Shrouded Seascape

Wang Jianshe sat dejectedly in his office. He looked exhausted as he raised his right hand and massaged the bridge of his nose.

After many years of struggle, Wang Jianshe learned that money was capable of resolving any issues. In other words, money was everything.

However, Wang Jianshe had just discovered that money could be worthless and useless.

Wang Jianshe had always been angry at Wang Sheng for what the latter had been doing with his life. Wang Sheng could be considered to be a real scumbag, and he had violated just about any law out there.

It was like he existed only to waste food and oxygen.

Wang Jianshe sighed deeply. Regardless of how useless Wang Sheng was, he was still Wang Jianshe's only son between his deceased wife. Wang Jianshe's gaze shifted down, and he stared at the slightly faded photo on the desk.

It showed a young woman cradling her belly with a face beaming with delight.

"Huilan, I sometimes wonder if he wouldn't turn out this way if you were still here," Wang Jianshe muttered. Staring at the photo, he began reminiscing about the past when an aged hand covered with age spots grabbed the picture frame.

"Is she your wife? I have to say, her fashion sense is a bit unsophisticated," Anna said mockingly as she leaned back in the swivel chair with her legs crossed.

Wang Jianshe's pupils constricted upon seeing the cult leader he had spoken with before. The next moment, his right hand quietly pressed a button beneath his desk.

"Don't bother. I've already cut the line. Besides, do you really think that the trash in your company's security department can deal with me?" Anna asked, smiling faintly while staring at the middle-aged man in front of her.

She then leaned slightly forward and placed the picture frame back in its original position.

"Relax. Anyway, you're worried about Wang Sheng, right? Don't worry. I can tell you that he's alive, and he's living a great life right now."

Wang Jianshe maintained a poker face. In the face of a cult leader capable of killing without batting an eyelid, his tone of voice was neither servile nor overbearing as he asked, "Where is he?"

"If you want to see him, then I need you to do something for me. Do what I want you to do, and Wang Sheng will go back to you," Anna replied. This nation had a population of over a billion people, so finding a specific family of four was more difficult than ascending the heavens for Anna, who was surely wanted by the IMF.

Thus, Anna decided to visit Wang Sheng's father, as his ability and connections could be helpful to her.

Wang Jianshe's brows furrowed. After ten seconds of contemplation, he said, "I can consider that, but I have to talk to him first before anything else."

"That won't work. It's a bit inconvenient to talk to him at the moment."

"What do you mean, 'inconvenient'? If you're not going to let me talk to Wang Sheng, then how can I be sure that you haven't already executed him?"

Wang Jianshe was clearly a tough nut to crack, and he fought to control the conversation.

"Do you see the calligraphy behind me? 'Since ancient times, those who farm and study are ashamed to speak of trade; yet the world's fairness lies in sixteen taels. Once the North and South are added up, blessings of fortune, prosperity, and longevity are bestowed.' I'm a successful businessman. Regardless of what you want me to do, you can't just pay me peanuts.

"Pay you peanuts? We're talking about your son here."

"No, we're not talking about my son here. You're just using my son as a card to make me move according to your whims. Unless you let me talk to him face-to-face, I'm not going to believe that Wang Sheng is in your hands."

Swoosh!

A corrosive green flame manifested on Anna's left side, and it cast a sickly green light on her face. The fireball flashed, and the desk in front of them was engulfed in flames.

Anna stood up and walked through the green flames to stand in front of Wang Jianshe. With one hand gripping a blade, she thrust it into the back of Wang Jianshe's chair, right next to his neck.

A cold voice echoed in Wang Jianshe's ear. "You either do me this favor, or I'll kill you today. What do you think? Am I still paying you peanuts?"

Wang Jianshe's expression turned ugly.

He tried to remain stubborn, but he looked as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him upon seeing Anna's eyes. Her calm and indifferent eyes resembled a placid lake, and the sight sent a shiver down Wang Jianshe's spine.

The words that had risen unbidden to Wang Jianshe's lips could no longer be spoken. He had a sense of foreboding that Anna would cut open his throat as soon as he spoke any word about refusing Anna's suggestion.

"Not anymore. So what do you want me to do for you?"

Anna hurled several pieces of paper at his face. "Find these three people for me. I want to know where they are right now."

The pictures depicted a sketch of Charles' face as a child and a juvenile. There were also sketches depicting the faces of Charles' parents.

However, Anna did not draw Charles' sister. After all, if the flow of time in the Subterranean Sea was completely opposite to that of the surface world, then she couldn't be older than the newborn Tobba.

Wang Jianshe wordlessly stared at the pictures.

Having dished out the stick, Anna knew that it was time to dish out a carrot.

"Find them, and I'll give you more than just returning Wang Sheng to you. When it comes to sniffing out opportunities, I think your son is better than you."

"How can I contact you once I've found them?" Wang Jianshe asked. He wisely lowered his head upon recognizing that the situation was unfavorable for him.

"My newly registered phone number is on the back of those pieces of paper. You better not be thinking about doing anything else, and don't even bother about running away. You have no idea what you're dealing with," Anna said.

With that, her figure vibrated at a speed imperceptible to the human eye, and she sank into the floor before Wang Jianshe.

Wang Jianshe was stupefied by the sight.

A few seconds later, he walked over to where Anna had been standing not too long ago and pressed on the floor. His stupefaction was exacerbated when he discovered that the floor hadn't been tampered with.

Back in the hotel, Tobba was sitting on a bowl of Master Kong instant noodles, looking like the bronze sculpture "The Thinker" as he stared at the chessboard in front of him. He was playing chess with the clown, and the latter seemed to be feeling impatient as it was shuffling cards in its hands.

"Don't rush me. The more you rush me, the slower I'm going to play," Tobba muttered in dissatisfaction.

Just then, there was movement at the door, and Anna walked into the room while vibrating at high speeds.

The clown turned to look at Anna.

Tobba saw that and quietly leaned forward to steal some chess pieces on the side, but the clown's hat decorated with violet star patterns fell from the sky and landed on the former.

"Mask, come to my room," Anna said.

The clown nodded and picked up its hat, releasing Tobba. It put the hat on its head and walked into the adjacent room.

Anna's room had nothing in it except for the basic furnishings.

Upon seeing the clown mask emerge from beneath the bed, Anna rolled up her sleeves and asked, "What's wrong with this hand that you gave to me? Why is it rotting?"

A dark brown liquid was incessantly oozing out of the arm that the clown had conjured with its magic. The sight alone was enough for anyone to deduce that the arm was rotting.

Anna didn't really think that losing the hand was a big deal, but the rotting piece of flesh was actually infecting other parts of her body, causing them to rot as well.

Anna had wrapped rubber bands around the upper end of her forearm to prevent any blood loss from the rotting arm.

Just then, Anna took out a dagger and cut open a wound just an inch above the decaying arm.