Chapter 167 A Gift for Louis
Chapter 167 A Gift for Louis
"It's... It's the Japanese!"
Desperate to survive, Valeri racked his brain frantically, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "That Japanese man... his name is Kenichi Yamamoto! On the surface, he's a biology professor at the University of Tokyo, but in reality..."
"I already know all that."
Leo cut him off coldly, his deep eyes betraying not a flicker of emotion, as if watching a worthless clown. "Tell me something I don't know. Otherwise, these bodies scattered everywhere—that'll be you next."
Hearing that Leo even knew Kenichi's name, Valeri sucked in a sharp breath. The last shred of hope in his heart shattered completely.
"I... I really only know a little bit!"
Valeri kowtowed frantically, shouting desperately, "That Kenichi—there's a deeply hidden Japanese secret organization behind him! While he was in Paris, I once secretly glimpsed one of his private letters. It had an extremely secretive Japanese address and some kind of totem on it! But the actual name of the organization—someone at my level would never have access to that information!"
Leo gave a noncommittal nod, signaling him to continue.
Seeing that Reaper hadn't immediately made his move, Valeri swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva and began spilling everything like beans from a bag. "And... and I'm certain that the Japanese organization behind Kenichi has an extremely deep, top-secret collaboration with The Evernight Order!"
"Twenty-five years ago, Lorenzo had a massive disagreement with The Evernight Order over this collaboration. He even outright refused Kenichi, and that's what enraged The Evernight Order! To keep the collaboration going, The Evernight Order turned around and backed the ruthless Louis to take power!"
"As for what kind of horrifying plan they're collaborating on... I swear I really don't know! Louis keeps his mouth shut about it—he won't mention it even when he's drunk!"
Leo's fingers, holding the cigar, paused slightly. His gaze turned ice-cold, sharp as a blade. "Who else in the Valois family knows about this?"
"No... no one!"
Valeri shook his head in terror. "Everyone who knew back then was eliminated by Louis on the night of the bloodbath! I only survived this long because I opened a backdoor for him!"
Watching Leo's expression grow even more indifferent, Valeri completely panicked.
Thinking Leo considered him worthless now, he desperately threw out every other bargaining chip he had. "Reaper! I know Louis's other secrets! I know about his offshore money-laundering accounts! I know he embezzled two hundred million dollars of The Evernight Order's operational funds! I even know the whereabouts of the three illegitimate sons he's keeping on the side!"
"If you spare my life, I'm willing to testify in international court! I can send Louis to prison and destroy his reputation!"
However.
Faced with these so-called "bombshells" Valeri dropped, Leo's face didn't show even the slightest hint of interest.
He exhaled a thick plume of smoke, his gaze as indifferent as if he were looking at a pile of trash. "Embezzlement? Money laundering? Illegitimate children?"
"Do I look like someone who has the time to fight legal battles in court?"
Leo slowly turned around, leaving his back to the man collapsed on the floor, and uttered one quiet sentence. "You've outlived your usefulness."
"No! Reaper! Erwin! Please, I'm begging you..."
Valeri's scream was desperate.
But before he could finish—
"Bang!"
A muffled gunshot exploded in the fireplace hall.
A bloody hole appeared squarely between Valeri's eyes. His eyes widened in disbelief as he toppled straight backward into the pool of blood.
The one who fired was Pierre, who'd been standing nearby all along.
The nearly seventy-year-old man now held an old-fashioned revolver with a silencer in both hands. Smoke still curled from the barrel.
His hands shook violently, but in those aged eyes flowed tears and the satisfaction of a revenge twenty-five years in the making.
"Mr. Valois... Mrs. Valois... today, I finally killed this ungrateful bastard with my own hands..."
Pierre dropped the gun and fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face as he bowed deeply toward the empty air.
Erwin stepped forward, eyes reddening as he firmly helped Pierre—who was like both father and mentor to him—to his feet.
"All right."
Leo stubbed out his cigar and swept a cold glance over the incomplete corpses littering the floor, issuing orders to the Shadow team behind him.
"Olivia, have the men downstairs bring up some sturdy body bags."
A brutally playful gleam flashed in Leo's eyes. "Pack up these dead soldiers along with Valeri's corpse. Load them onto a truck."
"Deliver them to the gates of the Valois Manor tonight."
"As a junior member of the family, how could I not send Louis a generous 'good morning gift'?"
"Yes, Boss!" Olivia acknowledged coldly.
...
The next morning.
At the Valois Manor on the outskirts of Paris, the morning mist hadn't yet lifted.
Several security personnel outside the manor's perimeter were yawning, preparing for shift change. But when they opened the manor's ornate copper-cast iron gate, an overpowering stench of blood hit them in the face.
"Oh, my God!!!"
Accompanied by the security guard's piercing scream, the entire Valois Manor erupted into chaos.
Ten minutes later.
Louis didn't even have time to change out of his pajamas. Wrapped in a silk robe, surrounded by dozens of bodyguards, he stumbled and practically crawled to the manor's main gate.
When he saw clearly what lay outside—
Louis's legs gave out. As if every bone in his body had been drained of marrow, he collapsed and sat paralyzed on the cold, damp stone pavement.
Before him, at the very center of the manor's opulent gates—
Over a dozen mutilated corpses, piled like garbage, had been arranged with extreme precision into a small "mountain of bodies"!
And at the very top of that mountain—
Sat Valeri's head, eyes still wide open in death!
Valeri's eyes were frozen wide, the absolute terror he'd experienced before death still lingering in them, staring straight at Louis where he'd fallen.
"Valeri..."
Louis's lips trembled violently. His well-maintained old face was now pale as paper, cold sweat pouring down his forehead like a waterfall.
His most elite dead soldiers! His most trusted right-hand man!
In just one night, as if ground up by slaughterhouse machinery, they'd been silently discarded like trash at his own front door!
A devil... that Leo was truly a devil!
Just as Louis was scared out of his wits, struggling even to breathe—
The unhurried sound of dress shoes on stone echoed from within the manor grounds.
Hearing the shocking commotion outside, the Templar Knight "Ashfall," who'd been sleeping peacefully, was rudely awakened.
He still wore that immaculate white haute couture suit, his golden hair groomed without a strand out of place.
However, when he walked to the gate and saw clearly the mountain of corpses reeking of decay and blood, his face—handsome as a Greek god's—instantly darkened with extreme disgust and fury.
"Louis."
Ashfall pulled a pristine white handkerchief from his pocket, covering his nose and mouth. His pure blue eyes locked onto Louis, who had collapsed on the ground, his voice emerging as if from an arctic freezer. "You'd better give me a perfect explanation."
Feeling the terrifying killing intent radiating from Ashfall like something tangible, Louis was scared witless.
He crawled desperately toward Ashfall's feet, slamming his head against the cold ground.
"Ashfall, please calm down! I beg you to calm down!"
Louis sobbed, his voice shrill with desperate explanation. "I... last night I just wanted to secretly take care of that bastard Erwin! Once he was dead, all that online public opinion would collapse on its own, and I wouldn't cause any more trouble for The Evernight Order!"
"But I never expected... Leo had already set an ambush, waiting for my men to walk right into his trap!"
"Ashfall, this is that American's naked provocation against you and The Evernight Order!" Louis frantically redirected the blame, wailing in despair.