A Debt-Conclusion

Howard was panting hard. Sweat dripped from his forehead and he was going in and out of consciousness. He was kept in a dark room, tied to a chair while Tobias and his partner, Juan, sneered at him in disgust. They had brought Howard back to their base which was located in a shady neighborhood downtown.

Tobias punched Howard on the cheek. They had been taking turns in beating him up for not returning their money.

"You son of a bitch!" Tobias yelled and hit Howard again. Blood was flowing out of his cheek and his eyes had swallowed up, forming a yellow pus. Howard was barely conscious, trying his best to tolerate the abuse.

"I-If you could give me some more time!" he gasped. "Just…"

He trailed off. Juan spat on him.

"Yeh go' a lo' of time!" he claimed. "One month! We gav' yeh one month!"

"It's too little!" Howard protested but Tobias kicked him in the shin, making the old man writhe in pain.

"You're just useless!" Tobias sneered. "You can't even work!"

"Say, doesn' he hav' a daughter?" Juan pointed out. "We can sell her fo' a good price!"

Tobias, who was about to punch Howard again, stopped midway.

"I was thinking the same thing," he agreed. "I heard she's a virgin too! A virgin can fetch a good price in the market. We can bring her here and sell her off to some rich buyer!"

"N-No!" Howard exclaimed. "Y-you promised me that you won't hurt my family! I told you that you can take me instead! I'll do anything!"

"Yer useless to us!" Juan sneered. "Bu' your daughter is valuable. Is she pretty? I migh' have my way with her…"

The men were snickering loudly, tormenting Howard even further. The old man was desperate to get out now. It was as if his worst nightmare was about to come true. How did he act so foolishly?

"P-please…" he begged. "Don't harm my daughter-"

Tobias smacked him again, breaking a few of his teeth. Howard was almost knocked over backwards by the brute force.

"SHATTAP!" Tobias spat. "You're pissing me off now!"

Howard was panting heavily, unable to tolerate the torture. He felt his body getting weaker and his eyes were drowsy due to the exhaustion. They were slowly closing, his mind slipping into unconsciousness until finally, he was completely still.

"Is he dead?" Tobias asked.

Juan checked Howard's pulse. To his relief, Howard was still alive.

"Just sleepin'," he shrugged. "The ol' man is useless! Le's ge' the girl."

"Let's go and get her," Tobias agreed. "She'll-"

BANG!

Blood gushed out of Tobias' arm and he let out an ear shattering squeal. Juan was shocked and before he could react, he was shot in the shoulder. He staggered backwards and fell over.

"What the fuck?" he growled in pain and looked around to find a tall, thin figure standing at the doorway. It was a young man in his late twenties. He was holding a gun, glaring murderously at the two men on the floor.

"Thomas, take Howard away," Lucas quietly ordered. Thomas, who was standing behind his boss, nodded and motioned some of their men to help him. They untied Howard and quickly dragged him away. Juan tried to stop him but Thomas kicked him so hard that he fell backwards and fainted.

Lucas stood there, studying the two men. When he learnt that these two were using his name to extort money from people, he told Thomas to find their address. It was not hard because Tobias was a notorious loan shark and operated in the shady part of the town. He was a boastful man but not a smart one so his traces were easy to track for Thomas. Once Thomas got the address of Tobias' base, he handed it to Lucas who personally came to deal with the culprits.

"Do you know who I am?" Tobias claimed. "I'm Lucas Hao's right hand man! If he finds out-"

Lucas aimed at him and pulled the trigger. Tobias yelped in fright, closing his eyes only to realize that Lucas had shot the wooden floor.

"I-I-I'll t-t-tell my b-b-boss!" Tobias claimed. Juan was completely unconscious and already lost a lot of blood.

"Tell him," Lucas said. He took out his phone and threw it near Tobias. "Call him now, and tell him," Lucas ordered.

Tobias gulped. He was only bluffing. There was no way in hell he could call the mighty Demon of the Underworld! He did not even know what he looked like and was only using Lucas' name as a means to threaten people.

