Chapter 137: Victoria Long, No Longer A Long!

Chapter 137: Victoria Long, No Longer A Long!

"Master, can we skip training this morning, I am tired?"

Mercy was resting completely tangled in my arms, her voice incredibly sleepy as she reached out to turn off the ringing alarm. Her breathing was heavy, her body visibly sluggish as she realized that she might have pushed her very first night with me a bit too much in terms of physical endurance.

I leaned down to press a soft, lingering kiss against the sleepy woman's forehead, rubbing her shoulder gently to soothe her stiff muscles. "As someone with highly advanced medical knowledge, I strongly recommend you sleep in this morning and take a full day off from active duty. No heavy exercising, and make sure you focus on drinking lots of water throughout the day. I also want you to take a nice hot bath later on to properly let your body heal up from the strain. Every single time after this initial experience will be significantly easier and better for you, I promise. I will leave the room now and go get ready for University, and Zoe will handle the driving today. Love you."

"Rick, I will listen to you," Mercy murmured, her eyelids dropping heavily as she snuggled deeper into the warm blankets. "I am just so sleepy, love you too."

Yeah, she was honestly so completely exhausted that she was accidentally muttering Linda's usual submissive lines directly to me, which was incredibly cute. Giving her one last gentle kiss on the top of her head, I quietly gathered up my clothes and left the bedroom, heading straight down the hall toward Vicky's and my shared master suite to get ready for the day's testing cycle...

Vicky has always been an exceptionally early riser, and the moment I walked through the door of our room, the two of us decided to jump right in and share a hot shower together.

Under the rushing streams of steaming water, we took our time taking turns cleaning and massaging each other's bodies, until she leaned her head back slightly against my chest to ask a serious question. "I already know the standard business tests won't be a real issue for you today, so what exactly are your plans for the rest of this upcoming week?"

I poured a handful of shampoo into my palm, working up a rich lather as my fingers began to gently massage her long, dark-purple hair under the spray. "Well, I think I am going to completely breeze through my own test papers, and then I plan to immediately go and get some high-quality coffee for my amazing teacher who has to sit there on the platform and watch everyone else struggle in agony. Then you can sit at your desk and enjoy a Chocolate Mint with a wide smile, what do you think of that plan?"

With pleasant thoughts of morning coffee drifting through her mind, Vicky let out a soft hum and leaned her back completely into my chest, before suddenly surprising me with a piece of completely unexpected family news. "Last night, I was officially contacted by my personal team of lawyers. They told me that Kimberly has officially removed me from the Long Clan structure entirely. All of the core Long family businesses that are not explicitly registered under my private Victoria Long Inc. holding company were immediately removed from my administrative control. But she can't touch my personal things or my private assets."

I paused my movements under the water, having just finished rinsing the very last of the shampoo from her dark-purple locks. I immediately wrapped my arms tightly around her wet waist from behind, resting my chin directly on her shoulder to offer her comfort.

"Does it hurt?" I asked softly, placing my palm gently right over her heart.

She nodded her head slowly at my quiet question, her purple eyes clouding over with a deep, lingering sense of emotional betrayal. "I was already completely prepared to leave the clan for our relationship, but she didn't even give me a single word of anger, shock, or even call to ask why. She just coldly removed me through a legal file like I was absolutely nothing to her. If she would have yelled at me or even called to argue, I could be perfectly fine with the outcome. But to just do it like a common, everyday administrative task, and to only communicate through her corporate lawyers... it kinda sucks. She is my biological family, after all. Rick, please just hold me tightly for a while."

Under the pouring streams of hot water, I simply tightened my grip on my beautiful wife, holding her frame close as I felt a wave of pride for a woman who willingly chose me over her elite family legacy. I sincerely wished Kimberly could have just left her alone, and kicking her own little sister completely to the curb without a single word of discussion just thoroughly sucked. I chose not to say anything out loud, instead leaning in to gently kiss her shoulder to successfully distract her heavy thoughts.

