Taking advantage of the crowd, someone shouted, "Did you make up the legend of Crystal Lake?""Did you really take away their village and leave them homeless?""Aren't you the Grand Marshal's mentee? Aren’t you aware of those who shed blood and sweat for Riveria?"Stephen felt his face burning with shame.Each question was like a sword piercing his heart, or a slap across his face.He could not bear to look at anyone. He could only hurry back to the office with George, seeking refuge.Stephen sat restlessly, taking out his phone to browse the web. Online, he saw that Celestial City's affairs were already trending.[Shocking: Village chief who has shed blood and tears for Celestial City, whose wife and children all sacrificed themselves, is driven to suicide by Stephen Quinn!][Breaking News! The legend of Crystal Lake is fake!][Riveria's biggest scam: The Crystal Lake legend!]Clicking on these posts, he could see many on-site videos of villagers kneeling and revealing the t
Many who had eaten at the risotto restaurant immediately went to the hospital for check-ups, fearing they might have fallen ill."Compensation!""Refund!""Execute them!"The entire internet was enraged. Everyone had been deceived, moved to tears by a recently fabricated story, and even swindled out of a significant amount of money.Tourist numbers in Celestial City dropped by 30% in just one day. The decline did not continue only because all plane and high-speed rail tickets for that day were sold out. Many people could not leave immediately.Numerous food businesses approached Stephen, saying, "What a massive scam. You've played us all for fools.""A Celestial City like this isn't worth staying in!"They all wanted to pull out of Celestial City!Companies that had reserved office space in the business district demanded refunds. However, since the mayor had transferred all the money out, where would they find the funds to issue refunds?The food court's customer traffic also
Celestial City's population began to decrease, and its reputation started to deteriorate.However, Stephen and George did not notice any of this yet. They were still overwhelmed by Lucas's suicide attempt. They sent people to investigate the truth.The results showed that everything the villagers said was true. Not only were they not criminals, but they were also heroes who had made great sacrifices for Celestial City years ago.However, they had slandered these very heroes, calling them criminals and leaving them homeless!This was an extremely grave issue!"Where's the mayor?" Stephen demanded. "How did he conduct his investigation to cause such a mess? We can't let him escape!"The assistant replied, "We've been watching him. So far, he's been staying at home with no signs of leaving. He can't run away."Stephen breathed a sigh of relief. If the mayor had not fled, it meant he was not trying to deceive them. He must be thinking of ways to resolve this too."Let me report thi
If this got online, Stephen would become the public enemy every netizen despised. “The village chief, Lucas, is still in the ICU, unconscious.” Simon prayed hard for Lucas’s well-being. If Lucas survived, he could help speak up. If he died, then there would be no way to explain himself. “It’s not just that.” Someone else said, “The legend of Crystal Lake was identified as a hoax. This impacted the tourism in the city. The food that was labeled a cultural heritage was also revoked.” Celestial City’s tourism was not fully developed in the first place. Not many people knew about Azure Cloud Mountain, let alone Crystal Lake. Most of the people only noticed Azure Cloud Mountain and Crystal Lake because of the beautiful story. Unfortunately, it was not some ancient tale but a made-up story forged recently. The people felt cheated. On top of the pricey food and underwhelming taste, people stopped going to Celestial City. “Celestial City’s deceptive move leaves a bitter taste
“Huh!?” A bad feeling rose in Stephen’s heart. He shouted at his men, “Open the damn door!” “We don’t have the keys.” “Then, ram it down!” he shouted. Unfortunately, ramming down a heavy-duty door with an electronic lock with mere muscles was nearly impossible. They had to contact a locksmith and spend twenty minutes to break in. Stephen rushed in and saw the mayor sitting on the couch in the living room with a smirk.“You bastard!” The mayor was at home from the start, and the call was merely a prank. Stephen was infuriated. He strode forward and raised his hand for a slap. Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out, “We meet again.” Stephen froze. He widened his eyes to have a better look at the mayor and to his surprise, this ‘mayor’ looked strange. The ‘mayor’ seemed thinner and his facial features looked more defined. More importantly, he recognized the voice. “You’re not the mayor! You’re the one who abducted Richard!” It was the man who had pointed the gun at
Back in the meeting room of the federal government’s office, Simon was having a meeting with his men to discuss a solution for the matter, hoping to stabilize Celestial City’s economy. They could not afford to lose whatever progress they had made so far. “There are two issues now. The first one is Lucas hurting himself after the slander, and the other one is deceiving the tourists.” Someone said, “For the first issue, apology and compensation are a must. We also have to reward them. We will take care of Lucas’s medical fees. Then, that will put a stop to the outrage in the village.” Simon nodded and added, “I think that’s not enough. We have to relocate them to a better place. They don’t have a place to settle down, so they need somewhere to call home.” One more issue remained. “As for the tourists being cheated, it’s not exactly a big deal, but it’s a problem that we must take care of as well. If we can just apologize, things will calm down a lot faster.” Another person
Others were unaware, but Simon knew the entire truth. Stephen was not the mentee of the Grand Marshal. He was just an impersonator! Ethan was the one who brought peace to Riveria three years ago and was currently locked up in Drakthorn Ridge! Riveria had no one who could rival or suppress the South Regent, hence his recent movements. If the South Regent was not dealt with, he would continue to harm the entire province. As the King Beyond the Border, he had the power to run over Riveria easily. Simon feigned a calm look and said, “Stephen will deal with the South Regent. Meanwhile, we have to find out what the mayor has done to Celestial City.” Soon, Stephen came back with results. As the restrictions on housing purchases were lifted, the mayor raised prices and sold them at a peak, raking in a fortune. The development areas were left idle without any real construction going on and were all sold out in the pre-sales. He fled with all the money, leaving behind empty,
The South Regent remained calm as ice. He had been rivaling Ethan for a long time, and albeit never winning once, he had learned many experiences from the exchanges. “If you don’t want to play anymore, send your men here. If any man crosses the border, I will fire a missile at the surrounding areas. If we are done for, you people will suffer as well.” Simon bellowed fiercely, “Don’t drag the innocent into this!” The South Regent calmly said, “It’s just a self-protection measure.” “It’s despicable!” “I don’t care if it’s despicable or not as long as it’s effective.” The South Regent remained unfazed. Having lost too much, his patience and endurance had reached exceptional levels. “Actually, it’s your son’s incompetence that caused all of this. If it’s Ethan, we wouldn’t dare to even make a move.” Speaking of Ethan, the South Regent reminisced and thought of what Ethan used to do. He said, “Let me tell you a story. Two years ago, we had another faction here who could ri