Chapter 1042


    “I’m on my way to the filming location. We’re entering an isted area now. The line might be bad.”


    Sophia was on the phone with Michael, but his voice kept cutting out. It looked like they were losing


    connection.


    “Okay, you should focus on filming now then. I’m hanging up.” She blew a kiss into the phone.


    After the call ended, however, she still felt uneasy. On the one hand, she was thinking about the


    advantages that a fake marriage would bring. Even though family did not equate entirely to business, the


    Michel Group was currently being managed by Linus and Alice. Fass’ daughter did not have as much


    authority as Linus’ wife would have. If she and Linus got married, it would be much easier to enter the


    company.


    On the other hand, her conscience was bugging her. The more she thought about it, the more the fake


    marriage seemed flustering and awkward. Moreover, she was going to marry her own uncle.


    She spent the whole night tossing and turning in bed, wondering if Michael was in the same state as she


    was in.


    On the other side of the world, Michael was filming a movie in a mountainous region. There were many


    developed ces overseas, but the infrastructure in some ces was just unlike Cethos’, especially


    when it came to phone signals. All in all, they even had Wi-Fi connection in their subway stations in


    Cethos while many ces overseas did not even have a basic mobilework.


    Once Michael arrived at the filming location, he grabbed his high-end Dragon Eye phone and searched


    for a signal everywhere. He eventually managed to call Sophia, but it kept indicating that her line was


    busy. When the call finally went through, her voice came in choppy and they were unable to say a


    complete sentence.


    Later, he gave a call to Justin that also only went through after a long while and sounded just as choppy.


    Some time ago, he nned to let Cooper drop the search for his son, but a flood of events urred and


    the matter ended up being dyed. Now that he was overseas, he entrusted Justin with the matter.


    On the other hand, since they found Lorelei and brought her home, Cooper feared that Justin would


    sense something if he had nothing better to do, so he started sending Justin out to look for his son on his


    behalf.


    ording to Michael’s n, he was going to make Cooper abandon the search by the end of the month.


    Through their choppy conversation, Michael was able to receive an update on Sophia.


    Justin replied, “She’s been quite busytely with the partnership contract with Ronney. The line over


    there is bad, so video calls won’t work. Carmen has no way of seeing you. These days, we’ve been


    fooling her with fake video calls from you.”


    “Fake video calls? What’s that?”


    The line started to cut out again. “Video… with this software… edited… your voice…bined to


    produce a conversation and vague image…”


    Even with the bits of information, Michael knew what was happening, and it made him feel anxious. He


    could not see his precious daughter and kiss his wife, but the phone signal there was certainly not of


    much help.


    It’ll be over soon. It’s just slightly over a month. I’ll go home right after we’re done here!


    Taking the opportunity when there was still a connection, he quickly asked Justin about Cooper’s search


    for his son. ording to their n, Justin should be helping him look for his son now.


    But there was a heaviness in Justin’s choppy voice.


    “A change in ns… moved the grave… the casket was empty.”


    …


    On the outskirts of Riverdale in Bayside City, the Johnson Family Vige’s cemetery, which was usually


    isted except on Ancestors’ Day, was crowded with people today.


    Today was the day they were going to move Annabel’s grave. Cooper found another tomb for her. He


    wanted her to receive a grand burial as his wife.


    When they dug out the grave and opened the casket, however, they found that it was empty.


    “What happened?”


    The Johnson Family members were ncing at one another. Cooper stared at the empty casket and did


    not want to believe his eyes.


    Annabel’s casket was empty!


    He jumped into the grave and observed the casket. It was simple. At the time of her death, things were


    hectic and they had prepared the casket hastily. It was almost broken now, but it was definitely empty.


    There was no corpse or any burial objects.


    The vigers were pointing at the casket.


    “How did that happen? Her uncle and I were the ones that buried her that year! I still remember how hot


    it was that day. She passed away in the afternoon, but we were unable to get an ice casket, and the


    morgue was too expensive. We quickly brought her home that night and buried her. I evenid the final


    layer of soil!”


    …


    While everyone was pointing and whispering, Sophia rushed forward to look and Justin jumped down to


    observe. “Someone tried to open it. Look at the marks. It was done a long time ago—at least twenty


    years ago.”


    Cooper did not look good. With his hands on the casket, he was looking at the empty space inside and


    radiating a frightening presence throughout his body.


    Who dared to touch his Annabel?


    The vigers were also making guesses.


    Annabel was dead, and there weren’t any expensive burial objects in there. What maniac dug her body


    up?


    She had gotten pregnant before marriage. Even though people talked behind her back, no one held a


    grudge against her. Who could have that much hatred for her that they would dig up a dead person’s


    body?


    The vigers talked among themselves when suddenly someone shrieked, “I know who did this! It must


    be him—Aiden Johnson!”


    At the mention of that name, Cooper suddenly remembered that Annabel had two older brothers. One


    was Liam, and the other was Aiden.


    Liam and his family advanced abroad and had not been back in years. Meanwhile, the second brother,


    Aiden, was released from prison less than a year ago.


    The reason he served time in prison was that he stole a female corpse!


    A man who died before he got married was given a female corpse to be buried with him. It was said that


    he needed a wife; otherwise, he would wreak havoc on the whole family.


    The female corpse was usually purchased. These days, they were sold for thousands. The younger and


    fresher they were, the better. The ones who weren’t married yet were the best.


    Content bel0ngs to N?vel(D)r/a/ma.Org.


    But, looking for a female corpse was not easy, since not everyone was willing to sell their family for


    money.


    When Annabel passed away that year, someone came to ask if they wanted to sell her corpse, but the


    Johnsons kicked that person out.


    She might have been dead, but how could they sell their own daughter?


    Some who could not buy a female corpse targeted females who were already buried underground.


    That was how it produced a group of desperate people who only stole freshly buried female corpses to


    sell. Aiden was sent to prison because he stole a female corpse.


    He went in and out of prison countless times for the same reason. At this point, he had only been out for


    less than a year.


    When Annabel’s body went missing, he was the first person that came to all of their minds!


    The family head was fuming mad. He assumed that Aiden had stolen from other graves, but who would


    have thought that he would desecrate his own sister’s grave?


    Knowing that Annabel’s body could have been stolen to be a ghost bride, both Cooper and Sophia


    were quivering with anger.


    “Bring Aiden to me right now!” the family head shouted and the people got moving. They quickly dragged


    a boorish and thin middle-aged man over and flung him in front of Annabel’s empty casket.