Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 819: Chapter 63: Friday Without the Lord (5)

In the waiting lounge, Oni said he would step away for a moment to visit the restroom.

After that, Lluvia asked Luo Qiu if he wanted something to drink, as she could get something from the lounge attendant. Luo Qiu shook his head, and Lluvia went over by herself.

Since it was an international flight, there weren’t many people in the lounge… or rather, it was just the three of them.

Now the only one left was ‘Luo Qiu,’ who casually picked up a nearby magazine to read.

But just then, ‘Luo Qiu’s’ body suddenly transformed into smoke and vanished; the magazine he had been holding fell to the ground—before it fell, however, someone caught it steadily, so it didn’t alarm anyone.

Boss Luo opened the magazine and took a glance; it turned out to be an introduction to wildlife.

“Did something happen?” Lluvia returned with two cups of water, noticing Luo Qiu was now standing instead of sitting, she asked curiously.

Boss Luo smiled slightly and said, “Nothing, I just wanted to get up and stretch a bit; sitting for too long can get tiring.”

Lluvia nodded, putting down the cups, “It’s about time; Mr. Song should be back soon.”

Boss Luo nodded as Oni walked in, wiping his hands on his clothes, looking at the TV on the wall, and muttering, “A memorial service?”

Boss Luo and Lluvia also turned to watch the TV; it was a local news report covering a memorial service taking place in front of the Rio Municipal Theatre.

“Hmm… looks like some disturbance happened,” Lluvia glanced at it indifferently.

Based on the news report, someone had broken into the event to stir up trouble, and security officers were currently expelling the troublemaker.

“Probably some guy looking for attention, hoping to become an internet celebrity, right?” Oni shrugged, watching the man—with a golden carnival mask disputing with several police officers—shake his head.

“What are you talking about?”

Suddenly, a voice with a smile came from the lounge entrance. Lluvia’s eyes softened, “Nothing much, just watching the news.”

The suddenly appearing Song Haoran nodded, but didn’t step inside, checking the time, he said, “Let’s head out; it’s about time to board… Luo Qiu, did you miss me?”

Boss Luo shook his head, his gaze sweeping over the TV, suddenly smiling before walking towards Song Haoran, casually saying, “Maybe I’ll miss your stories. Do you have new ones?”

Song Haoran laughed heartily, “No new ones, but I could tell you about my chase with a group of pirates in the Caribbean when I was eighteen. Interested?”

Luo Qiu wasn’t surprised at Song Haoran mentioning the Caribbean.

Song Haoran’s mother was a Spaniard.

“Hopefully it’s an exciting story.”

“Your journey won’t be boring.” Song Haoran patted Luo Qiu on the shoulder and led him to the boarding gate.

Just as he turned around, he made a discreet OK gesture to Oni and Lluvia.

Oni and Lluvia exchanged glances, and Oni whistled, “Looks like the newbies passed their assessment. Ah, I’ll soon be able to see the beautiful Gan Hong in the village; my harem can expand again!”

Lluvia rolled her eyes, retorted, “You really are a humanoid cannon.”

“Boom boom boom boom, afraid of my Gatling?” Oni spread his legs and quickly thrusted his hips.

Lluvia shook her head, too lazy to pay attention to Oni, and walked straight out. Before leaving, she glanced at the TV one more time; the news was still on, and the memorial service disturbance hadn’t ended yet.

…

Cut back.

“Yes! It’s garbage… Let me go! Let me go!!”

Although feeling that he probably got the script wrong from the start, under the circumstances, Bucky felt he had no choice but to carry on with all his might.

Initially, the script was supposed to go like this:

Priest: What did you say? Dare to say it again?! You dare to disdain our faith! You heretic!

Bucky: I, Bucky, god!

Priest: Madman! Madman! You are desecrating the deity! You should be burned at the stake!

Bucky: You know nothing of power! Let you mortals witness true power!

Priest: Ah! This is… a miracle, a miracle!!

Bucky: Ahahahahaha!!!

But the real script was like this:

“Let me go… let me go! What are you dragging me to?! I have freedom of speech! This is a public place! Even if you’re police, you have no right to eject me! Let go of…”

Despite being restrained by policemen holding each of his arms, he continued to shout angrily.

“Everyone, let’s continue.” The Priest reopened his scripture book.

He had little opinion about the intruder, after all, it wasn’t the first time troublemakers opposing religion had caused disturbances. In fact, these incidents happen every moment globally.

