Chapter 3 Chapter two

Constantine Demiris ruled an empire that was not found on any map, but was larger and more powerful than most countries in the world.Demiris is one of the richest men in the world, with unbelievable power.He has no public office or title, but he can often buy prime ministers, bishops, ambassadors and kings.His tentacles extend to every corner of the world, and dozens of countries are bound in his economic network like latitude and longitude.He is very handsome and very intelligent, strong and tall, with a thick chest and broad shoulders, a huge Greek nose hanging from a swarthy face, a pair of olive-shaped black eyes, and an eagle-like expression on his face. greedy.He can be very charming again if he wants to.He speaks eight languages ​​and is very chatty.He owns a world-class art collection, a fleet of private jets and a dozen apartments, mansions and luxury villas scattered around the globe.He is a leader in Fengyue field, never letting go of any beauties.The famous lover and his romance are as legendary as his business ventures.

Constantin Demiris considered himself a patriot and was proud of it.His villa in Kolonaki, his private island of Psala, all fly the blue and white Greek flag - but he never pays taxes.He thought that was the law that ordinary people should abide by, but it didn't apply to him.His veins flowed with ichor - the blood of God. ※※※ Nearly everyone Demiris meets asks him: an investment in a business plan, a donation to a charitable cause, or even the power his friendship can afford.Demiris was more than happy to figure out the motives of others, because these people's real intentions were seldom what they made on the surface.His analytical mind is always suspicious of what appears on the surface, with the result that he neither believes what he hears nor anyone he sees.His motto was: "Friends should be kept close, enemies should be dear." The journalists who wrote his biographies were allowed to know only his gentle, charming, tactful and urbane side which is rare in the world.They would never have guessed that under this amiable appearance, Demiris was actually a butcher, a despicable jackal, born with the ability to bite the blood vessels of each other's throats and put them to death.

He will never forget everything, big and small, and will never forgive anyone.In the ancient Greek vocabulary, dikaiosini—“justice”—was often synonymous with ekdikisis—“revenge,” and both fascinated him.When others offend him in public, he will never forget it, and those who unfortunately provoke his hostility will pay a thousand times the price for it.These people did not even realize that Demiris's meticulous mind had drawn up an elaborate revenge plan.He patiently set snares and traps to catch and destroy these enemies. He enjoys spending time setting traps for his adversaries.He scrutinized his victims, analyzing their characters, weighing their strengths and weaknesses.

At a party, he heard a film producer refer to him as "that oily Greek."Demiris began to bide his time.Two years later, that producer signed an international superstar to play the female lead in his big-budget film.He also invested his own money in it.Demiris waited until halfway through filming before tricking the heroine into exiting the set and onto his yacht. "This is our honeymoon," Demiris told her. So she had a honeymoon, but no wedding.And that movie eventually fell by the wayside, and the studio went bankrupt. ※※※ In Demiris' revenge game, there were still a few opponents with whom he failed to equalize, but he was in no hurry.He likes to anticipate, to plan, to put plans into action.In these days, he can't find other opponents for the time being, just because no one dares to fight against him anymore.Thus, his hunting targets are limited to those who have stood in his way.

On the other hand, Constantin Demiris' dikaiosini has a double meaning, like a double-edged sword.He will never let go of the damage he has suffered, and at the same time, he will never forget the favor he has received.A poor fisherman who "accidentally" owned his own fishing fleet because he housed Demiris when he was young.A prostitute gave him room and board for free, because Demiris was too poor to pay his bills.Later, the prostitute inexplicably inherits an apartment, without knowing who the benefactor is. ※※※ The son of a longshoreman, Demiris took his first steps in life in Piraeus, Greece.He has 14 siblings and there is never enough food on the table.

