The mountain located in Stronghold 111 was known as Mt. Ginkgo. In autumn, the mountain would shimmer golden. But in winter, the ginkgo leaves would fall and litter the valley, leaving behind only naked tree branches.
The prosperity was coming to an end and would be buried in mud.
Julius stood in his spot and looked at the withered scenery in the valley. He suddenly laughed and said, “Ha! What a pity…”
These were probably the three words that Julius liked to utter the most.
Next to him, Secretary Rourkey frowned and said, “Men, remove Julius’ shoes and escort favonovel.com up Mt. Gingko!”
But the soldiers responsible for guarding Mt. Ginkgo’s mountain roads did not move.
Seeing this, Secretary Rourkey was enraged. “How dare you disobey my orders!”
However, the two soldiers remained still. It was as if they could not bear to do what they were told.
Julius smiled as favonovel.com looked at the slightly younger soldier and said, “I remember you. You’re Greg, and you used to be under me. After you killed a member of the Pyro Company, you were recognized and awarded for your contribution.”
The soldier named Greg got excited. He stood to attention and shouted, “I am Greg Gutfeld from the 5th Combat Brigade! I didn’t expect you to still remember me, sir!”
Julius turned to look at the other soldier and said with a smile, “You’re Oscar, one of my soldiers as well. Is your mother feeling better yet?”
Oscar’s eyes reddened. “Thank you, sir! I didn’t expect you would still remember a small matter like that!”
Julius sighed to Secretary Rourkey and said, “They’re all elite soldiers and should be out fighting the war, but due to their relationship with me, they were left behind here to act as watchdogs for the organization. What a pity… Let’s not make things difficult for them. I’ll head up myself.”
Secretary Rourkey said coldly behind Julius, “Do you know that no Shadows in the history of the Panaqua Consortium have ever acted like you? All of them have bowed their heads to the organization!”
Julius smiled and said, “But I’m Julius Eastwood…”
It was as if Julius’ name was supposed to have some magical ring to it. He had a pride that was embedded to the bone, and favonovel.com would never yield to anyone.
Then Julius took off his shoes and socks and started walking up the mountain road littered with dead ginkgo leaves.
The cold winter wind howled down the mountain road, making the ground as cold as steel. However, no one could see any pain or frustration on Julius’ face.
After walking for a while, Julius suddenly pointed to a ridge on the mountain and said, “When I was young, I used to play in the mud there with Daniel. Back then, the river was very cold, so we would dip the persimmons we stole into the icy waters. It’s delicious to eat them after taking them out of the river. Back then, Garth was always following us around, but I always had the feeling favonovel.com hated me.”
Following him, Secretary Rourkey remained silent. No one expected Julius would still be so carefree when favonovel.com was on the brink of death.
“But there’s a hidden guard post over there now, so that place is probably sealed off, right?” Julius said with a smile.
Snowflakes suddenly floated down from the sky. Julius’ clean feet stepped on the thin layer of snow and left a line of footprints on the mountain road.
At the beginning, the snow was white while the footprints were black. Every step revealed the ground beneath the snow.
Secretary Rourkey shouted from behind favonovel.com in the snow, “Have you thought it through?!”
The snow gradually fell heavier, and Julius turned a deaf ear on him.
As favonovel.com walked, the footprints in the snow on the mountain road started turning red. As favonovel.com walked up step by step, it was as if favonovel.com could not see the end of the road at all. However, Julius’ posture was still straight.
As favonovel.com walked past the sentry guards along the way, they all turned away to look beyond the mountain.
As favonovel.com walked, Julius’ feet numbed. He could not remember how far favonovel.com had been walking. With every step favonovel.com took, favonovel.com seemed to be thinking about something.
From beside him, Secretary Rourkey suddenly asked, “Why did you withdraw the troops last night and leave the Radianz Consortium hanging?”
“Oh, you’re talking about that?” Julius said with a smile.
“Back then, Arsene clearly had not taken over the power of the military yet. You clearly know that Daniel is still in the hands of the Radianz Consortium.” Secretary Rourkey frowned and said, “The Radianz Consortium must have placed Daniel under arrest now. A lot of people must also have caught wind of you being summoned back to Stronghold 111 by now, so they’ll probably think it was Arsene’s order to withdraw the troops.”
