Intimidation

... he looked at the Golden River, a permanent reminder of his wish.

Bian sent the document to Ouyang Ming who then sent it to Fang Mingquan. He still had some time before his departure.

Florence and Zack came around.

"Hey, if you're not too busy, do you mind teaching us how to remix songs." They made a simple request.

Bian happily obliged, he spent the rest of the travel perfecting their skills in the mashup and even reverberation of songs.

...

Fang Mingquan just got off a phone call, although much wasn't to be expected from the divinity bout, he still made preparations to broadcast it.

"What's this? A new message" he saw a message from an anonymous number, 'how did they get my number' he wondered.

Thankfully there was no such thing as virus or exploding email in the alliance. He opened the file to find only one document, he clicked on the document.

King Midas and the golden touch.

Fang Mingquan was a bit intrigued by this title, 'does golden touch have to do with the super diamond body?' Super diamond body gave an evolver indomitable skin with a golden hue.

He read the story of King Midas, here is the summary. There once lived a king who believed that wealth was the key to happiness.

One day, he helped a drunken old man, who turned out to be a god in disguise. As a reward, Midas was granted a wish. Greedily, he wished for the power to turn everything he touched into gold.

At first, King Midas was ecstatic with his newfound ability. He turned common objects into gleaming gold, amassing a great fortune. But his joy was short-lived.

He soon realized that at his touch, food and drinks became inedible metal, even his beloved daughter turned to lifeless gold. He was devastated.

In desperation, he prayed to the god to take back his golden touch. He was granted amnesty and washed his hands in a nearby river to rid himself of the power.

King Midas was overjoyed when he returned home as everything he turned to gold, including his beloved daughter had turned back to normal.

"Oh my!" Fang Mingquan put a hand over his chest, how touching. He was quick to upload the story, his loyal followers and fans were in for a treat.

…

Bian disembarked from the space ship, manager Bo was already waiting for him.

"You need to careful with these guys, they're worse than sharks." Manager Bo had been speaking with them, trying to delay the inevitable. There was a reason why all the talented people in the alliance have ties to the three major families.

"Don't worry, I'm not too much of a pushover." Bian reassured manager Bo, he wasn't the same person who could be so easily deceived or coerced.

Manager Bo led Bian to a high profile skyscraper. Right from the onset, he had to deal with excessive security passages. Biometrics had become unusable as peoples genes changed constantly, instead strength reigned supreme.

Surpassers were all around the building, it was impossible for evolvers like Bian and Bo to try anything funny, heck even surpassers would be discouraged by the numbers present here, even though they were less than ten.

Bian and Manager Bo were separated, Bian was led to a conference like room. There was a large semi-circular table where Bian sat in the middle. It reminded him of an interview of sorts.

"Bian Manwei, you're a hard man to get a hold off" All three persons wore suits, the man who spoke had a brown beard and blue eyes. They knew of Bian but weren't so keen on introducing themselves.

"I have been busy in the sanctuaries. To whom do I owe the pleasure?" Although Bian knew they were from the Ji, Wang and Lin. He didn't know their names or who was from where.

"Be quiet! We are the ones who will speak." Another man in a business suit said harshly, he had black hair, black eyes and a nice mustache.

"Only talk when you are spoken too" The first man said.

The final man in the room had black hair and no other discernable facial features. These three middle-aged men didn't slack off, they were all evolvers with good fitness. The final man signaled for a guard to come in.

"If he speaks out of line or doesn't answer a question" The man didn't finish his sentence but the guard understood, the guard was a surpasser.

"Don't you think monopolizing of any resource even if it's music is despicable, since you enjoy the sanctuaries so much I won't waste your time.

From now on, you will hand over the lyrics to all your songs, you can keep the money you've acquired, and we will even send you some percentage from the new songs we will produce."

"I've always had–" Bian couldn't finish his words as the guard disappeared from where he was and pinned Bian to the table. The table was made of a really durable material, as it only creaked a little while Bian was in pain.

"I don't think this is how diplomacy-"

Bang!

The table broke into pieces and Bian was now pinned on the floor, His resistance proved futile as though he was going against a mountain.

"Don't say anything unnecessary, I will bring the documents now. Be happy, not everyone has the opportunity to gain our trust."

Although the man with brown hair and blue eyes didn't agree with these methods, they had other matters to attend to.

Intimidation was the best way to handle people who had achieved success. They would have handled the matter differently if Bian had a good sponsor, or if they had known about him earlier on.

The document was placed in front of Bian. He thought to himself, 'and I just told Bo, I wouldn't be a pushover, yet they pushed me over, literally'

The guard got off him, Bian stood up and looked them in the eye. They couldn't kill him in the alliance, after all he had some reputation with the saints hall.

"No" Bian didn't yell, but he said the word clearly. The guard gave him a slap, his cheeks had turned red.

"Why don't you say that again; I don't think I heard you" The guard said with a grin.

'I am going to kill you' Bian made a promise to return this favour, "I said no" He looked at the guard with a straight face.

The guard was furious, he raised his arm up, ready to give Bian a solid punch.

Bang!

The door swung open furiously, a gust of ice surrounded the guards arm and shattered it to pieces. He couldn't even scream as the cold energy travel through his system haphazardly.

He was like a frozen chicken, even a new suppressor could kill him in this state. The man responsible for his state stepped through the door calmly, with a young man behind him.

"Are you having an audition without me?" Demigod Xue released some of his aura mixed with a tinge of killing intent. The three men in the room, felt their legs go soft.

Xue Wen walked behind demigod Xue, he went to Bian to check up on him. Naturally, demigod Xue controlled his aura to avoid Bian and Xue Wen.

"Looks like you've been doing well, a bit too well" Xue Wen greeted Bian, he hadn't seen him since they graduated.

"Yeah, you're not doing too bad yourself" Bian responded to which Xue Wen chuckled.

"Bian Manwei is a sworn friend of the Xue family, you lay a finger on him, and we won't be too polite" Demigod Xue said his piece and retracted his aura lest the three die of suffocation.

"Of course, we are sorry for overstepping our boundaries" The man with the mustache said, his back was drenched in cold sweat. The other two weren't doing so well themselves.

Although they didn't want to appear inferior to the Xue family, the situation was special. If they had known that the Xue family was supporting Bian, they wouldn't have touched him even if they were paid.

Demigod Xue could say that they started a conflict by mistreating Bian and he would be right. They hoped the situation wouldn't escalate past this room.

"You know what to do to this fool" The demigod while looking at the guard said before leaving, Xue Wen said goodbye to Bian before he followed suit.

"Meng Chao! How dare you offend the Xue family, you're fired."

"Get lost!"

The security guard, Meng Chao, had been battling the ice energy raging within him, immediately he heard their words, he vomited blood.

Bian was left dumbfounded by the sudden change of events. 'How the turn tables' With this circus conclusion, he saw himself out.

He hadn't left the building when Meng Chao came running after him with only one arm.

"This is all your fault!" He cried out before setting himself ablaze and rushing towards Bian.

"How?" The lightning rune surfaced in Bian's mind, time seemed to slow to a crawl. Meng Chao had been severely injured, his battle powers had dropped significantly to almost nothing.

'I wish I had a weapon" Bian said to himself, he used inertia against Meng Chao.

Since Meng Chao thought he could easily kill Bian, he flew straight at him. Bian who had practiced ghosthaunt, jumped in the air.

He held onto Meng Chao's head and twisted it. The inertia of his body snapped his neck which had been severely weekend by the ice.

He couldn't be any more dead. The security guards showed up after the case was settled, shocked by the dead body of a surpasser on the floor.

Bian didn't give them a second glance before he left.