Hochman had been invited to the after-party of the Asia Financial Summit. The cruise was sponsored by a financial tycoon in Asia. Hochman had always participated various financial gatherings on behalf of his family. As the first heir to his family’s properties, he was very famous among the beautiful young ladies in the party. He was handsome, talented and rich, so he could be considered as the model example of a bachelor.
Many ladies were willing to get to know him, and there were also quite a number of business tycoons who wanted to get on good terms with him. Even though this was a business gathering in Asia, Hochman did not need to reveal his identity as a member of the Holy Fist Palace; the status of his family alone could already be counted as the very best. Only a handful of people were able to compare their status with him.
While he casually chatted with the two ladies, Hochman slightly diverted part of his attention to the news coming from his earphone.
Asia was not only the place where the seventh mask is located; according to the news, it was also where the eighth and ninth masks were located. After putting in a lot of hard work and using all sorts of connections, Hochman found a sea which might be where the two masks were located. He quickly made use of the manpower in his family and began a large-scale search in the seashore vicinity.
In the world of ordinary people, Hochman was just the first heir to the American business family and the top student of a famous university. Even though he did well in the supernatural world and had a reputation of an upper-class member of the Holy Fist Palace, to ordinary people, even some powerful business tycoons were unlikely to reach the same level as him.
After all, there were too few supernatural beings. There were not more than ten thousand of them in the United States, including witches. It was worse in Europe since there were only a small number of blood breeds to begin with, and witches were restricted regionally as they could not leave their ancestral homes without their powers being greatly reduced.
As for those hidden top martial arts experts, if they weren’t madmen who pursued martial arts to an extreme, it would be impossible for them to surpass the limits of the human body, and there was an even lower chance of them wasting time on fighting.
This resulted from the fact that only less than 90 percent of the world’s population knew about the supernatural circle. It could be because most people felt that it was too complicated, but they mostly avoided it out of fear. Only upper-class humans with great influences could truly enter the circle.
Usually, most of the mysterious incidents around the world were started by this circle. But since most people were too afraid to face it, with the witches’ memory-erasing abilities and the blood breeds’ human-control abilities, after erasing their memories, the blood breeds and humans had even fewer interactions.
Whenever Hochman thought about it, he would have a sense of being isolated from the world. Just a moment ago, he had still been running errands for the Holy Fist Palace and had been worried about being attacked by the blood breeds. But now, it seemed as though he had returned to his carefree life as an ordinary human.
Beauty women, wine, good food, gambling, drugs, orgies, surfing, bungee jumping, illegal boxing, keeping various extremely dangerous pets just for show, et cetera, there were all sorts of exciting events that he got to do whatever he wanted.
This was the life that he’d once lived. It was a meaningless and corrupted life; all he did was enjoy.
But now.
Hochman stretched out his right hand and gently gripped it. He felt a truly rich and strong force circulating continuously within his body.
“This is what I wanted….”
He continued chatting with the two ladies with a straight face as though nothing happened. Occasionally, he could feel the envious gazes of the people around him, and also people pointing at him to introduce him to their children.
“I heard that Mr. Hochman has visited the Kato Businesses, can I know what do you think about my father’s company?” a girl in a red dress said while she walked towards him from the other side. The girl had a cool look on her face with a hint of arrogance. Her black curly hair was scattered around her shoulders, and she wore an exquisite diamond necklace around her fair neck.
Hochman looked at her carefully and immediately recognized her identity.
The elder daughter of Kato Businesses. Kato Businesses was a world-class financial group, and it was a highly-ranked company, not just in Asia but around the world, which could be compared to the huge companies such as the Primary Colors and Rexott. They had many crossover industrial businesses and countless properties.
He did not expect that someone of such high rank would participate in the Asia Summit Gathering, and he was a little surprised. Muneteru Riko’s identity was even more dazzling than his family’s. He did not see her just now, so she might have just boarded the cruise, or she stayed in her room all this time.
Hochman pondered on how to answer her question.
“Oh, it’s Ms. Muneteru Riko. Kato Businesses did leave a great impression; specifically, how distinct the hierarchy management was. There was a lot for me to learn from the visit.”
When the other two women heard the girl’s identity, they were surprised and sensibly left, leaving the two of them to talk at the side of the cruise.
“It seems like Mr. Hochman has a good impression of my father’s company. Maybe we will have the opportunity to work together,” Muneteru Riko smiled and said.
“What do you mean?” Hochman frowned slightly.
Muneteru Riko looked at the man standing in front of her, handsome, confident, and strong yet dangerous. Even though she was a black belt in karate, before this man, she still felt a strange sense of danger, as though she was standing before a fierce beast.
Rumors had it that Hochman had once killed a polar bear with his bare hands. It seemed like the information was indeed true.
