The Invincible Rich Man (Gerald Crawford)

Chapter 1099-1105

Chapter 1099
“…Lyra? Ah…” said both Daryl and Dylan rather awkwardly.
 
Daryl himself now realized how uncharacteristically he had been behaving today, though it’s not like he could help it. After all, he was fortunate enough to meet his great-granddaughter before participating in the pledge of the holy water, an event which he knew he wouldn’t be able to return alive.
 
Since God had answered his prayers for a chance to meet Mable, one could easily imagine how excited Daryl had been once he found out that the baby was his great-granddaughter.
 
Now that Lyra was here, however, he instantly felt ashamed. After all, Lyra was the legal daughter-in-law of the Crawford family. From what he had heard, Lyra had even been the sole person who was in charge of all the Crawford family’s affairs—regardless of whether they were major or minor—for a great number of years.
 
“…Oh! I’m not too sure either… I just thought that this child was really cute so I brought her over!” replied Daryl in an increasingly awkward manner.
 
Hearing that, Lyra simply nodded silently.
 
As Daryl handed Mable to Dylan, he noticed that Lyra was holding onto a white scroll of sorts.
 
Reasserting his regular master-like attitude, he then asked, “So, why did you want to meet Gerald, Lyra?”
 
“Well, a few strange images appeared when I looked at the picture of the sun again a few days ago… Since Gerald had tasked me with locating the woman in white, I feel that the picture of the sun may have given us new leads…” replied Lyra.
 
Ever since Daryl had realized that—unlike regular people—Lyra’s eyes were capable of deciphering the picture of the sun’s predictions, he had made her responsible for the picture.
 
“Did the picture provide us with more guidance? Hmm… Alright, let’s head to the study to discuss this together!” said Daryl with a slight frown.
 
A little later, all those who were relevant found themselves in the study as Lyra spread the white scroll open, presenting a drawn picture.
 
As Daryl and Gerald looked at it, Lyra hurriedly said, “Yesterday, Gerald told me to ask the picture of the sun for the woman in white’s location. According to Gerald, the woman seemed to have some sort of connection with him… However, even after asking it several times, it only revealed the picture—which I drew—on that scroll… Since you’re so anxious to find her, I’m assuming you found some major clues during your trip in the desert, Gerald?”
 
“Indeed… I wasn’t able to tell you about all that happened there during the call, but just know that everything that took place throughout my trip in the desert felt incredibly weird. Somehow, all that I experienced there felt related to the woman in white, and this includes the prophecy of my death. Call it a gut feeling, but once the woman in white’s location is finally found, I feel that all the mysteries in my heart will be solved,” replied Gerald.
 
Just as Gerald was about to tell his grandfather about the divine general, Gerald couldn’t help but frown when the corner of his eye saw the picture on the scroll again.
 
“…How odd… Where have I seen this before…? It seems so familiar…” muttered Gerald.
 
Hearing that, Daryl then asked, “You’ve seen this image before, Gerald?”
 
Gerald simply remained silent, continuing to frown for a bit as he remained deep in thought. Eventually, realization dawned upon Gerald, prompting him to lift his head while shouting, “Alice!”
 
Upon hearing that name, Lyra gave Gerald a curious look.
 
“That’s it! That jade charm Alice was wearing! It looks exactly like the picture on the scroll!” added Gerald.
 
“You’re right! Mable seemed to be wearing a similar jade charm around her neck as well!” replied Daryl.
 
With that, Gerald immediately rolled up the white scroll and took it with him as he rushed toward Alice’s room.
 
“G-Gerald! You’re finally willing to come meet me!” cried out Alice.
 
Completely ignoring her statement, Gerald rushed in front of her before grabbing the jade charm that had been hanging around her neck. Now in his hand, he compared the charm to the picture on the scroll. As was expected, both of them were identical.
 
“So I was right! Alice, where did you get this jade charm?” asked Gerald!
 
