Chapter 347
Now that the orchards were destroyed and the animals were gone, there was no way to
earn money from fruit or livestock for the next six months or longer. It would greatly affect Hill City’s GDP!
Previously, a large sum of money was spent replacing trees with new tea trees, but they were all gone now. Even the newly repaired higliway was severely damaged.
So much money had gone to waste. They would need even more funds to fix the highway.
A week later, the city somewhat stabilized, and the final losses were calculated. By then though, Hill City’s economic losses reached 900 billion dollars. Its original GDP of 2.8 trillion dropped to 1.9 trillion. It was a massive blow.
George looked at the figures and felt as if the sky was falling. With such losses and the sacrifices that Julius and Tommy made, he did not know how to write the report.
However, even if he did not report it, headquarters already knew of the situation in Hill City. The online public outcry was overwhelming. They knew that George had to do with Julius’s death and that George had taken over after Julius died.
Everyone was deeply displeased with this outcome.
Headquarters held a meeting.
This time, Hill City had lost hundreds of billions, and two lives were sacrificed, one of which was the mayor’s. The public deserved an explanation.
“A fire ravaged Hill City for several days, and Stone Village–run by criminals–was hailed as a hero village… There’s been too many mistakes. How should we handle this?” someone
asked.
“This time, there’s no way we can avoid punishment.”
Everyone fell silent.
The question was who would be punished and what would the punishment be?
Although George was in charge of Hill City now, the real authority still belonged to Stephen, who remained unresponsive. They all wanted to punish Stephen, but with Simon in the room, they could only glance at him without saying it outright.
Simon’s expression was grim. He knew what they were thinking but could not refute it.
Ever since Stephen arrived in Riveria, there had been unrest. It started with North Hill City, then Seaside City, Aqua City, Celestial City, and now Hill City. If not for the fact that Stephen was his son, he would have been removed long ago.
Simon stood up and said, “I’ll give everyone an answer.”
+25 BONUS
Chapter 347
He took out his phone and called Stephen, but the line rang for a long time without being answered, so Simon had no choice but to call George instead.
“How’s Stephen?”
“He’s still the same.”
Simon frowned. “How did this happen?”
George speculated, “The deaths of two people affected him deeply.”
He was half right. The other reason was Snow’s departure. He would never get the chance to apologize to her in his lifetime.
Simon said, “This is bad. Headquarters wants to hold him accountable.”
George fell silent. He had anticipated this since the incident in Hill City was a disaster, especially Julius’s death. If they had discovered the issues early and dealt with them, things would not have ended this way.
After a long silence, George said, “I’ll take the blame.”
Simon was stunned. “You mean, you’ll take all the responsibility for Stephen?”
George nodded. “Yes.”
“But…” Simon did not know what to say. Taking the blame was no joke. Given the situation, George might end up going to jail. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Simon was grateful. “Thank you. I’ll do my best to protect you in the meeting!”
The call ended and Simon returned to the meeting room.
“I just contacted George. He said that Hill City’s current state is his fault, so he’s willing to take the blame.”
it
The others exchanged glances, having guessed what actually happened, Simon either forced George to take the fall, or George voluntarily offered himself up. Either way, meant that Stephen was off the hook.
“George will have to serve ten years in prison.”
Ten years!
Simon was shocked by the number. He could not let George remain behind bars for a decade. Despite him fighting the good fight, George could not avoid jail time. He would still need to serve three years before being released.
Meanwhile, Simon also helped George get a half–month deferment before he was served.
