Ch. 1296..1300: The Secretly Rich Man Chapter 1296-1300
Chapter 1296
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1296 After a momentary pause, Gerald took in a deep breath before saying, “…Fine. Since you don’t have any Dead Annies on you anymore, I can at least be sure that if you intend to do anything suspicious, you’ll go down with me!”
With that said, Gerald then grabbed Yume by the shoulder before making a giant leap together with her! Once they landed safely on the shore, Yume told Gerald where the hiding spot was, and Gerald made sure to hold on tightly to her as the duo swiftly made their way there.
Knowing that he currently lacked the strength to brawl against both Queena and the King of Judgement Portal, Gerald couldn’t help but constantly have his guard up now that he knew that he was potentially about to confront the mysterious Gunters.
Soon enough, they got to a cave that was located in the outskirts. Upon entering, Gerald immediately sealed a few major blood vessels in Yume’s body!
“…Are you serious? You still don’t believe that I’m not planning to harm you?” said Yume as she took in a deep breath to attempt to suppress her disappointment.
“I’ll have you know that I give no second chances to anyone who breaks my trust! Now as promised, tell me the truth about the incident!” replied Gerald coldly.
“…I see. Before that, allow me to ask you something. Not only have you saved me on multiple occasions, but you’ve also constantly looked out for me to the point where after realizing that I had gone missing, you actually sent your men out to tirelessly locate me for well over a month! Hell, you even told the locals to report to you if any of them saw me! With that in mind, I wish to know. Did you do all that just to gain answers from me, or was it because of something else?” asked Yume as she stared at him with reddened and teary eyes.
From her explanation, Gerald now knew that she was aware of everything that he had done up till this point. So she had been keeping an eye on him this entire time…
“The truth is, I had initially promised to bring you to the king of the ocean’s palace since I was worried that it would be too dangerous for you to head there alone. I won’t lie that I was also hoping to gain more clues from you. Regardless, after you went missing, I was filled with regret, and that prompted me to try all means possible to search for you!” replied Gerald.
Though Gerald had initially only helped her for slightly selfish purposes, his worry about her treading into such unsafe territory quickly outweighed that. It was the reason why he had promised to bring her along. By doing so, he could at least keep her out of harm’s way.
Despite that, to think that she would actually go missing right under his nose! With the very real possibility of her being dead, Gerald had brimmed with both grief and self-reproach for the longest time.
If he had known that all this would happen, he would’ve simply chosen to give up on finding out about Yume’s secrets rather than bring her along with him.
After hearing Gerald’s reply, Yume couldn’t help but break into a gratified smile. After all, she now truly knew that Gerald had simply been treating her as a friend this entire time.
While she did have slight feelings for Gerald, it was due to all those times Gerald had saved her and not because of the d*mned marriage stone of Master Ghost’s.
She remembered a time when she had wanted to secretly kill Gerald, though in the end, she simply couldn’t bring herself to do so. If she had, well, Gerald naturally wouldn’t have arrived at the king of the ocean’s palace in the first place!
Of course, she hadn’t fallen for him yet at that point in time. She simply found herself unable to do the deed.
Regardless, after she went ‘missing,’ Yume began secretly keeping an eye on Gerald. It was then when she realized how much he cared for her. After all, Gerald had left no part of the ocean—surrounding the king of the ocean’s palace—unchecked. He simply refused to give up on his search for her until well over a month—after her disappearance—had passed.
She had also witnessed him sitting at the beach for an entire day and night in silence, simply staring out at sea the entire time.
Eventually, she watched as he threw a small ornament—that had been salvaged from the ocean—into the sea. It was then when she realized just how great his guilt for losing her truly was. He really did treat her as his friend.
Seeing that, Yume—at the time—couldn’t help but feel an odd emotion welling within her, though it wasn’t a bad one. Rather, it felt sweet. After all, nobody had ever treated her the way Gerald did.
It was only when she was thinking about the moments she had shared with Gerald that she finally realized something. Master Ghost’s marriage stone was truly an object that was both strange and evil.
After all, she actually began missing him every day after that, constantly worrying about his safety. The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became, and thus came the restless nights…
‘Could my love story truly end this tragically? Have I really fallen in love with a person who will never love me back…?’
Even if that was the case, Yume had sworn to herself that she wouldn’t lie to Gerald for a second time. With that in mind, she took in a deep breath before saying, “…Fine, I’ll give you the truth! I’ll tell you everything I know, but once I’m done, our friendship will be over, you hear? We simply can’t be friends anymore! Humph!”
