Chapter 223: Memories
Chapter 223: Chapter 223: Memories
"They’re gone! I saw her clearly—it was your wife! That figure, that face, so seductive... I’d recognize her even if she turned to ashes!" Monica Bishop said through gritted teeth.
She had a very deep impression of Rhonda Dawson. Years ago, when Dylan Rhodes was a junior in college and they started dating, he had shown her a photo of Rhonda, proudly boasting that she was their university’s campus belle. At the time, she only thought her son was highly capable for winning over such a beautiful girl. She constantly urged Dylan to seize the opportunity, preferably sealing the deal by getting her pregnant and securing the marriage certificate as soon as possible.
In her eyes, Rhonda looked soft-spoken and easy to control. Meanwhile, seeing Dylan’s honest and reliable demeanor, and noticing how his eyes were full of nothing but his daughter, Mr. Dawson was completely reassured. He easily gave his blessing, declaring that as long as Dylan treated his daughter well, he wouldn’t ask for a single cent of bride price. Naturally, Monica refused to miss out on such a godsend. She repeatedly reminded Dylan to hold onto Rhonda tightly.
Right after the two graduated from college, the Rhodes Family couldn’t wait to propose marriage. Wayne Dawson, solely hoping for his daughter’s happiness, not only waived the bride price but also gifted them a car worth three hundred thousand as a dowry and spent hundreds of thousands more on renovating their newlywed home. In the beginning, their days were indeed sweet, and Dylan spoiled Rhonda to the core. However, this love was ultimately tainted with too much paranoia and control. Day by day, it pushed the two further and further apart.
Not long after they got married, Rhonda became pregnant and naturally stayed home to focus on her health and raise the baby. By the time they finally raised Hector to the age of three and sent him to kindergarten, the family’s financial pressure suddenly peaked. Relying solely on Dylan’s income, making ends meet became increasingly difficult. Rhonda felt bad for her husband and wanted to bring in extra income for the family. She suggested going out to work more than once, but Dylan stubbornly stopped her every time.
Every time, he used his care for her as an excuse, claiming he didn’t want Rhonda to endure the early commutes or the hardships of the workplace. Yet, as their financial situation worsened, they couldn’t even fulfill Hector’s wishes to go traveling or attend summer and winter camps. Instead, it was often her younger sister, Luna Dawson, who took the initiative to take the child out, covering all the expenses. Once or twice might have been fine, but as it happened more often, Rhonda was filled with guilt. She quietly found an online piano tutoring job, hoping to earn some extra money in her spare time to ease the family’s burden.
It didn’t take long for Dylan to find out. Naturally sensitive, he instantly felt his masculine dignity being trampled upon. Resentment surged in his heart, and in a fit of rage, he smashed her phone. He couldn’t help but recall a previous family dinner where Luna had offered to let Rhonda work as her assistant. The job was not only easy but also offered a high salary within the industry. He had felt uneasy about it at the time. Now, connecting it to Rhonda secretly finding a job, he was thoroughly convinced that Luna was a bad influence on her.
In his eyes, both sisters of the Dawson Family were exceptionally beautiful, naturally drawing attention wherever they went. Luna wasn’t acting out of kindness at all—she was clearly looking down on him for being an incompetent husband to her sister! Once malicious thoughts took root, they grew wildly, impossible to suppress.
From then on, Dylan tightened his control over Rhonda to an extreme degree. He checked her call logs every day and forbade her from speaking to unfamiliar men. Even if a milkman or a food delivery driver came to the door, he firmly refused to let Rhonda open it if they were male. He specifically brought his mother, Monica, up from the countryside to handle all outdoor errands, like grocery shopping and picking up Hector. To him, Rhonda was like a precious treasure that had to be tightly grasped in his hands. He felt that if she took a single step out the door, she would be snatched away in the next second, and he would completely lose the only gem that proved his worth.
In the days leading up to the apocalypse, air raid siren drills played non-stop on the streets. Supermarkets were stripped bare of rice, noodles, and oil, and even pharmacies were emptied by hoarding civilians. Anyone with eyes could see that the world was about to change. Dylan knew it with crystal clarity. The government’s series of actions meant something huge was about to happen.
But he never expected that, right at this critical juncture, that shit-stirrer Luna would actually run off with Rhonda and his son, Hector Rhodes! He searched like a madman. He pounded on the door of Wayne Dawson’s old apartment in the historic district, but no one ever answered. He even chased them all the way to the Dawsons’ Country Home, but it was already completely deserted.
Dylan clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, his mind entirely filled with memories of the days before the apocalypse. In the past, without fail, he used to rush from work every day to the tutoring center where Rhonda worked. The center was right next to the kindergarten. Rhonda had chosen to work there specifically so it would be convenient to pick up Hector. He would hide in the shadows of the trees every day, watching Rhonda hold Hector’s small hand, his little backpack bouncing as they waddled home step by step. Only after the mother and son entered their apartment building’s stairwell would he dawdle back to the newlywed home he had once shared with Rhonda, staring blankly at their wedding portrait and photos of their son on the wall.
Back then, watching their retreating figures, his heart felt at ease. At least he knew where they were and that they were safe and sound. But the moment the kindergarten and tutoring center suspended their classes, it was as if the sky had fallen. Rhonda and Hector vanished completely from his world. A massive wave of panic rushed from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head like a freezing tide. The feeling of not being needed and not being acknowledged were like two heavy sledgehammers violently smashing against his heart.
He was full of regret! His gut was twisted with absolute remorse! If only he had controlled his temper that one time during their marriage and hadn’t laid a hand on Rhonda, would the court have granted the divorce? Would Rhonda have been so determined to take their son and leave? He was furious! He also hated Luna! If it hadn’t been for that woman, how could he, Dylan Rhodes, have ended up losing his wife and child?
Fortunately, heaven always left a door open. During the dozen or so days he hadn’t seen them, he had relentlessly badgered Hector during the boy’s occasional phone calls until he finally coaxed a clue out of him—Luna’s entire family had gone to Kensington. As for the specific address? How could a little kid explain that clearly? All Hector knew was that it was a "super, super big house, even bigger than the school."
That single sentence was enough! Without another word, Dylan took his annual leave from work. Flights, high-speed trains, and highways were all shut down. He forcefully dragged his mother, Monica, along and drove nearly two thousand kilometers on national routes, bumping along the whole way to chase after them. But God loved to play jokes. They had barely been in Kensington for a day and hadn’t even finished unpacking their luggage when the apocalypse fucking descended!
The roars of zombies tore apart Kensington’s prosperity. Skyscrapers collapsed, flames shot into the sky, and cries and screams echoed everywhere. For those first few months, Dylan lived like a stray dog. His mind was entirely filled with images of Rhonda and Hector. He worried about whether they had a place to hide, whether they had food to eat, and whether they would be bitten by zombies... This anxiety was like a poisoned thorn piercing his nerves, denying him peace day or night.
Fortunately, amidst the chaos, he awakened an Earth Ability. He could control the soil, build dirt walls, and turn the gravel under his feet into lethal weapons. Relying on this superpower, he protected his mother, hiding in a hotel and sealing the doors and windows shut with compacted earth. Later, they grouped up with a bunch of survivors in the hotel to go out and scavenge for supplies. Countless times when they were cornered by zombies, it was him who forcefully held them off with earth walls, allowing them to escape with their lives.
After surviving crisis after crisis, they finally waited long enough for the Kensington Base military to rescue them. Even luckier, because of his Earth Ability, he was selected to join the base’s Special Operations Department.