“Have you seen whalers at sea?”
Fabian patted Conrad’s shoulder and continued meaningfully, “Whalers first find the whale, then follow it until it grows tired. They attack the moment it gets distracted.
“Whalers only get one chance to attack, because the moment they fail, an irked whale will capsize the entire boat and flee into the deep waters.
“We’re like whalers. The moment we attack, we aim to kill.
“I know of the processes and plans that you’ve used against Jasper before. You made the mistake of being too careful with all sorts of buildup and traps, but they all proved to be useless. Rather, you’ve only caused him to be wary of you.
“Hence, there are only two steps to my attack. The first, I hit his confidence hard. Then, I’ll follow it with the ultimate move right after. After all that, it’ll be time for us to taste the fruits of victory.”
Conrad fell deep in thought when he heard Fabian.
After a long while, he nodded. “Perhaps you’re right.”
“Then I look forward to working with you, hahaha.”
…
Waterhoof City, at the beach.
Jasper frowned as he aimlessly walked along the landscape route with Henry following beside him blankly.
The latter would glance at Jasper from time to time, yet, Henry did not disturb him when he saw that the other was still thinking.
He was used to Jasper’s occasional strange expressions, since the man always managed to find a lead within a messy haystack of clues. This was something Henry could never come up with no matter how hard he wracked his brain.
“Henry, did Fabian leave Harbor City recently?” Jasper asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen you so cautious about someone. Does he worry you?” Henry joked.
Henry had always thought that Jasper would be able to solve any complicated issue or person easily from how the latter always acted. However, this was the first time Henry had seen such a conflicted expression on Jasper’s face.
“Do I look like a god to you?”
Jasper glared at Henry. “The last thing this world lacks are capable people. If I can’t understand that, then death is right around the corner.
“I may never have met Fabian, but do you know what he reminds me of?”
Henry shook his head. As a qualified supporter, he asked cooperatively, “What does he remind you of?”
“A venomous snake.”
Jasper narrowed his eyes and stated heavily.
“Hidden in the dark and rarely attacking. However, the moment he does, it’s done with tremendous power!
“If I don’t make the proper preparations, I’ll likely die from just one bite. To be frank with you, I really don’t want to be targeted by someone like him if possible.”
Henry was stunned for a moment. Even so, he must have thought of something as he suddenly laughed out loud. “You got that right. This man really is a venomous snake that will go to any lengths to get what he wants.”
Jasper placed both his hands on the railing and stared at the steady flow of Harpoon River. “We already know that Fabian’s contacting my past enemies and they’re going to team up to attack me.
“But other than that, we have no idea when, in what way they plan to attack, or even who exactly Fabian has contacted. We have too little leads to derive any useful information.
“Hence, there’s nothing we can do now but wait. We can’t make our move until we’ve got more information.”
“The worst-case scenario is that we are forced to take everything he prepared head-on unprepared.”
Henry could also sense the severity of the situation and spoke up whilst standing beside Jasper, “Aren’t we playing a very passive role, then?”
“There’s nothing we can do about that. After all, they know everything about us, but we know nothing of them. It’s not like we can run over to Harbor City to ask them what their plans are either.”
Henry was overjoyed when he heard Jasper’s suggestion. “I don’t see why not.”
Jasper waved him off and replied happily, “We’ll take this one step at a time. It’s unrealistic to overthink this.”
Seeing Henry’s blank and careless expression, Jasper suddenly said, “There’s going to be an asset forum conference in two days. Do you want to come with?”
“What’s the point of those conferences anyway? They’re so boring. Just a group of crafty old people trying to get rid of each other, while each smiling brighter than the last as they show off.” Henry pouted.
“Boring? Other conferences might be boring, but I promise that this one won’t be.
“Are you coming or not? I’ll give you the identity of a special guest if you are.”
Henry nodded and replied, “Sure. Not like there’s anything I need to do in two day’s time anyway. I sure hope some stupid f*cker appear so I can bully him.”
Jasper thought back to Dudley, whom he had met today, and chuckled. “There might just be one.”
Henry’s eyes lit up and he asked, “Can I f*ck with him if one appears?”
“Go wild.”
Jasper patted Henry on the shoulders. “This is one of the reasons why I invited you. You’re the best when it comes to being as cruel as possible, and I’ll also need you to test out their reactions to some things. If all goes according to plan, we might be able to prove quite a lot.”
“Alright. Don’t tell me all this as I won’t understand you anyway. But if I can screw with someone then that’s good enough. I’ve never stepped over any trust-fund children here in Waterhoof City before, so I wonder how it feels. Hahaha.”
“He’s from the Teo Chamber of Commerce, not Waterhoof City.”
“Doesn’t matter! They’re all the same to me.”
