Mythology Rebooted
Chapter 269 - 143: Life is Like a Journey

Chapter 269: Chapter 143: Life is Like a Journey

The two returned to the bar and just happened to run into the mayor’s wife coming out.

Clark approached to chat her up, a common and easy-to-understand bar joke making the mayor’s wife burst into laughter, her legs going weak from mirth.

His face was like a charm spell in itself; the mayor’s wife warmly invited him to visit her home and mentioned her husband was not at home.

Clark was overjoyed, "Elegant lady, I must confess, the moment I saw you, I was captivated by your charm..."

"Ahem! Ahem!"

Wayne coughed twice, fist to mouth. Enough with the flirting—time to get down to some serious business.

Clark curled his lip, thinking to himself that he had brought along a real killjoy. Still, he graciously accepted the mayor’s wife’s invitation to tour the mayor’s mansion.

In the living room, Wayne pushed Clark aside and stuffed a mushroom into the mayor’s wife’s mouth, pressing for information on the history and events surrounding the gold mine.

The matter of the gold mine was incredibly complex, but to cut a long story short, it was simple.

Silent Ridge had an abandoned copper mine for many years, and recently there had been news about discovering gold there. Using his power and influence, the mayor suppressed the news from spreading, intending to purchase the land where the copper mine stood at a low price.

Mona was simply acting out of a sense of justice, disliking such local bullying tactics. While she was collecting evidence in secret, she was discovered by the mayor’s thugs.

Carrying police officers along, the thugs took action, and without offering resistance, Mona drove towards Silent Ridge.

"Welsh and Dunn headed to Silent Ridge together; Dunn said that woman had a significant background and didn’t want the gold mine taken away, that they needed to commit murder to cover it all up..."

The mayor’s wife swallowed the mushroom, her expression dazed, turning into an unfeeling answering machine: "Dunn is very capable, Welsh’s distant cousin, and Welsh owes his mayorship to Dunn’s help, so he holds him in high regard..."

"I don’t know who Dunn is. He likes to be alone, hardly interacting with others apart from Welsh. A Mage, perhaps, he can do things that defy imagination..."

"The gold mine is at Elemental Mountain..."

"Hold on!"

Wayne raised his hand to stop her, "What element, be more specific."

"The elements from the periodic table," the mayor’s wife replied blankly.

"..."

Wayne fell silent—he realized his mistake, getting too worked up over this.

He walked to the side of the living room, scrutinizing the map on the wall, memorizing the geographical distribution of Eclipse Town, Silent Ridge, and Elemental Mountain.

On the large map, Silent Ridge and Elemental Mountain weren’t marked; the mayor’s house map was so detailed it included every corner, village, river, and traffic route with clarity.

Meanwhile, Clark had begun his questioning. He was very interested in Dunn and inquired about his residence.

"Dunn has no residence in town; he comes once a month, staying in a room on the top floor. Every time he comes, Welsh gives him a lot of money..."

Five minutes later, Clark was finished. Generally speaking, when he handled matters, he did so reliably, not only learning about the mayor’s illegal activities but also finding out where the ledger was located.

Wayne and Clark split up, one towards the partition on the top floor, the other towards the study. The former found nothing in the upper level, while the latter uncovered a trove of criminal evidence.

Leaving the evidence in the house did not mean the mayor was too foolish; believing he wouldn’t be caught, on the contrary, he kept the evidence so it could be used if he was ever arrested.

Over the years, the mayor indulged in everything he shouldn’t. The money he swept up was not only spent on his pleasures but most of it went to Dunn and was used to grease palms.

The ledger detailed who was bribed, how much was paid every time—everything was clearly laid out.

This ledger was the mayor’s lifeline. As long as he held it, he wouldn’t die.

"This guy deserves to die ten times over," Clark said as he flipped through the ledger and passed it to Wayne, who skimmed through it and gradually became expressionless.

Apart from embezzlement and bribery, the mayor had more than a few lives on his hands. By currying favor, he had replaced the town’s police with his own people. Through these minions, he had exercised his tyranny, oppressed the good to aid the wicked, turning the town into his lawless domain.

No wonder Mona couldn’t stay out of it; even Wayne couldn’t help but want to step in.

"I’ve been to Eclipse Town before, but I never paid attention to this guy..."

Clark frowned slightly: "Looking at these crimes he’s committed, it’s not just a simple matter of pulling strings; Dunn must be a Mage."

"A Mage supports the mayor to the top, helps him conceal his crimes and demands payback in return. If we’re a bit more daring, the Mage might be the mastermind, and the mayor just his Puppet," Wayne conjectured.

"That could be possible, but a common Mage wouldn’t do this. Only if they follow a dark creed, or perhaps a Black Sorcerer," Clark said slightly annoyed, "This guy is good at hiding; it’s been so long and nobody’s noticed."

The two left the mayor’s mansion with the evidence, Wayne choosing a crooked tree where they wrapped the evidence and buried it underground.

"Silent Ridge is not far from here, fifteen kilometers. What if we walk there?" Clark suggested, "Vehicles are too conspicuous, that area is full of the mayor’s people, there’s a risk of getting blown up. Walking is safer."

"No need for all that trouble, we’re strangers here, unfamiliar faces—driving or walking makes no difference," Wayne shook his head, there’s no use hiding; they wouldn’t be able to anyway.

"Then..."

"Drive your car."

"..."

————

Silent Ridge.

Two silhouettes walked through the night.

Clark absolutely refused to sacrifice his sedan, as he put it, a car is a man’s lover, ranking almost as important as a wife in the family hierarchy. He wasn’t married, so the car was his wife—who would possibly use their wife for a bombing?

Wayne was reluctant too; he had just lost a car to an explosion recently.