Under The Veil of Night

Inside the hall, the people were waiting impatiently for the debate to start. When either side came inside, the room’s temperature seemed to drop by dozens of degrees. The two young men were looking at one another like they were ready to murder the other party.

Mind you, they were trained in martial arts ever since they were young. Because both of them had participated in numerous killings, their gaze was filled with bloodlust and killing intent. Those who sat on the front row gritted their teeth in fear. These two were not ordinary men.

When the three judges came inside, all of them stood up. The three judges were extremely famous judges in this city as they were the one who usually handled high level cases. Two of them were men and the other one was a woman. From their appearance, it was clear that they were already above 50 in age, yet their steps were still very firm.

"You may sit down," one of the judges said calmly.

The audience quickly sat down on their seats. Some of them were sweating as they watched the court unfolded in front of their eyes.

"The grand debate may begin. We will start from Ivan Wells."

"Thank you," Ivan stood up from his chair. His gaze was sharp as he stared at Jason. Traces of mocking appeared from deep within his eyes. "Jason Wells, do you know that based on the law, I’m the legal successor of Wells Family? I’m older than you and I have worked far harder than you."

He tapped the laptop in front of him. It showed the record of the case that he did in Wells Family.

"As you can see, I have done much more than most young masters in this city. If it’s not me as the family head, who will be suitable?"

They had one minute to talk about their statement, but Ivan didn’t bother using his time to the fullest. After all, this was only the opening and they merely stated their stances.

Jason watched as Ivan returned back to their seat.

"My dear cousin, it feels as if you’re telling me that you’re the successor because you’re older than me. I believe that the successor shouldn’t be selected based on age alone, but more to capabilities. If you think that I have not worked enough, you should see my cases so far."

Just like Ivan, Jason had collected them all and showed them to the screen. When the crowds saw how many works this young man had, they gasped in surprise. The number was truly overwhelming.

"The Wells Family never made their legal statement that I’m the successor. I wonder why you’re accusing me of taking the seat when there’s no guarantee about them at all."

As soon as Jason sat down, Ivan stood up. "Have you seen the newspaper and news report every single day? The media have been showing you all of your glory. It makes people think that you, Jason Wells, are the true successor of Wells Family.

Because of the misconception, people have been slandering me regarding this matter. It’s all because you’re slandering me that people are thinking that I’m not the rightful successor. "

Jason arched his eyebrows. "Are you blaming me for the reporters who have been following me and letting out the news? Should I sue them for doing their work? The people must be thinking that I’m already crazy."

Several people snickered when they heard what Jason said. It was true that many reporters only did their work. As for how the news turned out, there were times when people wouldn’t know about that.

"Also, why are you saying that I’m slandering you? Shouldn’t you give proof that I’m the one slandering you?" Jason asked back, his tone as composed as possible.

Ivan snickered. If the other party thought that he hadn’t been prepared, he was terribly wrong.

"The information base in my place has been sabotaged by someone not long after I reveal the fact that you’re part of the underworld, Jason. The only one who will do that is you because you will be having a lot of benefit from that. Now, am I wrong?"

Jason shook his head. "Can you tell me when your information base or whatever has been sabotaged?"

"It’s the next day at XX/XX/XXX around 2 PM."

"Unfortunately, I’m with Laura Nali at that time. We’re having lunch in her favorite restaurant. You may check the security camera for more information," Jason replied placidly.

"You can ask for someone to search it for you!"

Clara raised her hand. "May I interrupt? This is the grand debate, so please provide the proof of what you say before you’re accusing someone. It’s unwise to blabber nonsense like that."

"Ivan, this is the first warning," one of the judges reminded.

Ivan grunted. He noticed that his lawyer has been giving him signal to calm down. He took a deep breath as he scowled silently. Facing his annoying cousin, he couldn’t control himself too well.

"You’re part of the underworld, so it should be easy for you to ask for their help to search for something that you want. As far as I know, you’re Oro of Fiore Group, am I right?"

