Chapter 243 Trap
Hearing Caleb ask that, Francis's anger flared even more.
"You have the nerve to ask me? I was talking to someone at the door, and you guys made such a loud noise - what were you thinking? Afraid people wouldn't realize there were people hiding in there?"
Caleb frowned, clear displeasure showing on his face.
One of the subordinates nearby who answered Francis.
"Mr. Hays, you've misunderstood us. That noise just now didn't come from us. No matter how confused we might be, we wouldn't do something like that."
Francis paused .
"It wasn't you?"
"It was next door," the man said. "The couple next door was being pretty rough. Not sure if they slipped in the bathroom or something, but they slammed into the wall that connects to our bathroom. If you don't listen carefully, you can't tell whether the sound came from our side or theirs."
Francis was very suspicious by nature.
First the waiter told him the lobby downstairs was flooded, and now some couple next door was making noise.
He was silent for a moment, then pointed at the man who had spoken. "You, come with me to check the room next door."
The man nodded and quickly followed Francis out.
There were surveillance cameras in the hallway.
But Francis didn't care.
Because after they left, that day's footage would be erased.
In the security room, they had planted someone from the Combat Arts Association, the only person they had planted at Harmony Heights Resort.
They didn't need many people. They only came once a month and stayed for just two or three hours each time.
Soon the two arrived outside the neighboring room
Francis rang the doorbell.
A full half minute passed before someone came to open the door.
It was a man with plain features, though he was quite tall.
He wore nothing but a bath towel wrapped around his waist, and he looked extremely irritated.
"Who are you?"
Francis ignored him, his gaze sweeping past him into the room.
"What are you looking at?" The man grew nervous and immediately moved to close the door.
Francis instantly sensed something was off.
Even if this couple happened to be in the room next to his, it couldn't be such a coincidence that they made noise at that exact moment.
These two people were suspicious!
Francis stepped forward and blocked the door with his foot.
The next second, he pointed his gun at the man's head.
"Stay calm and open the door! Or I'll blow your head off!"
The man's face immediately turned pale .
"What... what do you want?"
"Open the door!"
The man stiffly opened the door slowly.
The man who came with Francis restrained the towel-clad man.
Francis strode inside. The bedroom was a mess, but there was no one in sight.
He turned and entered the bathroom.
Inside, a woman was half-undressed. The moment she saw him enter with a gun, she let out a piercing scream.
"Who are you? Help! Honey! Help!"
"Shut up!"
Francis barked, and the woman collapsed to the floor in fear.
He looked around the bathroom and found no one else besides this woman.
His expression froze.
Could it really be a coincidence?
Just then, the man at the door suddenly shouted excitedly, "Mr. Hagen! Save me!"
The next second, Frank's voice rang out.
"What's going on? What are you doing?"
Francis was stunned and quickly put away his gun and walked to the door.
He met Frank's gaze directly.
Frank recognized him and looked visibly surprised.
"Francis? Why are you here? What are you doing?"
Francis was stunned again.
He looked at the man his subordinate was restraining, then at Frank and the two guards beside him, forcing out a smile.
"Mr. Hagen, what a coincidence?"
As he spoke, he glanced at his subordinate, signaling him to release the man.
The moment he was free, the towel-clad man rushed behind Frank.
"Mr. Hagen! He has a gun! He just forced his way into my room, and my girlfriend is still inside."
Frank said a few words to calm him down, then turned to Francis. "What exactly is going on? Did you really point a gun at my subordinate?"
"He's your subordinate?"
"That's right."
Francis could barely control his expression.
Because he was too cautious, he had created a huge misunderstanding.
"It's a misunderstanding."
"Whether it's a misunderstanding or not, you need to apologize first," Frank said, his tone clearly displeased.
Francis still had to show Frank that much respect.
Offending a neutral party meant making an enemy, and he wasn't that stupid.
Francis sincerely apologized.
Frank's expression softened slightly. "This isn't the place to talk. Come with me to the second-floor reception room. We'll wait for him to get dressed and come over, then you can explain everything properly."
Francis didn't want to go.
But again, don't offend a neutral party.
After all, he had pointed a gun at Frank's subordinate's head. He needed to provide a reasonable explanation.
"Alright." Francis nodded in agreement and followed Frank to the second floor.
But he kept his guard up. He didn't bring the Combat Arts Association member along. Instead, he told him to return to the room to "rest."
In other words, inform the others that everything was fine and he'd be back soon.
The two separated, and Francis began thinking of an explanation as they walked.
"It really was a misunderstanding. A friend of mine came from Thornfield and is staying in the room next to your subordinate's. We kept hearing banging noises from the wall next door, and I thought someone might be beating someone up, so I went over to check out of concern. I didn't expect it to be your subordinate and his wife."
