Chapter 298 - 297: Asher’s Solution is to Sacrifice Himself

Chapter 298: Chapter 297: Asher’s Solution is to Sacrifice Himself

"Let’s go. Since they won’t let us in, what else can we do but leave?"

Asher shrugged as if to say he was out of options. They had guns, after all.

"But..." Zeke Shaw was unwilling to give up. They had come all this way...

Madeline Quinn’s fever was still high.

"If we go back..." Lucas Grant agreed. If they returned empty-handed, something terrible could happen to Madeline Quinn.

Asher ignored them, turning to signal for everyone to leave.

I looked at Asher without saying a word and turned to go.

THUD! Just when no one was paying attention, Asher spun back around, grabbed two of the men by their heads, and viciously slammed them together. The pair crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Asher picked up the guns they had dropped, tossing one each to Zeke Shaw and Lucas Grant.

"Hey, give me one!" Felix Foster exclaimed, his boyish heart always looking for a thrill.

Asher paid him no mind, kicked open the door to the medical bay, and strode right in.

The people inside reacted instantly, aiming their guns at Asher.

Lucas Grant and Zeke Shaw quickly raised their own weapons, but they were outnumbered.

"Shoot me, and you all die," Asher said, raising his hand to show his injured palm. "Mr. Walter Carter, you know perfectly well why The Resistance is looking for the president of Astraeus Group. As it stands, finding him and handing him over to them alive is your only way out."

Walter Carter narrowed his eyes, watching Asher warily. "As far as I know, you’re from the Lancaster Family. You can’t possibly be the president of Astraeus Group."

"And why not? Anything is possible. What if I really am?" Asher sneered, pressing his negotiation.

Sitting in his wheelchair, Walter Carter gripped the armrests tightly. "Even if you are, we can simply detain you. We’ll wait for your hand to heal, then take you to test your palm print and iris scan."

I watched Asher nervously. ’Was the strategy he’d devised in such a short time... to sacrifice himself?’

"Fine. I’ll agree to stay. Once my hand has healed, I’ll go with you to the vault for the test. But I have conditions. Get me the medicine my friends need, and... send a doctor back with them to treat the injured," Asher said, his voice low.

I stepped forward anxiously. "Asher..."

Asher smiled at me and whispered in my ear, "Don’t be afraid. I’m staying, but they’re the ones who should be scared."

I breathed a sigh of relief, but a sliver of worry remained. ’What if these lunatics decided to do something inhuman?’

Walter Carter let out a cold laugh. "And what if I refuse?"

"Then we take you down with us. Even if we die, we’ll kill half of your bodyguards. You know better than anyone what it’s like out there. Those madmen are eyeing every wealthy person in the VIP area. Your key cards, your resources—it’s everything they’ve ever dreamed of."

Asher was right. Without their bodyguards, they would meet a gruesome end on this ship.

Lucas Grant and Felix Foster glanced at each other and gave a thumbs-up. As expected of Asher, the master negotiator.

He had hit them right where it hurt.

Even if we died, it would be a case of mutually assured destruction.

Walter Carter certainly knew it wasn’t worth all this trouble just for a few antibiotics.

"Go get them the medicine. Find a doctor to go with them," Walter Carter finally relented.

I looked at Asher anxiously. Mason Carter was a doctor, yet Asher had demanded another one. That meant Asher didn’t trust him. Which meant... we had to get back to Madeline Quinn as quickly as possible.

"Go on back. Take care of Madeline Quinn." Asher raised his hand and touched my cheek. "Whatever you cherish... I’ll protect it with everything I have."

’He would do anything to protect everything I cherished.’

My eyes welled up, and I looked down. ’He had said "you"... not my name, "Cece".’

’So, could I flatter myself into thinking that he just cared about *me*—the person, the soul, the individual?’

’Whoever I was, that was who he loved.’

"Those lunatics from The Resistance will make another move soon. We won’t be separated for long. Trust me," Asher comforted me in a low voice.

I nodded. Once the doctor came over with the medicine, we turned and left.

Zeke Shaw looked back, his eyes full of gratitude for Asher.

Without Asher... they might not have even survived that ruined building in North Myarra.

"So sorry to have to take some of your supplies," Asher said with a smile as Walter Carter’s men escorted him to a corner.

Walter Carter had a doctor carefully treat Asher’s hand, ensuring the palm print wouldn’t be damaged. But even the most delicate surgery couldn’t possibly restore the original pattern completely.

When Walter Carter found this out, he flew into a rage and ordered his men to kill Asher.

Fortunately, someone spoke up. "With that type of safe, the palm print recognition mainly reads the five fingerprints and the base of the palm. He injured the center of his palm, which isn’t a critical area. It shouldn’t be a problem."

Hearing this, Walter Carter finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Indeed. We can’t let anyone with an injured palm get away. We must find the president of Astraeus Group as quickly as possible and hand him over."

"But... we’re all in the same boat here, all from the same business circles. Are we really going to hand over one of our own?" someone with a conscience asked nervously.

"Hmph! If we don’t, we’ll all die!" Walter Carter snapped. "This ship is heading farther and farther into the deep sea. The Genetics Organization has been tailing us, but they haven’t boarded to rescue us. Any idea why? They’re waiting. Waiting until most of us are dead, and then they’ll have the ship sunk!"

So, they had to save themselves.

They had to satisfy all of The Resistance’s demands as soon as possible, to make them turn the ship around or dock at the nearest shore.

"Have none of you considered that the reason The Resistance is making you find the president of Astraeus Group is to tear you apart from the inside? They want you to suspect each other, to kill each other. That way, even if you make it back alive, rifts will have formed between you. You’ll never trust each other again. And without trust, you won’t invest in The Genetics Organization anymore. Then, slowly... The Genetics Organization’s Meridia branch will lose its funding and disappear completely..."

Asher said it all calmly. This was The Resistance’s true objective.

So, even though The Resistance went to all this trouble to orchestrate this pointless killing game, their ultimate goal wasn’t for everyone on board to die.

But unless some people died, it wouldn’t be enough to stir up the evil and resentment lurking deep in human nature. So, the game had to go on, and people had to die...

"Natural selection, survival of the fittest. Only the last one standing will truly get to leave this place alive," Asher said with a faint smile. "But The Resistance will definitely set the rules for who gets to be the last one standing. For example... only half of you present here will be allowed to live."

The moment Asher’s words fell, the faces of all the tycoons hiding there drained of color, turning deathly pale.

’Isn’t this forcing them to kill each other?’

Sure enough, just as Asher finished speaking, a new set of rules began to play on a loop through the ship’s announcement system.

"The game will be divided by floor. Each residential floor has approximately two hundred people. In the end, only half can survive. Have a pleasant game."

They were going to cull the population, reducing the original one thousand people to five hundred.

Then from five hundred down to two hundred... and so on, in stages.

The moment the broadcast stopped, Walter Carter lost control. He snatched the gun from the bodyguard beside him and aimed it squarely at Asher. "Who the hell are you..."