“I-I don’t know!” squealed Alice anxiously as she immediately shook her head.
 
“Do I need to force the answer out of you?” growled Gerald coldly.
Chapter 1100
“I-I’ll tell you as long as you promise to take me in!” said Alice as she held onto Gerald’s arm.
 
“Just tell me already!” replied Gerald as he pushed her hands away.
 
Wiping her tears away, Alice then began by explaining, “…It… all began on the night when we were at the seaside hotel…”
 
After listening to her explanation for a bit, Gerald began seeing the bigger picture. Essentially, Alice had drugged him that night with the intent of sleeping with him to hopefully get pregnant. Her thought process at the time was that if she managed to conceive his baby, then she would definitely be able to be part of a wealthy and prestigious family.
 
Alas, her period came ahead of time so her plans instantly crumbled! At the time, Alice was so angry with herself that she badly wanted to slap herself senseless!
 
However, she did smear the bedsheets with some blood, under the guise of it being the result of her losing her virginity to him.
 
With that in mind, it was already clear that she had lied to Gerald about Mable being his biological child.
 
Regardless, Alice had been filled with resentment and anger the moment Gerald had told her that he needed to rush off to meet Mila back then. As if to add insult to injury, Gerald even gave her twelve million dollars and told her to live elsewhere before running off!
 
‘I love you so much… How could you treat me like this…?’
 
Deeply saddened by all this, she decided to make a mountain out of a molehill. She would look for the Crawford family’s island—which belonged to Gerald’s sister—and take things into her own hands!
 
Though she immediately bought herself a ship that morning to locate said island, she simply couldn’t find it no matter how hard she tried!
 
Soon enough, night came. Feeling the ocean breeze blow against her face as she looked out at the vast ocean, Alice was just about to return in disappointment when she came across an odd fleet of ships.
 
Deciding to ask them about the island before giving up for the night, Alice was delighted when the people aboard one of the ships promised that they would bring her to Jessica’s island.
 
To her eventual dismay, she soon found that she had been lied to when they brought her to an unfamiliar coast, where the Minshall family resided.
 
The young master of that family went by Issac Minshall, and he had been charmed the moment he saw her while they were still out at sea, prompting him to lie to her so that she would be his.  
 
While Issac definitely wasn’t a nice man, he couldn’t lay a finger on her upon hearing that she was pregnant. It was due to one of the many rules that had been set within that place.
 
“Of course, the part about me being pregnant was a complete lie… Regardless, I promised to marry him after giving birth to the child… That seemed to work since he gradually let his guard down around me.”
 
Sometime later, Alice found a way to escape.
 
Thankfully, she had heard of an exceptional person who went by the name of Master Ghost during her stay there. The man was supposedly an expert in both astronomy and geology, and was famed for being able to make meticulous calculations to speculate events with extremely high accuracy. He didn’t belong to any particular forces either.
 
With all those reasons in mind, Alice thought that he was the perfect person to seek out. Naturally, the price of hiring him was by no means a small amount. Nine million dollars, to be exact.
 
Once she paid that amount, however, she would be left almost penniless. What was the use of even getting away if she had to live like a pauper afterward? That made her think about Gerald, which sparked her interest in attempting to search for the island again.
 
Before making her escape, she met up with Master Ghost first. After hearing her monetary fears, Master Ghost shared a relevant thought with Alice. According to him, the Minshalls’ ancestors had dug up a pair of jade charms from the king of the ocean’s tomb many, many years back. The charms themselves were said to have the power to link bloodlines between three people.
 
Even if she managed to get the charms, however, she would still need a personal item of the person with the bloodline the charms were attempting to replicate. Due to Alice leaving the hotel in a hurry the morning after she had drugged Gerald, the only personal item of his that she had was his shirt. She had held on to it at the time to be used as proof of their intercourse when she eventually met Jessica.
 