After about five minutes of us quietly holding each other tightly under the water, she slowly opened her eyes, and feeling the deep depth of my care, a brilliant smile made its way back onto her face. Victoria turned her body around in my arms, giving me a deep, passionate kiss on the lips.

"Rick, come along with me on my brand new journey, and let me thoroughly show the Longs exactly how a kicked-out clansman can rise up to rival them completely," she stated, her voice filled with absolute determination. "You were born completely removed from both of your ancestral clans, and now you are not only a recognized Tang, but you are slowly becoming massively successful in every single one of your business endeavors. So, let you and I become the ultimate power couple of this city. Are you with me?"

"I have been completely with you since the exact day I fixed your flat tire on the road," I answered instantly, locking my bright blue eyes onto hers with absolute conviction. "I will gladly do anything you ever want me to do, my beautiful wife."

The mansion's private Harem-Chat group completely exploded with notifications for our family the exact second Vicky made the official announcement concerning her removal from the clan lines. But she quickly posted back to assure all the concerned women that this was only a small, temporary setback, and our expanding branch family would recover from the turmoil nicely.

Lucy was functioning as a completely invisible, hidden member inside my personal Harem-Chat network, but she already knew about Vicky's removal from the database, acting exactly as if she had personally foreseen it happening weeks in advance. I could easily tell by her completely nonchalant, relaxed attitude that she wasn't worried about the corporate fallout whatsoever, but I simply let Lucy be as sneaky as she wanted to be. I knew for a fact that she was easily our biggest, most lethal tactical supporter working in the digital shadows.

Later this morning, Diana Long personally called Victoria on her direct line, her voice firm as she explicitly stated that she would absolutely not leave Victoria Inc., even if Kimberly threatened to revoke her own family status as well. Vicky was thoroughly surprised to hear such deep, unwavering loyalty from her cousin, immediately promising her that she would also never abandon her to the political wolves.

Unlike the loyal Diana Long, however, many of the lesser, opportunistic Long family members did abruptly quit their corporate posts this morning.

Because of the sudden wave of mass resignations, Victoria's public stock value had dipped a bit on the market due to the temporary turmoil and uncertainty surrounding the move.

What exactly did Vicky lose control over that I am currently aware of? She was no longer in charge of the massive corporate Stadium-Arena, but the profitable BBQ House was still entirely hers. Furthermore, all of the high-end businesses operating inside her Velvet Tower were entirely her private property, and they functioned as massive, lucrative national chains. The loss of Star Entertainment Group, however, was definitely a big strategic loss for Kimberly.

Seeing the board layout change, I immediately decided to alter my morning coffee plans a bit to assist my wife.

Inside the luxury limo on our way to the university campus...

Tina, Jenifer, Nichole, Linda, Nadia, Victoria, and I were all sitting tightly together, actively speaking about our respective class testing schedules for the day.

"Instead of wasting time getting you coffee, I will step in as soon as I am completely done with my own test papers to watch over the classroom testers for you," I explained, laying out the tactical adjustment to Vicky. "That way, you can easily go out into the hall or head straight to your private office to handle the corporate crisis. Let me manage the proctoring for the first period. Then, the exact moment I finish my own Computers exam, I will come straight back and do the exact same thing for your second-period class."

Vicky wasn't shy about accepting the help at all, offering me a grateful nod as she leaned against my shoulder.

Tina shifted in her seat, her expressionless face masking her calculated thoughts as she chimed in to support the plan. "Rick and I don't have any afternoon exams scheduled due to it being elective time on the roster anyway. So I will gladly come by the business department to observe and proctor the afternoon class for you, with or without Rick."

"Thank you so much, Tina," Vicky murmured, letting out a soft sigh of relief. "This was honestly an incredibly awkward time for a corporate restructuring to hit us."

I reached into my pocket, checking my screen before looking back up at her. "Later this evening, I will have Lucy Shen completely remove all of the Kimberly-owned corporate coupons from my Harem-Chat platform, and we will strictly leave your businesses featured on the application interface."

