"Don’t move."
Amid the sound of the waves, Ethan and Anya had already arrived.
They saw Vincent holding Lewis, but hadn’t yet grasped the situation, so they pointed their guns at both of them.
"Turn around slowly."
Vincent, as told, slowly turned with Lewis.
Ethan saw that face clearly.
It was a face very similar to his, but with rougher, sharper, and more mature features, much more robust.
This man...
"Ethan, long ti no see."
His voice was both unfamiliar and familiar.
Finally, Ethan searched through a fragnt of his forr mories in his mind.
"Vincent... you’re Vincent? You’re still alive?"
Vincent Polleta, Alberto’s second son, had disappeared twelve years ago.
Alberto had gone mad searching for him for two years, and later, with no results, ultimately gave up.
The family had basically accepted that he was dead.
So, when the Bolita Clan’s heirs were ntioned, only Leonardo and Ethan were considered.
He was actually still alive...
"Where have you been all these years?"
"Now’s not the ti to talk about this, Ethan. Let deal with this guy first, and then we can chat at length."
Vincent casually yanked the gun from Lewis’s hand and with a simple twist, turned it into a mangled ss.
"Was it you who gave that note?"
Vincent nodded.
A few days ago, Ethan had received a note warning him that soone bore ill intentions against him and to be extra cautious the day Pupol ca.
He never expected that Vincent was the one who sent the note.
At this mont, Lewis started to laugh, though his jaw was shattered and he was barely able to speak, he forced out so gaping, bloody words.
"Ethan... even like this... I’ve won this round... you’re finished!"
"I’m finished? You an, my craft factory? But Virel is there." Ethan shook his head as he looked at him, a gesture of both lant and mockery at how foolish he was.
"Impossible!" Lewis’s eyes widened.
No, it couldn’t be.
If Virel was at the craft factory, then the Cabreya Clan...
"Your plan was indeed clever, persuading Palon to betray , then letting Virel go for pacification, attacking the craft factory, to lure down the mountain and kill , leaving nothing of for the world to see, brilliant."
Ethan clapped lightly.
"Unfortunately, you overlooked two things: one, Vincent, and two... Palon didn’t dare betray , he had already told everything long ago."
All Lewis could do now was breathe heavily, his eyes bloodshot and red.
"Say goodbye to this world, Lewis."
Vincent grabbed his throat, and with his strength, could crush Lewis’s throat if he applied pressure.
"Stop."
But the next mont, a voice suddenly broke the air.
When this voice rang out, it seed even the wind in the air and the waves behind them paused for a mont.
At the sa ti, three gunshots rang out together, striking Vincent from ingenious angles.
Vincent, after freezing for a second, had to release Lewis and dodge.
Ethan and Anya fired towards the source of the gunfire.
"Impossible to hit."
The voice spoke again.
Then, a man appeared before them, shielding Lewis behind him.
Indeed, the bullets didn’t hit him, and he had ti to dust off his clothes.
Like Lewis, this man was dressed in black leather, around his early twenties, wearing gold-rimd glasses, looking gentle and refined.
Yet Ethan sensed an aura of nace from him.
Ethan’s gun was already aid at him.
"Ladies and gentlen, I ca here to take my inept colleague back ho. While he’s indeed inept, to the point even I find him laughably foolish, I can’t let you kill him here... hmm? You killed him?"
Only then did he realize Lewis was already dead; apparently, when Vincent released him, he had squeezed his throat, breaking it, right amidst the gunfire.
Vincent tilted his head with a ’so what?’ expression.
Ethan, however, smiled: "Agent, don’t talk nonsense. Who killed him? We only saw Agent Lewis accidentally break his own neck."
"You... well played, Ethan... Bolita."
The bespectacled agent, initially enraged, now laughed instead. He adjusted his glasses and said:
"Oh, by the way, let introduce myself. I’m Albertine Court, a newly assigned Prohibition Agent, just transferred from the Royal Capital. Ethan, I won’t forget what happened today, so let’s get along in the future."
He slightly bowed, full of etiquette.
But the next mont, a dense cloud of smoke surged suddenly beneath his feet.
Ethan imdiately moved back with Anya, sensing the malice within the smoke.
"No need to look for him; he’s gone."
After a while, Vincent spoke in the gradually dispersing smoke.
His gaze fixed in one direction.
There, Albertine Court was carrying Lewis’s corpse, darting swiftly agilely like a kangaroo rat, already many yards away.
"Should’ve finished him off too." Vincent shook his blood-stained hand.
"There’ll be a chance." Ethan said that, but his eyes were on Albertine’s receding figure.
This man, whom he had just t, was indeed a formidable opponent.
But, there’d always be a way.
"I suddenly rembered, don’t you have sothing important going on up the mountain today? Was it delayed?" Vincent suddenly asked after a mont of silence.
"No, I finished early." Ethan turned his gaze toward the cliffs where Winster University stood.
"Let’s go ho."
The snow, which had been gathering in the sky all day, finally began to fall.
——————
When the snow fell, within Winster University.
People were still waiting for Ethan’s work.
The falling snow captured people’s attention.
Fortunately, the banquet was being held in a semi-outdoor area with a glass canopy, so the snow couldn’t reach everyone.
But it seed it was getting late.
The ti was also nearing four-thirty.
Only half an hour remained until the final mont.
So were growing impatient with the wait, privately approaching Loren to say a few things.
Ramon happened to overhear and spoke loudly: "Ladies and gentlen, it’s getting late. Why not send soone to check Ethan’s progress? If he can’t finish, let’s not waste everyone’s ti. After all, if the snow gets heavier and it gets dark, it won’t be easy to descend the mountain."
Many present nodded, El’s face turned extrely grim, and his previously self-induced confidence plumted.
Seeing that Loren was about to nod in agreent, El quickly said: "Principal, let go check, after all, he’s my student."
Loren nodded in agreent.
El hurried towards the classroom, purposely slowing his steps to buy Ethan ti and because he dreaded the looming outco.
What if... Ethan hadn’t painted anything?
Upon finally reaching the classroom, his heart sank when he found Ethan was no longer there.
He ran away?!
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