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Chapter 64: Horus
"He threatened us, saying if we didn't comply, he'd send people to kill us."
Beth slammed her palm on the table in front of Old Man Leon, shaking it so hard that a cup rolled off and fell to the ground with a crisp crash.
Old Man Leon could feel the anger in the woman's words behind him. He was somewhat worried Beth might get emotional and hit him with something.
So Old Man Leon turned his head slightly, wanting to use eye signals to seek help from his subordinates.
But as soon as he turned his head, Beth leaned right in front of him, startling the old man so much his palm clenched.
"Tell me, shouldn't we be angry?"
"Shouldn't we have acted? Was there anything wrong with killing that bastard Teddy and his subordinates?"
Old Man Leon took a deep breath.
Honestly, he believed Teddy was capable of doing such stupid things. In his view, Teddy was exactly that kind of vile and stupid scum. If it weren't for his father's deathbed request, he would have wanted to strangle Teddy long ago.
What could he do? Old Man Leon could only accept his loss.
Caesar watched as Old Man Leon slowly nodded and heard him say, "Teddy indeed had major problems. Leon's ranch accepts this."
Seeing Old Man Leon soften, Beth walked back to sit beside Caesar. Their eyes met briefly, and Beth saw the approval in Caesar's eyes.
"However." Old Man Leon raised his head, his expression calm. "The numbers you just stated are too high. I can only give a portion."
With such an absurd price, Caesar had known all along he wouldn't agree.
"First tell us the maximum price your ranch can bear." Caesar spoke flatly.
Old Man Leon's body tensed slightly as he leaned forward, looking at Caesar and holding up one finger. "Food rations for thirty people—I can only give one month's worth."
Caesar nodded, signaling Old Man Leon to continue.
"Cattle and sheep... ten head each. No more. Most of the cattle and sheep haven't grown up yet. I can't give much." After Old Man Leon finished speaking, he pressed tightly against his chair back. He'd already stated his full offer.
Caesar didn't immediately agree, turning his head to look at Beth.
Beth looked very serious, thinking carefully for a long while before saying in a reluctant tone, "Well, since that's the case, we'll just have to accept it."
"The people at Buffalo Pass need to be replaced with ours." Caesar suddenly spoke.
"No." Old Man Leon opened his eyes. "Half and half."
"All right then."
Caesar seemingly accepted reluctantly.
But his tightly clenched fist had already exposed Caesar's inner joy—to extort so many things so quickly.
Although compared to Caesar's ranch reserves, it wasn't much.
But it was free. Why not take what's free?
After the negotiation ended, both sides began chatting casually, not discussing alliance issues.
Old Man Leon occasionally asked Caesar things like whether their ranch now had several trucks and if they could trade one or two.
Caesar naturally blocked those requests immediately.
Both sides were testing each other, probing back and forth for information.
At this moment, a blond, blue-eyed muscular man appeared at the conference room door, followed by a pair of bald twins.
The blond, blue-eyed man was Horus. He laughed heartily as he entered the conference room, opening his arms early to bend down and hug Old Man Leon, greeting him warmly.
"Leon, long time no see. I've really missed you all this time."
Old Man Leon smiled just as happily, as if the two were truly close friends despite their age difference. "Ah, I'm old now, can't move around much. Why don't you come visit me more often?"
"Well, I've got a bunch of people under me. I have to manage the ranch properly so everyone can survive."
As he spoke, Horus glanced at Caesar beside them and opened his mouth in surprise. "You're... Caesar?"
Caesar stood up. His six-foot-five height combined with his sharp aura made Horus narrow his eyes.
"Long time no see, Horus." Horus extended his hand and shook hands with Caesar, his eyes scanning Caesar. "You've changed so much, I almost didn't recognize you."
Caesar's lips curved upward. He didn't care about Horus's words, only saying, "Why did Horus come over today?"
Not earlier, not later, but right when Caesar and Old Man Leon were negotiating.
Caesar knew that when the convoy returned to Caesar's ranch, the commotion was so large that the surrounding ranches should have noticed.
As the two strongest forces in Black Pine Valley, there was no reason they wouldn't know at least part of the situation.
They must have seen that his strength had grown considerably and were worried about him forming an alliance with Old Man Leon, so they came to investigate.
After calculating this in his mind, Caesar's eyes also held some scrutiny when looking at Horus.
He'd taken some things from Old Man Leon. He also wanted some things from Horus's side.
But before Caesar could scheme anything, Horus led his subordinates out of the conference room, as if he'd really just come to visit.
Caesar didn't mind. He just continued chatting sporadically with Old Man Leon.
With the leaders chatting together, Morales and the others didn't need to stay the whole time. After getting Old Man Leon's permission, Andrea and the others were allowed to move around freely.
After Andrea left the conference room, she went alone to a small grove on Leon's ranch.
The grove was full of lush green trees and beautiful flowers and grass. Her irritable emotions prevented Andrea from appreciating any of it.
She stepped forward and casually crushed some flowers and grass underfoot, destroying some things impatiently.
Andrea sat on the grass, leaning against a large tree, looking at the sky and muttering complaints.
"What's wrong with Caesar's brain? Why bring me here for nothing?"
"And Amy..."
She wanted to say something about Amy, but thinking carefully, Amy hadn't done anything wrong.
Andrea could only pour all her anger onto Caesar. She muttered continuously, cursing Caesar harshly.
Not far from the conference room, Horus saw Andrea heading alone into the grove. An idea struck him, and he turned to give orders to the bald twins:
"You take the others and go chat with Caesar's people. Talk about whatever. You can drink some alcohol and eat some meat."
"Get me some intelligence. I want to know any news about Caesar's ranch."
For Horus, in Black Pine Valley he and Old Man Leon each controlled their own territory, staying out of each other's way.
Now Caesar had become strong with troops and horses, appearing like a fierce dragon crossing the river, giving Horus a sense of crisis and making him urgently want to understand everything about Caesar's ranch.
This was also why he'd rushed over to Leon's ranch.
Horus tidied himself up—brown cowboy hat, slightly messy stubble, shirt with two buttons undone, faintly revealing the aura of a mature man.
Nodding with satisfaction, Horus followed after Andrea.
Andrea was complaining in the grove when Horus slowly approached her.
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