Chapter 27: Chapter 27
Some of the men appeared polite and amicable; a few looked refined, like scholars; some had a head full of silvery white hair that made them look like kind, harmless old grandfathers. Not a single one of them looked like criminals, but despite their well-mannered appearances, Lily wasn't fooled. These were some of Southeast Asia's most influential criminal bosses. It really wasn't a good idea to judge a person from their looks, she mused.
They followed close on Di Mo's heels, entering the hotel and heading through several doors before finally arriving outside an expansive conference room. Lily was about to step in when she found herself stopped by Daniel Craig. He gave her a look indicating that she was to wait outside the door.
She raised her eyebrows. So that's what it meant to be a servant. He and Yellow Falcon could join the meeting with Di Mo, but she was supposed to stand outside like some door-watching deity. She cursed inwardly at the injustice of it all, then reminded herself that it was better to not attend the meeting anyway. The less she participated in crime syndicate affairs, the better.
Through the glass door, she could see Di Mo sitting at the head of the table. The other bosses sat around him in a circle like planets circling the sun; they clearly admired him. Lily couldn't blame them — the Di Clan overlord's presence was incredibly imposing; just sitting there, his very existence exuded dignity from somewhere deep within. The sheer physical force of him seemed to crush everything around him, dominating over everyone else in the room.
Lily leaned against the wall outside, taking deep breaths and controlling the overwhelming panic she felt rising at her current situation. She looked up and discovered that there happened to be an exit door right across the conference room. She suddenly felt a spark of hope.
Di Mo and the other two were still in the conference. It had only been two days since they arrived in Southeast Asia, so the Di Clan people here didn't recognize her yet. Running away from the Di estate was impossible because that was their territory and the place was swarming with gun-toting guards, but Southeast Asia was remote and large enough to be beyond their total control. A few door locks certainly weren't enough to stop her.
She felt her spirits rise as she turned the idea over in her head. It was a rare opportunity. She was the only person standing out here. She smiled radiantly and stuck her hands in her pant pockets, prepared to make her way to the exit door.
Right at that moment, Lily suddenly felt danger penetrating through the glass conference door. Shivering, she turned and saw Di Mo's dark, bottomless eyes staring at her through the crowd of people between them. His blue-black eyes were like pools of deep ocean water that simultaneously flared with white-hot fire; it was as if they could smother the entire world in flames with just a look.
After some time, she looked closer and noticed that Di Mo had looked away, and with it, the ominous feeling went away. Lily stood still for a moment. She was just a small nobody in the Di Clan; the overlord probably didn't care too much about her anyway. She did steal from him, but when she considered her options, even if running away would mean being chased to the end of the earth by the Di Clan, it was better than following Di Mo around and getting into life or death situations day in and day out.
Having made her decision, she briskly made her way to the other exit door and pushed. It opened without a sound; she was fortunate in that all the people in the conference room were so important and the business they were discussing was so sensitive, because as a result, there was no one guard next to the inner doors. All the security was on the outside of the building, so it was easy for her to get through the various doors.
When she reached the second to last door from the main entrance, she went to the window instead. There was no way she'd be able to exit through the entrance, so the window was her next-best option. She was just about to climb through it when she heard voices coming from the other side of it.
"Is everything ready?" someone asked.
Lily swirled around and hid to the side, her back to the wall.
"Everything's ready. All the guards are stuck outside, and these explosives are enough to kill everyone inside," she heard another voice respond.
She scrunched up her face, straining to hear better.
"Bunch of scoundrels. Why should a foreigner get our territory? Isn't the West enough for the Di Clan? Why should they come take the Southeast Asian territories? I'm going to make them regret this." The heated words came from a low, narrow voice that was filled with loathing and contempt.
"Bro, keep quiet. There's no one here, but don't underestimate the Di Clan or those other old men. If we want to take them all out, we're going to have to be careful."
"I know, I know. Inform all the men that I want them to send these people to hell in ten minutes. Have all the windows and doors been sealed? I want to make sure none of them escapes."
"They won't. This hotel is ours. Both the outer doors are deadlocked. Come on, the explosives are all set. Let's get out of here."
Lily listened to their footsteps get farther away until they faded entirely. Her face had paled over the course of their conversation. She went to the window and leaned over to inspect it. They were right — it was deadlocked, although that was nothing to her. She could see the explosives over the ledge. They were a recent prototype. She recognized it from a job that had involved stealing bronze artifacts from some exceedingly paranoid people. Their safe had been too hard to crack, so she'd used explosives to blow the thing up.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone