CHAPTER 581: CHAPTER 581

Liam held onto his chest after being kicked. With his face twisted in pain, he seemed to show remorse. "I’m sorry... I... I didn’t know you..."

He really didn’t know that the ’Night Demon’ would have looked this terrifying under his mask.

Seeing this showed just how ruthless Ace used to be. This grudge between the two

families would never heal unless Joanna somehow wished ... to give up on her twin brother.

"Good skills, kid." Quinton soon regained composure, ignoring the strange looks from the crowd as if nothing had happened.

He then spoke to Liam arrogantly. "Few people can counter this many of my attacks, so it turns out you aren’t a weakling after all. But... if you really want to be my sister’s brother, you’ll need more than just courage, but also strategy."

Liam seemed relieved and confidently replied. "That’s my strength, for sure.

’ Don’t celebrate just yet, I have a task for you..." Quinton glanced at Joanna mysteriously as he spoke, signaling toward Clara. "Come here. I’ll tell you in detail."

Joanna was rather awkward as she saw this. "Quinton, don’t you think you’ve done enough?

He just came back, and this is his party! You just fought him, and now you want to assign him tasks? Aren’t you being too much?"

Before Quinton could respond, Liam quickly interrupted excitedly. He was just as nonchalant as he used to be. "Boss, I’d feel weird if you guys weren’t being too much! If your brother wishes to test me, then so be it! I want to show you my growth."

"Ah..." Joanna slapped her forehead, not knowing what to say at that moment.

Clara rubbed her chin and sighed deeply. "Ah, my brother is such a simp. The king of simps, if you will."

Quinton then whispered something into Liam’s ear.

Liam raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Don’t worry, Bro, I actually planned to do that even before you asked me."

Joanna, however, couldn’t hear anything they said, which made her extremely anxious. She felt like she had to pester Liam, no matter where he went or what he did, just to get an answer out of him.

"Liam, so what task did my brother assign to you?"

"I can’t tell you."

"Can’t tell me? All the more reason you should! Tell me now."

"I really can’t."

"Oh, come on! Why are you being so tight-lipped? Whose brother are you anyway?"

"Boss, you don’t have to provoke me; this is a task from your brother, which means it’s a personal matter to me. Just sit back... and enjoy the show." Liam smiled, still refusing to reveal anything to her.

Upon hearing this, Joanna had no choice but to let it go.

Later on, the banquet was carried on smoothly, with everyone having a good time.

Many of Stellar Group’s employees, along with their long-term business partners, were delighted with Liam’s return as well.

Some, who were hesitant to work with Stellar Group, were relieved to see Liam’s strength as well. Hence, it led to them signing contracts with the company right there and then.

However, this loveliness only lasted till nighttime. It was soon replaced by a trending topic that shattered their peace.

The first three trending searches were all about Quinton’s face.

[Night Demon’s real face!]

[Night Demon, the horrifying ghost!] [Night Demon, the Pierce siblings!]

As Joanna scrolled through the trending news, fury swelled in her chest." Damn it! Which uncivilized swine leaked this?! Once I find out, I swear I’ll strip them nude and leak it onto the internet for three whole days!’

Below those articles were Quinton’s terrifying appearance, in which the videos and photos were captured in high definition. The way her brother scrambled to pick up the mask in those videos really made her heart ache.

The netizens’ comments on the entire situation were hard to hear as well, especially with the use of phrases like ’hideous,’ ’troll,’ and ’deformed.’

Joanna held onto her phone, her voice panicked, and her eyebrows furrowed. "No, no, these articles have to be taken down! Quinton can’t see any of these!’

Clara was sitting next to her at the time, reading through all the hate comments. She sympathized with Quinton’s situation, especially since she had long treated him as her brother as well. Hence, it was only natural that she was infuriated.

"These people are crossing the line! They should wash their mouths with soup! Their words are so horrendous that even the devil himself would be disgusted!"

She then looked through all the photos and videos, and that was when she noticed that they were all taken from the same angle. This gave her an idea.

"Hey Joan, look at the angle of these photos. It looks like they’ve all been captured by the same person. We just need to retrieve the CCTV footage in the banquet hall, then won’t we be able to find out who leaked this?"

"Oh! Why didn’t I think of that? You’re so smart, Clara! Did both you and your brother get some kind of stat improvement? You’re so amazing!" Mwah! Mwah! Joanna felt much more relieved and kissed Clara a few times on the cheek.

’Uhm... Stat improvement?’

’Why does that sound like Joan was insulting me in another way?’

’Ah, whatever, Joan praised me! I’m the best in this world!’

Joanna got up from the sofa and headed to check the cameras right away.

Just then, Quinton and Liam entered, arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders after seemingly having one drink a little too many.

"What are you two doing here? Isn’t it Liam’s party? Everyone’s out there dancing and drinking! Why don’t you join in?’ Quinton seemed rather tipsy, but it was obvious he was in a good mood.

"Well..." Joanna quickly hid her phone away. "You guys go ahead. Clara and I want to go for a walk outside."

At the same time, she gestured to Clara, who quickly caught her drift. Clara scratched the back of her head and said, "I’ve had enough hangovers, so I’m cutting off alcohol lately."

After that, she quickly rushed to Joanna, and they walked out of the room, hand in hand.

Quinton didn’t mind them and continued dragging Liam along by the shoulder for yet another round of drinks.

"I wish you well for tomorrow, Liam! Let’s hope you pass the test! I believe in you!" Quinton was starting to find a fondness for this little loyal subordinate, treating him as one would treat their future brother-in-law.

"Don’t worry, Quinton, making Moran group’s share prices drop by ten percent is an easy task! It’s not like I’ve never done it before...’ Liam said, then paused, staring back at the man with a meaningful gaze. "And I think... our plan had just worked."

On the other side, Joanna and Clara successfully found an employee and retrieved the footage of Quinton and Liam’s fight.

Clara was more observant between the two and quickly clicked on one of the videos with the most views and shares. She then compared it with the camera footage and pointed to a bald, chubby, middle-aged man.

"Look! Joan! Doesn’t this look... like the location this video could have been taken? This guy must’ve spread the video!"