Guardians

"Who the hell can he possibly be?" Stella was full of resentment. "This has to be a coincidence! That old fool can't possibly have anything to do with it! Who have I offended?"

"Stella, look at this video!" Luke puffed out a cloud of smoke and handed her a tablet.

There was a folder in it that contained nearly 300 videos.

Stella tapped on a random one.

A man was kneeling on the floor, holding a sign that read "I'm sorry!" He was apologizing to Himmel Soan, their foster father, in a sincere tone with tears covering his face.

Stella immediately turned it off and opened another one. It was also an apology video!

It was almost identical to the first one apart from the person holding the sign.

She turned it off and opened the third one. Yet another apology video.

She opened one video after another.

They were all apology videos!

"Where did you find all these?" Stella panicked.

"It's all over the internet, but someone anonymous sent this folder to me," said Luke.

Luna finally recovered from her trance-like state.

"Stella, Luke, do you think it's possible that the old bastard is… Can he be…"

"Can he be what?! That's not possible! Those are all paid posters! They have to be!"

Stella was astonished, but she wouldn't and couldn't believe it.

"That woman from IF Security must have hired these paid posters for that old man. That's the only explanation! She paid them off! These videos are posted online just to shift focus!"

Luke wasn't as calm as before. All his assets had been frozen, and it was a disaster for him. He wasn't in the mood of doing anything else. He flipped through the web pages and said, "More and more videos are showing up online. There are at least hundreds of thousands of them!"

"Hundreds of thousands?" Stella asked.

"That's right!" said Luke.

"It must have cost a small fortune!" said Luna. "Will that woman really go that far?"

Stella sighed and said gloomily, "Don't worry. I still have one last card."

She had another patron. He was a very famous director with a lot of connections!

She was given all the resources and opportunities because she had slept with that man. However, his request was so perverted that Stella wouldn't ask him for help unless she had no other choice.

She was chilled to the bone when she recalled the way he had tortured her. Nonetheless, that man was very well-connected!

He was her only hope!

"Hello, Director Mat. Miss me?" Stella put away her frustration and rage. She smiled obsequiously as soon as the call went through.

...

"Sir, Team 3 has arrived at the designated villa!"

"Sir, Team 4 is 300m to the north of the designated villa!"

"Sir, Team 13 is 200m to the south of the villa and hiding!"

All the teams had arrived on the scene.

"Attention! We're going inside in 30 seconds!"

Inside the villa, Hayden was examining Himmel Soan with a solemn look on his face.

Caroline asked anxiously, "How is it? How is my father doing? When will he wake up? Will he recognize us?"

One of Hayden's attendants said, "Miss Soan, please don't rush us. Chief Soan is working on it. Everything's fine until he says otherwise!"

Just then, they heard the sound of fighting outside. The door and windows were shattered, and some men dressed in traditional costumes jumped into the room.

"Who are you people?!"

Caroline wasn't easily shaken. As the president of a big security firm, she had been through enough to be affected. She was anything but weak.

"We're the Guardians! We're here to bring the Patriarch home! He's suffering here! You don't deserve him! We can't leave him here!"

"The Guardians? Yosef Soan?!"

Both Hayden and Caroline paled.

Those were some fierce men, and their sole purpose was to protect Himmel Soan, their Patriarch. They had only heard about the Guardians from Himmel before but had never seen them.

Those people had the power to overturn regimes and were one of the most mysterious forces that the Soan empire controlled.

"Where's Uncle Yosef? Let me talk to him!" said Caroline.

"After everything the Patriarch has gone through because of you people, our boss will never speak to you! Everyone who participated in it is punishable by death, including you!"

Just then, the clamor stopped, replaced by a rumbling noise as if hundreds or thousands of people were marching together.

More people were coming!

"Yosef Soan! What are you doing?!" a man marched in and shouted at the Guardians.

It was none other than James Soan, the chairman of the Martial Arts Association.

"Our boss is cleaning the house, including you! The Patriarch has been living in hell! Where have you been? You don't deserve to serve the Patriarch!"

James said, "Are you accusing us now? Where have the Guardians been all these years, then?"

One of the Guardians said, "Our headquarter is abroad, and the Patriarch wouldn't let us come back! Otherwise, he would never have lived these 30 years like that! You people are useless! There's no point in keeping you alive!"

"Shut up! If the Patriarch wants to get rid of someone, do you think you can do anything to stop it, Yosef? If you want a fight, just name a time and place! You can kill all the trash out there, but if you want to touch them…" James pointed at Caroline and Hayden. "I won't let that happen! The Patriarch forbids us from fighting one another! He'll punish you for what you're doing when he wakes up!"

"Our boss says he'll take full responsibility!" said the Guardians.

"You don't get to make the call! Let me speak to Yosef!" James shouted.

"I can speak for my boss!"

"Is that so? I'll take care of you first, then!"

Hayden suddenly shouted, "Shut up! All of you!"

Everyone quieted down and looked at Himmel Soan. He had raised his hand slightly and flicked his fingers.

Everyone paled. The Guardians, James, and Caroline all bowed in respect at once.

Hayden said, "The Patriarch hasn't recovered yet! Your shouting will only disturb him!"

"Attention! Leave the room! Don't disturb the Patriarch!"