Everyone surrounded the building where Stephen and Adam were located. “Give us an explanation!” Their voices boomed in unison, so loud that the staff inside the building trembled with fear. They had never seen anything like that. Stephen sneaked a glance through the window and felt a chill run down his spine. “What are they trying to do?”Adam held the latest report he just received and said, “They’re fishermen, hotel owners, staff, and townspeople who built the agritourism farm stays. You cut off their source of income, so they have come for an explanation.”Stephen’s eyes widened. “Just because of that? Isn’t it just a change in career?”Adam, still looking at the report, continued, “Many of them took up massive loans. Once we focus on industrial development, they will not be able to repay their debts.”Their debts were in the millions! Even if they worked a nine-to-five, earning three to five thousand a month, they could not repay their debt their whole life. Besides,
Hearing that, the people finally felt relieved. “Alright, let’s disperse.”“Go grab some food. When there’s progress, I’ll inform all of you.”The crowd gradually dispersed. Adam returned to Stephen, smiling. “It’s settled. I plan to drag this out. When they don’t get paid for too long, they’ll stop thinking about it.”Stephen nodded in satisfaction. “You did well this time. Good job!”Adam chuckled. “Not at all. It’s thanks to your guidance.”“Hahaha!” Stephen laughed smugly. Although Adam promised to compensate the people, the reality was that fishing was no longer feasible and the hotels and farm stays had lost their customers.The people, especially those with debts, were becoming increasingly anxious. Debts amounting to millions weighed down on them like a mountain, crushing them. The next day, someone could not wait any longer and rushed in to ask about the progress. A staff member replied, “The investigation is ongoing. Please wait a little longer.”By noon, ano
Inside the building, Stephen was trembling with fear. The crowd today was even larger than before, and this time, it was not just a protest—eight people had died!Everyone in Aqua City wanted an explanation. They wanted justice. “Get the hell out!”“We did nothing to you. Why did you come here to hurt us?”“You murderer! You killed an entire family. May your family suffer just like ours!”The staff had closed the door. They huddled in the corners, pale and shaking, unsure of what to do. Soon, the security guards arrived, trying to stop the crowd from being reckless and doing something foolish. However, this time was different. Previously, the people might have shown some courtesy, but today, people had died, and who knew who might be next tomorrow? From the crowd, someone shouted the security guard’s name, “If you don’t get out of here now, you’re no longer my son!”Most security guards were locals, so they were caught in a difficult position. “Why do we even care abou
“Kill us if you dare!”“We owe a few hundred thousand in debt. Do you think we’re afraid of dying?”“If you protect that asshole today, he might destroy your entire family tomorrow! Believe it or not!”With a loud crash, the front door splintered under the impact.Stephen panicked, but he knew he could not hide anymore. If he were caught, those people might really beat him to death. At that moment, Stephen realized his mistake! Dragging things out and avoiding confrontation would only make matters worse. The real enemy wasn’t from outside; it was the locals of Aqua City!“I’ll pay!” he stammered as he stepped out. “I’m willing to pay.”As soon as Stephen emerged, the crowd grew more agitated, especially those related to the ones who had committed suicide. Their eyes reddened, and they wanted nothing more than to kill Stephen on the spot. “Everyone, please calm down!” shouted a middle-aged man. He was one of the towns’ mayors and had led the group to confront Stephen. His vo
Adam was terrified. Why was Stephen still hesitating at a time like that? Was it so difficult to admit his mistake?He quickly grabbed the loudspeaker, determined not to let Stephen continue speaking. “We will! We will compensate you! We’ll buy all dead fish at half the market price and live fish at full price! For those who took out loans to lease fish farms in the past year, we will pay half the amount…”Adam was pulling out all the stops he had learned in his career, thinking on his feet. He was prepared to compensate half the losses of the villagers, fishermen, and hotel owners. Faced with that explanation, the people were relatively satisfied. Adam continued, “As for the eight individuals we lost, we deeply regret this tragedy. We will all attend their funeral today.”After finishing his statement, Adam was drenched in sweat. The town’s mayor looked at him for a while before taking the loudspeaker and asking, “Everyone, what do you think of this solution?”“Sounds good
On the Internet, most people criticized Stephen, and a few cursed at Ethan. A small group of people wanted to know the person previously managing Riveria, hoping for them to return to take charge of Riveria. Three cities in Riveria had since had issues. The richest and most developed province, which once boasted a 15 trillion-dollar GDP, could not even maintain 13 trillion!In the government headquarters, a group of people stared furiously at Simon, who kept his head low, saying nothing. “Didn’t you go to Aqua City? How did things turn out like this?”Faced with the questions, Simon wanted to say he had no idea either. He had left Aqua City thinking everything was fine, but in just one day, eight lives were lost! All of them were forced to the point of suicide!He wished he could give Stephen a few more slaps on the face now. Given the current situation in Aqua City, it was understandable to shift the focus from fishing and tourism to industrial development. However, he had t
