Matthew Atkinson
Oxford, United Kingdom
Soon, a tall woman walked out of the room.
The woman looked very young, with fair skin, but she wore a mask that revealed only her eyes.
"Hehe, this kid isn't as good as people say online. He lost his composure after just one scare. Ten of Hearts, your backup plan is completely useless," one of the men said.
The other person also commented, "Actually, if he had struggled to his feet just now, with the attribute points he gained from eight layers of the Supernatural Realm, he might have had a chance to escape. Unfortunately, this kid's mental fortitude is too poor."
The woman codenamed "Ten of Hearts" ignored what her two companions were saying.
She took out a photo of Matthew and compared it with Matthew himself.
"It's definitely him, let's go."
The two men held Matthew down as they prepared to leave.
Upon seeing this, the former homeowner at the door immediately said, "Wait, you promised me ten million if I helped you lure this man here."
The man with the rifle grinned menacingly. "Don't worry, we keep our word. We'll take you to get the money now."
Upon hearing this, the former homeowner was a little scared, but for the sake of money, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow these people.
The group walked into the elevator and left the apartment building.
They seem completely unafraid of the ubiquitous surveillance cameras.
Downstairs, an old-fashioned seven-seater minivan was already waiting.
Matthew and the former homeowner were both pushed into the car and sat in the middle row.
After getting into the car, to prevent Matthew from causing trouble and damaging the vehicle, his feet were also handcuffed.
Actually, they didn't need to do that.
Before meeting the other accomplices, Matthew would be absolutely cooperative and cause no trouble.
The car started and slowly drove onto the road.
Matthew glanced at the former homeowner next to him. If nothing unexpected happened, this person would definitely die.
Of course, Matthew wouldn't sympathize with him. This man tricked Matthew into coming to the apartment.
For money, he lured Matthew into a trap. And if the person in question had been anyone other than Matthew, that person's life would have been ruined.
Even if Matthew didn't have such great strength now, wouldn't he have lost his life?
To go all out in a performance, Matthew deliberately cursed loudly, "You son of a bitch, you've ruined my life."
Cursing under his breath, Matthew tried to stand up and lunge forward, looking like he was about to bite the man.
Upon seeing this, the former homeowner immediately reached out to stop Matthew, while simultaneously launching into a tirade of insults.
"You still dare to talk? It's all your fault, you bastard. Ever since I sold the house to you, I've had a string of bad luck and lost all my money."
The fact that someone could utter such words was enough to show that this person was not only selfish but also had a rather abnormal thought process.
Watching the two argue, the kidnappers in the car smiled.
The driver couldn't help but say, "Stop it. This is an old car. Don't let them flip it over."
The reason for choosing a classic car was that modern self-driving cars were all connected to the internet, and would automatically alert authorities if any abnormality was detected inside the car.
Upon hearing this, the crowd separated Matthew from the former homeowner.
"You all better behave yourselves," said the man who had arrested Matthew earlier.
The former homeowner suddenly knelt before the kidnappers and said, "Please, I'm willing to join you, become your undercover agent, and work for you from now on."
Clearly, the former homeowner wasn't that stupid.
He realized that not only would he not receive his money, but he would also lose his life if things continued as they were.
Matthew sat back down in his seat, glanced at the previous homeowner again, but said nothing more.
...
The car quickly left the city and arrived in the suburbs. Then it stopped in an abandoned village.
"Get off."
Matthew and the former homeowner were both pushed out of the car and into a spacious courtyard of a residential house.
Upon entering, a young man whose hands were tied ran over crying.
"Dad! Help me! Dad..."
"Son? What are you doing here?"
The previous homeowner was horrified.
Matthew noticed the woman with the code name "Ten of Hearts" signal her subordinate, who immediately pulled the father and son into the backyard.
Soon, two muffled gunshots rang out from the backyard.
Throughout the entire process, Matthew made no unusual moves. After all, he was still acting, and his hands and feet were cuffed.
But his gaze was constantly scanning the people in the courtyard.
There were six people in the courtyard.
At that moment, the woman, codenamed ten of hearts, suddenly took out a special communication device and began contacting someone.
Matthew, on the other hand, was assigned to squat in the corner.
