CHAPTER ELEVEN

"How can you make him come up with the man of that root when we barely know anything about it?" The frown on Lina's face knew no bounds.

She never thought that her uncle was going to resort to such a means to achieve his aims. Regrets washed over her, for allowing Xander to take up the challenge in the first place.

"There was no rule to the game right?" The grin on Mr. James's face was one that spoke of pure evil.

Lina clenched her teeth, wishing that she could take the root off the floor and snatch it right on the floor so that it was going to shatter.

Mr. James smiled because there was certainly no way that he was going to get it correctly. And this way, he was going to be out of their lives forever.

In the real sense, he saw Xander as the biggest fool of the century, thinking that he was going to win a fight with the lord of cunningness.

The Initial smile on his face broadened even more to the extent that he could not hold it anymore.

"You can still back down now and leave. But I must add that if I see you anywhere near this Villa ago, I am going to cripple those punky little feet of yours." He glared.

"You." Lina was almost defeated, drawing her hands back to their place. Even though her uncle had taken the cunning route, it was still an obvious fact that it was a bet between the both of them and he could not get into it.

There was a swift grin on the lips of Xander that none of them could see. Without another word of opposition, he made his way towards the root and sniffed it.

The smile was a little bit odd but pleasant at the same time. One that you would want to keep sniffing even without knowing the specific reason.

At first, he knew nothing about the root but after the root hit his nostrils, thoughts seemed to be recollected in his head.

The knowledge that he knew absolutely nothing about beforehand.

He could feel his heart beating hard against his chest as though it was going to burst through but a good part of him told him that these images were the correct answers.

He was nervous but something kept on persuading him to push forward. But in the real sense, it was stupid since it was just a feeling and he knew absolutely nothing about where it was sprouting out from.

Xander felt a slight tap on his shoulders and turned around towards the direction to see who it was only to notice that it was Lina.

There were worries in her eyes because she felt that he was certainly going to lose. But Xander knew that her grandfather was attacking more than just making him, he wanted to shred his ego.

Xander gave her a reassuring look and went ahead to say. "Don't worry, I got this." Even he was confused by his ever-assuring words.

"Should I start a countdown if you know nothing about it?" He inquired further but Xander shook his head in disagreement.

"There is no need to waste our time with that when I have already got the answers." He replied.

"Let's see the rubbish that you have got to punk about." He quickly said.

"This root was found in the heart of the Snake desert and it has lived there for thirty years.

The root which was created by ancient men who used to live in the desert before its desertification has a life of its own. It can be used to make numerous medicines."

"Dating about three thousand years old, it's one of the world's most valued treasures."

"If you can find somehow how vast it is, this treasure could be used to create something immensely powerful." He added.

Hearts were frozen as he spoke further. His words were drained from the ears of his listeners.

Mr. James' eyes bulged out from his eye socket and his foot was numb. Even members of high-class society knew nothing about the herb, not even Lina.

The herb had been gotten lately since the major preoccupation of their business was medicine.

And ever since, it's been kept as a high intellectual secret.

How a fish-smiling guy was able to know such a plant still beats his imagination. But if there was anything, there was one thing that he knew, he wasn't ready to lose yet.

"The information isn't complete without what it can do right?" Mr. James said, composing himself quickly and hoping that it was going to be correct for sure.

"It's a boast of the immune system. We can say that it's an all-rounder drug that would be able to cure any disease when used accordingly with other rare elements," Xander added.

At the end of every speech, Mr. James frowned terribly, he didn't only fail the question but did he bring up an answer that didn't exist?" He thundered.

"You fool, how dare you." He thundered at Xander.

But Xander didn't bugle for a single moment. Apart from the fact that he was convinced about his response, he had seen a lot of Mr. James's angry said.

He seemed more like a man who got angry at every turn. There was nothing to be afraid of.

The confidence ever since he had what he would call his rebirth was also surprising.

"What's it Mr. James, am I wrong?" He Inquired calmly.

"Wrong? Wrong is an understatement in this matter. How would you say that there is one drug that can serve as an all-rounder in this matter?" He thundered at her.

"Do you think that any would have ever gone sick in history if such a drug existed?" He thundered at Xander whose head seemed to be flooding with really strange but accurate information at the moment.

"The matter isn't really about the drug but finding a way to recreate the root." He replied.

Lina could already sense that her uncle was blowing off with anger. But even though she was on Xander's side, she also couldn't think that he had formulated the answer to that question.

There was certainly no way that such a drug would exist in the world if not it was going to be a bloodbath from war as to who was going to get this drug.

Besides, whoever got it would be deemed the most powerful person in the world.

"You are such a good liar and bold with your lies too. But sorry to disappoint you but you are very wrong.

The beat doctors in the city have examined this particular drug. And it has rapid Anti-aging properties."

He added but then, Xander couldn't help but chuckle with the buck of information that was now stuck in his head.

"Then if I were in your shoes, I would do myself a big favor by replacing everyone in that company of yours who is currently working on the research with a person with more potential. Because from my assessment, they are all pretty dumb." He replied without fidgeting.

Mr. James had never been insulted in such a manner before and as for him, that was his last straw.

"First you lost the bet. Then now you are trying to insult me? I have had enough not this already, now leave right away." He thundered.

"But?" Lina wanted to say but she knew that this time, it was already way beyond her powers.

"What if I got the answer right?" Xander inquired.

Without answering the question, Mr. James turned over to Lina before going ahead to say.

"I never realized that you brought a clown over to this place." He glared and afterwards, he turned over to Xander.

"I am not just going to make it one of my assets, I am going to make it two." He finally said.

"I want something else," Xander said.

Mr. James lifted a brow but he went ahead to say.

"If I'm correct, Lina gets the herb." He went further to say.

Without his knowledge, Lina's team were the ones that brought the herb home in the first place but before it could be presented to the patron, it was stolen that same night, only to be presented by her uncle to the next more.

She could still remember that anger that was boiling deep in the inside of her that day. But with all his forged proof, she had to let it go.

Could this be how she gets it back?

"But that will never happen since you are leaving this place right now." He thundered at Xander.

But before he could get to do what he had in mind, a sound came from behind that made him turn around towards the direction of the sound.

It was Vincent, Lina's cousin, and one of the most promising men that the company had ever bred.

He seemed to be a little bit nervous and twisted his nose immediately, his eyes laid on Xander.

"Hey, Uncle." He gritted.

"Is anything wrong?" James could pick out the excitement in his voice.

"It's about the root." He began but that only got James even more confused already.

"What about it?"

"The team made a discovery. It's not a beauty herb but instead an immune-boosting one. This is a groundbreaking Discovery father. Research has been cornered in that field now."

"With this, we could become the most powerful company in the city. And my position as the president would be confirmed." He finally swallowed the rest of the words in his stomach.

Both Lina and Mr. James froze right on the spot. Vincent remembered seeing someone and he turned around towards Xander and said.

"What is he doing here?”