Once upon a time, he had also constituted her warmth and reliance, but the moment a human heart shifts, the core turns freezing, and love naturally dissolves into nothingness.

Standing on the street outside the civil affairs bureau, she suddenly halted her strides, her expression and tone exceptionally ordinary: "Mr. Vance, let us conclude it here. For the path ahead, everyone must forge forward on their own."

Chloe did not turn her head, nor could she see the exact expression masking Eric's features at this moment.

However, the syllables that escaped his lips thoroughly exposed his immediate state of mind.

Eric's voice was low and hoarse, vibrating with a subtle, barely perceptible tremor: "If the universe permitted a clean slate, I truly desire to reintroduce myself to your person, starting entirely from learning your name."

For some unidentifiable reason, Chloe's eyes felt somewhat burning and strained. Rather than classifying it as a cruel twist of destiny, it was far more accurate to acknowledge that Eric had simply never been the right man from the very inception.

Although she herself was not entirely blameless, matters had progressed to a stage where they could only escort their bond to this final destination; their fate had reached its absolute end.

After all, she possessed absolutely no mechanism to persuade her own soul to remain aligned with an individual who had historically shielded the murderer responsible for her brother's tragic end.

Chloe lowered her gaze, merely choosing to levelly steer the topic away: "The property left behind by Grandfather Vance will be donated to public charity by my hands. Although our family has always been remarkably destitute, I am the solitary survivor remaining now; I command absolutely no necessity to accept alternative amendments or charity. Since a debt has been written into history, one ought to comprehend the reality that specific entities can never be repaid across a lifetime, and material wealth is by no means omnipotent."

Her words carried a double meaning, seemingly delivering a sharp reminder to Eric regarding how thoroughly foolish it was to consistently operate under the delusion that material wealth could smoothly settle every operational liability.

Eric was instantaneously struck dumb, entirely incapable of constructing a single word of refutation.

"Farewell, Mr. Vance." Having finalized her statement, she turned her frame without a single backward glance, walking away one step at a time down the sprawling, bustling avenue.

Chapter 38: Better Left Unseen

The subsequent day arrived, the sky blanketed by pale gray clouds, the sunlight managing to project only a solitary beam of faint light through the dense layers.

The weather grew progressively freezing with each passing day; it was estimated that after a few more massive snowfalls, the lunar new year would officially descend.

Lyndsey's case formally initiated its judicial trial. When her eyes monitored this woman once more, a series of violent waves of hatred still surged within Chloe's chest.

Julian occupied the seat directly adjacent to her form to observe the proceedings. In absolute reality, the ultimate verdict was entirely within baseline expectations; Lyndsey had executed entirely too many atrocities and harbored human lives on her record, rendering her sentence a death penalty without any stay of execution.

The exact fraction of a second the formal judgment was pronounced, Lyndsey completely collapsed into a violent fit of weeping, screaming and orchestrating a massive disturbance simultaneously—at one interval declaring her absolute innocence, and at another claiming her actions were directly commanded by an alternative mastermind.

Yet at this precise juncture, because Isabella herself was deeply entangled in a criminal investigation for suspected instigation of homicide, she was entirely incapable of guaranteeing her own safety, harboring absolutely no mental bandwidth to look after her accomplice.

"Chloe, you orchestrated my destruction! You will meet a horrific end; I should have executed your assassination with absolute decisiveness back then!" At the final threshold, as the security personnel dragged her physical frame away from the court, Lyndsey's mouth began to spew a series of unhinged, groundless curses.

Yet the more violently she screamed her curses, the more thoroughly satisfied Chloe felt deep within her soul. Because the greater the desperation of her resistance, the faster the absolute retributive justice materialized.

Stepping out of the primary trial hall, a fraction of faint daylight cascaded directly beneath her feet, casting Chloe's slender silhouette into a compact shadow against the ground.

She lifted her eyes to scan the sky, the corners of her lips curling into a gentle smile: "Zack, do your eyes bear witness to this? Your sister did not permit your life to be stolen in vain."

