"Miss Zhang?"

"Did you expect another Miss Zhang?" Sera was still smiling.

"You — You are Sera Zhang?" Mr. Tan frowned when he realized he got the wrong Zhang. "Follow me. Let's not talk here."

Sera nodded and followed him into one of the VIP rooms on the second floor. This was where the legal business takes place.

"The Tulips… is doing good." This club was in the middle of the city and even when it's daytime, there were people inside.

Mr. Tan flinched when he heard her words. "Miss Zhang… I wasn't expecting to see you here." He turned towards Rose. "Please give me some whiskey. What do you want for your drink, Miss Zhang?"

"Water is fine. Bottled."

After Rose left, Mr. Tan immediately added. "What are you here for? I don't remember having any business with you."

"Not yet." Sera smiled. "We will have a few businesses soon."

Mr. Tan lifted an eyebrow. "What kind of business are we talking about?" Just seeing Sera's smile immediately made Mr. Tan suspicious. Usually, his clients would go to the backdoor and meet him secretly. However, this woman used the front door in broad daylight. It was like… she wanted to be seen around him! Slowly, realization sits in. "You — You are not trying to— "

"Inform everyone that we know each other?" Sera finished his sentence. "You are indeed sharp."

There are seven cities in Cone Lands. Isul which is considered the base of Zhang Corp. Ashil City which is where Sera and the rest of the Zhang Family were born, Aluya City which is the part that has the most pine cones, Cen City, Alarkin City, Pasen City, and Ace City or the biggest city in the whole Saka Region.

The entire Saka region was ruled by a governor and Mayor and councilmen ruled each city.

In reality, the cities were ruled by business executives like Mr. Tan. People who enjoyed life to the fullest. They hated politics and rarely involve themselves in anyone's business. They just gave money to the politicians and to the other businessmen to ensure that they live a happy and enjoyable life. In short, these are filthy rich people who could pay their way into everything and everyone.

Mr. Tan owns a lot of businesses in the entire country and he is also one of the shareholders of Zhang Corp.

What most people didn't know was the fact that these people also run the black market in the whole Saka region. This is a place where illegal tradings happen, sex slaves can be bought, drugs were treated as water, and being a criminal is a norm. In the black market, the laws never existed.

Now, as someone who hacks her way through most things, Sera was very familiar with these people. After all, there is just a small part of the dark web where she used to frequent.

"You threatened your way here and now you are trying to use me? You are bold …" Mr. Tan had a dark look on his face. "Why are you here?"

"Mr. Tan… I heard that someone from the government is trying to target your business lately?" Sera asked.

"That's obvious."

"The election is coming up."

"What does it have to do with your business?"

"Well… it has nothing to do with my business. I was just saying that once the leadership in this city changed… "

"It will not affect my business!"

"Is that so?" she chuckled. "But what if… the person who is trying to bring you down is someone that is considered your rival?"

As expected, her words made the old man glared at her. "Direct to the point!"

"Mrs. Fu is trying to work with the authorities and had been tipping them to the location of the people that you… saved." She used the term saved instead of kidnapped because the women working for Mr. Tan are women who agreed to work for him in exchange for his protection. Of course, this wasn't enough to justify all the things that this man did to those poor women.

From her research, Sera found out some documents and CCTV videos that show that the women prostituting themselves were not really from Xu Country but from other parts of the world. This man didn't kidnap them either. They were illegal settlers and people who were trying to run away from their past that were scammed into working for Mr. Tan.

Again, this man was truly evil.

But Sera was planning to use him.

So, she will not touch him. For now.

"Fu… from the Fu Family? It was her?"

"The people that you sent out lately had been disappearing, right?" Sera knew this because she had seen some people on the dark web talking about this lately. Those were, of course, anonymous people that are talking about another family who is going to take over the entirety of the black market in the Saka Region. At first, she didn't think too much about it.

However, Chris' words about Hill Family and Fu Family reminded her of something that she had read before. It was about two well-known families in the black market. The Hills and Fu were said to be close and are rumored to be allies. They were well known not in Saka Region but Aiba Region and Northern Islands. It is said that they have a lot of diamond mines in another country too. Surely, this isn't just coincidences, right?

Just hearing their names was like a wake-up call for Sera. She recalled everything that Chris told her so far. Chris said the Zhang Family owed him something. However, no matter how much she tried to check online, she couldn't find any connections between Mr. Quinn and the Zhang family. Because of this, she had to be innovative.

She had to think about the only member of the Zhang Family who stayed abroad.

Her mother. Melisa Zhang.

Right now, she just decided to start gathering more information about her mother and her father. She needed to know why Chris was using her. She needed to know the truth. And she needed to prepare for bigger enemies!

She needed to be ready once they come for her.

....

Map is posted below.