Chapter 248: Root Appears! Chuck: I'm Not Here to Break You Up!
On the big screen, another feed appeared, showing the housekeeper cleaning in the hillside villa above the underground chamber, receiving Chuck's call.
"Okay."
Although the housekeeper hadn't finished cleaning, after receiving Chuck's call, she didn't hesitate or ask questions, immediately putting down what she was doing and walking out.
A dozen seconds later, her car drove away.
The oil painting beauty laughed: "I don't believe you would really let me die here... especially in front of Anna."
"You're right. For Anna's sake, I won't kill you before you cross my bottom line."
Chuck said expressionlessly, "But that doesn't mean I have to guarantee your safety. You're courting death—that's not included in this."
The oil painting beauty stared intently at Chuck.
Chuck calmly returned her gaze.
Time passed second by second, and the blood gushing from the oil painting beauty's wrist, which she had bitten open, stained the ground red.
No one spoke again.
The oil painting beauty looked at Chuck and Anna, who both had the same expressionless faces, and extended her intact right hand, pressing it against her left wrist. The gushing blood immediately slowed down considerably.
Clearly, she had an exceptional understanding of human anatomy, and her self-rescue methods were expert-level, which was one of the reasons she dared to bite through her own wrist artery.
However, her face looked extremely pale.
"See! You still understand the value of life. I think that's our common ground."
Chuck said bluntly, then operated his phone, and the door to the chamber opened: "The first aid kit is outside."
The oil painting beauty, pressing her wrist, walked out of the chamber, paused, and turned back to look at Chuck on the screen: "I admit I underestimated you, but next time, you won't have this advantage."
Then she looked at Anna beside Chuck: "Sister, I will find you."
After saying that, she disappeared from the doorway of the chamber. Following Chuck's instructions, she found the first aid kit, skillfully performed basic first aid, glanced at the Gatling gun and various equipment, and muttered, "What an infuriating yet intriguing guy."
She acted crazy, but it was rational madness based on logical calculation, not the kind of chaotic and random insanity.
She judged that Chuck and Anna wouldn't kill her, she knew the housekeeper was upstairs, and she had the ability to save herself in a crisis. All these factors combined to form the logical chain that allowed her to dare to use the extreme tactic of biting her wrist artery to escape the chamber imprisonment.
But when Chuck said the chamber couldn't be remotely controlled, and then, in front of her, made the housekeeper—the only person with time to open the door—leave, and stated that while he wouldn't kill her now, it didn't mean he would necessarily save her suicidal attempt, she became uncertain.
Without Chuck, Anna would never have acted this way.
But with Chuck around, Anna had completely become independent, taking his side, acting as if Chuck's decisions were final.
She began to suspect that even if Chuck did do that, watching her die in that chamber, Anna wouldn't hold any grudge against him.
This Chuck, caught in a Schrödinger's cat situation of whether to save her or not, was someone she couldn't predict.
Therefore, her rational madness led her to back down. Although it was frustrating, placing herself in a Schrödinger's cat state to gamble on Chuck's final decision was not the act of a wise person.
This wasn't the endgame, but just one round, perhaps even just a twisted blind date meticulously planned by her sister.
Thinking back to Chuck's deliberate claim that the chamber couldn't be remotely opened and his subsequent dismissal of the housekeeper, aside from the potential for actual murder, it had a certain dark humor to it.
Just as she had said in the chamber, once she understood that her sister's actions were to force her, as Anna's only family, to go on a blind date with him, her "eyes and ears," she truly didn't mind this arrangement.
And now, she was even somewhat looking forward to their second date.
Of course, this time, she would be in charge of the location and activities...
"Dr. Wolfe, good news!"
Chuck had just hung up the phone when the beautiful Dr. Cameron approached him excitedly: "After using the anti-amebic medication, Alicia's pain has greatly decreased. Although we can't be certain it's an amoeba, the probability is high."
"That's indeed good news,"
Chuck stated frankly.
In that case, he wouldn't need to use his precious life essence on Professor Alicia Harper for the time being.
