Ch. 1266..1270: The Secretly Rich Man Chapter 1266-1270
Chapter 1266
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1266
“L-let him go…!” shouted the three kidnapped—and frightened—Smiths before Tiara could land another blow on the now bloodied Gerald. Rita, in particular, was shouting even louder than Mila’s parents.
“…Hah! Trash like him isn’t worth my energy to kill! With that in mind… Hey, Chester! That’s your beloved brother, right? Go ahead and kill that brat who doesn’t know what’s best for himself! Worry not about the magnificent lord, for I’ll take full responsibility for everything that’s happened here!” ordered Tiara.
It was evident by this point that the Smiths’ pleas for mercy did little to impress Tiara. Instead, they seemed to further enrage her!
Regardless, the way Tiara had ordered her grandson almost made it seem like she was just talking to some random member of the Holy Witchcraft instead of her actual grandson… On second thought, ‘dog’ would be a better term to describe Chester’s relationship with Tiara now. A very obedient and vicious dog… He barely had any resemblance to the old woman’s grandson anymore!
Whatever the case was, upon hearing the command, the resurrected Chester instantly glowered with rage as he slowly began walking toward Gerald!
The second he stood before the injured youth, Chester barely had any hesitation when he punched Gerald hard on the face! The punch itself made Gerald feel like he had just run into a glass door while running, and Gerald found himself instantly growing dizzy.
So even Chester’s inner strength had been amplified… What a powerful transformation process…!
“Atta boy! Good job!” said Tiara with a sinister laugh as the corners of her mouth curled into a malicious smile.
“Heh. How does it feel, Gerald? To have the person you regarded as your younger brother beat you up like this… How does it feel to know that even a dog like Chester is more than enough to kill you?!”
Pausing for a brief moment to grin evilly, Tiara then returned to her indifferent expression before tossing a dagger over to Chester’s feet.
Momentarily looking at her grandson—who was still overflowing with murderous intent—Tiara then turned to look back at Gerald before saying, “Whatever the case is, since you’re going to die here anyway, I may as well have Chester deal the finishing blow! I hope you enjoy the experience of being killed by your very own brother! Chester! This here is the elder brother you love so much to the point of betraying me! I command you to dice him up with that dagger!”
Upon hearing the command, Chester’s eyes grew frigid as he picked the dagger up before viciously slashing at Gerald’s arm! Gerald himself could feel his arm growing slightly numb as the scent of fresh blood filled the air.
“Atta boy, Chester! Now chop off one of his arms!”
Unlike the first time, however, Chester seemed to hesitate the second he heard the following order. Though the dagger was still in his hand, he was simply frozen in that position. It was almost as though there was some magical force preventing him from doing the deed!
Staring straight into Gerald’s eyes, a voice seemed to emanate from within him, screaming, ‘No! Don’t do it!’
Seeing that, Tiara then shouted, “What the hell are you doing, Chester? Snap out of that daze and slice his arm off already!”
“Y-Yes, master…!” replied Chester as his entire body began trembling uncontrollably!
Taking in a deep breath, Chester then slowly began raising the dagger…
With Chester holding on so tightly to Gerald’s neck with his other hand, the bloodied youth couldn’t even attempt to dodge it even if he wanted to. Chester’s current strength was simply far too immense for Gerald to even begin resisting! With that in mind, there was no way Gerald was going to be able to have his arm intact once Chester did the deed!
Even though he was aware of that, all Gerald could do was watch as the dagger—whose tip was facing downward—got slowly raised to an optimal point… Before it rapidly began descending!
As Gerald’s heart beat frantically, he thought about how he had only been a step away from achieving the baptism of heaven. It was supposed to happen tonight too!
To think that he was going to be ended by Tiara before he could even manage to deal with Queena or find the woman in white…
Gerald knew that Chester wasn’t to blame since he was nothing more than a puppet to Tiara now, incapable of disobeying her orders… Whatever the case was, Gerald continued focusing on the rapidly descending dagger as his mind braced for the hellish pain to come once his arm got sliced off.
That moment itself felt like an eternity as all sorts of memories began flooding his mind. It was almost as though his mind was no longer bound by any forms of restriction.
Gerald recalled a saying that moments before a person died, their life would quite literally flash before their very eyes within tenths of a second. Perhaps he was experiencing that right now…
Amidst the plethora of memories, Gerald suddenly saw a very clear figure before him…
It was Mila.
