Chapter 21 Unexpected Incident
"You dare? I'm Harlan! You bunch of lowlifes..."
Before Harlan could finish cursing, several tall, heavily armed security guards rushed at him.
Without any courtesy, they twisted Harlan's arms behind his back and, like dragging a dead dog, threw him out of the auction house doors with extreme roughness, under the contemptuous and mocking gazes of everyone present!
The farce was over.
Sitting in the car, Ethan casually tossed the priceless blood diamond into Clara's hands.
Clara looked at the gem flickering with an eerie glow in her hand, her eyes glinting as she glanced at Ethan beside her, seemingly lost in thought.
Half an hour later, the two returned to their hotel in Manhattan.
Clara kicked off her high heels, casually draping her long, shapely legs over Ethan's, her impressive curves completely exposed to his view without any hesitation.
"This gemstone - you really don't want it?" Clara looked into Ethan's eyes.
"Bringing me here wasn't just for this little thing, was it?" Ethan played with the blood diamond casually, his tone extremely lazy.
Clara looked at Ethan with seductive eyes, laughing charmingly: "You're still so smart!"
"Actually, today's auction was just an appetizer. The real good stuff - the premium items that even the hidden families would be jealous of - won't appear until tomorrow's official underground auction!"
She had originally brought Ethan along just to use him to fend off those annoying suitors and ensure her own safety.
But now, looking at this Ethan before her - possessing terrifying power, seeing through everything yet always remaining indifferent - Clara found herself actually developing feelings for him.
"Interesting." Ethan raised an eyebrow, a glimmer of intrigue flashing in his eyes.
As night deepened, Ethan left the hotel alone, planning to get some fresh air on Manhattan's streets and digest the terrifying power constantly surging within him from the serum modification.
Just as he walked past a somewhat dim street corner with his hands in his pockets, looking completely carefree, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly broke the night's silence.
Ethan's extremely sharp gaze instantly locked onto the source of the sound.
He saw a man in a black hoodie, extremely agile, weaving through the crowd.
Not far ahead of him was a tall woman.
The moment he got close to the woman, the black-clothed man moved incredibly fast, his hand brushing her bag and coming away with a palm-sized black metal box.
Having gotten what he wanted, the black-clothed man sprinted straight toward Ethan's direction!
A thief?
Ethan's eyes narrowed slightly.
Just as the man was about to brush past Ethan, without even lifting an eyelid, Ethan casually extended his right leg and lightly tripped him in mid-air.
The black-clothed man, who had been running at full speed, didn't even realize what happened before he completely lost his balance, sliding a full ten feet across the asphalt with an extremely painful grunt!
"What are you doing?! Why did you trip him?"
An extremely angry, clear female voice suddenly rang out!
The tall woman in the distance seemed to notice what happened here and immediately walked over. "What's wrong with you? Suddenly sticking your foot out to trip someone - don't you know how dangerous that is?!"
By the dim streetlight, Ethan got a clear look at the woman's face.
She was a stunning beauty with flamboyant red hair, extremely delicate features, but with a hint of naive arrogance in her expression.
From her actions, you could tell this woman was not only beautiful but also had a strong sense of justice.
Unfortunately, that sense of justice didn't seem to be working as it should.
Ethan didn't bother explaining. After all, the stolen item wasn't his - helping out just now had already been generous enough. Now being wrongly accused made him even less willing to get involved.
In the brief two seconds while the woman was accusing Ethan, the black-clothed man who had fallen hard suddenly sprang up from the ground!
Without looking back, he dove into a nearby complex, dark alley and instantly vanished without a trace!
Watching the thief's fleeing figure, Ethan shook his head helplessly.
He looked at the red-haired woman still glaring at him, his tone ice-cold without a trace of warmth.
"If you had any brains, you'd check your bag. That guy just stole something from you."
The red-haired woman frowned at his words, instinctively wanting to argue back.
But when she doubtfully reached for her extremely expensive limited-edition Hermès bag, her face instantly turned pale, her previously angry expression immediately replaced by extreme panic!
"No... it's gone!" The woman's expression changed drastically, even her voice trembling slightly.
She suddenly looked up at Ethan, speaking urgently: "I'm sorry! I misunderstood you just now!"
"My name is Luna Brooks. That box contains something extremely important to my family! Please, you're so skilled - can you help me get it back? As long as you help me, I'll pay you whatever you want!"
However, Ethan didn't even spare her another glance, coldly turning around directly.
"I already helped you once. You're the one who rejected it."
Ethan's voice sounded extremely cold and merciless in the night wind. "I don't have a habit of cleaning up messes for idiots."
With that, Ethan put his hands back in his pockets and walked away without looking back, no matter how anxiously Luna pleaded behind him, he didn't pause for a moment.
Manhattan's night remained prosperous, but the dark corners hidden behind the glamour always bred foul evil.
Ethan wandered randomly through the streets, recalling and organizing recent events. However, when he inadvertently walked into a dark dead-end alley reeking of urine and rotting garbage, his steps suddenly stopped.
His hearing, enhanced by supernatural powers, allowed him to clearly catch the whispers coming from deep in the alley.
Ethan narrowed his eyes, silently pressing against the wall, his gaze piercing through the darkness, coldly observing ahead.
In the faint glow at the deepest part of the alley, the black-clothed man who had stolen the box was now respectfully bowing his head.
Before him stood several muscular men radiating an extremely dangerous aura, their muscle definition abnormal compared to ordinary people.
"Boss, got the box."
The black-clothed man presented the black metal box with both hands.
"With this thing, at tomorrow's underground auction, that bitch Clara definitely won't escape from our grasp!"