Chapter 131 The Demise of the Williams Family

The first week of September brought a long-awaited liveliness to Oxford Town.

Freshmen dragged their suitcases in from all directions, and the campus was filled with students holding maps, looking lost as they searched for their classrooms.

On the main street in the town center, long lines formed outside restaurants and coffee shops, and the weekend night queues began to appear at the entrances of bars once again.

Mu Xin stood before the third-floor window of the Morris Building, watching the bustling crowd below, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

The population number on the system panel finally began to jump, not by tens, but by hundreds.

[Oxford Town Current Population: 11,847]

[USD Disbursed Today: 11,847,000]

In less than a week, the population had risen from just over ten thousand to over eleven thousand.

With freshmen registering, upperclassmen returning, parents accompanying them, and faculty returning to work, everyone was counted by the system into the population base of Oxford Town.

Mu Xin leaned against the window frame as his phone rang.

It was a message from John, containing only one sentence: "The matter with Bruce has been taken care of."

He looked at the words, his expression unchanging, and replied with one word: "Good."

John sent another message: "Jimmy has also been taken care of, on the same day."

Having two people die "accidentally" on the same day in different locations using different methods required more than ordinary patience and means.

He did not ask for details, simply replying with one word again: "Good."

Putting his phone in his pocket, he looked at the campus outside the window, where a freshman wearing an Ohio State University T-shirt was standing at the entrance of the Morris Building, taking photos with a beaming smile.

Mu Xin turned around, walked back to the table, picked up a marker, and drew a checkmark next to the line "Root and Branch — Step Three: Prison" on the whiteboard.

Then he wrote a new line below it: "Williams Family — Completely Eliminated."

The next morning, when Jessica pushed the door open to enter, her expression was as complicated as if she had swallowed a live fly.

"Old Williams is dead." She handed her phone to Mu Xin, the screen displaying a local news notification.

The patriarch of the Williams Family in Oxford Town, Harlan Williams, passed away last night at Hamilton Hospital due to multiple organ failure at the age of eighty-seven.

It is reported that Old Williams' two sons, Jimmy Williams and Bruce Williams, died earlier this week in the state prison due to accidental incidents.

Jimmy got into a conflict with others during recreation time, hitting his head on the concrete floor, which resulted in an intracranial hemorrhage.

Bruce suffered a sudden heart attack in his cell and could not be resuscitated.

After reading the news, Mu Xin returned the phone to Jessica. "When is the funeral?"

"Tomorrow morning, at the Williams Family private cemetery, right in that patch of woods on the east end of town."

Jessica sat on the sofa. "Henry Williams is organizing it; everything will be simple and not open to the public."

"Help me prepare a small, random gift, white, and do not sign my name." Mu Xin thought for a moment and arranged.

Jessica glanced at him. "Are you sure you want to go?"

"I'm not going." Mu Xin shook his head. "Just sending the gift is enough, to let people know I didn't wipe them out completely, nothing more."

Jessica was silent for a few seconds, then pulled a piece of paper from a folder and pushed it in front of Mu Xin.

"This was sent over by Henry Williams; it's an addendum to Old Williams' will."

Mu Xin picked up the paper, which contained only a single paragraph, handwritten, the script crooked as if written with the last of his strength.

"The Water Plant was my life; I do not regret selling it to Mu Xin. Jimmy and Bruce were not raised well by me, and I cannot blame others. Tobias, I have wronged you. Henry, help me look after that cemetery."

After reading it, Mu Xin put the paper back on the table without speaking.

An eighty-seven-year-old man, writing not about the distribution of his estate or family legacy before his death, but an apology.

Sorry to Tobias, sorry to the adopted son he had used as a slave for over twenty years, sorry to the person who had never been treated as a human being in the Williams Family.

Unfortunately, the three words "I am sorry" were too light.

Too light to even press down a piece of paper.

...

John arrived in the afternoon, holding a tablet. He sat on the sofa and placed the tablet on the coffee table, screen facing up.

"Mr. Mu, the detailed process of Bruce and Jimmy's matter is here, but you said you didn't want the process, so I won't talk about it, only the results."

Mu Xin nodded.

"Both were accidents; the official determination has been issued, and no one will investigate further." John's voice was very calm.

"The only thing I need to confirm with you is that Old Williams died on his own; it has nothing to do with this matter."

"He fell in the hospital, suffered an intracranial hemorrhage, and couldn't be saved after a few days of rescue efforts; the timing is a coincidence."

"I know." Mu Xin leaned back in his chair. "I have already had Jessica prepare the gift."

John nodded and did not mention the matter again, instead pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket and unfolding it.

"Over at the Police Department, recruitment for new police officers has begun."

"Tom's efficiency is high; he interviewed nearly sixty people in two weeks, screened out eighteen, and all of them passed the background check."

Mu Xin picked up the paper, which contained a list of eighteen names, each followed by a short note.

Former Army Military Police, former deputy county sheriff, Ohio State University Criminal Justice graduate, retired Cincinnati Police Department officer... each one was experienced, and each one could stand up to scrutiny.

"These eighteen people can start next week." John continued, "For the remaining twelve, Tom says he will strive to fill the positions before the end of the month."

"Including the original twelve, the Oxford Town Police Department will have a total of forty-two people, all in place by next month."

Mu Xin put the list back on the table. "What about your security company? How is the recruitment going?"

The corners of John's mouth curled up slightly—a rare expression for him, a kind of confidence born from satisfaction with what he had done.

"Oxford Town Security Management Company currently has twenty-seven employees, including myself." He pulled up a file on the tablet and handed it to Mu Xin.

"All of them are military veterans, and all have combat experience."

"Three Green Berets, two Delta Force, one Navy SEAL, five Rangers, seven Marines, four Army Military Police, and five Airborne."

Mu Xin looked at the numbers and raised an eyebrow. "Twenty-seven people; you're almost catching up to the Police Department."

"The nature is different." John shook his head. "The Police Department is a law enforcement agency; we are private security. Legally, we cannot overstep, but our scope of business is wider than the Police Department's."

"Executive protection, risk assessment, security consulting, intelligence gathering, background checks—we do all of these."

"And, our equipment is better than the Police Department's."

Mu Xin laughed. "You are certainly straightforward."

"It's not being straightforward; it's a fact." John pulled up another file on the tablet. "Mr. Mu, I had someone purchase six stretched cadillac escalades, and they have already arrived."

"cadillac escalade?" Mu Xin's eyebrows twitched slightly.