‘I wonder if Mila’s dead or still alive at this point… If she’s still among the living, how is she doing in life…? Is her life good? Miserable…? Is she being loved and doted on…? Or perhaps she’s being tortured and abused…?’
‘The pledge of the holy water is happening soon too… Dad, mom, Jessica, grandpa, and Lyra… Could tonight truly be my final night…? Am I going to die from pain and blood loss after all my limbs are torn from my body…?’
‘…’
‘…No. I… I can’t allow this to just happen! I have to continue living! I have to continue searching for her till the day I can finally see Mila with my very own eyes again…!’
Following that thought, Gerald’s body moved on instinct extremely rapidly! He hadn’t even been paying attention to where Chester’s arm or the dagger was, yet Gerald somehow managed to firmly grab hold of Chester’s wrist!
With his arm now restrained and the dagger unmoving in his hand, Chester’s eyes grew even more vicious as he attempted to continue trying to attack Gerald!
At that moment, Gerald—who was still bleeding profusely from his wounds—suddenly clenched his teeth before shouting, “Have you already forgotten that you wished to atone for your sins, Chester?! Don’t let Tiara continue using you to commit more crimes!”
Hearing that, Chester seemed to become momentarily stunned.
It was then when the jade pendant Gerald had on him—that had been dyed red due to all his blood— suddenly began glowing strangely… Before anyone could react, a golden light suddenly shone out of it!
Chapter 1267
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1267
The light itself was rivaled only by the brightness of an intense spotlight, and it instantly lit the entire area with a blinding flash! Chester himself was hit point-blank by the golden light, and the second it connected with him, Chester suddenly began screaming in pain!
Gerald watched wide-eyed as a black glow began seeping out of Chester’s body! Slowly but surely, Chester began losing his strength and power. His vitality rapidly diminished as well, and by the time he stopped screaming, Chester was so weak that from just a single push from Gerald, he ended up falling to the ground, instantly going unconscious!
“…Chester…?” called out Gerald as he held onto his still-bleeding wound.
No matter how much he called out, however, Chester truly was out cold.
At that moment, the pendant suddenly switched the golden light out for flashes of all seven colors of the rainbow! Gerald was naturally surprised by all these changes. The jade pendant was acting really strange today!
“…I really hadn’t expected you to be holding onto such a treasure, Gerald!” shouted Tiara, a glint of greed in her eyes.
“After acquiring that treasure, I’ll definitely be able to increase my training even further!” added Tiara as she instantly began rushing toward Gerald with greed-filled eyes!
Before she could get too close, however, several rustling sounds suddenly began coming from all directions. The next thing she knew, eight extremely fast figures had surrounded both her and Gerald!
“Do you really think you’re worthy enough to get your hands on that treasure, old lady? Gerald is ours!” shouted one of the eight men.
The men themselves looked extremely pale, and, putting it quite frankly, they looked like they had already been dead for a few days. Even so, the one who shouted had an extremely dominating and loud voice.
What more, each of them seemed to possess extremely strong skills, with none of them feeling like they were any weaker than Tiara. There were such strong masters with immense presences around this entire time? And to think that all of them would show themselves at the same time! Gerald could only look at them with fear in his eyes.
What the hell was even going on anymore…?
The weirdest thing yet was how strong Tiara, Chester, and the eight men’s inner strength were. There were all on a completely different level compared to Gerald’s own inner strength, and that fact alone made Gerald terrified.
Remembering how Tiara had mentioned the three religions and the nine schools of thought earlier, Gerald now deduced that there were definitely more than two opposing forces at play.
While Queena was from one of them, the eight men who had just shown themselves seemed to be from another.
Whatever the case was, Gerald was most certain about one thing. Both forces were out to get him.
“Oh? Is that so? Then let’s see if you even have the ability to go against me first!” retorted Tiara as she locked her eyes onto Gerald before rushing toward him!
Seeing that, the eight men did the same! A split second later, both parties grabbed onto Gerald’s arms and legs before starting to tug with all their might!
‘God almighty, I’m going to be ripped into pieces!’
Though Gerald was resolute on making it out alive, it was difficult to maintain such hope when his limbs were literally being torn apart!
‘Jade pendant! Jade pendant! Are you truly a spiritual artifact? If you can hear me, then please help me one more time! I can’t die yet! Please, I don’t want to die yet!’ cried out Gerald in his mind, hoping that the jade pendant would react to his pleas for help.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be little to no reaction from the jade pendant. Utterly grief-stricken and mortified, Gerald found himself spurting out blood as both parties continued spinning him around!
