The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 15: Seeds in an Abandoned Factory
The news boss returned to his place full of suspicion. It was not a small property.
It had originally been an abandoned plant, which he had bought at a low price and converted into his own base.
There was a yard, a two-story building where he lived, and a four-story building where the newsboys lived.
Aside from that, there was a warehouse piled with unsold newspapers and recyclable trash the newsboys had picked up from the streets.
Yes, newsboys appeared on the streets in the morning and evening to sell papers. So where did they go the rest of the time?
People like the news boss were, in essence, very low-level businessmen. They still obtained profit through squeezing and exploitation. They would not waste a single minute of these newsboys’ time, so the boys spent the rest of their time picking trash on the streets.
There were even rumors in certain communities about child thieves breaking into homes and stealing. In short, they had no peace for even a moment, except the girls, and except when they were sleeping at night.
In the warehouse, the news boss saw the five newsboys. They looked wretched as well.
Each of their faces showed terror and pain. Losing more than two thousand dollars of the news boss’s money had frightened them badly, but even they did not know where the problem had occurred.
Now, seeing the news boss return without a smile on his face, they realized he had not obtained the result he expected on this trip. That was a terrible thing. It meant they might continue to be beaten.
The youngest had already lost control of his bowels and bladder. Now he lost control again. Stains of water dripped down along his thighs. Whether in physical strength, energy, or spirit, these children had already reached their limit.
The news boss looked at these children with a dark expression. There was none of the fear he had shown when facing Michael, nor the inexplicable dread he had felt sharing a room with William. His face held only the viciousness of someone who controlled everything, and a certain malice.
“Tell me. After you left that place, who else did you meet? What else happened? This concerns your fate from here on, so think carefully before you answer!” He stood nearby holding a whip and watching them, making the children’s skin crawl.
They widened their eyes at one another and communicated with looks. The oldest child seemed to sense something from the news boss’s words and immediately said, “We went to see Mr. Michael...”
In the child’s account, when they went to see Mr. Michael, they had wanted to show they were well-mannered, so they had hung their cowhide satchels on the hooks by the room door before going in to meet Mr. Michael.
If something had gone wrong with the money, it had happened there.
For these children, who had taken the money no longer mattered. What mattered was first escaping the frightening situation they were about to face by biting onto someone else.
Once the first one spoke, the others immediately began following his words. In an instant, Michael’s suspicion was magnified.
This actually fit the “need” inside the news boss’s heart. He did not believe that a young man like William could have swallowed his money. That money had been counted twice in front of several pairs of eyes. Nothing could have gone wrong. He was also unwilling to believe William could do such a thing.
If he believed that, it would mean he admitted he was inferior to William, and that was very hard for someone like the news boss to accept. They could accept being inferior to someone like Michael, but they would never think themselves worse than a poor kid like William.
At the same time, deep down he was even more inclined to believe that if something had gone wrong, it had gone wrong with Michael. That was why, the moment he discovered the problem, he had gone to Michael first. He believed Michael had taken the money.
The relationship between the two was not simple cooperation. Michael held leverage over him. He was clearly the weaker party. If anything happened, he would assume Michael had done it. It was a latent need for persecution.
His conversation with William had made him even more certain of that thought. To a great extent, going to William to demand the money had actually been a search for a “fellow victim” mentality. It would make him feel he was not alone.
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