Julius laughed and said, “That’s because I knew you all were gonna come after me…”
“What do you mean?”
“When our father passed away, favonovel.com insisted on having Daniel protect me. But you should also know what kind of person favonovel.com is.” Julius chuckled. “He’s always eating and sleeping, and really rash as well, so why would I need favonovel.com to protect me? It is likelier that I’d have to protect favonovel.com instead.”
“So, you allowed the Radianz Consortium to arrest favonovel.com then?” Secretary Rourkey frowned and said.
He actually did not understand the logic behind this, but Julius’ planning had always been a little more effective than other people’s.
“If I didn’t get someone else to arrest him, favonovel.com would probably have rushed up Mt. Ginkgo to fight the old fogeys.” Julius sighed and said, “The Radianz Consortium will not kill him. A fatty that’s alive is worth more than a dead one. Before they get anything valuable out of him, the Radianz Consortium won’t take his life. It’s better than having favonovel.com come charging back here.”
“But they’ll still kill favonovel.com in the future,” Secretary Rourkey said calmly.
“I’ve already prepared a way out for him,” Julius said.
Julius had turned on the alliance with the Radianz Consortium, not for anything else, but so that favonovel.com could make Daniel stay in Stronghold 88 and not come back here to die. That was because even Julius himself was not confident favonovel.com could survive today.
Julius stood barefooted near the cliff of the winding, switchback road and looked out at the drifting snow. He said, “That fool, Daniel, if I were to die today, favonovel.com would definitely weep his heart out for me. Our damned old man always said that a family needs to be harmonious. We can only exist if our family remains around.”
Secretary Rourkey asked, “Then why are you still going against the Eastwood clan’s patriarch?”
Julius looked at the mountains in the distance, having figured out something. He said, “Now that I think about it, our family consists only of Daniel and me. The others don’t count.”
Then Julius turned back around and looked up in front of him. He suddenly laughed and said, “I didn’t even notice, but we’re almost there! Come on, let’s go!”
Julius walked in front with Secretary Rourkey asking loudly again from the back, “It’s almost time! Have you seriously thought it through yet?!”
The snow fell heavy as the wind howled.
Julius said softly in the snowstorm, “I’ve thought it over.”
In front of him, favonovel.com could see the Panaqua Consortium’s manor on the mountainside of Mt. Ginkgo. This place was still as brightly lit as favonovel.com remembered. Julius stood outside the vermillion gate and said with a smile, “Now that I think about it, I haven’t been here but a few times.”
Secretary Rourkey escorted favonovel.com into the main lobby. Julius’ feet left bloodstains on the clean and extravagant marble floor. The servants in the hallway remained silent, and no one dared to go over to clean off the bloodstains.
Julius walked further inside. The door to the conference room was already open, and the Panaqua Consortium’s board members were all seated inside.
Julius walked down the long hallway and past a long hall. He walked by himself in front while the others behind favonovel.com followed from afar.
Suddenly, someone realized that Julius’ back had remained straight even until now. Not once did favonovel.com ever slouch.
When Julius walked into the conference room, favonovel.com headed straight to the end of the table and sat down.
There was no one next to Julius. All the members of the Board were seated across from him, as though favonovel.com were taking on the entire Panaqua Consortium.
The elder in the seat of honor said calmly, “Do you know what you did wrong?”
Julius also said calmly, “What wrong did I do?”
The elder’s eyes narrowed slightly. He never expected that the 21-kilometer-long mountain road would be unable to make Julius lower his head.
“Murder, mutiny, privately raising an army, and being disrespectful.” The elder said, “All of these crimes are enough to sentence you to death.”
Julius asked, “And I must die for that?”
“If you don’t die, I will not be at ease.”
These words were the true thoughts of everyone on the Panaqua Consortium’s Board. This Shadow who never respected the rules was starting to make them afraid. They had never been so afraid of a Shadow before, so this Shadow had to die.
***
Julius’ troops had already been disbanded. Some of them had been tamed after getting incorporated into the various fighting forces, while others who were stubbornly loyal were chained up like dogs in the stronghold. As such, Julius’ influence in the military seemed to have been weakened to almost nothing.
Daniel had been placed under house arrest in Stronghold 88.