Linda leaned forward, her sharp grey eyes darting between us as she offered her own family's strategic resources. "I will ask Mei to personally bring us a few fresh pizzas for lunch inside your office so we don't lose time. There is absolutely no reason to leave the building due to the testing cycles, and we can easily make some official calls for you to our respective families to secure extra corporate backing as well."

Vicky looked around the leather interior of the limo, visibly touched by the fact that all of the ladies in the household were moving in perfect sync to support her against the main branch.

Ring, ring, ring! Just a few minutes before the first period class bell was set to ring, my smartphone began to vibrate aggressively, displaying my uncle's name on the screen.

"Morning, Uncle Anthony, what is happening on your end?" I asked, answering the line quickly as I stepped away from the class room.

[All four of the major families have just officially received the corporate news from the Long branch,] Anthony's booming voice echoed clearly through the earpiece. [Is everything completely alright over there with Vicky? Do you two require any extra resources or backing from the main Tang family right now?]

"Not really, Uncle," I replied smoothly, checking the hallway traffic. "She had already anticipated a hostile move like this for quite a while now, but the timing was just incredibly sudden. The only real administrative issue we are facing is the lesser Long family members abruptly abandoning their employment posts this morning. But Vicky is already working exceptionally fast to put the fires out."

[Alright, that is good to hear,] Anthony noted, his tone turning into a strict baritone. [I will make a public announcement from the main house today stating that we fully support our Victoria inside the Tang family, and that this petty move is strictly Kimberly's loss. Her current political actions thoroughly confuse me, however. Anyway, make sure to let Victoria know the main house has her back, good luck on your final exams today, and make sure to call Helen to tell her good luck as well. She would really thoroughly like that from you.]

"I will send Helen a text message right now, and I'll talk to you later tonight, Uncle."

We hung up the call, and I immediately opened my messaging app to text Helen a quick good luck note for her testing.

The rest of the morning went exactly as we had planned, and the moment I finished turning in my completed Computers exam, I immediately began heading back toward Vicky's office. As I walked down the quiet corridor, I decided to place a call to my troublesome hacker woman.

[Mmm? Did you miss me calling out to you during your testing cycle, fufu?] Lucy's mischievous voice instantly purred through the speaker line.

"This was honestly the only free time I could call you when I knew for a fact you were awake, you sleepy cat," I answered with a soft chuckle.

[Hmm? You even know my exact sleeping schedule by heart now, so maybe you are secretly my personal stalker?] Lucy giggled deviously on the other end of the line. [Well, I already know exactly why you are calling me, and you can relax because I have absolutely everything under control. The exact millisecond Kimberly made her legal move, I immediately locked out all of the Long family traitors from our servers. I also threw a massive wave of digital chaos straight into her major companies to make her go completely nuts trying to put out an internal revolt inside the Long family lines.]

"Oh? What specific chaos did you pull off?" I asked, my eyebrows raising in pure amusement.

[Oh, I handled things beautifully,] Lucy explained proudly. [I manipulated the data so that some of her main businesses suddenly looked like they hadn't paid their electric bills, causing immediate service cutoffs. And I sent official, automated cancellation notices to all of the major events scheduled at her Sports Arena for the next six months under the guise of urgent renovations, things like that. Oh, and my absolute favorite part? I had all of Kimberly's loyal supporters' dirtiest secrets leaked directly to the mainstream press. You know the drill, fufu—secret affairs, corporate bribes, hidden financial crimes, and tons of recorded shit-talk about Kimberly's failed leadership style.]

I let out a slow sigh, rubbing my temples while completely grinning at her sheer digital lethality. "Sigh, I am honestly so incredibly glad that you are on my side of this war, Lucy. Outstanding work. The exact moment this whole corporate situation blows over, I am going to take you out on a truly nice date, how does that sound?"

The line went quiet for a split second, and I am entirely sure I heard her emit a high-pitched, excited squeal over the covered smartphone microphone before her voice returned, practically dripping with dark excitement.

[Hmm~! Rick, I still have ten tactical bunker busters fully active on standby if you want me to get it done significantly faster?!]

