Share

Chapter 265

Author: Old Pumpkin
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
Locked Chapter
Continue Reading on GoodNovel
Scan code to download App

Related chapters

  • The Guardian's Return   Chapter 266

    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

  • The Guardian's Return   Chapter 267

    “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

  • The Guardian's Return   Chapter 268

    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

  • The Guardian's Return   Chapter 269

    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 Guardian's Return   Chapter 270

    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

  • The Guardian's Return   Chapter 271

    Simon never anticipated the South Regent to return the money. He simply called the man to pour out his grievance. To his surprise, he was shaken by the story he heard. After the call, he called Stephen right away. “Don’t go to Ethan anymore. He’s a despicable and deceptive man.” Stephen had no idea what happened, but since his father had spoken, he simply nodded. “I understand. He will spend the rest of his life in the mountains with no visitors.” Simon felt relieved. “I need you to prepare some money and find a good location for the villagers. Throw in something extra as compensation. You must let them know you did not intentionally target the villagers, and that it’s all the mayor’s fault.” Stephen nodded. “And, keep an eye on Lucas. Don’t let anything happen to him. Get the best doctor to treat him and take care of the bills.” Stephen nodded again. He understood the stakes. If Lucas died, then he would be the culprit, and even if he shifted the blame to the mayor,

  • The Guardian's Return   Chapter 272

    Devastated, Stephen widened his eyes in shock and staggered backward. George asked anxiously, “Is there nothing else you can do?” The doctor shook his head in silence. “Nothing? We can pay you more!” George refused to give up just yet. “We will take care of the medical bills!” The doctor continued to shake his head. “It’s not about money. We have already done our best. But if you insist, there is actually hope. “There’s a famous neurosurgeon in Riveria. People call him Dr. Federick Rodman. He has performed more than a thousand brain surgeries on various scales, and his patients are as old as 90 years old. If he’s here, he might be able to save this man.” George and Stephen’s eyes lit up. Hope! “Where is he?!” The doctor said helplessly, “Metropolis, but it has been years since he’s performed any surgery.” George and Stephen noted down every detail. “We got it. We’ll get him here to treat Lucas,” Stephen said. “Please take care of him while we are away!” He then

  • The Guardian's Return   Chapter 273

    “Can’t you see we are talking?! Get out!” Stephen chased the patient out and then stopped Dr. Rodman from typing on his phone. “Dr. Rodman, we don’t have much time left. Please come with me.” Dr. Rodman realized things were much more complicated. He moved Stephen’s hand away and then continued to search for the name online. As he went through the search results and the related articles, Dr. Rodman’s expression darkened. Stephen and George had forcibly taken the villagers' homes, robbing them of their properties. When the village chief, Lucas, demanded an explanation, he was slandered and labeled a gangster. In the end, Lucas rammed himself into the wall to prove his innocence. “You!” Dr. Rodman stared at Stephen. The culprit himself was asking for help and even lied instead of telling the truth, hoping that the doctor would not find out. Stephen looked down in silence. He did not know what to say. George was also present. He stepped up and said, “Dr. Rodman, please calm

Latest chapter

  • 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

  • The Guardian's Return   Chapter 689

    However, at that point, there was nothing Stephen could do, even though he was the heir of the Quinn family. He had to return to the Metropolis to lay low. “Get ready. You’ll leave tomorrow.” Simon wanted to send him away as soon as possible not because he was truly concerned about Stephen, but because Stephen had just taken the blame for him. With Stephen under attack from various parties and having to face punishment from the federal government, Simon worried that he might crack under pressure and reveal the truth. That was why he wanted to send Stephen home immediately and have him under strict supervision to prevent him from speaking out. “I know.”The moment Stephen stood up, a phrase randomly flashed through his mind. ‘All is predestined; man has no control.’No matter his status or wealth, he was still powerless against some things. Due to that, the greater the fall, the harder it was for him to accept it.Quietly, Stephen returned to his room to pack up. Meanwhile,

  • The Guardian's Return   Chapter 688

    His laughter was filled with helplessness and despair. He sounded like he was on the brink of an emotional breakdown. He had been trying so hard to make up for the mistakes of his past, doing his best to improve everyone’s lives, but now, it was all ruined because of Simon's stubbornness. Yet, Simon wanted him to shoulder the blame. “You should understand that there’s nothing you can do. You can’t change your fate, nor the fate of others around you. You thought you had everything, that you were invincible, but in fact, you have nothing, and you’re powerless to do anything.”Stephen heard a familiar voice. He looked behind Simon and saw Ethan sitting on a nearby sofa, drinking tea. “What’s wrong?” Simon frowned. Stephen’s laughter made him feel a little uneasy. Hearing Simon’s voice, Stephen snapped back to reality and looked at the sofa again, but there was no one. Ethan, and his voice, had been a hallucination. Stephen slightly lowered his head and clenched his fists tigh

Scan code to read on App
DMCA.com Protection Status