The next day…
Tank K had been disconnected to the white room where the royal golden jiaoren sisters were being kept. At breakfast, the old janitor was found inside it, naked and banging the metal cover desperately. This of course brought confusion and fear for the servers who were about to feed Tank K's prisoner with more blendered oatmeal and bananas on a syringe.
The old janitor was shivering with only a towel around his waist as Mr. Xi assessed the situation.
"T-The prisoner just jumped at me, B-Boss! Even made me take my clothes off an' I have to put up a fight. I even got to punch his face! But he's just too powerful…"
Princess Jinzhu rolled her eyes at this and muttered under her breath in MandarinChinese. "Put up a fight… pfft."
There were no CCTV cameras to confirm this, but Mr. Xi had something better. He looked around the place, and turned to the mermaid princess.
"Any of you ladies want to tell me what happened here?" He asked in Mandarin.
The blind mermaid princess just remained slumping inside their tanks. The Eldest said spitefully. "We can't see anything. How do you expect us to know what happened?"
"Ah, but you can hear, can't you?" Mr. Xi still smiled at them despite their attitude. "How about Princess Jinzhu? Did you see how the young man was able to escape?"
Princess Jinzhu did not meet his eyes. She just kept it closed, and shook her head.
Mr. Xi knew what she was doing. "I see…. You do not wish to tell me. Did you help him?"
She spoke in Mandarin. "Ask that old man yourself, use your eyes on him."
He thought about it, and nodded. He turned to the janitor. "Can you tell me more about how you punched this powerful young man, Sir?
His eyes gleamed bright, and the janitor was lost in it for a while.
After getting the information he needed, Mr. Xi left the white room while putting on some gloves. He talked to his secretary at his side. "Who are the guests we would be meeting for today? I want to take some time to find our dear Harker Jones. I do wonder where he went off to, in such a place as Vegas. It's easy to go astray in Sin City."
"The electroshock device in his stomach is still intact so far, Sir. We may not know his location, but we know he's still alive." The secretary's long forked tongue slithered. "I'll have our connections search for him. We received emails from 8 guests today that will be scheduled to meet you at different times at the grand villa."
"List their names then. I'll decide how long I'd want to entertain these people."
The secretary went on to list various big names all over America that wants to give their regards to Mr. Xi before the birthday party. Finally, she mentioned the 8th guest…
"And we have a sudden email last night from Roland Faust that he will be arriving on his father's behalf today as well. That's all, Sir."
Mr. Xi raised his eyebrow.
"My godson is coming too?"
-----------------------------
Roland waited in the lobby of the grand villa. The real party room was upstairs on the rooftop, with an infinity pool to boot. It can accommodate hundreds of people at once.
He was not easily impressed. He had seen better places. But he did pay attention to every detail more than he usually does.
These men in suits…. Women with their clacking heels….. They may or may not be human.
Harker had told him that he needed to get the DNA sample of Mr. Xi besides providing some distraction. If he couldn't, Plan B would be to get a DNA sample of a snake demon like him. He had given the signs: unnatural colored eyes, hiding scales with clothing, too wide lips and stretchy smiles.
But that was still not a 100% deciding factor. Colored eyes could be due to contact lenses. It was springtime and they're in a formal setting, so layered clothing is the norm. So all that was left was the lips, but humans can have wide and stretchy lips too.
His observations were interrupted when the receptionist told him that Mr. Xi would now be meeting on the rooftop of this villa. Roland stood up and made his way.
He appeared oddly calm despite having to meet with monsters. Well, he was raised with dangerous people after all. This was the same, just a different species.
DING!
He finally met with the man who called him his 'godson'. Mr. Xi was a pretty likable fellow for him. It was easy to warm up to someone like that because he was humble and honest compared to the other tycoons Roland faced every day.
But he never once fully trusted him. Nor anyone in this world, for that matter.
No one except Harker.
"You seem to be distracted a little, Roland. You've been looking at my ring quite a lot."
Roland nodded. "I was just thinking if the ring my father bought you would fit. You have large hands after all, Mr. Xi. Bamboo fingers, you said."
"That's right. My ring size is 16." He said. "But that's not what I'm talking about. You're behaving differently, Roland."
"I don't follow what you're talking about, Mr. Xi." Roland focused on his wide smiling lips.
Harker was right, it really was uncommon for lips to stretch as wide as this.
"You usually look people in the eye when you talk to them." Mr. Xi said. "That's a trait I liked about you. It's very professional. But now you wouldn't even meet Uncle Jiaoshe's eye… Does something bother you?"
Roland steeled himself. He had known that this snake demon would notice it. But Harker told him that no matter what, he shouldn't look at this man's eyes directly. Especially if it started to shine.
It means he was using his hypnotizing skill.
Harker was able to deduce that his eyes could hypnotize people into stopping their movements and admitting the truth to every question he asked.
"It's just that I have much to think about for the upcoming finals." He sighed. "I'm a bit nervous. I also mentioned my eyes being sensitive to sunlight. The sun's glare in Las Vegas is much stronger here even in spring."
Mr. Xi nodded. "Ah! Yes, I remember now. That makes sense. Would you like me to purchase some sunglasses for you?"
"No, thank you. I just forgot to bring the ones I had." Roland sipped his tea to bring his focus there.
Mr. Xi did the same and believed his excuse. "By the way…. That Harker Jones your father and I talked about. How is he today? Have you heard from him?"
"I wasn't able to." Roland lied easily thanks to not meeting his eyes. "Harker is busy with research during school days. Why did you ask, Mr. Xi?"
"Nothing. I'm just curious about that boy." Mr. Xi also took a languid sip on his tea. "Do you mind giving him a call on this telephone over here? I have decided that I want to invest in his future as well. I'd like for him to be my godson too, to help with financial problems, school problems…."
He gave Roland a certain look. "Family problems."
Roland gritted his teeth. So that's why he gave those pearls after all.
He knew about his murderous thoughts about his father by hypnotizing him. And now he's using it to blackmail him into calling Harker.
He really was a goddamn snake.
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