Chapter 267
The adults didn’t bring up Kendrick’s ident in front of Alex. Before Christopher and Joyce flew to
Nardor, they hade up with an excuse that they had work to do there, so they wanted Alex to stay
with Yuliana during that period of time.
Even though Alex was yful and mischievous, the private education he had received from Kendrick
made him mature and wiser than regr children. He may not disy those traits most of the time, but
his maturity and wisdom were evidently there. Even if none of the adults told Alex anything about
Kendrick’s ident, he had already developed an inkling of what actually happened.
Ever since Joyce brought him to Yuliana’s apartment that afternoon, Alex remained quiet and obedient,
which waspletely different from his yful and carefree behavior. He even responded to Joyce’s
reminders seriously.
Before Joyce left, Alex had taken the initiative to hug her and told her not to worry about him. He then
promised toplete his homework on time, and that he would always study diligently.
It was as if Alex had grown up overnight.
However, he was only eight years old.
Yuliana didn’t persuade Alex anymore. Instead, she just smiled gently. “How about I keep youpany
while you do your homework?”
Alex paused in writing for a moment. He tilted his head to nce at Yuliana in hesitation before he
nodded.
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Alex was able to answer the questions very quickly. Since he had alreadypleted the curriculum of
the second and third grades, the summer homework meant for first-graders was obviously not a
problem for him. However, there were many questions in the exercise book, so he still needed more
than an hour toplete it.
Finally, Alex went to bed at eleven o’clock.
Yuliana sat next to his bed while tucking him in. “Sleep well.”
Alex’s eyes remained open as he stared at her unblinkingly.
He stared at Yuliana for a while without saying anything. Thetter asked, “What’s wrong? Is the bed
too ufortable for you? Or is it because you’re not used to sleeping here?”
Alex just shook his head. “Nope.”
“Then, what’s wrong? Why are you staring at me without saying anything?”
Alex had Kendrick’s eyes. Whenever he stared at people without smiling, he was able to look
intimidating despite not having any expressions on his face. Even though Alex was still young and
didn’t have a distinct aura, he would be able to look as intimidating as Kendrick once he grew up.
The thought of Kendrick made Yuliana’s eyes darken slightly.
After finding out that Kendrick got caught up in a car ident in Alendor and had gone missing. Yuliana
was left in a state of shock for a very long time. Even though she barely talked to him, the thought of
Joyce and Alex suffering still made her feel distressed.
Yuliana was never a superstitious person, to begin with. However, when she was reminded of the
incidents that gued the Sce family that year, she couldn’t help but suspect the involvement of a
voodoo curse or a spell that endangered the whole family. First, Zachary was caught up in an
unfortunate incident. Then, Winnie fell horrendously ill. Now, even Kendrick had gone missing.
Suddenly, Alex asked a question, “Aunt Yuliana, is my daddy dead?”
Upon hearing that question, Yuliana turned to look at Alex immediately. His chubby face still seemed
calm as ever. His eyes were clear and innocent as if they could see through everything in the world.
Yuliana was stunned for a moment. At first, she wanted to skim over the whole thing with an excuse.
She was about to speak up when she looked into Alex’s eyes. Suddenly, she couldn’t say anything at
all
After a long moment of silence, Yuliana selected her words very carefully before finally replying, “No.
He just got into an ident. That’s all. We still haven’t found him. Your mommy and Uncle Chris went
to look for him. They’ll definitely find him.”
The moment Yuliana was done speaking, tears started rolling down Alex’s cheeks. However, he didn’t
bawl loudly, unlike other children. He mped his mouth shut tightly, intending to hold his sobs back,
but his tears continued to stream down his cheeks continuously. In the end, he lifted his hands and
covered his eyes as suppressed sobs slipped from his lips.
Yuliana didn’t say anything. She averted her gaze aside to give Alex a moment of privacy as he
released his pent-up feelings.
A few minutester, Alex’s tears gradually stemmed. He was starting to calm down.
The truth was, he had overheard his mother, Joyce, talking to someone on the phone that afternoon.
