Sandalwood Palace Villa.
Located at the junction of East Sea City's Tech Park and Dragon Splendor District, it faced a large Dragon Heart Eco Park and had Southern Sandalwood Mountain at its back. The air was fresh, and the scenery was beautiful, rivaling even Violet Residence No. 1.
Promise Nelson's villa, near Southern Sandalwood Mountain, was called 'Mountain Cottage.' It wasn't very large, with two floors and an attic. There was a swimming pool, garage, and flowerbeds downstairs.
Though simple, it was tastefully decorated.
Promise walked in with a stern face. She was in a very, very bad mood.
"Hey, beautiful, don't be so stingy. Come on, give me a smile..."
"Jerk, get lost!"
Campbell Watson had tried to lighten the mood, but all he got was an angry shout from Promise.
Right now, Promise found Campbell extremely annoying and had no intention of being nice to him.
Campbell scratched his nose and gave an awkward laugh. But then he remembered he had just tricked her out of three million dollars, so he felt a bit better.
"Hey, beautiful, with so many rooms, which one do I get?"
Campbell followed her into the villa, looking around as he asked.
Promise Nelson casually pointed to the storage room on the first floor, then stomped up to her bedroom on the second floor, slamming the door shut with a loud bang.
Campbell Watson shrugged, unfazed.
Compared to the wild jungles of Africa or the war-torn regions of the Middle East, the storage room was paradise.
After tidying up a bit, night had fallen.
Campbell made himself a bowl of instant noodles for dinner and kindly asked Promise if she wanted some, only to be coldly rejected as expected.
After finishing his meal, Campbell sat cross-legged on the foldable bed, facing the sky with his palms up, and began to meditate under the moonlight.
Five years ago, in a mysterious place on the border between the Celestial Nation and Nepal, he had stumbled upon an ancient scroll made of animal hide.
The hide, seemingly impervious to time, was covered in ancient symbols that looked like tadpoles. It took Campbell nearly a year and consultations with dozens of ancient text experts to finally translate it.
The scroll contained a comprehensive guide to an ancient cultivation technique, along with alchemy, formations, medicine, and talismans.
Out of curiosity, he began practicing the ancient technique called the Yin-Yang Art.
Three months later, he actually sensed the strands of spiritual energy described in the scroll.
Thus, without a teacher, he embarked on this solitary path of cultivation.
So far, he had been practicing for four years.
Although he was still in the initial Qi Gathering stage of the first realm, his actual combat ability was comparable to a master in the martial arts world.
Moreover, as his practice deepened, he found the technique to be vast and profound, elevating his spirit and vitality.
The soft moonlight bathed him, making his skin glow with a white, frosty sheen, filling the room with a chill.
Campbell Watson was deeply immersed in his mystical cultivation, completely absorbed...
In the dead of night, when all was silent, Cody agilely scaled the wall of the 'Hillside Cottage,' crossed the lawn, and leaped up to the second floor of the villa like a monkey.
In the storage room where Campbell was practicing, he sensed something and opened his eyes. A flash of silver brilliance shone in his eyes, like two bright moons, but then his aura quickly retracted, making him appear like an ordinary person.
Barefoot, he walked on the cold floor, stood in the living room, and listened intently.
Suddenly, he jumped, grabbed the second-floor railing, and flipped himself up, landing steadily in the hallway.
"Ah... mmm..." Promise Nelson's muffled cries of distress reached his ears clearly.
Bang!
Campbell didn't hesitate. He burst through the door like a cheetah, charging inside.
With a powerful punch, a fierce wave of energy roared towards Cody, who was holding Promise hostage.
The force of the punch was like a tiger, arriving in an instant.
"Master of the Xuan-level martial arts!" Cody could only manage a shout before the overwhelming energy sent him flying, crashing hard into the nearby vanity.
The solid wood vanity shattered into pieces.
Thud!
Cody, leaning against the wall, barely managed to stand. He opened his mouth to say something but instead spat out a stream of blood, staining the black cloth covering his face.
Promise Nelson sat on the ground, dazed and confused, still in a state of shock.
"Hell Organization?"
Cody's left sleeve was torn, revealing a tattoo of two blood-red letters on his arm.
When Campbell Watson saw those letters, a terrifying killing intent flashed in his eyes.
Cody reacted quickly. Before Campbell could make another move, he grabbed Promise and threw her towards Campbell, then turned and ran out of the room.
"Ahhh..."
Promise screamed in fear, her hands flailing wildly.
Campbell reached out and caught her by the waist, spinning half a turn to set her down gently.
In that brief moment, Cody had already jumped off the balcony.
"Trying to run?"
With Campbell's skills, Cody wouldn't have gotten far if he chased after him. But just as he was about to give chase, Promise suddenly clung to his waist, wrapping her legs around his thighs like an octopus.
"Damn it..."
This delay allowed Cody to disappear completely into the night.
"Damn, you got lucky this time."
Campbell muttered under his breath in the direction Cody had vanished. Taking a deep breath to calm his anger, he gently patted Promise's back, soothingly saying, "It's okay now, the bad guy is gone..."
Though Promise Nelson usually carried an air of aloofness and coldness, she was still a girl. Being suddenly confronted with such a situation in the middle of the night scared her out of her wits. Instinctively, she clung tightly to Campbell Watson, seeking a sense of security.
Dressed in a silk nightgown, Promise's front was wide open, revealing a large expanse of her fair skin, which was extremely tempting.
