The intense and thunderous explosion instantly reverberated throughout Aurous Hill, even waking up the entire city from its nocturnal slumber. The valley where the explosion occurred had its dense vegetation obliterated, forming a circular blank space with a radius of several hundred meters.Mr. Chardon had completely vanished without a trace, his entire being vaporized, leaving no residues behind.The notion of ‘a soul surviving despite the death of the physical body’ was nothing but a deception. It was an empty promise given to them, luring them to sacrifice themselves generously.Mr. Chardon only realized at the moment of his death that the formation the British Lord had left inside their pineal gland thirty years ago was not something capable of preserving a strand of their souls. Instead, it was a tremendously powerful self-destructive formation. In a critical life-or-death situation, what they believed to be a hope for being reborn had turned out to be a means to perish with t
She knew that today's explosion after Mr. Chardon had detonated his pineal gland meant that both he and Charlie were now dead. This presented the perfect opportunity for her to disappear without a trace. At this point, she had no desire to return to the Qing Eliminating Society or continue serving the British Lord. In her eyes, this person was extremely terrifying, and staying by his side would likely lead her to an outcome that was no worse than Mr. Chardon’s fate.Instead of that, she thought it would be better for her to seize the opportunity to vanish from the world. After recovering from her injuries, she could find a suitable place to live in seclusion and make the most of the remaining two years of her life. For her, living freely for two years would be much better than living for another two hundred years with the British Lord.With this thought in mind, she endured the intense pain and continued to crawl laboriously into the depths of the mountains.-Three minutes ago, at
Having said that, Albert, who was in a state of panic, immediately rushed out and jumped onto the helicopter waiting in the courtyard directly. He then anxiously told the pilot who was on standby, “Quick! Take off!”At this moment, a figure quickly ran out, and Merlin jumped onto the helicopter with just a few quick steps, saying, “Mr. Albert, I'll go with you!”Albert hurriedly said, “Chief Lammy, I am acting on Master Wade's orders to ensure the safety of you and the Acker family members. It's better for you to stay here!”Merlin shook his head and said, “Mr. Albert, don't forget that I am a police officer. If there's any unexpected situation, especially in investigating the scene, no one is more professional than me!”After some consideration, Albert agreed and said, “I’ll have to trouble you then, Chief Lammy!” After saying that, he turned to the pilot and said, “Take off!”The helicopter increased the throttle and rose from the ground, speeding toward Willow Manor. As they
Merlin’s heart suddenly skipped a beat when he heard Albert say that the shell fragments in his hand belonged to Charlie. He muttered to himself, “Charlie’s belongings? Doesn't that mean he has met with a mishap?”With that said, he quickly lowered his head to carefully examine the traces left by the explosion. By observing the direction of the explosion shockwave, he then found more fragments of the Tridacna on the ground.His face turned pale, and he muttered, “Charlie’s belongings are so close to the center of the explosion. Doesn't that mean he was right in the line of fire when the explosion happened?!”Upon hearing this, Albert’s eyes welled up with tears, and he burst into tears. He was in disbelief as he said to Merlin, “Chief Lammy, Master Wade is incredibly powerful. This kind of explosion shouldn't harm him at all, right?”Merlin squatted on the ground, picked up a piece of hardened black soil, rubbed it forcefully, and then sniffed it. He had a worried expression as h
Isaac did not say anything but instead held his cell phone screen in front of her.When Rosalie saw the words on the phone screen, tears instantly welled up in her eyes. The words on the screen read: ‘Young Master is in trouble. Please keep it quiet and help gather the Harkers to search for clues together!’Rosalie did not speak but nodded heavily. Soon, more than ten Harker family members hurriedly gathered, boarded a helicopter, and flew back to the scene of the incident.When Rosalie saw the horrifying scene at the scene, she felt as if her heart had been torn apart, and her tears were uncontrollable. However, she wiped away her tears and searched for clues on the periphery of the circular explosion area together with the Harker family members. The dozen or so people kept expanding their search range, even covering a radius of one kilometer from the explosion center, but they still found no traces related to Charlie at all.Not a single one of them uttered a single word from t
From the moment he lost consciousness, Charlie had no idea how long he had been drifting in the void until finally, a faint light suddenly appeared before his eyes.At this moment, along with the faint light came intense pain and an extreme sense of weakness. This sense of weakness was so overwhelming that he could not even muster the strength to open his eyes.Soon, he felt that his body seemed to be enveloped in a warm sensation, and this warmth seemed to provide some relief to the intense pain all over him. He then discovered that the warm feeling was lifting him upward.Afterward, he heard a familiar voice exclaiming in his ear, “Charlie!” This call allowed Charlie’s vision to gradually return.When the weakened Charlie opened his eyes and saw the person in front of him, he was utterly stunned because he suddenly discovered that the beautiful girl soaking in the hot spring pool, revealing only part of her beautiful shoulders, was none other than the mysterious Vera!Charlie wa