With one final roar of pain, the green veins all over his body suddenly erupted, causing a massive force to envelop his body out of the blue!
The strange force itself felt almost explosive, and the strength of it caused both parties to fly backward extremely violently!
That was the last thing Gerald remembered before his vision went dark and he fainted…
By the time he finally got up again, he realized that he was lying inside a room. Realizing that there was a group of people surrounding him, the still slightly dazed Gerald was able to make out—at the very least—that Rita, Gavin, and Helen were there with him.
Chapter 1268
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1268 “Mr. Crawford! You’re finally awake!” shouted Jace who seemed to have been sitting beside him this entire time. Realizing that his wounds had been bandaged, Gerald now knew that Jace had been the one who had stabilized his condition.
“I am… Thank you, Dr. Mabb…” replied Gerald as he held onto his wounds.
Recalling that he had almost been killed by Tiara and those eight men, Gerald turned to look at the Smiths as he asked, “Aunt Helen… Uncle Smith… Were you the ones who had rescued and brought me here…?”
As he awaited their reply, Gerald faintly remembered himself desperately pleading the jade pendant to help him back then. He also recalled the sudden burst of energy that emitted from his body before eventually passing out. Naturally, he had no idea what happened after going unconscious.
“That’s right, Gerald… You almost frightened us to death earlier, you know? You sent all nine of them flying into the air in all directions! Sensing the opportunity to escape, we then quickly brought you back with us!” explained Helen who was very obviously still terrified after witnessing all that had happened today.
Following that, Helen explained how Tiara had brought some of her men with her over to their house not long after Gerald left. Since Gavin, Rita, and Helen just so happened to be serving Lady Smith at the time, all three of them ended up getting kidnapped by Tiara and her men!
Eventually, all that led to Tiara besieging Gerald.
From what Helen had told him, Gerald deduced that Tiara must’ve previously been unable to find him in Mayberry, even after days of searching. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have needed to do all this just to weed him out.
Putting Tiara aside for the moment, Gerald began thinking about the jade pendant. It appeared that the pendant wasn’t as simple as Gerald had initially thought. After all, it practically saved his skin earlier.
Before he could delve any further into it, Zack—who had also been present this entire time—suddenly said in a worried tone, “You really scared us half to death earlier, Mr. Crawford! By the time we got there to carry your unconscious body over, you were completely drenched in blood!”
“I truly had a near-death experience earlier, that’s for sure… Regardless, where are we?” asked Gerald, suddenly realizing that he was someplace unfamiliar.
“We’re currently in a villa that’s halfway up Mountain Top. While we’re on the topic, I’m glad to announce that we’ve already managed to punch a hole through the mountain! We should be able to locate what you’re looking for soon, Mr. Crawford!” reported Zack.
“…I see! That explains it!”
Gerald was, of course, talking about how strongly the jade pendant had reacted at the time.
Before Zack was able to inquire Gerald about it, a screaming female could suddenly be heard coming from the room next door! Shortly after, the sound of a plate falling to the floor followed!
It didn’t take much to be able to guess that some woman had just witnessed something extremely terrifying, and not long after, a young nurse—who looked to be around the age of eighteen—stumbled into the room while shouting in a panicked voice, “D-dr. Mabb…! The man next door has already awoken, and he’s slowly breaking free of his steel restraints!”
“What?!” shouted Zack in disbelief before glancing at several of his men who were in the room. Getting the message, the guards instantly headed for the room next door.
“What on earth is happening?” asked Gerald.
“It’s that man who was trying to kill you with a dagger last night! While we were sure that he was still unconscious at the time we began transferring you here, upon arriving at the villa, we realized that he had tailed us all the way here! Though he was extremely weak at the time, he kept muttering the phrase, ‘I’m going to save you, Mr. Crawford…!’ Hearing that, we couldn’t allow Mr. Lyle to just kill him. After all, we weren’t sure whether he was a friend or foe yet. Due to that, we restrained him with steel chains for the time being!” replied Helen.
“That’s Chester!” exclaimed Gerald as his eyelids twitched. Immediately hopping off his bed, Gerald began rushing over to the room next door.
Upon entering, Gerald saw several bodyguards standing near the door, all of them looking rather stunned.
Turning to see what they were all looking at, Gerald saw Chester standing there, breaking off yet another chain with his bare hands. From the looks of it, he had been tied with at least a dozen steel chains, though many of them were already lying broken on the floor.
Though the guards all had electric batons in hand, not one of them even dared to step forward to attack him. It was evident that this was their first time seeing such an insanely strong person.
