Chapter 241 - 240: The Killer Among Us Turns Out to Be Her

Chapter 241: Chapter 240: The Killer Among Us Turns Out to Be Her

"What? Feeling sorry for her?" I turned to look at Julian Fletcher and asked in a low voice, "Do you know what the difference is between you and Asher?"

Julian Fletcher looked hurt, his hand tightening on the corner of my clothes.

"No... I just... I don’t want you to..." He just didn’t want me to kill anyone. He didn’t want me to commit a crime.

I understood his thoughts, but he didn’t know me at all.

The difference between him and Asher is that Asher unconditionally supports all of my decisions. If I am a devil, he is a devil. If I am an angel, he is an angel too.

If I do good, he does good. If I do evil, he helps me.

But Asher knows me too well. He knows I wouldn’t actually commit a crime...

’At least, I still have my limits.’

"This is a killing field designed by someone else. Even if I did kill her, who would know?" I sneered, deliberately provoking Julian Fletcher. "You’re not going to report me to the police, are you?"

Julian Fletcher grabbed my wrist nervously. "Cece... don’t."

"You’re so righteous it’s frightening." I shoved Julian Fletcher away, walked up to Erin Whittaker, and placed my foot on her neck.

By the weak firelight, I spoke in a low, dangerous voice. "You’d better tell me every secret you know."

Fear, terror, and pain sent shudders through Erin Whittaker’s entire body.

With my foot on her neck, she knew it would be effortless for me to kill her.

She didn’t have that much backbone, yet she still wasn’t talking... It could only mean one thing: Victor Quinn was more terrifying to her than I was.

Victor Quinn had ways to make her wish she were dead.

"Erin Whittaker, you have no other choice. If you want to live, you have to listen to me..." I removed my foot, squatted beside her, and yanked her hair. "Even if you don’t tell me, do you really think Victor Quinn will trust you completely when you get out? For a man as suspicious as him... all it would take is a little prodding from me, and he’d make you wish you were dead. So why don’t we work together...?"

Trembling, Erin Whittaker stared at me with pure hatred. "Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you when I get out of here...?"

"If you think you have what it takes, you’re welcome to try..."

"Cecilia Caldwell was formidable, wasn’t she? But she still died... You’ll be no exception," Erin Whittaker glared at me viciously.

’She’s got some backbone after all.’

My hand slowly moved to her wound, and I began to push my fingers inside.

"AHH!" A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the stairwell.

There wasn’t a flicker of emotion in my eyes. To Erin Whittaker, I must have looked like a demon.

"Julian, Julian, save me."

The look Julian Fletcher gave me was also complicated. He stepped forward as if to stop me, but Erin Whittaker’s life was in my hands.

"I’ll talk! I’ll talk!" She finally broke.

I released her, disgustedly flicking the blood from my fingers. "Tell me something I want to hear."

’Otherwise, I still won’t let her off the hook.’

"Aren’t you afraid... of Julian finding out the truth?" Erin Whittaker asked weakly from the floor, her eyes on Julian Fletcher. "If I say it, your secret about pretending to be Cecilia Caldwell... won’t be a secret for long!"

"Too much damn talking." I slapped her across the face.

Crying on the ground, Erin Whittaker began to speak through her sobs.

"Julian... you wanted to know why Cecilia Caldwell and Silvia Lynch were so similar, right? Why her impersonation of Cecilia was so successful that neither you nor that lunatic Sebastian Lancaster could see through it? Why you were both so willing, so happy to be deceived?"

Erin Whittaker cried out to Julian Fletcher. "It’s because Cecilia Caldwell and Silvia Lynch are cloned embryos from the same genetic material, implanted into different mothers... In other words, Silvia Lynch and Cecilia Caldwell are both test subjects for The Genetics Organization... They’re clones!"

After Erin Whittaker spoke, Julian Fletcher staggered back a step, bracing himself against the wall to stay upright.

Cloned test subjects...

"Victor Quinn is very cautious. I really don’t know much..." Erin Whittaker sobbed, looking at me. "I only found this out because I overheard him on the phone... They’re performing genetic experiments on humans, secretly cloning human embryos. At first... it was just for organ transplants for the world’s wealthy elite, but later... I don’t know what kind of research they started doing in secret."

Erin Whittaker was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. "Silvia Lynch, you’re not even a person... You’re just a test subject. Cecilia, too. You’re both incomplete experiments. And across the globe, there could be countless other test subjects exactly like you, implanted into different mothers."