Charlie felt that his brain was completely exhausted, and he couldn't make sense of the logic at all. At this moment, he suddenly remembered that Vera had used the name ‘Veron’ during her visit to Aurous Hill, but after meeting him, she referred to herself as ‘Vera’.Although there was only a slight difference between the names ‘Vera’ and ‘Veron’, the meaning was extraordinary for Charlie.He almost instantly felt a chill down his spine and weakly asked in shock, “No… Do… Do you remember me?”Vera nodded and struggled to hold the weak Charlie as she moved toward her bedroom. She said softly, “Charlie, you saved my life in Northern Europe. I’ll never forget that!” Charlie was extremely shocked. He muttered, “Why… Why can you still remember? Could it be… Could it be that you’re a cultivator as well?”Vera smiled shyly and said, “Charlie, I’m not a cultivator, but my body is a little special, so you can’t erase my memories…”After saying this, she felt the physical contact between
Vera nodded and said, “I know a bit of everything, but just the basics.”Charlie could not help but sigh and say, “I brought many pills with me before I set off, but I’m left with nothing now…”After saying that, he remembered something and quickly asked Vera, “By the way, what is the date and time now?”Charlie did not know how long it had taken for him to suddenly appear here. If it only took him a short while, he still had time to rush home to destroy the letter that he had left behind for Claire. If a long time had passed, Claire might have already found out about his secret, then.When Vera saw that Charlie was extremely anxious, she hurriedly said, “Don’t worry, Charlie. I heard the explosion in the southern suburbs just a few seconds before you appeared in the hot spring pool. It has only been a little more than half an hour since then.”Charlie finally heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this. Vera remembered something from his previous murmurings and suddenly said wit
Still, Jacob soon clenched his knuckles and pulled himself together. "It's fine—I'll just find another way of revenge. Whatever happens, if Raymond Cole dares to return to Aurous Hill, I'm not going to spare him. If I can't fight for my honor, how would I ever show my face in Antique Street ever again?"And without another word, he turned and left the dining room.Claire turned in exasperation toward Charlie then. "Please keep both eyes on my dad, dear. Don't let him cause trouble out there."Charlie nodded slightly. "Don't worry, I will."And with that, both of them cleaned up the dining room and stepped out together to find Jacob on the drawing room couch, sipping tea while watching TV.As for Elaine, she had a rare smile on her face as she sat beside Jacob, constantly refilling his cup.Then, seeing Claire and Charlie, she promptly beckoned, "Come, children—sit and have a taste of my tea."Claire and Charlie shared a look and sat down on the couch while Elaine poured them tea
Charlie, who hadn't spoken, had plenty of ideas in mind.He definitely didn't want to see Raymond humiliated in a rotten place like Aurous Hill's Antique Street—not when the man was a qualified hero, putting his life on the line to meet the Rothschild family and trade for the Four-Sided Treasure Tower.That was why Charlie's first thought was to call Don Albert and ask him to keep a close eye on Antique Street, preemptively killing the issue in the cradle before any saboteurs reached Raymond.However, Charlie also knew that Raymond would most likely refuse protection as the latter had seen action and was brave enough to fight the Rothschilds—and this was Aurous Hill they were talking about. He would be quite adept at resolving issues, especially one as simple as a handful of saboteurs.Hence, after some thought, Charlie decided to not get involved for now. Instead, he would watch quietly while letting Raymond deal with Aurous Hill's locals. As long as said locals—including Jacob—di
"What?!" Jacob exclaimed excitedly, suddenly on his feet. "That prick is really going to start a business in Aurous Hill? What, did he get sick of living the good life elsewhere?"In Jacob's mind, there were only two reasons why Raymond had returned to Aurous Hill.The first was that he had gotten so rich that he had come back to open a shop on Antique Street, to salvage some dignity after he had been fired from Vintage Deluxe. The other was the complete opposite—he had screwed up elsewhere too and had no choice but to return to Aurous Hill to make a living.If it was the former, he certainly wouldn't have hope for his revenge.But that was not the case if it was the latter!Meanwhile, Zachary replied, "Truth be told, I haven't seen the man in the flesh. But judging from my tip, he definitely wasn't doing well elsewhere, since the business he's planning now that he's back is quite modest."Jacob immediately laughed. "Hahaha! I see… He must have messed up out there and had no ch
