Man on the ark, forced to become king

Since she insisted, Lin Lu didn't intend to argue about it; it was a trivial matter and there was no need to.

-------------------------------------

"Beach Umbrella Pharmaceuticals..."

In the coffee shop, Saria tapped her fingers lightly on the table, her eyes deep and thoughtful.

When she went out, she didn't wear the rather unattractive RheinLife protective suit. Instead, she changed into a casual khaki trench coat and sweater, paired with jeans and a crossbody bag. She looked much more vibrant and youthful.

With her already good looks and figure, she's eye-catching just sitting there.

In fact, during the ten or so minutes she was waiting, Saria had already noticed that some people in the store were secretly watching her.

She was already used to this situation and simply ignored those gazes.

She had more important things to think about than those trivial matters.

If even a relatively young company like Rhine Lab has so much darkness within its ranks, what about Beach Umbrella Pharmaceuticals?

They are a large corporation with real power to influence high-level decisions in Colombia, and many members of parliament and high-ranking officials have close ties with them.

What Rhine Lab can do, they can do as well; what Rhine Lab dares not do, they are also capable of doing.

In Rhine Lab's intelligence investigations, there were quite a few experimental accidents that were covered up by Beach Umbrella Pharmaceuticals.

From minor incidents like experimental subjects going berserk to major events like virus leaks, and even a very strange epidemic outbreak, they are all related to them.

If we were to truly enumerate the sins, the crimes of Beach Umbrella Pharmaceuticals would far surpass those of Rhine Life.

Previously, due to her status, she couldn't care less and could only pretend not to see it. Now... Rhine Life has collapsed, she has found a new boss, and she won't stay in Columbia anymore. What is there to be afraid of?

A long-lost surge of passion coursed through her body, and in just a few days, Saria found herself gradually rediscovering that feeling she once had.

The reason she wanted to create Rhine Lab with Christensen in the first place was because she couldn't stand the research atmosphere at Columbia University and the dark side of it.

Now, with the help of the Golden Tree, she is personally destroying Rhine Life, the company she founded.

So why not bring the beach umbrella into the water as well?

There's nothing left to be afraid of...

As she was thinking this, the door to the coffee shop was pushed open. Saria subconsciously looked up and saw a young man in a black suit, with messy short hair, a beard, and a slightly weathered face, walk in.

Their eyes met in mid-air. Just as Jeston entered, a smirk appeared on his lips. He casually pulled out a black bank card and announced loudly, "Ladies and gentlemen, excuse me for disturbing your leisure time. I've booked the entire place. All your expenses today will be on my tab."

Arrogant, domineering, yet quite polite—these contradictory traits are concentrated in one person, creating an inexplicable oddity.

With his fierce demeanor and generous spending, no one stood up to express their dissatisfaction. After all, someone was paying for it, so why bother making trouble for themselves?

The coffee shop owner was also very happy. He personally saw all the customers out of the shop, then hung up a sign saying "Closed for the Day" at the door, and discreetly slipped away to the back.

Once everyone had left, Jeston's smile widened even more. He casually sat down opposite Saria, crossed his legs, and spoke in a flippant tone.

"Oh, oh, oh, isn't this Director Saria? Haven't seen you in a while, you've gotten so tired? What brings you to find a nobody like me today?"

It's hard, the fist is hard.

Seeing his smug look, Seria really wanted to throw the still-warm coffee at him, but her good manners prevented her from having such an impolite thought.

"I've called you here for a reason, of course. Ace Assassin."

Saria spoke slowly and deliberately, emphasizing the last few words. Her expression was solemn, without revealing the slightest emotion.

"I never thought you'd have to ask me for help?"

Upon hearing the title of "ace assassin," Jeston laughed even more unrestrainedly, as if he had won something, his mouth practically reaching his ears in a grin.

"Is this how you do business?"

Saria's expression remained unchanged. She glanced at him indifferently, placed her hand on the handbag beside her, and seemed to be preparing to leave.

Seeing this, Jesston quickly waved his hand and restrained himself a little.

"Alright, business it is, let's talk business then. I wonder what Director Saria has to entrust to me? As far as I know, Rhine Lab's situation hasn't been very good lately..."

"That's not something you should be concerned about. Your behavior will make me lower my opinion of your professional competence."

“You’re still the same as before, Director Seria.”

Jeston leaned back in his chair, his smile gradually fading. He skillfully lit a cigarette, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and without any hesitation, pasted the 'No Smoking' sign next to him.

"Tell me, who is the target? My professional skills are impeccable, you'll soon find out. Rejecting me back then was the worst decision you ever made."

