Chapter 219: Cleaning up [4]   Staring at his phone, Gerrard's brows knit tightly. A minute after, he clenched his phone tightly and swore out loud.

"Damn it…"

Ever since a couple of days ago, a rift had started appearing amongst the five tyrants. Apparently, the timestamps that the other tyrants had gone missing.

Oddly enough his timestamps remained untouched.

'Can't these retards understand that the reason why my stuff is untouched is because whoever the thieves are, they fear me?'

Although the other tyrants had respectable backings, if they were to be compared to the likes of W.V. Pharmaceuticals, they were still a level below.

To Gerrard, it was clear as day that the thieves had specifically skipped him because they feared him. Unfortunately, the others didn't seem to understand this as they kept looking at him suspiciously.

After a day and no news about the stolen timestamps, everyone forcefully convinced themselves that Gerrard had played a part in the disappearance of the timestamps. Hence the current predicament.

Without a doubt, they were going to target the people under his jurisdiction. They wanted to cut his timestamps supply.

"Damn greedy bastard…"

—Clank!

"Gerrard, everyone has gathered"

Suddenly the door of Gerrard's room opened, and Noah, one of his lackeys called him. Fixing his collar, Gerrard nodded his head.

"Everyone is already here? Okay, I'm coming"

Walking out of his room, Gerrard closed the door behind him. Entering the living room of his apartment Gerrard saw a crowd of students looking at him. Walking around the room, he was instantly able to pick up the awe and fear coming from some of the student's eyes.

The corner of his lips tugged upwards as a result.

"Thank you for coming all the way here today"

Stopping before the crowd, Gerrard gave a brief round down of the situations to the students. In short, he told them about how they might get targeted by the other factions and that they needed to be extra careful.

'Hm? Where have I seen that guy?'

As he was talking, Gerrard's eyes suddenly paused on a certain individual. Pale white skin and deep blue eyes. He seemed to have a faint recollection of such a student. Suddenly he remembered.

'Ren Dover'

The talented youth who appeared all over the news.

'Right, he might be able to help me…'

An idea suddenly struck him.

If he could get Ren on his side he could quickly use him as a deterrent against the other tyrants.

With him being one of the strongest people in the dorm, he could quickly crush all of his opposition. Without a second thought, Gerrard pointed at Ren.

"You come with me"

"Me?"

Baffled, the youth named Ren pointed at himself. Raising his brow, Gerrard nodded his head.

"Yes, who else am I pointing at? Follow me quickly, I don't have much time to waste"

"O-okay"

Flustered, Ren hurriedly followed him. Staring at Ren's flustered figure, Gerrard secretly smirked.

'I guess it's true. He really has no backing'

This was going to be easier than he thought.

"You take care of the situation while I take care of this one"

Staring at Noah, Gerrard quickly ordered. In response, Noah nodded his head.

"As you wish"

"Good"

—Clank!

Closing the doors to his room, Gerrard carefully scrutinized Ren before him. After seizing him up, with a satisfied nod, he got straight to the point.

"How about you work for me?"

"Work for you?"

"Yes, I've investigated you a little bit. This is only natural. After receiving news about your talent I started getting interested in you. I know that your parents work for a third-rate guild and you have no backing. How about it, work for me. I can provide you with all the necessary reso-why are you smiling?"

Gerrard stopped himself mid-sentence. The reason was that the student before him was smiling widely. Almost as if he was watching the most amusing show of his life.

"Oh? I'm smiling?"

Startled, Ren touched his lips. Noticing this, Gerrard became enraged as his voice echoed across the area.

"Yes, you were! Do you think I said something funny? Am I a joke to you!?"

"haaa…me and my sh*tty acting"

Letting out a sigh, Ren brushed his hair up and silently cursed. This startled Gerrard who suddenly had an ominous premonition. Staring at Gerrard, Ren slowly opened his mouth.

"I mean, how stupid would I be to work with the son of the guy who murdered Thobias church and caused the downfall of the previous number 1 pharmaceutical company?"

"W-what! How do you know?"

Opening his eyes wide, Gerrard froze on the spot.

'I-impossible! How did he enough such confidential information? Apart from me and my dad, no one should know about this! He must be bluffing, yes. If not bluffing how else would he have known?'

Unless he was bluffing, things wouldn't make sense.

"How did I know?"

Smiling once again, Ren displayed a map to Gerrard. Pinpointed on it was a certain location within Ashton city.

