Chapter 1440: The Truth II
They continue reading, eyes glued to the unfolding report.
The files start with the name of a thirteen-year-old girl named Maya Summers:
Maya Summer was the daughter of Sweetville’s mayor at the time. Her gift didn’t remain a local secret for long. Word of her healing abilities spread quickly beyond the town’s borders, reaching distant cities and stirring both awe and ambition in equal measure.
Before long, people from all over the country began making the journey to Sweetville—desperate parents with sick children, wounded soldiers, plague victims, and even powerful nobles and wealthy merchants, all hoping for a miracle.
The small town, once quiet and obscure, transformed almost overnight. Hotels, villas, and new housing developments sprang up to accommodate the growing influx of visitors. Sweetville’s population ballooned, and its economy boomed.
But Maya’s powers came with limitations.
She could only heal two or three people a day. And when the injury or illness was too severe, even she could only manage to save one or two at most.
That scarcity turned her gift into a priceless commodity. Desperation bred competition. People began offering vast sums of money to the Summer family, hoping to secure a place at the front of the line. What started as worship and gratitude slowly turned into politics, favoritism, and corruption. The line between devotion and greed blurred.
Then there was a confession from a man:
He was a reporter who had spent the evening at a quiet bar near the edge of Sweetville, nursing a bottle of cheap local whiskey and scribbling half-formed thoughts into a worn leather notebook.
Unlike everyone else there, he was skeptical and critical, not one to believe rumors easily. That was why he came to find out the truth, to see whether it was truly a miracle... or simply a sham.
He hadn’t planned on doing much that night. Just a few notes, maybe an early bedtime. But after one too many drinks and a need to clear his head, he decided to take a walk.