Chapter 244: The Death of Francis
Francis stared at her intently, not knowing what she was up to.
But he was already half-dead, so Amelia had no reason to lie to him.
Still, why would she give him this life-sustaining medicine?
What exactly was she trying to do?
But whatever Amelia's intentions were, he did feel like the pain in his body had lessened a bit, though he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.
Just then, Amelia pulled out a small bottle.
It contained some white powder.
She sprinkled the white powder onto the stab wound on Francis's abdomen.
At first, Francis didn't feel anything, but then the wound started to itch.
It was that kind of itch—like ten thousand ants crawling on his chest, and a feather constantly tickling him.
"It itches!"
So itchy!
The itch was tearing him apart.
It was more painful and unbearable than being stabbed.
He even started scratching at his stab wound with his hands.
This made him feel much better, so he scratched harder and harder, completely unaware that he had gouged a hole in his chest.
By the time he realized it, it was too late.
He had actually disemboweled himself!
His intestines were spilling all over the floor!
Normally, he should have passed out immediately, but he didn't. His mind remained clear, and he didn't even feel pain—just the itch.
And "scratching" relieved the itch, which is why he had gouged himself open.
Earlier, Francis hadn't understood why Amelia said she would make his death painful yet gave him life-sustaining medicine.
Now he understood.
Looking at his intestines spilled across the floor, this feeling was beyond any words to describe.
Francis began screaming like a madman.
But the hallway outside was empty.
Frank's arrival had put the hotel on lockdown.
And Amelia had arranged in advance that no other guests would be staying on this floor.
Except for Theodore, whom she had Frank arrange.
So no matter how much Francis screamed, no one would hear him.
"Kill me! Just kill me!"
Francis shouted.
Amelia stood motionless.
"I told you, as long as you tell me what I want to know, I'll let you die more easily. You didn't want that chance."
Francis broke down even more.
He desperately wanted to kill Amelia.
But he had no strength.
Though he felt no pain, he couldn't stand up at all.
He couldn't even crawl a few steps. He could only half-lie there, his back against the door, watching his own intestines in a state of madness.
"You have at least two more hours before you die," Amelia said. "This medicine will make your blood flow very slowly. Enjoy these last two hours. I'll keep you company."
Her voice was incredibly gentle, as if she were asking him about the weather.
Francis got goosebumps all over.
Amelia was clearly a demon!
A demon crawled out from hell.
And in fact, Amelia had indeed crawled out from hell.
She had completed a hundred parallel world missions given by the system before returning to this world.
Finally, Francis couldn't withstand the psychological pressure.
His mental state collapsed.
Anyone who saw their own intestines spilled on the floor would collapse.
"I'll tell you!"
Amelia nodded. "Go ahead."
"That building is a high-tech building. All the designs are AI-controlled, including doors and windows."
He told Amelia his plan in detail.
After listening, Amelia was silent for two seconds, then said, "Francis, you're worthy of being my opponent."
"Then kill me! Give me a quick death!"
"In that case, I'll give you a quick death."
Francis closed his eyes, feeling incredibly grateful to Amelia.
Grateful that she was killing him!
How absurd!
But it was true!
He wanted to die, wanted to die right now.
Amelia stepped forward, yanked the dagger from Francis's abdomen, and stuffed it into the poisoned man's hand.
She wore gloves, so she wouldn't leave fingerprints.
She also had shoe covers on her shoes.
Francis could feel her movements, but after she finished, he still hadn't died.
He opened his eyes and looked at Amelia in confusion.
Amelia's eyes curved with a smile.
Francis suddenly realized something and questioned her, "You lied to me! You don't want to give me a quick death!"
Amelia nodded.
"Of course I lied to you. This medicine is life-saving medicine, not poison—how could there be an antidote? Enjoy the time you have left. You can reflect on your short life."
With that, Amelia turned and left.
She left through the window.
This was the third floor, but with her abilities, it was like walking on flat ground.
As soon as she left, two people came in.
It was Louis and Byron.
They were responsible for cleaning up the scene.
They needed to make the scene more perfect, leaving no loose ends.
At the same time, they had to make sure all those Combat Arts Association remnants in the room were completely dead.
During this time, Francis could only watch their every move, unable to stop them at all.
He begged them countless times to kill him.
But Louis and Byron acted as if they were deaf, not even glancing at him.
Soon, they left too.
The whole world became quiet.
Francis spent the last moments of his life thinking about how to kill himself.
...
