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Chapter 505
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The Guardian's Return Chapter 506
Stephen’s face turned ashen when he saw Howard and the others’ statements.At that moment, his mind was completely blank. Even his soul felt numb. Why were these people kicking him while he was down? Did they want to force him to the brink of death? Did he do anything wrong to them? They had clearly taken so many benefits from him!“What should I do? What should I do now?” Stephen was so panicked that he could not think of a solution.His assistant was also on the verge of breaking down. He could barely fend off the reporters wanting an interview and had to ask security to keep them away.Meanwhile, many people online were talking about Stephen. The news about him not being the Grand Marshal’s mentee overshadows all trending topics.“Is Stephen the Grand Marshal’s mentee or not?”“If he’s not the Grand Marshal’s mentee, that means he’s an imposter. Isn’t that a crime?”“If the news is true and Stephen has nothing to do with the Grand Marshal, then he should be executed!”“Who e
The Guardian's Return Chapter 507
For example, they would target the other party’s friends and families or cause trouble in their daily lives to force them to compromise.However, Simon could not figure out how to deal with Howard’s group. They were abroad and had both money and power. Sending assassins would not work, and it was not possible to dispatch a team either.Simon took a deep breath. “Tell me what you want. Let’s negotiate properly.”Howard remained calm. “There’s nothing to negotiate.” The only thing they wanted was Ethan’s freedom, but they all knew that Simon would never agree to it.Simon said in a low voice, “A hundred million. I’ll give you a hundred million each.” It was a massive sum. Even Simon felt pained at the thought of forking out several hundred million at once.Howard shook his head. “Even now, do you still think money can solve everything? Seeing you now reminds me of my past self.”Before meeting Ethan, when he was involved in the underworld, he also thought that money and power were
The Guardian's Return Chapter 508
As long as the Grand Marshal’s only successor stayed quiet, they could say that everyone else was just lying.Stephen set off right away. He wanted to leave through the front gate but saw a crowd of reporters waiting outside. They would catch him the moment he showed his face. Stephen had no choice but to climb over the wall and quickly return to the capital toward Drakthorn Ridge.Half a day later, he finally arrived at Ethan’s villa where it was very quiet. Stephen looked at the villa and felt a surprising sense of calm.The journey here had been so clamorous. Everyone was talking about him, and he constantly felt like someone was watching him. He was afraid of being recognized. Fortunately, he made it here smoothly.As he walked into the villa and smelled a faint fragrance, he felt his fatigue disappear.“Ethan.” Stephen quickly approached Ethan.Ethan looked at him calmly. “You still have time to come to me at a time like this? It seems you’re not that pressured.”Stephen kn
The Guardian's Return Chapter 509
Ethan did not want money, power, or even Rachel. Stephen felt that there was no way to persuade him.Now, the best solution was to find Ethan’s weak spot and use it to threaten him. That way, Ethan would have no choice but to help. He thought about it. Family?Before coming to Riveria and seizing Ethan’s achievements, the Quinns had already investigated his background. Ethan was an orphan, and his parents were unknown. Three years ago, he joined the Lowes and secretly helped them manage Riveria. At the same time, he helped George become the mayor.Looking back at it now, the only person with a close relationship with Ethan was the Grand Marshal, but he had passed away three years ago. Since then, Ethan returned to a solitary life.Friends?Stephen could not think of any. In his memory, Ethan was always alone. It seemed he did not have any friends.Health? Ethan did not have to worry about his meals. He had a disciplined life, exercised regularly, and had a healthy body. Stephen c
The Guardian's Return Chapter 510
“Unfortunately, your arrogance and pride haven’t changed. Did you think you understood me so well that a few words would convince me to help you? If it were that easy, there would not be any poor people left in the world.”Stephen was stunned. Ethan’s response caught him off guard. He thought that Ethan would agree to help him.“I do have a way to help you.” Ethan smiled faintly.Stephen’s eyes lit up. “What is it?”“Go down the mountain now, head home to charge your phone, and take bus No. 11 to the plaza. Then, start a livestream to confess the whole truth, then kill yourself on camera. After that, I’ll come down from the mountain and take over Riveria again. I’ll enter the cabinet and destroy the Quinns for you.” Ethan smiled. “If you were to take the Quinns on for yourself, it would take twenty or thirty years, but if I handle it, it won’t take long. I’ll get rid of them in just fourteen days.”Swoosh!Stephen stood up, glaring at Ethan furiously. “Are you mocking me?”Ethan
The Guardian's Return Chapter 511
“You noticed Snow gave me five million dollars but failed to see that it was her entire life savings, and you certainly missed her subsequent death," Ethan said."You saw the South Regent gave me 10 million dollars but missed the fact that he and Jeremy had only met once—and Jeremy was actually an enemy who infiltrated his company to steal information."Stephen's head drooped lower and lower as Ethan continued."If you can give me the Quinns’ entire fortune, kill Simon, and somehow survive afterward… I might consider helping you once. Or, if you can get one of your enemies to ask for my help with money in hand, I might consider it. I won't ask for much. Just a single dollar would do."Stephen was speechless. Those conditions were impossible to meet.He slumped back onto the sofa, his energy visibly draining away. After being mocked, Stephen had no counter to Ethan's arguments, both emotionally and logically. Though frustrated, Stephen truly could not think of any solution.At tha
