Chapter 223 My Target Was You
After hearing Steven, Cindy's lips curled into a knowing smile.
"You're pretty sharp! You got about sixty to seventy percent right. But I'm not as bad as you think!" she said, brushing her hair back to reveal her slender neck.
"I'm not Fluffy's owner. I didn't send it to kill classmates and teachers. But it has been protecting me all along."
Aubrey's eyes widened. "Fluffy? You mean the stray cat you used to feed?"
Steven stayed quiet, waiting for Cindy to explain. He was curious about the mutated cat too. When he reached the upper levels of Innovation Academy, he couldn't find Cindy right away. Then the cat showed up, almost like it was guiding him. If Earl hadn't attacked it, it wouldn't have gone after them.
'If I can tame such a smart and powerful mutant, that'd be perfect,' Steven thought. 'Animals are way more loyal than humans.'
Cindy looked into the distance and started explaining to Aubrey, who was still in shock. The creature was a mutated stray cat. Cindy, due to polio, couldn't move around much and spent most of her time in the dorm. She was already a world-class computer genius, so there wasn't much left for her to learn at Innovation Academy. Besides computers, her only hobby was feeding Fluffy, the stray cat behind the dorm.
"It was the bond we developed that made Fluffy so close to me. That's why it never attacked me," Cindy explained calmly.
Aubrey sighed in relief. "No wonder! It freaked me out every time it showed up, but it never attacked us. I thought we were just lucky!"
Steven wasn't convinced. "Is it really just gratitude that it doesn't attack you?" he asked. "It led us and didn't attack us, not just out of instinct, right?"
Cindy smiled sweetly. "Your observation skills are sharp! Nothing gets past you."
"Yes, Fluffy became exceptionally smart after mutating and can understand me. I told it someone would come to take me away and not to harm you."
"I just didn't expect you guys to be so capable!"
Steven gave her a sidelong glance. "So, did you also tell it to kill those classmates?"
"Not at all!" Cindy said with a cheerful smile. "Although many of them were annoying, I didn't hate them enough to want them dead."
"At first, they died because some had abused Fluffy in the past, and Fluffy needed to eat." Her gaze darkened. "But later, things changed."
"You don't know how many times they thought I was a burden and tried to ditch me to stop Fluffy. They even tipped over my wheelchair or pushed me out," Cindy continued.
Her smile grew wider. "It's funny. They didn't know Fluffy wouldn't harm me."
"So I survived again and again, and their hatred for me just grew!"
"They tried to kill me. As long as I was alive, they felt guilty and realized how evil they were. That's why they wanted me dead even more!"
Aubrey fell silent. She knew how many close calls they had. But alone, she couldn't fight back. Their teacher, Lily, did her best to protect everyone, but she couldn't watch over every student.
"So that's how it was! Many times, I thought we were done for," Aubrey said quietly.
Cindy stroked the bottle in her hand like she was petting a cat. "So, later on, I thought it was better for those people to die!"
She looked up at Steven, her face beaming. "It was related to me when Fluffy toyed with them and killed them bit by bit!"
"Do you think I'm cruel?" she asked.
Steven looked at her for a few seconds, then smiled. 'Cruel? Yeah, a bit,' he thought. But he didn't mind; he admired it. Cindy was just like him!
"They're not my friends. Whatever you do is your business. I don't care! I'm here to save you because of a promise to your sister and because I need your computer skills!"
Cindy just nodded, like it was obvious. "Yeah, that's how it is. No value, no life."
Steven said, "Don't worry. Join my crew, do what you're told, and you'll be safe from the cold, the hunger, and the Grim Reaper. I promise."
Recruiting top talent meant offering a bright future to keep them loyal. And most of what Steven said was true. Unless something unexpected happened, following him would be comfortable and secure.
"Thank you, Mr. Rogers!" Aubrey said.
"Thank you, Mr. Rogers!" Cindy echoed with a smile.
Steven glanced at the rearview mirror and then continued, "Cindy, I have one more question. I hope you can help me with it."
"Go ahead," Cindy replied.
He asked, "The apocalypse has been going on for a while. Why didn't you contact your sisters earlier? Why only recently? And how did you solve the signal problem in such deep snow?"
Cindy covered her mouth and laughed. "Mr. Rogers, I'm a world-class hacker. Signal issues are easy to solve. Plus, I had Fluffy's help."
"As for contacting Nora," she opened her eyes, revealing a sly glint, and continued, "from the beginning, my target was you!"
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