The Mesmerizing Man

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Michael Carter had been gone for a long time, but the blush on Jake Thompson's face lingered.

It was the first time anyone other than his father had touched his head.

So gentle, so warm.

He reached out his right hand and stroked his hair, imitating Michael Carter's movements, rubbing it. A soft touch came from his palm.

He had never noticed that his hair was like this, like a plush toy.

For some reason, the suicidal thoughts that had just sprouted in his heart stopped.

Maybe, maybe he could hold on a little longer.

Jake Thompson took a deep breath, walked to the window in the living room, and pulled the curtains open completely for the first time.

At this time, it was not yet dawn outside, the clouds in the sky seemed gray, and the distant high-rise buildings had some faint lights, which looked a bit like stars falling from the sky.

Jake Thompson took another deep breath, the cold air that came in through the cracks in the windows made him shiver.

So cold, it turns out that not everyone can pretend to be cool.

He quickly drew the curtains, trotted into the bedroom, and burrowed back into the bed to continue sleeping.

It's just that this time there was a little bit of warmth in the dream, no longer pure bitterness and sorrow. — Michael Carter quickly changed his clothes and went out. Before leaving, he subconsciously glanced at the door of Room 603. The silly look of Jake Thompson just now appeared in his mind, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously raised.

He tightened the drawstring of his hoodie, wrapping his entire face in the large hat, leaving only the upper half of his face exposed, his eyes for seeing, his nose for breathing.

He couldn't feel it when he was exercising at home. Now that he went out, he realized that the temperature in the early spring morning was not high, and there was still a cold wind blowing. No wonder people said that spring is cold, it is really not as comfortable as summer morning.

Michael Carter moved his neck, jumped twice in place, and then quickly ran downstairs.

There is a small shopping mall on the commercial street next to the community, called Quanye City, which is the favorite place for the elderly in this old district.

Although the goods here are a bit outdated, they are cheap. An old man's vest costs ten yuan, and an old man's shirt costs fifty.

But it is such a down-to-earth old shopping mall that has a whole floor of casinos in the basement, with mahjong, pai gow, dice, poker, and slot machines.

The entrance of the casino is in the game hall on the first floor of the shopping mall. There is a room in the innermost corner with the words "Office" written on the door, and there are usually people guarding the door.

It was less than 7:00 in the morning, and it was still two hours before the mall opened.

Michael Carter entered through the small door at the back of the mall. He had a key. It should be said that almost all the little gangsters in their area had one, because the game hall was their lair.

There were already two people waiting at the door of the "office", one of whom was Harris—David Harris, who was with Michael Carter at the noodle restaurant that day.

David Harris was wearing light blue jeans and a dark green floral shirt, sitting on an iron stool with his legs crossed, a cigarette in his right hand, talking to a boy who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old beside him.

Michael Carter loosened the drawstring of his hoodie, revealing his entire face.

He sniffed, rubbed his face with both hands, and bent his originally straight back slightly.

"Harris." Michael Carter walked over and shouted.

At this time, he was very different from what he looked like at Jake Thompson's house before.

Seeing him coming, David Harris hurriedly stood up and kicked the boy next to him, signaling him to open the door.

"Come on." David Harris threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it.

Michael Carter gently wiped the tip of his nose with the thumb and index finger of his left hand, yawned again, and showed a sleepy expression: "Why so early?"

David Harris didn't speak to him, but turned his eyes to the boy behind him, and Michael Carter suddenly realized that he stopped asking.

At this time, the boy had already opened the door, and called out behind him: "Harris."

David Harris turned around and kicked the cigarette butt on the ground: "Okay, lock the door later, sweep the floor and go back, come back and open the door before 9 o'clock."

"Yes, Harris." The boy said and immediately squatted down to pick up the cigarette butt in his hand.

David Harris nodded to Michael Carter, and walked in.

Michael Carter paused as he watched the boy, and as he walked past him he saw a pair of extraordinarily bright eyes on that childish face.

But the next second, when he walked in, the boy immediately closed the door.

As the door was locked, the lights in the room came on.

This is a very ordinary office with simple decoration and furnishings.

But as David Harris stretched out his hand to a palm-sized jade cabbage ornament on the bookshelf, the entire bookshelf split in two from the middle, revealing a narrow passage that only one person could pass through.

