Chapter 152 Teasing, Taking Action
After that, she got sick.
The illness completely changed her personality.
The Shadow Operations Division was exploited during this vulnerable period, and its power was weakened.
She didn't actually remember the specific details very clearly. She only heard from Byron that the Young family had planted a mole in the Shadow Operations Division, which led to the Shadow Operations Division being ruthlessly suppressed.
Later, to help her recover, Byron took her to see a very skilled hypnotist.
The hypnotist was really good, and her condition did improve.
But she forgot what happened during the hypnosis sessions.
Amelia had a three-month blank in her memory.
After that, her personality became even more detached.
She was clearly just a girl in her twenties, but her mindset was as mature as an old lady's.
She calculated gains and losses in everything she did.
Even when she reunited with her family and first returned to the Richardson family, she went there planning to use the Richardson family and Ms. Richardson's identity to hide her true identity.
It wasn't until the Richardson family slowly opened their hearts with their genuine care.
"I should go back," Amelia said. "It's late. If I don't go back soon, my mom will worry."
She had lost Finn, but she had gained family.
God had been good to her.
"Let me walk you out," Byron said carefully from the side.
Amelia didn't refuse.
When she was leaving, Faith handed her a small cake she had just made that day.
"Amelia, if you're not happy, eating something sweet will make you feel a little better," Faith said.
"Thanks." Amelia smiled slightly, took the dessert, got in her car, and quickly drove away.
On the drive back, Amelia thought about many things.
First, Finn was already married and happily so. She should completely let go.
Finn falling for another girl wasn't because she wasn't good enough—it was Finn's fault.
She couldn't keep living in the shadow Finn had cast over her.
Second, Samuel had mentioned Crystal Springs Resort to her several times, but she had no particular memory of it. That meant whatever happened must have occurred during those three months when she was hypnotized and lost her memory.
She should have had Byron focus on investigating what happened at Crystal Springs Resort during those three months.
Third, the revenge plan against the Young family.
The Young family had taken advantage of her emotional breakdown during those three months and seriously damaged the Shadow Operations Division. She had to settle this score.
Dealing with the Young family wasn't that hard, really.
The Young family was aligned with the Hays family.
If she dealt with the Young family, the Hays family would essentially lose a good ally.
This would benefit her, the Shadow Operations Division, and the Richardson family.
So the plan targeting the Young family needed to be launched soon.
Lost in thought, Amelia caught sight of a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye while waiting at a red light.
It was Maeve.
She was coming out of a bar, being harassed by two thugs.
"Get lost!"
Maeve's eyes were full of disgust.
But this only excited the two men more.
"What a little kitten! I love girls like you! Spend the night with me, I'll give you five thousand dollars!"
The disgust in Maeve's eyes deepened.
"Do you know who I am? I'm a daughter of the Sullivan family!"
"The Sullivan family? What's the Sullivan family? I'm from the Crawford family! You think five thousand is too little? I'll add more!"
As he spoke, he was about to put his hands on Maeve.
Maeve slapped the man across the face.
The man was completely enraged and said to his companion, "Hold her down! I'm going to fuck this bitch right here!"
His companion immediately moved forward.
Maeve tried the same trick, attempting to slap that man, too.
But this time, he was prepared and didn't let her succeed. Instead, he tightly restrained her hand and said to Joe, "Joe, after you're done, let me have some fun too."
Joe rubbed his rough palms together and said lecherously, "Don't worry, you'll get your turn!"
As he spoke, he was about to reach for Maeve's chest.
Maeve's face changed drastically.
"Get away!"
But her eyes were filled with fear and regret.
She regretted sneaking out from home to drink without bringing bodyguards.
"Someone! Help!!"
Maeve shouted.
Joe sneered and said, "It's noisy in the bar. Even if you scream your head off, no one will hear you. Listen, if you go with me, I won't let you lose out!"
With that, he moved to kiss Maeve's lips.
Maeve quickly turned her face away, but the man's lips still landed on her cheek.
At that moment, Maeve felt disgusted and wanted nothing more than to kill this bastard.
Joe was thrilled to have kissed Maeve and was about to go further when he suddenly felt pain in the back of his neck. Then everything went dark before his eyes, and he fell straight to the ground.
The fall broke his nose.
The pain brought him back to consciousness.
He angrily got up from the ground, ready to see who dared to hit him, but a pair of slender, skillful hands already grabbed his collar.
He looked up and saw a beautiful woman.
Maeve was beautiful.
He had noticed Maeve while she was still drinking in the bar and had followed her out.
