Chapter 28: Provoked Someone Who Should Not Have Been Provoked
The armored convoy transporting Ethan sped along the road and finally pulled into a hidden military base on the outskirts of New York State.
The blast-proof iron gate slammed shut behind them. Ethan was roughly shoved out of the vehicle by two soldiers. Blinding searchlights instantly hit his face. Ethan squinted slightly, his gaze casually sweeping past the fully armed troops and landing on the open ground ahead.
There, a middle-aged man in a custom-tailored pinstripe suit with a businessman's air was holding a thick Cuban cigar, chatting and laughing with a major general standing beside him.
However, from the moment Ethan got out of the car, the man's eyes had been locked onto Ethan, his gaze ice-cold.
Clearly, they had just been discussing him.
The middle-aged man exhaled a thick cloud of smoke and walked toward Ethan with an extremely arrogant stride, looking down at this young man whose hands were cuffed.
"Let me introduce myself. Victor Lopez."
Victor's voice was hoarse and cold, carrying the air of someone in power. "You should know my son, Gregory."
Hearing that name, a flash of understanding crossed Ethan's eyes, and a mocking cold smile slowly curved his lips.
No wonder the military and government had jointly issued such a high-level arrest order—so the Lopez family was behind it.
The Thorne family had been completely wiped out by him, plus there was Gregory who had tried to run him over with a car but ended up scared out of his wits...
The Lopez family couldn't sit still anymore and wanted to settle the score.
Ethan lazily twisted the handcuffs on his wrists, his tone showing not a trace of fear but instead full of undisguised mockery.
"Do all you Lopez family people talk this much nonsense?"
Hearing the sarcasm, Victor's eye twitched slightly, and the fake smile on his face instantly vanished.
"Young man, excessive arrogance will only make your death more miserable!"
Victor viciously threw the burning cigar on the ground and crushed it completely with his leather shoe, his eyes cruel as if looking at a corpse.
"You ruined the Lopez family's years of planning and frightened my son. This is the price you'll pay!"
He suddenly leaned close to Ethan, his voice carrying a bone-chilling killing intent. "Tonight, there's absolutely no way you're leaving this base alive."
Facing Victor's threat, Ethan just slightly raised his head and stared at Victor with narrowed eyes, saying nothing.
There was none of the regret Victor had imagined, nor any fear. Ethan's reaction gradually stirred up some inexplicable anger and impatience in Victor's heart. He immediately roared at the soldiers nearby.
"Shoot this bastard right now!"
With the uniform sound of weapons being loaded, over a dozen assault rifles instantly raised, their dark muzzles all aimed at Ethan's head.
But just as the major general was about to wave his hand and order them to fire, at that critical moment—
A roar of helicopter blades suddenly came from the night sky overhead!
A violent hurricane instantly swept across the ground, blowing so hard that the soldiers holding guns couldn't even keep their eyes open.
Everyone looked up in terror to see a heavy military helicopter bearing the emblem of a golden eagle with spread wings slowly descending from the night sky.
The moment he saw that golden eagle emblem, Victor's brow furrowed sharply, and his expression became extremely ugly.
The Walton family?
Victor was all too familiar with this super commercial empire of Wall Street.
The Walton family operated completely differently from the Lopez family. The former held tremendous wealth and was the military's biggest financial sponsor!
It could be said that half of the funding for cutting-edge weapons research at this base was thrown in by the Walton family!
Therefore, the Walton family had absolute authority in the military, even surpassing that of generals.
And although the Lopez family also had many people infiltrating the military and political circles, they could at best only contend with the Walton family, gaining no advantage at all.
"Why would the Walton family suddenly come here?" An extremely ominous feeling rose in Victor's heart.
Before the helicopter had fully landed, the cabin door was pushed open.
Flanked by two rows of fully armed bodyguards, Cain in a black haute couture trench coat strode down.
"Mr. Walton? Why did you come in person..."
Seeing that the visitor was the military's biggest benefactor, the major general immediately put on a fawning smile and hurried forward.
Victor also suppressed the doubt in his heart, straightened his tie, and prepared to go forward to probe the other party's intentions.
However, what happened next made everyone present's hearts completely stop!
That Cain, who dominated Wall Street, directly ignored the major general who had come forward to greet him, also ignored Victor whose face had turned iron-blue, walked straight past all the high-ranking officials, and quickly came before the handcuffed Ethan.
Then, under the ghostly stares of everyone present.
Cain respectfully bent down and gave Ethan a deep, standard ninety-degree bow!
"Boss! Sorry, I'm late!"
The entire scene fell into deathly silence!
Victor's bloodshot eyes widened, his jaw nearly hitting the ground, his brain almost completely frozen!
Boss?
Cain, this super tycoon whom even governors had to greet politely, was actually calling this young punk... Boss?
Just as Victor and the military personnel were still in extreme shock, unable to comprehend this crazy scene before them.
An even more intense roar came from the sky above the base again. Two Apache attack helicopters fully loaded with weapons had arrived directly overhead.
A sharp sound of tearing steel suddenly came from outside the base perimeter!
A heavily armored military SUV crashed through the military's crash barrier in an extremely brutal manner!
It crushed the barbed wire and roadblocks all over the ground and charged toward Ethan and the others!
When everyone saw clearly the man in a black tactical vest with a gloomy, angry face who got out of the vehicle, all the soldiers holding guns looked at each other in fear, their hands gripping the guns trembling wildly!
The major general beside them gasped in shock, his legs went weak, and he nearly knelt directly on the asphalt.
Arthur!
All of the military's high-end deterrent weapons, and even the nation's classified missile defense systems, all came from this man's hands! Angering him was equivalent to directly offending the highest levels of the Pentagon!
"...Arthur? Why are you also..." The major general's voice trembled so much he couldn't get out a complete sentence.
However, facing the terrified and awed gazes of everyone present, Arthur roughly pushed aside the major general blocking his path, didn't even glance at the bloodless Victor beside him, and walked straight to Ethan.
Those eyes originally filled with violence were instantly filled with extreme excitement and fervor the moment they saw Ethan.
Under the gaze of hundreds of soldiers and Victor present!
This super weapons genius who controlled the nation's military lifeline heavily dropped to one knee before Ethan, looked up, his voice trembling with fervor.
"Boss! You finally contacted me!"