David Harris walked in without saying a word, but Michael Carter's face was not very good-looking. Generally, this kind of silence is definitely not a good thing.

He had been with David Harris for almost a year. Although he usually did some debt collection work, David Harris started taking him to underground casinos two months ago after he took a knife for David Harris.

At first, he thought it was just an ordinary casino, but after he came here, he realized that as long as it is related to gambling, it will never be ordinary.

Michael Carter licked his lips and walked in, the bookshelf behind him closed, and there was a staircase leading straight down.

He remembered that the first time he came here was two o'clock in the middle of the night, David Harris called him from the bed and took him to the casino.

At that time, there were still many people in the casino. After all, midnight was the busiest time. David Harris told him that the casino opened at 10:00 p.m., just after the mall closed, and cleaned up at 6:00 a.m., so that customers would not meet the staff and customers of the mall.

That time, because someone made trouble, and his identity was unusual, David Harris was called by John Miller to deal with it.

John Miller is the manager of the casino.

After I came here, I found out that the troublemaker was the nephew of the second in command of Jiulian, who lost hundreds of thousands and refused to pay.

John Miller was decent and knew the other party, so this matter could only be left to David Harris, who was a thug.

David Harris is a well-known sixth kin of the Qingzhu Gang, so he can fight, and the gang will try their best to protect him after the fight.

That was the first time Michael Carter saw David Harris, who was really serious about killing people, unlike the half-truths he used to collect debts.

Every punch hit the flesh, and his fingers were cut off as soon as he said it.

The next few times were still the same. Although Michael Carter acted very calmly in front of David Harris, every time he came, his heart would still be greatly impacted.

Today was different from usual, the venue had been cleared, and there was almost no one except for a few cleaning boys.

The huge underground floor was very deserted, Michael Carter was about to ask David Harris what was going on so early in the morning, but the next second a sudden wail broke the silence.

Michael Carter was taken aback for a moment, and looked at the cleaning boys, but they all lowered their heads and did their own work, never looking up.

"What are you doing in a daze, let's go." David Harris kicked Michael Carter and turned his head to go to the source of the sound just now, but suddenly turned his head to look at Michael Carter, frowned and said, "Tie your hair up, I told you to cut it but you didn't cut it, you are a big man with long hair..."

Hearing this, Michael Carter muttered as he tied his hair and followed behind David Harris: "No, my mother said before she died that the hair and skin are given by my parents..."

"Okay, okay, stop talking, your mother is dead, and you still miss her every day..."

The two walked into a room next to them, and saw John Miller sitting on a grand teacher's chair with a thermos cup in one hand and a cattail fan in the other, wearing sunglasses on his face, which looked nondescript.

In front of him, two boys were grabbing a man, who was kneeling on the ground, covered in blood.

"David Harris is here." John Miller stood up immediately, put the thermos cup on the coffee table next to him, and beckoned to David Harris, "Come on, come on."

Michael Carter noticed that David Harris's face was not very good for a moment, but he still walked over.

"That, become... Michael Carter, come here too." John Miller's small and obscene eyes could not be seen under the dark sunglasses.

Michael Carter lowered his head slightly and walked over.

Only then did he see a few bloody teeth that had fallen out in front of the man on the ground.

He couldn't control himself and frowned slightly, and his eyes moved elsewhere at the same time.

"David Harris, take care of it." John Miller shook the fan twice, as if he had nothing else to say, he greeted the two boys and left. When he passed by Michael Carter, he used the fan to lift his ponytail and teased, "Hey, this little bun..."

John Miller left, Michael Carter immediately rolled his eyes and patted his hair, and said dissatisfiedly: "Harris, why do you always clean up for him..."

"Shh." David Harris's expression froze, he glanced at the slightly covered door, and after making sure no one was there, he stepped forward and kicked the man on the ground, "How much do you owe?"

The man seemed to be in a daze, raised his bruised head, was stunned for two seconds, and then began to lie on the ground and apologize frantically: "I was wrong, I was wrong, I will never gamble again, I will never gamble again..."

David Harris was a little impatient, he raised his foot and stepped on one of the man's hands: "Hurry up, how much do you owe!"

