XG 59 - The empty villa

Confirmed that both aircrafts had left, a soldier immediately reported back to Lok Hui Man. “Madam, both planes had left. They had also picked up a group of people outside the border.”

Upon Suzie Yap’s arrival at the border, Lok Hui Man had already been reported about her existence.

But true to her promise, she did not let anyone into their island and only told the soldiers to keep an eye on them. She had also assigned someone to keep track of Charles Wong’s activity, so she was kept up to date about their actions.

Lok Hui Man was a little upset that she was forced to give up another way of getting large funding, but her brother-in-law was right. During this time, she must not let the opposition party overpower them.

But that helicopter!

Lok Hui Man does not want to let them have it even if they got the right to it, but her soldiers could not win against Charles Wong’s men. She could only comfort herself that they still have five helicopters and had their soldiers retreat before they suffer more injuries that would hinder their duties.

The soldier’s report from the communication device was heard by everyone seated over the long table. They were the inner circle party members that supported Lok Hui Man and contributed to her success either before or after the election. Among them were Lok Hui Man’s parents and her brother-in-law.

The only family member of Lok Hui Man that was not in the meeting today was her elder sister. She did not join the party actively as she was not used to the job and only helped out with menial tasks.

Her brother-in-law smiled and said, “It is a pity they are not willing to stay. Thankfully, they are rather understanding and choose to leave without causing trouble.”

The other members sighed in relief. They could finally go back to sleep!

They had been in this meeting room when the sky was still dark after getting news that there were signs of activity taking place in Charles Wong’s villa. But Lok Hui Man had woken up upon the news of Suzie Yap’s appearance at the border, which was earlier than that.

She only had three hours of sleep!

“Madam Lok, is it for certain they would not return?”

“Even if they did, we must not let them in! Who knows what they will bring in?”

“We must not, for everyone’s sake! I know this is a very difficult thing to ask from you, but we must not gamble with everyone’s lives.”

Everyone around the table could still remember feeling terrified of the news of Mr. Sui’s family turning into zombies.

“There will be no more people allowed in,” Lok Hui Man promised grimly. “The only thing that can enter is our supplies. We will allow the senders to stay for a night to rest, but they will need to leave the next day without excuse.”

Hearing that, everyone was relieved.

“Ms. Lok, what do you think of our suggestion in destroying the bridges?” A senior member spoke up. This matter had plagued their mind for more than three days, yet unable to come into a single agreement.

Lok Hui Man kept silent for a long time, drumming her fingers onto the file before her. The document consists of all the paths that lead to Penang Island, including the two long bridges. They may now have enough civilians to volunteer to keep watch on each entry, but it would be better to cut off some to be safer.

The two large bridges were the most dangerous exit to control.

She finally raised her head and met everyone’s eyes. “We will destroy both of the bridges. Have the bombing squad ready.”

“Our home will be safer with your wise decision,” her brother-in-law praised, prompting other members to add their few praises in.

“The meeting ends here.” Lok Hui Man stood up and left the meeting room to have a moment for herself. But her brother-in-law visited her in her office.

Although her brother-in-law was not a bad person, he was still as calculative as Lok Hui Man. Thus when her brother-in-law mentioned the empty villa should fall into their hands since its owners had left, she agreed after acting rather opposed to his suggestion.

She acted as if the idea was from him when she had thought the same thing. This was to ensure that when any problem pops out related to the villa, her brother-in-law must help out too.

As someone that knew the property of Penang Island well, they were especially attentive to the best-valued land, such as the Wong's villa. The villa was located in a golden area that could access the sea behind their compound. The price to purchase one was sky-high, especially when the number of luxurious villas was limited.

Lok Hui Man had long eyed the villas but still failed to buy one from the owners. Who would have thought she could finally have one now, and even without needing to pay for it?

The Heavens are helping her!

With no mood to work, Lok Hui Man brought her brother-in-law along to take a look at the empty villa with her assistant following them.

“We will have to hire a locksmith to open the door,” her brother-in-law mentioned with eagerness vivid in his eyes.

“I will make the call,” the assistant volunteered and searched his notebook for their choice of locksmith’s number. It was really good that their telecommunication line was working again, or else he would need to run here and there.

When their car reached the compound, they found people coming out of their house and stared in a direction. It was not a zombie attack when no one was running away in panic. The neighbors were lingering around to look but also made no move.

“M-Madam! The house is on fire!” It was the assistant seated at the shotgun who saw what happened first.

“Which house?” Lok Hui Man asked sharply and quickly looked out from the window. She hoped it was not Charles Wong’s villa, but her assistant’s words dashed her hope.

“The Wong’s house!”

“Call the bomba [1]!”

[1]Bomba is the fire-rescue department. Malaysians used to call them ‘bomba’

Lok Hui Man immediately gets out of the car after the driver parked far away from the fire. She rushed to the burning house, but just from a glance, she knew the firefighter’s arrival would be too late. The house was halfway burned already!

“Find it! Find out how the fire starts!” Lok Hui Man roared at her assistant.

It was only after the fire was put out by the firefighters did the investigators could check the source of it. During the time the investigators checked the source, Lok Hui Man's head and heart hurt, thinking of the villa that had just reached her hand when it was forcefully taken away from her.

“Madam Lok, it’s five bombs. They were placed at every corner of the house and they went off through online control.” If the villas were not built at quite a distance from each other, the bombing would have caught onto the neighbors.

“Bombs?” Her brother-in-law frowned. “Did the owner do it?”

“Definitely!” Lok Hui Man snarled furiously. “How heartless are they?! Just because they are leaving, they won’t allow other people to use their house?”

Lok Hui Man does not know Charles Wong was already kind enough to only bomb up the villa. He could have asked Ta Kei to reverse what he did to restore the telecommunication line.

♨️♨️♨️

“Ah… they left. Shit! My Lord will be so pissed off… especially Wong that Xue Guo!” The ‘ghost’ stared at the helicopter flying away in anger.

How could that puny little girl escape their assassination thrice!

Even if he was angry, he could also not do anything. Oh, blame them for having too tight security and his ability was useless in infiltrating their base!

Those gangsters were too alert for dangers and kept a distance from strangers, even that bald guy that goes around gossiping would always bring another person with him.

Anyway, with all his targets left, there was no reason to stay on this boring island anymore.

A tall man dressed in pajamas walked out of his apartment house and out of the building in a sour mood. Ignoring some passerby that was curious about his pajama attire, he continued walking until he reached a more populated area.

Stopping in the middle of a crowd, he grinned and let out a maniac crackle. “A little present before I leave~”

His eyes suddenly rolled up and his whole body collapsed onto the floor with a loud thud. His fall had his pajama top rolled up, revealing his waist with a vicious-looking bite mark.

In the next second, the body suddenly twitched, flesh shrinking rapidly at a speed where naked eyes could follow. When the change was more or less stabilized, he snarled and jumped onto a human that failed to run quickly.

At the same time, at a place right outside the border, a body hidden inside a coffin stirred awake.

END OF ARC 2