Chapter 1 October 9th

Kela Calendar 20XX, October 9th, 2:00 PM.

A conference room at the headquarters of the Santiago International Agricultural Group in San Diego, USA.

A dozen or so men and women dressed in various outfits were seated around a conference table, engaging in a calm discussion.

At the head of the long, narrow conference table sat a white man in a suit and tie, his hair gray.

He was the president of the company—Earl William.

No one knew Earl William's full name, or even if the name William was actually part of his real name; nor did anyone know his age, where he came from, or where he had obtained his title.

The name "Earl William" had become a symbol, like "Gongzi Yu"... in fact, anyone could be Gongzi Yu, as long as their ability was worthy of the title.

Therefore, one might see Earl William with different appearances in different places (such as product packaging or commercials); this was not a bug, but simply because "Earl William" was never a fixed person in the first place.

At this moment, the Earl was participating in the company's weekly internal meeting.

The main topic of this meeting was the US presidential election; since next year was an election year, the Santiago Group needed to discuss which candidate they should support.

Just as the meeting was proceeding in an orderly manner, the electronic door of the conference room suddenly opened.

In less than two seconds, all the participants stopped speaking and turned their eyes to the door... They saw an army officer in uniform striding in, sweating profusely and looking nervous, and saying, "Sorry to interrupt..." He swallowed and looked at Earl William, who was sitting furthest from him, "Sir, can I have a word?"

"No." Unexpectedly, Earl William replied almost without thinking.

After the officer froze for three seconds, Earl William added, "Colonel, you're new here, so you may not be clear about our situation." He paused, spreading his hands, "No matter how you do things in the army, when you come to Santiago, you have to follow our rules; at this moment, everyone in this room is of a higher rank than you. Therefore, you have no right to decide who you should report your information to and who you shouldn't... I have that right."

The Earl's remarks were impolite, but the domineering aura revealed in his words was irresistible and undeniable.

"Yes, sir." The man called Colonel immediately responded obediently, and then raised his voice and said, "There is an emergency. May I report it directly here?"

"Mm." Earl William nodded. "Speak."

Having received the order, the Colonel stood at attention with his standard military posture and began to speak, "About fifteen minutes ago, traces of intruders were discovered on the northern edge of 'The Jungle'. Before I came to report, the casualties of the defense forces had exceeded fifty."

As soon as these words came out, a murmur of whispers filled the conference room.

Earl William also frowned and muttered, "Intruders?" His tone was somewhat doubtful, "'The Jungle' should be an uninhabited area to the north, right? We have satellites monitoring it 24 hours a day, and radar, anti-aircraft guns, and minefields are all well-deployed. What kind of transportation did the invading forces use to get through?"

"Uh..." The Colonel hesitated for a moment. "Sir, there is no 'force'."

"What do you mean?" Earl William asked, already vaguely guessing the answer in his heart.

"According to the video footage sent back from the front and the reports from the soldiers..." The Colonel replied, "There is only one intruder."

"But you just said that your casualties have exceeded fifty." William continued.

"Yes..." The Colonel said, "It was all done by that one person."

Hearing this, the people around the conference table became even more restless, and the whispers gradually turned into a noisy buzz.

"Silence!" Seeing this, Earl William shouted sternly.

Before his voice faded, the entire conference room was silent again.

"Hmph... Making a fuss over nothing." After confirming the situation, Earl William's reaction was surprisingly calm. "It seems... we've encountered a 'super soldier'." As he spoke, he turned his head and glanced at a man sitting on his right, "Captain Tousen, what do you think?"

Captain Tousen was a black man with free-flowing dreadlocks, wearing a white suit, black trousers, a black tie, and glasses.

After being asked by the Earl, Captain Tousen pondered for a few seconds, and then replied in Chinese with an accent that seemed to be imitating Westerners... "It's probably the Japanese again, they have repeatedly used diplomatic means to try to get the import rights for Jin Ke La, but they have all failed; last year, the mercenary team that was airdropped into 'The Jungle', although they were either killed or took poison when they were captured, but from some clues... it is very likely that they were sent by the Japanese to steal our secrets." He paused for half a second and continued, "According to my speculation, this so-called 'super soldier' is likely to be a new method they have developed."

"Mm..." Earl William listened, pondered for a moment, and then said, "No matter who sent this 'intruder', the fact is that he has single-handedly killed fifty of our special forces guards..." As he spoke, he glanced at the men and women around the conference table, "If we leave him alone... although we can easily take care of him when he gets near the headquarters, we may lose more soldiers ambushed in 'The Jungle'; if the president and the military use this to pressure us afterward, we might have to compensate them with a few more bags of Jin Ke La... that wouldn't be good."

He said these words in front of the Colonel... a member of the "US military"... but no one seemed to think there was anything inappropriate about it.

"Wei Sen." At this moment, a man suddenly stood up from the conference table, speaking in Cantonese, and volunteered, "Since this is a matter of security, I, Liang Feifan, the Minister of the Security Department, naturally cannot sit idly by. I think... why don't I personally lead the team and dispatch the 'Four Great Constables' to capture the intruder alive."

"Hmph..." Before Earl William could respond, a person next to Liang Feifan snorted coldly and replied in Cantonese, "With the Four Great Constables taking action, you can just lie there and do nothing. In the end, they'll be the ones doing the work while you take the credit?"

"Liu Xing! What are you talking about? It's not your place, as the Deputy Minister, to interrupt when I, the Minister, am speaking." Liang Feifan was very respectful when facing Earl William, but when he turned to look at Liu Xing, he had a different face.

"What's wrong? Did I hit a nerve and now you're angry?" Liu Xing didn't show any weakness, and also slammed the table and stood up, confronting Liang Feifan head-on.

"Try saying that again?" Liang Feifan said, glaring and blowing his beard.

"Say it? I'll say it." Liu Xing also responded with bulging veins, "Eat shit, Liang Feifan!"

"You!" Liang Feifan's reaction was interesting, "...Again?" It seemed that he had heard this line more than once...

"What's wrong? Can't hear me?" Liu Xing was especially energetic, "If you can't hear me, I'll say it again! If you still can't hear me, I'll keep saying it! I'll say it until you hear it! Eat shit, Liang Feifan!"

The two of them glared at each other, trading insults back and forth, completely ignoring the gazes of the people around them.

And the people around them seemed to be used to this kind of scene, some rolling their eyes, some looking around, anyway, they all had an attitude of being accustomed to it and not wanting to get involved.

"Alright... that's enough..." After the two argued for a full five minutes, Earl William finally spoke up, acting as a peacemaker, "You two... don't argue anymore, why don't you just go together; the 'Four Great Constables' should not be mobilized for the time being... anyway, with your combined skills and cultivation, dealing with one intruder should be more than enough."

Since the Earl had spoken, the two couldn't say much more, and the Earl's suggestion was relatively fair.

And so, in the face of the mysterious intruder's attack, the first two "assassins" dispatched by "Santiago"... set off.

At this time, almost everyone felt that Liang and Liu could easily solve the intruder, except for one person sitting on Earl William's left... a young white man dressed the same as Captain Tousen, who was pondering something with a solemn expression.