"Ah... I really don't gamble anymore, I quit gambling, I quit gambling." The man burst into tears, still answering irrelevant questions.

It wasn't until David Harris took out a folding knife from his trouser pocket, bent down and patted the man's face with the back of the knife: "Damn it, let you answer well."

"Five hundred thousand, five hundred thousand." Under the threat of the knife, the man finally came to his senses.

David Harris spat aside: "Five hundred thousand? What kind of work do you do, how many people are there in your family? Do you have a wife and children?"

Hearing this, the man started crying again, his whole body trembling like a sieve: "No, please let me go, don't trouble my family, please, I really know I was wrong."

David Harris sighed, stopped asking, but turned to Michael Carter and said, "Go out and ask what's going on, damn it, what's wrong with this bastard Cao Gou, he didn't explain clearly."

Michael Carter responded and hurried out the door. He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he stood at the door. The man's crying and begging for mercy, his mouth full of blood, made his clenched fists tremble unconsciously.

This was the first time he heard David Harris asking about the other party's work and family members. The previous few times, he just beat him up. Why did he suddenly involve his family?

He didn't dare to neglect, at present he still had to find out the man's identity.

Finally, he found one of the boys who had just hit someone, and learned from him that the man was just an ordinary employee of a company. He didn't know who brought him here. He owed money twice, the first time 350,000, and then he paid it back. This time it was another 500,000, it seemed that he couldn't afford it, and besides his wife and daughter, there was a mother in his family, and finally even his address was given.

At this time, Michael Carter was very shocked. It turned out that people who came here to borrow money had to explain all their identity information clearly. Isn't this completely exposing everything about themselves to others?

As soon as he finished asking and returned to the room, he saw the man fainted on the ground, and David Harris was throwing something in his hand into the trash can.

"Come on, give me a hand." David Harris greeted Michael Carter.

Michael Carter walked over, forcing himself to hold back his discomfort, and together with David Harris, lifted the man up.

"What, what should we do?" he asked.

David Harris actually smiled, and then asked back: "Why, are you scared? Haven't I brought you here a few times, are you still scared?"

Michael Carter pursed his lips, and replied timidly: "Not afraid...it's just, it's just a little confusing."

David Harris chuckled: "I'll tell you later."

Afterwards, they carried the man out of the room and came to the rolling shutter door at the end of the casino.

Michael Carter was a little puzzled. The first few times he came here, he saw from a distance that this place was covered by a large advertisement cloth. At that time, he thought it was because the wall was dirty and covered with cloth. Unexpectedly, there was actually a door here.

After all, there was no underground garage planned for this shopping mall at the beginning, and he was very shocked that there was a casino here, but now there is another exit?

David Harris skillfully opened the small door, and the two helped the unconscious man through.

Opposite is an underground parking lot, with a few cars parked sparsely nearby.

Michael Carter finally couldn't help asking: "Harris, where is this?"

David Harris: "Oh, the parking lot next door to Ginza, customers usually come and go from here."

As he spoke, David Harris freed one hand, took out a car key from his pocket and pressed it, and the dilapidated small off-road vehicle parked in front of him lit up.

"Let's go, over there."

After putting the man in the trunk, David Harris got into the driver's seat, Michael Carter was about to open the door of the passenger seat, but David Harris opened the car window and stopped him: "Don't come up, wait in the office, Robert Wilson will open the door later, you can go out from there."

Michael Carter reluctantly let go of the hand he had placed on the handle of the car: "Oh, good."

David Harris drove away.

Michael Carter immediately took out his mobile phone and checked the time, 8:10.

He quickly looked around, quickly memorizing the surrounding environment, but at this moment a head poked out from the small door of the rolling shutter door.

"Hey, are you coming in or not?"

It was John Miller's younger brother.

Michael Carter responded and trotted over.

As soon as he entered, he saw John Miller, who had already left, came back again. He was leaning on a gambling table in the middle, his fat belly was like a round balloon, and the sunglasses on his face were taken off, revealing his small and obscene eyes.

Michael Carter keenly sensed something was wrong, but there was nothing he could do, so he had to bite the bullet and walk over: "John Miller."

John Miller stared at him without speaking, and after a while he suddenly grinned, the smile was extremely obscene.

"Michael Carter...are you very close to David Harris?"