I smiled widely at her extreme response, moving to calm her down before she accidentally leveled a corporate plaza. "No need for that, let's just keep our retaliation to a reasonable, non-lethal level for now, alright? And I thoroughly look forward to seeing you again soon. I have to go now because I am back at the office to help Vicky. Bye."

I had to quickly hang up the call, because I could clearly hear her starting to giggling with the pure, happy energy of a crazy woman at the mere mention of our upcoming date.

After helping Victoria watch her class full of resentful males, I left the classroom to help Mei carry all the delivered food packages.

While I was waiting directly at the curb for Mei to pull up in my family SUV, someone I had absolutely not expected to see casually walked right past me. He was dressed in a casual pair of jeans, a plain black shirt, and a heavy leather jacket.

The man stopped in his tracks, looking just as thoroughly surprised to see me standing there as I was to see him. I locked my eyes onto his frame, refusing to show any vulnerability.

"Sea Temple's Logan Chen, are you here to find me?"

He completely stopped his forward momentum, smoothly sliding both of his hands straight into his pockets. He was doing it either to grab a hidden weapon or to openly show that he wasn't looking for a physical fight, but his relaxed posture suggested the latter.

He flashed a wide smile at me, adjusting his stance.

"Hello Rick Tang, the absolute youngest Master I have ever met. I have indeed come to this campus to find you. But you can relax, because I am here strictly as a new student. I recently heard rumors that you teach various Kung-Fu styles to your other teammates. So I came here specifically for that. Your deep knowledge of the Sea Temple tells me you already knew all about my differences with the Mountain Temple, and Ashley Hue. But I do have one question for you."

My facial expression stayed perfectly still, but I was secretly incredibly curious about his hidden motives. I offered him a silent, firm nod to let him ask his question.

"You completely crippled Ashley's mother and killed several Master Monks from the now crumbled Mountain Temple," Logan stated, his eyes narrowing slightly as he observed my reaction. "So why in the world are you protecting a prominent Mountain Temple member like her?"

I understood his logic completely, and in his position, I too would be thoroughly confused about that specific arrangement.

"She is my wife's niece, and my best friend's fiance," I explained bluntly, keeping my voice steady. "So to put it completely simple, she is considered family. If Ashley is your primary target, then you will have to go through me first. As for any other Mountain Temple members, I honestly don't give a rat's ass about them. But I will gladly kill to protect my family."

He paused, a look of sudden realization washing over his face as he remembered hearing about Laura Long's little sister recently announcing her official marriage to me, and now everything finally clicked into place. He nodded his head toward me in respect.

"Well, I just recently found out that she is the designated next Leader of the Hidden Dragons Syndicate anyway," Logan revealed smoothly. "So the official hit on her has been completely canceled. I will send a formal letter to my Temple immediately to make sure absolutely no one is to touch her from now on. Is that fine with you?"

I was thoroughly surprised by his immediate willingness to parlay with me. A calm smile broke across my face.

"It seems the Sea Temple taught you guys to properly settle things with words and not cheap, dirty tricks like those Bald Donkeys from the Mountain Temple," I replied. "I would highly appreciate my family's ongoing safety, so please send my official thanks to your superiors."

He grinned widely at my phrasing, though he quickly let out a light huff to complain about our past encounter.

"Well, I guess I should technically say thanks to you for not making my physical injuries permanent, but that atomic-wedgie you gave me was a bit much. I only recently fully recovered from that embarrassing stunt, sigh."

I let out a soft chuckle, shaking my head.

"Well, to be perfectly fair, I really was heavily drinking at the time, so... anyway, why exactly are you looking for me specifically today?"

"I want to learn your Drunken-Style very much," Logan answered eagerly, his eyes shining with genuine passion for martial arts. "It possesses a lot of natural synergy with my own Sea-Snake-Style, and I want to incorporate its movements into my forms. Plus, I just thoroughly love drinking alcohol. So I am officially joining the university's Kung-Fu Club just to learn it directly from you. I will also be traveling to the Nationals alongside Star University to fight other Temple youngsters like myself."

