Big Novel

Chapter 718
It doesn't matter how glorious one's life is. We all get reduced to dust in the end.
Although Jonathan felt sorrowful, he knew what he had to do.
With the wind howling loudly in his ears, Jonathan jumped onto the main road at the bottom of the mountain.
A car that was heading down that road came to a screeching halt a few centimeters away from Jonathan, leaving marks that
were at least ten meters long on the road.
Seconds later, a bespectacled man who looked quite gentlemanly stuck his head out the car window and yelled angrily at him,
“Hey! What are you doing jumping onto the middle of a road? Are you trying to get yourself killed or something?”
As he prepared to drive off, however, he realized that the gas pedal was jammed tight.
The bespectacled man began to panic when he saw Jonathan making his way toward his car. He stomped on the gas pedal with
all of his might, but the pedal refused to budge.
Clack!
All of a sudden, the car doors were automatically unlocked without warning.
“Get in the back seat. I need to borrow your car to head back to Summerbank,” Jonathan said.
To the bespectacled man's surprise, his seat belt unbuckled itself following Jonathan's words, and he mechanically made his way
to the back seat as though his body was being controlled by countless invisible hands.
“G-Ghost!” the bespectacled man screamed before fainting in terror.
Jonathan then floored the accelerator and drove straight to Summerbank.

Meanwhile, the Serious Crime Unit was having a meeting at Summerbank's police station.
A chubby middle-aged man was reading through a bunch of reports page after page with a deep frown on his face while sitting in
the main seat.
The other members of the Serious Crime Unit, on the other hand, looked really sleepy as they waited.
The 101 missing persons case was a really huge one.
A total of one hundred and fifty young individuals had gone missing, all of which were fairly well-known in Summerbank's criminal
underworld.
At first, everyone assumed it was due to conflicts between the rival gangs. However, as the number of missing people continued
to increase rapidly, Summerbank's authorities had no choice but to get involved.
After setting up a task force, they began their investigation under the assumption that it was the doing of an organ trade
syndicate.
However, they were unable to find any information to support that theory.
It wasn't until Leslie was transferred over to the Serious Crime Unit that she discovered Mirage Plaza and confirmed that Ryan
was the mastermind behind it all.
With Blackey Carlson arrested, everyone finally learned the shocking truth behind the disappearances. As it turned out, they all
had their life energy drained by a cultivator.
Naturally, the police couldn't possibly reveal such a crazy-sounding discovery to the public. Leslie and a select few were the only
ones who knew the truth about the victims. Everyone else was told that a murderous psychopath who loved air-drying his victims
had appeared in Summerbank.
Although they had confirmed that Ryan was the mastermind behind the murders and released that information to the press,

Ryan miraculously disappeared within the ranges of Summerbank Mountain while they were pursuing him.
The police deployed drones and dispatched a large number of police officers to hunt Ryan down, but they were unable to find
him no matter how hard they tried.
As if that wasn't bad enough, after having Carmelo's mansion surrounded, the police were shocked to learn that he had died in
his own home.
However, the most shocking part was their findings after performing an autopsy on his corpse.
Apparently, his corpse was highly decomposed, which indicated that he had been dead for over a month.
According to the others, however, Carmelo had been interacting with them as usual just a day ago.
“There are still forty-eight bodies that haven't been identified. I need you and Arwin to contact our guys in the other districts to
direct all missing persons cases to the Serious Crime Unit. This is going to be a lot of work, but I want you two to run DNA tests
on all of the victims' personal belongings. We need to solve this case as soon as possible.”
Arwin and the others stood up and replied in unison, “Understood, Mr. Hoffman.”
The middle-aged man motioned them to sit down.
“Now, now... There's no need to stand up. You're all exhausted as it is just by working on this case. You can just talk to me while
seated. By the way, Holden, how are things over at Summerbank Mountain? Did our guys manage to find anything?”
Holden Wainwright, who was a fit middle-aged man, shook his head resignedly.
“Our men have been getting less than five hours of sleep every day, Mr. Hoffman. We even deployed thermal imaging drones,
but we still can't find him at all. It's possible that they've entered Summerbank Abyss, which is covered in a dense fog.”
Everyone in the Serious Crime Unit tensed up when they heard that. A few seconds later, they began whispering among
themselves.

“You've got to be kidding me! I heard that place is cursed! Those who entered have never returned!”
“I know, right? Even the drones lose signal upon entering that area!”
“They say a research team that went in there was never seen again! That's why people label it as a forbidden area!”
“That's enough!” Jasper yelled coldly after hearing their discussion.
He then glared at them as he continued in a stern voice, “Cursed? Forbidden? You are all police officers, so you should only
believe in scientific evidence! Stop listening to these baseless rumors!”
As Jasper was usually a calm person, the entire room fell silent after they witnessed his sudden outburst.
About thirty seconds later, Jasper let out a sigh and said, “Keep in mind that you have all signed a non-disclosure agreement for
this case, so do not reveal any information to those who are not involved in the investigation. All right, you're all dismissed. Get
back to your stations and do your jobs properly. Leslie, Holden, stay here. There's something I need to discuss with you two.”
Everyone then tactfully left the conference room, leaving only the three of them inside.
Jasper waited until the door was fully closed before revealing the exhaustion on his face.
“Have the cultivators from Triplex Manifesta agreed to our request for help?” he asked, propping his hands on the table.
“No. I've had my men reach out to them multiple times, but they are all adamant about waiting for their master's return. Until
then, they will continue to train while keeping themselves isolated from the world,” Holden replied with a helpless sigh.
Leslie frowned when she heard that. “That's not what they said back then! Is this about the money? If the appropriation isn't
enough, I could try to ask my father for help.”
Jasper shook his head. “Don't bother Governor Hart. He has already cut ties with me for not making you leave the Serious Crime
Unit. He'd probably finish me off if I were to ask him for money. By the way, Leslie, the guy who helped you capture Blackey

Carlson is a cultivator too, right? Has he not contacted you even once lately?”
“No, he hasn't.”
Leslie slumped weakly against her chair like a deflated balloon as Jonathan's face popped up in her head.
Although she never cared much about appearances, she did have a high level of confidence in her own image.
Over the years, hundreds of men have tried to court her, including Holden. He had been trying to court her since he met her
three years ago.
Jonathan, however, had never even attempted to ask her out on a date.
Leslie couldn't help but wonder if her physical charms had no effect on cultivators like him.
It was common for women to get offended when they did not receive the attention they were expecting even though they weren't
interested in that person.
Unbeknownst to them, the person they were talking about was speeding through the city, making his way toward the police
station.
Jonathan was determined to avenge Lynn no matter what.

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