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Chapter 336
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The Guardian's Return Chapter 337
Stephen sat frozen in place. What Julius said to him about not getting deceived again hit him hard. On his journey of managing Riveria, he had been deceived in every city and tricked by mayors three times.Stephen trembled, his face pale. What did he have to do to know whether someone was tricking him? What was real, and what was fake?“Dad, I can’t tell. I really can’t tell!” He broke down.Stephen believed he had been trying and doing well, having grown from his many mistakes. Yet now, he realized that although he had grown, his enemies were still stronger. Being a Quinn did not mean that people would heed his every word.How many lives had been lost because he was deceived?This time, it even led to the death of the mayor, Julius, who cared for Hill City so deeply and wanted to help him manage the city.Stephen held Julius’ body and felt hopeless for the second time. The first time was when he scolded Snow and then heard news of her death.He started to doubt himself. Could h
The Guardian's Return Chapter 338
Simon felt numb after understanding what had happened.He thought Stephen’s silence meant everything was progressing smoothly in Hill City, but now, it was clear that something big had been brewing behind the scenes. Even he found it difficult to handle the situation.In a hospital in Hill City, Stephen and George watched as a white sheet was draped over Julius.His parents wept beside him, so devastated they almost fainted; a woman lay sobbing over Julius’ body, and a four- or five-year-old girl stood to the side, her wide eyes looking around in confusion.Stephen remained silent. George, on the other hand, was bandaged all over, all minor injuries from his struggle with Julius. However, he did not feel the pain at all.His eyes reddened as he turned away from the scene in front of him. If not for him, Julius would not be dead, and his parents and wife would not be grieving.Julius’ child, a girl, who had no idea what was happening, walked over to Stephen and George. She asked
The Guardian's Return Chapter 339
“I know.” Nico smiled wryly. “Because we’re the same. I want to kill Ethan, and you want to kill me. We’re not so different, after all.”Stephen instantly fell silent. He understood that the shock from Nico killing his son with his own hands had left the man devastated. George gritted his teeth, stating, “You brought this upon yourself. None of this would’ve happened if you had just lived normally after being released from prison.”Nico fell silent. If he had let go of his grudge after his release, he would not have lost everything.“So, he had a plan all along.”If he had followed Ethan’s plan, Tommy would have finished college, started a family, and be taken away from Stone Village for a fresh start in Hill City. However, because Nico chose revenge instead, he ended up killing his son with his own hands, sealing his fate.“I regret it,” Nico said weakly as he looked down at the white sheets. “I finally understand what Ethan was trying to do for me. I’d like to apologize to him
The Guardian's Return Chapter 340
“Are you Julius’ friend?” Stephen grew even more nervous. After all, Julius’ death was partly his fault. How could he face Julius’ friend? The person must surely hate him.Just as Stephen started to back away slowly, wanting to leave…“Since you’re here, why are you leaving without saying a word?” the person said.Stephen shuddered, simply because that voice… belonged to Ethan! He hurriedly walked over, and sure enough, it was Ethan.“What are you doing here?” Stephen asked in surprise. Ethan was supposed to be locked up in Drakthorn Ridge. It was the third time he had seen Ethan outside of Drakthorn Ridge.“I came to see him off,” Ethan replied.Back when he was in Hill City, he had interacted with Julius and thought highly of him. With Julius in Hill City, the city’s GDP could have risen by a trillion within ten years. Unfortunately, Julius did not have those years anymore.Ethan held two bouquets and gently placed one next to Julius’ body. Stephen watched silently, afr
The Guardian's Return Chapter 341
Seeing Ethan about to leave, Stephen quickly asked, “Where are you going?”“To see someone else.”Stephen was confused. Who was that someone else?Julius and Tommy were both there. However, he soon remembered that Nico was also in the hospital!“Are you going to see Nico? What are you planning to do?”Ethan was a high-priority target under strict surveillance, and so was Nico. The thought of them meeting made Stephen uneasy.Were they planning an escape?Ethan said calmly, “I’m not planning anything. He’s the one who wants to meet me.”As the door to the morgue opened, the doctor was stunned to see Ethan walking out.He wondered, ‘Who’s this guy? And why was there someone else in the morgue?’Soon, Stephen also came out, following right behind Ethan as they walked to Nico’s ward.In the ward, Nico lay awake, staring blankly at the ceiling. At the sound of the door opening, he stirred for the first time in hours.When he saw Ethan come in, he shot up in bed.Nico asked, “Ar
The Guardian's Return Chapter 342
Those answers were not what Stephen wanted to hear.He took a deep breath and asked, “Are you just going to stand by and watch people die?”Ethan slowly turned around. Stephen’s question almost made him laugh.“You can say that, but I have a question for you.” Ethan asked, “How did Julius and Tommy die?”Stephen was confused by the question. He had explained it back in the ward.“They died protecting Hill City.”Ethan said, “That’s too vague. Tell me again. How did they die?”Stephen thought about it for a moment. “Nico was going to shoot George, but Tommy jumped in to take the bullet. He saved George and died for Hill City. Julius died trying to stop Nico.”Ethan repeated, “It’s still too vague. Say it again.”Stephen’s frustration grew, and he repeated what happened again, this time in greater detail.He even recalled Julius’ final words as he died in Stephen’s arms. “Don’t… be deceived again.”Ethan said calmly, “You still don’t get the point. Say it again.”Cold sweat
