Mutual Backstabbing

With a click, the door was bolted from within, the muffled sound unusually clear in the room.

Kuroda turned around and shoved the bolt hard into place.

With a sweep of his toe, he kicked the snow-covered cloak into a corner.

Melted snowwater spread across a small patch of floor tiles.

The lamplight fell across his bluish face.

He crossed the room in a few quick strides and rushed to the table.

Both palms braced against its edge.

His eyes were glued to the stack of uncollected, consecutively numbered new banknotes on the tabletop. He could barely bring himself to blink.

His breathing grew heavier and heavier.

Kuroda pressed himself against the table, his mouth moving faster than his brain.

"Boss, that idiot Dahe Long simply can't provide you with that much stock."

"But I, Kuroda, can give you double!"

"As long as you give me the futures order, every piece of Marrowstone Sand mined over the next three months will be delivered to the Gold Source Trading Company's warehouses first!"

Ye lounged in a broad grandmaster's chair, unhurriedly lifted the teapot, and poured himself a cup of hot tea.

The rising steam obscured half his face as the lid spun between his fingertips.

He deliberately left the other man hanging and said nothing for a long while.

Seeing that he remained silent, Kuroda instead straightened his back and raised his chin a little higher.

He forced out a cold laugh from his throat, his manner becoming even more unrestrained.

"You've only just arrived in the Land of Birds, so I suppose you haven't figured out the Alliance's situation yet?"

"To tell you the truth, more than half of the Alliance's high-quality mineral veins are in my hands!"

Kuroda leaned over the table and pressed a little closer to Ye.