The Guardian's Return by Old Pumpkin

Chapter 344

George looked at Nico's body and confirmed that he was really dead.

At that moment, George felt a mix of tension and relief. He felt tense because Nico had committed suicide to avoid getting trialed, making the situation complicated to handle. However, he also felt relieved that Nico, who had pushed them to the edge, had ultimately chosen to take his own life.

News of Nico's suicide spread quickly. The first to hear were the villagers of Stone Village.

Nico was dead, and so was Tommy. The Wyatt family was gone. With no one left to lead them, many villagers felt a sense of urgency, fearing that others might disregard the rules and take all the money for themselves.

As a result, many became reckless, openly inciting others and leading people from other villages to raid the orchards and livestock farms. It did not matter if the targets were local or non-local. Everything was up for grabs.

Some people also privately produced and sold firearms to local forces. They started mining excessively and began to neglect preparation for safety measures.

The next day, a new village chief was elected. That village chief had made quite a fortune working under Nico. Now that he was the chief, he promised to help everyone earn even more money. The shady deals Nico used to hide in the shadows, he planned to carry out openly.

He even set up roadblocks on the freeways, only allowing passage for a fee. It severely impacted traffic, and many people started avoiding the route entirely.

The people whose orchards were destroyed and livestock stolen from them filed complaints. George was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases. He had one team investigate the orchard and livestock thefts while another arrested those charging fees on the highway.

When the residents of Stone Village heard that people were coming to arrest them, they triggered a landslide beside the freeway and destroyed part of it. Then, they raised the firearms made in Stone Village and opened fire.

Only then did George realize what Nico had done in Stone Village. Nico had the villagers manufacture firearms-a crime deserving of death!

George ordered the squad to take drastic measures and suppress Stone Village by forc

When the village chief realized they were outmatched, he had some villages set fires in the mountains to split their forces. There were many mountainous forests in Hill City, and forestry was one of its economic pillars.

As the fires spread, many businesses and villages saw their mature and newly planted

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eucalyptus trees destroyed.

called for firefighting aid and called

area, and because the forests were so extensive, the fire threatened to burn

advantage of that opportunity to flee and

fire raged for eight days before it was finally extinguished. By then, several mountain

were calculated, George

dollars, and that was not all. Many companies had started to pack up, especially those whose orchards and farms were destroyed earlier. They all left without

was not nearly enough to make up for the years of hard work they had put in. Now, their trees were burned

stay in Hill City. They were afraid that their companies would

of Hill City's desperate need for companies, making it so that George had no choice but to accept them and provide strong support for them. With so many other businesses fleeing, George didn't have

his best efforts, more than half of the villagers in Stone Village managed to escape from Hill City. Many fled abroad, while

stress was taking a visible toll on George as his hair had turned noticeably gray in

fires, destroyed orchards, stolen livestock, lost businesses, damaged highways, and

City's economy plummeted by 800

it has dropped by 800 billion. That's nearly a third of the

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Chapter 344

Chapter 344

and

situation complicated to handle. However, he also felt relieved that Nico, who had pushed them to the edge, had ultimately chosen to take his own

first to hear were

was gone. With no one left to lead them, many villagers felt a sense of urgency, fearing that others

leading people from other villages to raid the orchards and livestock farms. It did

privately produced and sold firearms to local forces. They started mining excessively

that he was the chief, he promised to help everyone earn even more money. The shady deals Nico used to hide in the shadows, he planned to carry out

allowing passage for a fee. It severely impacted traffic, and many people started avoiding

people whose orchards were destroyed and livestock stolen from them filed complaints. George was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases. He had one team investigate the orchard and livestock thefts while another arrested

people were coming to arrest them, they triggered a landslide beside the freeway and destroyed part of it. Then, they raised the

what Nico had done in Stone Village. Nico had the villagers manufacture firearms-a

the squad to take drastic measures

were outmatched, he had some villages set fires in the mountains to split their forces. There were many mountainous

Hill City, and forestry was

and villages saw their mature and