Chapter 123

Chapter 123

Frank nodded. "Don't worry, I already saw this coming."

He would pull some people from the Starship Group's security team to cover the place. The Asura Mercenary Alliance would also send a few people to keep a close eye on the welfare home. If things got out of hand, that's when he'd step in himself.

The old man saw how serious Frank looked and let out a breath of relief. "Good. Then let's sign the contract."

Two minutes later, they exchanged their signed copies.

"Stay here for now. If you need anything, just have someone bring it over. Once the welfare home is built, I'll arrange for you to head back."

The old man nodded. "Alright. I'll wait for your word."

As Frank got up and walked toward the door, a voice came from behind him.

"From now on, you can call me Mortimer Jennings."

Frank didn't turn around. He just said "okay" and walked out.

But inside, he was genuinely happy. He knew that Mortimer sharing his name meant he had accepted him.

Frank handed the signed contract to Noah to file away and told him the project could move forward. Noah got right on it.

After that, Frank took the copied video and went to find Isla.

When Isla saw him, she frowned and put down the file she was holding. "I thought you forgot about me. Only now you remember to come see me?"

Frank stood there holding the chip, suddenly unsure whether to hand it over or not.

It was Isla who noticed something was off. She rolled her eyes and held out her hand. "Stop standing there like a statue. Give it to me. I knew you wouldn't show up unless you wanted something."

Frank handed her the chip. She led him to her office and plugged it into the device.

Before the video played, she muttered, "What's on here that you couldn't just send me? You had to come all the way over in person?"

Once the video started, her expression went serious. She understood right away why Frank hadn't dared to transmit it.

Even with their encrypted channel, this kind of content wasn't something you sent over a line. What if some top-tier hacker cracked their encryption?

"These are more modified humans — and it looks like they've had other biological genes mixed in. What is the Saints Organization actually doing?"

Frank raised an eyebrow. "You think these are Saints Organization's work too?"

"Something this disgusting? Has to be them." Isla closed the interface. "But without a biological sample, just a few videos, there's not much I can figure out."

A flash of disappointment crossed her eyes. As hideous as those things were, she genuinely wanted to get a closer look.

She wanted to know — what kind of maniac could create monsters like these?

"I already had someone set aside biological samples. They just haven't been fully processed yet. Should reach you this afternoon."

The moment Frank said that, Isla's eyes lit up. She cleared her throat. "Don't worry. You leave it with me, and I'll dig something out of it for you."

He nodded. "I know. I trust you."

His expression was so sincere that Isla felt a little thrown off for a second.

Then something occurred to her. "If these things are likely Saints Organization's, does that mean you also caught whoever's been handling them lately?"

Frank's expression darkened. "We did catch someone, but they don't feel like Saints Organization people. They don't have that particular kind of crazy."

Isla frowned. "Could we have missed something? Maybe they were putting on an act, or maybe they're just working with the Saints Organization rather than actually being part of it?"

Working with them...

Frank felt a jolt. How had he not considered that?

He could have partners. Why couldn't the Saints Organization?

"Usually the people Saints Organization recruits go through brainwashing — total loyalty, like Richard before. Some of them would rather die than fail a mission. But Seraphina doesn't fit that. She's terrified of dying."

Frank narrowed his eyes. Maybe he should look into Seraphina's recent moves and figure out what she was actually after.

He talked through a few other things with Isla before leaving the lab.

Back in his office, he got to work on consortium business. The past couple of days had been hectic, and a backlog had piled up. He needed to get through it while he had the time.

The next day, Isla gave him several analysis reports on the biological samples. But she said the genetic material had been too badly contaminated to determine what other biological genes had been spliced into the modified humans.

She looked genuinely disappointed as she said it. Frank offered a few words of comfort, then put the matter out of his mind.

Two days later, construction on the welfare home began — but it was halted in an emergency just two hours in.

Frank arrived at the site. Noah stepped forward and pointed to the ground-penetrating radar screen. "Boss, look — anomalous readings all over this area. About a dozen irregular outlines, roughly fifteen feet down."

"If you've already figured that out, why are you just standing there? Start digging." Frank looked exasperated.

"We already pulled one out." Noah pointed to something nearby covered with a white cloth. "It's a skeleton."

"A skeleton?" Frank's expression turned cold. "You're telling me there are over a dozen people buried under this ground?"

That didn't make sense. Mortimer seemed like a decent man. There was no way he'd killed a dozen people. And even if he had, what normal person buries bodies in their own backyard?

"Dig the rest of them up. We can't just leave them down there."

Frank said it, Noah nodded, and ordered the crew to keep digging.

About an hour later, more than a dozen cloth-covered remains were laid out on the ground.

Frank hadn't expected this place to look like a mass grave. These skeletons had been dumped straight into the dirt — not even a mat under them.

A heavy silence fell. Noah carefully watched his boss's face.

"Boss, do you want me to go ask the gentleman what happened here?"

Frank shook his head. He pulled out his communicator and dialed.

A few seconds later, the call connected. Mortimer's weathered voice came through.

Frank kept his tone casual. "Mortimer, you mentioned the buildings here were all put up by your family. When you were laying the foundations back then — did anything strange happen?"

There was a silence on the other end for about ten seconds. "The foundations kept refusing to set properly. Does that count?"

That one sentence told Frank everything he needed to know. This had nothing to do with Mortimer. Which meant the origins of these remains would need a real investigation.

Maybe this was the real reason those people were so desperate to keep this land from being sold.