Chapter 270

Chapter 270

Daniel's words hit Daryl like a bullet, striking him right between the eyes.

His mind suddenly cleared with the impact, his eyelids blinking lightly, as if brushing away the last layer of dust to make himself more awake.

"I see."

Daryl smiled, head lowered, hiding the huge grin on his face that he couldn't control at all.

Seeing him like this, Daniel reached out and tugged Daryl's arm, pulling him forward a bit. "Stop smiling. We need to go. He's been missing for over two weeks now."

At the mention of the missing Francis, Daryl finally got serious.

He looked up, his gaze sweeping over the people around them eyeing him like predators, then glanced back at the glass room area they'd just passed through. He now fully understood that these people were all desperados who valued money over their lives.

The third floor was much more complicated than the first. Daryl felt like he'd been following the person ahead through a maze for ages before finally hearing them say:

"We're here."

He looked up, his gaze falling ahead.

A plain-looking door was set into the white wall, with a burly man standing guard on each side. Their presence was more intimidating than that of the people outside, and their stares carried more weight.

Daryl only looked once before an inexplicable fear rose in his heart. He instinctively wanted to avoid their gaze, but his subconscious told him he absolutely couldn't back down now!

So he stiffened his neck and forced his head up high, even meeting the two men's stares head-on without flinching.

But he wasn't just stupidly staring at them either.

Coming from a wealthy family, he knew very well how to handle these people and how to make his bargaining chips look bigger than they actually were before negotiations.

His eyes swept over them with an indifferent glance. He dealt with his fear by clenching his fists and hiding behind the people around him.

Daniel had been worried about Daryl's state—after all, when had the pampered Daryl ever seen a scene like this?

He glanced at Daryl beside him, only to see Daryl calmly meet the other men's gaze before slowly looking away, then turning to meet his own eyes.

"What's wrong?"

Daryl smiled, seemingly unaware of Daniel's attention, even looking puzzled about why Daniel was staring at him.

Daniel slowly shook his head, looking away from Daryl with an amused smile and a knowing feeling—how could a young master from a wealthy family who'd navigated social circles since childhood easily show weakness?

The two guards had already figured out who was in charge the moment they saw this group, and the man beside the leader—one look was enough to tell he was someone used to the good life.

They'd seen too many of these rich boys who'd never suffered. Scaring them was a sure thing.

When these rich boys got scared before doing business, they could profit more through intimidation.

But what they hadn't expected was that this rich boy wasn't afraid of them at all, and even calmly met their gaze for a while.

Looks like they weren't easy targets.

The two men raised their eyebrows slightly and stepped aside to push open the door.

As the door opened, the scene inside was revealed.

The space inside wasn't particularly large—you could see the whole thing at a glance.

The door faced a desk, behind which sat a bald Black man with his hands propped under his chin, wearing a smile that could almost be called charitable.

The moment Daryl saw that smile, he instinctively frowned. He had no good feelings whatsoever toward people who kept that kind of smile—he could even say he found them disgusting.

The bald man didn't change his expression because of Daryl's frown. He smiled with narrowed eyes, his gaze wandering among the people entering, then settling on Daniel.

For no other reason than that, among these people, only Daniel had the aura of someone in their line of work. He must be the one connected to Rocco.

So the bald man released his hands, spreading his palms slightly, and spoke as if addressing an old friend: "Daniel, you're finally here. I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Daniel sat down in the chair in front of him. As for Daryl and the others, they sat on the small sofa to the side and back, though only Daryl actually sat down. The others, especially the two Seraphim people, had no intention of sitting.

"Emory, hello." Daniel extended his hand toward Emory, his tone calm, not at all like greeting a friend—worlds apart from Emory's enthusiasm toward him.

Hearing his response, Emory didn't mind. He knew Thalassia people were slower to warm up and wouldn't immediately get friendly with people like them.

He'd done several deals with Thalassia people.

Those people were more ruthless than they, even more fearless of death.

So he didn't really like doing business with Thalassia people, even though they paid faster and there were rarely any after-sales issues.

But the problem was, to those people, business was business—there was no such thing as friendship.

The only ones who could talk about friendship were other Thalassia people.

Emory narrowed his eyes and sized up Daniel sitting before him once more.

This Daniel, who'd come to do business, was somewhat different from the previous ones.

Though Daniel was also wary, his manners were more refined than those of previous Thalassia people, looking like someone who came from doing family business.

While Emory didn't like doing business with Thalassia people, he did like doing business with Thalassia rich kids—after all, those people were truly stupid with lots of money.

And this Daniel, before him, clearly was a veteran in running a family business, the same kind of long-term quality partner as those Thalassia rich kids.

"I heard you have some information I need. I'm here to buy your information." Daniel raised his hand, and one of the Seraphim people waiting behind stepped forward.

Thud.

The case he'd been carrying was finally set down at this moment. He didn't hold back his strength, so when the case was placed on the desk, it made a heavy, dull sound.

Actually, listening to that sound, it would be more accurate to say the case was slammed down.

This behavior was actually impolite, but Emory didn't get angry over this small matter. He kept smiling, not even bothering to look at the Seraphim person, just staring intently at the case on the desk.

"Looks like you brought plenty of good stuff!" He smiled, his face showing a smile different from the fake charitable smile earlier—clearly more genuine.

Watching this, Daryl raised his eyebrows slightly, leaning against the sofa with half-closed eyes, taking in Emory's expression completely.

Just as Emory was about to reach out and touch the case, Daniel pressed his hand on it first. His lips curved in a smile, his eyes watching Emory's little movement, his voice slightly deeper: "Emory, let my people handle this."

Emory withdrew his hand and smiled.

Seeing Emory pull back his hand, Daniel's expression relaxed a bit.

After Emory withdrew his hand, Daniel also pulled his back, then shifted his gaze away from Emory to look at the Seraphim person beside him.