The Guardian's Return Chapter 343
The next morning, George rushed over as soon as he heard Stephen was in the hospital. When he saw Stephen on the bed in a daze, he knew something was wrong. He had seen Stephen like that before—back when Stephen learned that he would never see Snow again. However, this time, it was worse. His face was ghostly pale, and his eyes were dim and vacant. If not for his breathing, George would have thought he was dead.“What happened? He was fine last night. How did he end up like this in just one night?”George’s head was pounding. There was a boatload of matters to handle today.According to the plan, they were supposed to hold a funeral service for Julius and Tommy. However, judging by Stephen’s condition, George knew there was no choice but to postpone it.After making the call to postpone the service, he tried using Simon’s way to snap Stephen out of it.“Wake up. As long as you rebuild Hill City, the people won’t blame you anymore.”However, Stephen remained motionless. Even
The Guardian's Return Chapter 344
George looked at Nico’s body and confirmed that he was really dead.At that moment, George felt a mix of tension and relief. He felt tense because Nico had committed suicide to avoid getting trialed, making the situation complicated to handle. However, he also felt relieved that Nico, who had pushed them to the edge, had ultimately chosen to take his own life.News of Nico’s suicide spread quickly. The first to hear were the villagers of Stone Village.Nico was dead, and so was Tommy. The Wyatt family was gone. With no one left to lead them, many villagers felt a sense of urgency, fearing that others might disregard the rules and take all the money for themselves.As a result, many became reckless, openly inciting others and leading people from other villages to raid the orchards and livestock farms. It did not matter if the targets were local or non-local. Everything was up for grabs.Some people also privately produced and sold firearms to local forces. They started mining exces
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The Guardian's Return Chapter 698
For a moment, no one knew how to comfort Stephen. They knew a little about his troubles, but since they had not experienced it themselves, they could only say, “It’s all in the past. We have to look forward.”Stephen grabbed a bottle of beer and drank it directly.“Stephen!” The others were shocked to see Stephen chugging the beer.“I’m fine.” Stephen was still sober. He drank heavily now because he wanted to get drunk. Ever since Lily’s death, he started to drink to forget his troubles.However, every time he woke up, the weight of everything he had to shoulder threatened to suffocate him.“Even if you’re fine, you can’t drink like that.” Someone quickly took the bottle from him.“You can’t drink anymore. We’ll take you home.”They helped Stephen out and put him in the car, then drove toward the Quinns’ residence.Stephen said, “I don’t want to go back.”“You don’t? Where do you want to go then?” someone asked.“Where...” The question left Stephen at a loss. Where did he wan
The Guardian's Return Chapter 697
[Come back home; I’m waiting for you.]The song continued.Stephen’s vision blurred as tears welled up in his eyes. He used to love this singer and always wanted to attend one of his concerts. Lily was the same. However, this singer had never performed there before.Now, the singer was here, and Stephen could finally watch him live. He even sat in the VIP section and would be able to shake hands and get an autograph later. The expressions of everyone around him were filled with excitement and emotion.However, Stephen’s face was streaked with tears. He was not happy at all. Despite finally making it to the concert, he felt sad inside because he should not be here alone tonight. He should have been here with Snow, Lily, Jeremy, and Andy.“Stephen, are you crying?” someone asked beside him.Stephen snapped back to his senses. “It’s nothing. The song was too beautiful. I really admire the person who wrote it.”The person nodded. “Yeah, I just looked it up. The lyricist and composer
The Guardian's Return Chapter 696
Stephen had no other choice. He was under house arrest, so he simply smiled wryly. “I hope you have fun. Well, I still have stuff to do. You should go now.”Exhausted, he had been suffering from a lack of sleep during this period. Coupled with the blows from several incidents, he was mentally and physically drained.Although everyone still had something to say, they held back when they saw how tired Stephen genuinely was.“Rest well, Stephen.”“Take care of your health.”“Let us know if you need anything.”They said goodbye to Stephen and left. After seeing them out, Stephen then sighed and returned to his own room.When he reached the door, he suddenly froze at the sight of an unexpected visitor.Victor Hughes!Victor had his hands in his pockets as he walked over slowly. “Mr. Quinn, we meet again.”Stephen took a deep breath. “Why are you here?”He had no goodwill left for Victor. Victor left immediately when trouble arose in Breeze City and even shifted the blame to Steph
The Guardian's Return Chapter 695
