Chapter 178 - 177: Victor Quinn’s Frenzied Methods Against Asher

Chapter 178: Chapter 177: Victor Quinn’s Frenzied Methods Against Asher

Only the top half of his head was visible, and he was looking at me pitifully.

I rubbed my eyes, making sure I wasn’t hallucinating, and ran over in a panic. "Asher..."

Seeing I was scared, he pushed off the windowsill with his arms and jumped inside.

’Not gonna lie, it was pretty cool.’

’For a second, it felt like a flashback to my teenage years...’

’This scene... it felt like it had happened often in the past, but I’d just forgotten.’

"How did you... escape?" I cupped Asher’s face in my hands, examining him carefully.

There were cuts on the corners of his mouth and eyes, and a ligature mark around his Adam’s apple. He had clearly been restrained...

I nervously checked his whole body. There were red ligature marks on his wrists and ankles and cuts on his arms.

I started to panic. I reached out to lift his sweatshirt, but Asher grabbed both of my hands.

His voice was still just as hoarse, laced with a hint of grievance. "Cece... They wouldn’t let me see you."

My eyes welled up instinctively. I spoke softly, "Let me see..."

Asher lowered his gaze and slowly loosened his grip on my hands.

I lifted his shirt. On his well-defined abs were burn marks from electrode pads. They were only red, but it was enough to tell what kind of "treatment" he’d been enduring in that mental hospital.

"What did he do to you?" I asked, gripping his hand tightly. "You..."

’To be honest, I was a little scared. I was afraid Victor Quinn had brainwashed Asher and that he wouldn’t recognize me anymore.’

Asher just shook his head, pulled me into his arms, and said in a trembling voice, "Cece... I missed you."

I grabbed Asher’s hand, not wanting to stay a moment longer. "Let’s go home."

"Cece..." His arms around me tightened. "They know I’d come find you..."

My eyes reddened. I knew he had escaped.

"Jack York already dropped the case. We could have gotten you out soon... Why did you risk escaping?" I whispered. ’It must have been so hard for him to get here... He’s so injured.’

Asher’s arms around me tightened even more. "I was scared..."

’What was he scared of?’

"If the body is a vessel that traps the soul... I’m afraid..." Asher’s voice was hoarse.

’If you think of the soul and body as separate, when the soul can’t control the body, it becomes a painful, passive experience.’

’And psychiatrists always have drugs and methods to make a soul—whether in a psychiatric patient or even a normal person—lose control of its own body.’

’Like anesthetics... or psychoactive drugs like Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate, commonly known as an obedience potion.’

"Cece..." He was calling my name, but I could hear the panic in his voice.

"What did they do to you?" My own voice began to tremble. I frantically and carefully looked at his arm and, sure enough, it was covered in needle marks.

’That bastard, Victor Quinn...’

’Just because Asher is a ’psychiatric patient,’ he could inject him with psychoactive drugs without any scruples.’

’And it was all perfectly legal.’

"Cece..." Asher cupped my face, as if trying to etch my image into his very soul.

Even though he said nothing, I could guess. He was trying his hardest to remember me, to force himself to carve me into his soul.

’Victor Quinn must have started a long time ago. He was using his methods to control Asher, to make him obedient, to hold something over him.’

’It was just like that night when Victor Quinn told Erin Whittaker he had a way to make Sebastian Lancaster behave.’

’As if he could control anyone he wanted.’

"Don’t let it affect you..." I gripped his wrist tightly.

’Don’t be affected by the drugs.’

’But how can an ordinary person’s willpower fight against drugs?’

’It’s simply impossible.’

"Cece..." His breathing was already growing ragged.

I stood on my tiptoes, held Asher’s head, and pressed my forehead against his. "You won’t... fail to recognize me, right...?"

Asher was silent for a long time before shaking his head. "I won’t..."

’I won’t forget, and I won’t fail to recognize you.’

