Chapter 304: Dr. Hayes Died

“Dr. Hayes, where are you going?”

Dr. Hayes, who had just turned around and hadn’t even had the chance to run yet, suddenly heard that sweet, childish voice. His body completely froze.

He desperately wanted to keep running, but he knew perfectly well just how powerful Candice Tate’s superpowers were. Continuing forward now was absolutely not a wise choice; it might cost him his life instantly. He took a deep breath, trying to steady his emotions as much as possible, before slowly turning around with a smile to look at Candice.

“Candice…” Dr. Hayes piled on the biggest smile he could muster, trying to make himself look as gentle as possible. “Candice, have you forgotten? You’re only this powerful now because of me! I helped you! Won’t you let me go?”

Candice tilted her little head. Her voice was still sweet and milky, but the words she spoke sent a chilling shudder down Dr. Hayes’s spine.

“You did help me, but you want to kill my sister! No one is allowed to hurt her!

“Anyone who wants to hurt my sister is my enemy.

“You want her dead, so I want you dead.”

Panic gripped Dr. Hayes’s heart, mixed with deep resentment. “She’s not even your biological sister! Is she really that important to you? I’m the one who helped you the most! How can you want to kill me for her?!” After roaring at the top of his lungs, his voice suddenly softened. “I can promise you that I’ll never go against your sister again. Just let me go, okay?”

Candice shook her head firmly. “I learned a saying.”

“What saying?” Dr. Hayes asked subconsciously.

“If you don’t pull weeds by the roots, they’ll just grow back with the spring breeze.” Candice’s voice carried an unquestionable resolve. “So, I can’t let you go.”

Hearing this, Dr. Hayes felt incredibly conflicted. Who was it? Who taught Candice a phrase like that? If no one had taught her, a five- or six-year-old child could never have known something like that! The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, but he also refused to just sit around and wait for death.

He wanted to live. He had to live! So no matter what, he had to get out of here. He abruptly spun around and made a mad dash for it.

However, the very moment he turned, a vine rapidly shot toward him, tightly binding his entire body.

“No—”

Before he could even finish that single, simple word, his voice was muffled by the overlapping layers of vines. Dr. Hayes was entirely encased, transformed into a giant green chrysalis.

At first, the chrysalis twitched and struggled. But within seconds, it ceased moving completely.

Candice tilted her head, staring at the massive chrysalis with a deeply thoughtful expression. She muttered to herself, “If I leave the corpse behind, it might turn into a zombie. That would be troublesome…”

As soon as she said that, the giant chrysalis began to move again. Only this time, it was different: earlier, the movement had come from the inside, but now, it was from the outside. The once-massive cocoon slowly shrank, contracting bit by bit. Faint sounds of agony seemed to leak from within, but they were so muffled that they were impossible to make out.

In the blink of an eye, the enormous green chrysalis grew smaller and smaller. Once it had shrunk to the size of a winter melon, it exploded with a loud BOOM.

Watching this, Candice broke into a wide grin. “This way, he won’t turn into a zombie!”

Sierra Sullivan and Jayce walked over just in time to witness the scene. Though mildly surprised, they exchanged a glance and held their tongues.

Sierra walked up to Candice and gently patted her shoulder. “You’re so amazing, Candice. You can even protect your sister now.”

This made Candice incredibly happy, her eyes curving into joyful crescents. “Sister, I will always protect you!” She puffed out her chest, her tone steadfast, as if this was the only way to convey her determination.

Sierra looked at her with admiration. “You did great, Candice! Once someone becomes a mortal enemy, there’s no need to leave them any chance of survival. A moment of mercy might end up destroying you or your friends in the future.”

Candice listened earnestly, taking every single word Sierra said to heart, resolving to always follow that advice.

The three of them didn’t chat any further. Instead, they turned their attention to the researchers.

The moment Sierra looked their way, the researchers violently shuddered, their faces turning paler by the second. One person’s legs gave out, dropping straight to his knees.

“I… I don’t know anything! I just listened to Dr. Hayes! It has nothing to do with me!”

“Yeah! It has nothing to do with us! We were just following Dr. Hayes’s orders!”

“Please, spare us!”

Each of them spoke with such genuine desperation, as if they truly had nothing to do with any of it. But Sierra knew clearly that not a single one of them was innocent.

Sierra wasn’t a Saint Mother, nor did she care to seek justice for anyone. The reason those people had ended up the way they did was all because of their own choices. They couldn’t blame anyone else for the decisions they had made! Dr. Hayes and these researchers were at fault, but those victims weren’t entirely innocent either. Right now, looking at them, Sierra only wanted to know about the matters she actually cared about.

“How did Dr. Hayes and Autumn Lynch communicate?”

Seeing that Sierra wasn’t going to just start slaughtering them over a disagreement, the researchers all breathed a collective sigh of relief. But once they processed her question, their faces went blank with confusion.

“Autumn Lynch? Who is that?”

“I don’t know any Autumn Lynch! I don’t know who she is!”

“Did she contact Dr. Hayes?”

“Dr. Hayes never took the initiative to tell us about his affairs, and even if we asked, he wouldn’t say anything.”

“We’re telling the truth! We really don’t know who Autumn Lynch is, let alone how they contacted each other. You have to believe us!”

Sierra had been closely observing the expressions of every single person. Among them, the vast majority genuinely didn’t know who Autumn Lynch was. However, there was one person who, despite claiming ignorance, had shifty eyes. He practically had “guilty” written all over his face.

Sierra stared directly at him. Before she even said a word, the man had already glanced in her direction. The moment he met her gaze, his expression grew even more panicked, and he quickly averted his eyes.

“I don’t know… I really don’t know anything…”

Sierra looked at him with an amused expression. “Dr. Hayes is already dead, yet you’re still keeping his secrets. You’re quite loyal, aren’t you? How about I send you down to reunite with him?”

“No! Please don’t!” The man shook his head frantically, his eyes brimming with terror. “I really don’t know how they communicated. It’s just… one time, I saw…”

He seemed to recall something horrifying. The dread on his face intensified, and he could barely speak coherently.