I shrugged my shoulders, spotting Mei's vehicle finally pulling up to the curb.

"As long as you won't mess with my lovers and my family, I don't mind teaching you the style," I told him, gesturing toward the approaching SUV. "I will be in the longer afternoon Friday class, due to me being in the Drama Club from Monday to Thursday."

Logan instantly busted out into loud, booming laughter, leaving me looking completely confused until he wiped a tear from his eye to clarify.

"Haha! No, it is just incredibly funny because I am actually a Drama Major myself! So we will be in the exact same damn class together. Good acting skills are exceptionally beneficial for high-level Kung-Fu performance, plus I just really like modern entertainment."

He then watched Mei smoothly step out of the vehicle to my side, quickly recognizing that the China Empire woman was functioning as my personal maid, and he offered her a polite nod.

"Well then, Logan Chen, I guess I will see you next week," I said, stepping toward the passenger door. "I have to take this food directly to my wives right now, so I will catch you then. Oh, and don't trust a guy named Sam Sun under any circumstances. He is absolute trash."

"Noted," Logan replied, his face turning serious as he leaned in to deliver a quiet word of caution. "Oh, and one last warning because you seem like a reasonable guy. The Forest Temple and the Snow Temple are both actively sending top Masters straight to Star City. The government wants the fourth temple completely recreated with new blood right here, so make sure you keep your eyes wide open for some highly unreasonable characters. Bye."

As he turned and walked away down the sidewalk, Mei watched his retreating back with a sharp, calculating gaze.

"He was easily able to see through my demeanor and knows for a fact that I am a trained fighter," Mei noted softly, her posture tensing.

"Just like me, he is a trained actor under the surface, that's exactly why," I explained, letting out a tired sigh. "So now we have to watch out for even more Temple Masters to arrive in the city, sigh. Hopefully they can actually be reasoned with when they get here."

Mei's serious expression instantly melted away, a playful, devious smile gracing her lips as she gestured toward the vehicle.

"Lover, help me carry the pizza inside right now or we are going to be late, fufu! Oh, and I made sure to get you your favorite Teriyaki Chicken Pizza! So that means I get to sit directly in your lap during lunch for remembering, right?"

"Well, if you can successfully convince Nadia to not sit there first, then sure."

Mei's face instantly fell into a disappointed pout.

"Crap, she is going to claim your lap for sure, never mind."

As our lunch hour was finally nearing its end, the relaxed atmosphere was shattered when I suddenly received an emergency distress call from Lucy on my secure line.

[Rick, stay completely calm and listen to my words right now!] Lucy's voice barked frantically through the speaker, stripping away her usual playful tone. [The South Central Police Precinct is currently engaged in a massive, heavy firefight with the Mad Hatters criminal group! They are actively breaking out one of their important leaders from custody, and for some strange reason, I cannot get a single signal lock on Mary's smartphone. All electrical power to the entire Precinct has been completely cut off, so my ability to see the security tapes or get you active inside information is limited strictly to the exterior perimeter. Mei is right there with you, so take her and go immediately!]

I forced myself to take a deep breath, consciously trying to calm my racing heart and steady my breathing as I stood up from the table, turning a deadly serious gaze onto my maid.

"Mei, you and I are leaving this room right now. Mary is in serious trouble. As for the rest of you, I need to leave immediately. I will call the house the exact second I know something concrete, so please do not call my phone for a bit. I love you all and bye."

Tina immediately moved to chase after me to help in the fight, but she rapidly analyzed the severe tone of my words and forced herself to stop. She knew for a fact that I would willingly take her along if I truly needed her physical strength, so she stayed behind to calm the panicked wives.

"Rick will be perfectly fine," Tina commanded, her voice steady as she rallied the room. "But everyone start looking for any live news updates about what could be wrong with Mary. Let us all look together!"

While Mei and I were sprinting at full speed across the asphalt toward our parked car, I called out to her.

"Mei, what specific combat supplies do I have available in the vehicle?!"

