Chapter 496 Who’s That?
Tina laughed upon hearing that. “Your self-introduction was quite special.”
“Yeah? I thought so too.” Elise giggled.
“You helped me, so let’s exchange numbers. I’ll treat you to a meal some time after this.” Tina took out her phone with the intention to get Elise’s number.
“There’s no need. Let’s talk about it in person tomorrow.”
As Elise had things in both her hands, she was unable to take out her phone, so she rejected Tina’s offer. Then, the former turned around and strode off in the direction where she had come from.
When she returned to her room, she turned on the computer to contact Joseph while she ate.
Joseph, whose body was still weak, was not in any condition to take a plane, so he didn’t come along. Instead, he remained in Athesea to monitor the internal communication of the SK Group.
However, that wasn’t the reason why Elise looked for him at that moment. In fact, it was due to the poster of the stall owner.
When she was at the food street earlier, she took note of all the details on the poster. The stall owner’s son was a physics graduate student from a research institute in Dukethorn, who had gained the lecturers’ special attention due to his outstanding academic performance. He had mysteriously gone missing six months ago and nobody knew whether he was currently dead or alive.
Researchers usually had dull and boring lifestyles and they rarely made enemies. Therefore, it was apparent that this person’s disappearance was more or less related to the suicide case of the physicist from Athesea.
Joseph soon went online, but he used the new identity that Elise had given him and a separate communication channel.
‘Did everything go well with your trip to Dukethorn?’ he texted, to which she replied, ‘Everything’s good. I need you to analyze a set of data right away. Please tabulate the total number of physicists that we have in our country in the past two years.’
Joseph then typed, ‘Ten minutes.’
The national database was relatively vast, so it would take time to analyze the data.
Fifteen minutes later, Joseph sent her a report together with his summary. ‘Two years ago, the total number of top physicists registered in the database was 1760. It was 1680 last year, and this year, there are only 1440 physicists. Other than 20 of them who passed away due to old age, the rest of them either disappeared or died. Besides, most of the missing university students studied physics.’
Elise’s gaze was fixated on the statistical report on the screen while her expression sank.
She was practically certain that someone was targeting Cittadel or to be precise, they were trying to achieve the goal of suppressing the technological advancement of Cittadel by eradicating their researchers.
A country’s technological advancement was usually determined by their top physicists. However, there were people who schemed to slowly annihilate Cittadel’s researchers in order to bring the country’s science and technological advancement to a standstill. Who in the world has such a huge ambition and capability? Also, what does this have to do with me and how does this relate to the SK Group?
There were too many unresolved mysteries but fortunately for her, Elise wasn’t completely clueless on what to do next.
After some contemplation, she replied, ‘I understand. Memorize the data, then destroy them. Make sure that no one finds out that we investigated this. Also, figure out a way to summon Xavier back to your side. He doesn’t trust me, so I have to leave him to you. I’m afraid that he may get into trouble if he’s allowed to run freely out there.’
Joseph texted, ‘Alright, I will do so right away.’
After reading the last message, Elise exited the chat and destroyed all the data that she had received before switching off the computer.
Perhaps it was because she had slept for a long time during the day, she wasn’t sleepy at all when she lay on the bed. Instead, she was wide awake.
Staring at the ceiling, she pondered whether she had ever shown her face in the field that consisted of the top physicists. In the end, her answer to it was no.
Although she had secretly joined international physics competitions out of her anger toward Reuben, that happened after she had been targeted, which proved that that wasn’t the reason she was targeted in the first place.
She again recalled how the fake ‘Joseph’ had provoked her. Just you wait, I’ll definitely find you.
Ding! A sudden doorbell interrupted her train of thought.
She glanced at the clock on the wall, only to see that it was already 3.00 AM. Who would come at this hour?
In the end, Elise warily clambered out of the bed and tip-toed to the foyer. She then opened the peephole to secretly look outside.
There was nobody outside, so she retracted her gaze. Could it be that I’m hearing things? Maybe I’m indeed too anxious, she thought to herself.
However, just after she took two steps back to return to her room, the knocking sound on the door became hasty.
What the heck? Who is this prankster who’s pulling such a trick?
She returned to the door in frustration. When she looked into the peephole again, it was still empty outside—there wasn’t a single soul out there.
With her brows knitted, she thought, Could it be that it’s a kid? Possibly, since a kid wouldn’t be visible through the peephole with their height.
Just then, a loud knock was heard from the lower part of the door.
It’s a kid. She was certain. Alright kiddo, let me teach you a lesson for scaring others in the middle of the night when you are supposed to be in bed!
Elise took a deep breath and put on a fierce expression. Then, she pressed on the door handle hard and abruptly pulled the door open.
However, before she managed to begin her fierce lecture, a body fell onto the floor along with the momentum of the door opening. The person’s head happened to land by her feet.
She instantly recognized Kenneth, who seemed to be unconscious at the moment.
He had cold sweat on his forehead and blood stains all over him as crimson blood gushed out from his abdomen, which was possibly the reason he was currently unconscious.
His familiar side profile gave her mixed feelings but in the end, she gave in to her conscience. So, she dragged the man into her room and plopped him on the couch to bandage his wound.
“You are lucky that the medical kit in the hotel room is still usable.”
After Elise found a medical kit, she undid his buttons to assess his injury.
The wound was much deeper than she had imagined and it would require some stitches. However, the tools and medicines she had in the medical kit only allowed for a simple treatment.
The fact that Kenneth had not gone to the hospital showed that he didn’t want anyone to know that he was hurt, so she naturally couldn’t take him out.
All she could do at the moment was to disinfect the wound to prevent inflammation before going out to purchase some tools for suturing.
After confirming on the treatment method, Elise used a tweezer to hold a disinfected cotton ball before rubbing it on his wound.
The sharp pain instantly woke Kenneth up. He subconsciously grabbed Elise’s wrist that was holding the tweezer as his eyes snapped open.
Elise peered at him impassively, silently warning him with her gaze the danger that would happen if he were to continue to grab her hand.
With a heavy head, Kenneth looked at Elise and weakly murmured, “Ellie?”
A menacing intent flashed across her stunning eyes as she narrowed them. “Are you aware that your injury will eventually kill you if I just leave you be? I don’t even need to lift a finger.”
Kenneth’s glazed eyes cleared as he mused, Right, I’m now Kenneth, not Alexander.
He let out a bitter smile and retracted his hand. “If that’s the case, I hope to die in your hands.”
She rolled her eyes at him and intentionally pressed the cotton ball harder against his wound.
Kenneth inhaled sharply in pain, but Elise curled up the corner of her lips, grinning at him for her successful mischievous act.
He took notice of her slight expression, which made him exhale in resignation. Who knew my Ellie could be so cruel? However, the very next second, he felt happy inside. She always gives me special treatment.
When he was Alexander, she would be gentle and patient; when he was Kenneth, she would be hot-tempered and grumpy.
He had seen different sides of her. Hence, although the pain that he was enduring was so excruciating that he had broken out in cold sweat, he felt a strong sense of satisfaction well up inside him.