"Cece, trust me." Asher was trying so hard to make me believe him.

"Okay." I nodded.

’I will trust you.’

"Let’s go home..." I said softly.

Asher’s fingers were already trembling. I guessed he was about to collapse.

Sure enough, just as we stepped out the door, Julian Fletcher and people from the mental hospital arrived.

’They really timed that perfectly.’ 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"He escaped from the mental hospital. I figured he would come find you." Julian Fletcher frowned, his voice low and his gaze on Asher cold.

"Jack York already dropped the case! The paperwork will be processed soon. I’m taking him home. We don’t need inpatient treatment!" I squeezed Asher’s hand.

’I won’t let them take him away again.’

"Apologies, but our hospital has its own regulations." Walking in from outside was Victor Quinn.

Victor Quinn seemed perfectly calm, as if he’d intentionally let a pet escape just so he could enjoy catching it and dragging it back home.

He gave Asher a meaningful look and said with a smile, "Asher, it’s time for us to go back. Have you forgotten what we talked about?"

I instinctively turned to look at Asher. "Don’t listen to him. Don’t look at him..."

’I suspected Victor Quinn was trying to hypnotize Asher.’

Asher’s fingers stiffened, and he slowly let go of my hand.

My heart was in my throat. I frantically shook my head at Asher.

"Victor Quinn, you bastard! What did you do to him?!" I lunged forward madly, intending to hit Victor Quinn, but a hand grabbed me by the back of my collar.

I turned in shock, looking at Asher in fear.

He pulled me into his arms, holding me in a stubborn, tight embrace.

’He looked like he was about to collapse, but protecting me had become a subconscious instinct.’

My eyes burned with unshed tears. I looked back at Victor Quinn. "You’re insane..."

Victor Quinn frowned, seemingly in disbelief himself. He lowered his voice and asked the person beside him, "What was the dosage?"

"We already increased the dosage..." the doctor next to him answered nervously.

Victor Quinn glanced at the time.

"Heh..." He let out a cold laugh. "Once Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate enters the body, its chemical components induce a polarization effect in the neurons, changing the positive and negative electrodes inside and outside the cell membrane..."

I watched Victor Quinn warily, my breathing shaky.

"This causes ion channels to become blocked, slowing down the transmission of messages between the brain and the central nervous system..."

"After just a few minutes, a normal person would become like a drunk, with decreased brain activity and suppressed physical sensation..."

I clenched my fists tightly, my eyes red as I turned to look back at Asher.

He was already unsteady on his feet, leaning his entire weight on me, yet he was still stubbornly protecting me, his own eyes bloodshot.

"As his blood sugar level rises, his breathing will slow and deepen, and his heart rate will begin to decrease..."

Victor Quinn casually described the symptoms Asher should have been exhibiting.

"And yet, from the moment he had an episode, when we administered the appropriate psychoactive drugs, to the time he escaped the hospital and found you... a full twenty-three minutes have passed."

What shocked Victor Quinn was Asher’s level of control over his own body and the intense concentration of his willpower.

To Victor Quinn, this was a terrifying phenomenon, because no one... no mere mortal flesh and blood, could fight against chemical drugs.

’With a large dose of the drug injected into the body, a person would enter a state of extreme vertigo, gradually losing their intelligence and memory, like a mindless infant.’

’Completely at the mercy of others...’

’What’s more, during Asher’s time in the hospital, Victor Quinn didn’t just control him with drugs.’

’There was also psychological intervention, mental disruption, and hypnotherapy.’

"I’d like to see just how long he can last." Victor Quinn suddenly took an interest, stopping his men from grabbing Asher.

He smiled at me and glanced at the time. "Asher, come here."

His voice was like Pavlov ringing a bell for his dogs, designed to make someone who was losing consciousness obey his command.

I knew Victor Quinn was provoking me.

He wanted to show me that human emotion could never win against chemical drugs.