Feeling extremely moved to see his close friend alive and kicking again, Gerald called out, “Chester…!”
Hearing the familiar voice, Chester’s body began trembling ever so slightly as he raised his head to see if it really was Gerald. Upon getting that confirmation, Chester called out extremely slowly, “M… Mr… Crawford…!”
The way he was speaking was reminiscent of a toddler who was barely able to speak clearly yet. Despite that, Gerald knew that Chester was fully sober from the look in his eyes alone. He truly had no idea what method had been used to bring Chester back to life.
“Yes, it’s me, Chester!” replied Gerald while looking straight into his brother’s eyes.
Chester had taken a killing blow for Gerald back then to save his brother, and Gerald had always felt guilty about that. Regardless of what Chester even was now, Gerald couldn’t help but feel happy to see him alive…
Chapter 1269
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1269 “…Chester, didn’t you… you know… Either way… How did you get resurrected…?” asked Gerald as he slowly approached him.
Chester himself seemed like he had a lot to tell Gerald, and while the explanation process was a little slow and awkward, Gerald could still understand what his brother was saying.
As it turned out, after Gerald had personally buried Chester’s body, Tiara dug it out again and used a secret technique—that Queena had taught her—to resurrect and turn him into a killing machine!
Chester also took the time to explain the long-standing heritage of the Holy Witchcraft. Apparently, Queena’s soul was the one who had professionally founded the Holy Witchcraft, and before she died, she had made special preparations for her own resurrection hundreds of years later!
Upon hearing this, Gerald finally understood everything. So that’s why Tiara had been so frightened when she received the letter from Queena’s subordinate in front of the manor that day! Queena was actually her ancestor!
As for Chester’s resurrection, it wasn’t a real resurrection at all! From what Gerald now understood, Queena had used some ancient form of witchcraft to fill Chester’s body with vitality, thus in a sense, ‘resurrecting’ him. Though this form of witchcraft was innately evil, using it on someone would greatly increase the person’s strength, Tiara being a living example of that.
Regardless, it wouldn’t be a stretch to consider the current Chester to be half-human and half-demon. Chester also added that several people were in the same state that he was now in, and that they too had undergone great transformations due to Queena’s actions.
“Throughout this time, I’ve been living as a bystander… As in, I haven’t been able to control my body at all! It was like I was watching some messed up movie where I’d do whatever Tiara ordered me to… I…
I’ve done way too many atrocities that I didn’t want to…!”
“…However, the golden light that was emitted from that pendant… It seemed to contain some sort of magical energy. The second I was hit by it, all the guilt and evil from my body just seemed to melt away, allowing me to gradually regain my consciousness and free myself from merely being a bystander!” explained Chester.
Recalling what Master Ghost had told him, Gerald’s yang energy was extremely masculine since it hadn’t undergone holy baptism yet. Aside from that, Master Ghost had also said that the owner of the jade pendant had an inextricable link to him. With that in mind, the jade pendant was definitely no ordinary object.
Gerald remembered how brightly the jade pendant had shone while Chester was still strangling him. He also recalled how a black glow seemed to have escaped from his body. The jade pendant must have purified the evil nature in Chester’s body at that moment!
“…Speaking of which, Chester, who were those eight men? All of you had immense inner strength, and not even mine could ever hope to rival yours now! I don’t think I can even hurt any of you with my current strength!” said Gerald.
“Ah, those people… They come from an organization called the Judgement Portal. While Tiara was reporting to Queena, I heard them mentioning that both the Judgement Portal and Queena’s Squad of Divine Grimness are still relatively new forces. From what I found out, the Judgement Portal group has constantly been going against the Squad of Divine Grimness. Their group has also been actively trying to locate you! From one of our confrontations with them, one of the Judgement Portal’s members said that they wanted to capture you before heading to the Ancient City to look for the corpse of the Celestial Lady!” explained Chester with a cough.
As he had said before, though Chester was controlled physically, his mind had been active the entire time. It was the reason why he could still recall all this, albeit a bit roughly.
‘…Ancient City? A Celestial Lady… The woman in white? And what even is the Judgement Portal? Their members are extremely strong!’ Gerald thought to himself, puzzled.
From what he had learned, Gerald could deduce at least half of what was happening with the whole Ancient City thing.
Yume was part of the Gunter family and back then, she and that old lady had disappeared in the king of the ocean’s palace. Since there weren’t even any traces of her left, Gerald could simply assume that she was dead. Now, however, he was thinking otherwise.