"Are you sure you want to say it here?"

Saria pointed to the security camera inside the store, her beautiful eyebrows furrowing together.

Fortunately, she didn't actually come to ask Jeston to do anything this time, otherwise, based on his behavior, she would have blacklisted him.

Although she loathed these assassins, she valued 'professionalism' highly, and the level of professionalism that Jeston was currently displaying was far below her standards.

“Well, this is certainly not a good place to do business. You’ve made me lose a lot of money, Director Seria.”

Just a short while after sitting down, Jeston stood up again and shrugged.

"I'll listen to you. We can talk anywhere you want. The customer is king, and I've always believed that."

"In addition, I'm sure you're aware of the rules here, so I hope you won't make any requests that would put everyone in a difficult position."

"besides--"

"Is this how you do business? I hope you'll shut up. I'm the employer."

Saria interrupted Jeston's incessant chatter without any politeness. In just a few minutes, she had had enough of this guy and wanted to punch him in the mouth.

She increasingly felt that refusing to let this guy join Rhine Lab was an absolutely correct choice.

"Uh, okay, you're the employer, you call the shots."

Interrupted from speaking, Jeston pouted in displeasure, his eyes flashing, and followed them out of the coffee shop.

In fact, he had a lot more to say, but there was no rush.

He had a feeling that Saria's contact with him this time wasn't to commission any assassination mission. After all, who would openly arrange to meet in a coffee shop for such a thing? What's the difference between that and talking through a loudspeaker?

Are they treating him like an idiot or the Columbia Police Department like an idiot?

If they really did that, forget about entrusting them with a task; the two of them wouldn't even be able to walk two hundred meters before being taken away by law enforcement officers.

The two went out the door, wandered around, with Seria in front and Jeston following behind, and soon entered a small alley without surveillance cameras.

Jeston seemed completely unconcerned about the slightly gloomy surroundings, and even appeared unguarded. When Saria stopped, he stopped as well, leaned against the wall, and lit another cigarette.

"Hi~hoo~"

"Tell me, Director Seria, what mission do you want to entrust to me? My price is not low."

"One million, to help me find someone, the person who makes beach umbrella pharmaceuticals."

Are you kidding me?

Jeston paused for a moment, then scoffed, "You want me to cause trouble for my own people? Besides, for this kind of mission, you should go find those rat-like private detectives. I'm an assassin, a top-tier assassin, understand?"

"They can't do it. This is something only you can do. Otherwise, I wouldn't have hired an unprofessional ace assassin like you."

Saria dodged the approaching smoke, frowned, and uttered a few words.

"Lorcan Williams."

"..."

Jeston's fingers, which were holding the cigarette, paused, and the frivolous smile on his face vanished completely.

"...That's a name I haven't heard in a long time. If it's that person, I might be a little interested."

"However, I have one small condition."

As he spoke, he took off his coat and tossed it aside, his expression suddenly turning gloomy, his eyes gleaming.

"I've always had a slight doubt about whether you're stronger than me. I wonder if Director Seria could answer that for me?"

Chapter 153 Jesston: Come and hit me!

In some ways, Jeston and Saria are actually quite similar.

This similarity doesn't refer to personality, behavior, or hobbies, but rather to Originium Arts.

Saria's Originium Arts is 'Calcification', which allows her to create extremely hard enamel, providing her with terrifying protective capabilities.

Jeston's Originium Arts is 'Iron Manipulation', and he can also do things similar to calcification by manipulating iron.

However, similarity is just that—similarity. Measured purely by combat strength, the two are not even on the same level.

After all, the limit that Jeston could achieve was to create some protection for himself with iron and build convenient weapons. At the level of ordinary people, he could certainly be considered a strongman, and could even crush targets that would be troublesome to well-trained military squads.

However, compared to Saria, this ability is somewhat lacking.

From the perspective of Originium Arts creation, ordinary iron has a hardness of only about 5, while enamel created by calcification has a hardness as high as 8.

Even disregarding the difference in the quality of creations, Saria's own strength is terrifying enough.

—She's not just someone who knows Originium Arts.

Beyond ordinary Originium Arts applications, Saria can freely manipulate calcium elements and their compounds within a certain area centered on herself. By integrating her extensive medical knowledge and abilities, her development of Originium Arts has reached an unparalleled level. Whether it's blocking or weakening enemies, or using it to arm herself or cooperate with teammates, she can do it with ease.

In addition, she possesses formidable fighting skills, which, combined with Vayvan's already exceptionally strong physique, make her unworthy of using Originium Arts against ordinary enemies.