Kapitel 18: Chapter 18: Swift Pursuit and Execution (End)
Joya sat there blankly, as if he had forgotten who he was, where he was, and what he was supposed to do. Fortunately, he hadn't really forgotten. After a moment of absent-mindedness, Joya forced his consciousness back and asked, "Where's my daughter?"
"Of course, I'll tell you. After all, that's the wager of our bet, Mr. Joya," Adrian said, returning to his seat and pulling out a black password box from under the table.
"Before that, I want to ask you a question, Mr. Joya. What were you thinking at the moment you entered Adele's body?"
Taking a glance at the speechless Joya, Adrian continued in a calm and unhurried manner, "You escaped from a dark and hopeless prison and then met a rich and compassionate heiress. From the moment you met to when you slept together, it was less than three days, right?"
"After that, what were you thinking when I told you she was my daughter?"
"It's complicated, isn't it? I'm your enemy who imprisoned you for twenty years, and yet you've found yourself truly in love with my daughter."
"Don't deny it too quickly, Mr. Joya. If you didn't fall in love with her, why would you not use her to threaten me after knowing her identity? Instead, you voluntarily stayed away from her."
"What about you, Adele? Do you love him?"
Adrian looked at Adele, watching her face slowly turn pale.
Adrian looked around and saw Joya slowly standing up, even Zhou Ming put down his wine glass.
"It seems like you've all figured it out." Adrian chuckled a few times and divided the stack of files into two parts, pushing them in front of Joya and Adele respectively.
"After I woke up from the hospital, I started planning my revenge. I inherited a huge fortune and had people monitoring you 24/7. I watched you fall in love, get married, and watched your wife give birth to your child. I knew it was time to strike."
"I kidnapped you, shot your wife and disguised it as if you did it. I took away your newborn daughter and raised her as my own, naming her Adele Brownses."
"Shut up, you bastard!" Joya rushed towards Adrian like crazy, pinning him to the ground and hitting him hard in the face.
"You're deceiving me, asshole! You showed me Erica's growth videos, don't you remember? In that damn cage, a new video tape was released every Monday, recording Erica's growth, that was my motivation to stay alive! Do you remember? Do you remember?"
As he spoke, he punched Adrian's face fiercely.
"Haha, haha, Mr. Joya, don't you understand?"
Adrian's eyes cracked, blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, and his face was bruised and swollen. Joya choked him, but he still couldn't hide his joy and kept laughing.
"It's all fake! Everything you've seen for the past twenty years, those videotapes, were shot by actors I hired! This is a TV drama that's been filmed for twenty years, but there's only one audience, you!"
"Allow me to ask you now, Mr. Joya, why should I let you leave from there?"
"Shut up, I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!"
Joya excitedly picked up a dining knife that had fallen off the table during the fight and pressed it against Adrian's neck.
Adrian didn't care about the dining knife that had already pierced his flesh and continued to say what he wanted to say.
"At that time, Adele, who was one year old, was a blank sheet of paper that I could write on and edit at will. I spent twenty years transforming her into the most suitable revenge tool for me."
"She has a gentle personality, is very sympathetic, likes to help others, has a simple personality, and is easily influenced by others. On the other hand, she is very casual and promiscuous, willing to be with anyone, and indulges in physical desires that she cannot extricate herself from."
"Do you think you escaped from there based on your own abilities? Do you think you met Adele by accident? Why did you so easily have a relationship with Adele?"
"I have added something to your food, and if necessary, I can even control your every move and action!"
Adrian laughed loudly, his laughter was so joyful and crazy.
Joya weakly released his grip, as if all his strength had been drained away, and slumped to the ground like a pile of mud.
He raised his head, staring blankly at Adele, and Adele also looked at him, tears streaming down her face, her expression lifeless and devoid of any vitality.
The huge blow had completely shattered her mental state.
Joya reached for the dining knife again, holding it tightly in his hand, slowly raising it towards Adrian.
"Yes, that's it." Adrian opened his arms and completely gave up any resistance, his excited expression was even a bit twisted. "Stab me, let us..."
"Take it out and let us share this moment, my pain, and what you took from me. Let you truly experience my feelings."
"Come on, Joya, as you wish, complete the last step of our revenge, our revenge."
"Ah!"
Joya screamed in a hoarse and mournful voice, raising the dagger high and stabbing fiercely towards Adrian's throat, amidst Adele's heart-wrenching screams.
"Bang!"
A gunshot sounded.
The bullet hit the dining knife accurately, and the powerful force sent the knife flying.
"Alright, three of you, isn't this melodrama coming to an end? It's my turn now."