It was not easy to make money locally, so they decided to take on “part-time jobs,” helping with smuggling, scamming, and even human trafficking. Among the towns, some even formed partnerships with foreign forces! Treacherous and dangerous towns started emerging in Aqua City. Stephen had ruined the fishing and tourism industry in Aqua City, and now, all anyone cared about was money. They would work for whoever paid them. Suddenly, dark currents began to stir in Aqua City. Stephen thought things had finally settled down. That was until the fifth day, when he received a troubling message. “All the trees on a mountain have been cut down, including Three ancient trees, each over a thousand years old. They are high in tourism value!”Stephen’s heart skipped a beat. Illegal logging?“Find out who did it! They must be punished severely!”“It’s a few towns. Almost a thousand people were involved! Those three trees were sold beyond the border!”Stephen was shocked. Anything that i
The fishery and tourism industries of Aqua City were ruined, and the factories were too damaged to continue operation. Nothing was left to support the economy. With Aqua City's dwindling GDP of 1.3 trillion left, every cent was important!Amid the chaos, Stephen chose to instigate conflict between the two sides. The resulting clashes would drain resources—equipment, medical supplies, and repairs to the city. Each conflict would consume the dwindling wealth of Aqua City even faster."Stephen destroyed Aqua City, our home! Even if it costs us our lives, we’ll fight back!" "He's taken away our livelihoods and left us no other options! Since he wants us to die, we can't let him live either!""Let's do this! At worst, we'll just leave. Aqua City is already in ruins, thanks Stephen."Almost everyone in Aqua City was joining the fight. The level of chaos was far beyond Seaside City's!Meanwhile, Oliver and the others confronted Stephen. "Our factories are destroyed. Are you going to
After everything was settled, the people from HQ went to Ethan again. They apologized to him and begged for his forgiveness.“We’ve dealt with everyone involved in this matter. Are you satisfied with the outcome, Mr. Rivers?”With that, they lowered their heads to the ground nervously. Their only hope now hinged on Ethan’s response.They did not dare to ask for much. All they hoped for was that Ethan would not leave the country.Ethan glanced at them calmly and said, “Send someone to help move my stuff down the mountain.”Hearing that, everyone was first stunned, and then ecstatic.“Of course!” they replied in unison.They understood what Ethan meant. He was staying! Although it was not his complete forgiveness, he was willing to give them another chance.They were all overjoyed. As long as Ethan did not leave, there was plenty of time to slowly make amends.They took out their phones and made arrangements to help Ethan move.After the call ended, they said, “We respectfully
The day of Rachel and George’s trial came.The livestream began at 10 a.m., and hundreds of thousands of viewers joined instantly.Rachel and George slowly walked into the courtroom in handcuffs.Bang! The judge’s gavel fell, and the room went silent.It was not a lawsuit. It was a trial to expose the sins of Rachel and George.The judge read out their crimes one by one, until Rachel and George’s faces paled to the point that they looked like corpses.The viewers in the livestream finally saw the full picture.“So that’s it! The Quinns and the Lowes conspired!”“They deserve to die! How could they frame Ethan like that? Are they even human?”“The death penalty! They deserve the death penalty!”They were all furious.Many people had lost their families as a result of supporting Stephen and scolding Ethan. After watching the livestream, they realized just how deeply they had been wrong.They were accomplices to the Quinns and the Lowes' crimes in framing Ethan!Their current
They suppressed their disgust and returned home, only to see their parents and wives’ panicked expressions.“What did you do out there?”“So many people came today, asking for you by name.”How were they supposed to answer those questions? They could not just say that they had insulted Ethan online.If they did, their parents would beat them to death before anyone else could.“It’s nothing,” they replied stiffly. They had no choice but to hide the truth. After all, they could not say that they had insulted Ethan, or that they had lost their jobs.However, the next second, their parents received text messages. After their parents glanced at their phones, their expressions instantly changed.It was a message from the bank, stating that their child had been listed as a defaulter and urging them to repay the loan immediately.“What have you done?” Their parents’ voices trembled.Seeing that there was no way to hide it anymore, they had no choice but to confess the truth.They los
