"What stuff? Whatever you want, we can talk."
Griffin Jones quickly raised both hands. "I have plenty of money, and I can help you make money too. You may have heard of Celestial Investment. I founded it."
As an American citizen, he was clearly highly experienced in handling situations like this. After all, in happy America, every day was a gunfight.
"Celestial Investment? That's right. Celestial Investment is exactly what I'm after."
Hogwa Nar sneered and raised the fruit knife pressed against Griffin Jones's neck a little higher. "You took a few pills and started thinking you were a god? Where's the stuff?"
Took a few pills...
At those words, Griffin Jones, who had been forcing himself to remain calm, felt his heart lurch.
The Genius Drug was his greatest secret and his greatest reliance.
He had always believed this was a secret that belonged to him alone. Now that someone had exposed it with a single remark, how could he not panic?
"W-what drugs? I've quit already. You know how hard it is to get that stuff in the Xia Kingdom."
Griffin Jones kept both hands raised high, still forcing himself to stay calm, but his increasingly rapid breathing gave him away somewhat.
Of course he hadn't forgotten where the Genius Drug had come from.
Clearly, its owner had now come knocking.
Having experienced it himself, he naturally knew the drug's incredible effects and value. It wasn't hard to imagine the forces and interests involved, either.
But... he couldn't understand why they had zeroed in on him so precisely.
He had considered this before and even made a special trip back to the scene to check. There shouldn't have been any witnesses when he "picked up" the Genius Drug, and the surrounding recreational plaza wasn't the sort of place