Chapter 286

Chapter 286

The deafening crash of the steel car body hitting the sea surface was completely swallowed up.

In the last moment before losing consciousness, Benjamin used his final strength to ram his shoulder against the deformed dashboard, pinning Steve's leg, then pushed him with all his might out of the rapidly sinking vehicle.

When Benjamin regained consciousness, his nostrils were filled with the salty, fishy sea water and the damp smell of rocks.

Excruciating pain.

Heart-wrenching pain spread from his back. Every breath violently pulled at his ribs, the agony reaching deep into his bones.

Benjamin struggled to open his eyes. The dim light stung painfully.

He found himself in a seaside cave.

"Awake?"

An extremely cold voice came from nearby, carrying no warmth whatsoever.

Benjamin turned his head with difficulty and saw Steve sitting not far away.

Steve was already awake, soaking wet, his shirt torn to shreds, his face deathly pale without a trace of blood. But those eyes in the darkness remained remarkably clear and sharp.

Steve had torn off a relatively clean corner of his own shirt and was carefully treating the deep wound on Benjamin's back that exposed bone.

The car's steel panel had sliced open his back. His flesh was torn and mangled, a bloody mess.

"You..." Benjamin's throat was painfully dry his voice so hoarse it barely formed words.

"How are you?"

Steve didn't look up, his hands never stopping their work. He only let out a cold snort from his throat, full of mockery.

"I'll live."

"But you, Mr. Brown. To save an enemy you personally sent to hell, you got yourself half-dead. How does that feel? Do you think you're some kind of hero?"

Benjamin tried to force a smile, but immediately pulled at the wound on his back, making him sharply inhale.

During the fall, he had used his own body to shield Steve, taking most of the impact and scraping.

Blood loss, broken bones—there was hardly an intact spot on Benjamin's entire body.

In comparison, Steve was in much better shape aside from a severe concussion and some scrapes.

"Feels... not bad."

"At least you're still alive."

Steve's bandaging motion paused for a moment.

He looked up at Benjamin. Benjamin's eyes, usually covered with frost, churned with extremely complex emotions in the dim cave.

This man, whom he had hated for five years, had just risked his life to protect him.

What was this? Redemption? Or an even more insulting form of charity?

"Keep your self-righteous act to yourself, Benjamin!" Steve's voice suddenly turned sharp. "You think this wipes the slate clean from five years ago? Let me tell you—impossible!"

"I never thought it would wipe it clean." Benjamin looked at him, his gaze honest without a trace of pretense. "I'm just repaying a debt. Five years ago, I already owed you a life."

"A life?" Steve actually laughed. "You personally sent me to Dark Hollow Prison, where I nearly died! My family fell apart because of you! Sophie fled overseas with my child! And now you're telling me one life is enough? Benjamin, when did your life become so valuable?"

Benjamin fell silent.

After a long while, he spoke with difficulty.

"Not enough... I know it's not enough."

"So until you think it's enough, I won't die."

Steve looked at Benjamin, looked at the man who was once high-spirited and invincible, now so utterly wretched.

Hatred still churned in his chest, but some indescribable emotion forced its way in, making Steve extremely irritated.

"Save your strength."

Steve looked away and lowered his head again, tying the makeshift bandage tight.

"Before you've repaid all your debts, your life now belongs to me."

"Without my permission, you're not allowed to die."

Benjamin said nothing more.

The severe pain, blood loss, and extreme mental exhaustion finally consumed his last bit of strength.

His vision went black, and he passed out again.

Outside the cave, wind and rain raged, waves violently pounding the rocks with dull roars.

Inside, Steve and Benjamin's breathing intertwined—one weak, one steady.

At this isolated cliff bottom, five years of hatred and this moment of life-and-death experience reached a bizarrely strange balance.

...

At the same time, at the Scott Villa.

The black modified car savagely rammed through two blocking SUVs, covered in bullet holes and reeking of burnt metal, charging into the villa.

All the gunmen still putting up resistance showed a moment of stunned confusion.

According to their intelligence, the Scott family's strongest force had been trapped at the opera house—how could someone still fight their way back like this?

The car door was kicked open.

Simon stepped down from the driver's seat.

His left sleeve was sliced open with a long gash, blood already soaking through the dark fabric, but he seemed oblivious.

In his unfathomably deep eyes burned fury and killing intent fierce enough to consume the night.

Without a word, Simon pulled a tactical shotgun from the car and actively stepped into the line of fire.

He sought no cover, but with the most direct, most brutal approach, deliberately walked into the enemy's crossfire.

He was a walking killing machine, each step treading on death's drumbeat, forcibly carving a bloody path through the enemy's dense fire network.

The heavy gunshots—each one meant the end of a life.

The group of desperados Alfonso left behind, their tactical coordination and ferocity, which they were so proud of, proved fragile and worthless before this absolute force.

Their formation was instantly shattered, and the battle was forcibly ended within ten minutes.

In the command room, Sophie's blood gradually ran cold.

The moment Simon charged into the villa, she watched with her own eyes as the two green dots representing Benjamin and Steve on the Ares system's vital signs monitor flashed wildly in warning, then completely dimmed.

Becoming two gray markers that would never pulse again.

"Signal lost."

"Vital signs... undetectable."

The system's electronic voice calmly pronounced the death sentence.

Her world instantly went silent.

But Sophie didn't cry or scream.

Her face turned pale to the point of transparency, yet her fingers still steadily controlled the mouse, directing the "Hive" system to coordinate with Simon in clearing out the remaining enemies in every corner, missing no threat.

Her composure was chilling.

Until the last enemy fell, the alarms ceased, and the villa returned to deathly silence.

Simon kicked open the command room door, bursting in with gunpowder smoke and blood.

"Sophie! Are you okay?"

He saw Sophie sitting at the command station.

Her spine was ramrod straight, but her eyes stared emptily at those two gray markers, like a puppet whose soul had been extracted.

Simon's heart clenched painfully.

The underground safe room door opened.

Thomas and Timothy ran out. They were clearly terrified, their little faces pale, but they stubbornly refused to cry.

They rushed over, hugging Sophie's legs from both sides, looking up with small faces.

Thomas's voice carried suppressed tears: "Mommy, did we chase away all the bad guys?"

Timothy's little brow furrowed tightly as he asked the most cruel yet most innocent question:

"Mommy, where is Daddy and Uncle Steve? Why haven't they come back yet?"

This innocent question became the final blade piercing through all her defenses.

Sophie could no longer hold on.

The shell she had forcibly constructed with reason was shattered completely by this gentle question.

She collapsed straight to the floor, holding Thomas and Timothy tightly in her arms.

The grief she had suppressed to the extreme burst forth, transforming into heart-wrenching sobs that echoed through the silent villa.