Gasping sound reverberated in the hall. The reporters’ eyes glimmered in happiness. They had never expected to hear something like this from them. Now, this would be very interesting. They were already impatient to go back home and wrote numerous pieces of report regarding Fiore Group. It would surely shake the entire city so badly.

As Jason didn’t answer, Ivan continued his words. "In Fiore Group, there are four core members. One of them has the ability to hack into the cameras, not letting their pictures be captured. Wouldn’t it be easy for him to hack into mine too?"

Beside Jason, Laura couldn’t hold her laugh as she cackled quietly. Ivan saw that and his expression turned ugly. Why would this woman laugh during his speech? Didn’t she worry about her boyfriend?

"Laura?" the female judge asked.

"My apologize Your Highness* it’s just I have the feeling that Ivan is not ready for this debate at all," Laura replied. She stood up nonchalantly. "Fiore Group has four members in total. Rei and Tom hold the front, Oro switched between front and back, while Shin protects from the back. There’s one more thing that they never realize, the one who hack the cameras is Oro."

Laura had done her homework by asking Jason about their work. Seeing the report that they made and compiled made her understood their work division. She had to say that she was amazed by how her sister managed to become the leader.

’As expected of my sis.’

That was her thoughts when she finished reading Jason’s report that he compiled for her.

The crowds were stunned by her words. It could be true since Jason was the young master of Wells Family. He had learned how to hack computers ever since he was young, so it would be a piece of cake for him. It was the same with Ivan because the two of them needed to have some capabilities in order to handle the hackers.

Ivan glared at Laura. "Don’t spout lies, Miss Nali. How do you know that it’s not that shadow member, Shin?"

Laura pointed to Jason. "It’s better for him to explain by himself, right?"

Jason placed his hand on top of Laura’s shoulder. He sighed as he watched Ivan. "I know that being part of a group is not something glorious, but it’s true. I’m the one who hacks the cameras because the other three are too busy. Shin is a sniper. He has no time watching the camera as you may see from our record.

I already collected information regarding Fiore Group," Jason moved his finger and showed the documents on the screen. "If you pay close attention, you’ll see the pattern that I’m the one who hacked. As for what I have done so far, I’m not regretting it. A group is not criminal. We’re made to do mission that many people don’t want to do.

Fiore Group always limits our activity in the area within Black Street. In this part of the city, you can’t charge us unless we’re offending a high level ranking person. I’m proud to be part of this group as it shows me a lot of things that I can never see as the young master."

Jason paused for a few seconds. He saw that he still had a couple more seconds as he looked at Ivan. "What about you? Do you feel proud for sacrificing the life of numerous innocent people to become the lab experiment rat? You’re taking their life without their consent."

Ivan’s face turned blue. "There’s nothing we can gain without sacrifice. They are all necessary sacrifices. As for their consent, is there any need for that? They’re already at the end of their life and they didn’t have any good life either. It’s better that they become of good use for us."

"For us?" Jason asked with a sarcastic tone. "Don’t lump me together with you. I don’t care about the research result at all. You should not decide what’s good about those people because you don’t know them."

"Also, who’s the one doing the dirty trick?" Jason forcefully pulled himself to calm down. He knew that he had blurted out something outrageous, so he tried to change the topic. "I have called someone today to present proof of your doing."

"What are you talking about?" Ivan yelled. He was about to lash out again when he saw Alan walk in. He recognized Alan as the son of a newspaper firm’s owner. He bribed them to share good news about him. But they didn’t do that.

Alan walked stiffly. Compared to the calm Laura, he looked far more nervous. As he sat down on the chair, he looked at Clara.

"Your name is Alan Mirro?"

"Yes."

"Did your newspaper firm receive order from Ivan?"

"Yes."

"What’s the order?" Clara asked.

"He asks us to share good things about Ivan and the fact that he’s the legal successor of Wells Family," Alan replied.

The crowd was stunned to hear Alan’s proclamation. All eyes landed upon Ivan, whose face had turned red as a tomato. He opened his mouth, trying to refute, but the crowds were looking at him with an unbelieving gaze. Unfortunately, the debate has not been over. There were still a lot of questions and revelations they needed to do.