Zed was standing outside an apartment along with Jessica. Jessica was aptly dressed for a formal dinner while Zed was in casuals.
Zed clicked on the doorbell and moments later, the door was opened by a woman with curly hair.
"Madam Suzane," Jessica offered the greetings after the door was opened.
"Jessica, right?" Suzane said as she asked them to enter the apartment.
"Yes," Jessica stepped in and pointed towards Zed,"He is Zed."
"Nice to meet you," Zed greeted her.
"Good to meet you," Suzane said as they all entered the apartment,"Loren should be ready in few minutes."
"There is no hurry," Zed and Jessica took a seat at Suzane’s instructions. Suzane sat opposite to them and involved them in a conversation.
"I’m glad to see Loren having friends," Suzane said.
"We are lucky to be her friends," Jessica politely replied. She wasn’t really versed in conversation but she did her best to engage with Suzane.
Zed didn’t speak for he wasn’t really a friend with Loren. A casual acquaintance at best.
"Zed?" Suzane’s voice brought him back from his thoughts.
"Yes?" Zed looked at her.
"Are you two dating?" Suzane asked pointing at him and Jessica.
Jessica’s cheeks were flushed red at the question. Zed, on the other hand, was rather unfazed.
"No," Zed answered.
"She is a beautiful girl," Suzane said.
"Indeed, she is," Zed agreed.
Jessica’s entire face was deep red by now. She couldn’t understand how the conversation suddenly moved on her.
"Are you dating someone else?" Suzane asked. Loren has mentioned about Zed when she informed her of dinner invitation by Felicity.
Recently, Suzane has also heard rumors of Zed being responsible for the cancellation of many admissions in the academy. Some of those admissions were of children whom she knew from the other cities.
"I guess you could say so," Zed answered.
"Say so?" Suzane and Jessica looked at him in dismay. What does that mean?
Zed didn’t explain. He wasn’t really dating anyone but the process of courting women to bed was also a dating of a sort.
Of course, he couldn’t tell her this nor that his other form was ’training’ her during the gym sessions. After the decision he has made yesterday, he has promised to lower his time on the affairs including the private sessions with Suzane.
He would spend as much as time as he could with Agatha while reserving a few hours to himself. In this free hours, he has to include the time for his affairs and the time for Felicity.
Kiba felt he was like a student making a schedule for studies but never following up on it. He knew it would be hard for him to adapt to this new changes but he wouldn’t back off.
Suzane wanted to inquire further but then Loren entered the room dressed in a blue cocktail dress.
"Sorry for making you wait," Loren said.
"We didn’t wait long," Jessica said.
"Thank you for the hospitality," Zed said to Suzane as he left the seat.
"Drive safe," Suzane reminded them before they left the apartment.
"I apologize for my mother’s behavior," Loren was embarrassed.
"It is nothing," Zed shook his head, "As a mother, it is natural for her to worry about your safety."
"But she could be annoying at times," Loren said as they arrived in front of his car.
Jessica sat next to the driver’s seat while Loren sat behind.
---------
Fifteen minutes later, the car was dashing on a road devoid of other vehicles. Zed was driving the car while occasionally participating in conversations between Loren and Jessica.
[[Trouble incoming]] Claudia’s voice sounded inside the car.
"Trouble?" Jessica and Loren were startled.
Zed’s eyes turned cold but he continued to drive at the same speed.
SCREECH~!
Suddenly, four vehicles were rushing towards his car from the front. From behind, two vehicles suddenly joined in leaving no chances for Zed to escape.
"What is going on?" Jessica asked.
She opened her cell phone to contact emergency help but was shocked to see zero signal.
"My phone doesn’t have a signal as well," Loren was equally confused about the situation.
Zed stopped the car allowing the vehicles to surround his car.
"What should we do?" Loren and Jessica were worried. They saw around 15 men walking towards their car.
"We should greet them," Zed opened the door of the car much to the shock of ladies.
"Zed, we shouldn’t!" Loren shouted.
"He should have a plan," Jessica said in a hopeful voice.
"We’re in a hurry so can you allow us to leave?" Zed asked after leaving the car.
In front of him were 15 men in various types of clothing. Most of them were in clothes of local gangs but four of them were in casual clothes.