Hearing that, Master Ghost told her that while the effectiveness would be slightly weaker, common machines wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between bloodlines that easily.
 
Following that, Alice stole the jade charms before fleeing from the Minshall Manor. Once she managed to do that, she also adopted the most suitable baby she could find at an orphanage.
 
After Master Ghost managed to locate Jessica’s island, he shared the information with Alice. Before ending his service, he also told her that she was born to become a distinguished and wealthy lady.
 
That was what drove her to continue on with her dreams till the events of today finally took place.
 
Though she had escaped a year ago, she spent about half a year hiding from the Minshall family who was still actively looking for her all over the place. Of course, she eventually made it to the island safely.
 
After hearing all that, Gerald finally understood most of the situation. However, there was now a new problem with the equation.
 
Lyra had earlier said that the picture of the sun had displayed the jade charm on multiple occasions whenever she asked it to tell her where the woman in white was.
 
Could the woman in white’s location be where the jade charm was found? In other words, the ancient tomb?
Chapter 1101
Back when he first saw the mural in the Divine Tomb, Gerald had learned that the woman in white was inspired by the old beggar to separate the coffin from the deity. However, nobody knew where the woman in white’s tomb was.
 
Now that Alice had mentioned an ancient tomb, Gerald couldn’t help but make a connection with that. Had the woman in white’s coffin been carried to the south of the ocean after the separation? Was it currently buried in the king of the ocean’s tomb?
 
“…Where’s the king of the ocean’s tomb located?” asked Gerald after pondering for a while.
 
In response, Alice told him everything that she knew.
 
Gerald himself paid close attention to everything she said. After all, he honestly felt that it was quite necessary for him to head there to investigate for himself.
 
For all he knew, the woman in white could very possibly be buried within the king of the ocean’s tomb. While Lyra had first dreamed of that woman standing by a river within that miasma-filled forest, Gerald remembered her later telling him that she wasn’t really sure of whether it was a river or an ocean.
 
What more, the picture of the sun had directly hinted that the jade charms were the main clue to finding the woman in white’s tomb. Based on the current turn of events, Gerald could safely say that the picture truly had given them a massive clue.
 
Following that, he relayed everything that he had just learned to Daryl.
 
In response, the surprised Daryl couldn’t help but reply, “…Are you planning to look for the king of the ocean’s tomb? The pledge of the holy water will take place in less than three months, you know?”
 
While Gerald was well aware that the pledge was just as important as finding the woman in white’s tomb, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to rest easy if he didn’t at least try to get to the bottom of the incident regarding the deity. After all, there was a chance that he would gain another answer once he located the woman in white.
 
“Indeed I am, grandpa. However, once I’ve completed my investigation, I’ll immediately return. I won’t even think about delaying the pledge of the holy water. Speaking of the pledge, here. It’s the mysterious mirror!” replied Gerald as he handed the mirror to Daryl.
 
“…What? Didn’t this belong to Christopher?”
 
“The one and only. If you meet him there, you can order him around as you wish. Trust me when I say he won’t dare to go against you…
 
Hearing that, Daryl’s eyes widened as he said, “…Gerald, you…”
 
Seeing his grandfather’s look of disbelief, Gerald then told Daryl everything that had happened back when he was still in the desert.
 
“…What? Your strength and training has already surpassed that of the realm of legends, my grandson? Is that true?” replied Daryl, feeling extremely delighted as he firmly patted Gerald’s shoulders with great pride.
 
The next day soon came and Gerald immediately prepared to set off to locate the king of the ocean’s tomb. Before his departure, he watched as his grandfather led all the people from the Soul Palace away.
 
Gerald himself made sure to order those from the Crawford family’s headquarters to stand by at all times. After all, there was no reason not for him to receive help from his family now that his current situation allowed it.
 
With that done, he then headed over to a place called Halimark City—which was on a coast located in Plymsend Bay—to have a look around.
 
By the time Gerald got out of the ship, night had already fallen.
 
