Lady Acker said, “Go ahead and speak up, Lulu.”Lulu said, “I investigated the situation at Aurous Hill Welfare Institute today. I wanted to see if there was any information related to Charlie among the orphans they rescued over the years. Currently, the institute's records show no clues related to Charlie, but what's strange is that Aurous Hill Welfare Institute underwent a major personnel change last year. From the institute's director to the staff below and even the chef who cooked for the orphans, all of them underwent a complete turnover. None of the old employees were retained at all. I find this matter quite unusual. It's not uncommon for personnel changes in welfare organizations, but a complete and sudden change seems a bit strange. What do you think?”Keith frowned and said, “There must be ten to twenty people in the management and execution side of a welfare home. Even if the management changes, the operational staff below them shouldn't be replaced entirely, right? After
“That’s simple!” Lulu said excitedly, “We can check the social security files of the previous team! The welfare institute is a social welfare organization funded by both the government and private donations. As a unit that requires public supervision, their personnel records must be very complete, especially if they are really on a major mission, as Merlin suggested. They would need to appear compliant and flawless, otherwise, if someone notices abnormalities in their personnel records, it could immediately raise suspicions!”Merlin praised, “Lulu’s thinking is very clear. We will probably be able to get some clues by finding a way to check the previous personnel records of the staff at Aurous Hill Welfare Institute!”Kaeden exclaimed, “I'll get someone to check it right away!”After saying that, he immediately took out his cell phone and made a call.Keith had retired for many years, and over time, his connections had diminished. There were not many connections that he could use a
Ashley and Curtis’s only son, Charlie, had gone missing twenty years ago as well.Everyone felt as if they had been blindly searching for twenty years worldwide, and this time, it felt as if they had finally grasped something.Christian blurted out impatiently, “Tell us about the entry times of these sixteen people in detail!”Azure hastily responded, “Among these sixteen people, fourteen joined at the end of winter in February twenty years ago, and their previous dean, Killian Caito, joined in the fall in November twenty years ago. Aside from these fifteen people, the latest entry was a female worker who joined in winter in December twenty years ago. It will be twenty years in another three months.”Lady Acker suddenly had an extremely horrified expression. She burst into tears and sobbed as she said, “Ashley and Curtis left Eastcliff and came to Aurous Hill in March twenty years ago. They met with their accident at the end of October, and Charlie disappeared at the end of October
At this moment, the yard surrounding the villa had turned into a hellish battlefield!Mr. Chardon held a wooden sword that was less than thirty centimeters long in his hand, but the invisible blade it carried had a length of nearly two meters!This was the temporary magic instrument that the British Lord had entrusted to Mr. Chardon. Although the wooden sword looked short, small, and unremarkable, in reality, it functioned like a lightsaber from Star Wars, with an extraordinary attack range.In the logic set in the movie, a lightsaber emitted plasma from the hilt to form the blade. Mr. Chardon’s wooden sword surpassed this concept. It could transform Reiki into a blade, and he could control the blade at will!Several bodyguards attempted to surround and attack Mr. Chardon, but he casually swung the sword in the air with just one hand. An invisible energy then shot out swiftly from the sword, piercing through the chest of the frontmost bodyguard when he was still a meter away from
She had underestimated Mr. Chardon for quite some time, always thinking that this old man was solely focused on cultivation. However, it was not until today that she realized that this old man actually harbored such a strong desire for slaughter!Just as she felt that Mr. Chardon was being excessively ruthless, a helicopter that was flying low in the sky appeared, swiftly approaching Willow Manor!At this moment, the Acker family members felt a lump in their throats when they heard the wails outside. They could not have anticipated that after their recent crisis in New York, the other party would quickly trace them back to Oskia.Charlie’s third uncle, Jaxson, nervously said, “Dad, Mom, I’m afraid that it will be a life-threatening situation this time. The two of you should leave through the back door first!” Christian also realized the situation and hastily said, “That’s right, Dad. You and Mom should leave first. We will stay and keep guard here!” Keith snorted coldly and sai
If this kind of Reiki persisted, staying and cultivating here would undoubtedly yield twice the result with half the effort! He was extremely excited and pointed his wooden sword at the crowd as he said coldly, “No one is answering me, right? Since no one is answering me, I’ll just randomly choose someone and behead them in front of you all to set an example!”After saying that, he noticed Lulu, who was well-dressed, and sneered, “This young lady must be Lulu Acker, the second young lady of the Ackers, right?” Lulu cautiously questioned, “What do you want?”Mr. Chardon sneered, “I want to teach your parents and brothers a lesson. The lesson is called ‘The Consequence of Non-cooperation.’”After saying that, he swung the wooden sword immediately, and the invisible blade instantly struck Lulu. Lulu felt a gust of wind coming toward her, and she seemed to be frozen in place, almost as if she was completely immobilized. At the critical moment, Merlin suddenly smashed a teacup on t
