Chapter 216: Another One, a Little Harder

Chapter 216: Chapter 216: Another One, a Little Harder

Once the commotion in the room died down, Zoe Sawyer carefully closed the door, her face grim as she spoke.

Behind her, Evan Keller and the others had seen the entire incident unfold through the camera Zoe Sawyer had tossed in.

Every single one of them looked grim.

The situation was even worse than they had imagined.

The good news: both children were unharmed, and their physical safety was, for the moment, guaranteed.

The bad news: someone was brainwashing them—or rather, slowly chipping away at their dependence on their parents.

Wallace Donovan was one thing; his own past had already led him to give up all hope in his parents.

But the girl, Linda, while living under immense pressure from her parents, had also felt their love. The whole affair she’d orchestrated was really just an attempt to get out of a few cram school classes.

Now, someone had suddenly told her that her parents knew she was missing but hadn’t called the police or come to look for her.

The implication, loud and clear, was that they didn’t love her anymore.

The blow to a child from something like that would be devastating.

A few more sessions like this, and Linda Pierce might slowly end up in the same state as Wallace Donovan.

"We can’t waste any more time. We have to get those kids out of there now," Sean Hughes said, his voice laced with anxiety. He slammed a hand down on the desk beside Officer Lee. "What about the specific location? Have you pinpointed it yet?"

"Confirmed. It’s in a village near Murphy Lynch’s factory." Officer Lee’s fingers never stopped moving as he quickly locked onto the precise location.

The moment the location came up, Murphy Lynch became a much stronger suspect.

That, combined with Linda Pierce calling out for ’Sister Lynch’ earlier...

The girl’s name was all but confirmed.

Could she be the girl Ms. Sherman had reported missing? If so, what exactly was she doing now?

Was she deliberately luring small children?

Zoe Sawyer stared at the address on the screen, feeling that things weren’t so simple.

Just then, the image on Officer Lee’s computer screen changed.

A young girl in a dark blue work uniform walked over to a chair, holding a bowl of water in one hand and two thick dictionaries in the other.

She set the items down on it, then gestured for the two children following her to come closer.

"Come on, let’s play a game," Murphy Lynch said, beckoning to them.

Linda Pierce and Wallace Donovan trotted over, their faces lit with expectant smiles.

’We get to play a game!’

They loved playing games more than anything!

"Here, Linda, have some water." Murphy Lynch handed the bowl to Linda Pierce. After she took a drink, Murphy handed it to Wallace Donovan beside her.

Once both children had drunk from the bowl, Murphy Lynch gave them the dictionaries and told them to balance the books on their heads to see who could hold them there the longest.

Even a game as simple as this was fascinating in the eyes of the two children.

And so, the two of them had a blast playing.

But after they had played for a little while, Murphy Lynch brought out two more bowls and carefully placed them on top of the dictionaries, claiming it was to "increase the difficulty" and see which of them was better.

Whoever won would get snacks as a reward that evening.

Wallace Donovan’s pained expression vanished the moment he heard the word "snacks." He instantly stood up straight, perfectly still, and shot a challenging look at his friend beside him.

Linda Pierce’s competitive spirit was sparked as well. She straightened her body, and the two of them began to compete in earnest.

Another ten minutes or so passed. Murphy Lynch stood up again, took two small plastic knives from a nearby drawer, and handed them to the children. At the same time, she removed the dictionaries and bowls from their heads.

"Come on, I’ll teach you an even more fun game." Murphy Lynch’s voice held a trace of delight as she rolled up her sleeves, revealing an arm covered in a dense network of scratches.

Some had already scabbed over, while others were still faintly red.

Officer Lee zoomed in on the screen. Everyone in the office stared at Murphy Lynch’s wrist, their expressions turning utterly grim.

’This girl... she has self-harming tendencies!’

’So what is she doing now? Is she teaching the other two kids to do it?’

’Wait a minute, teaching two kids to self-harm?’

Two words suddenly flashed through Zoe Sawyer’s mind.

The Whale Game!

’But this doesn’t seem quite right... I need to see more before I can be sure that’s what this is!’

"Whoa!"

Wallace Donovan stared at the scars on Murphy Lynch’s wrist and asked with a hint of envy, "Sister, can I touch them?"

Linda Pierce’s time was completely consumed by her studies, and any information she received from the outside world was carefully filtered by her parents. As a result, her grasp of certain common-sense matters was tenuous at best.

However, she had seen scars like these on her deskmate at cram school.

New ones appeared every day, and their number kept growing.

Then one day, her deskmate suddenly stopped coming to class. ’What was it the teacher said?’

’Oh, right. The teacher said she was sick, so she wasn’t coming to cram school anymore. She needed to rest and get well.’

She had mentioned it to her mom on the way home once. Her mom had also said the girl was sick and that such behavior was bad, telling Linda not to even think about it.

’So, is Sister Lynch sick?’

Before Linda Pierce could voice her question, Wallace Donovan was already reaching out his hand, eager to touch the scars.

Murphy Lynch looked at Wallace Donovan, a little surprised. "Aren’t you scared?"

Wallace Donovan shook his head excitedly. "Nope! I heard people say that scars on your wrist are a badge of courage. Sister, you’re so awesome for having so many!"

He had heard this before, back when that group of bullies used to beat him up.

Many of them had said they’d done it themselves—that you just bleed a little at most, and it was no big deal.

After that, Wallace Donovan found himself subconsciously watching them, and sure enough, he saw the same kind of marks on the wrists of several of them.

One of them noticed Wallace Donovan staring, kicked him, and couldn’t help but taunt him, saying a wimp like him who didn’t even dare to fight back would never have the guts to do what they did.

From that moment on, Wallace Donovan developed a strange obsession: he, too, wanted the scars of the brave on his wrist.

He just never had the chance to act on it before he ended up here with Murphy Lynch.

After hearing Wallace Donovan’s answer, Murphy Lynch fell into a strange silence.

’Maybe I should... find someone else?’

But she quickly shook her head, casting the thought aside. Then she forced a smile and looked at the two children. "Do what I do," she said. "Use this plastic knife to scratch lightly, right here. See? Doesn’t it tickle?"

Linda Pierce and Wallace Donovan copied her, scratching lightly a few times. The tickling sensation on their wrists made them giggle.

Murphy Lynch stopped what she was doing and watched the two children. Her lips moved, silently forming a few words.

"Switch to another one. And press harder."