After hearing this, the last trace of anger disappeared from Frank's face.
"So it was just a misunderstanding." Then he said with some amusement, "His wife has been abroad all this time. This is the first time she's come back in a while, and the two of them are young. They got a bit carried away when they met."
"I see now. It was my mistake. I acted too impulsively."
"Don't be so impulsive in the future. Although Phoenicia hasn't completely banned guns yet, there's already talk of a complete gun ban, and that proposal will pass soon. Given your status, don't end up being made an example of at a time like this."
"Yes. Thank you for the reminder. I'll be more careful in the future."
Francis took the opportunity to ask, "What brought you here so suddenly?"
Frank replied, "It's because of the construction crew. They broke a water pipe, and dozens of nearby shops got flooded. I came to assess the situation. I also heard Theodore was here, so I planned to have him stay on site. Didn't expect to run into you."
He explained further, "Theodore is the man you just misunderstood. He transferred here with me from Thornfield."
Francis nodded.
Nothing about the explanation seemed suspicious.
So he just felt unlucky.
Of all times to run into all these things today.
If he'd known, he would have postponed the meeting instead of sticking to the usual schedule.
While he was feeling annoyed, Theodore King arrived.
His wife came with him.
Theodore was fine - knowing that Frank and Francis were acquainted, he didn't show much displeasure.
But his wife was clearly upset.
Francis apologized again and finally managed to calm them down.
"Well, I won't keep you from your work. I'll take my leave."
Francis stood up and bowed slightly to Frank.
"Go ahead." Frank waved his hand and turned to discuss the flood downstairs with his subordinate.
"For something like this, we need to come up with a good plan. Besides appeasing the merchants."
Francis stood at the door listening for a while. After confirming they were discussing the broken water pipe, he finally felt completely at ease and left.
Back upstairs, Francis raised his hand and knocked on the door five times in a rhythm - this was their signal.
The door opened quickly.
The person who opened it was the same one who had gone next door with Francis earlier.
"Everything's fine," he said. "Just a misunderstanding. But we need to hurry up, finish our business quickly, and leave early."
"Yes." The man responded and invited Francis in.
Francis stepped in two paces and suddenly felt something was wrong.
The air was thick with a heavy smell of blood!
"What happened?"
Before he could finish speaking, the Combat Arts Association person beside him suddenly lunged forward and stabbed him viciously with a knife.
A sharp pain shot through his abdomen, and his eyes widened suddenly.
But even so, he didn't fall immediately. Instead, he grabbed the man's neck tightly.
The man kicked him hard in the abdomen.
The door slammed shut with the impact, and Francis's head hit the door hard. He slid down to the floor.
But he was still conscious.
"Why... why?"
The man looked deeply at Francis, then turned and shouted toward the bathroom, "Ms. Richardson, I did what you said. Give us the antidote quickly!"
Ms. Richardson?
He saw a slender figure slowly emerge from the bathroom.
She wore a gas mask on her face, covering most of it.
But Francis still recognized her at a glance.
"Amelia."
"It's me."
The poison gas in the room had mostly dissipated.
But something similar had happened before - that time when she broke into the Combat Arts Association alone, she had inhaled too much of her own poison gas and ran out of strength at the critical moment.
If Samuel hadn't arrived in time, she would have died that day.
So she didn't remove the gas mask.
Amelia wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
She was human too, and humans make mistakes. But she had one advantage: she learned from setbacks.
Amelia slowly approached Francis.
The man beside them tried to say something but suddenly coughed up a mouthful of black blood and quickly collapsed to the floor.
Amelia didn't spare him a glance.
Her gaze remained fixed on Francis..
"You've framed me several times, and once you almost dragged a ten-year-old child into it. Soif I kill you now, it won't be an unjust death."
She paused.
"But I can give you a chance. Tell me, what's your connection to that tech building? What are you trying to do? If you tell me."
She was wearing the gas mask, so her words were a bit muffled, but Francis heard every single word clearly.
He felt his five senses expanding infinitely.
Amelia's voice seemed right in his ear.
"Will you let me go?" he asked.
"No." Amelia shook her head gently. "I'll let you die more easily."
Francis's eyes blazed with fury.
"I won't tell you!"
Amelia raised her eyebrows and said, "In that case, don't blame me."
As she spoke, she took out a small bottle she carried with her.
She took out a pill from it and stuffed it into Francis's mouth.
Then with a forceful movement, she gripped his jaw and helped the pill go down.
Francis tried to spit it out but couldn't.
"Don't be afraid," Amelia said. "This is good medicine, life-saving medicine. It'll keep you alive a little longer."