Molly stared at Eric in astonishment, having no idea what Eric meant by that. He was no more the
dandy young master she had known all along. Molly lost herself in Eric's unusual behavior as if falling
into a dream. But what Eric had said still echoed in her ear. It was so real that she realized that this was
not a dream. She unintentionally pushed Eric away, forgetting that he was injured too. As a result, Eric
lost control of his body and fell back. No sooner had Eric begun to fall than Molly realized what she had
done. She got so frantic that she immediately leaned forward to snatch him. Eric took this opportunity
and pulled Molly into his arms again.
"I meant what I said, Little Molly," Eric calmed himself down, lowering his voice, "I have this special
feeling for you. I'm not joking. Nor am I saying this because Brian pissed me off. I love you, Little Molly."
Molly's senses were numbed and she couldn't think anymore. Eric's confession of his love for her
shocked her. His words threw her off. The confession was so unexpected that her brain turned blank.
She was so startled that she even forgot all her sorrows of not being able to talk.
Eric sighed as he sensed Molly's shocked embarrassment and her rigid response. In a depressed tone,
he said, "I know that you don't believe me. But I will try my best to prove the honesty in every word I
said."
To Eric's surprise, Molly's lips curled to flash a mild smile when she heard his words. But it was not a
pleasant smile. It was laced with sadness.
Molly didn't want to give his words a second thought. It didn't matter whether Eric was being honest or
not. She was tired. It was not wise to seek protection from other people. After all, she had to face all
her problems on her own. She had learnt her lesson from all her previous experiences.
Eric felt uneasy by Molly's silence, which was not the result of her physical incapability. To some extent,
that was tantamount to her refusal. But he ignored the seemingly plain truth and chose to believe
otherwise.
The City Hall in A City.
Edgar stood alone on the rooftop of the City Hall, looking into the distance. He had a cup of coffee in
his hand, which had turned cold due to the freezing temperature of the winter day.
Bill had been waiting on Edgar for quite a while. He assumed that Edgar had not seen him coming.
With no intention of interrupting Edgar, Bill just waited at the entrance of the rooftop in silence.
Edgar tore his gaze away from the far distance after a long while. He asked without turning around,
"Did you find anything, Bill?"
"Yes, there is some useful information," Bill replied immediately, "Mr. Brian Long has Steven hidden
somewhere in Sunset Town. But I have no idea where he is. Mr. Brian Long has a number of farmlands
in Sunset Town under his name. Our people have no access to them."
Edgar placed the coffee cup on the platform of the handrail before turning around. Leaning against the
handrail in a comfortable posture, he asked in a leisure manner, "It looks like Brian has indeed taken
some actions against Mr. Yan, hasn't he?"
"Probably, if all our information are accurate," Bill replied with a nod, "Rumor is that Howard failed his
mission again. And this time, it looks like he got hurt."
"You have looked into it in detail. Good job." The Mayor flashed a brilliant smile at Bill to show his
appreciation.
Bill inadvertently raised his chin, proud of his abilities to acquire intelligence. He replied, "I used to
serve in the army's intelligence squad and all my subordinates are intelligent soldiers as well. In spite of
their abilities in acquiring intelligence, however, they have failed to find out any accurate information. At
any rate, we have some clues which we can follow."
With that smile still on his face, Edgar shook his head and said in a serious tone, "Do not
underestimate Howard. We are right in the middle of conflicts between the two factions. Since Mr. Yan
had to take the commanding role in the strife in person, he must have plotted everything well. Just as
Major General Zeng had ordered, I assume we cannot advocate our plans as expected. We have to
tolerate for some more time and let some of these incidents pass unseen."
Edgar turned around to look into the distance again. It was cloudy that night. Due to the dim lights, he
could not see too far, though he tried to look as far as possible.
"Mayor," said Bill with a frown, "Since we have dug out quite a lot of their secrets from the past,
wouldn't it be a waste of time and energy if we just let it go without doing anything?"
"Major General Zeng gave an order. There is no way we can change his decision. We have to obey."
Edgar's voice sounded regretful. He was confident that he could find the truth regarding the causes
which had led to Steven's defeat in the war many years ago, if he was given more time. Then there
would be a possibility for him to reverse the wrong verdict which was given against Molly's father in the
military court. Would he be able to mend his relationship with Molly by doing that for her father? Was
there a possibility that she would fall in love with him again?
Edgar felt a heavy loss in his heart as he thought about her. He took out his cell phone from his pocket
and checked the screen. Molly had said that she would call him. But two days had passed and there
was no call from her.
"Oh! There's one more thing, Mayor," Bill said, all of a sudden as he recalled something he had missed,
"I was told that a waitress in the Grand Night Casino helped a customer cheat last night. She was
beaten up. The waitress..." Edgar swiftly turned around before Bill could finish speaking. Under the
Mayor's sharp and furious gaze, Bill stopped and swallowed silently to steady himself. Then, he
continued with a falter, "Her name is Molly."
"How could that be possible?" Edgar roared, his voice terrifying and also worried, "Did Brian know that
she was being beaten? Did he allow that to happen?"
Bill shrugged in reply. He had just heard in vague details about the incident. He would not have pried
into it if the Mayor hadn't paid too much attention to that girl. "I know very little about the specifics. But
Mr. Brian Long didn't seem to know about it," said Bill at last.
Edgar lifted his eyes to cast a look at Bill before walking down from the rooftop.
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