Blowing on the gun barrel, Zhou Ming said with a smile.
"Mr. Adrian, may I ask if you hired the assassin to kill Adele?"
Zhou Ming walked over and pressed the gun against Adele's head, signaling Joya not to act rashly, or he would break Adele's head.
Adrian responded indifferently, "Is there any point in asking that question?"
Zhou Ming frowned, "Mr. Adrian, I advise you not to refuse to answer my questions. Telling me what I want to know will benefit you. Although you are seeking death with all your heart, you still have some ties in this world, right? How about I send Karl and Dovelle down to keep you company?"
Adrian slowly sat up and stared at Zhou Ming.
"Mr. Zhang, who do you serve? Why do you have to ask this question?"
Zhou Ming chuckled, "My task is to ensure Miss Adele's safety. I took the money, so naturally, I have to do my job with utmost care."
"I didn't expect Mr. Zhang to be so dedicated," Adrian said sarcastically.
"Mr. Adrian, this should be our first time meeting. How much do you really know about me?" Zhou Ming replied.
Adrian didn't argue anymore and pulled out a cellphone from his pocket, dialing a number.
Soon, the call was answered.
"I want to cancel the task I posted."
A female voice came from the phone, "Okay, sir. Before cancelling the task, we need to remind you that the deadline for this task has not yet been reached, and our staff are still working hard. Cancelling the task unilaterally will result in a fifty percent deduction of the total reward amount."
"I have no objections."
"Okay, the task has been cancelled. This reward task is now over. Have a nice life and goodbye."
"..."
There was only a busy tone left on the phone.
Adrian threw away his phone and looked at Zhou Ming.
"So, you're the one who posted the task? But logically, it doesn't make sense," Zhou Ming didn't just let this issue pass.
"Since you want to perform this revenge drama well, why did you have to eliminate Adele in advance? Without her, wouldn't it be like losing an important character on stage?"
"I won't tell you," Adrian suddenly pulled out a gun from his body and was about to put the muzzle in his mouth.
"Bang!"
Another gunshot, still fired by Zhou Ming, hit Adrian's right hand this time, making his bloodied right hand unable to hold the gun anymore, letting the gun fall to the ground.
"It doesn't matter, even if you don't say it, I can guess it. It's either Karl or Dovell. But as you said, asking this question really doesn't matter. However, you can't die yet. If you die, your group of subordinates might do something crazy. Wait...18 hours!" Zhou Ming looked at his watch and said.
"Haha, hahaha." Adrian suddenly laughed nervously. "Eighteen hours, it doesn't matter. For me, dying early or late doesn't make much difference. But can the lovely father and daughter still stay together? "
"If Mr. Jiaoya doesn't want to, I'll just take care of Miss Adele. Anyway, my employment relationship with her has ended now." Zhou Ming didn't care at all.
"So, sit down, gentlemen. We can chat for the remaining time."
....
Apart from a few people involved, no one knows how they spent the final 18 hours.
The guards, including Ralph, who had been stationed outside, never obtained permission to enter the room. Even when they heard gunshots at the beginning, they strictly followed Adrian's orders and didn't dare to step a foot inside the door.
It wasn't until 18 hours later, when two more gunshots were heard, that the door to the room slowly opened, and a distraught Adele walked out.
Ralph hurried forward, calling out "Miss" twice but received no response. Adele walked out as if she were a zombie.
Ralph had to assign a few people to protect Adele, while he led the others into the room. All they saw were two bodies lying on the table, each holding a handgun. Judging from their posture, they had committed suicide.
As for the fourth person in the room, Ralph searched the entire room thoroughly but found no trace of Zhou Ming's departure. It was as if he had disappeared from the room into thin air.
Adele walked out of the villa's front door, looking up at the blue sky. Her mind was in a haze, and she seemed to have lost many memories.
A figure that was once very clear had quickly become hazy and was almost forgotten in a short period.
Only one sentence kept echoing in her mind.
"There are extraordinary items in this world, and there is a path to the sublimation of life."
"Go and find them, find those extraordinary items, and find a way to obtain them."
"I will come back for them."
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Note from the translator:
For those of you who didn't understand what happened, here is some more information posted by the author,
First, Adrian slept with his own sister Doris, and Joya leaked and spread rumors about it, which led to Adrian's father Jack trying to kill his entire family in humiliation. However, Adrian survived and plotted revenge, leading to the current story.
The author also posted that he took heavy inspiration from the 2003 Korean film "Oldboy"
Also from the next chapter, the Gu world's story will start again.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein