Chapter 91

Some people uphold justice throughout their lives, taking pride in their profession;

Some people live their lives driven by hatred, living for their goals;

Justice that extends into the path of darkness will ultimately find no redemption, while the flower of hatred breeds the hope of the light of humanity.

Lally and Tony are the latter, while Ronald is the former.

This man has been chasing criminals for twenty years, enduring day and night, climbing step by step in the field of power, fighting against heaven and fate in the name of justice, with the strength of a mortal, using marriage and family as stakes, losing everything, and falling into the abyss.

He stared at the Entertainment Club, recalling the figures of the children. I have the illusion that his initial pursuit of justice might have turned into an obsession, or even hatred.

I had seen this expression before when Frank mentioned Laura, a bloody aura all over him, that ferocious expression, as if they had no emotions, like skeletons crawling out of coffins, walking the world with a mask.

The difference is, that Frank's hatred is towards others, while Ronald's hatred is towards his own helplessness in the face of fate.

"Lally is missing, Joseph has been taken away for investigation..."

Ronald squinted his eyes, smoke swirling around him, the smell of smoke wafting over to me, making me cough twice, "Having sex with a male leader... has already sown the seeds of hatred, causing them to take root and sprout?

"Let me think, let me think... among these people, the only two people who could have thought of this idea are Alan and Frank."

As he spoke, Ronald turned to look at me and asked, "Who do you think is the mastermind behind this plan?"

"What do you mean?"

I frowned and asked back, following his words.

Ronald had been acting strange since he started crying earlier, which made me more vigilant. After being in a state of high mental tension for so many years, suddenly discovering that the children he once helped had turned around and deceived him, this feeling of betrayal was naturally hard to bear.

Could it be that the arson and murder case at the Entertainment Club was orchestrated by Alan himself?

"Don't be nervous, stop your suspicions." Ronald waved his hand and explained, "Having witnessed the brink of life and death many times, my words might be a bit abrupt. I'm fine, you don't need to worry, and the question I just asked wasn't targeting Alan or the arson and murder case at the Entertainment Club."

"I was talking about Joseph... Joseph is married and has a good relationship with his wife, is that true?"

I nodded. From Evelyn's expression and description, their relationship was indeed good, otherwise, she wouldn't have almost stood at the courthouse door until her legs gave out.

"Joseph is not someone who seeks power and wealth, so the only way for him to get close to that leader is that someone arranged it."

Ronald extinguished the cigarette butt, rubbed his temples, and continued, "Alan is simple and mature; he's the leader of these kids, and always guides them, so he probably wouldn't do something like this, but Frank is a different story."

Ronald smiled strangely, "This guy has been scheming since he was a child, full of calculations, very suspicious, never easily trusting others; even me, he was always on guard. It's strange that their personalities are opposite, yet they have a very good relationship."

"Have they always had such a good relationship?"

I asked, wanting to understand why they had such a big conflict with Laura, hoping for her death, what exactly happened?

I always felt that Tammy was the most unexpected. Even if there were conflicts among them, why did Tammy get involved? Was it just because Tony's disability was directly related to Laura?

"I don't know, among these kids, I'm most familiar with Joseph and Lally. The rest were told to me by an informant." Ronald said.

"An informant?"

"Yes, you mentioned this person earlier, Sand Village George." Ronald said, sighing, "Escaping the control of the trafficking group is not easy. When Alan escaped, the old steel mill started to strengthen control. They made these kids steal things and transport drugs. If they ran away and were caught, they would be beaten to death."

"George originally wanted to adopt Alan, but Alan begged George to adopt Tom, who had just had his eyeballs removed. How to adopt? Just a word? No... George bought Tom back."

"Tom was bought back by George?"

I exclaimed, then thought, "Indeed, escaping the clutches of evil is not easy, how could those kids easily run away?"

"Yes, at that time, I was investigating the laid-off workers at the old steel mill, suspecting that they were involved. That's when I met George. He was a good man, reportedly the foreman there. At that time, kids often went to Sand Village to beg. He wanted to save them, and the first one he saved was Alan."

Alan had such a deep connection with Tony's family.

No wonder when I saw Tammy again, her eyes were so kind, so that's why.

"Alan begged George to save Tom, and it was then that George became my informant, bought Tom back, and also established contact with those people."

Ronald said, pointing in the direction of the Entertainment Club, "This is their old nest, but not the only place, otherwise it would have been discovered sooner or later. They change places every once in a while, moving around Silverlight City, which is why they haven't been discovered by others."

"Did you see clearly? What kind of people are they?"

"No." Ronald's expression was serious, shaking his head, "To buy a child, you don't go to their old nest, but arrange a place in advance, then someone brings the child over, very cautious, that person wears a mask, so when we went to pick up Tom, we didn't see the person clearly."

"So, there was a next time, this time it was a girl. Not long after, George and the little girl had an accident and both died."

I remembered that when I went to Sand Village before, the breakfast shop owner mentioned that George had adopted a little girl. The girl was playful and wild, accidentally igniting the gasoline warehouse at the old steel mill, and George died in the fire trying to save her, neither of them made it out.

"You were half right." Ronald said with a strange expression, as if he couldn't understand, "The information I got later was that it wasn't an accident."

"What!"

"George had been investigating that organization, but he was inexperienced and lacked professional tracking skills. Before long, he was targeted by those people."