Upon getting off, Gerald was immediately greeted by the sight of several passenger ships tied to the port. There also seemed to be a lot of tourists, mostly consisting of couples and a few groups of three.
 
Turning around to look at the vast ocean, Gerald squinted his eyes as the ocean breeze blew into his face.
 
Somewhere out there was a place called the Boundless Depths. According to the murals, the old beggar had separated the woman in white from the deity before burying her in that location.
 
How could that old man have been so cruel? If she truly was buried there, she was immensely far from the deity.
 
As Gerald turned to look at the beach next, deep in thought, he suddenly heard the person standing before him shout, “Gerald!”
 
Looking up, he saw that it was a woman who had probably arrived with the group of tourists who were currently standing in front of him.
 
Stunned that she knew his name, he brushed his previous thoughts aside while looking at the woman. She looked very much like someone from the city, and the woman—who was also wearing sunglasses and a sun hat—had dressed herself to look young. While Gerald found her to be slightly familiar, he simultaneously also found her to be quite odd.
 
“…Who are you again?”
 
“Haha! It’s me, Yasmeen! Yasmeen Linford? I only graduated a year earlier than you! Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten about me?” said the tall and slim woman while smiling beautifully. She then removed her sunglasses, fully displaying her small face and charming appearance. 
 
Now slowly recalling who she was, Gerald then replied, “Ah, it’s you, Yasmeen!”
 
As the memories started coming back to him, Gerald remembered that Yasmeen was still a sophomore when he first started learning at Mayberry University. Later on, she would become the president of the university’s student union. Since he was so poor back then, he had to work part-time and be thrifty, resulting in him also having to meet up with her quite a lot. Due to that, he was fairly acquainted with her. 
 
Since she was wearing sunglasses earlier and the makeup she had on was quite exquisite—compared to what she used to wear—he hadn’t been able to realize that it was her at first glance.
 
Now that he knew who she was, however, he could feel that she had grown to become a strong and independent woman. From the looks of it, she had gotten pretty good at socializing as well.
Chapter 1102
Then again, she had always been this way. After all, while it wasn’t uncommon for the students in Mayberry University to date other students there, Yasmeen was on a whole other level. Back then, she had dated the president of one of the companies in Mayberry who had had a divorce. 
 
Due to their relationship, the president arranged for fireworks to be placed at every corner of the university on Yasmeen’s birthday. That night, the entire university was lit by the beautiful glow of fireworks, easily resulting in all the other girls there both admiring and envying her. 
 
However, that wasn’t what Gerald remembered most about the incident. No, what he recalled most about that event was the fact that Yasmeen had told him to clean up all the firework remains around the university—when morning came—for fifteen dollars.
 
That, however, was a lot to him at the time. Once he got the money, he immediately treated Xavia to a meal at KFC. He even remembered adding another seven dollars of his own to make their feast a little grander.
 
How the memory played out pretty much summed up how his relationship with Yasmeen used to be. After all, how could someone like the past Gerald even have the right to befriend her?
 
It was the reason why he was quite surprised that she was willing to greet him now.
 
“So why did you come over to Halimark City, Yasmeen?” asked Gerald as he looked at all the people— who were dressed like upper-class individuals—standing behind her.
 
The city itself was a place that had grown quite strong economic-wise throughout the years due to all the natural advantages its geographical features granted.
 
“Well, my chamber of commerce is holding functions here in the next few days. Because of that, my business partners and I have come over to seek some amusement! I’ve established a cosmetic company, after all! Haha!” replied Yasmeen as she smiled faintly while smoothening her hair.
 
“How truly impressive!” said Gerald as he watched her business partners begin walking over, one by one.
 
One of them was a middle-aged man who seemed to have quite an intimate relationship with Yasmeen.
Frowning, the man then asked, “Who is this, Yasmeen?”
 
