Chapter 225: A Bloody Nightmare

Richard handed Frederick the surveillance footage on his phone, holding his breath and lowering his head. “Head to the Bright Night Hotel!” Frederick saw the video and simply gave the order, saying nothing else. But his cold tone made Richard break out in a cold sweat.

Throughout the journey, Richard didn't dare relax. After notifying the traffic department, he sped, reducing what would have been an hour's drive to twenty minutes. On the way, he had people retrieve all the surveillance footage from Claire's time at the Bright Night Hotel.

Upon arrival, Frederick went straight to the room Vincent had opened. The scene was a mess. Many rooms on the entire floor had exploded, but the range of the explosions was not extensive. Moreover, the explosions were very precise, mostly just blowing open a hole about three feet in diameter, allowing people to pass through freely.

Inside the room, only the unconscious Vincent remained; Claire was gone. Richard quickly had the explosive materials identified. “General Hawthorne, we can now basically confirm that they are the same group causing explosions in the suburbs.”

Richard had just finished his report when Frederick’s email received an anonymous message. The email was sent through anonymous re-encoding, with no trace or IP address to be found. The content of the file was a video.

In the video was a very dark room, with many people locked inside. The lighting wasn't bright, but they could see men, women, children, and older people. The video was chaotic, filled with various wails and pleas for mercy. “Shut up! If anyone says another word, I’ll shoot him!”

It wasn’t until a man’s voice came from the video that the room finally fell silent. The man did not show his face, only bringing the camera closer to those who had been captured.

“Frederick, take a good look. These are all people under the protection of your Kingstown Security Department. I’ve captured so many. How will you explain this to your superiors? After all, you’re a general now, in charge of the entire Kingstown Security Department. If I kill them all one by one and throw their bodies onto the streets of Kingstown, would you be immediately dismissed? Oh, no, you’d probably be stripped of your eligibility to run for president first. Hahaha… I’m telling you, Frederick. This is the price you pay.”

“Do you remember that battle on the frontier many years ago? You killed my brother! Since you had the guts to kill my brother, you should bear the consequences.”

“I’m giving you two options. First, you abandon these people, and after I’ve tortured them all, I’ll just dump their bodies on some street. Second, you come here alone, without any help, and I might consider letting these people go. I’m giving you twenty-four hours to think about it. Once the time is up, I’ll kill someone every hour. It’s up to you.”

After the man finished speaking and laughed, the video ended. Frederick stared intently at the phone screen until it was completely unresponsive. His mind was filled with the sight of Claire’s face as the camera zoomed in on those people.

Frederick remembered very clearly what the man said about that battle years ago. In that battle, he took out the world’s largest terrorist organization. These people caused countless deaths, each one of them a desperate criminal. Wherever they went in any country, they were like maniacs on a killing spree, committing all sorts of evil deeds. Most of them were internationally notorious fugitives or very capable mercenaries. It was also in that battle that Anna’s brother, Andrew, sacrificed himself to save him. Since then, he had risen rapidly in his career. For so many years, no terrorist organization so well-trained had emerged. He thought they had eliminated those people. To his surprise, they had been biding their time, waiting to take revenge on him!

“General Hawthorne, you can’t go. This is clearly a trap,” Richard reminded urgently, seeing Frederick silent for a long time. He had also experienced that battle firsthand. He knew better than anyone how terrifying these people were.

For two or three years after returning from the battlefield, every night was filled with bloody nightmares. “If I don’t go, I won’t be able to keep my general’s rank or the Kingstown Security Department, let alone my eligibility to run for president. Even my career will end here!”