Mercenary’s War

Chapter 2198 - 2174: The Last Straw

"Send people there, whether it’s a trap or not, we must send people, and send more of them!"

After Mario made this statement decisively, Cesare said worriedly, "This is not good, really not good. Fatino’s not worth much, not worth rescuing, and this might not just be a trap. If we send people over, it would leave this place defenseless."

Mario sighed and said, "We won’t send people from here, we’re not moving anyone from here. It’s time for the sheriff to do some work. After all these years, he must repay me somehow."

Cesare whispered, "You mean, let the police go?"

Mario regained his confidence and said seriously, "Yes, let the police go, completely surround the place. If that Mad Dog or damn Ram tries to ambush us, then so much the better. Let Sebris take his men too; those police are unreliable. In the end, we still need Sebris to solve the problem."

Cesare nodded and said, "Understood, I’ll go tell him."

Mario said, "No, I’ll say it myself, give me the phone."

Cesare dialed a number, and after Mario took the phone, he said in a deep voice, "Sebris, take all your men to a place, find my enemies, and eliminate them. If you catch any alive, then whatever you do, do not kill them."

After hanging up the phone, Mario remained seated on the sofa, leaning back with a dignified expression, "Notify the sheriff, it’s time to repay me."

Cesare left, and after a long time, about an hour, Cesare knocked on the door and returned to the room, whispering, "Everything is arranged. The sheriff will lead a large force over. If Ram is there, he won’t escape. Also, I’ve reinforced the security here. If Ram thinks he can draw away your bodyguards and attack you here, he’ll be very disappointed."

If Gao Yang were here, he would certainly dismissively say it’s just a case of ’luring the tiger away from the mountain’, a straightforward matter explained in one sentence, why say so much unnecessary stuff, how uncultured.

Of course, Mario and Cesare didn’t know what ’luring the tiger away from the mountain’ meant, but they understood the concept very well.

The several bodyguards around Mario had disappeared, not because Mario withdrew them, quite the opposite, he had strengthened his security. However, after feeling he’d regained control, Mario recovered some confidence. With that confidence came the realization that surrounding himself with eight armed men for security was pointless, so he dismissed them.

Mario looked calm and said softly, "Then, let’s wait for news."

Time ticked by, and Mario glanced at his watch, anxiously saying, "Why hasn’t there been any feedback yet."

Cesare said in a low voice, "The sheriff needs to gather manpower temporarily, and he might also encounter resistance, it can’t be too quick."

Mario sighed softly and said, "Call the sheriff, ask when they’ll be ready, don’t let them get away again."

A moment later, Cesare said, "It’ll be ready soon, the sheriff says, they’ll leave in at most half an hour."

Mario said displeasedly, "Too slow, you can’t rely on these people to protect you."

After a while, someone gently knocked on the door outside. Mario and Cesare immediately looked at the heavy wooden door. Cesare stood up quickly, ran to the door, opened it, and said discontentedly, "What is it?"

After muttering a few words under his breath, Cesare’s expression changed and he said in a low voice, "Got it, you can go."

Mario shouted loudly, "What’s going on? He wouldn’t knock unless it was important, tell me what happened."

After a moment of hesitation, Cesare whispered, "Sofia’s been sent back, the TV station people are at the door, they sent Sofia back."

Mario’s face instantly turned white. He stood up, trembling, and said, "Bring—bring her in, no—I’m going out."

Cesare immediately said, "No, no, you can’t leave this room."

Mario suddenly roared at the top of his lungs, "There are at least three hundred people outside protecting me! If even that isn’t safe, then what’s the point of having them? What’s the use!"

Cesare said softly, "Wait here a moment, I’ll go—I’ll go get Sofia. Regardless, you shouldn’t leave this room, I’ll be right back."

Cesare left quickly, his mind racing. He walked to the main entrance, where a pale-faced person was holding a black garbage bag.

Cesare stood there, staring blankly at the garbage bag, then with one hand on his hip and the other covering his forehead, he whispered a few expletives through gritted teeth before helplessly saying, "Just this bag?"

"Just this bag, it was delivered like this."

Cesare took a breath, lowered his head, shook his hand, and pointed at the many rooms behind him, whispering, "Go find a box, or a crate, a nice one, a nice crate. And if there’s a lot of blood, clean it up, make it neat, quickly."

