Reborn with Nothing but My Farm and Vengeance in the Apocalypse

Chapter 528: Chapter 528: Saving His Son

Realizing Nina Summers had tricked him, Caleb Summers was instantly filled with shock and fury.

He couldn’t stop himself from crushing the Silver Ring in his hand. He looked up and roared viciously at Nina Summers, "You knew damn well I wasn’t talking about this ring! I want Miss Zara Walsh’s Pink Diamond Ring!"

Hearing this, Nina Summers rolled her eyes, looking utterly exasperated. "Pink Diamond Ring? Zara Walsh? What are you talking about? I don’t know them, I’ve never met them, and I’ve never even heard of them!"

To prevent Caleb Summers from recording her and causing some new trouble with the police, Nina Summers had been careful not to mention Zara Walsh or the Pink Diamond at all. Unfortunately for him, Caleb hadn’t noticed.

"You!" Caleb Summers flew into a rage. He shot to his feet, only to collapse back onto the sofa a second later, overcome by a wave of dizziness.

Seeing Caleb Summers’s abnormal expression, Melody Summers grew more certain of her suspicion.

’If I’m not mistaken, Caleb Summers has been infected by the Tricolor Parasitoid Wasp.’

’And judging by his symptoms, the larvae in his body have probably matured and are starting to secrete neurotoxins...’

Caleb Summers pressed a hand to his forehead, panting heavily. He gritted his teeth and spat, "You damn girl! You little bitch! How dare you trick me!"

Zoe Kane grew anxious at the sight. She wiped the tears from her face, stepped forward, and grabbed Nina Summers’s hand. "You’ve already taken all of the family’s money! Just give us the Pink Diamond Ring!"

"If we can’t get the Pink Diamond Ring, that Miss Walsh won’t let us off the hook! Are you really trying to drive us to our deaths?!"

Nina Summers shook off Zoe Kane’s hand in disgust. "What do I care if you live or die?" she said with a frown. "Even if you drop dead, you don’t need to notify me!"

With that, she turned to Caleb Summers, her expression like she was looking at a complete stranger. "Listen carefully. I’m going to change my surname back to Wu. From this day forward, you are no longer my father. I won’t pay my respects when you die. Now get out!"

Hearing this, Caleb Summers’s eyes turned bloodshot with rage. He pointed a trembling finger at Nina Summers, stammering, "You... you..." for what felt like an eternity, unable to form a complete sentence.

Seeing this and remembering that Nina Summers had swindled her out of the over 800,000 in her bank account, Zoe Kane could no longer contain herself. She broke down and shrieked, "You went back on your word! This is fraud! Give me my money back! Or I’m calling the police!"

Before Nina Summers could respond, Melody Summers, who was standing nearby, scoffed. "Go ahead and call the police. We never once said we would give you any diamond ring. It looks to me like you’re the ones trying to frame *us* for fraud!"

"You transferred the money voluntarily, and you’re all family. For this kind of internal financial dispute, what can happen even if you call the police? The best they can do is tell you to file a lawsuit. Go on, try it if you don’t believe me!"

’Every court has a backlog of tens of thousands of cases right now. Given Caleb Summers’s condition, he won’t even live long enough to see the trial date!’

Melody Summers’s words sent the world spinning for Caleb Summers. He couldn’t catch his breath and passed out, falling back stiff as a board.

When Caleb Summers came to, he found himself lying outside the villa.

Beside him, Zoe Kane’s eyes were red and swollen from crying. When she saw him wake up, she clutched her chest in relief. "Honey, you’re finally awake! You were unconscious for almost half an hour..."

If Caleb hadn’t woken up, Zoe wouldn’t have known what to do. They didn’t have a single penny between them; they couldn’t possibly afford to go to a hospital.

Caleb Summers stared blankly at Zoe Kane, but he couldn’t make out her face. His brain felt numb and achy, and his vision was like an old, broken-down television, filled with flickering static.

Seeing his dazed expression, Zoe Kane could only help him up carefully. "Honey, are you okay?" she asked, her face etched with worry. "What’s been wrong with you lately? Why do you keep getting these headaches and fainting spells?"

But Caleb Summers seemed not to hear her. He just stared blankly into the air, muttering, "...Gone... Everything’s gone... It’s all gone..."

’My savings, my house, my future... Everything is gone!’

’If I can’t get that Pink Diamond Ring, my life will be forfeit, too!’

’How did it come to this?!’

Looking at Caleb Summers’s utterly devastated state, Zoe Kane just assumed his high blood pressure was acting up from all the recent stress.

But they were penniless and couldn’t afford a hospital. Their only option was to go home and rest.

At this thought, tears began to stream down Zoe Kane’s face again. ’It’s true what they say,’ she thought, ’when it rains, it pours.’ Just a few months ago, their family had been doing so well. How had things turned out like this in the blink of an eye?

She sobbed as she spoke to Caleb. "...Honey, let’s just go home for now. Leo and Chester are home by themselves. I’m worried something might happen to them..."

Zoe Kane supported Caleb as they walked slowly toward their low-rent apartment. Caleb was like a marionette, blankly letting Zoe lead him along.

A fine drizzle, as thick as mist, seeped into their clothes until they were both soaked to the bone.

Zoe Kane pulled her trench coat tighter around herself, muttering as they walked, "If we can’t get that ring, is that Wu woman going to let us off... If worse comes to worst, let’s go hide out in the countryside for a while!"

"I have a cousin back in my hometown. If we plead with him, he might take us in. I just don’t know if that area has been flooded..."

"Honey, I have to say it, your daughter is just too heartless! I can accept her treating me this way—after all, I’m just the wicked stepmother everyone loves to hate—but you’re her own father! How could she do this to you...?"

"She took all our money. We have to sue to get it back. How are we supposed to live otherwise? Chester and Leo are still so young, and there are so many expenses to come..."

Listening to Zoe Kane’s incessant chatter, Caleb Summers’s mind was a chaotic mess.

His vision would alternate between a field of black-and-white static and a series of bizarre slides—

He seemed to see mushrooms floating in the sky, their caps blooming with flowers before melting into pools of blood. The blood then coalesced into human faces that drifted through the air like jellyfish. Caleb’s gaze followed them as they floated about. Then he saw one of the faces morph into that of Chester Summers and fall into a ditch up ahead.

"Dad! Dad, save me! I can’t swim!"

Seeing Chester struggling in the ditch, Caleb Summers’s eyes widened in terror. "Son!" he screamed.

Zoe Kane jumped, startled by his shout. She followed his gaze but saw only an empty ditch. There was no sign of Chester.

Caleb saw Chester thrashing in the water, looking as if he would drown at any moment. Scared out of his wits, he immediately rolled up his sleeves, ready to jump in and save him.

Zoe Kane rushed to grab him, her face a mixture of shock and confusion. "Honey! What are you doing?!" she cried frantically. "There’s nothing in the ditch!"

Caleb froze. He stared hard at the ditch and saw that Chester had run out of energy to struggle. He was slowly sinking beneath the water.

Terror seized Caleb. ’I’ve already lost everything,’ he thought. ’I can’t lose my only son, too!’

Caleb let out a desperate cry, "Son! No!"

His cry was filled with such despair that Zoe Kane froze in place, utterly terrified.

She stared at Caleb in disbelief, as if he were a madman.

Then, Caleb shoved Zoe aside, stumbled to the edge of the ditch, and threw himself in...