Chapter 87: Thousand-eyed Entity
Chapter 87: Thousand-eyed Entity
Adam also left the car, and at the same time, they were already being approached by Shae's cousin.
"Long time no see, Shae."
"Indeed, long time no see, Tanner. I don't believe we've met that many times in general." Shae was still quite young and was not a fan of the pretentious fa?ade that adults always put on. "There's no need to be all friendly with me. We're going to be competing with one another, aren't we?"
"Don't be like that. At the end of the day, we're still family, and we don't have to compete with one another." Tanner drew closer to Shae, then lowered his voice as he continued, "Truth be told, I don't necessarily want to fight with you over inheritance rights. There are a lot of illegal and ambiguous elements in the documents presented by your side, but like I said, we are family, and I'm not opposed to sharing some of our family's wealth with you. However, when it comes to decision-making in Golden Teeth Incorporated, I think it would be best if you didn't get involved."
Tanner was quite a bit older than Shae, so he had better control over his own emotions and wasn't incensed by Shae's words. Instead, he presented a sugar-coated threat that was disguised as a suggestion for her own good.
He could turn a blind eye to how Shae had secured her right to succession, and he could allow Shae to seize the assets that she wanted, but he didn't want Shae to be able to play a part in the company's decision-making. Essentially, what he was saying was that if she insisted on fighting for speaking rights, then he would bring up the legitimacy of her right to succession as a point of contention.
"On top of that, we'll continue to issue you dividends in accordance with the shares that you hold, so you'll be receiving a stable income without having to worry about anything. Doesn't that sound great?" Tanner was speaking in a very courteous manner. "You're still too young right now. In a few years, once you're in your twenties, and you're still interested in getting involved in the decision-making process, then that's certainly not out of the question."
"That's a very reasonable suggestion, but I refuse," Shae replied with a shake of her head.
If she were still oblivious to her past and hadn't gotten involved in this mess, then perhaps she would've accepted this offer. Then again, if she hadn't gotten herself into this mess, then she would've never received the assistance of the resistance army, so she would've never had the right to succession in the first place.
This was a paradox, and at this point, she no longer had a choice in the matter.
"My parents were the ones overseeing the operation of Golden Teeth Incorporated, so it's only right that I inherit the operating rights from them."
"Are you sure you don't want to reconsider?" Tanner's expression immediately darkened upon hearing what Shae had to say, and his hook nose paired with his sinister expression gave him the appearance of a malicious vampire. "It's important to understand when you should accept a way out when it's offered to you. Otherwise, things could end up badly for everyone, wouldn't you agree?"
"You're not going to be able to convince me. I'm taking the operating rights, and that's not negotiable!"
"What right does a stray mutt like you have to compete with me?" Seeing as his attempt at negotiation had failed, Tanner immediately did away with all semblance of pleasantries. "I know how you came into our family! You were brought here from god-knows-where! Do you really think you're a member of our Kim Family?"
"You think you’ll get me riled up by saying all of this?" Even though Shahe normally had a terrible temper and would snap at the drop of a hat, she was remarkably calm and collected in the face of Tanner's insults. "I was legally adopted, so according to law, I am no different from a biological child to my parents. Aren't you grasping at straws by trying to put my status as a member of the Kim Family into question? You should be telling me about how many people are supporting you, or how much of the company's shares are held by your backers, or how many major shareholders you've recruited to your side and are willing to vote for you. Aren't those the things that truly matter here?"
Tanner was clearly rather embarrassed by Shae's retort, and he was just about to rebuke her when Masao Yamamoto emerged from behind him.
"You have a sharp tongue, little girl. Looks like I made the right choice digging you out of that mound of flesh and blood all those years ago."
"You were the one who brought me into the Kim Family?"
Shae was shocked to hear this, and she was just about to say something when Cowboy suddenly interjected.
"Aren't you being a little rude invading her psychic world right in front of me? Did you think we wouldn't send anyone to protect her?"
Another person arrived on the scene while Cowboy was speaking, and it was none other than the warlock from before. He was also present at the gathering.
Adam was the last one to arrive. His telegnosis still wasn't as sharp as that of Cowboy and Warlock, so it took him a few seconds to notice that something was amiss.
"He invaded my psychic world?" Shae looked at the guests around her, then cast her gaze toward the estate in the distance. "When did he do that?"
"Right when he was talking about how he dug you out of that mound of flesh and blood." Cowboy pulled a cigar out of his pocket as he spoke. "Is it a fight that you're looking for, Masao?"
Masao was standing on the lawn as he inspected the two people before him with an intrigued expression.
"I didn't expect to see two of Wax Figure's most trusted subordinates here. I would certainly be interested in testing out your skills."
Masao Yamamoto's body suddenly began to expand as he spoke, and all of a sudden, he had grown from a short yet muscular old man into a giant figure that was seven to eight meters tall. His face had taken on a monstrous visage, and he had sprouted an extra pair of arms. In addition to that, there were countless densely packed eyes growing all over his chest and back.
Even in his current state, Adam couldn't help but feel extremely unnerved under the scrutiny of those eyes, and he felt as if his skin were crawling.
His ability to strike fear into the heart of others is even more potent than the anomaly of fear!
Adam didn't dare to take this monstrous form of Masao Yamamoto's lightly, and he immediately invoked Mummy, then fused as one with it before picking up Shae and running away to the side.
As he did so, he wrapped his metallic bandages around Shae, thereby enveloping her in a protective cocoon.
Adam had no intention of fighting in this battle, nor was he going to let Shae get involved.
The first reason for this was that didn't want his secret to be exposed to the enemy, and the second reason was that Masao Yamamoto was far too powerful for him to oppose. In fact, he was even more powerful than Oni no Hanzou, and if he were to go up against such a fearsome opponent, he could easily be killed in an instant.
Masao Yamamoto could see Adam running away with Shae, and he immediately spread open an enormous hand, upon which countless dark clouds converged from the distance. With the arrival of the dark clouds came a burst of murmuring that resembled cyberhexes being uttered, or the voices of ghostly apparitions, and hearing the sound immediately struck one with a splitting headache, as well as a feeling akin to having countless ants crawling over one's body.
Thankfully, Mummy was the anomaly of pain, so it had exceptional pain tolerance, both in terms of physical pain and psychological torment. However, the same couldn't be said for Shae, and she began to howl in agony. Her eyes instantly turned bright red, and blood was flowing out of her ears and nostrils. Such was the severity of her agony that she couldn't help but sprout her second head, but even so, that didn't do much to lessen her pain.
Right as Adam was about to invoke his other anomalies so that one of them could fuse with Shae and alleviate her suffering, Cowboy suddenly fired a holy light bullet up into the sky.
The holy light exploded within the dark clouds, illuminating the clouds with golden radiance.
However, that still wasn't enough, and Warlock raised his hands to form an array in the sky, which sucked in countless dark clouds like a massive vacuum.
The rest of the dark clouds overhead crumbled into acid rain that came cascading down from above.
All of the houses and trees on the ground were completely eroded into nothingness under the acid rain.
Thankfully, Adam possessed exceptional defenses, and he was able to shield Shae from all of the attacks with his back.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm ok." Shae was gasping for air, and her bloodshot eyes were full of fear. "How is he this powerful?"
"I don't know..."
"Will those two be able to beat him?"
"Again, I don't know."