Chapter 565 Hallucination
The young man who stepped out of the car looked barely twenty, dressed in a simple white T-shirt and jeans, like any ordinary college student. He reached out to rub the Golden Retriever's head and said softly, "Go on, find her."
The Golden Retriever sniffed the air, catching the lingering scent of perfume, and ran towards the elevator without hesitation. Kieran followed leisurely, a playful smile on his lips.
The elevator went straight to the top floor. Sunny stopped at the end of the hallway, whimpering softly at the door marked 1308. Kieran crouched down and pulled a dog biscuit from his pocket, rewarding Sunny. "Good boy."
Kieran stood up and took a strange device from his backpack, attaching it to the door lock. A few seconds later, the lock clicked softly. Kieran pushed the door open, and Sunny rushed in first.
Inside the room, George held a silver needle against Wanda's temple. Wanda's face was streaked with tears, her makeup smeared, and she was babbling incoherently, "Please, I really..."
Her scream was abruptly cut off by a dog's bark. George turned around, alert, only to see a Golden Retriever charging at him! He instinctively dodged, and the needle fell to the floor.
"Sunny, sit." A clear male voice came from the doorway.
The Golden Retriever immediately sat down but continued to watch George warily.
Kieran walked into the room with his hands in his jeans pockets, as if he were just visiting a friend's house. He looked nothing like a dangerous rescuer, with a cartoon print on his white T-shirt and canvas shoes, resembling a college student skipping class.
"Hey there, Mr. Russell," Kieran greeted cheerfully, his voice clear and pleasant. "Am I interrupting something?"
George's eyes narrowed as he quickly drew a handgun from his waist. "Who the hell are you?"
Kieran exaggeratedly raised his hands. "Whoa, no need to get jumpy." He tilted his head, his sunny smile disarming. "I was just passing by and saw Sunny run in, so I followed to check it out."
George's gun remained steady. "Passing by? With professional lock-picking tools?"
Kieran blinked innocently. "Oh, that? It's Sunny's toy. He likes to carry around strange things." He bent down to rub the Golden Retriever's head. "Isn't that right, Sunny?"
The Golden Retriever barked in agreement, wagging its tail happily.
George's temple throbbed. The young man seemed harmless but gave off an inexplicable sense of pressure. He tightened his grip on the gun. "I'll ask one last time, who are you?"
Kieran sighed and suddenly snapped his fingers.
The room plunged into darkness. George reacted quickly, firing a shot at where he remembered Kieran standing.
The gunshot echoed sharply in the dark, but George realized he had missed. The bullet shattered a glass object but didn't hit flesh.
"Mr. Russell's aim isn't very good," Kieran's voice teased from the other side of the room. "Want me to teach you?"
George moved swiftly, catching the sound of ropes being cut. He fired three shots towards the noise.
"That was close," Kieran's voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. "Sunny, go play with Mr. Russell."
A gust of wind hit George, and he instinctively blocked, but the Golden Retriever knocked him off balance. As he steadied himself, he heard the window being opened.
"No!" George rushed to the window, hearing Kieran's cheerful farewell.
"Bye-bye, Mr. Russell. See you next time~"
A shadow flashed past the window. George leaned out to see Kieran holding Wanda with one hand and gripping a prepared escape rope with the other, sliding down to a black Mercedes parked below. The Golden Retriever followed, landing smoothly on the car roof.
The entire process was seamless, taking less than ten seconds.
George immediately pulled out his phone. "Seal all hotel exits! Intercept a black Mercedes!"
But when he looked down again, the car had vanished, as if it had never been there.
Standing by the window, George suddenly felt dizzy. He gripped the window frame, his memories of the young man rapidly fading—the face, the cartoon on the T-shirt, even the dog's name, all being erased like pencil marks.
"What’s happening?" George shook his head, trying to recall the events, but only a vague outline remained.
Hurried footsteps echoed in the hallway, and George's men rushed in. "Mr. Russell! The surveillance shows Wanda escaped by jumping out the window herself!"
"What?" George turned sharply. "No one else?"
His men exchanged confused looks. "No, sir. The footage only shows Wanda. She cut the rope and jumped."
George strode to the surveillance room and pulled up the footage. It indeed showed only Wanda—struggling to cut the rope and then jumping out the window. No Golden Retriever, no mysterious young man.
"This can't be." George stared at the screen, his temple throbbing. He clearly remembered...
"Mr. Russell, are you sure you're not too tired?" one of his men asked cautiously. "You've been talking to thin air since earlier."
George suddenly realized something and touched the back of his neck, finding a barely noticeable needle mark. His face paled. "I've been drugged."
But it was too late. All memories of Kieran faded like a dream, leaving only a vague impression. someone had been there, or maybe not.
Meanwhile, the black Mercedes cruised smoothly down a suburban road. Wanda huddled in the back seat, still shaken, while Kieran sat in the passenger seat, leisurely brushing Sunny's fur.
"Kieran," Wanda's voice trembled. "Thank you for saving me."
Kieran didn't turn around. "Don't thank me," he said lightly. "I just don't want the game to end too soon."
He glanced at Wanda through the rearview mirror, his seemingly innocent eyes now cold and frightening.
"You better behave and stop causing trouble."
"Yes, Kieran! I won't do it again!"
Kieran chuckled, clearly not believing her, but he didn't care what Wanda did next. As long as it caused trouble for George, he was happy.
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