More than an hour later, two cars drove in from a distance and into the courtyard.
Seven people got out of the car.
Matthew noticed that all seven people wore a special ornament on their chests, with strange, intricate patterns carved onto it.
If someone stared closely at that pattern, it would produce a special effect, distorting their vision.
The leader of them was a man in a long robe, dressed much like a clergyman from a religious community.
Matthew has been in this world for more than half a year, so he naturally has a certain understanding of it.
But he had never heard of a community that wore such a badge.
Therefore, it was easy to guess who these people were. They must be members of some shady cult.
Just as Matthew was sizing up these people, they came up to him.
Upon seeing Matthew, they immediately expressed satisfaction and began talking to Ten of Hearts.
Judging from their bargaining conversation, they didn't seem to belong to the same organization.
"You did a great job." The long-robed man said.
"It's time to pay the balance, Mr. Smith." Ten of Hearts demanded.
But Mr. Smith disagreed, "No, no, not now. I need to see another person before I can give you the final payment."
"Who?" Ten of Hearts asked.
"Natalie Russell." Mr. Smith said.
"This objective was not in our agreement." Ten of Hearts quickly rejected this request.
But Mr. Smith smirked and said, "It is now. On the way here, I contacted the Queen of Hearts from your House of Cards, and she agreed to the deal. You can go and confirm it."
The two did not shy away from Matthew during their conversation.
Probably, in their eyes, Matthew was a man destined to die.
From this conversation, Matthew could tell that the two belonged to different factions and that the Ten of Hearts came from an organization called "House of Cards".
The other group was probably a cult.
Looked like House of Cards was hired by this cult organization to kidnap Matthew.
In addition, the House of Cards organization seems quite large. The Ten of Hearts was likely a minor leader, and above her was the Queen of Hearts.
Now that they had the Queen of Hearts, there must also be the King of Diamonds, the Ace of Spades, and maybe even the Jokers.
Matthew made a note of this "House of Cards" organization.
Since they dared to kidnap him, he would definitely uproot this organization in the future.
As for the other group… Their real target seemed to be Natalie.
...
Just as Matthew was pondering, the two groups had finished discussing and reached an agreement, and were once again on the same side.
"Find his phone." The elderly man in a long robe spoke, "Then use his phone to call Natalie Russell."
Matthew could tell from the man's accent that he wasn't a native Englishman. He was most likely from another European country.
After the elderly man's order, one of the subordinates immediately came to Matthew's side and took the phone out of Matthew's pocket.
Seeing this, Matthew couldn't help but say, "I advise you not to waste your time. Natalie Russell will definitely not be coerced by you because of me."
He wasn't just making this up.
A few days ago, Natalie Russell asked him what level his current strength had reached.
Matthew replied that, according to the national standards, his strength was roughly at the seventh rank.
If his strength hadn't reached the seventh rank before, then now that he's eaten the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Matthew's strength has definitely reached the seventh rank.
The seventh rank was one level below the King rank, and at the time, the highest rank in the world was considered the King rank.
All King rank experts were regarded as special. Countries generally viewed them as ultimate weapons.
Upon hearing Matthew's reply, Natalie remained speechless for a long time.
Then, the girl sighed. She seemed to have finally accepted the idea that she would never catch Matthew.
Natalie was definitely the person she had the least to worry about when it came to Matthew.
"Enough with the nonsense." The man scolded Matthew, then held Matthew's phone up to his face.
The phone unlocked after Matthew's face was scanned. Matthew just cooperated with them.
The person then found Natalie Russell's number in their contacts and dialed it.
It was already around 5 p.m., and the sky was darkening.
After dialing the number, Natalie answered the phone quickly, "Hello? Matt?"
The subordinate immediately said, "You're Natalie Russell, right?"
On the other end of the phone, Natalie's voice came through, "Who are you?"
"Who I am is not important. What's important is that Matthew Atkinson is in my hands now. You don't want to see this pretty boy die, do you? If…"
Natalie, on the other end of the phone, interrupted the man and said, "You mean, you kidnapped Matthew?"
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.165: A Handful of Amateurs
Ch.166: Last Hurdle – Solo Supernatural Realm
Ch.167: Global Layer of the Supernatural Realm