Chapter 276: Chapter 276: Dismantling
He wiped both his hands on his apron before reaching out to take it. He took a small bite. ’So delicious.’ A sweet smile spread across Stan Sterling’s face.
"Come on, stop fussing around. It’s time for dinner," Lily Hart said, turning and walking toward the RV.
Stan Sterling, nibbling on the skewer, quickly took off his apron and followed behind her. He ate the candied hawthorn, watching her ponytail sway back and forth.
The two of them boarded the RV, one after the other. Frost Shaw was sitting on the sofa, bored out of his mind. When he heard them, he looked up, and his eyes lit up.
He started to get up and greet her, but then he saw Stan Sterling behind her. His rear, halfway off the seat, settled firmly back down. His gaze swept to the candied hawthorn skewers she was holding.
’She went out for a walk and only has two left.’
’Who will she give one to?’
A few names swirled through Frost Shaw’s mind. His eyes followed her as she sat on the sofa, and then he watched as she devoured one skewer after the other until both were gone.
Frost Shaw let out a self-deprecating laugh. ’I was wrong. Boss Hart would never shortchange herself.’
After finishing the two candied hawthorn skewers, Lily Hart patted her stomach. ’I’ve had a lot of sweets today. They’re delicious, but I can’t have any more. I need to save room for soup later.’
Dinner time!
The Light Brain was still projecting onto the TV, which was covered in hundreds of little squares. Roman Rowe had been watching all day and picked out a few of the funniest clips to tell Lily Hart about.
Lily Hart laughed so hard she was practically full from that alone. The Mysterious Clan was really pulling out all the stops in their fight against the cameras.
First, the Shaw Family’s Second Elder had been injured in an explosion, making everyone hesitant to act rashly. The families then used their Light Brains to discuss how to remove the cameras safely.
Next, the Rivers Family ran an experiment. They sent the young man with the fastest reflexes in their family to climb a ladder and remove a camera, with the plan to throw it the instant it came loose.
Unfortunately, the cameras would explode within a second of being moved, requiring incredible speed and reflexes.
The young man from the Rivers Family had just thrown the camera when it exploded about two feet away from him. With a "BOOM—" it nearly blew the roof off the building.
The young man was still hit by the aftershock and fell from the ladder. The fall was the least of his problems; the injury was serious. The clothes on the left side of his upper body had been completely blasted away.
The blast left that side of his body scorched and red. The members of the Rivers Family watching from a distance immediately rushed forward to help. Fortunately, their rescue efforts were timely.
The Rivers Family elders gathered to discuss the incident. They concluded that the throw had been too slow. The thrower also needed to be moving away at the same time, not just standing in place.
But removing a single camera had nearly incapacitated one of their young men. There were hundreds of these cameras, and ’our family certainly doesn’t have hundreds of young men to sacrifice...’
Once again, they were at an impasse.
The Shaw Family also thought about removing the cameras, but their family had even fewer members. They couldn’t risk sacrificing people, so they resorted to using tools.
They started with a long pole. Despite the formidable strength of the person wielding it, the camera was welded on too securely. They couldn’t exert enough force; it wouldn’t budge.
Then they tried long tongs and bamboo poles, but the result was the same. It wouldn’t budge. In the end, they even resorted to throwing rocks, hoping to smash the cameras directly.
They were as hard as iron, not leaving even a scratch. They were completely helpless!
The O’Malley and White Families tried similar tactics, and the final result for all of them was... they couldn’t get the cameras down!
All the families were absolutely livid!
They all guessed it was Lily Hart’s handiwork, but with no proof, they could only suffer the consequences.
Lily Hart was fully aware of all this, having heard it from the big-mouthed Roman Rowe. ’That guy is a natural storyteller,’ she thought. ’He could have a future in it.’
He described everything so vividly it was like she was watching it happen live.
Lily Hart had no intention of getting involved. She’d let them figure it out on their own. Whether they decided to move out or sacrifice their own people to remove the cameras, she couldn’t care less.
Her objective had been achieved, and they had tasted the bitter consequences. Now, she would let them squirm.
Lily Hart turned off the TV. With Roman Rowe’s stories serving as the entertainment for her meal, she ate until she was stuffed. After dinner, she went for another stroll through the night market.
This time, she managed to restrain herself from eating, content to just feast with her eyes.
Before bed, she browsed on her Light Brain. The buzz around the "Lily Hart’s Blood Has Miraculous Effects" story was gradually dying down. There were hardly any posts discussing it anymore.
The feed was almost completely flooded by posts about today’s new "reality show," with everyone discussing its most memorable moments.
The undisputed viral hits were the clips of the Shaw Family’s Second Elder getting blown up and Frank O’Malley snoring in his cartoon pajamas.
She turned off her Light Brain and prepared to sleep, completely oblivious to the fact that the Mysterious Clan was still agonizing over the cameras.
’What if the cameras explode in the middle of the night and kill us all?’
The O’Malley Family had already made the decisive choice to move out of their mansion, setting up makeshift beds in an open area outside the courtyard. Fortunately, it was summer. Other than a few extra mosquitoes, it wasn’t so bad.
But it was hardly a long-term solution. Who would want to sleep on the ground every night when they had perfectly good beds inside?
The other three families were too proud and disdained the idea of sleeping on the ground. They forced their eyes open all the way until dawn, only to discover that nothing had happened—aside from the fact that they were still being watched...
And so, early the next morning, elders from both the Shaw and Rivers families arrived at the lottery shop. Sporting dark circles under their eyes, they stood there menacingly, waiting for her to open.
’Evidence or no evidence, we can’t stand being monitored like this! We have to make Lily Hart remove those cameras!’
The four elders waited outside for a long, long time. The lottery shop finally opened, but a crowd of customers also surged forward from behind, pushing and shoving.
The four of them, being inexperienced with crowds, were jostled around until they found themselves pushed to the very back...
They looked at each other, an awkward silence spreading between them. The Shaw Family’s Fourth Elder suggested, "Let’s try to squeeze back in..."
He was the lowest-ranking of the four. After speaking, he led by example and started shouldering his way through the crowd to clear a path. The other three quickly followed.
By the time they were halfway there, the four elders were already getting tired. They were all High-level Superpower Users, but this was the first time any of them had done something like this.
They were completely inexperienced, relying solely on brute force to push ahead. By the time they finally reached the RV, they were exhausted and drenched in sweat.
Lily Hart thought the men looked vaguely familiar, as if she’d seen them somewhere before. But she met so many people every day that she couldn’t remember everyone.
She gave them a quick glance and paid them no further mind. To her surprise, the four men managed to squeeze right up to her, and one of them said, panting for breath:
"B-Boss Hart, we need to talk to you," the Shaw Family’s Fourth Elder said.
"Oh? Go ahead," Lily Hart said, propping her chin on her hand and looking at him with amusement.
She recognized him now. ’He’s a member of the Shaw Family, from the livestream yesterday. Seems like he has a pretty high status, too.’
The Shaw Family’s Fourth Elder froze and glanced around at the sea of people. ’How are we supposed to talk business here?’
"Aren’t you going to invite us in?" the Rivers Family’s Third Elder asked, frowning in displeasure.
The corners of Lily Hart’s mouth lifted in a smile as her lips parted. "You’re not important enough." ’If I let in everyone who asked, how many groups of people would this RV have to host in a single day?’
As soon as she said this, the expressions on the four men’s faces instantly collapsed. Their somewhat friendly demeanor vanished, replaced by grim hostility.
The Shaw Family’s Fourth Elder stated confidently, "You recognize us?" ’Otherwise, there’s no reason for her attitude to be this hostile.’
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