As a child, his aptitude for business was already incredible.He earned a lot of extra money by doing part-time jobs after school. At the age of 16, he had saved enough money, and partnered with an older man to open a small food shop. When the business was booming and the shop developed, his partner cheated half of his shares into his own.It took Demiris ten years to destroy the man.Demiris was full of ambitions when he was young. He often lay in bed, unable to sleep all night, staring into the dark night.I'll be rich, I'll be famous.Someday everyone will know my name.This thought alone was the lullaby that lulled him to sleep.As for how to achieve this goal, he has no idea, he only knows that all this will definitely become a reality.

※※※ On his 17th birthday, Demiris came across an article about oil fields in Saudi Arabia.Suddenly, it seemed that a magical door to the future opened to him. He came to his father. "I'm going to Saudi Arabia, I'm going to work in the oil fields." "Do you know what an oil field is?" "Not at all, Father, I can learn." A month later, Constantin Demiris hit the road. ※※※ According to the Intercontinental Petroleum Company's policy, all overseas employees must sign a two-year contract, which Demiris didn't care about.He intends to stay in Saudi Arabia until he makes a fortune.He had even seen the bewitching nightlife of the Arab world, the wondrous land filled with exotic women and the black gold that gushed out of the ground.However, the reality here shocked him.

One summer morning, Demiris came to Fadili.This is a drilling team located in the center of the desert. There is a simple stone building surrounded by many parangas, a kind of work shed made of dwarf shrubs.Thousands of low-paid workers, most of them Saudis, work here.Women shambled through the dirty, unpaved streets, all well veiled. ※※※ Demiris walked into the building where Director of Personnel JJ McIntyre worked. McIntyre looked up at the young man who entered. "So the headquarters hired you, eh?" "Yes, sir." "Ever worked in the oil fields, kid?" Demiris really wanted to tell a lie. "No, sir."

McIntyre smiled. "You'll love it here. You won't see a soul for miles, the food is so bad that no woman can touch it, or you'll even have that thing cut off, and you'll be fucking bored at night. But the salary is high, can you do it?" "I'm here to study." Demiris said seriously. "Really? Then let me tell you what you should learn early. This is the world of Muslims. You can't drink alcohol; if you steal something, you will cut off your right hand, the second time you cut off your left hand, and the third time you will lose one of your feet; To kill is to behead."

"I don't want to kill people." "Just wait and see," muttered McIntyre. "You're still new here." ※※※ This shed compound is like the Tower of Babel, and people from more than a dozen countries speak their own different mother tongues.Demiris has a keen hearing and picks up languages ​​very quickly.Workers here build roads and houses in the uninhabitable desert, install electrical equipment, erect telephone lines, build factory floors, arrange food and water systems, design sewers, and take care of medical care.In Demiris' view, there is still much to do.They had to work in temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, endure mosquito bites, dust, flu and dysentery.Even in the desert, they are divided into social classes. The top class is the oil prospector, while the lower class is the construction worker, that is, the small laborer, and the staff. They are called "shy housekeepers".