“Oh, him? He’s just a junior from university! I talked about him before, remember? The particularly poor student while I was studying there? That’s him! You know, he could barely afford to pay for his meals back then! I also remember his clothes being filled with patches, since most of what he earned—from doing part-time jobs daily and also from the many errands he ran for others—went into either his living expenses or his tuition fees! He didn’t have the money for anything else!” jabbered Yasmeen on and on without needing to even stop to take in a single breath.
 
Her friends, on the other hand, simply widened their eyes as they continued listening to her.
 
“How could such a poor person even exist!” said one of them as the others exchanged glances of both shock and dismay with each other.
 
“I know right? But that’s not even the most surprising thing! See, even though he was that poor, he still managed to get himself a girlfriend!”
 
As the others were filled with even greater surprise, Yasmeen turned to look at Gerald who had been silent for quite a while. Seeing how calm he looked, Yasmeen realized that she may have said a bit too much already.
 
Smiling rather awkwardly, she then added, “…Regardless, being able to bump into each other again must be the work of fate! Pray tell, are you here to attend Halimark City’s Enchanted Feast, Gerald?”
 
“Afraid not!” replied Gerald as he shook his head.
 
“Why are you even asking such an unnecessary question, Yasmeen? Didn’t you already tell us how poor he was back then? How could he even afford to attend the Enchanted Feast?” said a woman as she walked over.
 
“…That’s true… Since we’re ex-schoolmates, I’d have loved to invite you over to join us for the feast, Gerald… Sadly enough, I don’t have an extra admission ticket! Regardless, there’s an app you should really download on your phone later! You can find all my company’s products there! Speaking of my company, since it’s only recently been established, I’m in need of agents to distribute the products! You could try applying to be an agent! Worry not, one of the makeup sets I’m selling was designed for lowerincome people, like yourself! Due to that, I’m sure you can promote it to your less wealthy friends!” suggested Yasmeen.
 
Following that, she instantly began detailing the steps required to apply to be an agent, leaving no room for Gerald to even say a word.
 
A little later, she handed him the contact number and business card of the regional manager before saying, “Alright, it’s getting a bit late now and I really should be leaving. After all, I still need to head to the city with my friends! Also, don’t worry about calling the manager, I’ll let him know in advance to take special care of you.”
 
With that, Yasmeen flashed Gerald a faint smile before leaving while waving her hand with her other friends.
 
Watching them walk off, Gerald could only look at their backs as he shook his head while smiling bitterly.
 
Yasmeen truly hadn’t changed in this aspect.
 
Tossing the card away, Gerald then continued walking by the beach, deep in thought.
 
He continued doing so for quite a bit, and the next thing he knew, it was already late at night, with very few tourists still walking around.
 
At that moment, he suddenly saw the faint outlines of five speedboats at the corner of his eye. Turning to get a better look at what was happening, he saw that all five of them were in hot pursuit of another speedboat that currently wasn’t too far off from them.
Chapter 1103
Though it was already quite late, Gerald could clearly see that the middle-aged man—who was currently being pursued by over ten gun-wielding individuals who were riding the five speedboats—was drenched in blood. The man was also currently headed right in Gerald’s direction.
 
When the few remaining people at the beach saw them, they immediately ran away, focusing so much on escaping that none of them even thought about calling the police! Soon enough, the already secluded beach became completely devoid of people, save for Gerald.
 
Gerald found himself frowning slightly the moment he saw the pursuers. After all, he had already been slightly irked after Yasmeen interrupted his train of thought earlier.
 
It wasn’t long before the bloodied middle-aged man arrived at shore. Seeing that there was nowhere else to run to, the man began running toward Gerald, the only person he could see! Waving his hands as he ran over, the man then shouted, “T-toss me your phone! Please hurry!”
 
Since Gerald was already unhappy, he wasn’t about to take orders from some random middle-aged man. As a result, he simply ignored the man’s pleas for help.
 
