Chapter 411 - 292: Misplaced Anger
Paige Summers felt a chill run down her spine when she overheard the siblings’ conversation.
Even from outside the building, she could feel the violent aura radiating from Leo Joyce and smell the scent of blood drifting from within. She immediately decided to retreat, slipping away as silently as she had come.
Though she was being held captive, there was much she wanted to know, so she naturally wasn’t going to just sit idly by.
When she accidentally overheard the guards mention May Joyce’s burial today, the idea of exploring the Citadel by night took root.
In a situation like this, not using her superpower was out of the question.
She just never expected to stumble upon such an earth-shattering revelation here, at this very moment.
Now, so many of her questions could finally be answered...
Why May Joyce had rashly left Southreach, why so many things had gone wrong along the way... it was all Maisie Joyce’s doing!
Paige vaguely recalled May Joyce once telling her how capable her older sister was. Though May was jealous, she was also proud of her.
’How tragic,’ she thought now.
And Leo Joyce’s own words and actions had completely shattered her worldview.
He looked normal enough, but he was actually a hidden psychopath!
Among the three siblings of the Citadel, it seemed only the deceased May Joyce had been remotely normal.
And frankly, she was better off dead.
If she had lived, she would have been under Leo Joyce’s thumb for the rest of her life.
The world of a psychopath is beyond the understanding of ordinary people. It would be a fate worse than death.
Paige considered this over and over, becoming less certain of her previous speculations.
Now it seemed the reason Leo hadn’t pursued Lucian Chapman for breaking the contract and rejecting May Joyce wasn’t a matter of magnanimity at all. It was simply because he now had his sights set on her!
That monster, Leo Joyce, was capable of doing this to his own sister. For May Joyce’s sake, what wouldn’t he do? After he finished with Maisie Joyce, wouldn’t she be next?
Even if she went all out with her superpower, she might be able to handle ten or twenty enemies, but she couldn’t stand against the City Lord, who could mobilize thousands of soldiers.
In short, it was a matter of life and death. The sooner she left, the better.
But Lucian was still in the city, and she hadn’t been able to contact him...
After a moment’s thought, she took advantage of the deep night and made a trip to their old residence.
Sure enough, she found a coded message.
Following the signs, she arrived at a deep alley.
Just as she reached the end, a small door to the side opened without a sound.
An unfamiliar face, but the aura was familiar.
The person nodded, and Paige slipped inside with him.
She successfully met up with Lucian and quickly explained the situation in a few words.
Finally, she said, "You guys leave the city immediately at dawn tomorrow." Paige’s tone was serious and left no room for refusal. "I’ll make my move tomorrow night. We’ll regroup in Trevera Forest!"
Without waiting for Lucian’s reply, she quickly left.
That night, Paige returned to her cell.
Only then did she reverse the effects of the sleeping drug on the guards.
Although the guards found it strange that they had fallen asleep, they were relieved to see Paige still sitting obediently in her cell.
Southreach may be under martial law, but Paige was confident that with Lucian’s skills, slipping out of the city wouldn’t be difficult. It was just a pity about the laborers they’d signed contracts with in the Black Market; she probably couldn’t worry about them for the time being. And then there was the deposit they had already paid...
’It hurts just thinking about the money!’
’I’ll just have to write it off as a necessary loss to avoid disaster.’
The next evening, she used the same trick to drug the guards and crept silently toward the city wall.
She wasn’t going to use the main gate, of course.
Southreach was huge. It was impossible for every section of the wall to be guarded, especially the parts that were built particularly high. For the people inside, this height was enough to prevent surprise attacks from Mutant Beasts, so there was no need to station extra manpower there under normal circumstances.
There were patrol teams, but there were always gaps in their schedules.
Paige seized this opportunity, found a blind spot, and used a grappling hook to scale the wall and get out!
Equipment, strength, and speed—not one could be lacking.
She had successfully escaped Southreach!
However, not long after leaving the city, as she headed toward Trevera Forest, she ran into Lucian, who was lying in wait to meet her!
"Heh heh, I guessed right! I knew you’d come out this way!"
Paige smiled too.
She knew he had been worried about her.
"Let’s go!"
The two of them unleashed their superpowers, their speed astonishing. They were like two streaks of dark light, bounding across the wilderness!
Twenty minutes later, they reached Trevera Forest and successfully rendezvoused with the rest of the team.
Once they were in the vehicle and speeding away, everyone finally breathed a collective sigh of relief.
’Oh, man!’
’These last few days in Southreach have been way too intense!’
Lucian nodded with satisfaction. "At this rate, it won’t take us two days to catch up with them."
"Them?"
Lucian gave Paige a sly wink. "The workers we hired, of course! You didn’t really think we let all that money go down the drain, did you? That would’ve been a huge loss!"
The other team members chuckled as well.
They hadn’t been idle on the outside. Besides gathering information, they had already sent the workers out of the city two days ago!
Paige silently gave him a thumbs-up.
’We people from Bloodfall have truly mastered the spirit of ’never taking a loss, no matter what’!’
Just then, Lucian stroked his chin again. "There’s one more thing... Don’t you think our escape from the city was a little too easy? Even though our disguises were perfect, I still feel like Leo Joyce isn’t that much of an idiot..."
Paige shrugged.
"Maybe he let you go on purpose?"
It had to be said, her guess was spot on.
No matter how well Lucian and the others disguised themselves or blended in with a Hunting Party, it was impossible for everyone to be flawless. There were bound to be some suspicious points. And with May Joyce having just died, according to Leo Joyce’s usual methods, he would have definitely detained them for questioning.
But the fact was, he didn’t.
When his adjutant reported that Lucian and his group would likely sneak out of the city, he simply nodded. "Let him go. He and his base still have their uses."
He knew very well that May Joyce’s death had nothing to do with Lucian.
Besides the true culprit, Maisie Joyce, if he were to take his anger out on anyone, it would only be on Paige, who had been manipulated into killing her.
Therefore, when it was reported the next day that Paige was missing, he truly flew into a rage.
"Idiots! You can’t even keep an eye on one little girl, what’s the use of any of you! I don’t believe she could have escaped on her own. Investigate! I want a thorough investigation!" As he spoke, he threw the file in his hands at his adjutant.
With that command, the personnel involved soon disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
But Paige’s escape was a fact that could no longer be changed.
Leo Joyce could of course guess that once she left, she would certainly meet up with Lucian and the others and return to Bloodfall Base.
He was furious, unwilling to accept it.
The thought of taking down Bloodfall Base even flashed through his mind.
In the end, however, he calmed down...
Doing so would bring no benefit to him or to Southreach.
Besides, if May Joyce hadn’t been actively seeking death, how could she have been so easily killed by a little girl?
That night, he went to a secret chamber. Cradling May Joyce’s cryogenically frozen body, he muttered to himself, "You wanted to die, didn’t you? But I won’t let you have your way! Just you watch. I’ll bring you back to life sooner or later! Even if... you’re no longer completely you, I don’t care!"