Chapter 34: Safe At Last?

"Ughh… Damnit! How the hell did that even happen? That was certainly no damn accident! So the car lost control and just happened to swerve and cause a collision? I call bullshit!" A man grumbled while lying limp on what appeared to be a hospital bed.

A sigh came from beside him, causing the man to slowly turn his neck to face the bed neighbouring his.

It wasn't a painless ordeal, to say the least, as the man could feel his spine making popping noises from this slight movement alone, attesting to his injury.

However, before he could entirely turn to face the voice, the man in the bed neighbouring him continued.

"Mike, everyone can tell that this was no mere accident. Considering their status, I wouldn't be surprised if someone powerful secretly protected them. We came in knowing the risks, but we were still far too unprepared to deal with them."

Hearing his friend's words, Mike closed his eyes and exhaled deeply.

While Mike couldn't quite see his friend because of a curtain dividing their two beds, just hearing his voice made him feel slightly better.

The others in the accident were in similar rooms, but since the rooms, they'd checked into were reasonably small, they were split into two per room, and since the two of them were friends and roommates, they opted to stay in the same room.

"Sorry, Jordan, I should have listened to you back then. But, unfortunately, I was too blinded by greed to heed your warnings."

Seeing his friend's apologetic look, Jordan smiled lightly.

"Don't worry too much, Mike. Both of us got out of it alive. That's all that truly matters. As for the hospital fees, we just need to hold back on going to the bar for a while, and we should be good. As long as we're still breathing, we should be fine."

Mike smiled lightly at his friend's words.

"Yeah, we'll need to live in that crappy shack a little longer."

Jordan cringed at the thought of their shared apartment, a building so run down that it was a miracle it wasn't demolished yet.

"Don't remind me…."

The two engaged in idle chats to uplift their moods. However, eventually, their conversations led them back to the topic of their failed mission.

"Hey… do you think they might continue to target us? To get revenge and all that," Jordan asked in a worried tone.

"No, we should be fine. Our people ensured to wipe the traffic cameras, and even so, we didn't really do anything to them." Mike grinned, "if you think about it, all we did was drive our cars around and get into an accident. So we didn't do anything they can come after us legally for, and that's only if they can figure out who wanted to attack them in the first place."

As much as Jordan wanted to feel relieved at his friend's words, he felt a slight yet noticeable feeling of uneasiness.

"Are you sure? With that company's power, I feel they should still be able to track us down. What if there was some kind of person with a tracking ability?"

"There's no need to worry. The cleanup crew made sure to erase anything that could lead them back to us. Furthermore, the hackers they hired were some of the best on the market. So I don't think they'd have any way of finding us."

The two heard the door open just as Mike finished his reply to Jordan's worries.

Since the curtain was blocking their direct line of sight, the two couldn't quite see who had entered.

"Is the nurse here? Weren't you here just 10 minutes ago?" Jordan asked in a perplexed tone.

Perhaps she'd forgotten something the last time she came?

However, Jordan didn't get any reply.

"Hello, is anyone there?" He decided to ask again.

"Jordan, maybe the door just opened on its own?"

Thinking that might as well be the case, Jordan was about to continue his conversation with Mike, only to hear the unmistakable sounds of breathing coming from the doorway.

From Mike's silence, he could tell he'd also heard it.

As if the person in the doorway could tell that the two of them had discerned their presence in the room, they slowly walked towards the two beds, seemingly not even trying to hide anymore.

Knowing that whoever was in the room definitely was not friendly, Jordan slowly raised his hand, aiming to hit the nurse call button by the bedside.

While the process was excruciatingly painful, he finally managed to grit through it and hit the nurse call button.

He exhaled lightly at the thought that he might be able to save himself and Mike.

After all, the person in the room might bolt as soon as he hears the nurses coming in.

Unfortunately, the noise alarm didn't go off, unlike what Jordan had hoped.

Seemingly in disbelief, Jordan hit the button again, but to no avail.

Fear crept onto Jordan's face, he and Mike were unable to move, and they couldn't call for help.

They were at the complete mercy of the other party.

Hearing the slow, unhurried steps come closer and closer to their beds, Jordan couldn't help but liken the sound to the footsteps of a grim reaper coming to reap their lives.

If this person could hack the hospital and turn off the nurse call button, they might have been the same person to hijack their cars earlier.

Hell, they might have also gotten their identities from the security camera.

After all, hacking the hospital was a feat even their hackers couldn't pull off.

Due to the threat of hackers being able to kill their targets by directly turning off their life support, the hospital's firewalls and counter-hacking mechanisms were at the bleeding edge.

After what felt like an eternity, the footsteps stopped only inches before the curtains at the foot of their beds.

Mike and Jordan were paralyzed with fear, unable to make as much as a sound, with their hearts palpitating so loud that they rumbled like drums in their head.

"For targeting us… I don't know whether to call you brave or foolhardy," A voice called out in front of them.

"Wait, this voice…." Mike spoke in a confused tone.

"No way…" Jordan's eyes went wide.

Ripping both of the curtains in front of their beds clean off the rails, the intruder in the room finally revealed himself to them.

"Lucian Sanguinis???" The two couldn't help but yell in surprise, only for two hands to suddenly grab them by the throats, suffocating both of them simultaneously.

The boy in front of them smiled lightly and shook his head.

"We're in a hospital. Please keep your voices down. You might disturb the other patients."

The two wanted to complain, considering that the walls were soundproofed to the max, but with their throats being squeezed, they couldn't get their words out.

"It looks like the three of us need to have a nice long chat. I would tell you to get comfortable, but honestly, I couldn't care less."

Lucian flashed them a toothy smile, allowing them to see his sharp protruding canines and… his blood-red eyes.