Dear Heroes, I really am a Villain-Chapter 79: I never make promises I don’t intend to keep

Hearing this, Gu Weizhong immediately understood what the board member was implying: they suspected he had orchestrated some kind of assassination plot.

"Please rest assured, Mr. Smith. This little hiccup is completely under control," Weizhong replied with a calm, reassuring smile.

His smile was practiced, flawlessly reassuring. This was one of the essential skills for anyone at the top. Acting. And not just the kind seen on a stage or in a movie. The standards here were even higher. Because even under the pressure of a metaphorical sky collapsing, those in power had to maintain a composure so convincing, their confidence could calm the storm and fool even the sharpest eyes.

At that moment, the private elevator opened, and both Switch and Gu Yichen stepped into the boardroom.

The sudden appearance of uninvited guests startled the board members; some even instinctively moved behind the person seated in front of them.

"Father! Please! Stop this madness!" Gu Yichen pleaded.

"No! Yichen, this entire incident happened because of you! You need to take responsibility for the damage!" Gu Weizhong immediately shifted the blame. With his useless son taking the fall, his position could once again be secured. freewebnσvel.cѳm

"But you were the one who told me to bring them here if I wanted to use the family’s resources to pick us up!" Gu Yichen said, his voice filled with disbelief at what he was hearing.

"Liar!" Gu Weizhong snapped.

"What?! You’re lying through your teeth, Father! I know you’re throwing this mess at me just to avoid taking responsibility! But this... this is low, even for you!" Gu Yichen retorted, his voice rising with anger.

While the two continued accusing each other, a report suddenly came in through the speaker.

"Sir! This is Checkpoint Alpha! We can’t hold him off. He’s too strong! Arrgghh!" The transmission ended with the sound of agonized screams and a barrage of gunfire.

Checkpoint Alpha was the final line of defense before the executive floor. It had been designed to buy time for the executives to evacuate or alert the IHB so they could dispatch a hero to contain any high-level threat.

"Weizhong! I’ll hold you accountable for this! Call the IHB already!" barked Smith, a board director.

He was the first to voice his dissatisfaction. Naturally, since Smith belonged to the opposing faction, he took every opportunity to discredit Gu Weizhong.

"Smith!" Gu Weizhong shot him a venomous glare. If looks could kill, Smith would’ve died a thousand times over.

"Gentlemen, shouldn’t we retreat first? The intruder is coming in through the front door, but don’t we have a private elevator right here that leads to the lobby below?" one of the board directors asked.

He was a black-haired Caucasian with a noble mustache, resembling an old British aristocrat more than a businessman.

"Mr. Kingsley is right! We should’ve retreated earlier!" another board director agreed with the man who looked like a British nobleman.

"Since the respectable Mr. Kingsley suggested it, and the other board directors agree, let’s retreat from here first," Gu Weizhong quickly seized the opportunity. If he had proposed retreating first, it would have seemed like a sign of weakness. But since it came from the board, it was acceptable.

To be honest, he didn’t want to stay here either. That man was literally carving a bloody path toward this room. Even though the door was reinforced with 6-millimeter steel capable of withstanding an anti-tank rocket, he wasn’t willing to bet on it.

Gu Weizhong led the group of board directors toward their private elevator, but the button wasn’t responding.

"What’s going on!?" one of the board directors asked after repeatedly mashing the button, but nothing happened. Not even the light on the button lit up.

"Technician! The private elevator button in the executive suite isn’t working! Fix this immediately!" Gu Weizhong shouted toward the ceiling, where the intercom speaker should have been.

But... there was no response. Only silence.

Suddenly, a sword pierced through the inside of the private elevator, startling the board members. The elevator doors slowly opened, revealing a man in a white robe climbing out of the elevator shaft.

Inside, it was clear the private elevator had stopped three floors below; it wasn’t functioning.

The man in white was Gu Tian, the current heir of the Gu family.

"Father, the private elevator is stuck. I think someone’s hacked it," Gu Tian reported.

"What!?"