"What happened?" Lucas softly sneered. "You can't call your own boss? Are you afraid?"

"N-No!" Tobias claimed and was about to reach out for the cell phone but Lucas stepped on his hand.

"AHHHHHH!" Tobias howled in agony as Lucas crushed his palm. "SPARE ME PLEASE!"

"I don't want to," Lucas shrugged and continued to squash the man's palm under his shoe.

Outside, a few of the guards were standing and listening to the torture going on inside. They did not dare to go in and stop their boss. Thomas, who had sent Howard off to the hospital in the car, came back to the scene.

He heard the man's cries of pain from outside and was wincing. Lucas was not simply in a bad mood; he was on a rampage. There had been many such frauds before but Lucas let Thomas deal with them. It was the first time Lucas had come to deal with the conmen and Thomas was terrified of what was going on inside the room.

They stood outside, listening to the cries of the man for more than an hour until suddenly, the man went silent. A few seconds later, Lucas came out of the room, wiping his bloodied hands with a handkerchief. There was blood splattered on his face and shirt but he did not seem to care.

"Where's Howard Cheng?" he asked, his tone devoid of all emotions.

"H-he's recuperating in the hospital," Thomas replied. "Our men are keeping an eye on him."

"And the girl?"

"She's still unconscious but Doctor Kwin said he put her under a sedative," Thomas stated. "She'll be awake by morning, hopefully."

Lucas kept on wiping his hands. Thomas and the other men eyed him with dread, as if scared that he would go on a bloody rampage again. There was something wrong with their boss. Even though his ruthlessness was not out of character, he seemed...colder than usual. Lucas barely talked but there was something terribly wrong in his calculated actions which was worrisome.

Thomas was about to ask him if anything was wrong when Lucas' phone rang up. The latter took it out to see the caller ID. Instantly, Lucas' eyes flared up.

"Alex Wang," he muttered.

"What?" Thomas exclaimed. "Why is he calling you?"

Lucas pressed the answer button and pressed the phone to his ear.

"Lucas Hao!" Alex growled. "You...you won't let me live, will you?"

Lucas did not say anything but was listening carefully to the deranged man.

"I lost my client today!" Alex snorted. "All thanks to your intervention. Ya know, I've always wondered whether you have any weaknesses. I tried to find it but it seemed that you were a formidable foe. Until today…"

Alex wheezed from the other end. Thomas and the others watched as their boss was growing still with fury. Lucas was seemingly calm but they had worked with him long enough to know that the lava in him was dangerously bubbling.

"That girl...she's your weakness right?" Alex taunted him. "I had one of my men go back to the club after you left. He brought me a copy of the guest registrar and I had one of my hackers run the names through the system. He found her social media profile…"

Lucas was now gripping the phone tightly, trying to keep his anger under control.

"Lillian Cheng," Alex revealed. "A trainee teacher at Blooming Hue Elementary School. Quite an artist too."

"What do you want?" Lucas finally asked.

"I want to see you fail, Lucas Hao!" Alex grinned. "I want to see you suffer! Thanks to you, I'm forced to go into hiding but I promise you that I'll return. And when I do, that girlfriend of yours will be the first person on my hitlist. Save her...if you can."

"Go ahead," Lucas quietly challenged. "Let's see what you can do."

Alex's haunting laughter would send chills down anyone's spine but Lucas did not show any fear. His eyes were gleaming with a strange determination, which shocked Thomas and the others. They could not read him at all! Was he angry? Was he indifferent? What the hell was going on in his mind?

Lucas hung up the call and turned to Thomas. "Tell the men to go undercover and guard Howard Cheng's house," he ordered. "And to keep an eye on him at the hospital at all times. Also…"

He typed in a message and sent it to Thomas' phone. The latter opened the message. His eyes widened in shock.

"T-This is…" Thomas began.

"Prepare the documents," Lucas calmly said. "By morning."

With that, Lucas walked away, leaving Thomas completely shocked.

This isn't going to be good, he thought.