She happened to mention Kendrick’s ident on the phone. Since Alex was a bright child who knew
what death meant, he spent the afternoon in fear.
However, the little boy didn’t dare to ask what happened to Kendrick after spotting Joyce’s condition.
When she was on the phone, she held her tears back and tried her best not to cry, but it was obvious
that she had cried earlier since her voice was all hoarse and scratchy.
Alex had never seen Joyce looking that vulnerable.
The gloomy atmosphere at home was the reason why Joyce decided to send Alex to live with Yuliana.
That was the reason why the little boy thought that Kendrick was dead.
Having heard Yuliana’s reply, Alex let out a relieved sigh. At the same time, the pent-up stress and fear
that was umted within him for so long finally found an outlet, hence his emotional breakdown.
When Yuliana noticed that Alex had stopped crying, she grabbed a warm towel and started wiping his
face. “A little boy like you shouldn’t think too much about life. Your mommy and Uncle Chris will
definitely find your daddy.”
Alex nodded obediently in response.
“Now, go to sleep.”
Alex closed his eyes as instructed while Yuliana sat by his bed. Once he fell asleep, she got up and
switched off the lights before exiting the room.
In reality, Yuliana wasn’t as optimistic as she sounded when sheforted Alex.
The people who rode in the same car were already found, with Kendrick being the sole exception.
A long time had already passed since the ident. If the rescuers were able to locate Kendrick in the
first ce, they would have done so some time ago. However, if they were still unable to find him at this
hour…
That meant his chances of survival were really slim.
Meanwhile, Christopher and Joyce arrived in Nardor the next morning. They had to travel from the
airport in a car for another few hours before they could reach the city where Kendrick carried out his
work.
That city was extremely rundown. Its overall condition was worse than a small county in the Sces’
country.
The energy project that Kendrick was in the middle of inspecting would have brought massive changes
to that city if it was to be greenlit in the future.
The duo didn’t waste any time at all. The moment they arrived at the city, they quickly met up with Hugh
before proceeding to meet the local police force and the rescuers. Since the city was in such bad
shape, naturally, the quality of the search-and-rescue equipment they had was bad. When Christopher
and Joyce came to the city, they had hired a professional search-and-rescue team from Nardor in
advance. At the same time, they also brought over professional search-and-rescue equipment from
their country.
Once they arrived at the scene, they deployed the search-and-rescue team and their equipment to the
river valley immediately to look for Kendrick.
s, even after the rescuers devoted their efforts to searching for Kendrick in clockwork shifts. without
stopping to rest for almost a week, they were still unable to find any traces of Kendrick. The rescuers
spent the whole time searching all the way from the spot where the ident urred to the bottom of
the river. They even fanned out andbed every inch of therge area meticulously, but they couldn’t
locate any of Kendrick’s personal belongings at all.
It was as if he had vanished into thin air.
Joyce and Christopher stayed in Nardor for half a month. Even though thetter followed the search-
and-rescue team into the river valley many times, he was still unable to find Kendrick.
By then, news of Kendrick’s ident was already spread in the country.
Back in Sce Corporation, those who harbored malicious intentions were itching to rear their heads.
La was already married to another family, so she wasn’t considered a member of the Sce family.
The only one who could lead both the Sce family and Sce Corporation could only be the oldest
son of each generation.
Besides, La was a woman who had be the daughter-inw of another family, so she wasn’t
viewed as a member of the Sce family.
When Kendrick was still present, no one dared to say anything. Now that he was gone, the sight of
La taking his ce and issuing orders displeased everyone else to the point that they would never
acknowledge her.
They figured that if a married woman could issue orders in Sce Corporation, which meant the other
members of the Sce family were entitled to the same privilege.
La couldn’t suppress the crowd at all. The higher-ups who used to call her “Ms. Sce” in such a
friendly way didn’t hesitate to start arguments with her in the meeting once they found out about
Kendrick’s ident. In fact, they didn’t mind humiliating La at all.
Now, Christopher and Joyce must rush back to Sce Corporation to regain control of the situation.
Otherwise, the wholepany would be thrown into chaos.