The man whispered, "But sir, but..."

Cesare was very reluctant to take Mario’s daughter’s head to see him, but who made him Mario’s most trusted, closest person?

Cesare suddenly shouted in anger, "Go quickly!"

The person holding the trash bag immediately rushed off, and five minutes later, he returned running while hugging a beautifully carved wooden box, whispering, "The face is quite clean, no need to tidy it up, I didn’t touch it."

Cesare took a breath and said, "Yes, they need people to recognize who it is, of course it should be cleaned up a bit more."

After speaking, Cesare shouted angrily at the person holding the wooden box once more, "Do you think this is delivering a gift? Put on the cover, open it."

After glancing into the opened wooden box, Cesare felt nauseated and shivered uncontrollably, muttering to himself, "Oh, poor Sofia."

Cesare hurried to the room where Mario was, motioned for the person guarding the door to open it for him, walked in, then stepped forward to Mario and said, "Sir, I think you, you’d better, you’d better..."

Mario had already walked to Cesare’s side, his steps still steady, but after just glancing into the wooden box, he staggered and immediately reached out to hold Cesare’s shoulder. At this moment, he looked at the USB drive in the box and said, "What’s this?"

Cesare glanced down, cursed his carelessness, and whispered, "Sent together, I strongly advise you not to look."

Mario took a breath, staggered back to the sofa, and sat down heavily. After a long period of rapid breathing, he pointed at Cesare and said, "Put down that box, let’s see what’s in that USB drive, I can take it, put it down."

Cesare was very reluctant, but he still put down the box, took out the USB drive, then personally got a computer and placed it in front of Mario.

Watching his daughter cry out for help in the camera, faced only by merciless ridicule and laughter, Mario tightly clenched his collar, his face pale, repeatedly whispering, "These bastards! These bastards!"

When a person wearing a black head cover picked up a cleaver, Cesare suddenly closed the computer and said to Mario, "Don’t look, don’t look anymore, it can’t be changed. You need to consider your health. You absolutely can’t keep watching."

Mario closed his eyes and murmured, "My daughter, I will avenge you, those people, I will find them, one, one, one by one."

Cesare’s phone suddenly rang, no ringtone but the vibrating sound interrupted Mario, and Cesare immediately took out the phone, quickly glanced at it, and immediately said, "It’s the chief!"

Mario grabbed the phone, stood up, and urgently shouted, "It’s me! How is it! Have you found those bastards!"

Mario’s face was eager, but after listening to the phone for a while, his face turned white, his hand loosened, as the phone slipped from his grasp and fell onto the ground, Mario swayed, then fell backward onto the sofa, eyes still open, still breathing, but motionless, two streams of tears silently flowed down.

Cesare picked up the phone, then heard the person inside shouting nervously and urgently, "Not one made it out, dead, all dead! All dead!"

Cesare’s face was pale as well, he woodenly hung up the phone, then suddenly shouted, "Someone! Call a doctor, quickly call a doctor!"

Someone outside immediately ran in, after hearing Cesare’s command, immediately ran out again, then a private doctor wearing a suit ran in, saw Mario’s state, was scared stiff, quickly sat beside Mario, loudly said, "Mister Cicero, Mister Cicero, can you hear me? Look at me, please look at me."

While speaking, the doctor flipped open Mario’s eyelids, carefully looked at Mario’s pupils, then shouted, "Immediately send him to the hospital! Quick! Must go to the hospital immediately!"

Cesare immediately said, "Can’t go to the hospital! What’s wrong? He’s just too emotional, must he go to the hospital?"

The private doctor looked tense, stared at Cesare and said, "Yes, must go to the hospital, I estimate, his pupils have no response to light, indicating a problem with his brain, worst case scenario is cerebral hemorrhage, very dangerous, possibly life-threatening."

After looking at Mario again, the private doctor shook his head and said, "Can’t delay, not a minute can be wasted, immediately send him to the hospital for examination, if timely craniotomy may still save him, otherwise..."

Cesare urgently said, "Otherwise what!"

"Hard to say, possibly hemiplegia, worst case, death."

Cesare breathed heavily, stunned, said, "God, someone! To the hospital! Quick, quick!"