Chapter 93

Ronald told a long story.

It was about the old steel mill, child trafficking, and the police.

From the perspective of a grassroots police officer twenty years ago, it was a story about justice and willpower. If this were a TV series, it would have ended right here.

Life was often more exciting than fiction.

He gave up on life, on marriage, on family, exhausted all his luck, and climbed to the highest place to shout, to fulfill a wish of more than twenty years, but above his head was still the sky.

Twenty years later, he fell from the heights and disappeared into the crowd. With wrinkled skin and an empty body, he numbed his failures and hardships with one cigarette after another. Even his daughter didn't know his situation.

Death was the ultimate destination for heroes; the heroic believers were cheered by the mundane. Those who fell to the mortal world never caused a ripple in others' lives.

This was also heroism, real, tragic heroism.

Heroism had never been a performance or a concept. It didn't appear in the lens; rather, it was a great quality. It was walking out of the abyss, dancing with darkness and danger, seeing through the baseness and darkness of human nature, and still singing high praises to the light of humanity.

Compassion was not giving him a piece of bread, a bottle of water, or some encouraging words; more often, it was a resonance deep in the heart with the weak, a subtle mixture of morality and humanity.

The hero melted his armor into compassion, giving annotations and practices to the rules of humanity.

Breaking free from the shackles of fate, he was not controlled by time.

Knowing there was deceit, he still walked into the sea of fire, to save that girl. It was too late to debate whether human nature is good or evil. Waving a hand, he left a vast blank, saying goodbye to the world.

Coming out of the abyss, bright and upright, he seemed to be born this way. Wherever he went, there was light. God became a boy walking in the world, whether right or wrong, everyone respected him immensely, reminisced and admired him.

George and Alan were like this.

Ronald went to another extreme; he locked himself up, took out a knife, and cut off all the weaknesses of his body, except for Zoey, where he left the last bit of warmth.

If Alan and George represented light, Ronald was the back of the light.

He was like an aging jailer, with rusty torture tools, broken iron shackles, decayed fetters, and only that knife, which he sharpened every day.

Staring at the Entertainment Club building, waiting for the final blow, it didn't matter if he died the next moment.

Before I left, I asked him why he kept staring here. Douglas was already dead, and people related to the child trafficking group couldn't possibly appear here.

He shook his head without explaining.

I asked him again, who was the protector behind this, what big figure was behind it, and at what high level.

He shook his head with a bitter expression and told me to be careful-safety first. He urged me to find Alan, and once I did, to leave Silverlight City and never come back.

I felt a strange sense of guilt. This place is like a prison, he locked himself in, with the guilt for the dead children more than twenty years ago. The one he hated most in his heart was himself.

But I couldn't do anything for him, even a little help.

I wouldn't leave Silverlight City, even if I fould Alan, I would pursue the truth to the end.

After walking a few steps, he called me back, stammering and asking, "how Zoey was doing now, and was she happy at Howard's company?"

I smiled and said gently," Zoey often talks about you, she always has you in her heart as her father. If you make her a hamburger like just now, I think she would be so happy she couldn't sleep."

Ronald sighed, said that he wouldn't see her again, and told me to let Zoey live happily and not let her get involved.

I nodded and drove home.

We talked for nearly four hours, and it was already past eight in the evening.

The story of that year became clearer. From Ronald's perspective, the past of Sand Village truly unveiled the mystery.

The old steel mill was likely first discovered by the outside world when Ronald was still a young police officer. He lost his way and found Joseph, who was abandoned by the criminal group due to excessive intake of female hormones causing physical reactions.

This also explained from another angle why Joseph looked so delicate, which was not a natural gift, but the torment of fate.

But Joseph later went back and did not accept Ronald's help.

As time went on, Ronald continued to investigate the case, and at this time, Alan should have beenthe first child to escape from the old steel mill, then lived in Sand Village with George's help. George noticed the secret of the old steel mill, met Ronald during the investigation, and then adopted Tom, who had an eye removed.

During George's investigation, he was also exposed, and soon targeted by the criminal group, which sent a five or six-year-old child, Douglas, to Sand Village to investigate him. At this time, Alan's information was also exposed; the criminal group took advantage of George's desire to save children and sold a little girl to George at a low price.

The little girl and the criminal group set up a trap to lure George to the old steel mill, where George died in a big fire, and the criminal group disappeared.

Later, Lally and Duke also escaped from the fire and went to Sand Village to live with Alan and Tom.

The remaining Frank, Joseph, Mike, Bob, and Laura were unknown.

The story of Sand Village should have a general outline here.

The key was, who was the daughter George adopted. I started to suspect it was Laura because Tammy, Tony, and Laura had no direct conflict on the surface, just the original residents of Sand Village. If Laura is the culprit who caused George's death, then all this made sense.

But Ronald objected, if the adopted girl was Laura, Alan and others wouldn't have such a good relationship with her in college, and wouldn't wait until now to act.

This was one of the doubts.

Secondly, the mastermind behind the Entertainment Club's conspiracy should be Frank; the motive to kill Douglas was obvious. Douglas was one of the children turned by the criminals, so they bullied other children. Thinking of Tom, Joseph, Lally, and even Frank's serious illness, which is related to these children, having a grudge was inevitable.

But why targeted Laura?

Ronald's words were not unreasonable. If Laura was the one who caused George's death, Alan would never be so close to Laura in college.

There was only one possibility.

Something happened in college.