Seconds later, a few people suddenly rushed out from the dense forest that led to the beach. Those who were initially pursuing him on their speed boats had now arrived onshore as well. Seeing that he had no place else to run, all of them quickly surrounded him. One of the men—who appeared to be the leader of the operation—noticed that Gerald was still there. Walking up to the youth, he then shouted, “Get lost! The big boss is dealing with some things here!”
 
In response, however, Gerald simply looked at him coldly without saying a word.
 
Seeing how indifferently Gerald was treating his leader, one of the youths who were surrounding the middle-aged man immediately lifted his machete and slashed it at Gerald! During that split second, ragefilled Gerald’s eyes. Since they were blindly attacking him just because he refused to move, it was evident that these were no nice people. It was also obvious to Gerald now that these people were definitely courting death!
 
Taking a step to the side, Gerald easily dodged the attack.
 
Before the youth could even react to his missed attack, he suddenly heard a buzzing noise. The next thing he knew, he had already been kicked into the air! The moment he collided with the ground, he heard a crack from his legs. Though he wanted to cover his mouth to suppress his screams of pain, he found that he could no longer move his arms! Not only that, he quickly realized that all his teeth had also been smashed! To his horror, he now understood that not only had Gerald’s kicks resulted in all four of his main limbs being broken, but the bones in his right leg and hand had also ended up being completely shattered!
 
After seeing what he had done, the others—who had been watching from the moment they encircled the middle-aged man—were now looking at Gerald like he was some kind of monster. The leader himself already had a gut feeling that something was wrong when he first saw how indifferent Gerald’s expression was. Now that this had happened, he knew that they had been placed in an extremely difficult situation, even before completing their goal! After all, he hadn’t even been able to see how his subordinate had been taken out despite being so close to the two! The only thing he was able to catch was Gerald using both his legs to kick. The next thing he knew, all his subordinate’s limbs were broken!
 
While Gerald certainly looked innocent and harmless enough, it was now evident to everyone else there of how cruel he could be. After seeing how he had broken all the youth’s limbs without a second thought, they all knew that Gerald was even more vicious than their leader. As they continued thinking about how merciless he was, their leader failed to notice that Gerald’s expression had barely even changed after inflicting such heavy wounds on the subordinate.
 
In truth, his expression wouldn’t have changed even if he killed that youth. After all, Gerald had already killed endless numbers of people!
 
After considering for a brief moment, the leader bowed cordially at Gerald before saying, “…I apologize, mister. I admit that it was our fault this time around. Men, head out!”
 
As the middle-aged man from before looked at the leader—who was now ordering his machete-wielding men to leave—he felt blessed to have bumped into Gerald. After all, not only would he now be able to live to see another day, but the people pursuing him earlier were actually taking the initiative to leave! While he was pleased to be able to survive, what Gerald said next instantly sent chills running down his spine.
 
“Did I say you could leave?” said Gerald, his tone frigid.
 
Hearing that, the men who were already prepared to retreat slowly—and anxiously—turned around to look at Gerald, guns raised. They were right to be anxious. After all, they were only retreating now since they knew that Gerald was too powerful for them. To think that he would disallow them from leaving!
 
“What else do you want?” asked the group’s leader who appeared to be the most anxious among his men. The leader himself appeared to be a sturdy-looking man with a dragon tattooed all over his right arm. While his other men were probably not aware of it, their leader knew that there existed families who practiced Ancient Martial Arts that allowed them to defy the orders of nature. People from these families were allegedly able to fight against dozens or even hundreds of people alone. With that in mind, the leader knew that he and his subordinates were severely outmatched against Gerald who had already shown what he was capable of.
 
“For ruining my mood, each of you can choose whether to break off an arm or a leg. Of course, you’ll each be doing the breaking on your own,” said Gerald as casually as he would’ve asked them for a piece of chocolate, each.
 
“…What? You may be an exceptional man, but don’t you think you’re pushing it? Humph! How insensible!” growled the leader viciously.
 
