Chapter 261: You Choose the Path to Hell Instead of the Path to Heaven
"You're planning to donate your income?"
Chuck looked at Chandler, whose demeanor seemed different.
This impromptu talk show during the press conference was completely unscripted—entirely Chandler's own improvisation.
Through this interaction, Chandler not only delivered a sharp rebuke to Max Henson with similar humor, but also revealed things Chuck hadn't expected him to say.
For example, the $100,000 that truly resonated with Chandler saved one Jamie, and countless similar rewards could save countless Jamies.
This was clearly Chandler's own idea.
"Wouldn't that be a better way to stick it to that bastard? I don't believe he'd actually do that!"
Chandler said self-deprecatingly. "Besides, rather than having this money get split up repeatedly during divorce proceedings, or blowing it all partying in Vegas, it's better to use it to establish a foundation specifically to help kids like Jamie."
"Your parents are going to be under immense pressure,"
Chuck stated bluntly.
Previously, only close friends listened to Chandler's daily rants about the bizarre things his eccentric parents did. Now, he'd have thousands of fans, and not everyone could tolerate such treatment of their idol's crazy parents.
The more successful Chandler became, the greater the pressure on his two eccentric parents would be—a complete reversal of fortunes.
As for Chandler's future after donating, Chuck wasn't worried at all. A comedian's main income might be substantial, but it was only part of his earnings; most would come from endorsements and other ventures.
Donating his primary income would not only genuinely help those children but also gain him fame and put pressure on Max Henson, who profited from tragedy. As long as the balance was right, it would be fine.
Besides, even if Chandler really donated all his money, it was no big deal. Chandler had gone to such lengths; Chuck would definitely ensure he lived comfortably.
Otherwise, wouldn't that waste the classic line, "I'm rich!"
"Is that so?"
Chandler exclaimed boastfully. "You should have told me sooner! If I'd known there was this benefit, I would have started doing stand-up ages ago."
The two chatted for a while longer. After Chuck gave Tim and Shelly a few instructions, he drove Chandler back.
"I heard you found another little boy?"
Chandler asked on the way.
"Yeah, another trafficking victim,"
Chuck nodded.
"Aren't you going to see him?"
Chandler asked curiously.
"No, there are countless cases like this,"
Chuck shook his head. "You've met House. He may be a jerk, but what he says has some truth to it. We're all human, not gods. Everyone dies. We only save those we choose to save, and that's enough."
"Maybe we should let Dr. House go after Max Henson!"
Chandler joked. "That would be really interesting."
"Good idea,"
Chuck said.
"Then why don't you call him?"
Chandler urged.
"No need,"
Chuck said calmly. "If he hadn't already done that, he wouldn't deserve the title 'House the Sharp-Tongued.'"
"You mean he's already made the call?"
Chandler paused, then realized. "Yeah, I heard his best friend say he's been following your news closely. Knowing you're going up against Max Henson, he'll definitely know what to do."
Just then, Chuck's phone rang. He glanced at it and answered: "Detective?"
"Dr. Wolf, am I interrupting?"
The detective from Pittsburgh, who had helped Chuck rescue the imprisoned boy, sounded slightly embarrassed.
"What is it?"
Chuck asked.
"Well..."
the detective hesitated. "I just wanted to inform you of something. We might have misjudged Mrs. Potter. She might be the mastermind behind Pete's imprisonment. She's escaped now."
Pete was the imprisoned boy.
"Really?"
Chuck said calmly. "It seems she's a genuine antisocial psychopath, a master actress—even I didn't catch it."
"Exactly!"
The detective breathed a sigh of relief. "Even Detective Chuck couldn't tell, which shows how dangerous she is. I was thinking, if you have time, our department would like to hire you to track her down and her accomplices!"
"I've already returned to New Jersey,"
Chuck declined. "I still have to handle the case regarding Max Henson's prosecution. Since you've taken on Pete's case, you should continue investigating. I trust you."
"You trust me?"
The detective was both surprised and delighted, then quickly assured him, "Don't worry, I will definitely bring Mrs. Potter and the others to justice..."
"You can do it,"
Chuck said, then hung up.
"There's someone who can fool you?"
Chandler exclaimed in astonishment.
