Chapter 199 Clue Interrupted
However, Wren's reaction speed exceeded everyone's expectations.
The moment Stefan lifted his leg, there was no panic in Wren's eyes—only beast-like alertness.
Just from the sound of the wind, she judged where the attack was coming from. She suddenly released her grip on Cecilia, grabbed the heavy metal treatment tray from the bedside table, and twisted her body at an odd angle to block.
A deafening metallic crash exploded in the hospital room.
The thick metal tray instantly twisted and deformed, deeply dented, but it managed to deflect most of that deadly force.
Wren rolled on the spot and steadied herself.
She glanced at Stefan by the door, then at Cecilia on the bed who was now out of danger. In those cold eyes flashed a trace of unwillingness at the mission's failure, and ruthlessness.
Wren didn't hesitate for a second.
She turned, smashed through the hospital room's glass window, and despite being cut and bleeding from the broken glass, she flipped herself out.
This was the third floor—a height deadly enough for ordinary people.
But she wasn't ordinary.
Stefan's pupils contracted. He hadn't expected Wren to be so recklessly fearless of death.
"Don't worry about me, go after her!" Cecilia struggled to sit up. "She's definitely working with the people who kidnapped me! Can't let her get away!"
This was the only lead to unravel all the mysteries!
Stefan looked at her deeply, said nothing more, just nodded heavily.
"Garth!"
Stefan rushed out while growling into the tiny communicator on his collar, his voice ice-cold.
"Lock down the entire hospital! Target: female, nurse's uniform, jumped from Building A room 302 window, heading toward the parking lot! I want her alive!"
"Control room! Lock onto her! Don't let her out of your sight for even a second!"
After issuing the orders, his figure had already disappeared from the doorway, personally giving chase.
In the hospital room, a brief silence finally returned.
Cecilia slumped weakly against the headboard, gasping for breath. The wound on her arm burned painfully, reminding her of how dangerous that fight had been.
A professional killer who could withstand Stefan's kick and decisively jump from a building to escape.
What kind of force had the mastermind sent to kill her?
Soon, the head nurse, along with the on-duty doctor and security guards, rushed in after receiving the news.
When they saw the mess everywhere and Cecilia's injuries, everyone's faces changed.
This top-tier private hospital was known for its security in Harmony City, yet today such a major incident had occurred—this was practically destroying the hospital's reputation.
"Quick! Prepare for wound cleaning and suturing immediately! Contact the blood bank, prepare blood reserves!"
The chief physician issued orders methodically.
As Cecilia's wounds were being treated quickly, she didn't make a sound, but her mind was racing.
Wren couldn't get far—Stefan had already set up an inescapable net.
Unless, like those previous assassins, she committed suicide!
Time passed minute by minute.
About twenty minutes later, Stefan returned.
His expression was even darker than when he left, the pressure around him so low it seemed to freeze the air in the entire room.
The doctors and nurses tactfully bowed and left, thoughtfully closing the door behind them.
"Where is she?"
Cecilia looked up at him, getting straight to the point.
Stefan silently pulled over a chair and sat down.
He raised his hand, seeming to want to touch her bandaged arm, but stopped mid-air, finally just letting it drop helplessly.
"Dead."
Cecilia's heart sank bit by bit.
"I chased her downstairs," Stefan slowly recounted, with barely suppressed rage. "The entire hospital was locked down, she couldn't escape. My people cornered her at the fire exit in parking lot section B."
"Just as my people were about to surround and capture her alive."
Stefan paused, looked up at Cecilia, and for the first time, a sense of defeat appeared in those eyes.
"A black sedan parked nearby suddenly started up and, without warning, sped out at high speed, hitting her directly."
Cecilia's heart went completely cold.
"Died on the spot." Stefan's voice was cold as ice. "The driver fled the scene after speeding away. The car was a cloned-plate vehicle that had been reported stolen long ago—can't trace it to any source."
Cecilia couldn't help but marvel again at the mastermind's methods.
"They even anticipated you'd lock down the hospital and arranged an 'accident' in the parking lot in advance. This means... there's an insider in the hospital, or at least someone who could drive a car in without raising suspicion."
From the failed kidnapping, to the failed assassination, to cleaning up the failed pawn—the entire process was clean and efficient, leaving no trace.
The mastermind had even predicted the assassination might fail and arranged a backup plan to silence the killer right inside the hospital.
This was a tightly organized, meticulously planned, alarmingly powerful chain of deadly traps.
"Could be an insider, but could also just be an external hacker." Stefan shook his head slightly.
"I checked the parking lot entrance records. That car came in yesterday afternoon, disguised as a logistics vehicle from a partner company. The security system was briefly disabled for thirty seconds—enough time for it to slip in unnoticed."
Cecilia repeated in a low voice: "Thirty seconds. Again, actions precise to the second. This organization is like a cold machine."
"Machines always leave parts behind." Stefan's voice held no warmth. "I'll take this machine apart, piece by piece."
Cecilia couldn't help but laugh, though that laughter was full of cold mockery.
"They really think highly of me."
Whose interests did I damage so badly that the mastermind would use such extreme measures to completely eliminate me?
Stefan watched that bitter smile on her bloodless face, his heart feeling like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand.
"I'm sorry." He suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse. "This was my oversight."
He thought bringing her to this top-tier hospital would be absolutely safe, but he never imagined... the enemy's methods could be so seamless, so brazen.
This feeling of losing control made him furious.
"This isn't your fault." Cecilia shook her head. "They're coming after me."
"But I'm afraid your troubles aren't small either. The fact that the mastermind can move freely on your turf is itself a provocation."
Hearing this, Stefan, far from being angry, actually curved his lips upward.
"Trouble?" He laughed lightly, and in those dark eyes finally appeared a trace of the familiar hunter's interest. "Trouble is the last thing I'm afraid of. Since they dare to cause me trouble, they'd better be prepared to be completely dealt with by me."
He looked at Cecilia and said word by word: "Don't worry. I'll get to the bottom of this. No matter who's behind it, I'll make this mastermind pay the price."
Just then, his phone on the bedside table rang abruptly.
The screen flashed with one word—Mother.