Yet, overriding the immediate satisfaction, an infinite shroud of profound sorrow swamped her heart. Though the dust had thoroughly settled and she had successfully extracted absolute vengeance on Zack's behalf, her biological brother was permanently barred from returning to this waking world.

An unprecedented wave of absolute isolation settled into her soul; now that even her burning hatred had been emptied from her system, the immediate universe suddenly felt completely hollow, turning so pale it left her entirely devoid of strength.

Suddenly, a gentle arm extended to wrap around her shoulders, Julian's vocal delivery remaining as unshakeably tender as it had always been.

He murmured: "It's alright, my presence is here. If your heart desires to weep, simply permit the tears to fall."

And at that precise threshold, Chloe genuinely anchored her frame against his shoulder, letting out a low, agonizing wail of pure sorrow.

The accumulated grievances and systematic torments of these past years could finally achieve an absolute, unrestricted evacuation. Across these recent days, her mind had consistently gravitated toward a solitary calculation: if her hands had simply abstained from saving Eric Vance during that historical era, absolutely none of the subsequent catastrophes would have materialized.

Zack would not have encountered a tragic end, and her own existence would have remained anchored within a ordinary, peaceful lifestyle.

Even if her heart remained entirely devoid of love for any individual, completely insulated from any emotional attachments, her soul would have been spared from navigating such a bloody, fractured torment simply to decode the reality that a tranquil existence is the most precious asset on earth.

After a prolonged duration, she wiped her tear-strained eyes, delivering a quiet, shuddering request to Julian: "Escort my person to visit Zack."

When they arrived at the cemetery perimeter, the timeline tracked directly to a brilliant, sunlit noon, the winter climate recovering a fraction of mild warmth.

Chloe purchased a bouquet of small daisies—the exact flower Zack had harbored an immense fondness for during his lifetime—and advanced toward his burial plot. Yet, closing the distance, her eyes monitored a young girl of approximately twenty years of age standing directly before Zack's headstone, softly murmuring syllables into the air.

She spoke while weeping continuously, yet at alternative intervals, a faint smile would grace her features, the weak sunshine settling over the crown of her head with a trace of delicate warmth.

As Chloe closed the remaining distance, a sudden recognition registered within her mind; this young lady was precisely the girl Zack had cherished with absolute devotion during his lifetime.

Noticing Chloe's approach, the girl frantically wiped the moisture from the perimeters of her eyes, offering a soft smile: "Are you Sister Chloe? Have you also journeyed here to visit Zack?"

Gazing at the young lady who was currently locked in the prime of her youth, Chloe's eyes grew intensely hot. She meticulously positioned the bouquet of daisies directly before Zack's stone monument; on the polished surface, Zack's visage remained permanently frozen across the decade, projecting the exact image of a brilliant, radiant youth.

She gently clasped the girl's hand within her own, her vocal delivery automatically choking up: "The data has reached my knowledge. The incriminating evidence detailing Zack's vehicular assault was unearthed exclusively through your own grueling, systematic efforts across four consecutive years. Thank you."

The girl reversed her grip to secure Chloe's hand, shaking her head in a level manner: "This constitutes an absolute obligation my person had to fulfill; Zack could by no means be permitted to perish in such an obscure, unverified manner."

In all likelihood, the emotional connections forged during the era of youth are the most pristine and unadulterated, which is precisely why they remain the most impossible to discard or forget.

Chloe let out a shallow, weary sigh: "Zack... can finally rest his soul in absolute peace now. Your own existence remains exceptionally young, commanding a massive trajectory to traverse across the future. You must look after your life with absolute dignity; as for the entities that require absolute release... let them go."

Her delivery was structured with reasonable restraint, yet any individual commanding a baseline intellect would decode the message perfectly. Though every fiber of her being felt an immense reluctance to validate the horror, she could only nod in absolute compliance; Zack had already been dead for four consecutive years, and since the departed had crossed the threshold, the living factions were obligated to forge ahead with dignity.