Chapter 1297
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1297 With that out of the way, Yume then slowly began sharing what she knew about the situation.
As it turned out, there was already a scheme targeting Gerald from the very beginning. Under the orders of her family, Yume had two main objectives. The first was to locate the woman in white in the king of the ocean’s palace. As for the other, it was to capture Gerald in secret before bringing him back to the Gunters.
It was the reason why she had pretended to be frailer than she actually was. By ‘getting injured’ she knew that she would eventually be able to gain Gerald’s pity.
Even after she gained his pity, however, she was unable to make any moves on him. After all, she hadn’t expected to be that moved by Gerald’s actions. She simply couldn’t bring herself to do the deed.
Eventually, both of them embarked for the king of the ocean’s palace together. Of course, the old woman that they had met was none other than Yume’s grandmother—and also the master of the Gunter family—Lady Gunter.
Regardless, she was well aware of Gerald’s weakness to Dead Annies. It was due to that knowledge that she was able to inflict heavy wounds on Gerald in the first place. Even so, she had made sure to seal her own strength back then for fear that she would accidentally kill him.
Whatever the case was, Lady Gunter had wanted to make her move back then since Gerald was already in such a weak state. However, Yume kept signaling—by twirling her hair with a finger—and shooting warning glares at Lady Gunter every time she made an attempt to hurt Gerald.
In a way, it almost seemed like she was saying, ‘If you dare hurt Gerald, I’ll die before you right this instant!’
After several more gestures warning her grandmother not to make a move, Lady Gunter eventually got so infuriated that she pretended to be injured before making her escape.
Even so, it was evident that she wasn’t ever going to allow Gerald to locate the woman in white. After all, the king of the ocean’s palace—that Gerald would later enter—was formed according to the Dead Annies, theory, ‘Two petals bloom, and each petal represents a world.’
In other words, Lady Gunter had used that secret technique at the entrance of the king of the ocean’s palace to lead Gerald into a completely different—yet similar-looking—world.
As for Yume’s ‘disappearance’, it was due to her being taken along with Lady Gunter to the real king of the ocean’s palace. They even succeeded in transferring the real woman in white’s corpse away!
After hearing all that, Gerald then replied, “…I see. That doesn’t explain why my subordinates weren’t able to detect your life signals, though.”
“Well, it’s not very well-known, but not only can Dead Annies be used to disrupt one’s mental abilities, it’s also capable of disrupting magnetic fields! With that in mind, Lady Gunter has the ability to make herself near-invisible with the aid of the Dead Annies! Using that ability, even a person standing right in front of her wouldn’t be able to tell she was there!” explained Yume.
“…None of that explains why your family even wants the woman in white’s corpse in the first place. Also, why does it seem like me being captured plays a huge role in this scheme of yours? I can barely see the relation between those two objectives!” replied Gerald.
“Well, from what grandma told me, there’s a massive connection between you and the woman in white… Apparently, there’s a large secret hidden within both of you, and the first person who manages to uncover that secret will be able to gain mastery of the strongest power!”
“…A… secret…?” replied Gerald, clearly puzzled by this sudden turn of events.
No wonder the King of Judgement Portal had been targeting him… Hell, even the Gunters were starting to make their moves now. So this was what they were after.
‘Still… What secret could lie within me…?’
Yume, for one, definitely didn’t look like she knew any more than she had already told him.
“Regardless, you need to escape quickly while you still can, Gerald! You’re no match against those from the Squad of Divine Grimness, Judgement Portal, or even my family! Should you end up falling into either of their hands, then your death won’t be out of the question anymore!” pleaded Yume.
“Also, I’ll have you know that the Judgement Portal has already sent out an extremely strong person out to hunt you down! He goes by the name of Hogan, and… Well, let’s just say with how strong he is, even grandma is terrified of him! He’s barely even human anymore! Putting that aside, again, I implore you not to step anywhere near my family. Otherwise, escape will truly be impossible!” added Yume, intense fear in her eyes.
“You’re saying that Lady Gunter is afraid of this Hogan person as well?” replied Gerald, stunned.
To think that once upon a time ago, he had assumed that Kort was the strongest opponent he would ever have to face. Of course, then came Christopher and now there was this person called Hogan as well…
From the looks of it, Christopher had only been the tip of the iceberg. While normally that would’ve been the peak difficulty for any of Gerald’s opponents, looking at how things were going, Gerald could now safely assume that there were many more dangers that hadn’t even come into contact with Earth.
