Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

When Mr. Yan went upstairs, the chubby owner watched his daughter open the copper box. He took the box and looked at the relief on top, "Is this... a shield?"


"It's obviously a family crest of the Westerners, Dad, you wouldn't understand this," she said while popping a piece of candy into her mouth.


"Can't you use your brain for once, Dad? This is Mr. Yan's candy."


"You weren't saying that just a moment ago."


The playful fight between father and daughter ultimately ended with the strategic call of defeat by the daughter.


Listening to the sound of the kitchen knife chopping into the counter downstairs, Yan Zhenqing laughed helplessly. The young man who had fought alongside him, who faced the Otherkind in hand-to-hand combat without batting an eyelid, had eventually met his match with a growing belly and a direct confrontation with his ultimate foe.


Chapter 247: The Dagger Appears