Chapter 67: Christian’s Past!

"Grandpa, are you serious! This isn’t a joke!"

Listening to his grandfather’s words, Ethan looked him up and down.

Although helping his grandfather break through to the first circle earlier, along with the fact that he ate healthily, meant he was quite strong for his age, at the end of the day, he was still seventy.

Not only that, but this was the grandpa who had cared for him and his sister after their parents died.

How could he easily let him walk into danger?

Just as Ethan was about to tell him this was impossible, Christian cut him off.

"Ethan!"

"I know what you’re about to say, but listen to this old man first," he paused, getting up from his seat.

"Do you know what makes a man?" asked Christian.

"You see, I’ll tell you what I told your father when he was around your age."

"A man is someone who advances when there is no road in front of him."

"A man is someone who protects when there is no shelter in sight."

"A man is someone who sticks by his ideals no matter the situation, never wavering or cowering."

Crossing his hands behind his back, Christian motioned for Alfred to follow him.

"Ethan kid, before I was the head of the Smith family, I was your grandpa. And before I was your grandpa, I was a man."

"Now think about what I just said. I’m going to call the other veterans and get ready."

"Hopefully you’ll understand what I mean by these words when I get back."

Saying this, he left the room, leaving a stunned Marcus, Ethan, and Adrian.

"Damn it! Grandpa, do you even know what you’re doing?! You could lose your life!"

"If you end up dying, what happens to the Smith family? What happens to Elena?! What happened to me?!"

Looking at his grandfather’s departing back, Ethan felt like Christian seemed to age more with each step.

He felt like if he let his grandpa go on this mission, he would never see him again.

Unfortunately, no matter how he called out or protested, Christian’s footsteps remained steady as he left the meeting room to gather the others.

"Father..." muttered Adrian.

Seeing his father like this, he couldn’t help but think back to the past

back when they were all still children, when there were no conspiracies for inheritance,

when there was no malice or competition between siblings.

At that time, if any of them got into trouble, their father was always the first to step in to protect them.

Sometimes he would go overboard, and only their mother would be able to calm him down.

Thinking of his mother, Adrian turned to look at the emotional Ethan before him.

Seeing him like this, Adrian seemed to see his dead brother-in-law and sister overlapping with Ethan’s body.

"Hey nephew, stop shouting. It’s no use."

"Once Father has decided on something, there is no changing his mind."

"Sigh~ Do you smoke?"

"Same with you, Marcus. If you do, then here, I’m about to tell you a story of the past, and you’ll understand why Grandpa doesn’t care about his life."

Taking out a pack of cigarettes, Adrian handed one to both of them.

And although neither Ethan nor Marcus smoked, considering the current mood, they joined him to have a puff.

"Ethan, you probably weren’t born then, and Marcus, you hadn’t joined the Smith family yet, so you’ve probably never heard of it."

"The story of how Grandma died."

Cough Cough

Coughing from the smoke, the earlier madness and fear in Adrian’s eyes had completely disappeared, replaced by a look of reminiscence.

"You see, it was when I was seven years old, and Father was at the peak of his years."

"He had just made a mess of Wall Street, screwing over the Reinhardts as well as a good portion of the world’s population."

"Back then, governments, businesses, oligarchs, they all hated the Smith family."

"Unlike now, where they don’t dare show their faces unless bowing on his birthday, it wasn’t always like that," he paused.

"Back then, even though we were rich and powerful, we weren’t feared yet."

"So much so that under the compliance of a few major governments and the Reinhardts, an operation was launched to wipe out the Smith family."

Saying this, he raised his shirt, revealing a bullet wound on his right abdomen.

"That night, I was shot. Assassins came in from all directions."

"Luckily, someone had tipped Grandpa off, so we weren’t off guard and managed to repel most of the attacks."

"Unfortunately, even with that, your grandmother still died. As she slowly bled out, her final words were telling Father to protect the family."

"After that, he changed. The next day, using his connections, blood and death spilled across multiple countries."

"Governments changed, and he wiped out the family members of the ones who killed Mother and the ones who hired them directly."

"Be it old, young, child, or woman, they all died under his hand."

"It was the day known to most as the Day of Blood, and it was the day Father became a zombie in his own body."

"Even though he laughs from time to time, and smiles whenever he can, we, his children, know that he’s in constant pain as he thinks about that day."

"His only driving factor is his promise to Mother to protect the family."

"To do that, even if it meant killing his own brother" he said, thinking of George, a comment which made Ethan a bit suspicious, though he didn’t interrupt him,

"Even if it meant killing his brother or children, as long as the Smith family remained safe, Father would do anything."

"Living such a life, now that the opportunity to take himself out of his misery as well as protect his family has arrived..."

"Do you really expect him to stay still?"

Taking out another cigarette, Adrian’s eyes began to water as he remembered how, after that day, his father had never once hugged him again.

It was then that the siblings began to fall apart and scheme against each other.

"Dying in that battle... perhaps that might be Father’s plan."

Hearing this, Ethan fell silent, unable to say anything.

It turned out he didn’t know as much about his grandfather as he thought he did.

’Grandfather...’

Thinking of that old figure who had just walked away, Ethan felt a surge of emotion rush up within his chest.