He simply thought the troublemaker was imprudent, rushing forward despite the memorial service being surrounded by many officers maintaining order.

Just as the priest said, after the police dragged away the troublemaker, the scene quieted down.

However, the incident and the previous topics discussed seemed to have robbed the memorial of its original purpose, as if it changed flavor; some people quietly left by car.

Since almost all the attendees were socialites, luxury cars were already congesting the memorial scene.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many police deployed to maintain order—in fact, the road was partially closed. The sound of the car horns was initially sparse, but soon became incessant.

The memorial seemed on the verge of being discontinued; the priest sped up his speech, eyes fixed on the scripture, refusing to raise his head.

On the opposite rooftop, after finishing the last bite of Pastel, the maid burned the greasy paper bag and dropped down from the sitting railing.

“Was he overestimated…”

The maid furrowed her brow but then gently shook her head. She easily found where Bucky was down below.

The police controlled him, planning to interrogate his origin while attempting to remove his carnival mask. You Ye furrowed her brow; if wanted criminal Bucky was taken by them, subsequent troubles would be even greater.

But just as You Ye prepared to act, she noticed a small commotion down the crowded street… she suddenly paused.

“Bucky.” You Ye squinted, “Is this what you got from Lucifer… your first wish ever made.”

Bam—!

Loud noise.

…

…

Caroline didn’t know where she had fled to; ‘Second Cousin’ had been persistently chasing her, leaving her no choice but to plunge into the crowds wherever there were people.

Sounds of panting.

Yes, she could hear her own panting, her heart racing wildly. She was sprinting at full speed, fear and anxiety prevailing.

Caroline seemed to have seen this scene somewhere before. But at the moment, she couldn’t recall exactly where… perhaps in a dream.

Something was relentlessly pursuing her from behind… was it a vicious dog?

That dream.

For unknown reasons, the surrounding area suddenly filled with traffic jams, perhaps due to the city’s notoriously bad traffic, or some other reasons, but Caroline couldn’t afford to dwell on it.

She dashed through the gaps between vehicles, which provided excellent cover. But gradually, she started feeling unwell.

Two nights ago, she had sprained her ankle at Arno’s old house; now, after prolonged running, the old injury became exceptionally painful.

Gradually, ‘Second Cousin’ was closing in, she could even see his sinister smile. If caught, he’d likely exact revenge for the injury to his manhood…

“Don’t come any closer!” Cornered, desperate Caroline suddenly gripped the pistol she picked up from ‘Second Cousin’ with both hands. Her hands trembled slightly as she pointed it at ‘Second Cousin’. “Don’t come any closer!!”

‘Second Cousin’ frowned and paused – it was difficult for him to dodge, as the two of them were currently situated between vehicles, making himself practically a perfect target, even if she was shooting with her eyes closed.

“Do you dare to shoot?” But after all, he was someone involved in the underworld, perhaps not purely brave, but at least quite bold.

“You… don’t come any closer… don’t come any closer!” Caroline slowly retreated – ‘Second Cousin’ pressed forward step by step.

However.

Ah—!!

Screams.

These came from the people stuck in their cars who witnessed the confrontation between Caroline and ‘Second Cousin’. Perhaps due to fear from the recent hostage situation, some people’s reactions were extremely intense.

They opened their car doors and fled heedlessly, terrified voices echoing one after another.

‘Second Cousin’ hadn’t expected such chaos in the end; he only planned to end all of this quickly, otherwise, he feared he would find it difficult to escape later.

‘Second Cousin’ gritted his teeth and suddenly lunged at Caroline, intending to allow her no chance to react at all, even feeling an urge to eliminate her.

Facing him head-on, Caroline couldn’t possibly withstand strong ‘Second Cousin’, as she was almost instantly tackled to the ground by him.

This strong man pressed his legs against her arms while his hands clutched her throat. ‘Second Cousin’ pursed his lips tightly, veins bulging, filled with killing intent.

Caroline painfully kicked her legs and struggled, feeling like her throat might be crushed in the next second.

Unwilling to die, the will to survive made Caroline’s hand holding the gun move slightly – Bang!!

A gunshot!

But unfortunately, she couldn’t aim at the man poised to kill her; the bullet merely skimmed the ground and hit the tire of a nearby private car – the burst tire creating a loud noise in the next instant.

The loud noise echoed along the long street.

The people in front and behind were unaware of what happened afterward, only hearing the gunshot… and a sound resembling an explosion.

Screams started again, and the scene became even more chaotic.

