"A gift from an old friend?" Ryder muttered in confusion. What did Janus mean?

"Which friend? Are you talking about yourself? Don't joke around. This tattoo looks strange on my hand. I look like a gangster. Remove it right now," he said straight away.

"I am asking you! If it's not you, tell me who did it so I can beat the crap out of him for making this!" Ryder replied in annoyance.

He wished to get it removed from his hand as fast as he could.

Janus stopped replying to Ryder at this point. Ryder kept asking again and again, but Janus didn't say anything.

"Fine. Don't answer. Keep your mouth shut and ignore me. Just remember, I'll ignore you too one day," he let out as he rolled his eyes before he stepped out of the bathroom.

He gazed at his hand one last time before he wore a full sleeves t-shirt and covered his forearm.

He stepped out of the room and met up with Alice, who was waiting outside for him already. Alice seemed to be long ready to leave.

"You're finally out. If you still hadn't come, I would have woken you up myself," Alice's eyes lit up as she saw Ryder outside.

She caught his hand and dragged him outside the room without giving him a chance even to speak.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Ryder asked Alice as he got dragged by her.

"We are going to be late!" Alice replied.

"Late for what?" Ryder asked, still not understanding what it was about.

"I don't seem to have any appointments or reservations. Weren't we just going to roam around the city?" He inquired.

"Plan change. I saw an offer online and took it. It gave us the booking of the entire day on the cheap," Alice let out.

"A booking of where?" Ryder asked.

"DiskeyLand. It is an offer that provided us with a limo to pick up and drop at that place. There are also more services included. I wanted to ask you, but the offer was going to expire in ten minutes, and you were sleeping at that time, so I did it myself," Alice told Ryder. "The Limo is already outside."

"Did I make a mistake?" She asked. "I can cancel it if you have another plan decided. The cancellation charges are only two percent."

"It's fine. There's no need to cancel," Ryder replied as he sighed.

He entered the lift with Alice, which went down. They left the hotel only to find a long black car waiting outside for them.

They confirmed with the driver if the car was here for them before they stepped inside the car.

The car took them to DiskeyLand and dropped them at the entrance with the VIP tickets.

The tickets gave them an even faster entry inside the venue.

They stepped inside the place only to be greeted by the mascot of that place, who seemed to be a humanoid cat in coat and pant.

"Look, Dickey Cat! Such a classic! It was such a funny cartoon when it used to come on tv."

Alice pointed out excitedly, but Ryder's mind seemed to be in a different place altogether. He had once again tried calling Shu, but the number was out of reach again. Something didn't seem right.

Not only was Shu's number out of reach for a long time, but he didn't get any call from Shu either. He could be busy at work but not for so long. And how could his phone be out of reach for so long?

Something didn't make sense.

He went online and tried to find the service number of Dream Corporation. Since Shu's number was out of reach, he was going to try calling them directly.

"Is something wrong?" Alice saw the seriousness on Ryder's face. He seemed to be thinking about something else entirely. Let alone enjoying this place, he seemed to be more serious instead.

"It's nothing. I need to make a quick call. How about getting an ice-cream for yourself. I'll join you soon," Ryder said as he pointed towards an ice-cream shop.

Alice nodded her head and left to get ice cream while giving him privacy to deal with whatever matters he had.

After Alice left, Ryder called the reception of Dream Corporation Headquarters.

"Hello, Dream Corporation. How may I help you?"

A female voice answered Ryder's call.

"Hello, I am Ryder Flynn. I need to talk to Schumacher Maxwell. His phone is out of reach. Can you transfer the call to him? Just tell him my name. He will confirm my identity," Ryder told the woman.

"Mr. Maxwell? I am sorry, sir, but he isn't here. He left a few days ago after the meeting," The woman answered Ryder.

"Hmm? He left? So he isn't working there? Did he go home or to some other business meeting?" Ryder asked.

"I am sorry, but I can't answer that. I have no information about his whereabouts," the woman answered.

"Alright. Thanks," Ryder let out softly before he disconnected the call.

Ryder placed his phone in his pocket as he fell in deep thought. Strange he left the office, but he didn't call me. He isn't even back home since I recently talked to the mansion guards regarding it. Just where is he?" He let out with concern evident on his face

He was still lost in thought when an ice-cream appeared before him, held by a beautiful hand.

"Here, I brought one for you too," Alice told Ryder as she gave him the ice cream.

"Thanks," Ryder thanked Alice as he took the ice cream.

"May I know what's troubling you? I may not be able to help, but sharing always helps in times like this," Alice alluded to Ryder lightly.

She didn't wish to force him to tell her, but she did wish to express that she was here to listen if he wished to talk.

"It's about Shu. I don't know where he is. His whereabouts are unknown. The office said that he left days ago. The mansion guards say that he isn't back yet. His number is out of reach as well. The number of his butler is off as well. Something doesn't seem right," Ryder let out.

"I am worried for him," he expressed.

*****

"How long are we going to keep his death a secret?"

"Just a little longer. If we let this information out now, the share prices will fall like a rock from a cliff. Let us take some precautions first to protect the Dream Corporation against those variables. We need to treat this thing carefully."

"Sigh, what can we even do? We can't save the shares. The mysterious Shu Maxwell is seen as the core of this company. With his death, the Maxwell bloodline is over as well. Trust of people will certainly fall, but we can come above it."

" No, I have a better idea. Only we know that Shu Maxwell died in a helicopter crash. A few people in the police and first responders know, but we already paid them money to keep silent. The people don't know, and we must keep it that way."

"How is that even possible? Shu Maxwell is the one who deals with the government on important matters. His absence will certainly arouse suspicions."

"No, it won't."

"Why not?"

In an adequately lit up room, the top board members of the Dream Corporation were talking amongst themselves. They had all found out about Shu's death, but it wasn't leaked outside the company yet. If it were out, all media outlets would be covering it by now.

"Because Shu Maxwell's death will be announced. I'm not saying that we never need to announce it. All I'm saying is to wait for a few days."

"What will happen in a few days?"

"I am working on a deal with Necrosis Corporation. Once the deal is finalized at our current valuation, we can let the news about his death out. The information about the merger will protect our shares from the fall. We would also retain our position while earning lots of money from this merger. It's a win-win situation for us."

"You were working on this deal; why didn't you tell us?"

" I didn't want to tell something that had no possibility of happening. I just tried it after finding out about Shu's death. Fortunately, it worked, and I got a positive response."

"Why are we dealing with Necrosis Corporation and not other big organizations instead? Wouldn't that be better?"

"Necrosis has the best reputation at the moment, so it's better for us. Secondly, they are closest to the government as well at the moment. So we wouldn't have any problem with the merger. If we try to merge with others, we will face lots of problems from regulators. There are no problems with Necrosis."

"Fine... You can deal with these matters. How long will it take to finalize the deal and to inform us of the conditions?"

"Give me two days only."