As time went on, more good news arrived.
Professor Alicia Harper awoke, and the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Chuck. Her beautiful eyes regained their sparkle: "Chuck, I can see you."
"Congratulations,"
Chuck congratulated her.
"Same to you."
After enduring excruciating pain, Professor Alicia Harper was incredibly grateful for her current state and couldn't help but tease him: "I know you don't like change."
"Yes, same to you."
Chuck looked at the smile in her eyes and knew she meant he should share her joy at being able to see those eyes he loved so much again.
"But some changes are necessary."
Professor Alicia Harper glanced at her husband, who had reappeared and was walking toward her, and murmured something. Then she reached out and took Chuck's hand: "If such a day comes again, when I lose the ability to make decisions, I hope you will make the decisions for me, not him."
"Okay,"
Chuck agreed calmly after a moment of silence.
It was just a life-or-death decision; it wasn't difficult for him.
"Alicia, are you...are you alright?"
Professor Alicia Harper, facing her husband who walked in with his head bowed to greet her, calmly said, "John, I'm fine."
Nothing could be more heartbreaking than despair.
So, she didn't even loosen her grip on Chuck's hand.
Professor John Harper mustered his courage and looked up several times, not daring to meet his overly calm wife's gaze. Finally, he noticed the scene, his expression faltering. There was no expected rage, only a complex look in his eyes as he stared at their clasped hands, muttering, "That's good, that's good..."
"Indeed, very good."
A flicker of vindictive satisfaction flashed through Professor Alicia Harper's heart, compensation for the years she hadn't received the treatment a devoted and beautiful wife deserved: "Perhaps I should have done this long ago."
"Dr. Wolfe has only been here a short time."
Professor John Harper offered a blunt reminder.
"..."
Professor Alicia Harper paused.
Yes!
Chuck had only been here a short time!
Not everyone was acceptable to her, especially after experiencing a husband like that. She had actually lost much hope in men and had come to terms with her own feelings...
If it weren't for this excruciating ordeal, and Chuck's willingness to risk everything to relieve her pain, she would have kept her distance from him altogether.
"When can you be discharged?"
Professor John Harper raised his eyes, which had been fixed on the floor, and glanced at his silent wife.
"I don't know,"
Professor Alicia Harper said self-deprecatingly. "It depends on the doctor and Chuck... Maybe I won't go back."
"You have to come back!"
Professor John Harper raised his voice, his hands and feet moving awkwardly. "I'll be waiting for you at home."
As if afraid his wife would refuse, he turned and ran out, his movements extremely awkward, but his effort was evident. Reaching the door in this clumsy manner, he leaned against it, glanced back at Chuck and his wife, and said, "I'll be waiting for you two at home."
"...What did you say?"
Even though Professor Alicia Harper had survived a life-or-death ordeal and believed she had seen through many things, that her disappointment in her husband was beyond words, and that she could calmly accept everything about him, she was still taken aback by his sudden words.
"I'll be waiting for you two at home,"
Professor John Harper said again, mustering his courage, facing his wife's astonished question, before running away stiffly.
"Chuck, did you hear that?"
Professor Alicia Harper's face paled, unsure if her condition had relapsed and she was experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations again. She reached out to touch Chuck, who was standing in front of her.
"I heard it."
Chuck let Professor Alicia Harper touch him, reassuring her, "You're not hallucinating."
Professor Alicia Harper felt the real, solid touch and finally breathed a sigh of relief, breaking free from the fear of relapse. Then, her face darkened with anger: "John, what does he mean!"
"He saw that you wanted to leave him. He couldn't bear it, so he chose to tacitly accept your choice and not interfere, just hoping you would stay at home."
Chuck bluntly stated his assessment.
"..."
Professor Alicia Harper, of course, understood this as well as Chuck's personality, but she was still somewhat unaccustomed to his directness. Her expression shifted for a long time before she looked at Chuck and asked, "What do you think?"
"I'm not here to break you up."