Claire pursed her lips, grumbling, "Like you said, I won't tell Mom for the sake of peace. But you know very well that you shouldn't do that ever again!"Jacob nodded repeatedly as he promised. "Don't worry—I'll never do it again."As he finished, his phone rang on the table, and he looked down to see that it was Zacahary."That's weird," he murmured in surprise. "He's been hiding from me for the longest time, but he's calling me now?"Charlie was surprised too.After Zachary left Antique Street and started helping Don Albert's more unsavory business, he shouldn't have any reason to contact Jacob.So, why call him now?Jacob was confused too, but he ultimately answered the call.On the other end of the call, Zachary greeted him respectfully, "Mr. Wilson? It's me—Zachary. Do you still remember me?""Nonsense," Jacob snorted. "Why wouldn't I remember you after we've spoken so many times? I also couldn't reach out to you when I had all that good stuff before, but you're contactin
Meanwhile, at Thomson's First, the family of four was peacefully having dinner for the first time.While Charlie and Claire never argued, Jacob and Elaine were always either bickering or dissing each other, leaving the air around the table tense and awkward.But this time, neither of them argued, and they didn't seem to despise each other.The table was not just peaceful either—Elaine was a lot less bossy, even helping put food on Jacob's plate, having him try this and that, almost as if she was suddenly the best of wives.Jacob used to regard Elaine with disdain in every way, constantly lamenting how a great man like him didn't have a good wife.But with him being the way he was now, he utterly resigned to himself.It made sense that Matilda wouldn't be interested in him given his current state, and it was amazing that Elaine willingly stayed with him. That was why he no longer regarded Elaine with unconcealed disgust and disdain like before and was instead gentle and emotiona
Mick was left gritting his teeth. "Shit, that's true. It's going to be hard to pull the wool over Raymond's eyes—it has to be the best to actually trick him."Then, he sighed. "If there's someone who can do that, it'd be Zachary Evans! The man was a God back in the day!"The employee nodded. "Well, it's true that his replicas were impeccable… But the man has made it big time working for Don Albert, and we won't be able to ask for his help!"Mick shook his head. "No, it's fine. We're quite close—let me call him right now."With that, he whipped out his phone to make the call.While Zachary used to be humble in Mick's presence before, Zachary was now way above him on the pecking order.Afraid of being remotely disrespectful, he promptly greeted Zachary politely as soon as the latter answered, "Hello, Zachary! It's me, Mick Crane!" "Uh-huh," Zachary replied noncommittally before asking in curiosity, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"Ever since Zachary had started working for Don A
Raymond may have worked abroad for years and was a veteran in antiques, but he was still lacking when it came to reading between the lines.Taking Mick's words at face value, he promptly shook his head, "No, you really shouldn't. I wasn't planning to come back here to work, so you mustn't mention me to Ms. Moore either."And unlike Mick, he really meant what he said, while Mick was saying the complete opposite of what he was thinking.Naturally, Mick didn't believe Raymond, even presuming that Raymond was a liar like himself.The more Raymond said he didn't want to return to Vintage Deluxe, the more he thought he was.Hence, he asked despite knowing the answer, "Well, what are you planning to do now that you've returned to Aurous Hill?""It's been years of traveling for me, so I was just getting a little tired," Raymond admitted. "I'm planning to set up a small business in Aurous Hill, most likely here in Antique Street. That's why I'm visiting—do be neighborly when I set up shop
Meanwhile, Raymond had no idea that he was being targeted as soon as he returned to Antique Street.He had reached the middle where rows of three-floored buildings stood, the largest on the street, and where Vintage Deluxe was. It was not closed yet as tradition on Antique Street was for stalls to open in the morning and close in the afternoon. In comparison, shops opened later and closed later.With the difference of two to three hours, they could afford to have customers who had lower purchasing power or were just window shopping to stroll through the outdoor stalls. Then, when they were gone, customers with actual purchasing power would come on their own time.As Raymond arrived outside Vintage Deluxe, Mick just finished his meeting with his employees, summing up, "So, does anyone have anything to do tonight?"They all shook their heads, answering as one, "No!!!"Mick nodded. "If there's nothing else, stay back for overtime. Ask for some spicy crayfish and beer for dinner."
However, Raymond had accomplished the assignment Curtis had given him years ago, so he had no intention of staying at Aurous Hill and remained unrepentant despite Jasmine's pressure. That was why he could ask to resign without hesitation, even urging her to let him go despite the pain.That was why Mick was now worried that Raymond would return to reclaim his position as manager."Keep an eye on him for me," he told Trippy. "Tell me if anything comes up right away—I will make it worth your while.""Alright!" Trippy agreed to it. "Don't worry—I'll call right away if anything comes up."Once Trippy hung up, Mick gathered the handful of Vintage Deluxe employees.They were all his close allies he had groomed after he took over Vintage Deluxe. Even if Mick hadn't been succeeding in his business, he was succeeding in building his own forces. Anyone who didn't obey his orders had since been removed, and the remaining ones were basically his co-conspirators, embezzling a considerable am