After she calmed down, Muneteru Riko admired Hochman even more, if she could choose her marriage partner, she was willing to choose the man standing before her who was stronger than her.
“I heard that you are looking for an ancient mask that was lost in this area?” Riko asked softly. “About the search, my family might be able to help you in with the marine ships, and of course, manpower will not a problem.”
“Oh?” Hochman raised an eyebrow. Everyone in the Holy Fist Palace knew that Garen was looking for the Sleepless Faces mask, and everyone was using their connections to look for the mask. Under such situation, he could only rely on his own strength to search for it, since it is said that whoever found the mask would be rewarded personally by the Holy Fist Palace. At the very least, the reward would be an increase in lifespan and strengthening of physique.
He heard that Dahm had been rewarded previously, and his originally wounded skin had recovered in a very short period of time. His skin became even more delicate and fair, and after examining his skin with medical devices, he discovered that his physical function was much stronger than before. Also, he estimated that his maximum lifespan had been extended by ten years, which meant that he got to live ten years longer.
Many people who suffered from a chronic disease were interested, as their illnesses would be healed and their bodies would be strengthened. In addition to that, they got to be trained personally by the Holy Fist Palace, which was why many people who seek power were interested too.
Therefore, there were a lot more people searching for the masks.
“What do you mean?” Hochman knew that it was impossible for her to ask nothing in return.
“We hope to get your support in the North American businesses,” Muneteru Riko answered very honestly.
Hochman understood what she meant, as he’d heard that Kato Businesses was being attacked by a secret group in North America and so they were unable to successfully establish their business there.
“I can think about it, but my family…” before he could finish his sentence, there was an abrupt report coming from his earphone.
“We found it!! The two masks!! Hahaha! The twenty million bonus is ours!! Ah!!!” before they could finish cheering, he heard rounds of panicked screams.
“What monster is that!!?”
“Shoot! Shoot!! No!!”
Along with a ‘crack’ sound, he heard cracking sounds coming from the other side of the phone; apparently, their communication equipment was being crushed.
Hochman had a heavy look on his face. The blood breeds have made a move…
“Mr. Hochman?” Muneteru Riko who was standing in front of him reached out her hand and waved.
“Marshall, we were attacked by the blood breeds, and they coming after you! Be careful!!” an anxious voice from another channel was heard. U.p..dated by novelfull.Com
“Understood, do you know how strong they are?” Hochman raised his hand and give Muneteru Riko a sign to wait.
“The detector indicates upper-class Blood Breeds! There are at least two of them!!” the one who was on the other side of the phone suddenly lowered his voice, probably because he was afraid that the Blood Breeds might hear him.
“Quick! Get on the boat!”
Hochman had a gloomy look on his face, and there were traces of extremely dangerous vibes radiating from his body.
“It seems like the Blood Breeds were fully prepared…. Don’t worry about me, retreat first. I will come later.”
“Understood!” then he disconnected.
Hochman worked out a kink in his neck as he looked at Ms. Muneteru Riko, who had a puzzled look on her face. He had spoken in German just now instead of standard international conversational English, therefore, she could not understand at all.
“Are you in a hurry?” Muneteru Riko asked curiously. “Do you need my help?”
“Hochman, you will not be able to escape today…”
Suddenly, a loud male voice reverberated on top of the cruise.
A fiery red shadow suddenly appeared on top of the cruise ship. It was a red-haired man with strong muscles all over his body. He was wearing a red leather coat, sunglasses even though it was at night, and had his hair styled into a flashy mohawk.
He jumped down from tens of meters of height.
Thump!!
The deck of the cruise was very sturdy; surprisingly, there was no indentation at all.
The man stood up, waved with his right hand and gathered crimson-colored flames into a long red sword. There were numerous mystical symbols on the sword.
“Sword of Daybreak!” he whispered.
In an instant, under the stunned gazes of the guests and their bodyguards, the red sword suddenly burst into a large red flame. Then, it morphed into a curvaceous flame woman figure and was launched towards Hochman at lightning speed.
At the same time, in the shadows behind Hochman, a black female shadow slowly appeared.
“Blood breeds’ holy weapon….?” Hochman took a step back, stretched his right hand out and gathered invisible air-currents in his palm. As his hair moved around constantly, his eyes vaguely turned black.
Under the illumination of the flame, the shadow behind Hochman suddenly became distorted and turned into a giant black shadow dragon which surrounded him silently.
Muneteru Riko took a few steps back from the suffocating air-current and fiery flames, frightened, and sat down on the ground. She raised her hands and covered herself while she stared blankly at what was happening right before her eyes. Everything had happened in a way that she was unable to understand, and she had goose bumps all over her body. She was feeling dangerous cold-induced tremors; despite the intense heat from the flames, all she felt were chills.