“Haa,” Alex sighed inwardly.

In the past few hours everyone except for the man in front of him had proven utterly useless.

The former buff with shades, now all covered in sweat, looked pathetically weak.

However, this man was surprisingly strong-willed.

“Keke- ge-”, the man coughed violently.

After a few rounds with the needle, the man had taken his charges place in the slime.

All the man’s subordinates had long since begged for mercy and swiftly received their end; and his charge was ready to bark and lick his shoes like a dog as soon as he’d recovered from Alei’s ‘nether-regions-growth’ program.

Observing the man cough, Alex finally asked,
“How did he earn such loyalty from you?”

A look of reminiscence flashed through the man’s eyes and for the first time he responded to a question by Alex:

“His grandfather raised me like a son.”

Seeing Alei’s lack of reaction, he sighed and added,

“You already knew that. It seems we kicked an iron plate.”

Indeed, Alex had found time to skim his file.

“Can you truly not reconsider letting my Young Master go this time?”

Alex smiled devilishly for effect, then answered,

“Hehe, as things are now if I let him go, will he not soon come to bother me again?”

In response, the man could only smile sadly; despite wishing for the opposite, he could not guarantee otherwise.

 

If Jonson’s father, the Mei ambassador received his son back in this state, even though the kid responsible likely had a great background, he would be unlikely to let matters rest.

As was not uncommon in Mei Country, he valued his family even above his country.

Although he was an ambassador, he would not hesitate to use his position and the backing of his country to avenge his son’s grievances.

Would this kid’s backing still stand for him when the enemy was a country?

Even if they wanted to, would their country allow them to do so?

While Central Country was very protective of their own, and it was Mei Country’s person who made the first move, the kid had not stopped where he should; torturing the ambassador’s son like this was more than crossing his bottom line.

Would Central still protect him knowing this?

Perhaps, Central was stronger than Mei Country, so they could not be forced to back down; but would they go his far for a kid?

Such were the thoughts of the man.

 

As if he had seen the man’s train of thought arriving at the station, Alex, with a smile, chose this moment to speak:
“Then you know the answer to your question.”

This conversation was actually quite meaningful to him,

“Seeing that he has finally started conversing with me, this should be a critical point.

“He is exhausted in both body and mind, sincerely looking for a way out of this,” Alex thought.

While he had deemed the rest useless, he wanted to make this one his subordinate.

Subordinates were an important lifeline for Organization members:

While as a high-level member, Alex could easily commandeer subordinates of lower levels or request them from his boss, loyalty was an important factor to consider when recruiting key members to build his circle.

Even though true loyalty was usually the result of long-term efforts, a certain base character and strength of will were very beneficial.

The man in front of him possessed both.

“Unfortunately, he is a bit slow. Since he is not outright stupid, I should be able to speed him up a little…”

 

The man, who all the while had been beating his brains out to make a decision, unaware of Alex’ considerations, finally gritted his teeth and decided:

“Ki- ahem, Young Sir, perhaps I can help you resolve this. My Young Master’s father is not unreasonable…”

“And why would I consider that when, as things stand, I am set to solve this without trouble?” Alex interrupted.

The man had expected such a response, albeit perhaps not in such a swift manner,

“With the power of Mei Country, can you be sure his father will never find out?

“You must be influential in Central, but would your country be willing to start a war for you?”

“Ho? Will Mei Country be willing to start a war over their ambassador’s son?”

“That may indeed not be; but if not public, his father will pursue this privately, are you certain you can protect yourself then?”

“Yes.”

Not expecting such confidence, the man was taken aback for a moment, before continuing,

“You are now, but can you say the same in twenty, thirty years?”

“He was slow earlier, but it seems this man is not too bad at talking,” Alex thought with a grin.

Still grinning, he once more responded with a swift “Yes.”

Confused, the man asked,

“You seem very sure. May I ask where you take your confidence from?”

Alex chuckled.

“It is quite simple. If he is dead, he will not come back to haunt me.”

“Dead?”

The man did not immediately understand his meaning.

Alex closely watched the man’s amusing facial expressions as it slowly dawned on him.

“You… you…”

“Now you sound a bit similar to your Young Master, haha.”

“You plan to kill the ambassador?” the man finally managed to say, shacking of his surprise.

“Yes, why not?”

Now the man seemed truly lost for words*.

Finally, he recovered from his shock and said,

“If that happened, do you truly believe Mei Country would let you go?”

“Yes.”

Could nothing faze this kid? The man wondered in earnest.

 

However, he quickly adapted his approach,

“Would it not be troublesome?”

“A bit.”

“Then why take such an extreme road when there is an easier one?”

“Oh? Is there?”

“The ambassador is a reasonable man. If you let his son go alive and make an apology, …”

“An apology? I believe he should beg me, now that would be reasonable.”

The man’s face turned ugly for an instant before he recovered.

He realized that it did not seem too unreasonable; after all, his Young Master had abducted this ki- young man, planning to torture and kill him.

Resolving himself, he asked Alex:

“His father is like a brother to me; if I beg you in his stead, will you accept it?”

 

*English expression: lost for words = left speechless from wonder or surprise, in this case similar to yakowuyaen