Prison to Pinnacle: Ex-wife's Eternal Lament

"Here's the money you can get from me, you pathetic creature!" sneered Sarah with apathy.

Suddenly, several banknotes were flung to Edward's face.

Edward stood still, deadpanned.

And the banknotes danced in the cold wind.

Andy sneered, too. He gently spanked Sarah's butt and then pinched her rosy cheek.

"Your ex-wife is something. I like her plump hips. You never know how soft and ample her bosom is, you poor creature!" 

Edward clenched his fists, his face livid with rage as the sports cars howled away.

Everything that had happened before flashed in his mind.

It was true that he had been framed.

And it was all Sarah's fault.

And probably all that damned Andy's fault.

He had no idea why Sarah would turn into such a cold-blooded woman.

"I'll avenge you. Just wait!" he whispered.

After taking a few deep breaths, Edward felt much better.

And he sensed that the evil force behind Sarah's backyard was working now. And he had a terrible feeling about her grandfather.

Though Sarah betrayed him, it was none of the business of her grandfather.

His recollection of Grandpa was sweet.

'I should go to see Grandpa Nostradamus first and find out what's going on with Sarah!' thought Edward.

Without wasting another second, he gathered his energy inside and leaped high upon the tip of a tree.

In a second, someone on the ground caught a glimpse of his figure in the sky.

"Look, superman! Superman there!"

Before long, Edward landed on New Dath—a long street with small shops and stalls on both sides.

He had never been here before.

The aroma of delicious food wafted in the air, yet it was filled with melancholy—a disagreeable feeling that made his heart heavy.

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

"Hey, gentleman, get yourself a bunch of flowers here. They're fresh. I think the person you're going to visit will like them."

The voice came from a woman on the street carrying a large bamboo basket full of different flowers.

She looked tanned probably because of too much exposure to the sun.

She had a small frame, yet always straightened up as though to make herself look taller.

What struck Edward most was the deep wrinkles lacing the skin around her big twinkling eyes.

Edward could tell from that she must have been a drop-dead gorgeous girl when she was young.

"How do you know I'm on my way to visit someone?" asked Edward in surprise, who stared at those wrinkles reaching all the way across her brow.

His gaze did not make her self-conscious. Instead, she replied with a smile typical of a shrewd businesswoman.

"Well, I'd love to tell you if you buy my flowers."

Her smile made her wrinkles deeper.

"Okay. Give me a bouquet! How much is it?" asked Edward.

"Twenty dollars."

"Here you are! Now it's time to spill something to me," said Edward, holding a bunch of white flowers in his hand.

"Most people coming to the place want to visit someone they hold dear."

"What does that mean?" Edward asked further.

"You'll soon find out!" the woman gave him a mystic smile and went away.

'That's funny', thought Edward, still wondering.

But as he turned around the corner and finally reached 188 New Dath, the puzzles were pieced together.

It turned out to be a cemetery, where graves of different sizes greeted his eyes.

"Grandpa died?" he whispered. "He's old, but not senile to die so soon! What happened?"

Edward immediately plunged himself into the search of Grandpa's grave.

Luckily, the cemetery was not big.

And Edward was clever, thinking that Grandpa's grave must be new here, so he paid his heed to those with fresh mouldering earth around them.

In a few minutes, a medium-sized grave in the west of the cemetery instantly caught his attention.

When he came up to it, the inscription on the tombstone proved he was right.

It was Grandpa's grave.

"Sorry, Grandpa," lamented Edward, "Forgive me for being late to come to see you."

As he bowed in front of it, he smelled something terrible—an unpleasant stench like stinky tofu mixed with the horrible smell of corpses.

At first, he thought it should be the unique odor of this solemn place.

But soon he realized it must have come from Grandpa's grave.

After all, it had not gone into his nostrils when walking past other tombs before.

"It seems Grandpa was most likely poisoned to death," whispered Edward.

He walked further to the grave, discovering the fresh soil was black for some reason.

'He must have died of poisoning. But why would anyone want to kill him?' thought Edward. 'It seems that evil force in the backyard is taking action.'

As Edward touched the tombstone, suddenly it was as though he had triggered something like a secret switch, and countless sharp arrows shot at him all at once. And a cloud of black gas came out of the tombstone.

Fortunately, Edward was no ordinary man. He quickly did some backflips, narrowly missing the attacks of those sharp arrows.

But unluckily, he still inhaled a little black gas.

Just at that moment, several muscular men with crown masks came out from nowhere and circled Edward.

"Don't you get the feeling that thousands of worms are crawling in your lungs? You'll have to die here today!" said a tall masked man.