Chapter 243: Chapter 242: Asher, Are You the Mastermind of the Killing Game?
"Cece... don’t be afraid," Asher whispered, comforting me. He deliberately bumped into a mercenary, then knocked over a local as he ran.
The mercenary leader rushed forward in a rage and pointed his gun at Asher.
"Don’t shoot!" I cried out in a panic. All of us wanted to fight back.
Their guns were all aimed at us.
The locals chattered among themselves, speaking a language we couldn’t understand, but it was clear they were already used to the sight of armed mercenaries.
Asher raised his hands and slowly walked back.
He meekly got into the car with us.
Inside the car, we were all squatting in the back, huddled together with our heads in our hands.
Asher glanced at me and secretly pulled out the phone he had stolen when he knocked over the local.
Lucas Grant gave Asher a thumbs-up.
Zeke Shaw also nodded at Asher.
This wasn’t our home country; calling the police would be useless even if Asher could. He could only send out their location and wait for the right moment.
The mercenary leader took a call. After the car stopped, he held up his phone and began comparing it to the faces in our group.
"This one. And this one." The man pointed at me and Asher, and we were dragged out of the car.
Asher shoved the phone into Zeke Shaw’s hands.
"What do you think you’re doing?" Julian Fletcher frowned, trying to shield me.
But this wasn’t our home country. No one here gave a damn about who he was.
The man struck Julian Fletcher with the butt of his rifle.
"The others aren’t important. There’s a cop in the group. Let them go," the leader muttered, ordering his men to release Zeke Shaw and the rest.
Zeke Shaw frowned, watching the mercenaries warily. "Where are you taking them?"
"None of your business. Scram if you want to live." The leader pointed at Zeke Shaw, then turned to leave.
"Cece..." Julian Fletcher, who had been hit hard, called out nervously, still trying to protect me.
I frowned and signaled for him to shut up.
’Does he have a death wish?’
Julian Fletcher stood frozen, his expression a complex mix as he stared at me.
I avoided Julian Fletcher’s gaze and glanced at Zeke Shaw. Madeline Quinn and Tim Zane both needed immediate medical attention, so they had to leave first.
Zeke Shaw nodded at me, silently telling me not to worry.
’As long as they’re safe... Asher and I don’t have to worry.’
I glanced at Asher, a small smile playing on my lips.
Asher smiled back and took my hand.
We were forced into a new vehicle, where our hands were bound and we were blindfolded.
"Maybe... this is the main base for the human trafficking operation," I whispered.
Asher grunted in agreement, his hand tightening around mine.
"No talking!" the mercenary guarding us snarled.
The vehicle moved slowly, the constant clamor of the locals audible from outside.
I lightly placed a finger on my wrist, feeling for my pulse, and slowly closed my eyes.
’Asher and I can both memorize a route by sound.’
...
After about an hour, the vehicle finally came to a stop.
Our blindfolds were removed.
I glanced at Asher.
He was looking at me, too.
"Who remembers the route better? A little competition?" I whispered.
Asher raised an eyebrow. "You’re on..."
’He always indulges me like this. What kind of situation are we in? We’ve been brought to their main base, and I’m still in the mood to joke around.’
"Give them an injection."
The leader said quietly.
Someone dragged me into a side room, separating me from Asher.
In that room, I saw many women on the verge of death. They were locked in individual rooms and looked like they were about to go into labor.
They were too weak to even cry out.
I frowned, leaning warily against the wall and waiting for the man to approach.
’Suddenly, Claire Lawson’s words came back to me: *Cecilia Caldwell, you’re starting to get interested in us, aren’t you? You’re welcome to come... and join us.*’
’I was beginning to understand why Claire Lawson had been so confident.’
’She knew that people from The Genetics Organization would capture us the moment we left the abandoned building.’
’That I would see a part of the truth, a part of the darkness.’
’And that I wouldn’t be able to save these people on my own.’
’Call the police? In a lawless place like this, a cesspool of sin and desire where even the national army has no presence, who would care whether these women, abducted to bear children, lived or died?’
The man approached me with a syringe. I feigned compliance, and when he was distracted, I turned the tables and jabbed the needle into him.
He was wearing a hazmat suit and a protective face shield. I stripped the suit off him, put it on myself, and then tied him up inside a wardrobe.
In the small rooms, the women looked at me as if I were their last hope, their eyes red as they silently pleaded for me to save them.
Most of them were heavily pregnant, kept like lab rats in small, sterile rooms with transparent glass walls and doors. Each room contained only a small bed. They were being observed, their every detail recorded as "data."
I nodded at them and made a hand signal, unsure if they would understand it.
’I will find a way... to get them out.’
"Are you done in there yet?" someone from outside called impatiently.
I grabbed a vial of some drug from the cabinet, filled a new syringe, and walked out of the room. I plunged the needle directly into the neck of the man waiting outside. As the drug took effect and he collapsed, I took the gun from his hand.
From the other room, Asher emerged, also wearing a hazmat suit. He had used the same method to get a gun.
We exchanged a look, a hint of a smile in our eyes.
’But it’s too early to celebrate.’
"This isn’t their main base. It’s just a data collection point," I whispered.
The state of the pregnant women inside makes it clear this isn’t the final headquarters.
The Genetics Organization’s real headquarters must be somewhere extremely well-hidden, a place they wouldn’t let us find so easily.
"I’ve memorized all of their data," Asher said. He has something close to a photographic memory.
I glanced at Asher. "I memorized it, too."
My steps faltered for a second. ’Back in the abandoned building... ever since my memories started to resurface, my intelligence and memory seem to have improved.’
We made our way out, calmly greeting the mercenaries we passed.
We had to get out quickly before they discovered anything.
Clearly, their security was far too lax.
’Or maybe... it wasn’t laxness. Maybe it was intentional?’
It had all gone too smoothly. Getting from the seventh floor to the first, leaving the abandoned building, being captured by these people, seeing all this, and now being able to just walk away.
"Have you noticed? It feels like someone is deliberately letting us go," I asked Asher.
"There must be ’Rebel’ agents among the mercenaries. So far, we still haven’t escaped the ’killing game’ they’ve designed," Asher said in a low voice.
Everything we’ve experienced was just what they wanted us to see.
"Heh..." I let out a short laugh.
A war between The Genetics Organization and the Rebels, and we’re just pawns in their game.
In fact, our every move, every step we take, has been part of their calculations.
’What kind of genius must be behind the Rebels?’
"They’re deliberately showing us this to fuel our hatred for The Genetics Organization. The next step is for us to seek them out on our own..." To seek out the ’Rebels.’
And join them.
Asher looked at me. "Whatever you decide, I’m with you."
I smiled. "Then let’s join them."
"There’s always a dark side to power and wealth. So first, we have to become powerful ourselves," Asher said, taking my hand and leading me brazenly out the back door.
"Claire Lawson said the mastermind of this killing game is still among us..." I stopped and tightened my grip on Asher’s hand. "Asher, is it you?"