"Meet me here after the meeting is over, I'll let you know then. Oh. If you ever tell anyone about what I said to you, not only you will die but I will slowly reveal everything to the world."

Weakly pointing at Ren, Gerrard shouted, "Y-you're just bluffing!"

"Haaa…do I look like I'm bluffing?"

Halting his steps, turning his head around. Suddenly an incomprehensible pressure bore down on Gerrard as Ren's eyes slowly turned dull grey. Instantly the world around Gerrard froze and his body trembled uncontrollably.

Pressing his hand down, Ren's hoarse and cold voice echoed across the room.

"Kneel!"

Thud!

With a large thud, Gerrard kneeled on the floor. Without even questioning the decision, Gerrard kneeled on the ground. An inexplicable sense of fear washed over him.

'N-no, what's going on? Isn't this like back in the arena?'

Garrad remembered this moment. This was the exact same scenario that happened during Ren's fight against Haris. At first, he thought it was some phony skill that Ren had used to deceive the opponent, but he felt it…

He felt the true horror that was before him. It was like he was standing before a humongous black mass that looked down on him as if he was an ant.

He needed to know his place! Thus, Gerrard gave up any thoughts of fighting.

"It's good that you are not resisting"

"Please-I'm sorry, I give up. Don't kill me p-please…"

Staring at Gerrard's figure for a couple of seconds, Ren smiled. Slowly his eyes returned to their usual deep blue color. Patting Gerrard on the shoulders, Ren warned.

"If you don't want such information to spread, I'll give you an option"

"Right after the meeting is over, you are to quickly come to the place I had previously shown you"

Once again taking out his phone, Ren showed him the image of the location. After a couple of seconds, turning his head back to Gerrard, Ren asked.

"Do you understand?"

"Y-yes"

"Good"

Satisfied, Ren patted Gerrard on the shoulder a couple of more times before leaving towards the exit of the room.

However, just as he was about to leave, Ren's feet halted in front of the door. Turning around, with a calm smile on his face, he opened his mouth.

"Ah, if you try anything stupid I'll be the first one to know. As soon as you try to call someone for help or send someone a message, I'll quickly spread everything that I know to the world. Whatever your father worked hard to accomplish will be quickly ruined overnight, and the people that you bullied and harrassed will flock at you like mad hyenas…"

Pausing slightly, Ren nodded his head in satisfaction. At the moment, Gerrard was sweating profusely as he imaged the scenario Ren had just spoken about. Without hesitation, he kept nodding his head.

"Good, it seems like you know what's best for you"

Touching the handle of the door, Ren slowly opened it as his expression changed to that one of someone who had just been scolded.

"I hope you don't disappoint me"

—Clank!

Those were the last words Gerrard heard before the door closed, and silence descended upon the room.

*

Not very far from the Lock and on the outskirts of the central district resided an old factory, Thriven Industrial Co.

The factory used to be an old toy factory that was quite well known within Ashton city. Unfortunately, after a few board disputes and corruption cases, the company was forced to shut down. Ever since then, the company has been left abandoned with no one wanting to buy the land due to its fairly remote location and expensive listing price.

It was precisely because of how remote the place was that I chose this place as the location for today's operation. It was perfect since there were no cameras around and there were not a lot of people living nearby.

Regardless of how much sound 'they' made nobody would notice anything.

—Grrrrrr!

Suddenly the doors of the factory opened and a shuddering Gerrard walked in.

—Thud!

"You're finally here"

Smiling, I jumped off a machine I was sitting on and welcomed him with open arms. In response, Gerrard shuddered even more as looked at me and took a couple of steps back.

"Y-you how did you know such information! How did you know about Church's death!"

Without hesitation, he got straight to the point.

"How did I know?"

Smirk

Staring at Gerrard's flustered expression, the edges of my lips tugged upwards.

"How did I know?"

'Simple really, it's because I am the author of this book'

I naturally couldn't say it. Despite it being the truth, there was no way he would believe me.

"Answer me!"

Taking my smirk as a sign of me looking down on him, Gerrard became enraged as he started shouting.

"If you don't answer me I'll quickly send an emergency message to my father!"

"Oh?"

Flashing out his phone, Gerrard showed me the text message that was already written. With his thumb on the send button, he threatened.

"Yes! See this, this is my phone! If you as so much make as single move and don't tell me about how you know that information, I will immediatel-khhh"

—Click!

A subtle clicking sound resounded across the factory.

"Khh…W-what?!"