“Look, if you still refuse to leave, maybe this will scare some sense into you… When I said that Hogan was barely even human anymore, I meant that quite literally. You see, from what grandma told me, he’s
actually a corpse that had been revived by the King of Judgement Portal. A zombie with consciousness, you could say. Regardless, while he obeys the King of Judgment Portal, Hogan himself very much deserves the title of the king of poison. After all, upon getting attacked by him, you’ll most certainly get afflicted with an extremely potent poison. With that in mind, even if you manage to escape from instant death, you’ll eventually still succumb to the poison!”
“She’s so well aware of all this because… Well, those from Judgement Portal once came over to our family, and we had a fight against him… Unfortunately, all of my family members involved in the fight were promptly defeated by him, and they suffered from immense poisoning as well. Had the Gunters not sought out a compromise with the King of Judgement Portal, then I’m afraid my entire family would’ve been wiped out there and then! So please, if you ever bump into him, you have to hide!”
Chapter 1298
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1298 With how serious and fearful her voice was, Gerald could tell that Yume’s warning was the real deal.
“…Still, why did the King of Judgement Portal even come over to seek out the Gunters? Could he actually have anticipated that I would come over?” asked Gerald rather doubtfully.
“That could be one of the reasons, though I’m honestly not too sure… I’m aware of their other objective, though. From what I’ve heard, it seems that they’re planning to head to the Ancient Mountain in Ancient City! In case you didn’t know, strange incidents happen on that mountain every few years!” explained Yume.
“What sort of strange incidents…?” asked Gerald curiously.
“That I’m not too sure of,” replied Yume as she shook her head.
Despite that, Gerald was slowly succeeding in piecing together more and more pieces of the puzzle.
From what Gerald now knew, there were three powerful groups hunting him down. Even though he had already received the baptism of heaven, he knew that he still wasn’t completely out of the woods yet.
At his current strength, Gerald was well aware that he still wasn’t going to be a match against Queena, and she wasn’t the only threat either. After all, he still had the other Gunters, the Judgement Portal, Hogan, and the King of Judgement Portal to deal with.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized how dangerous his current situation was. After all, from the way things had been progressing, he could get caught by any of them at any moment.
“Whatever the case is, just continue hiding in the meantime… Since I’ve already told you all this, I’m assuming I’ve repaid all your kindness from back then! With that in mind, we’ll be enemies the next
time we meet again! Until then, take care!” said Yume as she looked one final time at Gerald before dashing off into the night.
It was a little while later when Yume snuck into the Gunter family’s manor. To her utter shock, her entire family was seated in the spacious hall, seemingly waiting for her to return!
As everyone turned to look at her, Yume quickly realized who had planned all this.
“L-lady Gunter!” exclaimed Yume, her face reflecting her brimming anxiety.
“If I recall correctly, I’ve grounded you from leaving the manor ever since we returned from the king of the ocean’s palace… I guess you’ve suffered a bit too much to want to sneak out that badly!” said Lady Gunter with a faint smile. The way she said it suggested that the old lady knew exactly when Yume had snuck out earlier.
With that in mind, Yume immediately knelt with a ‘plop’ before replying, “I… I know you already know everything that I’ve done earlier… While it’s true that I ruined your plans by meeting up with Gerald, I… I just wish to repay his kindness… He’s honestly a kind person who’s not even remotely close to how evil you’ve described him to be! He truly is kind, so please, Lady Gunter…! Please let him off!”
Though Yume’s eyes were now red and teary, the other Gunters simply intensified their glares after hearing what she had to say. Lady Gunter herself looked especially enraged.
“You b*stard of a granddaughter…! It seems that it wasn’t wrong of me to worry about you! You’ve been bewitched, you hear! None of the Crawfords are good people, especially that pretentious Gerald! He only used you to help him look for the king of the ocean’s palace! Even after that, to think that you would actually go behind my back and inform him about all this in secret! You truly are a textbook example of biting the hand that feeds you! Let me remind you that you’re the indirect cause of the deaths of seven exceptional people from our family! If I hadn’t intended to beat him at his own game,
you wouldn’t be able to escape from undergoing family punishment!” scowled the old lady, the corner of her lips twitching in rage.
While Yume now knew that Lady Gunter was aware of the seven deaths, something else her grandmother had said sent shivers down her spine. Trembling, she then asked, “…Beat him at his own game…? Lady Gunter, what do you mean by that?”
“Humph! Since Gerald has come to Querton City, do you honestly think that Lady Gunter will let him off that easily?”
Chapter 1299
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1299 “That’s enough! Lock her up in her room, and be sure to guard her closely! From today onward, she’s prohibited from leaving her room!” shouted Yreth. Hearing that, a few guards ran over and instantly led Yume to her room, as per Lady Gunter’s orders.
