Chapter 284 - 283: Madeline Quinn’s Brain Death from Excessive Blood Loss

Chapter 284: Chapter 283: Madeline Quinn’s Brain Death from Excessive Blood Loss

"You want to find the mastermind behind the serial killings? I can help you... Tell me where my friend is." I grabbed his collar, my voice a warning.

"Heh... You’ll never find her." He was completely uncooperative, his smile a taunt.

I stomped down hard between his legs. "As a man, you dress up as a woman... preying only on women weaker than you. You’re a coward. Chances are... you’re useless in *that* department, aren’t you? So there’s no point in keeping it." My voice was low as I applied more pressure with my foot. "Since it’s useless, I might as well confiscate it..."

Felix Foster, who had followed us in, flinched. He instinctively clutched his groin, turned, and dragged Lucas Grant out of the room, glancing back to pull Asher along too. "Let’s go, let’s go! My balls ache just looking at that..."

"Go with Zeke Shaw and find Madeline Quinn! Get to the security room, now!" Lucas Grant kicked Felix Foster.

Asher coughed and muttered quietly, "My girl... she doesn’t usually do this to me."

Felix Foster scoffed, shot him a look that said, ’You’re on your own,’ and ran off with Lucas Grant to check the surveillance monitors.

Meanwhile, the perverted killer was still screaming in agony.

I crouched in front of him and spoke again. "If you die, the mastermind behind the serial killings will just look down on you even more. He’ll make a big show of telling everyone that he wasn’t copying your methods—you were copying his..."

’Since this guy has such a fragile ego, I might as well rub salt in the wound.’

He struggled wildly, trying to fight back, but Asher pinned him to the floor with a foot.

Seeing that he was outnumbered, he finally gave in. "I’ll take you..."

I hauled him to his feet, my voice dripping with menace. "Don’t try any tricks."

As we came out of the restroom, Zeke Shaw charged over and slammed the man against a wall.

"He’s taking us to her," Asher and I said, quickly pulling Zeke Shaw off him.

Only then did Zeke Shaw let go.

The man limped toward a tool room.

He shoved the tool room door open, walked to a large blue barrel, and pointed. "She’s in there."

Zeke Shaw rushed forward and tore off the lid, frantically trying to pull her out, but when he looked inside, it was completely empty.

Zeke Shaw exploded with rage, kicking the man away. "Where is she?!"

Asher and I ran over and looked into the barrel.

"Where is she?" The killer seemed genuinely stunned, not like he was acting. He scrambled forward in a panic, peering intently into the barrel. "Impossible. I knocked her out and put her in here. Where is she?"

His face paled as he yanked at his hair. "It’s the serial killer! He’s taunting me! He’s taunting me! It has to be him! It has to be!"

’The serial killer... took Madeline Quinn?’

I drew a sharp breath and stopped Zeke Shaw. "He’s probably not lying. This is Madeline’s earring."

The barrel was empty except for some oily residue at the bottom. The inside walls showed what looked like drag marks.

At the bottom of the barrel lay one of Madeline Quinn’s earrings.

"Someone else came and took Madeline Quinn," Asher said, scanning the area before speaking again. "However..."

Asher trailed off, not finishing his sentence.

"The guy’s practically shitting on your neck. Shouldn’t you be the one tracking him down?" I snarled, grabbing the killer’s collar.

"I will find him. I’ll definitely find him," he said through gritted teeth, sniffing the air.

He seemed to have a very sensitive nose.

’Good thing he threw her into a diesel barrel,’ I thought. ’The smell is incredibly pungent.’

"Diesel... I can smell it. Let’s go." The killer limped out of the tool room, sniffing the diesel in the air as he moved forward.

"On the floor," I said, spotting a few drops of diesel on the ground as well.

We stopped outside room 1563 just as Lucas Grant and Felix Foster came running back.

"The security feed is locked down by those fucking bastards. No one can access the monitors except their own people. Those damned sons of bitches!" Felix Foster swore.

I gestured for him to be quiet.

The killer did something strange—he pressed his face to the door and sniffed, then turned to me with a look of excitement. "Blood... I smell blood. She might already be dead."

The color drained from Zeke Shaw’s face and mine. We started kicking hard at the door.

The door finally gave way, and we scrambled inside.

On the bed, the stark white sheets were stained red with blood. Madeline Quinn lay with her arms spread wide, the veins in her wrists slashed open. Her face was deathly pale.

The bed was strewn with bright red rose petals, a sight both bizarre and horrifying.

"He’s mocking me! Mocking me!" the killer shrieked like a madman before turning and bolting from the room.

Zeke Shaw and I had no time for him. We rushed to Madeline Quinn’s side.

"She’s lost too much blood! Her pulse is barely there! Get her to a doctor, now!" I yelled at Zeke Shaw.

Zeke Shaw was trembling from head to toe. He frantically scooped up Madeline Quinn and sprinted toward the medical bay.

"Please be okay, Madeline Quinn, please be okay..."

Zeke Shaw choked out the words, his voice trembling.

I rushed out after them, only to realize Asher hadn’t followed.

He was standing by the bed, looking at the blood-soaked sheets. He touched the blood with his finger and brought it to his nose to smell.

"Asher?" I watched him, confused, my mind racing with worry for Madeline Quinn.

"An average woman’s blood volume is around 4,584 milliliters. From the looks of it... she’s lost over fifty percent of that. At that point... the body completely loses its ability to pump blood. The heart stops. The medical team on this ship is good, but we’ve already left port. It’s impossible for them to have a blood supply... She’s not going to make it," Asher said quietly, turning to look at me.

I froze, then numbly took a step back.

"Impossible... What if there’s a miracle?" I suddenly understood the importance of faith. ’What if there’s a miracle?’

’What if... she can be saved?’

"A miracle? Unless... this ship has a reserve blood bank. But a cruise ship with its own supply of blood bags... Does that make any sense? What is the real purpose of this ship? And why did The Resistance choose it? They’re making such a huge scene—what exactly are they trying to expose?" Asher’s head snapped up, his eyes locking with mine.

Clearly, the person behind The Resistance was an absolute genius.

Our every move had been anticipated.

Madeline Quinn bleeding out, on the brink of death, the killer from Aeridor getting on board... Everything was falling into place... perfectly.

The truth they wanted to reveal.

Might shock everyone.

It hit me then, and I took off running toward the medical bay.

’Please let her be okay...’

"Make way, make way!"

Just then, several medical staff rushed by, pushing a gurney with a patient on it.

"Patient’s in cardiac arrest, hurry!"

I stood beside Zeke Shaw, comforting him quietly. "She’ll be okay..."

"This cruise ship... actually has a blood bank..." Felix Foster also realized something was wrong.

Zeke Shaw was only focused on praying for Madeline Quinn’s safety; he probably didn’t have the mental capacity for anything else.

I looked over at Asher.

He had been right.

This ship had a blood bank.

"The patient has a congenital heart defect and needs a transplant immediately..." I overheard a doctor whispering to a patient’s family outside another operating room.

Luckily, my hearing is sharp. I watched them with suspicion.

The group seemed to notice me watching and quickly ushered the family away.

DING. A doctor emerged from the operating room and shook his head at us. "I’m sorry... Due to the massive blood loss, the patient... is already brain-dead."