My Counterattack System After Reborn

Chapter 31: Start With Todd Bower

Typically, the light in the D.S.G. Unlimited building went off in the evening after all the employees had left. For some reason, though, today, the lights in one office remained on. It was on the top floor of the building, and it belonged to Todd’s father. 

The D.S.G. building was one of the tallest high rises in Edmonton, and it overlooked the entire city. The elevator room was in the middle of the building. The circular office areas surrounded it, and they were divided into five spaces. In the middle was the chairman's office.

An exotic monk stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window behind the chairman's desk. He was looking at the bustling nighttime view of Edmonton with a blank expression on his face. He had dark skin, was bald, and he wore tropical clothes. Not far behind him stood a middle-aged man in a suit. Todd did not know this person, but any employee of D.S.G. Unlimited knew that this was the new chairman, Gianni Tyler!

After Gianni seized 40% of Todd's father's shares by insidious means, he used the stick and the carrot to buy 15% of the shares from the rest of the directors. Gianni now owned 55% of the shares, making him the owner of the company. He was more powerful than all of the board members combined. Because of this, many of the directors wanted to sell their shares and withdraw from D.S.G. He would not let them, though. He threatened the relatives of several major shareholders, and at the same time, he signed a huge government project for D.S.G.

By using the stick and the carrot method, Gianni was able to convince the shareholders to comply with his every directive. They may not have agreed with what he was doing, but if their income remained stable and their families were safe, they were willing to fall in line.

Once the board of directors and significant shareholders had been dealt with, Gianni turned his attention to the senior executives. He fired anyone that was loyal to Todd's father, and he arranged for some of them to be put in prison for crimes that they had not committed. 

Gianni spent a lot of money on winning some people over, and he restructured D.S.G. from the ground up. When he was done, the company was so efficient that it was praised for its efficiency in business textbooks. Despite his success, though, compared to what the monk knew, he still had a lot to learn.

Gianni half-bowed, but the monk did not appear to notice him. He just continued to stare out of the window blankly. Gianni did not dare to move. He maintained his bow and waited patiently to be acknowledged. Gianni was over fifty years old, though, and eventually, he began to feel like he no longer had the strength to go on.   

There was cold sweat on his forehead and back, but he did not dare to wipe it. His waist was already trembling, but he did not dare to make any noise for fear of disturbing the monk. Finally, just when he was about to fall, the monk turned and said lightly, "The Tame Head that I left in Aaron Bower's body failed."

The monk's face looked very strange. Although he was young, his skin was dehydrated, and his eyes were sunken into his skull. If Todd's father were there, he would recognize the evil Asian monk.

"Will Tame Head fail again?" Gianni asked. There was a hint of surprise in his tone. The fact that Tame Head had failed once terrified him.

The evil Asian looked deep into his eyes and Gianni felt like his mind was being read. Finally, the monk looked away. He said, "Tame Head has no cure, but there are some magical things in this world that are able to counteract or act as antidotes for Tame Head. For example, if you were struck by lightning, the electricity would counteract the Tame Head. Anyway, do you still want to go?”

“Of course, I do,” Gianni exclaimed. "I still want to spend a few more years with my daughters."

"That's good," the evil Asian monk said. 

Gianni flinched. There was something about the monk’s voice that made him uncomfortable. It made him want to get angry, but he knew better than to risk the safety of himself or his family.  Thus, all he could do is hear the monk out.

"Aaron Bower has gotten in touch with powerful people and he is planning his revenge,” the monk explained. “It will be a very troublesome thing. To avoid this trouble, you help me kill his whole family. Start with Todd Bower."

The monk's tone was still calm, but his words left Gianni with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He felt helpless, and his feelings were clearly pasted on his face. His and his daughter’s lives had been in the monk’s hands for longer than he cared to admit, and he was living in constant fear. The monk did not hold that against him. Fear amused the monk.

Over the years, Gianni had done many illegal things for the evil monk, and this was not the first time he had been ordered to kill.

This is not the life that I planned for me or my family – thought Gianni. He had graduated from a top university, but it was not long before everything went to s**t. "I will do what you tell me to,” he said. 

***

The next day, Todd got up to eat as usual. He completed his morning routine and drove to school. His school started earlier than other schools, which most of the students grumbled about, but it had its perks. For example, by leaving earlier, you missed the morning rush by about thirty minutes.

Driving along the familiar road, Todd used his left hand to hold the steering wheel, and he rubbed the corners of his eyes with his right hand. He was still sleepy, and he was trying to wake himself up. As he drove, it occurred to him that his priorities might be slightly off course. He worried that he might be spending too much time thinking about the world inside of his head.  

Last night, in his dream, he had been thinking about how to carve a 100-kilogram wooden sculpture. Thus, his sleep quality had been poor, and now his mental state was not very good. 

Todd was startled by the sudden appearance of a dark figure in front of his car. He stepped on the brakes to take a closer look, only to find that it was a puppy crossing the road.

"Damn it!” He rolled down his window and shouted at the dog to get off the road. As he rolled up his window, it occurred to him that he was no longer tired. The scare had sobered him up right quick!

Todd turned on the music in his car and he continued his way to school.