2024-12-23 17:37:11“How?! Why?!” Joey’s eyes widened in shock as he entered the room.
“What the hell happened?!”
The others stayed silent, stunned as they watched him.
None of them had expected Joey to show up.
Known for solving the toughest cases, Chief Joey Gunther was even rumored to be a contender for governor.
To them, someone like Samuel was far too insignificant to warrant Joey rushing to the station in the middle of the night—let alone in such a hurry!
They had never seen their chief speak to anyone with such a respectful tone.
The young officer who had just threatened to shove Samuel’s head in a toilet quietly stepped back, terrified of facing Joey’s possible wrath.
It was clear to those present that Samuel was no ordinary man to Joey.
“Um, Chief Gunther, Mr. Hayes--” Douglaz began.
But Joey cut him off with a raised hand, his face a mix of frustration and concern.
Joey sat down, exhaling deeply, and turned his attention back to Samuel.
“Relax, take a deep breath, Chief,” Samuel said calmly.
“Why are you here, Mr. Hayes?” Joey asked.
“Madaline reported me. She provided ‘evidence’.” Samuel replied.
“Madaline? Your fiancée?!” Joey asked, stunned.
He placed the cigarette on the table.
“What charges are they accusing you of?”
“Fraud, embezzlement, forgery, and tax evasion,” Samuel replied.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Could they not come up with something more reasonable?!”
Joey spun his chair toward the three officers standing behind him.
He got up, appearing ready to strike one of them, but Samuel quickly intervened.
“There’s no point in hitting them, Chief Joey. Stop.”
Joey lowered his hand and shook his head slowly.
“I’ve warned them countless times not to blindly accept reports filed by businessmen like the Brooks family or anyone else!”
Joey snapped; his face flushed with anger.
“Do you have any idea that if it weren’t for Mr. Hayes, I wouldn’t even be here?!”
Joey barked, his voice shaking with emotion.
The three officers lowered their heads, growing increasingly uneasy about Samuel’s significance to Joey.
“I still remember how dry my throat was, how I couldn’t swallow for months in Brownsville! I thought the light I saw when the door opened was hell, that my time was up!”
“But I was wrong. What I saw was Mr. Hayes!”
Joey declared, his eyes glistening with a mix of awe and gratitude.
Samuel just offered a smile.
Brownsville was infamous for smuggling and drug trafficking, a reputation that cast a dark shadow over its heavily armed residents.
Suspicious of outsiders, the locals were hostile to anyone not from the area.
J&S Corp had no choice but to pass through Brownsville due to its strategic location by the sea and proximity to key cities.
When operations resumed, Samuel had personally stepped in to address the challenges in the area.
Samuel boldly entered Brownsville alone, negotiating with local groups and influential figures.
His exceptional persuasion skills yielded extraordinary results, significantly reducing illegal activities in the area.
Most remarkable was the rescue of three government agents who had been reported missing—one of them being Joey.
These two monumental events left an indelible impression on Joey, solidifying Samuel’s near-mythical status in his eyes.
“Without a doubt, I can guarantee that Mr. Hayes did nothing wrong,” Joey said.
The three officers exchanged uneasy glances, visibly shaken by Joey’s fervent defense of Samuel.
The anger they initially felt toward Samuel began to dissipate, replaced by doubt over the validity of the report.
Joey’s unwavering declaration cast serious doubt on the allegations against Samuel.
“Alright, Chief, that’s all in the past now. No need to dwell on it. There are more pressing matters,” Samuel said.
Joey nodded, his sharp gaze fixed on Samuel. “Yes, I’ll talk to Brooks. You—”
“I only came here to inform you that I’m heading to the West Line,” Samuel interrupted.
His words made Joey and the three officers freeze in shock.
“You’re joking, right, Mr. Hayes?!” Joey asked, panic evident in his voice.
The West Line was a desolate region with a fearsome reputation.
Spanning a vast desert of fiery red dunes that seemed to burn under the sun’s glare, it was a lawless place, abandoned even by authorities.
The few inhabitants who remained were said to be even more brutal than those in Brownsville.
Samuel shrugged, as if he had just mentioned going to a party instead of the most dangerous place.
“You know, Chief, I never joke.”
