turned, but after seeing in his side stood a few strong and able bodyguards, he suddenly didn’t dare to make any noise.

The middle-aged man that accidentally hit him also didn’t catch a glimpse of him, continued to walk on. The several bodyguards also followed behind him.

“Good evening, Mr. Shen.” Arriving in front of a big room, the few man standing at the door saluted to Changan and said.

“Open the door.”

“But the boss he....”

“I told you to open the door,” Changan said in a deep voice.

That bodyguard dared not say anything anymore, immediately opened the door.

When Changan walked in, he saw within this dark room, many young ladies dressed in sexy revealing outfits. In the middle of the room, there were two women cuddled together, fondling each other, moaning. In the couch behind them, a young man was drinking while his bleary eyes looked at the two women show.

Changan without saying anything, turned on the lights on the wall, the two women lying on the ground immediately screamed and stood up.

“All of you get out.” Changan coldly said.

Looking at the posture of those bodyguards, these women knew their guest tonight and the man before them were not ordinary people. In less than two minutes, in this big room, there were only two men left.

After closing the door, Changan and went and sat next to ReiLi.

“Who is it, his grandma, where are all the people?” Unable to see the surrounding women, the half drunk ReiLi cried out in a loud voice.

“Little Rei, stop drinking anymore, your wound hasn’t healed well.” Changan took down the bottle in his hand.

“Oh....it’s you Changan, what are you doing here?” ReiLi said after seeing the man.

“Come on, let’s go back.” Changan pulled him up.

“No, I....still want to drink. Give me the drink...” ReiLi reached out and grabbed the bottle in his hand.

“If master sees you now, he will be very angry.” After silence for a moment, Changan said.

Hearing his words, ReiLi’s whole body shivered. After a while, he pulled open Changan’s hand and slowly sat on the sofa as he lowered his head.

“Little Rei, you have to pick yourself up,” Changan said with a deep voice.

“Changan, I killed Master. If not to save me, he would not....” After bowing his head for a long time, ReiLi slowly said.

“Did you forget? Master is immortal. I believe that before long he will rebirth and come to see us.” Changan patted him on the shoulder and said.

“How long is that? Ten years, twenty years? Or wait after we all die?” ReiLi said with a bitter smile.

“Little Rei!” Changan whispered.

“Changan....I want to see Master....” ReiLi covered his face and wept.