Demons Beside You

“Boss!” Sally hurriedly opened the door to Chen Zhao’s mother’s office.

“What happened?”

“Boss, our agent in the Dark family said that in the evening, Penout Dark sent all his people out. He even employed two mercenary teams. They’re heading to Mountain Town.”

Mother stood up at once. “What?! How dare he do this?!”

While they had been secreting fighting in the past, they followed the unspoken rules and did not do anything blatantly.

However, Penout Dark actually broke the rules and was going to attack Chen Zhao directly.

“How long have they been gone for?” Mother asked.

“More than an hour.”

“Call our people. Let’s go to Mountain Town now!” Mother said in anger.

Sometimes, competition between the rich would make them look like illegal gangs, especially infighting in a big family like this.

There were too many unreasonable conflicts, both open and covert.

The conflict between Chen Zhao’s mother and the Dark family had been going on for a long time.

The Dark family always felt that she was an outsider. She had no right to take the biggest asset of the family.

However, the former master of the Dark Family, Yura’s father, entrusted the pharmaceutical company to Mother before he died.

Moreover, it was done in a legal way, although the members of the Dark family did not want to admit it.

To them, family business should be settled within the family, not via the law.

Of course, no matter how domineering the Dark family was, they could not fight with Chen Zhao’s mother for the pharmaceutical company, given that she had the paperwork.

Chen Zhao’s mother also signed an agreement: the company must be inherited by Yura or someone from the Dark family.

To stop the continuous harassment from the Dark family, Chen Zhao’s mother eventually accepted the agreement.

Of course, the hidden competition between the two parties had never stopped.

As Chen Zhao’s mother gained control over the company, the Dark family realized that they were slowly losing influence.

Furthermore, she had secretly bribed some of the Dark family members.

On the surface, Chen Zhao’s mother was in total control.

The opposition in the Dark family, however, would clearly not give up like this. They had been plotting something in the dark.

Sally said hesitantly, “Boss, we only have twenty people. We won’t be able to stop them.”

“The Dark family can hire mercenaries, so can we. Do you think I’m poorer or less powerful than them?”

“Yes, Madam.” Sally immediately took her phone and contacted the mercenaries in LA.

The advantage of hiring mercenaries was that they could be called anytime.

As long as enough money was offered, a large group could be summoned even in the middle of the night.

“Boss, we have a potential team. They ask for three million dollars.”

“Deal. Ask them to bring their equipment and meet us now.”

Mother was very nervous. “Ask them to be fast. Faster.”

…

Toby made a hand signal at Haus who was on land. “Let’s go!”

Four speedboats charged into Mirror Lake from the river. The wide lake was defenseless.

“Go! Let’s turn the mansion flat!”

Splash—

Suddenly, the speedboat beside Toby overturned without warning.

It was as if time slowed down. Toby could see his companions in the air.

Their faces were still filled with excitement as they raised their arms high in the air.

Then, the excitement turned into astonishment, and then fear.

Thud…

The speedboat fell on the lake. The mercenaries on the other three speedboats were flabbergasted.

“What? What attacked them?”

“I didn’t see anything.”

All the mercenaries looked lost. They had no idea what was happening.

What kind of attack would cause such an effect?

The speedboat had actually rolled in the air. It looked as if a hand in the lake had slapped the boat from below.

Just then, the mercenaries from the overturned speedboat swam back to the surface.

“Huh… What’s that?!” one of the mercenaries screamed, after which he was pulled into the lake.

Right then, the second mercenary disappeared too, and then the third…

The fourth mercenary was pulled into the water before he managed to resurface. “Help… There’s a…”

Splash—

In no time, he was gone again.

“Light! Look at what’s in the lake!”

Just then, a huge shadow appeared below the three speedboats and neared them slowly.

It was big… huge! Enormous…

“Go! There’s a monster in the water!”

Toby finally realized the problem. “Spread out! Quickly go to the shore, don’t…”

Crash!

Before he could finish, he saw the world turn upside down.

The next instant, Toby dropped into the water. He saw his companion not far away. Something long extended from below and dragged his companion deeper down…

Aghast, Toby surfaced and swam toward the shore with all his might.

Just then, another speedboat flew over his head.

Toby turned around and took a quick glimpse. A few of his teammates had just emerged on the surface before being pulled down again.

The lake had monsters, and not just one!

Toby’s mind was engulfed by terror. He could not think about what had attacked them anymore. All he could do was to swim toward the shore as quickly as possible.

Finally, he reached the shore. Toby threw himself on land.

Only then did he turn to look at the lake. Apart from the four overturned speedboats, there was nothing.

It was quiet and calm as if nothing had happened.

“Who! Who’s there?!”

“Haus… It’s me… Toby…”

“What? Toby? Didn’t you…”

“We were attacked. There was something—monsters—in the lake! All my men were dragged into the water!”

“Stop joking.” Haus walked out from the dark.

Nevertheless, he could see that Toby was completely wet.

Frowning, he looked at the lake.

There were four overturned speedboats, but there was no one.

“Where are your men?”

“I said, there are monsters in the lake. I’m not lying. Why would I lie?”

“What monsters?”

“I don’t know! I only know that they’re huge… gigantic! Not just one. I saw another one when I fell into the water… It’s long, like a snake. It’s the one that dragged my people down.”

Haus looked at the four speedboats again and hesitated for a long while. “Are you serious?”