“‘Insensible,’ you say? Well, then lets up it to two-”
 
Before Gerald could even finish his sentence, he noticed a thin, young man—who looked to be around twenty—standing at the back forcibly breaking off his left arm with a loud ‘crack’!
 
“…What the hell are you doing?!” roared the leader as he turned to look at the young man who simply remained silent.
 
The young man himself had fear in his eyes. After all, while witnessing the terrifying scene earlier, but he had also seen Gerald’s gaze while doing the deed. It was the gaze of a man who had experienced a lot of murder. As if that wasn’t enough, his aura was also filled with murderous intent.
 
As the others began shuddering with fear, Gerald stared at the youth a little longer before saying, “I can see you’re sensible. Now step aside.”
 
“Now then. For the rest of you, each of you will be breaking two limbs of your choice-”
 
However, Gerald’s sentence was cut short once more when the group’s leader immediately rushed toward him with his gun aimed at Gerald! Seeing that, all his other subordinates—except for the one who had stepped aside earlier—did the same as their leader.
Chapter 1104
Sneering contemptuously, Gerald then rushed toward them instead of retreating. Launching several swift punches and kicks, the cracking and snapping of bones filled the night air. It was only a few seconds later when everyone—who had gone for the attack—resembled the first person who had gotten all his limbs broken.
 
With their teeth smashed and limbs shattered as they lay on the ground, all of them felt like fainting from the immense pain alone. Despite that, they were all still staring wide-eyed at Gerald, looking at him like he was some kind of monster.
 
‘What kind of person even is he…? How could we have offended such a person…?’
 
Gerald, however, couldn’t even be bothered about those on the ground. Clapping the sand off his hands, he then continued his stroll, acting as if nothing had happened.
 
Before he could get far, the middle-aged man—who was still covered in blood—caught up to him before bowing respectfully as he said, “T-thank you so much for saving me, mister! I’m a local of Halimark City and I go by the name of Wagner Yarne! I was lucky that I bumped into you while they were chasing after me, otherwise I would’ve definitely been done for!”
 
While Wagner was seriously injured, he felt that he needed to at least show his immense gratitude to his savior first.
 
Hearing that, Gerald simply replied, “I wasn’t particularly trying to save you, so there’s no need to thank me!”
 
Following that, Gerald immediately turned around to leave. Looking at Gerald’s back as he walked off, Wagner could already feel how extraordinary Gerald was as an individual, especially in terms of his aura and temperament.
 
“Please wait for a moment, mister! Did you perhaps come to Halimark City to attend the Enchanted Feast organized by the Minshall family?” asked Wagner respectfully.
 
‘…The Minshall family? Enchanted Feast?’ Gerald thought to himself.
 
The Minshall family was the family who was still searching for Alice. They were also the family who had previously owned the jade charms that they had dug up from the king of the ocean’s tomb.
             
Gerald’s purpose for coming here in the first place was to find the Minshalls and negotiate a deal with them.
 
“…You know, I’m familiar with this place, mister! If you’re interested in heading to the Enchanted Feast, or anywhere in Halimark City for that matter, I can-”
 
Before Wagner could even finish his sentence, he began coughing rather terribly.
 
Taking a look at the coughing man, Gerald replied, “Before anything else, you should find someplace to cure your injuries.”
 
With that, Gerald turned to look at the distant—yet brightly lit—Halimark City next before slowly walking over in that direction.
 
Wagner, on the other hand, simply waited for Gerald to move a bit further away before running over to a payphone.
 
“C-come pick me up immediately!” said Wagner as soon as the call connected.
 
“Could you be injured, Mr. Yarne?! Hold on, I’ll send someone over to you from the nearest hospital, right this instant!” replied the person on the other end of the phone, respectfully.
 