But ‘Second Cousin’ still had no intention of letting Caroline go, already seeing her reddened complexion; just a bit more persistence, and this troublesome woman could be dealt with – as for the agreement with Lawyer Carlo?

He believed that as long as he put a knife in front of this lawyer, he would cooperate obediently!

“Too bad, you missed the chance to kill me.” ‘Second Cousin’ let out a grim smile; the sensation of squeezing Caroline’s throat brought him a strange sense of excitement.

The thrill of killing.

Caroline struggled painfully, eyes wide open, the capillaries visible due to the blood congestion – breathing, an impossible feat.

In her near-death state, Caroline seemed to see a beam of white light, her consciousness like a fleeting slideshow; she saw many chaotic things… unfamiliar scenes.

Seeing herself talking with strangers…

Seeing herself maneuvering through a hail of bullets with a gun in hand.

Holding something high, she was losing something.

Sad moments, moments of revelry, moments of loneliness, moments of embracing someone…

Suddenly.

Boom—!!!

Another sound seemed to echo.

Caroline’s consciousness was a bit fuzzy, her ears buzzing due to the nearby exploding tire, her eardrums pressured.

She seemed to see ‘Second Cousin’ clutching his shoulder all of a sudden, his expression twisted, and ‘Second Cousin’ suddenly gritted his teeth, quickly picking up the gun from her hands, then firing towards some location.

‘Second Cousin’, clutching his injured shoulder, retreated while firing, disappearing from Caroline’s sight.

Caroline suddenly felt like she was being lifted up by someone, seeing a uniformed police officer looking at her, seemingly asking questions.

Caroline finally slowly closed her eyes, slipping into unconsciousness.

“Calling, calling, a woman has fainted, calling headquarters… there’s also a gunman… location, outside the Municipal Theatre on the street… calling…”

“He ran over there! You stay and take care of the injured! Everyone else, try not to shoot! There’re too many people; someone might get innocently injured! Quick!”

…

“You! You can’t do this to me! I have civil rights!”

Bucky stubbornly insisted, tightly holding his mask, unwilling to let it be removed. But his resistance evidently provoked the officer’s anger, “You better cooperate! Or you’ll regret it!”

“You aren’t allowed…”

Sudden loud noise.

Officer Bucky abruptly stopped, everyone was startled – they all knew the sound was a gunshot, followed by what seemed to be an explosion.

“Go check it out! You stay and watch this guy!” A man who seemed to be in charge quickly flicked away his cigarette butt and drew his firearm, leading others swiftly towards the source of the sound.

“What happened?” The officer remaining was watching from a distance, seemingly very concerned about what was happening ahead.

But at this point, he suddenly felt a hard strike from behind.

He promptly fell to the ground, at the same time, a pair of legs locked around his neck, while his hand was twisted by someone… that troublemaker wearing a Carnival mask!

“Deadly Scissors Lock!! I haven’t used this in years, you forced me to…”

The officer swiftly tapped the ground a few times, quickly passing out due to insufficient oxygen.

The troublemaker… Bucky finally relaxed, awkwardly standing up from the ground and retrieving a key from the officer’s clothes to unlock his handcuffs.

He quickly glanced at the utter confusion ahead, saying nothing as he removed the mask, stuffed it inside his clothes, and swiftly fled the area.

…

“Help… is there anyone! Somebody please help my husband! He’s been shot! Help, please… help—!”

Crying sound.

They were probably guests preparing to leave after attending a memorial service. At this moment, amid the crowd, a noblewoman was holding a man. Blood was continuously oozing from the man’s abdomen, and he was on the brink of death.

“The ambulance has been called… but looking at the traffic, it might not get here anytime soon,” someone said helplessly.

“Does anyone know emergency bleeding control methods?” someone urgently suggested.

“It’s impossible to stop this kind of bleeding…” someone sighed.

They managed to do what they could, only watching the sorrowful woman clutching her husband and crying.

“Can anyone…? Can anyone help my husband, I beg of you… isn’t there anyone…” The woman cried bitterly on her husband’s chest.

And at this moment.

“I can! I can save him!”

A loud voice – a man wearing a Carnival mask pushed through the crowd and stepped forward.

He placed his hands crossed on his chest solemnly, “In the name of the Omniscient and Omnipotent One, the great Bucky… I, an Angel Envoy of the great Omniscient and Omnipotent Bucky, can save him!”

Darn, luck’s finally turning, unstoppable indeed!

Luckily, I didn’t throw away the mask earlier…

Bucky thought to himself: Luck!