The Guardian's Return Chapter 512
Instead of rushing, Stephen rushed back to Hill City while contacting Howard and the others. Although Ethan had not provided any help, he managed to come up with his solution. He did not need them to vouch for him; he just needed them to stop talking about the Grand Marshal's mentee situation.Stephen spent several hundred million dollars, successfully silencing Howard and the others. After resolving that issue, he had his team prepare a statement. The content focused on an apology, explaining that everything was a conspiracy and claiming that someone was deliberately trying to frame him.Since he had paid Howard and the others to keep quiet, he could loudly proclaim his innocence without worrying about them coming forward with explanations. As long as they stayed quiet, even if people had doubts, there would be no concrete evidence to prove anything. Then, he would video himself helping others, promote those videos heavily, and continue suppressing the negative voices. Before long
The Guardian's Return Chapter 513
Hearing that, Stephen finally felt the weight lift from his shoulders. At least, part of the issue was settled now. All that remained was to hold a meeting to discuss how to increase welfare in Hill City, and that incident would be over. However, Stephen dared not rest yet. He immediately called people over for a meeting.In the conference room, Stephen spoke gravely, "I'm going to increase welfare in Hill City. I want everyone to report which areas need improvement."Everyone found it strange that Stephen would suddenly think about increasing welfare.Nolan frowned and said, "Sir, we understand what you want to do and how you’re feeling, but Hill City's current situation doesn't allow this."Hill City's GDP had fallen to just one trillion dollars, and it was taking everything they had just to prevent it from dropping further. Increasing welfare now would only burn through Hill City's GDP, meaning that the disadvantages of the decision outweighed the benefits.Stephen looked at
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The Guardian's Return Chapter 814
Tyler frowned. “What happened?”“It’s about Riveria.” Nolan handed his phone to Tyler. “Simon and Stephen have completely lost all shame. I can’t believe they said something like this.”After reading the news, Tyler’s expression darkened. “Although I know they’re shameless, I still underestimated them.”In the past, they had slandered Ethan and stole his achievements. Now, after being exposed, they fabricated evidence and worked with headquarters to deceive the public.“Tyler, what should we do?” Nolan asked. “I can’t stand by while they slander Mr. Rivers like this.”Tyler said, “Let me think.”To them, Ethan was their savior. Without Ethan, the Spencers would never have made it out of Riveria alive. It was thanks to Ethan stepping in that they had a chance to start over.However, Simon was shamelessly going further to distort the truth and rewrite history. They could not watch this happen. The truth had to be exposed!A moment later, Tyler said in a low voice, “Let’s go to Ri
The Guardian's Return Chapter 813
The netizens had mostly been deceived by the internet trolls.When they saw Simon and headquarters both speaking out, they fully believed that Stephen was innocent and that everything was part of Leo and Ethan’s schemes. Even the few who had firmly believed in Ethan began to doubt themselves.Online, the uproar gradually died down. At that moment, Simon took the next step! He had someone publish the recording of the gala and instructed the trolls to guide the audience in revisiting the highlights.With that, both he and Stephen were completely safe.When people reviewed the gala recording, it also boosted Riveria’s popularity. It was killing multiple birds with one stone!Simon did not rest. Instead, he took the official statement and the trending discussions online and headed to the jail to meet Leo.“Has he confessed yet?” Simon asked the staff.After Leo was imprisoned, he had been questioned who the mastermind behind this was.“No. He keeps saying there’s no mastermind.”S
The Guardian's Return Chapter 812
“Yeah. I’m from Breeze City. If Stephen is driven away by all your insults, what are we supposed to do?”“All this is part of Ethan’s scheme. He’s deliberately trying to frame Stephen!”This was the next phase of their attack. They accused everyone of being too extreme and then created a victim narrative to gain sympathy. Finally, they flipped the story. Stephen was the pure-hearted and selfless one while Ethan was the true villain!While the internet was being flooded with manipulated narratives, Simon was not idle either. He felt that fabricating transaction records and hiring internet trolls alone was not enough. Ne needed more fabricated evidence.Thus, he had several people in Riveria publicly claim that Stephen had been the one managing Riveria all along.Ethan Rivers? Never heard of him!After a day of work, Simon was drenched in sweat. He felt his heart pound as if it might leap out of his throat.After all, he had not rested properly for days because of the gala. Furthe
The Guardian's Return Chapter 811
