On an intoxicating night, Ethan Ellison, the young master of the Yates Family, was celebrating his eighteenth birthday in a private room at a club.
Candles flickered on the cake, and a glittering "18" sign shone brightly.
Ethan Ellison called over a bottle girl and ordered a bottle of Rémy Martin worth thirty thousand dollars. The teenagers in the room clapped and cheered wildly.
The bottle girl went to the bar and reported the order to her supervisor.
A bill for the thirty-thousand-dollar liquor was printed out, and the supervisor went to the cellar to retrieve the Rémy Martin.
The two of them wheeled a cart with the bottle and six crystal glasses to the private room.
The group of teenagers finished the bottle, wiped their fingerprints and saliva off the glasses, and secretly threw them into a trash can in the restroom.
Two of the boys left the club, one of them hiding the bottle inside his jacket, away from the eyes of passersby.
Iris Dalton retracted her spiritual power. Her long, fair fingers rested on the table, tapping a rhythmic beat twice as if she were deep in thought.
Within 24 hours, the surveillance data had been overwritten.
Three days had passed, and the data fragments were now unrecoverable.
For an ordinary person, a situation like this would be a lost cause, forcing them to take the financial hit.
But now that Iris Dalton was here, she would surely shatter their lies and tear off their masks!
"Manager, is that robot I gave you last time still around?" Iris Dalton asked, turning to the middle-aged man.
She looked sweet and innocent, her fair, clean face filled with anticipation.
The manager's heart melted. He wished he had a daughter just as sweet and caring.
"The robot is in the lobby working as a greeter. It's very popular!" the manager replied with a proud, fatherly smile.
The thing had a cool, stylish design that just screamed high-tech.
It had a humanoid body, a large cuttlefish head, and was as tall as an adult.
Sometimes it would sing songs for the guests, tell jokes, or just chat with them.
It didn't have any major practical use, but it was fine as a decoration and for amusing children.
"The robot contains surveillance data," Iris said as she took out her phone and connected to the robot, codenamed "Cuttlefish."
It was a robot she had built herself, capable of serving as a big data storage station.
It was a true AI!
The transfer was complete in two seconds. She had the complete surveillance footage and copied it to a USB drive.
Iris handed the USB drive to the manager. "Ethan Ellison just had his eighteenth birthday. He's an adult now and should bear the responsibilities of one."
Her tone was flat, devoid of any emotion. "Call the police. Charge him with fraud, extortion, theft, and malicious damage."
'Think you can pull off crimes just because you have a few tricks?'
'Pathetic.'
'He's been spoiled for too long!'
*
In another private room at the club, glasses clinked and conversations flowed.
"She's practically uneducated. Does she think just getting into Lumin-Umbra High School guarantees she'll get into a university? What a joke. Does she think she's a genius with an IQ of 180 like my sister?" Serena Sherwood, tipsy after two glasses of wine, mocked Iris Dalton shamelessly.
Shaun Adler, his legs crossed, added with a disdainful sneer, "Tch. That low-class nobody isn't even worthy of carrying Claire Sherwood's shoes."
Claire Sherwood was the number one socialite of Stellan's high society, a goddess in the eyes of countless men.
Did Iris Dalton really think that returning to the Sherwood Family meant she could be compared to Claire Sherwood?
What a joke!
A flash of malice crossed Serena Sherwood's eyes. She rubbed her temples, feigning helplessness, and sighed. "That little sister of mine is just too wild, a real troublemaker. It's a good thing my older sister is abroad, or she'd probably be taken advantage of too."
Sitting in the corner, Vincent Thorne's expression tightened, and a cold glint appeared in his eyes.
Setting down his glass, he stood up and walked out.
Xavier Kendrick also got up and followed him, calling out to him in the hallway.
"In a bad mood?" Xavier Kendrick asked, looking up at him with a cigarette between his fingers.
Vincent Thorne leaned against the wall and shook his head with a wry smile.
Xavier Kendrick said nonchalantly, "The application window for UmbraNet closes in a few days. You're not going to reconsider? Once the deadline passes, you'll have to wait another year."
Vincent Thorne's lips pressed into a thin line. His tone was faint. "I can make five billion, but it's not in my name. It's company money."
The simplest way to join UmbraNet was to put up five billion in funds as collateral.
Vincent Thorne's entertainment company was very profitable, and his family was wealthy, but he still couldn't pull together five billion in cash for collateral.
If you didn't put up the money, you could also pass a practical assessment.
Hacking, combat, disguise, firearms, medicine, toxicology, gambling, hypnotism… an expert in any of these fields could apply for UmbraNet membership.
"If it weren't for your back… sigh. You definitely would have passed this year." Xavier Kendrick glanced at his friend's lower back, his tone laced with sympathy.
Vincent Thorne had originally planned to take the assessment this year, but he'd had an accident, injuring his spine. He underwent major surgery and was still recovering.
The doctors told him his spine could never again bear heavy strain.
So he would likely never have a chance to join UmbraNet in this lifetime.
"It's not important. I never said I had to join UmbraNet," Vincent Thorne said, his expression calm.
'He had gotten injured saving Claire Sherwood. He felt it was worth it. If he hadn't held on to her as they fell from the fourth floor, Claire Sherwood would have surely perished. He had been in love with her for years and couldn't bear to see her get even the slightest scratch.'
"Look over there…" Xavier Kendrick said suddenly, jerking his chin to signal for him to turn his head.
A girl in a white T-shirt and jeans was holding a baseball cap, running her fair fingers through her long, waist-length hair.
Her profile alone was beautiful enough to make one's breath catch.
A slightly portly, middle-aged man stood beside her, handing her a VIP membership card.
"Bring your friends to hang out whenever you have time. Everything is on my tab." The man's greasy face was split by a huge grin.
"Thank you, Manager." The girl nodded, accepted the card, and offered a calm smile.
Her pretty little face was eye-catching. Her skin was delicate and fair, so supple it looked dewy fresh.
She didn't look very old, like a high school student.
Vincent Thorne frowned. The scene was particularly jarring to him, and a flash of irritation crossed his eyes.
"Tsk, tsk. A pity for such a young girl," Xavier Kendrick remarked, watching with detached amusement, a hint of malice in his cool eyes.
*
Vincent Thorne and Xavier Kendrick returned to their private room and sat down. Two rich playboys entered with their glamorously dressed female companions.
One of the playboys, holding a bottle of wine, approached to curry favor. "Young Master Thorne, Young Master Kendrick, Young Master Adler, you're all here! We came to pay our respects to you three."
Xavier Kendrick glanced at the bottle of liquor, worth over eight hundred thousand, and raised a cool eyebrow. "What, you think we can't afford our own drinks?" he drawled. "We need you to bring us some?"
"No, no, that's not it! We just heard something and rushed over to ask you three about it."
This particular playboy was distantly related to Xavier Kendrick. Since Xavier was in a decent mood tonight, he decided to humor him and had a waiter accept the bottle.
He looked up at the playboy. "What is it? Spit it out."
The playboy scurried closer like a sycophant and said with a fawning smile, "Young Master Kendrick, is it true that Young Master Crawford is coming to Stellan at the end of the month? Is the rumor accurate?"
Young Master Crawford was famous, but almost no one in Stellan had ever seen his face.
Recently, a rumor started circulating that he was coming to Stellan, and the entire high society circle was in an uproar.
"Young Master Crawford, huh?"
Xavier Kendrick poured himself a drink, took a sip, and then beckoned to the playboys with his finger. "Let me tell you something. Not only is Young Master Crawford coming to Stellan, but have you heard of Master Dalton of the Lumin-Umbra Mercenary Corps? He's coming too."