"I am so sorry, Rick, but this time around, I don't have the fifty-caliber rifle, your tactical coat, or your bulletproof vest inside," Mei replied frantically as we ran. "All I have on hand is our communication setup, but that's absolutely it."

"I only have a grand total of four magazines left for my HK P30 pistols," I noted grimly, my mind calculating the tactical disadvantage. "So if used conservatively, that is exactly sixty bullets, sigh. We are playing on hard mode today. Mei, we will absolutely take strict precautions in the future to never be caught unprepared like this again, and I am driving."

Mei expertly threw me the keys in mid-stride as the two of us violently climbed into the Durango SRT Hellcat. I slammed my foot down and peeled out of the student parking lot, the tires screeching loudly as several startled students had to literally dive out of the way of my speeding SUV. I aggressively blared the horn to ensure they knew I wasn't stopping.

SCREEECH! SCREEECH!

The heavy tires smoked as I made incredibly tight, high-speed corners through the city streets, running multiple red lights right alongside a cluster of other responding squad cars.

Mei moved quickly inside the cabin, expertly attaching my secure neck piece so we could talk hands-free, and she carefully inserted my tactical earpiece into my ear canal as well. With such a massive emergency actively unfolding at the precinct, the local police completely ignored the extreme speeding I was doing, likely guessing that I was an undercover operative rushing to the scene.

Soon enough, Lucy's voice crackled directly into my ear.

[Keep your laptop open in the car within a one-mile radius of the site so I can seamlessly communicate with you and monitor the police radio bands for you. Mei, since he is going in completely without his heavy gear, I want you in there fighting right alongside him. Without a long-ranged rifle available, sitting at the laptop is a complete waste of your elite combat skill. Rick, do not dare refuse this arrangement, this is strictly for Mary's survival.]

"Got it!" I barked back into the mic, swerving around a delivery truck. "You are my commander today, Lucy. Just bring me, Mei, and Mary home safely, and ignore the others until we are completely safe."

[Just focus on doing your martial arts breathing method to calm your mind down right now,] Lucy instructed, her fingers flying across her keyboard on the other end. [And I think you are going to have to completely total your brand new car just to violently get past the Mad Hatters' blockading lines to get inside the building. Also, Mei, make sure you keep the laptop from breaking during the crash.]

Mei immediately took action, securing the device.

"Okay, I put it securely into the rear seat holder so we are fully ready for the airbags to deploy."

Hearing that confirmation, I pressed the accelerator pedal down even harder, the Hellcat engine roaring in response. On the front digital computer screen of the SUV, Lucy uploaded a live satellite helicopter view of the active warzone lines, drawing a glowing path on the screen for me to follow. It guided me to drive aggressively into the perimeter, swerving around a couple of empty police cars that had been set up by the officers as makeshift bullet shields.

"Okay Mei, I am going to make the airbags deploy by slamming directly into that parked pickup truck right there, so cover your face for the bag! Here I go!"

The responding police officers on the street, seeing a massive, speeding SUV careening directly over the pedestrian sidewalk just to pass their line, quickly scrambled out of the way of the insane driver.

As I passed the outer police perimeter, I made sure to steer my trajectory straight through a bunch of animal-masked gunmen, sending them scattering as they desperately tried to jump sideways out of my path.

Thea-dump, Thea-dump, Thea-dump, Thea-dump, Thea-dump, BAAAAAASH!

The heavy impact echoed violently through the chassis. Just before the moment of impact as we crashed directly into the parked pickup truck, I knew for a tactical fact that my bumper had killed at least six of the enemy gunmen.

Poof! Poof!

The airbags instantly deployed with a loud bang as the crash took place, filling the cabin with white smoke as my SUV spun a full 180 degrees from the momentum, finally slamming to a violent halt resting on all four tires. Without a single second of hesitation, Mei and I leaped straight out of the smoking doors.

The two of us were a short ten feet away from the heavy front doors of the Precinct, and we successfully made it across the threshold under a heavy hail of enemy gunfire.

The easy part of the mission was officially done. Now, it was time to find Mary.