Chapter 503
When the slim man saw my reaction, his smile only became gentle, disarmingly so.
“Don’t be afraid, Ms. Quill,” he said. “We didn’t bring you here to url you. You know, we just admire your research so much. We want to collaborate with you and have more breakthroughs for the betterment of all mankind.“.
Without waiting for me to respond, he continued, “I imagine you worried about Mr. Irvin Sawyer, who was brought here along with you.”
My mind was still muddled because of a drug–induced haze. But at the mention of Irvin, it instantly cleared. He had been bleeding profusely and had collapsed in a pool of his blood just to protect me.
At this memory, I naturally grew anxious. Lurching forward , I asked , “ How is he?”
The man gave me a look of regretful pity. “I’m terribly sorry. Our people were a bit too rough when bringing you both here, which led to him being seriously injured. He has yet to regain consciousness . ”
My already clenched fists tightened even further. “Send Irvin back to the Hardwells. I’ll do whatever it is you want me to!”
No matter how much I hated the idea of cooperating with this criminal organization, I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to Irvin because of me.
Upon hearing this, the man gave me a warm but apologetic smile. I’m sorry, Ms. Quill. I’m afraid we can’t do that. If you want Irvin Sawyer to survive, you’ll need to develop the neural stimulation chip as quickly as possible.
“And don’t say it’s too difficult or it’ll take time. We know you’ve already made a breakthrough in this area.
“And now, with our more advanced equipment and expert research team, we believe you’ll achieve results even faster. So, when Irvin wakes up and whether he lives is all in your hands, Ms. Quill.
Scientific research is already challenging enough. But if the lead researcher didn’t even want to do the work, then the day success came would be nearly impossible.
The criminal organization knew it wasn’t enough to get me to agree to cooperate. Even if I were to say yes, I might not devote myself entirely to it. If this were the case, it didn’t matter how long they locked me up, even if it was for a lifetime. If I wasn’t willing, I would never produce results.
That was why the criminal organization would never release Irvin, no matter what. They were going to hold him hostage here and use him as leverage to get me to develop what they wanted as soon as possible.
The man had spoken an absolutely vicious threat in the gentlest and most regretful tone. This made the knuckles on my already tightly clenched fists turn white.
Before I could say anything, he added, “I can imagine you must want to see him , Ms. Quill. If you’d like to and are able to walk, how about I take you to him?”
I knew him allowing me to see Irvin was just another tactic to better control me. Still, I followed him because I wanted to know what condition Irvin was in right now.
I had heard that this criminal organization had coerced, kidnapped, and threatened countless researchers. So, this research compound didn’t just specialize in my field. It also covered all sorts of research areas, including medicine, which was the wing Irvin was being held at.
Lying motionless inside a glass room, Irvin’s face was deathly pale. He had tubes coming out of his entire body. I couldn’t even begin to describe how I felt when I saw him.
I had never wanted anything to happen to Irvin.
Even after we had gone our separate ways, I had still wished him well. Then, when I had heard he didn’t want to live anymore, I badly wanted to convince him to keep going. But before I had been able to, Irvin had ended up like this because of me.
503
I really didn’t want to owe Irvin anything more. All I ever wanted was for both of us to live well separately.
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