"It's normal,"
Chuck said without expression. "There are more and more psychopaths in this country. If someone is twisted enough, there's a high probability they'll have amazing acting skills and be able to fool me."
"That sounds terrifying,"
Chandler retorted. "Looks like I was right to donate money to help these kids. Otherwise, who knows how many more psychopaths there will be in the future? It's a vicious cycle with no solution."
Chuck ignored him, simply adjusting his decorative glasses and looking ahead as he drove back to New Jersey.
Outside Pittsburgh.
In a villa.
Mrs. Potter, who had been on the run, had already reunited with her husband, Jason.
"Are you alright?"
Jason asked with concern.
"I'm fine,"
Mrs. Potter replied calmly.
"Why were you so cooperative!"
Jason couldn't help but complain when he saw that his wife was okay. "Just say you didn't know. What could they do to us without a search warrant? We've always been law-abiding citizens!"
"You led them straight to Pete, forcing us to run now, to start all over with new identities and a new location..."
Slap!
A sharp sound rang out!
Jason covered his face, staring at his wife in shock.
"How dare you say that!"
Mrs. Potter glared at her husband. "If you hadn't screwed up and caught the attention of local thugs, how could we—a couple running a scam operation—have aroused suspicion, let alone Detective Chuck's!
Don't you know who he is?
In that situation, he was definitely watching us!
If I hadn't cooperated, he would have suspected me immediately.
Do you think I could have escaped in that situation with his abilities?
Only by cooperating with him and shifting all the blame to you—since you weren't home—could we temporarily fool him and give me a chance to escape!"
"Aren't you overestimating him?"
Jason muttered under his breath, still covering his face. "Who would suspect you? Besides, for your safety, you never contact any of the children directly; I'm the one who handles everything. Even if Pete is rescued, he won't be able to identify you."
"Fool!"
Mrs. Potter yelled. "That was just insurance! Think about it—how could a housewife like me not know there was a child being held captive in the basement?
Do you think everyone's stupid?
That Detective Chuck has probably already figured it out by now, so I didn't dare stay any longer and ran away immediately."
"The news said he went back to New Jersey,"
her husband Jason quickly added with a smile. "That shows that no matter how smart he is, he's not as smart as you, honey!"
Mrs. Potter's expression softened slightly, and she nodded. "We can't let our guard down. If they hadn't found Jamie just in time, and he hadn't rushed over there and stayed a little longer, the outcome might have been completely different... We need to avoid him from now on!
He lives in New Jersey, so let's head to the West Coast.
This loss was too great—we lost the identity we carefully cultivated, and the house and car associated with that identity are gone too. Fortunately, we transferred our savings and everything else in time, otherwise we would have had to start from scratch."
"It's alright, as long as we're together, everything's manageable."
Jason chuckled, hugging his wife. "Once we get to California, we can grab a few more new kids, and we'll make up for the losses. There are even more wealthy people there, and in-person transactions are much more convenient. We should have moved our operation there a long time ago."
"Hmm,"
Mrs. Potter said coldly. "Not only do we need to grab a few more new kids, but we also need to develop more... extreme content."
"I'll follow your lead,"
Jason nodded. "Whatever you say, I'll do!"
"What do you think of me?"
Just then, a weak voice rang out.
"Who?"
The Potters were startled and turned sharply toward the source of the voice, only to see a woman in a red hoodie huddled in the corner, looking up at them.
"Well!"
Jason exclaimed instinctively, overjoyed. "It's like a gift delivered right to our door!"
But unlike Jason's optimism, Mrs. Potter felt a chill run down her spine, sensing a profound crisis.
Although the woman in the red hoodie looked soft and vulnerable, at this moment, both her sudden appearance and her unexpected self-recommendation were filled with a strong sense of wrongness.
She would rather not have something delivered to her door!
Mrs. Potter felt the hair on her neck stand up and quietly reached for the pistol at her husband's waist.
"It's settled then,"
the woman in the red hoodie said cheerfully, then gave Mrs. Potter a strange look. "Is it starting now? I'm so excited!"
Just as Mrs. Potter touched the gun and was about to draw it and aim at the woman in the red hoodie, a sharp pain shot through her neck, followed by a wave of intense dizziness. She only had time to reach up and touch it, finding a small tranquilizer dart before everything went black.
