Chapter 362: Residential Building Explosion

Chapter 362: Chapter 362: Residential Building Explosion

The workshop manager’s voice was laced with guilt.

He never expected that his brother-in-law, who usually seemed so tough, would have caved so quickly and told them everything.

"Alright, I have a clear picture of what happened now. Neither of you is getting away with this!" The older police officer pointed at the workshop manager, then left amid the man’s frantic shouts.

Once they confessed, the rest of the case was much simpler.

The motive for killing Walter Newton was also simple: a few years ago, he had witnessed the two of them murdering a minor.

He hadn’t said anything at first because he planned to use it as leverage to blackmail the factory manager and the workshop manager whenever he was short on cash.

To score some spending money.

But he never expected that instead of getting money, he would lose his life.

The factory manager and the workshop manager confessed to their crimes without reservation. They had preyed on a minor and then brutally murdered another person.

They had used machinery from the food factory, which had a severe impact on the market and would certainly affect the factory’s sales.

Due to the heinous nature of the case, the factory manager and the workshop manager were both sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.

Although the factory manager had many young mistresses, no illegitimate children surfaced. All assets under his name were awarded to his wife and daughter.

Arthur Sullivan was fired from the factory for embezzlement.

However, because he promptly returned the extra wages he had taken, the factory suffered no financial loss. Furthermore, he had actively provided clues that were crucial in solving the case.

The police department decided not to press charges and granted him leniency.

Arthur Sullivan carried his things, his steps heavy as he walked toward home.

His job was gone, and so was his income. He was still short on the money for Lacey’s surgery.

’Maybe I should find a food delivery job to tide me over for now?’

Just as Arthur Sullivan was looking down, pondering his next steps, a woman holding her child stood before him.

"Arthur, thank you for exposing them. This is for you. It’s a small token from my daughter and me."

"Please, consider it our contribution to Lacey’s medical expenses," the factory manager’s wife said gently as she handed Arthur Sullivan a card.

If Arthur Sullivan hadn’t turned himself in, the matter likely would have dragged on for a long time before being resolved.

Arthur Sullivan looked at the bank card being offered to him, pursed his lips, and asked the question on his mind. "You had evidence. You could have gone to the police yourself. Why did you wait until after they were arrested to come forward as a witness?"

The factory manager’s wife shook her head and gestured at her surroundings, her tone tinged with sarcasm. "Just like you were being watched at the factory, my daughter and I were also living under that man’s surveillance."

"He was afraid I would cheat on him, that I’d cuckold him. From the time I left the house to the messages on my phone, nothing escaped his notice."

The factory manager knew he was plain-looking, so when he married a beautiful young wife, he naturally projected his own unfaithful tendencies onto her.

He was constantly convinced his wife would betray him.

Arthur Sullivan opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what to say.

He’d never imagined the factory manager would treat his own wife and daughter that way.

"Anyway, you’ve been through a lot. Please, take this money as compensation from our family."

"Focus on getting Lacey healthy first. If you still need a job after that, I can help you find one." The factory manager’s wife smiled at Arthur Sullivan, then left with her daughter.

She didn’t know anything about business, so she would leave it to the professionals to handle. All she had to do was collect the profits each month.

He watched her leave, then looked down at the bank card in his hand, a note with the PIN stuck to it.

Arthur Sullivan clenched his fist. ’Whatever her motives are, the most important thing is to get Lacey’s surgery done.’

Meanwhile, Zoe Sawyer was slumped over her desk, listlessly fiddling with a blank sheet of paper.

Ever since resolving the last request for help, she’d been idle again.

No cases were coming to her, and the ones she actively tried to sense were resolved in a heartbeat.

Sigh.

The next second, Zoe Sawyer shot to her feet.

To the astonishment of everyone in the office, Zoe Sawyer strode to the door, grabbed the handle, and opened it.

An 18-story residential building. Residents were coming and going, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary at all.

Zoe’s eyes filled with confusion. ’Everything here looks fine!’

The security seemed solid, the neighborhood seemed fine, the passersby looked untroubled, and there wasn’t even any construction going on.

’There’s nothing wrong here!’

’So why did the door suddenly give me a warning?’

’And such an urgent one, at that!’

’A fire? An earthquake? Or something falling from a great height?’

’Could it be a vicious serial killer?’

Zoe subconsciously scanned the area for landmarks and a clock, anything that would help her pinpoint the exact location later.

Soon, Zoe’s gaze was drawn to a security booth not far away.

Above the booth was a large electronic screen that randomly displayed introductions to nearby attractions. Below it, the current time was also displayed.

’It’s happening tomorrow. There’s still time!’

When the time on the screen hit 11:10 AM, the 18-story residential building next to it suddenly exploded.

Countless chunks of debris rained down from the sky, striking the stunned pedestrians below.

Wails of agony erupted everywhere as countless struck passersby clutched their wounds and cried out in pain.

But a second later, an even more violent explosion rocked the area.

Shards of glass and rubble flew out, smashing into nearby buildings and expanding the impact zone. The electronic screen was also hit by a projectile and completely destroyed.

Soon, ambulances, fire trucks, and other emergency vehicles screeched to a halt outside the residential complex.

Paramedics and firefighters leaped from their vehicles, rushing to the scene as fast as they could to begin treating the wounded and launching a search and rescue operation.

As the wounded and the mangled bodies of the dead were carried out of the bombed-out building one by one, the sound of weeping from the crowd grew louder.

"It’s a good thing most of the kids were still at school. Otherwise, the casualties would have been much worse," a woman in the crowd of onlookers couldn’t help but remark, clucking her tongue.

"And the weather was great today. Aside from the office workers and students who are already out, a good number of the elderly brought their little grandkids downstairs to play."

"If not, the situation would have been even more dire," the person beside her chimed in.

The building was severely damaged, which impeded the firefighters’ progress on the floors above the tenth, slowing the search for victims.

It wasn’t until after 4:00 PM that the entire building had been searched once, and all the injured found inside had been brought out.

"Captain, the current count is five dead and thirty injured. The numbers have been confirmed, and no one is unaccounted for."

"The families of the victims are on their way back and should be here soon," one of the firefighters reported to his captain.

The captain stood before the building with his hands behind his back, turning to look back at it.

"Have we found the source of the explosion?"