Chapter 741: Utter Despair

Chapter 741: Chapter 741: Utter Despair

Ethan Kingsley’s face was grim. "Speak!" he said in a low voice.

"Young Master Kingsley, the deaf woman just sent a message. There’s a fire at the Everprosperity Community."

"What?"

"The deaf woman just got back from grocery shopping. She saw the fire had already reached the second floor, but it’s raining there now, so the fire should be put out soon."

Hearing this, Ethan Kingsley quickly grabbed his phone to check the time she had left him the message.

Two hours ago...

’Damn it!’

Ethan Kingsley strode up to Seth Payne and grabbed him by the collar. "Where’s Little Cutie?"

"The deaf woman said the fire was too intense for her to get inside. Maybe... maybe she got out before it started..."

Before Seth Payne could finish, Ethan Kingsley had already turned and bolted.

"Young Master Kingsley, where are you going?"

It was as if Ethan Kingsley hadn’t heard him. His mind was already far away.

’Ethan, I just fell. I’m bleeding so much...’

’My stomach hurts so much... Won’t you please come back?’

’Ethan, I’m not lying to you!’

’I really did fall...’

’Ethan, there’s a fire...’

’But I can’t move... *sob*...’

’I’m hurt, I can’t move...’

’Please, just answer the phone, won’t you?’

...

Her pleas from the voicemails replayed endlessly in Ethan Kingsley’s mind. She had needed him so desperately. She had been so weak, so helpless, so full of despair...

’And damn it all, he’d been lost in his own world, ignoring her completely.’

’If she was gone, what was the point of anything? Even if he secured that position he was after, what meaning would it have?’

’Little Cutie, you have to be okay. You have to be!’

-

The downpour had just stopped. Within the Everprosperity Community, the stench of burning still hung in the air. The block of houses, now just a pile of rubble, continued to smolder even after the drenching rain.

A supercar screeched to a halt outside the complex. A man leaped out and sprinted into the ruins.

"Little Cutie!"

"Little Cutie, come out!"

"Get out here! Don’t you hide from me!"

"Do you hear me?!"

He screamed her name like a madman, desperately searching for any sign of her. He ran up and down the stairs at least a dozen times, but she was nowhere to be found.

’She’s not here. At least, I haven’t found her body.’

Clinging to that sliver of hope, Ethan Kingsley headed downstairs with a surge of relief, pulling out his phone to call for a search party.

Just then, he saw the deaf woman approaching, carrying a charred body. She dropped it on the ground and began to sign to him.

She was saying, more or less...

’Young Master Kingsley, I’m sorry. This is all I could find.’

’Also, when I got back, I saw blood on the ground. I followed the trail and found a pack of stray dogs crowded around... eating something.’

’It might have been...’

’...the baby...’

"What did you just say?!" Ethan Kingsley lunged forward, grabbing her tightly by the collar. "Say it again! What did you just say? Speak!"

Cowed by his rage, the deaf woman recoiled slightly before hesitantly raising her hands to sign again.

The same motions as before. The same words...

In that instant, Ethan Kingsley’s world shattered. Everything was destroyed, all color bled from his vision as he plummeted into an abyss, into eternal damnation.

As if crushed by an immense weight, he staggered and fell to his knees. All hope turned to ash. He stared blankly at the ruins before him, his heart feeling as if it had stopped beating.

The deaf woman took out a half-burnt diary and held it out to him.

Ethan Kingsley’s heart seized. He took the diary and saw her script—unrefined, but meticulously neat.