Chapter 579: Punishing the Traitors
After the initial greetings, Evelyn Ford informed everyone about the Hooper family.
"Aside from the women they married later and the children born from those marriages, I’ve tied up everyone else and brought them back into the space. Mr. Vance, Mr. Lowell, this family is entirely at your disposal. As for the members of the Hooper family we didn’t bring, without Mr. Hooper’s protection and without the food factory, they’ve lost all their value. You can imagine what will happen to them."
"The Hooper family..."
Taylor Vance clenched his fists. He pursed his lips and squeezed his eyes shut. He was far from calm. After so many years, he’d thought he could face the Hooper family with a composed heart. But now that the moment was here, he realized the rage inside him hadn’t faded in the slightest. A vicious glint flashed in his eyes as he recalled what the Hooper and Holloway families had done.
"Evelyn, Ronan, thank you for all your trouble. Zion Lowell and I would like to see them. May we?"
Evelyn Ford nodded. "Of course."
Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick led them into the mining area of the space. The members of the Hooper family were sprawled haphazardly on the ground. They had been fed Soft Bone Pills and couldn’t muster a shred of strength. That, combined with severe blood loss, meant Hooper and Mr. Hooper were already breathing their last.
"They’ve taken the Soft Bone Pills. Mr. Vance, Mr. Lowell, just call out if you need me. I’ll be able to sense it. Ronan and I will head out now."
Taylor Vance nodded. "Alright."
After Evelyn and Ronan left, Taylor Vance slowly walked toward Mr. Hooper. Seeing each other again after so many years, they could barely recognize one another. Both Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell had aged considerably. Their hair was shot with gray and their faces were lined with wrinkles, yet their gazes were firmer and gentler than they had been years ago.
Mr. Hooper was panting heavily, muttering curses under his breath. His narrow eyes drooped, his complexion was a deathly gray, and he seemed to reek of death. He stared at Taylor Vance for several minutes before his eyes widened, as if realization were slowly dawning on him. They filled with terror and disbelief. How could he not be afraid, when a man he thought long dead was now standing right in front of him, alive and well?
"Taylor Vance?"
"It’s me." Taylor Vance squatted in front of him, his eyes full of pity.
"Hooper, it’s not easy living to be your age. How did you let yourself get into such a state?"
Mr. Hooper’s mouth gaped open. Two streams of tears suddenly flowed from his cloudy eyes. These weren’t tears of joy; they were tears of terror. The moment he saw Taylor Vance, he knew he wasn’t going to make it out alive. Taylor Vance might look gentle and refined, but in reality, he was anything but a merciful man.
"Hooper, I never thought I’d see you again in this lifetime. What a pleasant surprise. Do you remember Old Man Holloway? I wonder if he’s still alive. He had a stroke many years ago, you know. Lived a grand life, only to end up a living corpse. Don’t you think he got exactly what he deserved? I wonder if his sons are treating him well. Then again, I hear his sons have become cripples themselves."
Mr. Hooper’s mouth was still bleeding. Seeing that bloody maw where his teeth had been knocked out, Taylor Vance took a slight step back in disgust.
"For years, I’ve dreamed of finding you, chopping you to pieces, and feeding you to the dogs. But now that I see you, I’ve changed my mind. What did the dogs do to deserve having to eat the flesh of scum like you?"
Taylor Vance pulled a dagger from his coat and viciously stabbed it into Mr. Hooper’s thigh.
"ARGH..." Mr. Hooper let out an agonized scream. His eyes were bloodshot, and his mustache twitched spastically.
"Brace yourself. That was only the first cut. You stole the food that could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives at Wyrmrest Base. So you tell me, how many times should I stab you and your family to make things right?"
Mr. Hooper passed out from the pain, no longer able to make a sound. Blood sprayed onto Taylor Vance’s clothes, but he seemed not to notice as he plunged the knife in a second time.
"The Hooper family, the Holloway family, and everyone who worked for you... the moment you poisoned the officials and stole all the supplies and food, you forfeited your right to be citizens of this country. On behalf of the government, I hereby strip you and every member of the Hooper family of your citizenship! I am punishing you for the crime of treason. Do you admit your guilt?"
Mr. Hooper spat out a mouthful of blood. He knew his crimes were monstrous, that he had failed his country, but he still couldn’t accept hearing the word "treason."
"No, I’m not guilty! I didn’t commit treason!"
Taylor Vance’s expression turned cold. "How is what you did any different from treason? While hundreds of thousands of residents faced a life-or-death crisis, you stole all the food. That was hundreds of thousands of people—hundreds of thousands of lives! Without that food, do you have any idea how many starved to death? How many died from sickness? You don’t deserve to be a citizen. Every last one of you in the Hooper family deserves to die and go to hell."
"It had nothing to do with me! It was my uncle’s idea! I didn’t know anything! Spare me, I’m begging you, spare my life! I don’t want to die! I’m not a traitor!" Hooper shrieked desperately. He had lost too much blood; without treatment, he likely wouldn’t last the day.
The others immediately began to shift the blame. They had all enjoyed the spoils and the power that came from trading them, but now, not one of them was willing to stand with Mr. Hooper and share his fate.
They hurled the most vicious insults they could think of at Mr. Hooper, calling him a traitor, cursing his greed, damning his incompetence...
Watching the family tear each other apart, Taylor Vance found the scene utterly absurd and pathetic.
The father was no father, and the sons were no sons.
If they could abandon their own family, what else was there to say?
"None of you will escape." Taylor Vance raised his blood-drenched knife. "Traitors deserve death by a thousand cuts."
***
"Mr. Vance and Mr. Lowell will be alright, won’t they? They’ve been in there for hours."
Evelyn Ford shook her head. "They’ll be fine. This has become a demon Mr. Vance has to exorcise. It’s best to let them handle it themselves."
"There’s no justice in this world! So many good people didn’t make it, but scum like them get to live high on the hog." Quincy’s eyes were red with anger.
"But Evelyn and Ronan still caught these traitors in the end, didn’t they?" Miles Vaughn, who had also been a victim, added. "Traitors will be hunted to the ends of the earth and executed. There’s no escape." Back then, there wasn’t a single grain of food to be found in Wyrmrest Base, and he and his brother, Wyatt Vaughn, had nearly starved to death.
"I’m just worried about Mr. Vance and Mr. Lowell right now. I’m afraid the emotional rollercoaster will be too much for them physically."
Officer Graham sighed. "For all these years, the one thing that’s kept them going has been the drive to find those traitors and deal with them personally. Once they’re done with the Hooper family, they’ll lose that pillar of support. I’m afraid..."
Officer Graham’s words made everyone tense.
"They’ve been through thick and thin. They’re not going to collapse over this," Ethan Dawson said, feeling everyone was worrying too much.
Quincy clapped Ethan Dawson on the shoulder. "You don’t get it. Mr. Vance and Mr. Lowell suffered immensely back in the Savage Tribe. They’re deeply traumatized, both physically and mentally. They were suicidal at one point. If it weren’t for their determination to find the traitors, they wouldn’t have held on this long."
"But shouldn’t they be happy now that they’ve dealt with the bad guys? Vance and Lowell will be happy, that’s all." Zoe tilted her head as she looked at everyone. ’Why do grown-ups always make things so complicated?’ she wondered.