Chapter 577: Dog-Eat-Dog
"You think you’re so great? Back in high school, you were driving without a license and killed an old woman selling knitted slippers at her street stall. Since you were a minor, you got away with paying a few tens of thousands and never even saw the inside of a detention center. In college, you got a girl pregnant. You didn’t want to take responsibility, so you threw a few thousand at her and just disappeared. That girl went to a back-alley clinic for an abortion and bled to death on the operating table. Her parents protested at the school gate, demanding justice, but your bodyguards dragged them into an alley and beat them until they were paralyzed."
Mr. Hooper sneered. "A good-for-nothing playboy like you, who only knows how to eat, drink, and ruin the Hooper family name, doesn’t deserve to be alive."
Mr. Hooper’s eyes turned scarlet with rage. He hated it most when people called him a wastrel. He had an older brother, the heir their father had meticulously groomed. Growing up, his brother had outshone him in everything. It wasn’t until after the nematode outbreak at Wyrmrest Base, when his brother was assassinated, that he was left as his father’s only biological son. Only then did his father begin to treat him with any real regard.
But after all these years, he still lived in his older brother’s shadow. His father would rather entrust the food factory to several of his cousins than even consider letting him take over.
Mr. Hooper gritted his teeth, staring at his father and his cousins.
"You leeches! You vampires! If the old man hadn’t taken you in for the sake of my dead Second Uncle, you would have died at the start of the apocalypse! All these years, you’ve been eating our food, living in our house... Don’t think I don’t know what you’re plotting! You’re just waiting for the old man to die so you can kick me out and take the food factory for yourselves! I’m telling you, fat chance! I’m cleaning house today! Get the hell out of my house! Nothing in this house has a damn thing to do with you! Without the food factory, without the old man’s protection, you can just wait to starve to death on the streets as refugees."
Mr. Hooper looked utterly deranged. If not for the hemp ropes binding him, he probably would have started beating his cousins.
"Old man, I’m your only son now! Not only do you refuse to help me, you side with these outsiders, letting them live in our house and carve up what’s mine! You’re the one who deserves to die most! Big Brother died because of your favoritism! If you hadn’t arranged such a high position for him at Wyrmrest Base, he wouldn’t have become a target, and he wouldn’t have been assassinated! Big Brother’s death is all your fault!"
Mr. Hooper stared blankly at his son. His mouth moved, but no words came out.
"And you think *they’re* any better? When he was in college, Mr. Hooper broke up his professor’s relationship and became the other man. Mr. Hooper kept several mistresses on the side, embezzled funds, and evaded taxes. And Hooper is the worst of all, the most cunning! He’s the one who should die! He’s not even your son, yet you gave him all your affection!"
Mr. Hooper shrieked, his voice raw, "Why?! How can you be so biased?"
Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick took a few steps back, crossing their arms to watch the family tear itself apart.
Mr. Hooper grew red in the face with anger. He wanted to retort, but everything Mr. Hooper had said was true. The Hooper Family’s prestigious reputation was just a facade; in reality, they were rotten to the core. Other than the patriarch’s deceased eldest son, who had some sense, none of the nephews or nieces were decent people, nor were they particularly smart.
Hooper, who had been kicked aside by Evelyn Ford, woke up. Hearing the Hooper Family members cursing each other out, he was too scared to make a sound, shrinking into a corner and trying to be invisible. Evelyn Ford’s brow twitched. She walked over and dragged him in front of the rest of the Hooper Family.
After Evelyn Ford took out a pair of scissors and cut the hemp ropes binding them, the Hooper Family didn’t try to escape. Instead, they lunged at each other, trading blows. Mr. Hooper hadn’t even stood up before Mr. Hooper accidentally punched him in the face. He staggered and fell to the ground, only to be stomped on by another Mr. Hooper.
Evelyn Ford held a bullhorn and continued to fan the flames. "Whoever has done the most evil will be the first to die."
Trading punches and kicks, the Hooper Family members had lost all reason. They glared at each other as if they were mortal enemies, spilling all of each other’s dirty secrets.
"Back at Wyrmrest Base, you all conspired with the Holloway Family! You poisoned the base officials, not only did you make off with all the supplies, you also killed the base administrators and kidnapped many of the scientists!" Hooper pointed at the others, his face covered in bloody scratches from Mr. Hooper.
"I was young then, I didn’t know anything! I wasn’t involved in any of it!"
Hearing the two words "Wyrmrest Base," Evelyn Ford’s expression instantly darkened.
"You two, they’re the ones who’ve done the worst things! I was just a kid; what I did is child’s play compared to them! Have you heard of Wyrmrest Base? It’s a base in the south that used to have over a million people. After the acid rain, it became uninhabitable. My uncle and Mr. Holloway decided to steal all the supplies in the base. They poisoned and killed a lot of people, too! Once Wyrmrest Base had no supplies, the hundreds of thousands of residents left behind were doomed. They have the blood of hundreds of thousands on their hands! They’re the truly evil ones!"
Hearing Hooper’s accusations, the rest of the Hooper Family were both shocked and furious. Even Mr. Hooper scrambled to his feet, grabbing a rock and glaring at Hooper with pure hatred.
"Bullshit! I’ll beat you to death!"
Hooper limped behind Evelyn Ford. "They’re trying to kill me! Help! They’ve completely lost their humanity!"
"Enough. I know who has done the most evil."
Evelyn Ford raised her pistol and pressed the muzzle directly against Mr. Hooper’s temple.
"All those supplies and all that food from Wyrmrest Base... is it all gone?"
Mr. Hooper was trembling like a leaf. "N-no. Mr. Holloway and I had a disagreement on the way. He went to Southward Taryn Base, and I came to Lanfel. We split the food and supplies fifty-fifty. In order to establish a foothold in Lyra, I had to hand over two-thirds of my share to the Lyra officials just to get the permit to open a food factory."
"And after all these years, your Hooper Family has just been living better and better. Heaven must be blind. You stole the life-saving food of hundreds of thousands of people, all just to get a permit to open a food factory."
Evelyn Ford raised her hand and slapped Mr. Hooper across the face. His teeth had just been knocked out, and his mouth was full of blood. Her slap nearly killed him.
The other members of the Hooper Family watched Evelyn Ford with terror and unease. The two Mr. Hoopers wanted to run.
"BANG! BANG! BANG..." After a series of gunshots, all of the Hooper Family members had been shot in the legs.
"AHH..." A series of screams rang out. Evelyn Ford’s lips twitched into a small smirk.
’They can’t die yet. They still have to kneel and atone before Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell.’
"Who the hell are you people?" Mr. Hooper’s menacing eyes were fixed on Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick.
His face was covered in dark bruises from the brawl, his clothes were torn, and he had lost all shred of dignity.
Evelyn Ford twirled the gun in her hand. "We’re survivors from Wyrmrest Base. Surprised? Didn’t see that coming, did you?"