LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 437: Everything Seems Too Coincidental
After sending off the mayor of Valley City, Jeremy and Ritchie returned to their room.
The serious expression on Jeremy's face made Ritchie both worried and confused.
After a moment of contemplation, Ritchie finally asked Jeremy, "Is something wrong? Why do you look so serious? You usually only look like this when we're facing a huge problem."
Jeremy silently nodded.
Ritchie's confusion deepened.
He couldn't understand what kind of trouble they were facing. Sure, they had been attacked at their defensive position outside Valley City, but hadn't they already managed to repel the enemy's attack? They had even captured two enemies. These two prisoners would definitely give up some important information. With that, they could prepare for the next phase of their plan.
While the overall situation wasn't great, it wasn't exactly disastrous either.
As Ritchie continued to be baffled, Jeremy slowly spoke up.
"Do you think it's completely normal for the mayor to be attacked along with us?"
At this question, Ritchie's expression shifted. He understood the underlying implication of Jeremy's words.
What Jeremy was trying to suggest was that the attack on them and the mayor was connected in some way.
However, Ritchie felt that Jeremy was overthinking things.
"Are you saying the mayor ordered this attack on us? I don't think the mayor would do that. If he really wanted to target us, there are much better ways he could go about it."
Ritchie voiced his opinion.
To his surprise, Jeremy didn't disagree. Instead, he nodded in agreement almost immediately.
"You're right! If the mayor really wanted to attack us, he certainly could have done it more efficiently. So, he must have known about this attack, but I don't think he wanted it to succeed. He probably had some other goal in mind by allowing it to happen. As for what his goal is, I'm not sure yet."
Jeremy laid out his thoughts openly.
Ritchie's expression became much more serious than before.
If Jeremy's suspicion was correct, it would mean that the mayor was hiding even more secrets. The two of them would likely encounter even more trouble in Valley City.
"If you suspect the mayor has other intentions, why don't you personally interrogate the two enemies we captured?" Ritchie asked, with a hint of regret in his voice.
In Ritchie's opinion, since Jeremy already suspected the mayor had a hidden agenda, Jeremy should be the one to interrogate the two prisoners. Those enemies were likely to reveal some very important information.
Upon hearing Ritchie's question, a bitter smile appeared on Jeremy's face.
"I absolutely cannot do that! Because if I did, it would mean the mayor would know that I'm suspicious of him. After that, the mayor would definitely take further action. That would likely drag us into even bigger trouble. For now, we have to act as though we know nothing. If the mayor wants us to play along with his little game, then we'll play along."
Jeremy spoke these words with a tone of resignation.
Although Jeremy was far more powerful than the mayor of Valley City, and even though Jeremy had helped Valley City escape the crisis with the monsters, he knew that in this situation, he still had to act with extreme caution.
Ritchie couldn't help but let out a sigh.
"At first, I thought we just needed to deal with the threat Kean caused. But it looks like there are so many people in the real world who could pose a threat to us. There are just too many crises we need to solve."
Ritchie truly felt the weight of the situation.
He had thought that once he completed his awakening, he wouldn't face too many more problems. But after awakening, Ritchie suddenly realized that there were still many opponents he couldn't defeat. And some people who were weaker than Ritchie could still pose a threat to him.
Jeremy also sighed.
"You're right! The real world is full of troubles. All we can do is tackle one problem at a time. We have to adapt to whatever comes our way, because there's really no way to plan ahead for everything."
Although both Jeremy and Ritchie felt deeply troubled, their worries were more of a quiet concern than overwhelming despair.
After all, they hadn't faced any direct threats yet.
Moreover, they still had the advantage in terms of strength.
Jeremy and Ritchie's enemies were actually facing even bigger problems.
In the secret chamber of the city hall, Kean's subordinates could be heard constantly crying out in agony.
The ones Jeremy had fought were Kean's subordinates, along with a few others. During the battle, Kean's subordinate had sustained severe injuries. Although he could receive good medical treatment within the city hall, his strength couldn't recover in the short term.
Amid the screams of pain from Kean's subordinate, the mayor of Valley City walked to the entrance of the chamber.
"I warned you before not to rush things! Why did you feel the need to attack Jeremy so hastily? Not only did your attack fail, but it also dragged me into a crisis. Your two companions have been captured, and Major Joseph will surely be able to extract some information from them. What are you going to do about this now?"
The mayor's tone was filled with irritation. He had to appear very angry. Only by doing so would Kean's subordinates not suspect him.
Kean's subordinate glared at the mayor of Valley City with eyes full of fury.
"Wasn't my failure this time because of you? If you had sent your men to attack Jeremy with me, there's no way Jeremy would have won the fight."
In fact, Kean's subordinate had been counting on the full cooperation of the mayor of Valley City. Had the mayor's men worked with him, he was confident they could have severely injured Jeremy.
But the mayor of Valley City would never agree to that, because it would have put him in enormous danger.
The mayor of Valley City wasn't a player in the apocalypse game—he was just an ordinary person. If he turned against Jeremy, Jeremy had the ability to kill him instantly.
The mayor of Valley City scoffed.
"So, you were just trying to use me, huh? If my men had really cooperated with you, I would have been facing certain death at that moment! Don't you care at all about my life?!"
Faced with the mayor's accusation, Kean's subordinate didn't answer.
His silence was essentially an admission of everything.
The mayor of Valley City snorted coldly.
"This time, I'll let it slide. But before your next operation, you must inform me. Without my permission, you are not to carry out any plans!"
After delivering these words, the mayor turned and walked away.
Kean's subordinate remained furious, but his pain now outweighed his anger.
Although he had successfully escaped Jeremy's pursuit, he had sustained serious injuries during his retreat.
While he continued to grumble, in his heart, he didn't hold too much resentment toward the mayor of Valley City.
As the mayor had pointed out, if the mayor's subordinates had worked with him, the mayor himself would have been in deadly danger.
Therefore, Kean's subordinate simply felt that his actions had been too reckless.
Even now, he remained in the dark.
After leaving the city hall's secret chamber, the mayor of Valley City returned to his office.
Once inside, he received another order from the federal high command.
"The federal high command actually wants to pull soldiers out of Valley City?! Don't they think the number of soldiers in Capital is already enough? The soldiers there can protect every single building in Capital!"
The mayor of Valley City was livid.
He thought it was utterly pointless to send so many soldiers to Capital.
Although Capital was the federal capital, the city itself wasn't very large at all.
The mayor of Valley City believed that the reason the federal high command had made such a decision was simply because those high-ranking officials had been frightened by the monsters. Your journey continues on empire
With a sneer, the mayor tossed the order into the trash can.
"I can easily ignore this order for the time being! After all, since the apocalypse game began, the communication channels between every city and Capital have been intermittently cut off. I can completely sever the communication between Valley City and Capital for the next ten days. Once the monster threat is dealt with, then I'll follow the federal high command's orders."
The mayor of Valley City had made up his mind.
Everything he was doing was merely in preparation for the monster attack that was expected to come in a few days.
He believed he had already made more than enough preparations—perhaps even too many.
However, in reality, his preparations were not excessive; they were far too few.
The mayor had underestimated both the number and the strength of the monsters that were about to launch an attack on Valley City. The monster horde that was coming would be more terrifying than anyone could imagine.