Simon stayed up all night thinking.The next morning, a little after 6 a.m., he called someone to forge records that Stephen had lived in Riveria before.At the gala, someone had questioned whether Stephen really was the Grand Marshal’s mentee. His response at that time was that Stephen had always lived in Riveria.Now, he had to fabricate those records as soon as possible and release them publicly. Protecting Stephen’s identity as ‘the Grand Marshal’s sole heir’ was extremely important. As long as that narrative was maintained, it would minimize suspicions from others.“But that’s not enough.”Simon continued to take action and hired internet trolls. Since he could not suppress the public’s interest, he personally intervened and made the trolls comment that Stephen was the one in charge of Riveria while Ethan was a corrupt criminal and that Leo was spewing nonsense!As soon as the money was paid, the trolls began their work.“You guys say that Ethan was the one in charge of Riv
The Guardian's Return Chapter 810
However, the event was quickly losing steam! Leo had shifted everyone’s attention away, and people were more curious about Ethan and Stephen’s true identities. The whole internet buzzed with discussions, and many were engaged in fierce arguments. Even if Simon tried to suppress the controversy, it was nearly impossible to stop it. Quite a few people were even starting to leave the event. Many planned to stay in Breeze City for a few days and tour the city, but after experiencing the incident, they no longer trusted Simon. Therefore, they changed their plans and decided to leave the next day!By the time the event ended at 1 a.m., the audience present had dropped to less than half of the original count. When Simon and Stephen took the stage and saw the half-empty seats, they felt dispirited. The celebrities and singers who attended the event could also barely manage a smile. They regretted coming. The scandal surrounding Stephen’s real identity could easily engulf them, and the l
The Guardian's Return Chapter 809
Stephen immediately raised his head and asked, “Where is she?”Simon fell silent. He had no idea where Lily was. Perhaps only Ethan would know her whereabouts, and he did not know how to answer Stephen. Stephen frowned as he waited for a response. “What’s wrong? Didn’t you say she’s alive? Why don’t you tell me where she is?”Simon took a deep breath. “It might not be the best time to tell you now.”He still tried to brush it off. “What do you mean?” Stephen was getting anxious. “Do you want me to get on my knees and beg you? Don’t you know how important she is to me?” Stephen pointed at his gray hair. “I want to see her again so badly.”As Simon lowered his head, looking conflicted, Stephen fell to his knees with a bam. “What are you doing?” Simon exclaimed and quickly pulled him up. At that point, he realized that he could not hide it anymore. He did not want to say that Ethan saved Lily, but only Ethan knew where she was now. Even if he wanted to lie, he could not. W
The Guardian's Return Chapter 808
“Everything we’ve worked hard on would go to waste, and the Quinn family would be plunged into endless doom. The federal government would cull us. Nobody would let us off.”The issue now was not as simple as stealing Ethan’s achievements and locking him up. They were unafraid to do it in the past because they thought Ethan was an incapable orphan without any backing. They figured he just got lucky. However, they were wrong. Ethan turned out to be the Grand Marshal’s only mentee and the head of the Ledger family’s chosen one. He was also the one who intimidated the South Regent into retreating and achieving peace for Riveria. Everyone in the province owed him their lives.Just the revelation of his identity and achievements would be more than they could handle, and there was a new problem. Under their management, Riveria had nothing but problems. The province was once the nation’s largest, boasting a 15 trillion GDP, but how much of it was left now? It had long since fallen to
The Guardian's Return Chapter 807
It happened all too suddenly. He had done everything he could to prevent this. He had made countless preparations, ensuring no criminals or illegal weapons could get in, and even arranged his own men to be the “lucky audience” chosen for the interactive session. Yet, he had not expected a celebrity of that level to speak out for Ethan. Simon racked his brains, trying to figure out how it all happened. However, how would he know that the celebrity had become famous thanks to Ethan? His mind buzzed, completely blank. He could only say, “We will investigate this matter. Everyone, please wait for our notice. For now, please continue to enjoy tonight’s show!”He handed the mic to the host and rushed off stage. The show had to go on. He had put too much effort into inviting celebrities and pouring money into security to have it go to waste like that.Unfortunately, people’s attention was not on the show anymore. Stephen, Simon, Riveria, and Ethan immediately started trending. The e
The Guardian's Return Chapter 806
However, the truth was that everything she went through had nothing to do with Ethan, while the hardships he had encountered were even more unbearable than hers. However, he always remained calm and was even willing to lend a hand. “I’m sorry.” Snow trembled, tears streaking across her face. There was so much she wanted to say, but she did not know where to start. She could only apologize repeatedly and wipe her tears away. Her heart was filled with resentment toward Stephen, who was no human at all! Lily also spoke, her voice shaking, “I can’t believe you were the author. And you’ve done so much!”She thought back to the first time they met and when she called Ethan petty. Now, she finally understood how generous Ethan was. He had sacrificed himself to protect everyone in Riveria, saved her life when she should have been dead, and helped her find a new meaning in life. Yet what about him? He was imprisoned in that desolate mountain alone. Lily thought about herself. As the