No one expected that amidst the scenario where the Ackers’ bodyguards were killed and their corpses scattered everywhere, someone would still dare to walk in through that door!Mr. Chardon, who was extremely arrogant, immediately exploded with rage upon hearing the mocking voice. He turned around, eager to see which audacious bastard actually dared to call him a mere lackey!Both Merlin and the Acker family members instantly recognized this familiar voice. Merlin knew it was Charlie who had arrived, and the Ackers knew it was their benefactor.Although they all recognized Charlie’s voice, their emotions were drastically different. Merlin had long expected that Charlie would show up, and he was even thinking to himself, ‘Charlie, oh Charlie, you’ve finally decided to show up! If you had come a few seconds later, I would have lost my life here…”As for the Acker family members, at this moment, they only thought that they were going to get saved at a critical moment and survive a cr
Lord Acker could not help but burst into tears as he looked at Charlie, whose figure had become completely blurred in his vision. He sobbed as he asked emotionally, “Charlie, is it really you?”His three uncles and aunt were also in tears by now. They would never have dreamt that Charlie, whom they had searched all over for twenty years, would voluntarily appear before them. What was even more unimaginable was that the Charlie they had been looking for over the past two decades turned out to be the benefactor who saved the Ackers some time ago!Charlie had extremely complex emotions when he saw the Acker family members who were in tears. He naturally thought of the Ackers as his relatives, and blood was thicker than water. This was the reason why he had saved the Ackers from peril repeatedly. However, Charlie harbored unforgivable resentment toward the Ackers, just like he did toward the Wades. He resented the Wades because the Wades had forced his parents to leave Eastcliff for
Jimmy didn't expect Matilda to break down the share ownership of Smith Group Corporate Law to such detail, and he hollered as he was starting to feel embarrassed, "Now, you're just being irresponsible, Matilda. My father gave my brother a million to start the law firm in the first place, and they had agreed that the family would have a stake, albeit only at 49%, to not deny your decision-making as a startup. Or are you denying it?"Matilda immediately became furious and snapped, "Bullshit! That was just a loan of one million, and the agreed term was three years. However, your brother returned it in one! I even asked him to return the money with every single one of his siblings watching, since you might all get skeptical, yet suddenly, you're calling it an investment?""You said he's returned it? Well, what proof do you have?" Jimmy quickly shot back. "Our entire family can testify that the money hasn't come back to us!""So, this is how you're going to play it?" Matilda smirked. "Th
In the first place, Jimmy had come to Oskia to claim a stake in Smith Group Corporate Law, ideally strong-arming Paul and Matilda into splitting the firm in two, with Jimmy taking everything in the States while Paul kept what was left.The way Jimmy saw it, Paul and Matilda were going to be permanently residing in Oskia anyway. There was no way they could manage things over in another country properly, so it was basically returning the firm to the rightful owner.Naturally, Jimmy also knew that despite bearing the Smith family name, the success of Smith Group Corporate Law was all the work of Jimmy's brother and Matilda. Jimmy's father had helped to a certain extent, but that extent of financial support wouldn't amount to an investment at all. No judge in the world would support his claim to the law firm's shares.Therefore, when he learned that Matilda was remarrying, he thought he could seize the moment to cause a scene. Nothing could be better if she and Paul decided to sacrifice
Jimmy deliberately raised his voice as he said coolly, "Oh, but I didn't want to intervene. It's you and your mother who left the States in a split second, taking with you the law firm which bears the Smith family name. Don't you think such behavior is inappropriate?"Seeing the surprised reactions of the guests, Paul promptly retorted, "The law firm uses the Smith family name, but it is my parents' legacy! They worked blood and sweat to build it from the ground up, and as their only son, I have a veto when it comes to decisions. Or did we need your permission to move to Oskia?""Where's your conscience, Paul?" Jimmy pursed his lips. "Even if you don't know how Smith Group Corporate Law was founded, is that the case for you? It would have been a joke if it weren't for my father's connections!"Hell, it's no exaggeration that it was my father who fought to expand the law firm across America, and just using the family name means you're borrowing the family's influence. The family hono