Clenching onto his chest, Gerrard's eyes opened wide. Looking down on his hands, red blood gushed down on the ground.

'What just happened? I didn't see anything…'

Before he could even move or do anything, his body completely froze and he found himself bleeding profusely.

—Thud!

Seconds after, with a large thud, his figure fell on the ground. Tapping on the grip of my sword, I shook my head.

"Sorry to break it to you, but I really have no use for you anymore…"

To be honest, he wasn't really my main target to begin with. He was merely a means to reach that goal.

"Oh well, let's get this over with"

Staring at Gerrard's dying figure, I felt no pity for him. After having investigated him closely and discovered all of the disgusting things he had done in the past, I felt that this type of death did not do him any justice. He deserved a more gruesome one.

"Let's see…"

Slowly walking towards Gerrard, I calmly picked up his phone. With Gerrard having already unlocked the phone, I didn't have a hard time accessing his stuff and finding his messages app.

[Dad, can you come to pick me up? I've got some fantastic news to share with you. Come to me directly. There's this restaurant that I want to try with you]

"…and sent!"

Having investigated Gerrard very carefully, I naturally also investigated his father. With this, I naturally found a lot of things that I could've exploited. In this case, I managed to find a very interesting piece of news.

Jhanna Lim, Gerrard's father, was a very doting father. Whatever Gerrard asked of him, he would do it. It was because of this that for most of his life he managed to get away with most things Scott free.

Me asking him to come here was actually part of my plan. If everything went according to what I've investigated, his father would be more than delighted to come. This fact was proven not long after as Gerrard's phone vibrated.

—Ding!

[You want to have dinner with me? But of course, I'll come! I'll be coming soon. Wait for me]

"Bingo…"

With a smile on my face, I put the phone away.

Was I worried about Gerrard's father not coming?

Not at all.

Given Gerrard's history, him going to such places to carry out his degenerate plans was not strange.

Since his father had covered up for him multiple times, he would know by now how Gerrard did things. He wouldn't find this strange.

Moving back towards one of the machines, I leaned back and relaxed.

'Now all I have to do is wait…'

…

Jhanna Lim, the current head of W.V. pharmaceuticals. He was of Malaysian descent and was 43 years old as of today.

His life was tough. Inheriting his parent's company at a young age, Jhanna was born with a heavy burden on his shoulders. Despite this, after graduating from a rather prestigious academy he quickly got to work and expanded the influence of his company, W.V. pharmaceuticals rapidly.

Unfortunately for him, the road was filled with thorns. With competitors everywhere, reaching the top was tough. Still, using whatever method he had available, Jhanna managed to claim the number one spot as the top pharmaceuticals company in the human domain.

After years of constant struggles, he had finally ascended to the top.

"We're here sir"

"Alright"

The car halted and a bodyguard opened the door. Nodding his head, Jhanna stepped out of the car. Looking at the abandoned factory before him, Jhanna was taken aback.

"Where in the world…"

Next to him, one of his two bodyguards frowned.

"Something feels off sir"

"Yes, I think so too"

Jhanna agreed.

Although he wasn't strong, his instincts told him that something was definitely off about the situation. Without hesitation, Jhanna took out his phone and sent a message to his son.

[Son, I'm here why don't you come outside]

—Ping!

Within seconds he got a response back.

[Ah dad you're here? Come into the factory, I've got something amazing to show you]

"You two follow me. If anything seems out of place immediately call for backup"

"Roger that!"

Jhanna's brows knit tightly. Nudging his guards next to him, he made his way towards the factory before him. Although he felt that something was odd about the situation, he was confident about his guard's strength. If anything truly did happen, without a doubt the guard before him would defend him.

—Grrrrrr!

Opening the door that led to the warehouse, Jhanna instantly saw countless old types of machinery.

"Gerrard, dad's here. Where are you?"

Looking around for a couple of seconds, Jhanna raised his voice as he called out for his son.

"Jhanna Lim, W.V. pharmaceutical CEO, father of one kid, and murderer of multiple people who were deemed as competition…"

"!!"

Suddenly a cold voice echoed across the warehouse startling Jhanna and the guards next to him. Frantically looking around, Jhanna shouted.

"You! Who are you! Show yourself"

After looking for a while, suddenly, his eyes paused towards a certain machine in the distance. Sitting on top of it was a figure wearing a mask that only covered half of his face. With a smile on his face, the figure slowly opened his mouth.

"Who am I? Hmm, now why would I be stupid enough to tell you my name?"