"I said you aren't strong enough to kill me. Let alone you; even your god won't be able to kill me. I'm not sure if I should be happy about that or sad," Ryder declared proudly as he gazed into the eyes of Luke.

Not even the least bit of fear was visible in his eyes as he answered Luke. Fear of death was the last thing he even thought he'd have.

Still, he was actually somewhat concerned. Dying was something he preferred to progress without.

"I'm not sure if I should laugh at you or feel pity. Fear of death is something that all weak people like you should possess. It keeps you grounded to reality and makes you stay within your limit," Luke told Ryder as he frowned.

"Without fear of death, you wouldn't even know how you'll die," he continued. "Unfortunately, you seem like the unlucky one that won't know when death comes at his door," he continued as he rolled his eyes.

He loosened his grip as he freed Ryder before he walked back to his seat. Luke sat down comfortably.

"I'll repeat the same thing again. You're lucky that you're her guardian. Or you would be dead a thousand times by now," he further said.

"Sure. If that's what you want to think," Ryder replied as he patted his clothes before he sat back on the chair as if nothing had happened.

"She will come with me. That's final. I have wasted too many words only because I want things to be civil. If that doesn't work, I'll have to take action. In any case, she'll come with me," Luke told Ryder.

"You only have one thing to decide. Do you want to be alive when she comes with me? If yes, then agree. If you don't want to be alive, then keep saying no. She'll still live. The only difference is that you won't be alive to watch that," he continued.

"I'll count to ten. If I don't hear yes as an answer, then I'll wish you well for the journey in advance..." Luke said casually. A smirk formed on his face. "For the journey to hell."

Ryder only smiled but didn't reply. He placed his hand behind his head as he positioned himself to be more comfortable. He watched Luke, who started counting as if it was something Ryder should have been scared about.

"One..."

"Two..."

Luke's countdown kept advancing. The Pin Drop silence inside the room was only broken whenever the next number in the countdown was spoken by Luke.

"Eight..."

Luke soon reached the count, which was awfully close to the end. He observed Ryder's expression, which still seemed careless.

He unintentionally slowed down the count to give Ryder a little more time to consider.

"Nine..."

Luke took a deep breath before he finished, "Ten."

"Looks like you have decided to die in peace here," Luke let out as he sighed.

"Wait a minute. Let me inform him about what I'm going to do. I don't want him to blame me. I tried my best after all," he declared as he stood up.

He brought a phone out of his pocket as he dialed the numbers of Adrian.

"Hello. I'm standing before Alice's guardian..."

He started explaining everything that had happened and how Ryder refused to cooperate with them. It didn't take him long to explain everything.

After explaining, he started waiting for the reply of Adrian.

Adrian paused for a moment as he thought about it. His thoughts took a minute. After a minute, he opened his lips as he spoke a few words of his command, "Fine. Kill him."

"Yes," Luke responded. He was about to disconnect the call when he heard Ryder's words.

"Wait. Give me the phone. I want to talk to your boss as well," he said.

Adrian also heard Ryder's words. He told Luke to give the phone to Ryder.

Luke followed the commands as he gave the phone to Ryder.

Ryder took the phone and placed it on his ears.

"Hello. I heard you're looking for someone I care about. May I help you with that?" Ryder asked Luke.

"That's right. I like Alice, and I want to get to know her," Adrian answered normally.

"You want to know her. Is that how a man behaves when they want to know a girl? Either my understanding of a man is wrong, or your understanding of a man is wrong," Ryder answered.

"According to me, a man should approach the girl if he likes her. Not act as a goon and send their man to kidnap the girl. You act like you're a proper man? You're nothing but a petty person," Ryder let out as he rolled his eyes.

"You misunderstand me. I wanted to meet her myself. I even came there to meet her. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to meet her. Also, because of some misunderstanding and some situation, I'm unable to step foot there. There is why I had to send my men. Don't think I'm wrong. It's the situation which is wrong," Adrian answered in full seriousness.

"So you're banned by the government to step foot here? Interesting. I'm finding you worse each second. When even the government doesn't think you're good for a country that allows all kinds of people, then I can only imagine what you must have done," Ryder let out as he frowned.

"I didn't do anything. And it's not your government that's the reason for me being unable to come here. It's something else," Adrian answered as he shook his head.

"I don't care. I will only listen to you if you come here personally. No idiot like the man you send shall be allowed to even step near Alice. If you want, you can again command him to kill me. But just remember, if he tried it, you wouldn't hear from him again," Ryder let out as he frowned before he tossed the phone towards Luke's head.

Luke caught the phone and placed it on his ears. "Hello."

"Turn the phone on speaker," Adrian commanded Luke.

Luke listened to the commands and turned the call on speaker.

"It's done," he commanded.

"Listen to me, Mr. Ryder Flynn. And listen carefully because I'm not going to repeat it again," Adrian declared.

"I would have come if I could. But no way in hell do I have a chance to come there. If I even tried to, I'd lose everything. If you want to meet me, you can come with Luke and Alice. That's the best I can do. You'll be treated like a King here. So think carefully," he added.

"If you still say no, then Luke will kill you. And I am very interested in seeing how you can stop Luke. Think carefully. Don't underestimate Luke. You can overestimate yourself but underestimating Luke, that would be foolish," he continued.

"My answer," Ryder let out as he smiled. He stretched his arms while he stood up. A yawn escaped his lips.

"Fine," he said softly.

A smile appeared on Luke's face as he saw Ryder agree. Adrian also smiled as he thought Ryder agreed. Unfortunately, Ryder's next words broke the misunderstanding of the both of them.

"Fine. I'll have to show you how no works," Ryder answered as he pulled out his gun. He aimed the gun towards Luke as he smiled.

"Embarrassing. I thought you'd say yes. I thought even if you said no, you'll at least have some trick. But all your confidence is because of a gun?" A mocking grin remained on Luke's face as he saw the gun.

******

In a different part of the city, Ryder's Divine Corporation Headquarters was situated. He had brought an entire building that was set up as a base. He had even hired a lot of little. Two of the branches of Divine Corporation were already completed.

One of which was the Aviation Branch which was led by Herriet. The Aviation Branch of the Divine Corporation had started turning in profits because of Ryder's help.

Ryder had all the knowledge about the future. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about Aviation Industry. He only knew the method Herriet had used in the previous timeline to make sure her company came out of the slump.

He just told the same ideas to Herriet before she could come up with them. This not only elevated the position of Herriet in Ryder's head but it also impressed her.

Herriet could see Ryder as a genius when it came to business, unaware that all these were her ideas which he was borrowing from her older shelf.

In any case, she followed the methods that were told her by Ryder. Not only the aviation branch started rising, but it also started bringing in the profits for Ryder's Divine Corporation.

There was another branch of Divine Corporation at the moment. It was related to the research and development of medicine and medicinal equipment. It was led by the man that was the first person Ryder had hired.