Could she have survived? And could she have gone elsewhere to bring the woman in white out? That possibility wasn’t completely out of the question!
After all, Gerald had previously sent some of his men to investigate the remains of the king of the ocean’s palace. As was expected, the tomb was completely decimated.
Looking at Chester, Gerald then asked, “Do you happen to know where the Ancient City is, Chester?”
Shaking his head in response, Chester then replied, “Unfortunately, all I know is that Queena and the others headed there immediately the moment they found out that the woman in white was there. Before leaving, she sent me and Tiara to go after you. Aside from that, I really have no idea where the Ancient City is!”
“Ancient City? Master Nacol was talking about that just a few days ago! If I remember correctly, the Gunters are living there…” said Dr. Mabb—who had been silent this entire time—out of the blue.
“…Oh? If the Gunters are there and if the woman in white has made an appearance there, then I’m sold that that’s the same Ancient City that Chester’s talking about!”
Chapter 1270
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1270 Seeing how intently Gerald was looking at him, Jace then replied, “Well, Master Nacol is currently giving lectures in Mayberry City. If you wish to meet him, I can surely introduce him to you. What more, he just so happens to be an old friend of Mr. Sawyer Wytt!”
“Sounds great to me! I’ll be troubling you then, Dr. Mab!” said Gerald with a nod.
As soon as his sentence ended, a subordinate suddenly ran into the room, reporting, “Mr. Lyle! Mr. Crawford! We’ve managed to excavate most of the mountain and we’ve located a colorful boulder in there!”
“A colorful boulder?” replied Gerald, startled.
At that moment, Gerald felt an extremely strong masculine aura pulsing continuously from within his body.
“It’s the Zircobsite for sure!” shouted Gerald, feeling overjoyed. He had finally located the stone!
“Zack, I need you to immediately instruct your men to block the surrounding areas around Mountain Top. Nobody is allowed to even get close to it!” ordered Gerald.
“Right away, Mr. Crawford!”
Meanwhile, several of the workers—at Mountain Top—were still feeling dumbfounded as they stared at the multi-colored boulder that was radiating brightly. While all of them were tempted to touch the boulder—feeling that it would bring them auspiciousness—the stone was located right in the middle of a cave.
While that itself wouldn’t have stopped them from entering, the second any one of them got close to the cave’s entrance—to have a better look at the colorful boulder—they would immediately be greeted by
near-unbearable scorching heat.
“My god! This is a bit too hot, isn’t it?!” said a few of the workers who had attempted—but clearly failed —to enter the cave as they wiped the sweat off their foreheads.
“Regardless, Mr. Crawford truly is fortunate, isn’t he? I estimate that this boulder should cost at least several hundreds of millions of dollars!”
Several people were clearly envious of Gerald’s luck, and many of them had thought about stealing small pieces of the boulder to take back with them. Unfortunately, none of them were even able to get close to it!
Their plans were interrupted shortly after when several Crawford bodyguards suddenly appeared before the workers and ordered them to immediately descend the mountain. By then, all the roads leading up to the mountain—within a fifty-mile radius—had been blocked, and anyone who had previously been within the vicinity was promptly forced out.
Regardless, it wasn’t long before Gerald stood alone before the cave’s entrance. Looking into the underground cave, he saw the stone and how brilliant the colorful rays of light—that it reflected—were.
Feeling simultaneously shocked and amazed, Gerald felt as though a strange thought was constantly attempting to communicate with him
From outside, Gerald thought to himself, ‘Such a massive hole within the mountain… Could this cave have been equivalent to some sort of mansion in the past…?’
Whatever the case was, Gerald was going to head further in to catch a closer glimpse of the Zircobsite first! Though beads of sweat were already rolling down his forehead at the cave’s entrance, the immense heat was nothing to him.
With that in mind, he then jumped right into the cave! Upon reaching the bottom, Gerald flinched slightly from the pain of his still rather-fresh wounds
Though the entrance of the cave was just about the size of a well opening, Gerald found the interior of the cave to be much larger than he had initially anticipated. The area was so large, in fact, that the more Gerald looked around the more he felt that something was off with the cave.
Based on his deductions, the cave hadn’t formed naturally. Instead, it had been carved up by men who knew what they were doing.
As Gerald continued scanning through the area—with the aid of the bright and colorful lights radiating from the Zircobsite—his eyelids suddenly began twitching rapidly the moment he looked in a particular direction and saw something that caused chills to run down his spine.