Chapter 596 - 592: Joy Turns to Sorrow

After calling out several times with no response, the traffic cop said to his colleague, "I suspect he was drunk driving and passed out. He probably stopped the car on instinct before blacking out."

The other officer nodded. "I’ll go fifty meters back and set up a warning triangle. Let’s just wait for the regular police to get here."

Monkey, standing off to the side, grew a little nervous. ’Please don’t make me leave,’ he thought. ’I still have to film this.’

But then, the first traffic cop suddenly looked over at him. "Young man, when the police arrive, I need you to tell them what you saw."

Monkey jolted and nodded quickly.

Golden Blade and Caelum were watching the situation unfold from their car. Caelum muttered, "Blade, you don’t think Owen Griffin crapped himself to death in there, do you?"

"Can you actually crap yourself to death?" Golden Blade took him seriously, instantly breaking out in a cold sweat.

Caelum quickly backtracked. "No, that’s not possible. The guy who sold us the stuff said it wasn’t that strong. Who’s ever heard of someone crapping their pants to death?"

As the two were talking, someone suddenly knocked on the driver’s side window, making Golden Blade jump.

He turned to see it was the traffic cop who had gone to set up the warning triangle.

Golden Blade quickly rolled down the window, a welcoming smile on his face. "Hello, Officer."

"The car up ahead has been in an incident. You can’t park here. Move along," the officer reminded them pleasantly.

Golden Blade didn’t dare argue and nodded quickly. But just as he was about to drive away, the officer stopped him again. "Hold on."

Golden Blade looked at the officer, confused. Before he could say a word, a breathalyzer was shoved toward his mouth. "Alright, blow into this!"

The officer had a sharp eye. One look at Golden Blade’s flushed face and he was almost certain the kid had been drinking.

Golden Blade was dumbstruck. He had been so focused on Owen Griffin getting caught for drunk driving that he’d completely forgotten he’d also had a free Long Island Iced Tea at the bar.

An extra-strong one, at that!

"Blade, blow into it!" Caelum urged, cluelessly nudging Golden Blade. He just wanted him to get it over with so they could leave before arousing suspicion.

Golden Blade snapped out of it and, clinging to a sliver of hope, blew gently into the device.

The device immediately beeped. Golden Blade’s expression froze. ’I’m screwed!’ he thought.

Caelum was stunned too, staring at Golden Blade in disbelief.

「Hearthstone Villas. The Sterling Residence.」

From the entertainment room in the basement, the crisp clatter of tiles could be faintly heard, mixed with the sound of voices.

"Two of Characters."

Cecilia Sterling leaned back in a plush chair, holding a glass of juice in one hand as she discarded a tile with the other.

Just as Ethan Sterling was about to draw a tile, his mother, sitting opposite him, called out, "Pong. Nine of Bamboos."

Cecilia Sterling drew a tile. She rubbed her finger over its face and smiled. "Mahjong."

She flipped it over to reveal a Four of Characters, then laid down her hand with a smile. "Waiting on the One, Four, and Seven of Characters."

Ethan Sterling pouted. "Mom, that was a great Pong. You let my sister win on a self-draw."

"Is there a rule against making a Pong in mahjong?" Jasmine Sterling chimed in.

Beside them, Lily Sterling craned her neck to peer into Ethan’s box of chips. "Let me see how much you’ve lost."

Ethan slapped a hand over it and turned away. "Don’t look! The three of you are ganging up on me to win my money. I’m the only one losing here!"

They all laughed at his words. Cecilia said, "Isn’t your money my money? And Mom’s money? And your older sister’s money?"

Ethan was the only one in the family who wasn’t earning his own money yet. All the cash he had was given to him by his sisters and his mother, so she wasn’t wrong.

Ethan said with a pained expression, "I think you guys are setting me up. I mean, I’m a science genius. How could I possibly be this bad at mahjong?"

"You just have bad luck with the tiles," Lily said. "It doesn’t matter how smart you are if you keep drawing a bad hand."

Even if he managed not to discard a winning tile for someone else, he couldn’t stop them from winning by self-draw, so he still had to pay up.

Jasmine Sterling checked the time. "Whoa, we’ve been playing since after dinner. It’s past two, almost three in the morning. Shouldn’t we wash up and get to bed?"

Cecilia and Lily both nodded in agreement, but Ethan protested, "No way! I still want to win my money back!"

"Win your money back, my foot. Are you really trying to pull an all-nighter?" Lily said, helping their mother head up to the main floor.

Just then, Ethan’s phone rang. He hadn’t put it on silent, and the sudden noise startled both him and his sister.

Cecilia glanced over, asking curiously, "Who’s calling you at this hour?"

When Ethan saw the caller ID, he froze. ’Golden Blade?’

He quickly answered. The voice on the other end belonged to Golden Blade, who seemed to be making the call in secret, because he spoke in a rapid-fire whisper. "Ethan? I’m at the Prosperity Road Traffic Police Detachment. We went after Owen Griffin tonight and got busted for drunk driving. Can you...?"

The call ended before he could finish.

But Ethan had heard enough.

’Golden Blade and the others went to cause trouble for Owen Griffin, but they got caught for drunk driving?’

Cecilia hadn’t left yet and was still watching her brother curiously. Seeing his expression shift to one of shock, she instinctively knitted her brows. "What’s wrong?"

Ethan slowly looked up at his sister. "Sis, I need you to do me a favor..."

「Prosperity Road Traffic Police Detachment. 4:30 AM.」

Golden Blade was locked in a room by himself. He huddled in a corner, cold and tired, his heart a pit of despair.

He didn’t know if Ethan had heard him clearly, and he had no idea if Ethan would even come to bail him out.

He’d been caught making the secret phone call, and his phone had been confiscated.

The silence was broken by the sound of a door opening. A traffic cop stood in the doorway and said to him, "Greg Lawson, you’re free to go."

A flicker of joy lit up Golden Blade’s face, and he quickly straightened up.

On the street outside the traffic police station, Caelum and Monkey were waiting. They weren’t alone; Ethan Sterling was with them.

They were all sitting in Ethan’s car. Monkey was showing Ethan the footage he’d shot, explaining as he did, "Ethan, you have no idea what it was like. Blade and Caelum just got busted for drunk driving out of nowhere. Blade got taken away, the car got impounded... Caelum and I were totally stunned."

"Then the regular cops showed up, and after them, the paramedics arrived."

"That guy, Owen Griffin, had passed out in his car. He woke up on his own. Look at that massive lump on his head—he knocked himself out."

The phone screen showed Owen Griffin being dragged out of his car by the police and paramedics. His rear end and the car seat were covered in filth.

Monkey continued, "Oh man, the smell in that car... when they opened the door, the stench almost knocked me and the cops out."

Ethan’s brow was tightly furrowed as he watched. Finally, completely grossed out, he quickly handed the phone back to Monkey.

"What you guys did was way too risky," Ethan said, looking at them with a sense of lingering fear. But more than that, he was deeply moved.

Never mind whether what Golden Blade and his friends did was right or wrong; the simple fact that they had stood up for him was enough to move him deeply.

Caelum quickly chimed in, "It wasn’t risky! This was a plan our man Blade spent a month cooking up. It went off without a hitch! See? Owen Griffin got what was coming to him, right? Something this humiliating... he’d be too embarrassed to even try and investigate it. He’ll just have to suck it up."

"But Blade getting busted for drunk driving was a total accident. It was just... our luck ran out. He completely forgot he’d been drinking!"