Chapter 127

Bob said, "But Frank objected."

"Why?" I asked.

Bob continued, "Frank said at the time that if so many people went to Sand Village, it would cause too much commotion and easily attract attention."

I asked, "But you were the victims, why would you be discovered?"

Bob replied, "You're right, we were thinking the same thing at the time, but as the situation grew more intense, we decided to run first. Unexpectedly, Ronald seemed to know exactly where we were going and was waiting for us. It was the first time I felt powerless. When you clearly see the light of hope, it turns out to be the flickering of the devil's cigarette."

"We broke down. Joseph, who was a few years younger than us, collapsed on the ground and started crying. When he cried, all of us kids started crying. It was not only because we lost our freedom, but also because of Ronald's bloody appearance and those severed heads, which was terrifying."

The oldest of them was no more than ten years old. Just when they thought the years of torment were about to end and they were about to gain freedom, they fell into another cage.

This cage was no less than the old steel factory.

"What about Laura and Frank? How did they react?"

"What about Laura and Frank? How did they react?" I asked as these two were the most crucial among the kids. Their reactions to such a drastic change were directly related to the root of the conflict between Frank and Ronald.

Bob looked at me with some surprise, seemingly taken aback by my question.

"Frank and Laura didn't cry. Now that I think about it, I really admire Frank. A ten-year-old kid with such composure is indeed remarkable. No wonder he achieved great things later."

"They didn't cry?" I was surprised.

Bob replied, "No."

Bob shook his head and squinted his eyes, speaking slowly,"Frank stood in front of Laura and only said one word: 'Conditions.' I was still a kid then, and didn't even understand what 'conditions' meant. He could protect Laura behind him without asking why or begging for mercy, and he knew that Ronald waiting for us was premeditated. To be honest, every time I recall this, I feel a bit scared..."

I asked, "Why?"

Bob added, "I seemed to see another Ronald."

Bob looked at me with empty eyes and murmured, "When Frank said that word, Ronald threw away his cigarette. He looked at Frank as if he had found a treasure, rushed over, grabbed Frank's shoulder, and said: 'I see hatred and endurance in your eyes. That's what I value most about you. You are like another me. Of course, don't do this to me again, just this once.'"

Not only from what Bob just said but also from Ronald's own words, it was clear that he had an unusual admiration for Frank as if he were a disciple he had trained or a masterpiece he had created.

Bob continued, "He said he would take us to change our own destiny, where no one would bully us, no one would oppress us, and we would gain freedom. Freedom, what a long topic. It's been thirty years, and I still haven't figured it out."

In a trance, he seemed to have aged decades, his voice squeezing out from his throat.

"Our fate left one cage, and a few minutes later, we were shackled again. We had no choice but to entrust our fate to him. He gave us food and didn't let us freeze to death by the roadside. That was his grace. According to his plan, he shaped us into what he wanted, making us his tools to create his world. Were we bricks? Or sacrifices? I don't know..."

"Frank went into business to provide Ronald with influence in the business world. Tom went into financial investment, laundering the money Ronald embezzled. Joseph was constantly given female hormones by Ronald, who originally planned to turn Joseph into a complete plaything. When that failed, he had Joseph start learning anatomy to infiltrate the police, prosecution, and court systems from another angle."

"It sounds foolish and naive, but Frank achieved it step by step, or rather, we did!"

Bob hung his head, his nails subconsciously scratching the wall, his body pressed tightly against it. His lips were tightly pursed, then painfully opening as if he was tearing open a scabbed wound.

He was deeply resistant to these memories.

I said calmly, "It seems like you forgot to mention some people."

I didn't soften and let him stop recalling. Time was running out, and Ronald, driven to desperation, would surely launch a frenzied counterattack. I needed to quickly understand this information. Who was the real mastermind behind the Entertainment Club murder case? These things weighed heavily on Bob's mind and could be one of the triggers for his schizophrenia. If he didn't face it bravely, his condition might worsen.

Just like he told Ronald today, he would no longer run away; he would face it.

Bob replied, "Me? Mike and I were the most useless. We were very stupid and often got beaten. We didn't have the talents of Frank or Tom. We couldn't keep up with academic subjects, and we couldn't grasp even the basic concepts and accounts of business and finance. Mike was honest and did all the chores in our room. I was more lively, or maybe my mental state was already unstable, sometimes low, sometimes high. Once, when I saw Laura dancing, I joined in. I liked dancing, I liked art. Ronald said I should go dance with Laura."

"Dancing became my only spiritual solace. No matter how strong Ronald's control was, no matter what he did to us, every time I danced, I felt happy, forgetting everything, immersed in the world of the role, unable to extricate myself, even unable to distinguish between myself and the role."

Bob smiled slightly, looking a bit better than before.

"What about Laura?" I pressed on, as Bob seemed to deliberately avoid talking about Laura.

Bob added, "Laura... she's a viper."

"She's very beautiful, exceptionally beautiful. In the eyes of others, such beauty overshadowed everything else. If she bit you unintentionally, you would die instantly from the poison. Ronald said that only Laura and I had real artistic talent, but even artistic talent has levels. I had the talent of an ordinary person, while Laura defined the concept of talent. She was a lunatic, completely merging the roles in dramas with herself."

"Ronald had her sleep with men, and she went with a smile. She even came back excitedly talking about the wild excitement of sleeping with old men. Frank secretly wiped his tears, but she ignored it."

"So, Frank trained her to be a socialite?"

I asked with a frown, having experienced Laura's madness myself.

Bob replied, "No."

Bob shook his head with a bitter smile and said softly, "If she were a socialite, I wouldn't describe her as a viper. Laura was trained as a model for a special assassin. Over the years, who knows how many people have died at her hands."