Now that her granddaughter had been taken care of, Yreth was confident that she would be able to gain what she wanted from Gerald.
Gerald himself was now swiftly running away from the cave in the dark of night. After learning more about the three groups’ plans to capture him, he didn’t dare linger around for any more than he needed to.
His current plan was to first find Chester then leave this place together with him.
However, just as he was about to leave the suburbs—and re-enter the city area—Gerald suddenly heard rustling sounds coming from the surrounding forests.
From how loud and swift the rustling was, one would normally assume that it was some kind of extremely fast animal. However, Gerald had a gut feeling that that was no animal. Stopping in his tracks, Gerald then went into high alert to figure out what—or who—he was dealing with.
If he was going to be completely honest, Gerald now felt like the temperature had just plummeted. Whatever was out there, it was sending intense chills down his spine.
‘What—or who—on earth is targeting me this time…?’ Gerald thought to himself as endless beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. The fear he was currently feeling was almost primal in nature, and it was unlike anything he had previously felt.
Eventually, Gerald slowly raised his head… And there, he was.
Standing under the faint moonlight—atop a close-by tree—was a towering and sturdy-looking man who had his arms crossed as he stared down at Gerald. While the man’s face was a purplish-black and his lips a dark shade of purple, his eyes gleamed in scarlet hues. Adding that to the fact that darkness just seemed to exude from that man, Gerald could only describe him as corpse-like!
As he continued staring at Gerald without moving a muscle, Gerald himself now knew the source of all his fear. It was as though his entire being was being suppressed just from the sight of that imposing man alone.
In his terrified state, Gerald found himself taking a few steps back before saying, “…Hogan?”
The second he said that, Gerald watched wide-eyed as Hogan’s massive body leaped into the air… and landed gently atop a fragile-looking branch! While that alone was impressive enough, Gerald barely even had the time to react as Hogan used the slight rebound of the branch to launch himself at Gerald at lightning speed!
Being more accustomed to danger than others, Gerald quickly snapped out of his daze and instantly began attempting to retreat!
Before Gerald could even get far, however, he felt a massive tremor as Hogan landed heavily on the ground! Turning back to look, Gerald watched as Hogan spread out his arms and revealed both of his hands…
The tips of Hogan’s fingernails looked as sharp as a hungry wolf’s fangs, and in a way, it almost felt like Hogan had iron claws instead of actual hands. What more, a strange darkness seemed to be enveloping both of Hogan’s hands.
At that moment, Gerald realized that Yume hadn’t been exaggerating at all. Hogan truly was more of a weapon than an actual human at this point. A weapon brought to life by reanimating a corpse.
“Running away? From me? I’ll say it now that it won’t be easy, boy! Now come with me! My master and Lady Gunter are waiting for you!” said Hogan before screeching in a way that resembled a crow’s cry.
Watching as Hogan then immediately—and swiftly—began walking toward him, Gerald quickly activated his inner strength. Fully ready to lose his artifact, as he commanded in his mind, ‘Dawnbreaker!’
With that, the black short blade came to life.
Since Hogan’s entire body almost seemed to be completely plated with iron, Gerald felt that his only means of fighting against that hulking man was by using the Dawnbreaker.
Regardless, the blade then shot out of Gerald’s sleeve at almost breakneck speed, aimed right for Hogan’s neck!
To Gerald’s utter horror, the usually trusty Dawnbreaker wasn’t even close to posing a threat to Hogan. After all, the massive man had simply pinched the blade between two of his claw-like fingers like it was nothing!
Tossing the blade to the ground, Hogan then grunted before coldly saying, “I told you to come with me!”
‘This… This person is far too strong…!’ Gerald thought to himself, his sheer disbelief evident on his face.
However, Hogan was done waiting. Gerald could only see Hogan’s blurry figure as the giant of a man began rushing toward Gerald at immense speed!
The next thing Gerald knew, a huge and powerful-looking hand was inches away from his stomach…
Chapter 1300
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1300 There was no way in hell that Gerald was going to be able to dodge that attack. A split second later, Gerald found himself flying backward as every inch of his body throbbed in immense pain! Soaring on, Gerald could taste something sweet in his mouth before vomiting blood briefly after!
Eventually falling to the ground, Gerald ended up rolling several times before eventually coming to a stop. If he had to describe what he was currently feeling, it almost seemed like all his internal organs had shifted from their initial positions from that one punch.
Even so, this was no time for him to wallow in pain. Attempting to gather his inner strength, Gerald quickly realized that he couldn’t do so due to how terribly he had been injured!