From the design of their clothes and posture, the four didn’t seem to be gang members.
"You can leave after we have crippled you," one of the four men in casual clothes coldly said.
"Edgar?" Loren said in disbelief as she left the car.
"Loren?" Edgar was shocked as well. He has only asked for tracking Zed’s car so he wasn’t aware of the passengers.
"You know each other?" Jessica asked.
"He is the son of my father’s colleague," Loren answered.
"Loren, stay out of this," Edgar looked at her and said, "We won’t touch you or that girl as long as you don’t involve yourself in our matter."
"Our? What are you--?" Loren stopped as she saw three more familiar faces.
Rees, Percy, and Brian.
"What is the meaning of this?" Loren enquired.
"Why don’t you ask your pal?" Edgar pointed at Zed.
"Me?" Zed has a confused expression on his face, "I have never met you so I am more ignorant than her. "
"Don’t try to fool us," Edgar gave him a stern look, "We know you are responsible for the humiliation."
"Humiliation?" Loren then thought of the recent cancellations of the admissions. All the rumors pointed to Zed as the culprit.
There was no way that the children of rich and influential could take this ’humiliation’. That too when they learned he was originally nothing but a slum insect.
"I don’t have to," Zed said.
"What?" Edgar looked at him.
"You just said I shouldn’t try to fool you," Zed patiently explained, "But you all are fools, to begin with, so I don’t have to fool you."
"Son of a bitch! How dare you!" Percy was incensed.
"Do I need a dare to state a fact?" Zed asked.
"Zed! Don’t try to make it worse!" Loren caught his hands and said, "I would try to make them step back."
"It is going to be useless," Zed shook off his head, "Otherwise we wouldn’t be having 11 extras."
"Extras?" The head of the gang was angered by the word.
"Loren, stay away otherwise don’t blame us," Edgar gave a final warning.
Loren didn’t know what to do but she was confused by the nonchalant expression of Zed.
"He is still relaxed?" Loren couldn’t understand him.
She knew he has some influence given how he was able to fire the principal but that was going to be useless now. There was no cellular network in the area so there was no way he could ask for help from outside.
"Kaden, cripple him," Edgar ordered the head of the gang.
Edgar has heard Zed was a strong mutant for his age so he and his friends have hired Kaden and his gang. To prevent any unexpected situation, they have even placed EMP device around to restrict communication from outside.
Kaden didn’t like the tone of Edgar but since money was involved, he didn’t say anything. His skin was covered with scales as he walked towards.
"Hmm?" Kaden was startled and angered to see Zed was still carrying a smiling expression. There was no fear on his face.
"Won’t shed tears till you feel some pain?" Kaden looked forward to playing with Zed. He really enjoyed teaching spoiled children the meaning of pain.
"How much are those four fools paying you?" Zed suddenly asked.
"What?!" Everyone looked at Zed.
"You didn’t hear?" Zed repeated the question, "How much are they paying you?"
"You think we would spare you if you pay us extra?" Kaden asked with a smirk.
He understood that Zed was afraid and now wanted to buy him to save his life. This pleased him to the heart.
"The answer is no," Zed said.
"What are you saying?" Kaden looked at him in dismay.
"I’m asking for something different," Zed pointed at the ’four fools’ and said, "You would be doing what you planned to, but the target would be those fools who hired you, instead of me."
The gang and the four members looked at each other and then started laughing.
"Has fear fried your brain?" Edgar was laughing nonstop.
"Not really," Zed answered.
RING RING~!
The gang and the ’four fools’ stared at Zed in shock.
How can his phone ring when there is an EMP wave to block all signals?
"Excuse me," Zed took out his cell phone and answered, "We’re on our way. No, we will be on time. See ya."
Zed placed his cell phone back in the pocket. He then looked at Kaden and Edgar and said, "I apologize for the call but it was important. Anyways, where were we in the conversation?"
No one spoke a single word. Every member of the gang was checking their phone and was startled to see no signals.
"How could his phone rang?" Loren muttered.
"Right!" Zed said as he remembered where the conversation was before the phone call, "How much do I have to pay for you to carry out the task?"