Seeing that message, they immediately felt as if their world had ended.Because they had insulted Ethan, they lost their jobs, were blacklisted, and could not find work again.“How could this be?”No one expected this outcome. They thought, ‘So what if I insulted him? Are they going to punish me for it? Besides, so many people are insulting him. They can’t possibly punish every single person who did it. At most, I’ll post a public apology and promise that I’ll never do it again.’However, now they were all fired. Everyone who had insulted Ethan had been dismissed from their jobs.It seemed like there were several tens of thousands of people involved! It was hard to imagine just how many people had lost their jobs in real life.“Why are they going this far? Aren’t they afraid of causing unrest?”Of course, HQ had considered that. However, they knew what was more serious.If Ethan went abroad and cooperated with foreign countries, the consequences would not be limited to a few pe
George thought that Rachel had already escaped abroad, so he was not afraid when he arrived.Now, when he saw Rachel there as well, he completely panicked.This was not what he had expected!“Where else would she be?” someone from HQ asked.George looked nervous and stammered, unable to say a word.With Rachel caught and him being brought here, it was clear that HQ already knew the truth. Coupled with his fear of Ethan and his helplessness in the face of reality, he no longer had the strength to make up any excuses.He had resigned himself to fate.“You really have some nerve." The people from HQ sneered. “You fooled us all completely.”“You’ve been hiding Ethan’s contributions all this time, haven’t you?”“You two are nothing but disasters to this country! You deserve to die a thousand times over.”George kept his head down while Rachel sobbed. “I was wrongfully accused!”“Shut up! Are you still trying to fool us at a time like this? You were wrongfully accused? By who? Sim
They brought this on themselves, forcing themselves into a corner with no way out. “Ah!”Simon could not take it anymore. He suddenly ran towards the window, trying to end his life. Fortunately, the officials quickly stopped him. “Don’t be reckless! Think about Stephen. You’re all he has now!”That sentence made Simon stop. Now, Stephen and Simon were each other’s support and burden. Simon slumped on the ground weakly. Right now, they both wanted to die, but neither of them had the courage to follow through. All they could do was live on in pain. After a long silence, Simon said, “I’d like to file a report on someone.”To obtain some kind of reward and survive a little longer, Simon decided to turn in George and Rachel. When the officials heard him, they were stunned. They did not expect Rachel to be involved in framing Ethan. “Shit!” Someone exclaimed. “I heard Rachel bought a flight ticket overseas. Could she have fled?”The room was filled with dread. If Rachel ra
Seeing that Stephen was awake, the others rushed to get the doctor. The doctor was astonished as well. Stephen’s sudden awakening was nothing short of a miracle. However, after examining him, the doctor’s expression darkened. Stephen had regained consciousness, but the prognosis was far from hopeful.“He can’t move,” the doctor said. “As of now, he’s paralyzed.”Stephen could open his eyes, but the rest of his body was unresponsive. He could not move his limbs or his neck and mouth. The only part he could move freely was his eye. Even his breathing was dependent entirely on medical equipment. “He might never be able to leave the bed again.”Upon hearing that, Stephen closed his eyes in despair, tears continuously rolling down his cheeks. He had fought so hard to wake up, only to realize he had missed his final chance to meet Snow and Lily. Worse yet, he also lost the ability to move. From now on, he would be confined to the bed and hooked up to machines just to stay alive.
His father died a miserable death, his son was in a coma, and the Quinn family was shattered, leaving only Simon behind to finally realize all his mistakes. However, it was too late. Harrison could not come back to life, the Quinn family could not be whole again, and Stephen could not recover. Simon would forever be haunted by pain, despair, and regret for the rest of his life. At that moment, in complete darkness, Stephen heard Simon’s voice. He was conscious but failed to open his eyes or speak; he could not move a muscle. He wanted so badly to sit up and tell Simon that it was not solely his fault. They were all wrong, and this was their retribution!Just then, two women walked into the ward. When the officials saw them, their eyes widened in shock. For a second, no one even breathed. They were Snow and Lily!The officials thought they were seeing ghosts. Those women were supposed to be dead. Why were they there? Snow and Lily noticed their shocked gazes and offered them
Due to Harrison’s previous incident, the officials reacted quickly by sending Stephen straight to the hospital.After an emergency rescue, Stephen’s life was saved. However, he paid a heavy price. When the doctor walked out of the emergency room, the officials asked, “How is he?”“The situation isn’t looking good,” the doctor said grimly. “His body is in a bad state, and due to long-term emotional distress, he suffered a brain hemorrhage from the emotional shock.“He’s still in a coma, and we can’t say for sure when he’ll wake up again. It depends on his will to live.”The officials drew a sharp breath. “Do you mean he might end up in a coma forever?”The doctor nodded. No one saw coming that Stephen would fall into a coma, with little chance of ever waking up again. However, it also meant he did not have to die anymore. He would be alive but confined to a bed. Suddenly, they thought of Harrison’s desperate pleas to Ethan back in his villa. “I’m willing to trade my life fo