Chapter 997

Penniless Wendy

Marcus hurried off to comfort the students.

As for the Specialized Forces, some of them had gone after the vanished men after the gas cleared,
while others stayed back to protect Arielle.



Under the guidance of Arielle, the remaining squad members began helping to reassure the students
as well.

Even though the incident that just happened was indeed frightening, it was, after all, not a gunfight or
actual combat. Thus, with the combined efforts of Marcus and the Specialized Forces, the students’
and their parents’ emotions soon began to stabilize.

The atmosphere backstage eventually returned to normal. After giving a stern warning, the members of
the Specialized Forces classified the recent incident. Thus, no information about it was leaked to the
outside world.

Once the order was restored, Arielle suddenly remembered the reason she had headed backstage and
went to make her payment.

After she made the payment of fifteen million, she approached Marcus, carrying the vase in her hands.

“I’m returning this to you, Mr. Brown.”

“Didn’t you just win this at the auction?” Marcus asked, bewildered.



Arielle shook her head. “I just wanted to contribute to the charity event. You and I both know that the
Southalls are to blame for the state of that village. Even though I’m not technically a member of the
Southall family, I still hope to do something to make up for it.”

Nodding, Marcus accepted the vase and praised, “I was right about you, Arielle. I made the right call
back then when I decided to let you attend our school.”

Before Arielle could respond, Wendy’s voice rang out. “Oh, cut the pretense!”

Arielle turned toward her with narrowed eyes and intentionally rubbed salt into her wounds. “What was
that? Did your mother get her tooth fixed already?”

“Y-You!” Burning with rage, Wendy gnashed her teeth so hard she nearly crushed a few.

Just then, Cecilia could be heard mumbling, “How is that possible? Are you sure it’s not your problem?
It’s impossible this card couldn’t be used.”



Surprised, Wendy gave up mocking Arielle and strode toward her mother instead. “What’s wrong,
Mom?”

Cecilia frowned. “They said this card isn’t working.”

After having been disgraced so grievously just now, she was merely hoping to regain some dignity by
making a huge payment with her card.

Never had she expected the attendant to inform her that her card was unusable.

“How could that be?” Wendy was just as puzzled. “Isn’t this Dad’s secondary card?”

“Maybe there’s not enough balance in it?” the attendant asked instinctively.



“That’s impossible!” Cecilia denied it outright. “Unless Greene Corporation has gone bankrupt, this card
would never run out of credit!”

The attendant spread her hands before her. “Well, in that case, I have no idea what went wrong, then. I
swiped it many times, but the payment just wouldn’t go through. Do you have another card?”

Gritting her teeth slightly, Cecilia fished another card out of her purse and placed it on the desk.

“There! Use this!”

That was her own card. It contained a significant amount as well, but Daniel had no idea it existed.

“I’m sorry, but this card can’t be used either.”

“Huh? How could that be possible?” roared Cecilia, glaring at him, wide-eyed. “Are you deliberately
sabotaging me?”

In his perturbation, Cecilia almost let slip on her Horington accent.

However, her outburst instantly attracted the attention of those around her, and heads swiveled toward
her at once.

The attendant caught on to her insinuation, and his expression darkened as well. “Why would I want to
sabotage you? The card just doesn’t work. Look for yourself!”

He held the machine toward them, and Cecilia and Wendy both leaned forward to look at it, only to find
that the attendant was speaking the truth.

“No way! This can’t be right!” Cecilia was practically jumping in rage as she spoke.

Sneering, the onlookers began murmuring among themselves.



“Haha! Wendy and her mom just bid against our goddess for that sculpture, but now they don’t have
enough money to pay for it. I swear, I’m gonna die laughing!”


62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda