Chapter 302
Chapter 302
Vivienne’s scream was a piercing shard that shattered the solemnity of the coronation hall.
The global broadcast cameras captured her face—twisted with jealousy and madness—before billions of viewers.
Security personnel immediately stepped forward, attempting to remove the emotionally unstable Vivienne from the scene.
The host, unruffled, maintained a steady tone: "It appears Ms Ember objects to the royal decree. In that case, let us examine the evidence."
The massive screens flanking the hall flickered to life with a new image.
What appeared was the very video Frank had secretly recorded years ago.
In the footage, college-age Sophie, her eyes sparkling with undeniable talent and passion, enthusiastically explained the core creative concept behind "Silent Fireworks."
The timestamp in the corner of the frame was a deafening blow, striking Vivienne harder than any physical slap
It was irrefutable proof.
"No... no... this is fake!" Vivienne made one last desperate struggle, but her voice was already weak and filled with despair.
At that moment, Sophie ascended the honours platform.Taking the microphone from the host, she let her voice resonate through the speakers, reaching everyone in the hall and billions watching worldwide.
"Vivienne! Stolen light will eventually go out. You didn't just steal my design—you insulted the purest creative spirit behind the name 'Silent Fireworks.'"
Her gaze swept the room, finally locking onto the man still concealed behind a hat and mask.
"It’s time for your accomplice to reveal himself.
Benjamin had somehow positioned himself behind that "security guard Vance." From the other side, Simon and two elite Ares members silently closed the perimeter.
"Alfonso." Sophie's voice was authoritative and cold. "Your act is over."
Alfonso's body stiffened when his real name was called.
An instant later, he shoved Vivienne aside and lunged toward the side emergency exit.
"Get him!" Simon commanded.
Chaos erupted instantly as the hall was filled with the rising screams of the guests.
Alfonso had clearly studied the palace layout beforehand. Avoiding the bottleneck at the main entrance, he bolted toward the passage leading to the gardens and auxiliary wings. The complex terrain offered him his best chance to vanish.
Benjamin and Simon gave chase.
Sprinting through a long corridor, Alfonso kicked open the iron door to the roof and burst into the open air.
On the rooftop, fierce winds howled.
A black helicopter hovered just offshore, its rotors churning the air as a rope ladder dangled within reach. It was the final escape route he'd prepared for himself.
"Benjamin! Simon!" Alfonso stood at the edge of the rooftop, looking at Simon and Benjamin, who had caught up, his face showing a sick and twisted smile. "You think you've won? Impossible!"
He let out a manic laugh as he lunged for the swaying rope ladder.
"As long as I can leave here today, the Scott family and the Brown family can expect my endless revenge! "I’ll haunt you until the day you die!
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the ladder, a pebble, cutting through the air with a sharp sound, precisely hit his wrist.
It had been Benjamin. He'd picked up a smooth stone from the ground and thrown it with all his strength, hitting his target dead-on.
Alfonso grunted in pain and missed his grip.
In that split-second delay, Simon had already pounced forward with a vicious leg sweep aimed at Alfonso's lower body.
Alfonso’s reflexes remained sharp. He dodged sideways but lost his footing, stumbling backward two steps.
Behind him was the edge of the rooftop.
The concrete tile beneath his foot, weathered by years of wind and sun, had long been loose. As Alfonso’s weight shifted onto it, the tile disintegrated, and he pitched backwards.
"No!"
Alfonso let out a scream of absolute terror, his arms flailing wildly in the air, trying to grab onto something.
But there was nothing to grab.
He lost all control, falling straight down from the rooftop dozens of meters high.
Benjamin and Simon rushed to the edge of the rooftop and looked down.
Directly below them lay the palace’s heated pool—home to a swarm of saltwater crocodiles.
With a tremendous splash, Alfonso's figure crashed into the water, sending up a huge spray.
The smell of blood instantly filled the air.
In the pool, the crocodiles that had been lazily lurking suddenly had their hidden ferocity activated by the scent of blood.
Their massive bodies cut deadly arcs through the water, lightning-fast, converging on the point of impact from all directions.
Alfonso struggled painfully in the water. He wasn't dead yet, just badly scraped by something during the fall, his arm bleeding profusely.
"Help... help me..."
He let out the last weak cry for help in his life.
But what answered him was a gaping maw filled with razor-sharp teeth.
The first crocodile bit down on half his body in one snap.
The sound of bones shattering in the quiet night was clear enough to make one's blood run cold.
Then came the second, the third...
Several crocodiles savagely tore and rolled, staging the most brutal, most primal feast.
The clear pool water was, in just a few dozen seconds, dyed a nauseating deep red. On the surface floated shredded clothing and fragments of organs, which were quickly dragged underwater and disappeared.
A generation's tyrant, a demon who had manipulated the Shen and Lu families like puppets and treated human lives like weeds, ultimately didn't die under legal judgment, nor at the hands of his enemies.
He died in the very sanctuary he'd carefully chosen, torn apart alive by a pack of cold-blooded beasts, leaving no trace of his body.
On the rooftop, Simon watched the churning bloody water below, his left hand—missing its pinky finger—involuntarily clenching into a tight fist.
The great revenge was complete!
Benjamin walked to his side and patted his shoulder, saying nothing.
Some hatreds, only at the moment of their ending, can truly reveal what they've taken from you over all these years.
In the distance, police sirens grew clearer, approaching from far away.
Everything was over.