Since the new type of rotary drilling was invented by the Americans, they are more familiar with this drilling technology, therefore, almost all the Americans actually engage in drilling.Among them were geologists, surveyors, engineers and petrochemists.Young Demiris tried his best to please these people and make friends with them. Constantin Demiris hung out with the drillers whenever he had time, asking questions one after another.He memorized everything he heard in his mind, just like a desert under high temperature absorbs water without leaking.He noticed that there were two methods of drilling wells. He approached a driller working under a 130-foot rig and asked, "Why are there two drilling methods being used?" The driller explained, "Ah, boy, one is the cable method and the other is the rotary method. Now, we mainly use the rotary method. Both methods work the same at the beginning." "yes?" "Yes. In both methods, a drilling tower like this must be erected first. In this way, the equipment can be hung up and drilled into the well." Seeing the look on the young man's face eager for knowledge, he continued, "I bet you don't know why it's called a rig." "I don't know, sir." "It's named after a famous 17th-century hangman." "Oh." "Wireline drilling has a bit of history, the Chinese first used it hundreds of years ago to dig water wells. They hoisted a boring machine on a rope, and when they let go, they punched a hole in the ground. But today Eighty-five percent of the wells are drilled with the rotary method," he said, and turned to continue working. "Excuse me, what's up with the spin method?" The man stopped what he was doing. "This method is not to punch a hole in the ground, but to drill a hole. Do you see this? There is a rotating steel plate in the middle of the drill floor, which is driven by a machine to rotate. The steel plate clamps a pipe, and Rotate the pipe to drill down into the ground, and at the bottom of the pipe is a drill bit." "Sounds easy, doesn't it?" "Of course, but it's actually much more complicated. You have to try to drain the drilled soil, and you have to prevent the well wall from sinking, and you have to prevent groundwater and natural gas from seeping into the well." "Will there be a time when you can't drill?" "Of course. Then you'd have to pull out the whole drill pipe and replace it with a new bit. Do you want to be a driller?" "No, sir. I want to own my own well." "Congratulations. Can I continue working now?" ※※※ One morning, while Demiris was watching the well, a tool was lowered into the well. Instead of drilling down as usual, it cut through the rock around the sides of the well and brought the fragments up. "Excuse me, what's the point of doing this?" Demiris asked. The driller wiped his brow. "This is taking a rock sample from the side of the well for analysis to determine whether there is oil." "Oh, I see." When things were going well, Demiris would hear the drillers yell, "I'm turning right," which meant they were about to drill a hole.Demiris found small holes, two to three inches in diameter, drilled here and there in the ground. "Excuse me, what are the holes for?" the young man asked. "Those are wells for exploration, to be able to find out if there is oil in the ground. It saves time and money for the company." "So that's how it is." The young man was fascinated by it all and had endless questions. "Excuse me, how do you know where to drill?" "We've got a lot of geologists, the guys who work on rocks. They measure rock formations, they study rock fragments from wells, and they 'plug the rods'..." "Excuse me, what's a 'plugger'?" "It's the drillers, when they..." ※※※ Konstantin Demiris was up early and came back late, transporting drilling machinery in the scorching desert, cleaning the machinery, and driving the truck through the steam of flames billowing from the pinnacle of the rock, which burned all day long and released release toxic gas. JJ McIntyre was right about what Demiris said.The food was poor, the living conditions were poor, and there was nothing to pass the time in the evenings.To make matters worse, Demiris felt that every pore of his body was filled with sand.The desert seems to be alive, making it impossible for people to escape.The sand could get into the shed, through his clothes, into him, and drive him crazy.Then it got worse. The summer horse wind picked up.The wind had been blowing the sand for a month and was strong enough to drive everyone crazy. Demiris looked at the dust outside the door from the shed and said, "Do we still have to work in this weather?" "You're fucking right, this isn't a sanatorium." They found many oil fields around.The new fields are Abu Hadriyah, Qatifti, and Harad, and the workers are busier than ever. ※※※ At this time, two people came to the oil field, one was a British geologist, and the other was his wife.The geologist, Henry Porter, was in his late seventies, and his wife, Sybil, was in her early thirties.Anywhere else Sybill Potter would have been seen as a flat, fat woman with an unbearably shrill voice.But in Fadili, she has become a great beauty that makes everyone's hearts flutter.Henry Porter spent most of his time out exploring