Chapter 231: Chapter 230: The Reason Julian Fletcher Is Convinced I Won’t Die
Standing in the control room, a chill ran through me, from head to toe...
My head throbbed, and my ears began to ring.
THUD... Dizzy and unsteady, I collapsed to the floor.
On the control room floor, I spotted a switch. Blake Young had taped a note to it. It read... Exit.
He’d placed the real exit in his own control room.
It meant he never intended to get out of here alive.
I lay on the floor, a numbness spreading through my chest. It was an indescribable feeling. ’Am I sad?’ No, it was more like... distress.
It felt like something was trying to break out of a cocoon inside my chest...
...
The chamber fell quiet.
When the ten minutes were up, a light flashed for three seconds. Asher quickly snapped a picture of the mechanism inside. The chamber door reopened, and they crawled out from an exit beneath the roller coaster.
Everyone lay on the ground, gasping for breath, just glad to be alive.
Zeke Shaw did a head count, then slammed the killer they’d dragged out onto the ground.
The man was in a daze, his entire body trembling. He had clearly been locked in here for some time and had gone half-mad. "I was wrong, I know I was wrong... I shouldn’t have done that to you, I shouldn’t have..."
The man seemed to have lost his mind, repeating over and over that he knew he was wrong.
I emerged from the control room, my legs weak.
"Blake Young is dead," I said, my voice hoarse. "The exit is in the control room..."
Zeke Shaw looked at me and let out a sigh of relief. "Howard Finch is dead."
Almost everyone on the orphanage list was dead now. Only Erin Whittaker... and the man named Tim Zane remained.
To be honest, this Tim Zane guy had such a minimal presence that it felt like he’d only survived this long by pure luck, slipping through the cracks.
His face was also deathly pale. He probably knew he was going to die, too.
I remembered the killer’s death list. Tim Zane was next after Erin Whittaker. In other words, once Erin was dead, it would be Tim Zane’s turn.
"Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!" The man they’d dragged out was still hysterical, screaming and begging for his life.
His mind had completely shattered.
Blake Young had said this man was the warden of a special school. After Blake’s legs were broken, he was sent to that school as compensation, and a charity had agreed to fund his education through college.
He thought leaving the orphanage would be a new beginning, that things would get better. But every person he met was shrouded in darkness.
That’s why Blake Young lost all hope in the world, and in humanity itself.
"I know him." Zeke Shaw kicked the warden and frowned. "A few years back, I worked a case with my mentor. They found human remains during construction on the school’s athletic field... This bastard was the main culprit, but he got away with it by pleading insanity and was locked up in a psychiatric hospital."
Lucas Grant’s brow furrowed. "I heard about that case, too. The bastard’s a pervert. He had a thing for students with physical disabilities. One of them tried to fight back and go to the police, so he beat the student to death and had the body buried on the field."
The warden’s bloated, greasy body, covered in blood, continued to tremble. "I know I was wrong... I know I was wrong..."
I scoffed and turned away. "Let’s go. We need to get out of here."
"CLICK!" Suddenly, that eerie voice echoed through the hallway again. "Have you ever experienced despair? Do you know what true despair is? Welcome... to the fourteenth floor."
I froze and looked back at Asher.
’Sure enough, the killer wasn’t just one person.’
’Blake Young was only one of them.’
’A player, a controller, a killer... and a victim.’
Julian Fletcher walked over, concerned, wanting to make sure I wasn’t hurt. "Are you okay..."
But before he could finish, Asher shoved him against the wall, ran over to me, and glared warily at Julian Fletcher.
Julian Fletcher took a deep breath, obviously trying to control his temper.
He couldn’t lose his temper in front of me, so he just suppressed it and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Sebastian Lancaster, are you a child?"
Asher ignored Julian Fletcher and took my hand, staking his claim. "My wife. We have a marriage certificate."
Julian Fletcher’s expression grew even darker. He took a deep breath and said through clenched teeth, "And marriages can be ended."
"I’m not getting one," Asher shot back.
"Sebastian Lancaster!" Julian Fletcher looked like he was about to punch him.