The blonde man's voice drew everyone's attention in an instant.Despite his foreign appearance, he spoke Oskian fluently and walked with a haughty gait, almost as though he was above the rest.Paul's expression turned grim the instant he saw him, and he hurried over with Charlie.Still, before Paul could speak, Charlie stopped him, frowning at the man as he said, "Don't you think it's inappropriate to come slinging personal attacks at someone else's wedding?"The man clearly didn't know Charlie, and he wasn't worried, seeing that he was young.Snorting in disdain, he asked, "You must be from the groom's family, yes? Please tell him that he doesn't deserve my sister-in-law.""It's up to the happy couple to decide that," Charlie retorted quietly. "Deserving someone is no issue as long as they both love each other."The man pursed his lips and looked pointedly around him. "Just look at how simple this wedding is. Forget picking an unassuming city like Aurous Hill—is there a single
Pausing, Charlie then said, "I'll call Steve to drop by later too. I'm sure folks in Aurous Hill won't know him, but your potential troublemaker might.""I-Is that really fine?" Yolden blurted."What's not fine about it?" Charlie chuckled. "He has been treated like a tool ever since he came to Aurous Hill, and now that he has a chance to strut about, he wouldn't ask for more."Yolden appeared slightly relieved at that, and Charlie asked, "By the way, where's Paul, Matilda, and Autumn?""Getting their makeup done," Yolden replied. "Paul's my best man while Autumn's the maid of honor.""Good," Charlie nodded with a grin. "Don't worry—the wedding's going to be a success."As they spoke, Matilda stepped out of the dressing room in a stark-white wedding dress, flanked by Autumn and Paul.Seeing Charlie, Autumn nodded politely, "Good morning, Mr. Wade."As Charlie nodded in turn, Paul started, "G-Good morning… Mr. Wade…"Seeing that he was nervous and tentative, Charlie knew that he
As Yolden and Matilda were remarrying after living abroad for years, the wedding ceremony was much simpler, skipping Oskian customs and having a simple wedding reception for their guests at the hotel hall.There weren't that many guests either—aside from their children and close friends, only a handful of Yolden's colleagues at Aurous Hill University were invited.As the celebrant, Charlie didn't have much to do and was mainly the emcee.He brought along his jacket as he headed out to Shangri-La, not wearing it immediately so that Claire wouldn't guess that he was attending Matilda's wedding.Arriving at the Hanging Gardens before the guests were supposed to arrive, he found Yolden working with the staff to finalize the preparations.Seeing Charlie, Yolden approached him and said, "Thanks for coming this early, Charlie."Noticing that he was a little tired, Charlie asked in concern, "Had a bad night?"Yolden nodded, sighing, "Paul's uncle caused a huge mess. Both Matilda and I a
Tarlon nodded. "How do you suggest we find them?"Fleur scowled. "There's no rush. There are things which I'm still confused about, so just keep a close eye on the Ackers and the Wades for the time being. Report to me right away if anything important comes up—don't afford our enemies any opportunities to exploit.""Yes, milady!" -The next day, more news outlets were covering the joint project between the Ackers and the Wades as word continued to spread.However, neither family revealed too many details, be it the name of the company, who was the CEO, or the scale of their business.While the public was dying with curiosity, nothing else was known.Still, Aurous Hill's officials were especially interested, with the town hall visiting the Ackers the next day and showing utmost sincerity by leasing a whopping 2-million-square-meter land along the southern highway. Still, the condition was for the Ackers to come true on their promise to propel the city's economy to 15 billion US d
Fleur had repeatedly mentioned the conspiracy theory of Ashley using a body double over the last twenty years.Tarlon had investigated from many different angles, but everything from the gender, age, dental records, to body figure pointed to the fact that the deceased was Ashley Acker.And yet, Fleur had never bought it, insisting that Curtis was prepared for them just because Curtis' son had gone missing soon after.There was no way Curtis would save his son but not his wife, and the disfigured corpse only added fuel to Fleur's suspicion.Thus, over the last twenty years, Fleur had kept a close eye on the Ackers, arranging for two 'scholars' to be embedded amongst their ranks as sleeper agents. She went that far all to determine if Ashley was dead or had faked her death.However, the scholars had since been killed in action, and they had no spies within the Ackers left.As for Tarlon, he still doubted Fleur's theory even now, but he remained respectful as he spoke, "Milady, I mu
Meanwhile, on the edge of the South Pole, Tarlon Griffin rushed outside of Fleur Griffin's room, knocking the door gingerly as he announced, "I have news, my lady!"Fleur didn't respond, but the thick wooden door between them slowly opened as if pushed by an invisible force.Tarlon entered to find Fleur seated on the floor with her legs crossed at the ankles. Her eyes remained closed as she molded her Reiki, asking, "What is it?"Tarlon quickly answered, "News from Oskia. The Ackers are partnering with the Wades on a joint venture into electric-powered vehicles."Fleur slowly opened her eyes, asking quietly, "And you're telling me because?"Tarlon quickly explained, "It just came out of the blue, so I thought I should report it to you right away."Fleur sighed. "After I tried and failed to wipe out the Ackers so many times, they wouldn't dare set foot stateside. If anything, they must have decided to seek asylum in Oskia by offering a substantial investment, and it's a base whe