The revelation shocked both Gu Weizhong and the board directors. They exchanged tense glances. Who could have possibly locked down this floor? The executive suite’s security was on par with the IHB’s local branch network!

The only explanation was that someone was hacking it from inside.

Their eyes slowly turned toward Gu Yichen and Switch.

Switch was silent... too silent. Her eyes were unfocused as if she were staring into a distant horizon... but clearly, no one was there.

Seeing this and having prior intel on Switch, the mercenary, Gu Tian, immediately realized what was happening.

"She’s the one who hacked the elevator and locked down the floor!" Gu Tian shouted, pointing at Switch.

Fweee~

At that moment, the sound of hydraulic doors opening echoed across the room. The front doors of the board meeting chamber slid open, revealing Maximilian. He had been gathering his Qi to force his way in but paused, surprised.

"Oh?" he muttered in confusion, then stepped inside after spotting Switch waving at him with a smile.

It seemed the girl had already cleared the path for him. He glanced at the group of board directors huddled near the elevator. He instantly understood they had been trying to escape, and Switch had stopped them.

Otherwise, he might’ve had to follow them down the elevator shaft and hunt them like some sort of killer robot from the future.

[Too bad the girl stopped them. I really wanted to see you reenact the scene with that robot disguised as a cop chasing a motorcycle. (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ]

{Forget a motorcycle! It’d be a flying car instead!} Maximilian retorted. Given the level of tech in this world, he had no doubt these bigshots owned personal hovercars.

"Thank you very much, Ms. Switch," Maximilian said, then turned toward the board of directors.

"Please return to your seats, gentlemen. Let’s talk about my compensation," he said calmly as he walked toward the head seat at the boardroom table.

"Compensation!? You trashed my building, killed my men, and now you want to talk about compensation!?" Gu Weizhong roared in fury.

"I believe I warned your son not to push things... and this will no longer end on his terms. It ends on mine. Besides, your people tried to kill me from the corridor all the way to this room. I merely responded in kind," Maximilian replied, deflecting the accusation.

Hearing this, the board directors all turned their gaze toward Gu Tian. Their looks were intense, scrutinizing him as if trying to spot a flaw in his expression.

"Are you really going to follow through on that threat?" Gu Tian asked, gritting his teeth in regret and frustration. If he had known this man was the real deal, he would’ve just let him walk away. None of this madness would’ve happened.

"I never make promises I don’t intend to keep, Mr. Gu," Maximilian stated matter-of-factly, then gently patted the boardroom table.

"Now... gentlemen, please return to your seats," he said with a smile, taking the head seat himself.

Crack... crash!

After the light pat, the long table cracked down the middle and split in two, an unmistakable display of Maximilian’s Qi.

Is his EF the ability to break atomic bonds!? That shouldn’t be possible... right!?

Both the board directors and Gu Weizhong found themselves thinking along the same lines.

If this ability were real, then it meant this man’s name should already be listed in the IHB or UEC database, either as a Hero, a Villain, or at the very least, someone flagged as a high-risk individual.

Because an ability like this held the potential to destroy anything composed of matter, even gases, by breaking the bonds between atoms. People with EFs that allowed them to transform into gaseous states would be especially vulnerable, as their molecular structure would disintegrate instantly. It would effectively kill them on the spot.

Seeing this, the first person to offer a disarming smile wasn’t Gu Weizhong but the man called Kingsley.

"You’re right. Let’s talk about your compensation," he said with a smile, then walked toward the table and took a seat, choosing the closest spot to Maximilian, clearly showing a friendly stance.

Seeing one of the most influential board directors and shareholders act this way, those who were previously on the fence and those from the faction opposing Gu Weizhong quickly followed suit.

The seats filled up as they all tried to position themselves as close as possible to Maximilian, each silently declaring their alignment.

Now, it was time for Gu Weizhong’s faction.

Gu Weizhong and Gu Tian had no choice but to comply. They walked over to the board directors’ table and sat down.

"Now, what do you want?" Gu Weizhong asked, his tone unfriendly.