48 Hours a Day

In the end, they were forced to watch Nadya getting brutally whipped by the supervisor to the point where he fainted again. Despite his display of total dominance, Wallace wasn’t happy with the outcome. The moment he was told that Nadya was dealing with someone outside, he quickly planned this fracas to lure out the man behind all this. Unfortunately, the main character didn’t show up in the end. If he beat Nadia to death, his only clue would cease to exist.

Seeing that Nadya had stopped screaming, he was left with no other option but to stop the supervisor from whipping.

“Look for a doctor to treat his wounds. Let’s head back to the mansion,” said a dark-faced Wallace.

Since the scene was over, the crowd gathered at the central plaza slowly dispersed as well.

“What do you plan to do?” asked Zhang Heng.

“Though Nadya is not a warrior from my tribe, I can say that his willpower is stronger than most warriors. He will never betray us,” Laeli replied, his eyes redded by the horrendous barbarism inflicted upon his kind.

“This has nothing to do with loyalty. People rarely survive such continuous torture. Say he could withstand the agony this time. What about next time and the time after that? Sooner or later, Wallace will figure out a way to make him talk.”

“What should I do then?”

“It’s time for you to consider leaving this place. You have given us so much useful information all this time. It is enough for us to figure out how to deal with Malcolm. My earlier promise to you still holds ground. During my last voyage, I scouted some islands for you, and I managed to find a suitable one. There is a ready supply of drinking water and a thick forest on the island. It’s is a perfect hideaway for your tribe. And if you need weapons, I can give them to you. Don’t worry about your daily essentials. I’ll send you a batch as well.”

Zhang Heng paused for a while before continuing.

“Just as I said. My ship and men will be waiting for you at a designated location. I can’t get involved in your slave war. Otherwise, the plantations on the island will make an enemy out of me.”

“I can understand that. When I leave, I will ask Leah to bring all the letters you need and pass them to you.”

Once Zhang Heng was finished with Laeli, he looked for Carina to discuss Eugene. They quickly realized that it was going to be an uphill battle getting Eugene to work with them and stand up against Malcolm.

“Sounds easy enough to me. We just need to tie him up and give him a good beating,” grinned Anne.

“This time, we are not allowed to use any violence. Otherwise, we could lose all credibility. We need to make sure that Eugene is willing to speak out the truth. His words will be proof that Malcolm has always placed his own interests above the black-market alliance. Eugene also needs to tell everyone that Malcolm is not suitable as a leader. Anyway, we’ll need to check him out first.”

Billy wanted to be a part of this operation as well, and on the third day in the morning, the four of them gathered at Zhang Heng’s place.

“I will speak first. Eugene became an intelligence dealer three years after the first black-market alliance collapsed. After the first alliance was formed, he managed to convince a group of people to bring Norman down by becoming his competitor. From what I know, he succeeded in snatching away a few important deals from the black-market alliance. The situation was still salvageable at that time. After all, Normand’s reputation was soaring in Nassau. A large number of people were willing to trust and follow him. That was until something happened...” said Carina.

“What happened?”

“Normand was caught secretly dealing with two pirate ships. He was accused of misusing his power to gouge for higher prices. In return, the two pirate ships gave half of their earnings to Normand. This was the incident that caused him to lose all his reputation. It all seems so wrong to me. The captains of the two pirate ships were close to Eugene. One of them even used to work with him.”

“Can you locate those two pirate ships?”

“I’m afraid not. My investigation stops here. From what I know, one ship set off and didn’t return after that. I’m guessing that they were plundered and subsequently sank. The other ship was forced out of business by competing pirates. One year ago, their captain was stabbed to death over an argument in a tavern. After that, the entire crew underwent major changes. All the old pirates were replaced by new ones. Even if we could find the original crew of that ship, it would be pointless. After all, there’s only so much an ordinary pirate would know about the captain,” said Billy.

“Anyway, the black-market alliance was disbanded because of this incident. Normand has a lot of friends, though, and Eugene wasn’t welcome in the black-market merchant circle after what happened to Normand. That was why he was forced to quit to be an intelligence dealer instead. With his strong connections with the customs, he has become quite successful now. Of course, it’s nothing compared to what he achieved when he was still a black-market merchant. Now, here’s the problem. In the end, Eugene got nothing from this incident. Why would he do what Malcolm asked?”

“Are you trying to say that perhaps Malcolm rewarded Eugene secretly?” asked Billy.

“On the contrary, I think there’s a big possibility that Malcolm threatened Eugene to submission. I’ve studied Malcolm’s character, and he seems to be a before very cautious person. If he can make Eugene accuse Normand of something he didn’t do, he definitely held something against Eugene. However, judging by Eugene’s personality – if he was willing to frame Normand for money, he could do the same to Malcolm as well.”

“So, right now, we need to find out what Malcolm’s beef with Eugene is?”

“I think I might know the answer to that question.”

No one expected Anne to voice up in a moment like this. Immediately, everyone turned their attention to her. At that, she simply shrugged.

“What’s wrong? I have my own methods of investigation. Harry is very close to the kids around this area. Though all they do is mess around every day, they are actually quite useful when I need help. Due to their young age, no one really pays attention to them. From time to time, they would overhear secrets from the adults and spill them out. Very few people actually know that Eugene has an illegitimate son.”

“Illegitimate son? How old is he? Where is he right now?”

“A prostitute bore his child when he first arrived on this island. According to what the kids heard, Eugene got the prostitute out once he knew that she was pregnant. He even bought her a house in Nassau. Unfortunately, the house was burned down. Eugene managed to get out in time but not the woman. Miraculously, the child survived the fire. This incident caused him and his son to be at odds. He left Nassau alone when he was only ten.”