The room was an enclosed space.
The moment they entered, Kenneth noticed the many jars and bottles on the table, as well as chemical products. It seemed like they were researching something in there.
After sweeping his gaze at his surroundings, he asked, “Where's the antidote?”
Boss walked over to a white cabinet and opened its doors. There were dozens of small bottles kept in there.
A moment of contemplation later, he took out a small bottle.
“This is it.”
Cautious, Kenneth narrowed his eyes at Boss. “Why?”
“What do you mean?” Boss queried.
“There are so many bottles of drugs in here. How can I be sure that the one you're giving me is the antidote?” Kenneth questioned.
Boss laughed. “How am I supposed to prove this? Maybe you should get Natasha to come here so that she can consume this right in front of you.”
Kenneth took the bottle from Boss and opened it. He then shook one pill out and said, “Take one.”
Boss took the pill and swallowed it without a word.
However, Boss was a crafty man, so Kenneth still found it hard to believe his words.
Thus, he decided to take all of the bottles in the cabinet.
As Boss watched him, he commented, “Not all are antidotes; some are poison. Lethal poison.”
Kenneth shot him a look. “You have no need to worry about that.”
After keeping the bottles, he continued aiming the gun at Boss' back. “Time to go.”
Boss glimpsed at him with resignation and walked toward the door per Kenneth's order.
However, just as they were at the doorway, Boss turned around and said, “Kenneth, don't you want to know what this hidden room is for?”
Kenneth narrowed his eyes. Right as he was mulling over Boss' question, Boss spun around to shove Kenneth into the room before lunging toward a wall at the side and hitting a button. The door promptly started closing.
When Kenneth saw the door closing, he grabbed a stool close to him and threw it at the closing gap. The door ended up getting stuck on the stool, and he rushed over to slide out of the room from the gap below.
Boss, who was outside, never thought that Kenneth would be able to escape from the room. Therefore, he quickly turned around, whipped out a gun, and started firing at Kenneth.
Kenneth swiftly dodged the bullets and returned fire.
As Boss continued firing the gun, he rushed into the elevator.
Kenneth went after him at full speed. However, just as he was about to reach Boss, the latter flashed him a malicious grin, and the doors closed.
Without missing a beat, Boss pressed the call button in the elevator, and a voice soon came out from the speaker.
“Boss.”
Boss uttered in a low voice, “Activate the self-destruction program on the third floor once the elevator reaches the first floor.”
“Yes, sir!”
Just as those words were out of his mouth, the elevator doors opened with a ding. There were many people waiting for him outside.
“Boss!” Gavin studied him from head to toe. “How are you? Are you okay?”
“You're here.”
“I'm sorry I was late,” Gavin told him.
“No, you're not. The show's just about to begin!” With that, Boss walked out of the elevator.
The people outside the elevator quickly opened up a path for Boss when they saw him stepping out.
Gavin and the others then quickly followed him out of the building.
They were outside in no time, and Boss was in a spot where he could watch the third floor safely.
Gavin took a step closer to him. “Boss.”
“Hush,” he said, gesturing for the other man to stay quiet as his eyes remained fixed on the third floor.
“Three. Two. One.”
Boom!
Following the deafening sound of an explosion, the third floor collapsed. Black clouds of smoke floated out of the windows.
Some of Boss' men had not expected the explosion, and they quickly covered their heads in fright. When they recollected themselves, they looked up at the third floor and pursed their lips.
“Boss, this is...”
“It's the self-destruction program,” Boss answered.
A look of realization crossed Gavin's face.
A glint flashed past Boss' yellow eyes as he stared at the third floor, and his lips curled.
“At the end of the day, Kenneth, you still died in my hands,” he muttered under his breath, his voice laced with delight.
Outside, not far from Boss and his men, Dave was anxiously waiting for Kenneth. The loud explosion earlier had made his heart leap to his throat, and he was close to jumping into action when he saw the rising smoke.
Just as he was about to get out of the car, a hand hit the window.
Dave turned around to see Kenneth outside the car, and he quickly unlocked the doors.
Without wasting a second, Kenneth climbed into the car.
“Kenneth, are you okay?” Dave asked, giving him a once-over.
Kenneth did not answer him immediately as he tilted his head back and panted.
Dave drew his brows together in worry.
A while later, he responded, “I'm fine.”
Relief suffused Dave when he heard that.
“That frightened the living daylights out of me,” Dave remarked.
However, Kenneth laughed.
“What's going on?” Dave continued.
Kenneth turned to look out of the window at the building he was previously at. The black smoke was still rising into the azure sky, and as he looked at it, a wave of complicated feelings washed over him.
“He activated the self-destruction program to kill me.”
Dave snorted. “He's going to be furious if he finds out that you're alive.”
Kenneth's eyes remained fixed on the building as he mumbled, “What a pity I didn't get to kill him.”
“We have plenty of opportunities to kill him, but what's most important right now is to get the antidote,” Dave pointed out. “Did you get it?”
Kenneth nodded. “And I took a lot more.”
Dave knitted his brows together. “They're all antidotes?”
“I couldn't trust his words, so I took all the bottles out,” Kenneth explained.
“But... it's not as if you can test them out. What if some are poisons?”
“Don't we have Spencer? We'll bring these back for him to take a look at them.”
Dave nodded in agreement. “Right, we have Spencer. I almost forgot about him.”
After Kenneth repositioned himself in the seat, he said, “Let's go back now.”
Dave inclined his head and drove off.
Kenneth kept his eyes closed as he rested. When they were halfway there, he suddenly said, “I want to treat my injuries before going back.”
Dave knew what Kenneth wanted to do—Kenneth was afraid that Natasha would be worried if she were to find out about his injury.
“Do you really think you'll be able to hide this from her even if you bandage up your injuries?”
“I'll keep this under wraps for as long as I can,” Kenneth replied in a low voice, calm and composed even when he had just escaped a life-and-death situation.
That was the kind of person Kenneth was. Regardless of how disheveled he was, he would never be caught in the middle of inelegance.
Dave only gave him a glimpse in response, for there was nothing else he could say. Hence, he turned the car around and went in a different direction.
“By the way, Boss seems like he's researching something in the hidden room I was in earlier,” Kenneth abruptly started.
“What?”
“I'm not sure about this, but there were a variety of chemical products in his room. My instincts are telling me that he's up to something,” Kenneth gloomily stated.
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