Ann Vaughn’s lips twitched, and she gently pulled apart his ’pig hand,’ whispering with a hint of irony, "If you think about it this way, although you’re not as handso as so others, at least your skin is thicker."
Josiah Keaton: "..."
He felt quite stifled.
He accepted losing to Cyrus Hawthorne, after all, he’s a formidable figure that even his older brother is wary of.
But that pretty boy just now, what’s his deal? They barely t, and almost had Ann Vaughn’s soul whisked away QAQ...
If Ann Vaughn had heard his thoughts at this mont, she would surely have flicked him on the head to sober him up.
It was just that she found the cool guy’s gaze a little odd, so she couldn’t help but glance at him a couple of tis, how did it turn into having her soul whisked away?
After entering the room, Josiah Keaton checked each corner, found a bunch of pinhole caras, and promptly destroyed them before tossing them onto the table.
Clearly, it’s not his first ti doing this.
Ann Vaughn’s eyes widened slightly, looking at these objects in astonishnt, "They even monitor your private life?"
"Yeah," Josiah Keaton poured out a miniature cara from a vase and said nonchalantly, "They’re very paranoid. As soone who can access first-hand information and move freely in and out of the base, they’re naturally uneasy."
The surveillance was constant. While those in charge feared his capabilities, they didn’t dare do anything more than install these devices, so Josiah casually ignored them.
Ann Vaughn nodded, glancing around the room, then walked towards the balcony.
Suddenly, she was startled by a ’gaping maw’ that seed to appear right in front of her.
Backing up a few steps in shock, Ann Vaughn stared in bewildernt at the man-eating plant on the adjacent balcony. The plant, about human-sized, seed ready to swallow her whole with its terrifying flower mouth turned towards her.
Besides on TV, Ann Vaughn had never seen such a large man-eating plant.
Her scalp tingled at the sight.
What kind of strange hobby does the cool guy next door have?
Just as she was pondering, a rush of wind brushed past her ear, and she saw a broom poking at the flower’s leaves, forcibly pushing it back over to the other balcony.
Josiah Keaton stuffed the broom into the plant’s flower mouth and turned to remind Ann Vaughn, "Stay away from that plant. It’s a new variety developed by the base, far more terrifying than those man-eating plants outside, minus the foul sll."
"The pretty boy next door dared to keep sothing like this, so he can’t be so pure-hearted fellow. Don’t foolishly stare at him next ti, or you might end up as flower fertilizer without knowing it."
Ann Vaughn glanced at the balcony next door.
The man-eating plant huddled at the far end, its sun-like petals nearly touching the balcony’s top, looking sowhat aggrieved.
But that didn’t hide the nature of this human-eating plant.
She responded with a smile, "Don’t worry, I’m not that idle."
Not long after, as Josiah Keaton expected, Professor Stephen sent for him.
Before leaving, Josiah handed his pass to Ann Vaughn, advising her to explore outside freely, just to be cautious and avoid talking to anyone here to prevent suspicion.
Ann Vaughn didn’t tell Josiah that she was here to confirm if Cyrus Hawthorne was present, rather than just wandering out of curiosity.
Otherwise, Josiah would never agree to help her conceal her identity and infiltrate this place.
She also knew that the premise for Josiah helping her was that she wouldn’t do anything that might endanger the base.
Though they stood on different grounds, Ann Vaughn was already grateful that Josiah spared no expense to help her sneak in. She didn’t want what she would do next to implicate him any further.
After Josiah left, Ann Vaughn also took the pass and exited the dormitory.
Ann Vaughn didn’t expect to find clues about Cyrus Hawthorne just by wandering outside. After morizing the routes, she planned to return.
Then, a piercing alarm sounded, cutting through the base’s silence, startling the birds in the forest into flight.
The harsh sound made Ann Vaughn’s ears ache. She covered them quickly, waiting approximately two minutes before the alarm subsided.
As soon as she lowered her hands, she heard whispers coming from behind a flower bush.
"Truly restless. It’s only been two days, and the alarm has sounded nearly eight or nine tis. They don’t really think they can escape from here, do they?"
"Since I arrived at the base, it’s the first ti I’ve heard alarms go off this frequently. I don’t know how that intruder makes such a fuss every day."
"Well, let them fuss. Have you ever seen anyone escape once they’re in the forest prison?"
"Hmph, so people just have delusions!"
The voices faded until silence returned to the garden. Ann Vaughn erged from the bushes, her eyes growing serious.
Could the intruder those researchers ntioned be Cyrus Hawthorne?
Ann Vaughn clenched the leaves in her hand a little tighter, her gaze moving towards the forest, her lips pressed tighter together.
How could she know without seeing for herself?
Deciding to investigate the forest prison, Ann Vaughn didn’t act imdiately. By day, she followed Josiah around, assisting in his research, and at night, she scouted the terrain to facilitate her actions later.
With the base using devices to block external signals, she was unable to contact Crane and relied solely on herself.
Finally, after waiting a few days, Ann Vaughn captured the base’s weekly shift change, a ti of lower security.
She added a bit of sleeping aid to Josiah’s drink, and after he fell asleep, quietly left the dormitory.
The dorm was far from the forest. Swiftly, Ann Vaughn avoided all surveillance, rushing to enter the forest before the patrol arrived.
The closer she ca to the prison, the stronger Ann Vaughn’s anxiety grew, with a nagging feeling that she shouldn’t proceed.
Suddenly, she froze.
Though it housed prisoners, why had she not seen any guards along the way?
A flash of enlightennt crossed her mind, and she decided to leave imdiately!
Just then, a rustling ca from a nearby bush, with beams of light shining through the leaves.
In a mont of bewildernt, a patrol team erged from the bush, standing before Ann Vaughn.
The light from their flashlights made Ann Vaughn squint, and recognizing their uniforms, her eyes cooled slightly.
Indeed, it was a trap.
"Dr. Keaton’s assistant, why are you in this forest in the middle of the night?" the patrol captain asked, smiling slyly at Ann Vaughn’s pale face, "You’d better give us a good explanation later."
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