Chapter 483: The Sinner Confesses, the Pact of Revenge
Chapter 483: The Sinner Confesses, the Pact of Revenge
On the western outskirts of Emerald City, in a teahouse closed to the public.
This was one of Nicholas's absolutely secure hideouts.
Pushing open the door to the private room, Graham was already sitting inside.
He looked more haggard than the last time they'd seen him backstage at the art exhibition. Dark shadows hung heavy under his eyes, and his whole being was shrouded in a lingering gloom.
He clearly hadn't expected to see both Sophia and Nicholas here.
"You brought her too?"
Graham's voice was hoarse, his gaze toward Nicholas filled with undisguised accusation.
In his eyes, Sophia was still that "tool" meant to "awaken" Candice.
Sophia ignored his attitude.
She walked to the tea table and gently placed the jade pendant—now reunited into one piece, warm and translucent—on the surface.
A clear sound rang out, especially loud in the silent room.
Graham's pupils contracted sharply. His body leaned forward involuntarily, staring fixedly at the jade pendant.
"You..."
"It's not some key to a treasure."
Sophia's voice was flat, emotionless, like she was stating a fact that had nothing to do with her.
"It's my father's tombstone, and the epitaph for your ridiculous twenty-year revenge."
After speaking, she took out a player and pressed play.
After a harsh burst of static, the sealed conversation between Gordon and Candice flowed clearly through the air, word by word.
"...I provided you with the best soil, let this 'flower of genius' bloom freely, and now when it's harvest season, you're talking to me about risks?"
"...That child called Sophia has a gene profile that matches yours best. She's a natural 'vessel'..."
"...Starting tomorrow, Emerald City will have no Anderson family..."
Every sentence in the recording was like a red-hot branding iron, searing Graham's nerves.
His face went from initial shock to disbelief, and finally to a deathly pale.
That face that had maintained a gloomy expression finally shattered inch by inch.
When the recording ended, only breathing remained in the room.
Graham's body trembled violently. He wasn't angry—he was collapsing.
He thought he was a righteous avenger.
He'd spent twenty years turning himself into a ghost that never saw daylight, designed such an elaborate scheme, all to take back Gordon's "legacy" from Candice.
In the end, he was just a clown in Candice's despicable plunder—kept in the dark, even helping the enemy attack his own people.
"So... I was the attack dog?"
He lifted his head, bloodshot eyes looking at Sophia, filled with complete despair and self-loathing.
"The person I've been biting all along was the one the teacher desperately tried to protect?"
"He didn't want to protect me."
Sophia corrected him, her voice devoid of emotion.
"He just used me as a bargaining chip, bait to attract wolves like you and give him a chance to destroy the board. You, me—we were all his pieces."
This statement was more cruel than the recording, completely shattering Graham's last line of defense.
He covered his face with both hands in agony, his shoulders heaving violently, unable to make a sound.
This man had been obsessed in the most extreme way for twenty years. When the truth was revealed in its ugliest form, all his beliefs crumbled to dust.
Nicholas hadn't said a word the entire time.
He just watched quietly. When Graham's emotions settled slightly, he pushed a document in front of him.
"The Bennett Group's stock price has dropped five points since last night."
His voice broke the oppressive silence.
"Regret and guilt won't solve anything. We have a common enemy now."
Graham lowered his hands. Those eyes no longer held their previous malice, only ash-gray emptiness.
He glanced at the document, then looked at Nicholas.
"Cooperation?"
He pulled his mouth into a self-mocking smile.
"What right do I have to cooperate with you? I almost hurt your wife."
"You have something she wants."
Nicholas wasn't referring to any technology, but to Graham's twenty years of infiltration and investigation into Candice and the forces behind her.
That was his greatest value.
Graham fell silent.
He knew exactly how terrifying the Bennett family's power was—a massive entity with roots everywhere, tentacles reaching into every sector.
With just the few of them, it would be like throwing eggs at a rock.
But Sophia's appearance and the truth about this jade pendant made him see another possibility.
A possibility of... mutual destruction.
"You think all she wants is the 'Phoenix Project'?"
After a long while, Graham finally spoke, his voice extremely hoarse.
"That's underestimating her. The Phoenix Project is just a... beginner's version she used to test technical stability."
Both Sophia and Nicholas's expressions grew serious.
"For twenty years, she's used the core data Gordon left behind, combined with some genetic lunatics she brought from Emberlyn, to work on a much bigger plan."
For the first time, genuine fear appeared on Graham's face.
"She named that plan 'Genesis.'"
"Genesis?"
"She wants to use deeper genetic modification to eliminate humanity's so-called 'flaws'—like fear, betrayal, laziness... Then implant what she considers perfect 'qualities,' like absolute loyalty, absolute obedience. She wants to create a brand new world completely under her control, and she herself would be the one and only creator god."
This insane plan made the air in the room thick and heavy.
What Candice wanted wasn't something as simple as continuing family glory.
She wanted to play God.
"I spent ten years barely managing to infiltrate one of her peripheral labs."
Graham took out an encrypted USB drive and placed it on the table.
"This contains partial personnel lists I have on the 'Genesis Project,' plus locations of several of their secret facilities. This is my good faith."
Sophia looked at the USB drive, then at Graham.
"What's your condition?"
"I want her dead."
Graham squeezed out these words through clenched teeth, that hollow gaze reigniting with a light mixed with hatred and madness.
"I want to personally drag her into hell."
Nicholas took the USB drive and handed it to Sophia.
"Deal."
Personal grudges were temporarily set aside in the face of a common, much larger enemy.
An alliance—fragile yet dangerous—composed of avengers, victims, and absolute controllers was officially formed at this moment.
Graham's joining was undoubtedly a shot in the arm.
But the emergence of the "Genesis Project" also signaled that what they were about to face was an enemy far more terrifying and insane than imagined.
"What's she doing lately?" Sophia asked.
"She's waiting for something."
Graham's expression became extremely serious.
"The core of the 'Genesis Project' is a special microorganism extracted from near deep-sea volcanic vents. It can serve as the perfect carrier for gene editing, but its activity is extremely unstable and requires a special 'stabilizer' to neutralize it."
He paused, then said seriously.
"According to the last intelligence I got, that batch of 'stabilizer' will arrive at a private dock at Jingang Harbor via cargo ship in three days."