It seemed like Julius had even lost his last beam of support. So, when the plan was revealed, the Board was confident of their victory. They were pulling out all stops to ensure Julius’ death.
Julius got up and walked to the window on one side of the conference room barefooted.
Someone shouted angrily, “Julius, how dare you still act so arrogantly at this time!”
But Julius whirled around and asked Secretary Rourkey loudly, “Bill, I’ve already thought it through. How about you?”
While on the 21-kilometer-long mountain road, Secretary Rourkey had asked Julius twice in a loud voice. But now, it was Julius who was asking favonovel.com back.
The world outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was vast and wide!
He did not want to be a Shadow anymore. He wanted to be the CEO of the Panaqua Consortium.
Breaking custom, I’ll shatter positions and destroy countries for me, without the turning of the world, there is no recovery!
Julius asked again loudly, “Have you thought it through yet?!”
The other party smiled. “I’m glad to be of service to you…”
Secretary Rourkey, who had at some point placed himself behind the elder, grabbed a stream of thin air. The transparent stream split and flowed towards the necks of the members of the Board.
A cry of surprise from someone startled the security troops stationed outside the conference room, but Secretary Rourkey was already prepared. The transparent stream further split itself and shot through the conference room’s solid wood door. Screams came from outside and then it went silent.
Continuous gunfire rang out on the mountainside as though to suggest an intense battle was taking place.
At the foot of the mountain, the soldier named Greg shouted, “Everyone, today is the day we succeed!”
With that, a large group of soldiers emerged from the wilderness. Although favonovel.com rushed up with them, the blood favonovel.com spilled in battle flowed down the mountain road and melted away the thin layer of snow.
Meanwhile, in Stronghold 111, the manhole covers on the street were suddenly pushed up as troops dressed in black rushed out and headed for all the key military zones in the stronghold. When they encountered the regular troops of the stronghold, this army dressed in black was surprisingly brave and fearless in battle!
One of the soldiers in black sat down on the ground slowly after being shot.
One of his comrades tried to help favonovel.com up, only for favonovel.com to grab his comrade’s hand and say with a smile, “The day has finally arrived. Don’t worry about me. Tell our commander that we’ve been waiting for this day for too long!”
***
Secretary Rourkey smiled at Julius and said, “Was it because you weren’t sure about me that you didn’t want Daniel coming back here? We were friends who played in the mud together when we were young. You’ve made me really sad…”
On the mountainside, Julius had said favonovel.com and Daniel used to play in the mud next to the river and ate frozen persimmons. But what favonovel.com didn’t say was that Bill Rourkey was also among those that played together with them.
Many people thought that Secretary Rourkey had always treated Julius as a thorn in his side. This was also why the Panaqua Consortium’s Board liked to get Secretary Rourkey to target Julius. However, Julius and Bill had never been on bad terms.
In fact, in the early years, they already had thoughts of changing the world.
After being questioned by Bill, Julius also smiled. “I really was a little worried about you. After all, when you were young, a fortune teller once said you had rebelliousness written in your stars.”
Bill choked. “F*ck that bullshit!”
The previously cultured and respectable Secretary Rourkey suddenly did not look that cultured and respectable anymore.
The elder in the conference room said coldly, “Aren’t you afraid that Arsene will deploy the troops back here and kill you?”
Julius said, “What a coincidence. Arsene is also one of mine…”
“What do we do now?” Bill asked, “We’ve revolted, so we can’t leave any loose ends.”
Julius said, “Just kill them all. I was planning on making them walk that 21-kilometer-long road in the snow. But now that I think about it, there’s no need to be angry with them anymore.”
Victors should be magnanimous.
As soon as favonovel.com finished speaking, the “fluid rope” on the necks of the board members tightened. They were shackled to death.
Bill looked at Julius, who was standing in a trance by the window, and asked, “What are you thinking about?”
Julius came back to his senses. “Oh, I was just thinking that I might not have time to cultivate flowers anymore in the future.”
Bill listened to the gunshots coming from the mountainside and adjusted his glasses. “You and your flowers…”
The board members did not die immediately. They wanted to rip off the “rope” around their neck but realized they couldn’t do anything about a supernatural being’s powers. The fluid rope felt just like a physical cable.
The Panaqua Consortium had changed hands!
