The Rise Of A Porter

"Welcome, my boy, welcome!" Chiang put on a fake smile on his face to greet the man who had become the soreness of his eyes. Just like his father had been over a decade ago.

"Thanks for having me over, Uncle. This really is a nice place to live in." Arnold replied equally enthusiastically before hugging the man as much as he despised doing so.

"Haha! Don't worry you'll live within these walls from now on." Chiang patted Arnold's shoulder, 'As a corpse, that is.'

"You're too kind uncle. It isn't good for your health, you know. Also, I hope you don't mind me asking, but the security here is awfully tight." Arnold scratched his cheek nervously.

"Oh don't mind them. Your uncle has made a few enemies that's all. It's just like your father used to say something along the lines of, 'Everyone is your enemy when you achieve something they can't.'" Chiang made up a lie and even went as far as to quote his late brother's words to make it sound more believable. What else was he going to say, that they were there to kill him?

Chiang and Yu Zhung had prepared everything so Arnold would not be leaving his mansion alive. Think of it as Arnold's last supper. In their eyes, there was no way Arnold would be able to walk out of there alive, especially with the thousand-plus warriors hiding around the mansion waiting to jump on him any moment.

And even if he did manage to somehow miraculously defeat them, Yu Zhung's sword would inevitably be guiding Arnold's soul to the afterlife. There was also another plan that Chiang had kept a secret. The perfect and classic plan to assassinate someone. 

But for now, Chiang wanted Arnold to relax and get his guard down. That was crucial for the success of their plans.

"Oh my, what happened to your arm, my nephew?" Chiang let out an overexaggerated gasp when he saw Arnold's bionic arm.

"Uh... occupational hazard. I went into a high ranking dungeon and things got a bit, what's the word for it, ah yes... messy." Arnold smiled while flexing his arm, "Let's just say, it was either me or my arm, so I got rid of the thing holding me back."

Arnold did not divulge the true story because he didn't want his uncle to connect the dots between his identities. Not yet anyway. Arnold wanted it to be a surprise for him.

"Well, what happened, happened. Can't change the fate now, can we?" Chiang laughed once again, "Come on, I'll show you around the place. It isn't much but I'm proud of it."

"It would be a pleasure."

From the outside, the mansion looked as lavish as it did from the inside. It had been built with fir wood and has expensive wooden decorations all over the place. There were hundreds of small rounded windows on each side of the main mansion, giving it a medieval look.

While on the inside, the house was equipped with the latest technologies along with a modern kitchen and multiple modern bathrooms. It also had a huge living room, around twenty fancy bedrooms, a large dining room, a game room and a ginormous basement. Not to mention the pool along with a spa. Someone could easily get lost within the jungle of a mansion. 

Even Black's mansion was pale in comparison to Chiang's mansion. Maybe this was the power of an underworld boss. Arnold took a lot of interest in the building and was asking a lot of questions to Chiang every now and then, which he 'happily' answered.

"It seems you have taken a liking to the place, my boy!" Chiang exclaimed with fake cheerfulness.

"Of course, I have. After all, Uncle was generous enough to let me live in this place, so I thought I should probably get acquainted with everything as soon as I can to not cause you any more troubles." Arnold replied with a smile.

But what he failed to mention to his lovely uncle, was that he was thinking about shifting the mansion into his domain. Not right then, but when he was done with dealing with their crap.

"Sure, sure. Feel free to call this your home. Let's head towards the bar shall we?"

"Sure." Arnold replied, "By the way uncle, where is Cousin Gui? I haven't seen him since I got here."

"Ah, he must be busy playing games... again. That's the only thing he does these days. I'm surprised if I find him on the dinner table sometimes." Chiang shook his head.

Usually, he didn't like to show how disappointed Chiang was with his son especially in front of someone like Arnold. But since Arnold was already as good as dead, he thought it would be the best opportunity to vent out his frustrations for a while and so began the tale of how Gui had turned out to be a failure and an entitled piece of garbage who did not think twice before harassing the maids. As well as, taking his sexual frustrations out on them... that too quite brutally.

By the time, Chiang was done bit*hing about his only son, Arnold could only think of one saying, 'Like father, like son.'

"I just wish he could have been more like you." Chiang sighed before gulping down yet another drink.

"Haha... uncle you might have been underestimating your son's capabilities," Arnold replied after sipping down his drink as well, "Streaming is quite a popular field these days. If one has a talent in gaming, they can earn even more than what most of the warriors do."

"True, true... but you haven't seen him. He has no decency at all. The only time he talks with someone is when he wants to shout at them. It's quite tiring to hear his yelling at people for most random things, to be honest."

Arnold opened his mouth to reply but the next moment he found himself on the wooden floor. Something was wrong with him. He immediately grabbed his throat while gasping for air. He had been poisoned with a cocktail of the most dangerous poisons of the world and his insides were getting destroyed by the minute.

In the meantime, Chiang calmly finished his drink before he started laughing hysterically.

"You fcker! Did you really think I'd let you live after the crap you pulled earlier today?" Chiang kicked Arnold in his face while he rolled all over the floor in pain. As he did so, three men walked into the room, Zing, Gui and finally Yu Zhung's lieutenant. Yu Zhung had stepped out of the mansion to smoke, leaving his lieutenant in charge of the operation.

All of them were laughing after seeing him struggling at their feet. Meanwhile, the Lieutenant made the call for the warriors to come inside. After all, their target had been already subdued there was no need for them to keep a lookout.

However... he did not get a reply from them. All of their communicators had gone silent. Only the static noise could be heard through the comms. 

Everyone noticed the lieutenant's grave expression and immediately went silent. It was then they heard a maniacal laugh. Or to be precise, they heard Arnold's laugh.