When they awoke, they found themselves bound in a space covered entirely in plastic sheeting, completely powerless to move.
"Who are you?"
"What do you want?"
The couple looked at the woman in the red hoodie in terror.
The woman in the red hoodie smiled knowingly. "Isn't it obvious? I heard about you, so I came. Surprised? Excited?"
"What's your relationship with Detective Chuck?"
Mrs. Potter asked, barely suppressing her fear.
There was no way around it!
It was just too much of a coincidence!
"Oh, you really are quite clever."
The woman in the red hoodie looked at her with surprise. "If you had obediently confessed and accepted your punishment, none of this would have happened. But after committing such heinous crimes and getting caught by Chuck, you actually naively thought you could escape justice!
Trying to be clever and run away, planning to do it all again somewhere else!
This is what we call being too smart for your own good!
Heaven's door stands open but you won't enter; hell has no gate yet you charge right in!
Isn't that ironic?"
"It really is Detective Chuck!"
Mrs. Potter's face turned ashen.
"Why would I lie to you?"
the woman in the red hoodie laughed. "Didn't you look around? This is advanced technique from Miami, ensuring no trace is left behind.
Actually, compared to blindly following those laws that serve the rich, he prefers fighting violence with violence, evil with evil.
Look!
If you'd gotten arrested obediently, even with your countless crimes and all those children you've hurt, the prosecutors—who want to get ahead—would look at you differently and provide you with all sorts of conveniences.
Plus, you're wealthy, so even if you went to prison, you might live better than most people on the outside.
That's not the justice that the vast majority of people want.
But now you've run away.
That's perfect—it achieves justice for the vast majority and provides me with practical experience. Win-win!"
As she spoke, the woman in the red hoodie put on a white lab coat, the bright white of which made the Potters' hearts tremble, and they began begging for mercy.
"Who wants to be the good little patient first?"
The woman's tone was almost playful.
The Potters' eyes filled with despair, and they screamed in terror.
Outside the villa.
A burly figure, listening to the agonizing screams coming through his earpiece, couldn't help but grimace: "That's brutal..."
Hearing no response, he couldn't help but mutter, "Aren't you going to do something about this?"
"You want to do something?"
Chuck's calm voice came through the earpiece.
The burly man immediately made a pained expression: "I don't have the guts. But isn't this a bit... extreme?"
Chuck said, "If you're willing to step in and handle her, I think she'd be happy to have a big brother like you to guide her."
"..."
The burly man, Frank, twitched at the corner of his mouth.
He didn't mean anything by it; he just felt that killing such evil people was fine, and roughing them up beforehand was acceptable, but this was excessive.
It was too disturbing.
That's right!
The woman in the red hoodie was Chuck's sister, Hailey, and the burly man hidden outside was Chuck's brother, Frank.
Mrs. Potter thought she was clever, but she didn't know it was just a matter of easy mode versus nightmare mode—she had simply chosen nightmare mode.
At Anna's suggestion, after watching video footage of Hailey's recent agitation that almost caused serious trouble, Chuck decided to let Hailey vent her frustrations in a controlled way, which could also be seen as guiding her toward... well, a certain kind of good!
Of course, Chuck couldn't really let her go alone.
So Chuck sent his younger brother Frank to secretly follow along, in case anything went wrong.
Frank also knew that his older brother Chuck was pulling strings behind the scenes. After all, all the vigilante incidents he'd been involved in were more or less connected to Chuck. If he wasn't an idiot, he would eventually figure something out.
Last time Chuck was targeted for assassination, Anna took the opportunity to go on a rampage and also commanded him to help clean up the influence of the "Beauty Painter" in New Jersey and New York.
Frank then fully understood and had a fierce argument with Chuck because he had proudly declared to Chuck, "Brother, I'm a superhero!" Now, thinking back, it was incredibly embarrassing.
Of course, the result was obvious—he only got his ass kicked.
Now, being personally assigned by his older brother for the first time was to act as insurance for his half-sister's debut, and what he witnessed was this kind of sister.
This made him, who had initially thought that his half-sister Hailey was the more awkward one among the three siblings, suddenly realize, "Oh God... It looks like I'm actually the relatively normal one among the three of us..."
(End of Chapter)
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