Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"Are you trying to tell us that we are dragging you into a compound where there are cannibals?" asked Chen Zi Han, his voice coming out in a harsh whisper.  I scrunched my nose. "I can't be completely sure that they are cannibals. I am just working on the assumption that they are," I clarified. 

"Sorry," said Chen Zi Han as his hands tightened his grip on me and sent out a dark glare to the men surrounding us. I was sure that he might have been ripping a few of them to pieces if he wasn't holding me right now. "Let me ask my question properly, then. Are you trying to tell us that we are dragging you into a compound where there could be cannibals?"

"I wouldn't say dragging." I mean, the man was carrying me. But I knew better than anyone else what was waiting for us at the end of the road.

-----

Okay, so apparently, I didn't know what we were getting into. My bad. I might have dropped the ball on that one.

----

We were escorted into what could only be described as a wannabe throne room. I mean, it looked like a very typical farmhouse living room with an old-fashioned wooden fireplace. All the typical furniture that you would expect to see in a living room was gone. Instead, a long red runner covered the hardwood floor's middle portion and led directly to an olive-green wingback chair.

Sitting on the chair was a man, probably around Liu Yu Zeng's age. 

He was the complete opposite of what I thought he would look like. I had a picture in my mind of a 50-something guy that had one too many beers, balding, and missing a few teeth. That was probably not the way to go, but I was basing his looks on the fake Chen Zi Han and the others that escorted us here.

This man had thick, well-styled black hair and a clean-shaven face and was impeccably dressed in a white dress shirt and black pants. In fact, his style was more along the lines of Chen Zi Han and Liu Yu Zeng than the other 'syndicate' members.

I might have actually found him somewhat attractive if he didn't have six or seven girls kneeling around his throne with another one on his lap. 

"Chen Zi Han, I thought I had sent you out to find Xing Xin Ya and her men. What have you brought me instead?" said the man sitting on the throne. His speech was slow, well-cultured, and without any type of accent. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised if he was from City A or one of the other major cities in Country K.

But he didn't seem to recognize any of my men, so it probably wasn't City A or H. 

"Sorry, Sir. They were in the same place that we followed Xing Xin Ya to. I thought it was them. I am so sorry, Sir. I have failed to complete my mission. Please punish me!" The fat, balding Chen Zi Han fell to his knees and started banging his forehead off of the floor like that would help quell the other guy's anger. 

As far as I could tell, it was only adding a darker red to the already red carpet.

"I really expected better of you, Chen Zi Han," the man on the throne tisked, his tongue clicking off the roof of his mouth in disapproval. I raised my brows, really impressed he could put such disdain into a single sound. 

"My life is yours, Sir."

"We don't accept that type of failure in the Red Dragon Syndicate," growled the man as he pushed the girl sitting on his lap onto the floor and stood up. "But you have more than proven your loyalty, so I can forgive you this time."

And that was when I realized it. I almost felt stupid that it took me so long to understand what was going on. Tapping Chen Zi Han on the shoulder, I indicated for him to put me down. He glared at me for a moment before doing as I asked.

I was about to kick the hornets' nest, and I wanted to ensure that all my men had their hands free for what would come next. I looked at Liu Yu Zeng and smirked at him before I started slowly clapping. 

The sound startled the commune's leader, bringing his attention away from the play that he and his enforcer were putting on and straight to me.

"Definitely an Oscar-winning play," I said as I continued to clap. And that was precisely what it was, a play. I had seen it done more times than I cared to count. It might not always look the same, but the lesson it was trying to teach was always the same.

The subordinate fucked up in an unforgivable way. The head was understandably upset but was willing to forgive his people because he was just that great of a man.  In this case, the head even threw in the syndicate's name to show how powerful he was. 

Or thought he was.

When his attention was firmly centered on me, I stopped clapping. 

"I thought I knew all the beauties in the country, but I don't know you," he said, trying to purr seductively. It really wasn't working as well as he might have hoped it would have. 

I walked over to where he stood and looked up at him from below my lashes. "I think I would have remembered someone like you, too," I replied as I looked down and then back up. I held his gaze for a second before looking to the side.

I was trying not to laugh my ass off as I remembered a reel from my first life. I would not let out a mating call. I drew the line at that.

I bit my lip as I looked to the side and brushed a lock behind my ear. Not once in three lifetimes have I ever felt this stupid. But the man before me seemed to be buying into it, hook, line, and sinker.