Blood sprayed from the Eagle Kingdom man's neck as his head was cut off. The others packed up their things and prepared to withdraw.
Just then, a phone rang on the Eagle Kingdom man's corpse.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, and the man's hoarse voice came from the screen.
"Answer it."
"Yes, boss."
The burly man holding the screen acknowledged the order, stepped forward, and retrieved the phone from the corpse before answering it.
"What took you so long to answer?"
"And what the hell happened to the job I gave you? The livestream cut out halfway through!"
"Are you there? Speak!"
A dark voice kept coming from the phone, its tone seething with anger. The caller was clearly furious.
"He's dead."
The hoarse voice spoke from the screen, and the other end of the line instantly fell silent.
For a moment, an oppressive silence hung in the air.
Only after more than ten seconds did the voice on the phone speak again. "Who are you? How did he die?"
A contemptuous laugh came from the screen.
"You had someone impersonate me, yet you don't know who I am?"
"As for him, I had him killed."
"You're The Mandarin!"
The voice on the other end sounded astonished, but before he could continue, the voice from the screen interrupted him.
"I prefer to be addressed as The Mandarin."
"My apologies, Mandarin."
The caller promptly backed down.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Killian, and I'm sorry for having someone impersonate you."
"I only did it to borrow your reputation and carry out a few plans of mine."
"I'd wanted to work with you all along. I simply couldn't find you."
"Meeting by such a coincidence must be fate. I wonder if you'd be interested in taking part in my