Kaden suppressed his shock and looked at Zed. He has heard the voice of a woman from the phone call so he was sure the phone call was real instead of some trick.
Is his phone so advanced that it can overpower EMP? If so then why didn’t he asked for help?
"Let us cripple him and then rush away," Kaden signaled the rest of his gang. He didn’t wish to waste any more time.
"$2 million," Zed said.
Kaden was slaw jacked by the proposal. He was about to launch an attack but this unbelievably high offer shocked him out of his wits.
The same went for other members of his gang. They asked each other to make sure they heard it right.
"Wh-what did you say?" Kaden asked to make sure.
"Don’t make me repeat my words again," Zed gave a sigh and said, "$2 million for carrying out the task."
The gang eyed Edgar, Rees, Percy, and Brian like wolves eying a flock of sheep. The greed in their eyes left no doubt what they thought of the offer.
Behind, Jessica and Loren gulped down a mouthful of saliva at the unbelievable cost. Jessica was from a humble background so even thousands of dollars were way high, much less millions.
Loren wasn’t rich in the traditional sense but she has lived a luxurious lifestyle thanks to the benefits from the government. Even the children of the rich she knew couldn’t offer such a high price without batting an eye.
After all, the money wasn’t theirs. It was their families and the amount they could spend was limited even if they were the future heirs.
Now, Zed was casually offering so much like a king giving alms to a beggar. This startled everyone and incited waves of greed inside their hearts.
"D-don’t be fooled!" Edgar’s back was drenched with cold sweat feeling the greed-filled eyes on him. He backed away instinctively and said, "He couldn’t afford such a high price!"
"R-right!" Kaden muttered. He was so enticed by the price that he forgot that no kid could have such money.
Even those four combined could only offer $50,000 for taking care of Zed. And they were from an influential class from what they told!
If Zed has offered in ten thousand then it would be believable but in millions?! A single kid having so much money to spend freely?!
Dream on! Don’t take us for fools!
Zed didn’t say anything and instead, he opened his cell phone.
"What are you doing?" Kaden asked.
Shouldn’t this kid be apologizing for going overboard? Is he contacting help? But he shouldn’t be given he didn’t try before, right?
Zed passed Kaden his cell phone a moment later.
"?" Kaden was confused by his actions. Suppressing his confusion, he took the phone from him and looked at the screen.
"Im..pos...sible," Kaden felt the world was spinning around.
His eyes were on verge of popping out as he stared at the text on the screen. His entire definition of reality was broken in the span of seconds.
"Boss?" The entire gang eyed Kaden in bewilderment.
Why is he behaving so oddly?!
One of the gang members moved forward to check what was so strange on the phone for the boss to act so weirdly.
"N-no way!" The gang member was struck on the spot in total disbelief. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was reading it correctly and noticing the text was still same; he fell on his knees.
"W-what is going on?" Another gang member asked.
No one else from the gang dared moved ahead to check what was on the phone. They were afraid they would behave just like their boss and the other member.
It took Kaden minutes before he was able to gather his wits together. He turned the phone towards his gang to make them understand his behavior. He has made a fool of himself but he has to let the others understand it wasn’t his fault.
"It can’t be!"
"There has to be a mistake!"
"Y-yeah! It is fake!"
The entire gang muttered words of disbelief with their reactions no better than the initial behavior of Kaden.
Kaden felt somewhat happy seeing the reactions of his gang. He was able to save his pride as the boss.
He then turned the phone screen towards Edgar, Rees, Percy, and Brian. The four started trembling in fear as they read the text on the screen: [[Account balance - $1.2 billion only]].
"H-how?"
"Just who is he?"
"$1.2 billion ONLY?!"
"You call that ONLY?!"
"This is not possible, right?"
"Obviously! $1.2 billion! It is impossible!"
"Yeah! There are only a few thousand billionaires in the world!"
"There is no way that this kid is one of them, right?!"
"Of course! A twenty years old having billions?! Are you fucking kidding!?"
" Obviously, it is fake!"
"But the bank app’s interference look genuine..."
"Then did he looted a bank or something?"
"A bank?! Even if you loot a dozen banks you can’t be this rich!"
"Then this is a fraud!"
"No! This is a scam!"