Chuck said seriously.
"..."
Professor Alicia Harper's lips twitched.
Although she didn't know the reference, she was quite intelligent and, knowing Chuck's personality, she guessed some of the meaning behind the words.
She then sighed softly and said nothing more.
Chuck didn't say anything either. After her condition stabilized and she fell asleep again, he returned to the hillside villa.
The oil painting beauty was no longer there.
Chuck went to the chamber, looked at the large pool of blood, calmly took a white rose from his breast pocket, walked to the pool of blood, knelt down, and dipped the white rose petals into the oil painting beauty's blood. The petals tumbled, and the white rose turned into a red rose.
Chuck took the blood-soaked red rose to the bedside, placed it on the bed as always, and took a picture with his phone.
The most skilled hunter always appears in the form of prey.
A balance of tension and release is key.
In an unknown location, the oil painting beauty, who had escaped from the hillside villa, had treated her injuries and was recuperating while arranging for her operatives to take action and regain control of the global criminal empire, which had been thrown into chaos by Chuck and Anna's attacks.
A female subordinate entered with a phone: "Someone sent a message to this burner phone."
"Give it to me."
The oil painting beauty casually took the phone, gestured for the subordinate to leave, and after a few operations, opened her mailbox. She saw the familiar bed and the red roses on it that were both strange and familiar. Her expression instantly darkened, then a smile appeared on her lips. She quickly composed a text message and then completely destroyed the phone.
"Since the game has started, don't let it stop."
Texas.
Bishop, Texas.
A pretty, aloof girl walked alone on her way home. She should have gotten used to this, because she had always been this way.
But since she had a best friend, Hannah, and lost her a year ago, she hadn't been able to completely move on and regain her usual composure for a full year.
It was one night.
In the Bishop Public Library, she and her only friend Hannah were there. Hannah was playing a simple single-player game on the computer, while she quickly flipped through books to absorb knowledge, all the while keeping an eye on Hannah.
When Hannah failed again in the game, she appeared at the opportune moment, enjoying the conversation with her only friend.
Then Hannah handed her a book, "Flowers for Algernon," recommending it to her, before leaving the library with her backpack.
She took over Hannah's failed game, easily completing the simple game, and wrote her online handle on the high score record: root!
Root, meaning highest privilege, was her ideal code name for the online world.
After typing it with a slight smile, she glimpsed her friend Hannah completing the checkout with the librarian and walking out. She quickly followed and saw Hannah get into a car—the librarian's boyfriend's car.
Sensing something was wrong, she immediately called the police, informed them of the situation, and also told the female librarian.
But the female librarian simply couldn't accept that the man she had just fallen in love with was a predator, and she lashed out at her harshly.
Then news of Hannah's disappearance spread.
She knew it was the librarian's former boyfriend, now her ex, who was responsible, but the world was foolish and cruel, and no one listened to her.
She chose to remain silent and withdraw.
If it weren't for her only family member, her ailing mother, who needed her, she would have left long ago.
As she walked, she stopped. On the wall were missing person flyers for Hannah; she knew they were the obsession of Hannah's mother, who was almost driven mad with grief.
"How pointless, isn't it?"
Suddenly, a very pleasant female voice sounded beside her. She stepped back warily and looked over, only to see a woman with classical beauty standing there, looking at the flyers. Her profile was breathtaking.
"Who are you?"
The girl, whose real name was Samantha Groves and online handle was Root, asked.
"You can call me Moriarty."
The newcomer was none other than the oil painting beauty. "Samantha, but I prefer to call you Root. I can help you avenge your friend, and I can also get your mother the best treatment. Most importantly, I can show you more of the wonders of this world, provided you're willing... So, are you willing?"
"What do you need in return?"
Root was unusually calm for a 13-year-old girl.
"I like your directness,"
the oil painting beauty smiled. "Of course, I want you to help me too. What I need is very simple, and it should be quite interesting for you. I hope you keep pushing your limits until you help me find my mischievous little sister~"
(End of Chapter)
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