‘Is this truly my end? Will I be defeated here in Qerton City? Jade pendant, if you’re there, please lend me your aid…!’
Though Gerald had hoped that the jade pendant would save his life since he was now in such critical condition—just like the previous time it had activated—he found, to his dismay, that no matter how much he cried out to it, it simply didn’t respond!
Soon enough, Hogan was right in front of him again, a frigid expression on his face. Easily lifting the injured Gerald up, Hogan then said in a chilling voice, “So you attempted to kill me, huh? Then it’s only fair for me to torture you in return before I bring you back to master and Lady Gunter!”
With that, he tossed Gerald again without warning! Finding himself flying backward once more, Gerald felt as his now-limp body crashed into tree after tree, leaving a trail of tumbled tree trunks before him! By the time Gerald’s body finally stopped—after breaking at least eight study-looking trees—he felt as though all his bones had already turned to dust as he slowly lost consciousness from all the pain.
Hogan, however, was far from done.
To him, as long as Gerald could still breathe and he was successfully delivered to the King of Judgement Portal, Hogan’s task would still be considered to be a success. As for why he was so keen on torturing Gerald, it was because Gerald had attempted to kill him earlier. Due to that, Gerald was essentially his enemy now.
With that in mind, Hogan then began smashing his fists into Gerald’s stomach, ruining all his internal organs! Following that, he also made sure to smash all four of Gerald’s limbs by stepping on them!
Gerald himself kept waking up due to the immense pain before falling unconscious again. It was truly a living hell for him, and Gerald didn’t even have the means to fight back anymore.
Eventually, Hogan stepped on Gerald’s stomach, forcing the injured youth to vomit what little blood remained in his body. Watching as Hogan lifted his hand, Gerald was conscious enough to realize that he was aiming his iron claws right for his chest!
At the very last moment, Gerald managed to wiggle just enough for the iron claws to avoid his chest. However, they still managed to pierce deep into Gerald’s left shoulder!
‘You f*cker…!’ Gerald thought to himself as surges of immense pain filled every inch of his body. Now completely dazed, Gerald was in too much pain to remain conscious, but at the same time, the pain also kept him awake.
Smiling coldly as he watched Gerald’s lips turn dark, Hogan knew that the poison was taking effect.
At that moment, he suddenly began hearing ‘swooshing’ sounds. If Hogan had to describe it, it almost seemed as though near-countless arrows had just been shot.
Straightening his body, Hogan then stopped torturing Gerald for a second before looking around while asking in a wrath-filled voice, “…Who goes there?”
In response, however, the sound he had initially heard only seemed to get louder.
It was then when Hogan finally saw it. Eyes widened, Hogan watched a ray of light fell from the sky at extremely high speeds… And it looked like it was heading straight for him! In a way, it almost seemed like a meteor that was intent on landing on him.
From where he stood, Hogan could sense that the ray of light was capable of ripping apart even space, and that fact alone was enough to cause panic to arise within him.
‘That… That thing’s dangerous!’ Hogan thought to himself as he immediately began taking a few steps backward, not even bothering about Gerald anymore.
In fact, he was so terrified that he actually tripped and fell on his buttocks before quickly getting up again and dashing away! When he turned back to check on the light, however, his eyes instantly widened to the point where it almost felt like his eyeballs were going to pop out.
The ray of light was homing in on him! No matter where he ran, the light simply continued following him around! It was almost as though the ray of light had eyes or something!
Hogan knew he couldn’t keep running forever, so he dragged his—now-heavy—body to a large tree, hoping that by taking cover, the ray of light would somehow miss him.
Alas, that did little to help him as the ray of light blasted right through the tree and right into his back! Howling in pain, Hogan felt almost disgusted by how badly he wanted to leave this place as he was sent flying dozens of feet away!
His entire body now as limp as a broken kite, he ended up tumbling onto the ground, but that wasn’t the end of his pain yet. Hogan now realized that white smoke had been rising from his body from the
moment the light had hit him! Screaming in pain as he covered his chest, he noticed as black blood began oozing profusely out of his chest!
Even in so much pain, he knew that he couldn’t afford to linger around any longer. With that in mind, he forced himself up before fleeing the area in the dark of night.
As for Gerald, well, he had watched all this happen though from an extremely blurry perspective. Trickles of blood dripping from his open and foaming mouth, Gerald felt as the pain finally soothed enough for him to faint in peace.
Before his eyes shut, however, he watched as a middle-aged man—donning black clothes—quickly walked over to him…