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Latest Chapter
284
The wind that swept through the valley was no longer laced with ash or whispers from the Veil. For the first time in what felt like centuries, sunlight poured cleanly over the fractured lands. No crackling distortions in the air, no looming shadows. Just warmth.Yet, despite the clarity of the skies, the earth still bore the scars of war.Samuel stood atop the jagged remnants of what used to be the Unity Tower, his cloak fluttering around his legs, gaze focused on the horizon where the new settlement was beginning to take shape. In the fields below, hundreds of veterans moved like ants—rebuilding tents, raising wooden frames, and dragging supply crates from broken vaults. Children, those rare few born during the years of chaos, played near the edges, their laughter unfamiliar, almost foreign. But it was real.Joey joined him, wiping sweat from his brow and carrying a rolled-up map. “They're calling it the Sanctuary now,” he said, gesturing to the settlement. “Guess the name stuck.”Sa
283
Where once rifts tore the heavens asunder and poured chaos into the world, now gentle light spilled across the wreckage like a balm. The ground remained cracked in places, darkened by ash and battle, but small signs of life were beginning to return—sprigs of green pushing defiantly through the blackened soil.Joey stood at the edge of what was once their central outpost, now reduced to rubble and scorched foundation stones. Around him, survivors moved slowly—rebuilding tents, salvaging supplies, carrying the wounded. The air still buzzed with the remnants of supernatural energy, warping the edges of reality like heat haze, but the worst had passed.Samuel hadn’t spoken since the sealing. Not since Ilyra and Marie vanished into light.He sat alone beneath the scorched remains of the unity tree—what once had been the symbolic center of the community. His eyes were open, glowing faintly with that strange silver light, but his thoughts were clearly far, far away.“Still no change?” Joey a
282
The battlefield was still trembling. The skies, though calmer than before, remained torn at the seams—revealing the scars of war between dimensions. Dust and arcane fire clouded the horizon, and energy from both Veil and Light shimmered in unstable equilibrium.Samuel stood at the eye of the storm, his body surrounded by a radiant spiral of opposing forces. He was no longer just a man—he was the fulcrum upon which the balance of the world now teetered.But the equilibrium was not enough.Despite the unity of the dimensions he had nearly achieved, the wound that Veil’s final assault had left across the world continued to spread—slowly but surely consuming existence from the inside.“The fracture is healing,” Joey said, his voice hoarse as he arrived beside Samuel, “but not fast enough.”Samuel nodded. “The energies are still too unstable. If we don’t anchor them soon... everything we saved will burn.”Suddenly, from within the ranks of exhausted veterans and survivors, a presence emerg
281
The sky above cracked open like shattered obsidian glass, revealing a vortex of burning violet and ink-black tendrils. Veil’s voice thundered across the dimensions—ancient, cold, and inescapable."You rejected me, Samuel. You defied balance. Now the world will break with me."A dome of shadow erupted from the center of the battlefield, swallowing light itself. The remaining lines between realities bled into each other. Mountains trembled. Oceans boiled.The final gambit had begun.The battlefield was chaos. Veterans from all divisions stood together, shoulder to shoulder—some injured, some barely able to hold their stance, but none willing to retreat.Joey screamed orders, his eyes scanning the unraveling sky. “Hold the lines! Focus your energy on protecting the inner circle! We cannot let Veil reach Samuel!”Dozens of veteran warriors raised shimmering barriers of flame, light, wind, and steel. Powers clashed in luminous bursts, countering the tide of writhing shadows surging toward
280
The battlefield was a canvas of chaos—ashen skies torn by lightning, the ground trembling with every pulse of Veil’s creatures. Shadowbeasts surged from ruptures in the earth, their snarls echoing like a chorus of nightmares. Joey stood at the front lines, covered in grime and sweat, slashing through one after another with barely a second to breathe. But it wasn’t enough.They were losing.And Samuel was still unconscious."Fall back to the ridge!" Joey shouted over the din, dragging a wounded veteran with one arm while fending off an attacker with the other. “We hold the line until—”A sudden tremor silenced everything.From the center of the field—where Samuel lay beneath layers of debris—a golden ripple spread outward, smooth and silent like sunlight breaking through a storm.Everyone froze.Then the debris exploded.Light surged upward like a geyser, searing white laced with streaks of celestial blue, blinding and radiant. The battlefield hushed as a figure rose from the core—Samu
279
The storm inside Samuel had long stopped roaring. Now it whimpered.He sat in the heart of the shattered sanctuary, its ancient walls scorched with dark runes from the last Veil assault. Shattered pillars, broken statues, and the scent of burnt air were all that remained of a place once devoted to healing. His shoulders hunched as if gravity had finally claimed its due, and his hands trembled over his knees. The once-brilliant markings of light along his arms had dulled to a dim shimmer, like coals clinging to dying embers.A breeze passed through the broken ceiling above—carrying ash, not hope.“Is this all I’ve become?” Samuel murmured, his voice hoarse, his eyes hollow. “A bridge that cracked in half before it could be walked.”He couldn’t feel the fracture anymore. Not because it had healed—no. Because his connection to both the Light and the Veil was thinning, fraying like a worn tapestry at the edge. His body, pushed too far by the ritual and the battles, was failing. But worse,
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