But Joe hadn't expected to run into someone even more beautiful.
He was momentarily dazzled and even forgot that he had just broken his nose.
His companion shouted, "Joe! Watch out!"
Joe suddenly snapped back to reality.
But before he could do anything, fists were already landing on his face.
Joe, whose nose was already broken, was in even worse shape now. His face was beaten beyond recognition.
The other man immediately tried to help, but Amelia knocked him to the ground in just two moves.
The two men were soon spitting blood, lying on the ground, unable to move.
Maeve watched all this in stunned silence, taking a while to find her voice.
"Amelia, you..."
Amelia acted.
She felt grateful, but somehow couldn't bring herself to say thank you.
However, Amelia didn't even glance at her. She bent down, grabbed Joe's collar again, and punched him in the face over and over.
Joe lost two teeth, his face caved in, and then quickly swelled up, making him unrecognizable even to his own mother.
But he didn't fight back because he had already passed out from the pain.
Maeve had known Amelia was good at fighting—otherwise, that day at the pharmacy, Amelia wouldn't have been able to take that herb from her.
But she hadn't expected her to be not only skilled but also ruthless.
—This was clearly beating someone to death.
Maeve shivered involuntarily.
She thought that if she hadn't given up on that herb that day and had continued to tangle with Amelia, she might have been beaten beyond recognition, too.
After what seemed like forever, probably when Amelia's hands finally started to hurt, she stopped and looked at the other man.
When the other man saw her looking over, he quickly lay flat, closed his eyes, and played dead.
Amelia didn't bother with him anymore and walked over to Maeve.
"How did you get here?"
Maeve paused, then responded, "I took a cab."
"I'll take you back, but you need to help me stuff these two into my trunk."
Maeve asked in shock, "What are you planning to do?"
"They said they're from the Crawford family. Of course, I should return them to their rightful place."
"But what if they're lying..."
"We'll know if they're lying when we deliver them."
"Okay then."
Maeve agreed and first stuffed Joe into the trunk.
The other man was very timid. Afraid of having his limbs broken if he was forced in, he opened his eyes and said proactively, "I can move. I'll climb in myself."
Amelia said coldly, "Hurry up."
The man quickly climbed into the trunk and even found a comfortable position.
Seeing these two cowards, Amelia already had a guess about their identities.
She closed the trunk, went to the front, and locked it, then asked Maeve, "Where should I drop you off?"
"Don't you need me to come along?"
"No."
Maeve nodded. She didn't want to have anything more to do with those disgusting men either, so she didn't insist.
After getting in the car, she said, "Just take me home. You've been there before."
Amelia said nothing more and focused on driving.
Maeve was a bit surprised.
"You don't need to use navigation?"
"You said it yourself—I've been there once."
"You can remember after going just once?"
Amelia didn't speak, but the expression on her face already answered the question.
She wasn't born with an exceptional memory. She had just learned some memory techniques while entering countless parallel spaces.
This greatly helped strengthen her memory.
Few people were true geniuses. She was just more hardworking than others, which was why she could perfectly complete the tasks given by the system and return alive to her original world.
They drove in silence. Maeve seemed a bit uncomfortable and took the initiative to make conversation: "How do you know Isaac? Why did you ask me to investigate him?"
"Once you investigate, you'll know why I know him."
"Wouldn't it be more convenient if you just told me directly?"
Amelia glanced at her.
"Are we friends?"
Maeve instinctively replied, "Of course not."
Amelia said, "Well, there you go. We're not even friends—we're practically enemies. Would you believe what an enemy tells you?"
Maeve turned her face away to look out the car window.
Because she knew Amelia was speaking the truth.
Even if Amelia told her, she wouldn't believe it.
Only by investigating herself would she know.
The car soon arrived at the Sullivan family home.
Maeve finally set aside her pride and said thank you before getting out.
"No need," Amelia said flatly. "You're just lucky you ran into me when I was in a bad mood today."
Those two men had been her punching bags.
Undeniably, after beating them up, she felt much better now.
Maeve only said, "If you need me to testify, call me anytime," then turned and left.
Amelia didn't linger and drove straight to the Maple Grove villa district.
She thought she'd have to get out and ring the doorbell, but the camera in the upper right corner made a sound, followed by a mechanical female voice: "Recognition successful. Please enter."
Amelia remembered.
Last time, after she and Felix left the Combat Arts hall, they were brought here together. Jeremy and York had entered her facial data into the recognition system.
She was just surprised that after she left, they hadn't deleted her profile.