Naturally, Stephen knew the reason‒he wanted to make up for the mistakes he had made in the past.However, he did not dare to voice that thought and simply said, “Because I used the Quinn family’s money for compensation.”Harrison nodded. “You’re not wrong, but that’s just part of the reason. Your other fault lies in your lack of thoroughness and firmness. You let them post about you recovering the money online.”Stephen did not dare to raise his head. “I understand. I won’t make the same mistake again.”“That’s more like it.” Harrison was very pleased.Over the past six months, Stephen had stirred up a lot of trouble in Riveria. Other families had been gossiping, and some even said that Stephen was not a genius at all and was not fit to manage Riveria.Harrison also had some doubts. However, he still believed that Stephen was intelligent and clearly knew what he did wrong.“The new year is approaching. For now, stay home and behave. If you have nothing to do, then read some boo
The Guardian's Return Chapter 694
When the children laughed and ran away, Stephen simply sighed and said nothing.He prepared to take a shower and go to bed. He was too exhausted for the past half year and forgot what it felt like to sleep in his own home.Just then, someone from the family came to see him. He was an old man with white hair and a cane, but he exuded a powerful presence more intimidating than Simon.Stephen’s head instantly bowed when he saw the old man. “Grandfather.”The person who came was Stephen’s grandfather and Simon’s father, Harrison Quinn.“You still call me your grandfather?” Harrison rebuked. “What have you done in Riveria the past six months? Riveria’s GDP reached 15 trillion and was just shy of 20 trillion, but you managed to make it plummet below a trillion. Are you trying to drive us to our graves?”Stephen did not dare to look at Harrison. He wanted to explain that Riveria was not what everyone thought it was. It was not a peaceful blue sky but a turbulent deep sea. One misstep, a
The Guardian's Return Chapter 693
If there was money left, it might even alleviate Breeze City’s current financial plight. The only downside was that Simon would not make any profit.‘When these issues are resolved, there’ll be plenty of opportunities to make money.’With that thought, Simon immediately made the preparations.‘Now that Stephen isn’t around, things are indeed much simpler.’ He sighed in his heart.How many absurd things did Stephen do while he was around? He publicly admitted his incompetence, got into a scandal, and stirred public resentment. Simon had gone through painstaking efforts to clean up all the problems.“I hope that he’ll reflect and correct all his mistakes while he’s away.”Meanwhile, Stephen was on a flight back to Metropolis. He stared blankly out of the window. His experiences the past six months felt like a dream.Stephen had lived many years, but he had never experienced one where he had lost so much. Friends, brothers, his beloved, money, power—he lost all of them.In the end
The Guardian's Return Chapter 692
The incident where Stephen took away their compensation money left a huge impact. Headquarters also ordered Simon to resolve everything quickly and restore stability in Breeze City.However, 2.5 billion was not nearly enough. Simon immediately took another 3 billion from Breeze City for compensation.Although the extra money alleviated a lot of their anger and grievance, it was not enough to eliminate it.After all, they could not forget that Stephen took their money. Furthermore, they had been conned a total of 8 billion, but Simon only compensated them with 5.5 billion. There was still a significant amount unaccounted for.Simon knew that compensating them 5.5 billion would not fully resolve the issue. He wanted to allocate more money, but Breeze City’s current condition made it impossible for him to draw additional funds.Breeze City was running out of money, businesses were withdrawing, unemployment was soaring, and the market was in chaos. The prices for various goods, especi
The Guardian's Return Chapter 691
The moment those words were said, Stephen felt like his heart had been shot.Ethan continued, “When I said that you didn’t try hard enough, you said it was because you had no other choice. Now, I’ve given you a solution. What excuse do you have left?”Stephen was shaken to his core. His chest felt tight as if he had been punched hard or even shot. He almost felt like he was about to vomit blood. He lowered his head, saying, “I-I can’t do it.”“Not making a choice is also a choice,” said Ethan. “You’ll continue to cling to your miserable life, let Simon go, and then kill everyone in Breeze City.”“No!” Stephen shouted in panic. “I won’t! I don’t want anyone to get hurt!”Ethan said, “So, you’ll only let harm come to those around you as well as innocent people.”Boom! That statement struck Stephen like a bolt from the blue, leaving him frozen. He did not want anyone to get hurt, but that inadvertently caused the people around him and innocent people to constantly get hurt!Snow,
The Guardian's Return Chapter 690
Before Stephen’s death, he could never truly leave Riveria. Under his management, countless problems had arisen in Riveria—one of the biggest being that they still had not figured out it was the Hugheses working against them behind the scenes.Simon was new to Riveria, and no doubt, he was going to get played hard, but Stephen now knew Riveria relatively well. When Simon hit failure after failure, it would only be a matter of time before Stephen was called back to fix the mess. “You caused this chaos in Riveria. Before peace has returned to Riveria, you won’t truly be able to leave it behind.”Stephen fell silent. He had also thought about that before. Since he caused the start of everything, he should be the one to end it. However, it was too hard!Not only did he have to watch out for others framing him, but he also had to deal with poor advice from his own people, and after something went wrong, he had to take the fall himself. “I’ve realized my mistakes.” Stephen hung his he
