My Substitute Wife is a Bigwig (Loud and Lily)

Late at night, a man sat on the couch of a luxury villa in the suburbs. Holding a glass of red wine with squinted eyes, he carried himself like a monarch.

His subordinate, dressed in a black suit, stood across from him. The man in black kept his head low and reported dutifully, "My lord, Lily Brooks isn't involved in Arthur Laurier's poisoning." "Oh?" The man raised his tone. "I underestimated her, then. She's quite patient."

"We might have made a wrong judgment. She might not even be skilled in medicine at all. From what I learned from the Lauriers, Neil Austin is the one who detoxified Loid Laurier. Should we shift our focus to Neil Austin instead?"

"That's just a ruse to confuse you all." Taking a sip of the red wine, the man rose from the couch without any expression. "Neil Austin wouldn't have kept Loid Laurier waiting for half a year if he truly had the antidote to the Bloodbane poison. Only fools would believe that he's Shadowbane."

His subordinate frowned. "Do you mean we should continue to keep an eye on Lily Brooks?"

The man fell into silence as he mused.

"My lord, we have wasted too much time on Lily Brooks. Your grandpa's condition can't wait. Why don't we pressure Alchos so that K will look for Shadowbane? We need Shadowbane's help," suggested the subordinate.

The man shot his subordinate a cold glare. "What do you take Alchos as? Do you want to get my family blacklisted for putting pressure on Elliot Quade?"

"That's not what I meant," the subordinate hurriedly explained with his head hung low.

The man scoffed. "K refused to take our requests after ten such attempts from our side. Either K or Shadowbane refuses to entertain us. If so, it's pointless to put in more requests." Shadowbane was hard to locate. Whether among the Four Great Families of Bridgeport or the Hidden Families, no one could trace Shadowbane through their networks.

The only person who had access to Shadowbane was K from Alchos. Those fortunate enough to have their requests channeled by Alchos through K were more likely to secure Shadowbane's assistance. The reason behind K's refusal to assist was glaring-Shadowbane was unwilling to help.

His subordinate looked up with worry. "What do we do? We can't keep your grandpa waiting. If we fail to find a cure, I'm afraid="

"The family physician will do for now. Our only solution now is to ascertain Lily Brooks' medical prowess." The man placed the wine glass on the table. "Recall all our men who were assigned to monitor Lily Brooks. We've attracted attention. Let's wait until they let their guards down."

"Roger that," the subordinate replied politely.

Looking away, the man asked casually, "How's the collection of the auction funds going?"

"It's done. We've gathered all your assets, worth a total of eight billion dollars. That should be sufficient," reported the subordinate.

The man hissed with furrowed brows. "That's far from enough! Get another five billion dollars. We must win the Redushil in the Weiss family's auction."

"Got it."

...

The next day, Shaun showed up at Alchos with Daniel. The security guards led them into the headquarters after receiving the green light.

The Alchos building stood ten stories tall, with Elliot Quade's office occupying the highest floor. This was also the designated meeting place for K, Venom, Panther, and Hawk.

Given the unique powers and inherent dangers associated with the Elite Four, Elliot was the sole individual present at Alchos most of the time.

Elliot entered his office and marched over to Shaun and Daniel impassively. "What brings you here, gentlemen?"