Asher hid behind me, the picture of innocence. "Cece, he’s so scary. Down below, he tried to kill me."
I frowned, shooting a warning glance at Julian Fletcher.
Julian Fletcher looked like he was about to lose it. "Me? Kill him? It was pitch-black down there! How would I even know where he was? Don’t listen to his bullshit! Sebastian Lancaster, are you out of your mind?!"
The normally aloof Julian Fletcher was always thrown off his game by Asher’s "green tea" act.
Asher hid behind me, his voice full of grievance. "He grabbed my wound. It really hurts. It’s bleeding."
Asher deliberately revealed the wound on his arm. Seeing the pained expression he wanted on my face, he leaned against my shoulder, satisfied.
Lucas Grant couldn’t bear to watch. "Let’s just go and leave him to fend for himself. God, he’s laying it on thick."
Felix Foster had been staring into space, looking completely out of it. He snapped back to reality, glanced at Asher, then lowered his head and walked off.
He didn’t seem like his usual cheerful self.
"Not a single word out of his mouth is true," Julian Fletcher insisted, trying to get me to believe him.
"Cece, you can’t trust him," Asher whispered, tattling. "He and Erin Whittaker are probably both working for Victor Quinn. The Fletcher Group is one of the financial backers for the genetic engineering project. He’s one of the capitalists..."
Julian Fletcher clenched his fists. The look in his eyes said he genuinely wanted to kill Asher.
"You two seem like a perfect match. You should live happily ever after," I said flatly, pushing Asher away and turning to leave.
Asher latched onto me again, looking wounded. "Cece, it hurts so much."
Up ahead, Madeline Quinn was helping the injured Claire Lawson walk. Erin Whittaker, since her identity had been exposed, was clearly being ostracized and walked by herself.
She was injured too, trailing behind everyone else.
No one paid any mind to the crazed warden. They left him to his fate.
"Julian..." Erin Whittaker called out his name.
Julian Fletcher stopped, his expression complicated as he looked at Erin Whittaker.
"You’ve always known I was one of Victor Quinn’s people..." Erin Whittaker let out a sarcastic laugh. "In fact, even before Cecilia Caldwell died, you’d realized the Fletcher Group was funding the genetic engineering project behind the scenes, hadn’t you?"
Julian Fletcher remained silent.
"Julian Fletcher, you’ve actually known all along that Cecilia Caldwell was a product of genetic experiments. That’s why you were so certain, so convinced she wouldn’t die..." Erin Whittaker asked in a low voice. "How could a genetically modified monster possibly die? She’s such a good actress..."
Julian Fletcher didn’t respond, falling into step beside Erin Whittaker.
He only knew that Erin Whittaker couldn’t die yet. She knew too many secrets... secrets about the genetic engineering, and about the ’God Creation Plan.’
"Why don’t you explain yourself to her? Aren’t you completely convinced she’s Cecilia Caldwell? Or... are you starting to waver?" Erin Whittaker sneered. "The more you learn the truth, the more horrifying it becomes, doesn’t it? Cecilia Caldwell is dead. There will never be another one. No matter how similar she looks, no matter how much the memories overlap, it’s not her..."
Julian Fletcher frowned. "Maybe miracles really do happen in this world."
Erin Whittaker laughed. "A miracle? The only miracle is that we’ve ended up in this godforsaken place, and it’s anyone’s guess if we’ll make it out alive."
"Victor Quinn should have your location by now, right?" I stopped and turned to look at Erin Whittaker. "Why hasn’t he sent people in?"
"Because he doesn’t want to tip his hand," Erin Whittaker said, looking at me and lowering her voice. "The true mastermind behind this game is one of us. He wants to find out who it is, too. Is it you? Sebastian Lancaster? Or someone else in this group?"
I gave a cold, mocking laugh. "So, there’s actually someone out there who can give Victor Quinn a headache and make him afraid."
That just made me more curious...
’Who could the person pulling the strings be?’
’Right here, among us?’
I looked at the few people still alive.
’None of them seemed like a mastermind.’
’And yet, one of them was supposedly right here among us...’