“My current injuries won’t kill me! Regardless, come quickly! I seem to have come across that person and I’m pretty sure it’s him!” shouted Wagner in return, his anxiety evident in his tone as he continued staring at the direction Gerald had walked off to.
Chapter 1105
Sometime later as Gerald was continuing to walk toward the center of the city, he suddenly stopped moving forward.
 
Turning around, he then coldly said, “Look, I really didn’t intend to save you, so there’s no need to follow me around. You’d better leave now while I’m in a good mood, otherwise you’ll end up like those men back at the beach!”
 
Naturally, the person he was talking to was none other than Wagner.
 
“Please don’t be angry, mister! You just seem to resemble someone I know a lot! The person in question is quite important to my family, the Yarnes, you see… Which is why I would like to get to know you a bit better!” replied Wagner respectfully.
 
Before Gerald could even say anything else, he immediately explained, “You see, mister, the Yarne family has been waiting for someone for the longest time. Said person was said to make an appearance sooner or later, and quite frankly, you fit the description of the person to a tee! Call it pestering if you’d like, but I’m following you around for a reason!”
 
“…Hmm? Waiting for ‘someone’?” replied Gerald with a slight frown.
 
“Indeed, mister! Regardless, I’ve already ordered for my servant to drive a car here. I was wondering if you’d have the time to follow me to the Yarne family manor,” said Wagner.
 
Back when Gerald had stepped forward to save him, he had already felt that the young man looked slightly familiar. However, he just couldn’t put his finger on why he felt that way.
 
When he finally got a clearer look at Gerald’s face, however, he instantly understood where the feeling had stemmed from. Could it really be him?
 
Not wanting to lose track of Gerald, he then immediately called his servant to drive a car over before tailing Gerald. All that led to the current situation.
 
“Does that ‘someone’ really resemble me that much?” asked Gerald.
 
“Indeed! The resemblance is almost uncanny, but let’s not talk about this here. Again, please come to the Yarne family manor with me. You’ll see what I mean once we’re there!”
 
In response, Gerald simply nodded slightly. His first reason for agreeing was because based on Wagner’s expression, the middle-aged man didn’t seem to be lying.
 
The other reason was because too many mysterious and odd incidents had been taking place recently. Since some seemingly random person was now telling him that they had been waiting for someone who resembled him to show up, Gerald couldn’t help but dwell on it.
 
Soon enough, Wagner’s car came and drove both of them off to Yarne Manor.
 
On their way there, Gerald had a simple chat with Wagner. Through that, he got to know a bit more about the Yarnes as well as another incident.
 
The Yarne family had a history of over eight hundred years and it all began when they established their family properties here all those centuries ago. The family was considered to be one of the larger ones within Halimark City, and it was known for its power and knowledge. Wagner himself was the current master of that family.
 
Wagner also told Gerald that the Yarnes used to simply be fishermen before establishing their family properties. After an incident took place, however, drastic changes soon happened which eventually led to the current high status of the Yarne family.
 
“…For your sake, Mr. Yarne, I hope that what you plan to show me intrigues me!” warned Gerald as he walked behind Wagner once they finally got out of the car.
 
“I wouldn’t dare make a mountain out of a molehill about something like this, mister! I assure you that you’ll understand things better once you have a look at it! I truly believe that our meeting wasn’t by mere chance!” replied Wagner who was currently drenched with cold sweat. After all, the aura Gerald was exerting was definitely pressuring.
 
As they walked and talked on, Wagner looked like he was trying to hide something every time the duo passed by anybody.
 
It was only after leading Gerald into a secret room when Wagner finally took out an extremely ancientlooking scroll.
 
Clearly enduring the pain as he handed the scroll to Gerald, he then said, “Have a look, mister!”
 
Taking the scroll in hand, he found it weird to be given a scroll out of the blue. As a result, he couldn’t help but ask, “…Does this contain a panting?”
 
“Indeed it does, mister! Well, to be more accurate, it contains a portrait!”
—— To be Continued... ——