new oil fields, and his wife was often alone. Demiris was sent to help Sybil move things into the shed and get settled. "This is the scariest place I've ever seen in my life," complained Sybil, moaning. "Henry always drags me to places like this. I don't know why I should suffer like this." "That's because your husband's job is so important," Demiris reassured her. She gazed thoughtfully at the young man in front of her, fascinated by him. "My husband didn't do what he was supposed to do. You know what I mean?" Of course Demiris knew what she was referring to. "I don't understand, ma'am." "What's your name?" "Demiris, madam. Constantine Demiris." "What do your friends call you?" "Costa." "So, Costa, I think you and I will be good friends. We're not like the Middle Easterners here, are we?" "Middle Eastern?" "It's the foreigners." "I have to get back to work," Demiris said. During the next few weeks Sybill Potter kept finding various pretexts for the young man to come to her. "Henry left again this morning," she told Demiris. "He's off to that damn drilling again." Then she added slyly, "He should have drilled more at home." Demiris was speechless for a moment.That geologist is an important figure in the upper echelons of the company.To him, Demiris dared not do anything wrong, otherwise he would lose his job.He knows very well that his current job is a stepping stone to get everything he dreams of, but he is not quite clear about how to get it.The oil industry held his future, and he was determined to stay in it. ※※※ In the middle of the night, Sybil called him.He went to Sybil's door and knocked. "Come in." Sybil was wearing a thin pajamas, which couldn't hide anything. "I—do you want to see me, madam?" "Yes, come in, Costa, this bedside lamp seems to be broken." Demiris looked away from Sybil, went to the bed, picked up the lamp and checked. "Why isn't the light bulb on..." Before he finished speaking, he felt Sybil's body pressed against his back, and her hands were groping around him. "Mrs. Potter..." Sybil brought her mouth closer to Demiris's and pushed him back onto the bed.What happened next, Demiris could not control... She kept saying, "Oh honey, I love you." Demiris lay on the bed, terrified inside.what did I do?If Potter knows, I'm done. Sybil seemed to see through his mind, and giggled: "This is a little secret that only the two of us know, isn't it, dear?" ※※※ This little secret between the two of them lasted for several months.Demiris couldn't avoid her anyway, because Sybil's husband was away for several days, and Demiris couldn't find a reason not to sleep with her.To make matters worse, Sybil fell madly in love with him. "You're a character, you shouldn't be working in this place, honey," she told Demiris. "You come back to England with me." "My family is in Greece." "Not anymore." She stroked Demiris' long, thin body. "You go to my house. I'm going to divorce Henry and marry you." Demiris panicked. "Sybil, I... I have no money, I..." She kissed down Demiris' breast. "That's not a problem. I know you have a way of making money, baby." "You really know?" She sat up in bed. "Henry told me last night that he had just discovered a big oil field. You know, finding oil fields is his forte. Anyway, he seemed to be terribly excited. Before he left, he wrote a report and asked me to send it in the morning mail bag. out. I still have the report, do you want to see it?" Demiris' heart beat faster. "Yeah, I...I want to see." He stared at Sybil, watched her get out of bed, staggered to the small worn table in the corner, and grabbed a large manila envelope. , back to bed. "Open the envelope." Demiris hesitated for only a second, then opened the envelope and took out the documents.The document consists of five pages.He skimmed it quickly, then read it carefully from the beginning. "Is the information on this valuable?" Is the information on this valuable?The new oil fields mentioned in the report may be the richest in history. Demiris gasped. "Yeah, maybe... maybe worth something." "You see, I'm right," said Sybil happily. "We're rich now." He sighed. "not that simple." "why?" "The intelligence on this is valuable to the person who has the money to buy the right to use the land, and that's a lot of money," explained Demiris, who has only three hundred dollars in his own bank account. . "Oh, don't worry. Henry has money. I'll write you a check. Five thousand dollars, is that enough?" Demiris could hardly believe it. "Enough, I... I don't know what to say." "It's for the two of us, dear, for our future." He sat up, thinking seriously. "Sybil, could you delay sending that report for a day or two?" "No problem, you can wait until Friday. So, do you have enough time, dear?" He nodded slowly. "That way I'll have plenty of time." ※※※ With the five thousand dollars that Sybil gave him—no, it was not a gift to him, but a loan, he said to himself—Konstantin Demiris bought the potentially oily Tenure for miles of land.A few months later, the well began to blow oil, and Constantin Demiris became an overnight millionaire. He returned the five thousand dollars to Sybil, sent her a new pajamas, and returned to Greece.Sybil never saw him again.