Francis was discovered half an hour after his death.
The person who found him was the same waiter who had come upstairs earlier to tell him the lobby was flooded.
The waiter had informed Francis in advance that the water in the lobby would be completely drained in two hours.
Now the water was drained, and Francis's hourly room rental time was up.
He came to remind him to check out.
But after knocking on the door for a long time with no response, he felt something was wrong. He swiped his card to enter, and was instantly scared into screaming.
The police quickly surrounded the scene.
In charge of this case was Brady, who had been transferred to the criminal police team.
They quickly concluded that Francis had been killed by people from the Combat Arts Association.
And the method used was horrific: they had disemboweled him.
The reason was that the Combat Arts Association people had poisoned Francis but accidentally poisoned their own people.
Leonard quickly learned the news and said it was impossible.
He didn't believe Francis was killed by Combat Arts Association people.
But when the police pressed him for reasons why he didn't believe it, Leonard couldn't say.
He couldn't tell them.
He couldn't say that the Combat Arts Association was his people.
He requested evidence from the police, and Brady personally compiled it and emailed it to him.
There was a lot of evidence, and the most crucial piece was a surveillance video.
The surveillance captured part of it.
It showed Francis being stabbed by a Combat Arts Association member less than two seconds after entering the room.
After that, the door closed.
This video was enough to prove that Francis was killed by that Combat Arts Association member.
Looking at the evidence, Leonard was shocked but still couldn't believe it.
He had professionals analyze the video to see if it was fabricated.
But the analysis showed that the video was indeed real, with not a single frame being fake.
Leonard wanted to investigate further, but Alton stopped him.
"Francis is already dead. Do you want to implicate our whole family? If you keep investigating, you're basically telling everyone that the Combat Arts Association is our people. Your priority now is to distance the Combat Arts Association from us. You can't let them think this was internal conflict. You need to make them understand that this was a Combat Arts Association murder, and that we and Francis are both innocent victims."
Leonard gritted his teeth and stopped investigating.
Not only that, he had to help cover up some evidence.
On November 1st, he lost his eldest son.
But he wasn't that pained.
Because he still had another son, Leo.
And he had always favored this younger son more.
"Leo," he called Leo and said, "Get on a plane and come back immediately."
Leo had made a good friend recently named York.
He had been drinking for two days and didn't even know Francis was dead yet.
Hearing this, he felt annoyed.
He wasn't a kid anymore—why did they keep calling him home?
But Leo didn't say anything outwardly, only saying, "I'll try to come back as soon as possible."
His new friend knew a lot of great places, many of which he hadn't visited yet. He couldn't go back so soon.
"Not 'try to come back as soon as possible'—come back immediately!"
"Okay, I got it."
Leo gave a perfunctory response and hung up.
Leonard was extremely busy on his end. After hanging up, he went to deal with other matters.
Leo learned of Francis's death four days after it happened.
It was Francis's trusted subordinate who came to find him that he learned about it.
The trusted aide was named Tristan Fox. He resented that The Hays family wasn't continuing to investigate Francis's death, so he sought out Leo.
When Leo heard the news, his first reaction was: With Francis dead, who would help him get Amelia?
Francis's death, though shocking, wasn't that important. What mattered was who would help him get the Amelia he wanted?
Just then, Tristan said, "It was Amelia! It must have been her! Mr. Hays was always targeting her! She must have traced it back to Mr. Hays and killed him!"
The Combat Arts Association was their own people, loyal and devoted—they couldn't have killed Francis in an internal conflict.
So it must have been Amelia!
"Mr. Francis Hays said long ago that Amelia was cunning and vicious! Leo, if Mr. Leonard Hays won't handle this, you must!"
Leo didn't want to deal with it.
But hearing it involved Amelia, he immediately perked up.
"What do I need to do to avenge Francis and kill Amelia?"
Of course, before killing her, he wanted to enjoy himself thoroughly.
Tristan told him Francis's plan.
Though he hid part of it.
For example, that Leo would also die there.
He would still let Leo die there, because he clearly saw Leo's indifference to Francis's death.
He wanted to fulfill Francis's last wish.
The two discussed for a long time and decided to implement the plan ahead of schedule.
Because Leonard kept urging Leo to return to Thornfield, he couldn't stay in Goldenvale too long.
"Then let's do as you said!"
He added, "But before she dies, I want an hour alone with her. No problem, right?"
Tristan smiled.
"Of course no problem."
Leo was satisfied.