It was a horrifying truth.

That meant there could be countless ’Cecilia Caldwells’.

Countless ’me’s.

In places I can’t see.

In realms I know nothing about.

After birth, cloned embryos develop differently due to variations in environment, lifestyle, and even conditions in the womb. That’s why ’Cecilia Caldwell’ and ’Silvia Lynch’, despite their resemblance, weren’t completely identical. Even their personalities were different.

Cloning.

Heh... A word that could make your blood run cold.

"Then what about Asher...?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

’I’m a test subject. So what does that make Asher?’

"He’s not exactly a test subject..." Erin Whittaker gritted out, leaning against the wall through the pain. "He was genetically screened, yes. He’s just an optimized specimen from gene editing. He’s different from you... He’s still a normal person. But you’re not... Silvia Lynch, you can’t even be called a ’person.’ In their eyes, you’re just a lamb for the slaughter. You’re livestock—pigs, cattle, sheep—set loose in human society... You’re their experiment, a species they can eliminate at any time through some ’accident’ if your data doesn’t look good..."

Erin Whittaker spoke again. "Like Dolly the cloned sheep, your ultimate fate is to become a specimen, trapped in an underground specimen room in some lab. I’m guessing... The Genetics Organization’s underground lab station is probably filled with corpse specimens of ’you’."

"Heh..." I laughed. I rose weakly to my feet and said nothing, just leaned against the wall and started slowly down the stairs.

A clone.

’How ridiculous.’

Science fiction movies are too conservative in their portrayal of human desire and evil.

For the sake of progress, for ’evolution,’ for eternal life, for anti-aging, just to stay alive... humanity has hidden so much darkness beneath the sun.

A darkness ordinary people will never encounter in their entire lives. They can’t even imagine how terrifying it truly is.

So, living an ordinary life... isn’t that a kind of happiness in itself?

"Cece..." Julian Fletcher called out my name, his voice hoarse.

"’The Godfather’ opens with a quote: Behind every great fortune lies a great crime. Marx also said that when capital comes into the world, it drips with filthy blood from every pore..."

My voice was hoarse as I continued down the stairs, one step at a time.

’I wasn’t just saying those words for Julian Fletcher’s benefit. I was saying them to myself, too.’

All the prosperity we see in this world is merely what its puppet masters want us to see.

The darkness behind the curtain is unimaginable.

"Cece..." Julian Fletcher sounded worried. "This isn’t your fault."

I glanced back at Julian Fletcher and sneered. "I never thought for a second that it was..."

’So who is to blame?’

"Control your woman. Make her keep her mouth shut."

I pointed a finger at Julian Fletcher and continued, "And you, Julian Fletcher. You’re kind to everyone but cruel to Cecilia Caldwell. Get rid of that boundless compassion of yours. Your softness only encourages her to take a mile when you give her an inch."

"I’ve done nothing wrong, and neither has Asher." I turned and continued down the stairs. "As for Victor Quinn and the vast, sturdy web behind him..."

"Tell Victor Quinn that I will personally destroy everything they’ve built."

I will not compromise.

And I will never back down.

’The people who ’killed’ me and used ’me’... they’re like the ’Rebels’ fighting against all this evil. They’re using their own ’sinful’ methods to rip open this web, exposing Victor Quinn and the corporate syndicate behind him for their genetic experiments that defy all laws of man and nature.’

’Now the police are taking this very seriously, so Victor Quinn and his people are starting to panic...’

’But this is only the beginning.’

"Cece... I’ll help you," Julian Fletcher said in a small voice.

He said it even though he understood the terrifying price of getting involved.

"Before that, I need to find the murderer..." I murmured, continuing down the stairs one step at a time.

’I now have a strong suspicion that the person manipulating this killing game is guiding me, step by step... urging me to find them, join them, and fight The Genetics Organization together.’

The first floor.

Asher was standing by the fire, his arms open for me.

My eyes stung with heat. I leaped from the last step and threw myself into his embrace.

"Don’t be afraid. We’re on the first floor. There’s light over there." Asher pointed to a beam of light shining through a crack in a nearby wall.

’This is Meridia. It’s a place that’s supposed to be filled with light. Parasites like them shouldn’t be allowed to run rampant here.’

"Okay. Let’s go home."

My gaze fell on Claire Lawson. Her clothes were soaked in blood, and she was sitting there on the verge of death. But the look she gave me was full of meaning.

Sure enough... the back of her hand bore the bloody scratches I’d given her.