However, Campbell's mind was entirely occupied with the bloody letter tattoo he had seen earlier, leaving him no time for any inappropriate thoughts.
"Ah... you pervert... get out, get out!"
Slowly coming back to her senses, Promise realized her embarrassing state. She quickly pushed Campbell away and dived under the covers, both ashamed and angry, screaming loudly.
"Jeez, why are you screaming? It's not like I did anything to you," Campbell muttered, shaking his head in exasperation. He finally said, "You... you should get some rest," and then left the room.
Lying in bed, Promise stared at the ceiling with her beautiful big eyes, her mind in a whirl. Having faced danger twice today, and with her father suddenly assigning her a personal bodyguard, she keenly sensed that something was definitely wrong. Her father must be hiding something from her. But what?
The company was running smoothly, and even if they had competitors, it shouldn't have come to hiring thugs. Promise kept overthinking, and she barely got any sleep as she lay there wide awake through the second half of the night.
Meanwhile, back in the storage room, Campbell's previously restrained killing intent erupted like a volcano, filling the entire room with a thick, murderous aura.
"The Hell Organization... they've come to Celestial Nation too? And they're targeting the Nelson family. Old man, just what kind of mission did you take on..."
"No matter what, with me here, I'll kill as many as come. Consider it interest," Campbell Watson said, a cruel and sinister smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
The killing intent around him was palpable and unwavering.
The blood-red 'H L' tattoo marked him as a member of the Western dark force known as the 'Hell' organization.
Campbell had a deep-seated vendetta against the Hell organization. Several of his closest brothers, comrades who had fought alongside him, had met gruesome ends at the hands of Hell's members.
He had sworn at their graves that he would destroy the Hell organization, even if it took his entire life.
However, the Hell organization was vast and powerful, boasting eighteen S-class assassins, each with strength comparable to the peak levels of the Celestial Nation. The leader of the organization was an extraordinary being, on par with a Celestial Nation Grandmaster.
With Campbell's current strength, the idea of annihilating Hell was nothing short of a pipe dream.
Moreover, the location of Hell's headquarters remained a mystery. He had spent five years investigating, but to no avail.
Now that he had encountered them in the Celestial Nation, he wasn't about to let this golden opportunity for revenge slip away.
The Hell organization was notorious for its ruthless methods and relentless pursuit of its goals. Having failed this time, they were sure to come back stronger.
Campbell thought for a moment, then took out his phone and dialed a twenty-six-digit number.
"Boss? Where have you run off to this time, leaving us behind to have all the fun?" A sleazy voice answered on the other end.
Campbell had no time for banter. "Skyeye, I need you to prepare the latest set of electronic equipment for me, along with my gear. Send it over as soon as possible. I'll text you the address."
"No problem... Boss, where are you now? Got a new mission?" Skyeye, the tech genius of Campbell's Skywolf Mercenaries, was a master of all kinds of electronic devices and a top-notch hacker.
"Private mission... How's the base doing lately?" Campbell Watson's eyes showed a deep sense of nostalgia.
Skywolf Mercenaries was a mercenary organization he had built from the ground up. Every member was a brother who had faced life and death together. Only at the base did he feel a sense of home.
"The base is fine, but since you left, Boss Fox..."
"Hey, Eagle Eye, who are you talking to? Is it that jerk Campbell Watson?"
Suddenly, a commanding yet feminine voice interrupted, and even though it was from miles away, Campbell shivered at the sound.
He quickly threatened Eagle Eye on the other end of the line, "If you dare tell Fox where I am, I'll throw you into a pile of corpses in the Middle East and leave you there for three days and nights!"
With that, Campbell immediately hung up the phone.
On a small island in South Africa, a wild beauty dressed in a camouflage vest, black short shorts, and black combat boots glared at the phone that was now emitting a busy signal, her teeth grinding in frustration.
"That bastard dares to hide from me? Eagle Eye, where is that jerk now?" The wild beauty, known as Fox, placed one foot on a crate of ammunition, her eyes narrowing as she stared at a pale-skinned, nerdy-looking Asian youth in front of her.
"Boss Fox, I... I don't know..." The young man lowered his head, too scared to even breathe loudly.
In the entire mercenary group, he feared this wild beauty, code-named Fox, the most. Despite her sweet appearance and explosive figure, she was an expert in 108 different interrogation techniques. Known as the Queen of Torture in the mercenary world, even the toughest men couldn't withstand her methods...
"Eagle Eye, are you really not going to tell me?" Fox extended a slender finger, gently lifting the young man's chin, her eyes flashing with dangerous intent.
"Celestial Nation, the boss is in Celestial Nation. I'll send the address right away..."
Revealing the boss's location might get him thrown into a pile of corpses later, but that was a problem for the future. If he didn't talk now, he was certain he'd be in the torture chamber within seconds, experiencing every cruel method known to man.
Weighing the pros and cons, Skyeye didn't hesitate to betray the boss.
Beep beep...
As soon as Skyeye finished speaking, his phone received a text message.
Foxy opened the message, her alluring face breaking into a smile that could charm anyone: "You bastard, let's see where you run this time..."
Foxy tossed the phone into Skyeye's lap and strode out.
"Skyeye, if you dare report to him, I promise I have a hundred ways to make your life a living hell."
Her warning echoed from afar, causing Skyeye, who was just about to send a warning message, to tremble. His phone slipped from his hands and fell to the ground...
Skyeye swallowed hard, his face pale as he picked up the phone. He quickly deleted the message he had been composing and replied with a single word: "Okay!"