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The location of the shoot wasn’t that far from one of Carmen’s more populous cities, and needless to say, the gang that was able to control that area with an iron fist already had a fierce reputation deeply ingrained into the hearts of most common folk.
In its infancy, its members used to refer to themselves as ‘Team Hydra’, but over time as their ambitions grew, they changed their gang’s name to ‘Blue Hydra’.
Naturally, this not only reflected their desire to grow to the same level as some of the top corporations in the world by following their naming scheme, but could also be considered a challenge to the authority of the Gray Wolfe!
Fortunately for them, however, the timing of their rise happened to coincide with the ongoing leadership conflicts in the corporation. And without their ‘owners’ giving out any orders, the Nightingale clan only sent a team to demand a ‘monthly payment’ in exchange for ‘authority to operate’, and then left them alone from that point on.
The leader of the Blue Hydra didn’t consider this a humiliation, but a victory instead, and also took it as a green light from the world to continue growing as much as they could.
Maybe in a few more years, their fates would completely change, and they would become local overlords who cooperated with the government instead of glorified thugs who hid in the shadows.
Looking at things now, perhaps that dream wasn’t so far from coming true. Even the White Deer Corporation, which was on the same level as the Gray Wolfe, could only bow down and make the payment when they needed to operate in Blue Hydra’s area.
Or so they thought.
“Why the fuck have we not received the payment yet?!”
“M-Maybe the transfer didn’t go through? I-I’ll go ask the bank again—”
The boss slammed his fist on the table in fury. “Do you think this is a joke?! If those bastards finish doing whatever they want and leave without paying us, are we supposed to go beg in front of their door later?!”
Not to mention, the White Deer Corporation in Carmen may not even last that long, and it was even more unlikely for a behemoth like that to pay their little gang anything if they retreated back to Blue Dawn.
“No no no, we can’t let them do that! Quickly—”
A loud ringing of the phone interrupted their conversation, and the boss glared daggers at the nervously sweating thug, who could only put the call on speaker.
“Hey, just letting you know, our previous deal is off. Boss rejected your payment and told everyone not to care about such tiny little rodents who can never even bite through our shoes. Bye!”
Although the boss hadn’t seen the caller ID very clearly, he naturally understood that the lady speaking must have been a representative of the White Deer Corporation.
The thug could hardly breathe in the oppressive and tense silence that followed before his boss screamed in rage.
“Ask everyone to get back here! If we don’t teach those idiots a lesson for life, our name isn’t Blue Hydra, you hear me?!”
Even though he’d already expected a big move from his boss, the thug couldn’t help but take a step back in shock. “E-Everyone? Even Hydra one through eight…?”
The terror of those eight ‘monsters’ was no mystery between the members of their gang, and everyone knew that each of them had the strength of a bull and the might of a tiger.
Wasn’t it way overkill to call them to deal with those weaponless and powerless losers?
The boss sneered. “Did I stutter?!”
Although the thug in front of the boss wanted to argue again, as their own shares would surely suffer if those ‘big shots’ joined, he knew better than to bark while his boss was in a rage.
Perhaps it would serve the White Deer right to learn a ‘lesson’, though he hoped that it didn’t affect the final paycheck too much. After all, the eight ‘super weapons’ they had were quite hard to control, and almost never retreated from a battlefield without taking some ‘spoils of war’.
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White Deer’s staff at this moment had already welcomed and led ‘little Emi’ and her team to their temporary boss, and Noelle’s subordinate made quick work on bamboozling the little girl’s manager into being the new ‘director’ at the scene.
Of course, no one found it strange, and just followed the woman’s directions to rearrange the cameras and microphones according to her requirements.
“When are those idiotic thug actors going to get here, anyway?” Little Emi’s manager grumbled in dissatisfaction.
Noelle’s subordinate coughed. “They’re being managed by a separate team, so please be patient. Of course, we have to be mindful of the ‘special requirements’, yeah?”
The manager found it a little strange how the woman kept emphasizing that point so much, but didn’t take it to heart.
Her forte was making things look good on camera, and it was better to focus on that instead of worrying about things she couldn’t do much about anyway.
As long as that pervert Penny wasn’t left alone for too long with little Emi, that is!
Meanwhile, now that she had already handed off her ‘job’ to someone else, the previous boss found it a much better use of her time to tease the adorable little munchkin in front of her instead.
It couldn’t be denied that part of her curiosity was fueled by Noelle’s strange confidence in this little girl being able to handle the situation they were about to put her in, but her gray-haired boss had never made a ‘mistake’ before, and she didn’t think this time would be any different.
“Little Emi, what’s your full name?”
Emilia smiled. “A secret.”
“How old are you this year?”
“Um… about half your age?”
The woman stumbled back while clutching her chest dramatically. “T-This aunty has been hurt!”
Of course, she soon bounced back enthusiastically. “Wait a minute… if I consider you a baby, doesn’t that mean you think I look like a teenager?” She puffed out her chest in pride. “Whew, this sister’s still got it.”
Emilia couldn’t help but burst into giggles, though most of her attention still remained on spreading her energy to scout the surroundings. After all, she didn’t want anyone on her side to get hurt because of her momentary distraction. ‘Ah… there they are!’
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