The plan was pretty dangerous, so Winnie didn’t want to let Xavier know about it for the time being. She thought about it and said, “It’s not going to be easy. Harold’s a paranoid man. I can only approach him if I have a middle-man vouching for me.”
He understood what she meant. “You mean Christopher?”
“Yes.” With an affirmative nod, she continued, “I can’t think of anyone else who can introduce me to Harold in a short amount of time.”
“Indeed.” The stakes were clear to Xavier. “However, you must understand something, Winnie. He’s an undercover agent. If his identity is exposed, the people in his life will suffer too.”
“I know that. Right now, I’m certain his identity hasn’t been exposed yet. Otherwise, he’d be a corpse by now. I need to go to Lightspring and discuss the details of the plan with him.”
Nodding, Xavier replied, “Okay. I’ll go with you.”
Winnie opened her mouth, but no words left her lips.
“What’s the matter?” When he saw her expression, his eyebrows furrowed. “Are you not going to take me with you? Do you think I’ll ruin your plan if I do?”
She instantly denied it, “No, you’re just overthinking it. That’s not what I meant.”
“That’s good!” As he spoke, he pulled the blanket on him away and prepared to stand. “We should head out as soon as possible. Do you want to visit Granny again and let her know our plan?”
“Hmm, yes, I do. She hasn’t completely forgiven me yet. I bet she’ll feel really sad if I leave without saying goodbye. You should stay here and rest a little longer. I’ll be back soon.”
“That works for me.” Xavier’s lips curved upward somewhat self-deprecatingly. “It’s likely that Granny will be unhappy to see me. It’s for the best if I don’t join you so I won’t upset her further.”
Winnie was aware that what he said was true, and she felt apologetic about it. “I’m sorry you have to go through this, Darling. I appreciate you being understanding of her.”
“Not at all.” The light in his eyes grew brighter. “It’s worth it to hear you call me Darling.”
A chuckle slipped out of her mouth. “Are you that easily satisfied? You’ve certainly changed.”
“Oh? What kind of person do you think I’ve become?”
Winnie laughed. “How do I describe it? It’s like you’ve become someone devoid of desires.”
Xavier intentionally frowned. “You’re such a bad woman. Look at how you’re teasing me again. I suggest you leave quickly. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being audacious.”
Raising her eyebrow, she retorted, “Audacious, is it? I’ll remember that. Just you wait till I’ve taken care of matters here.”
With a smile, she touched his cheek and went on, “I should head to the hospital now. Rest well and wait for me here.”
“Don’t worry.” Xavier pulled Winnie’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “Do you think I’m you? I don’t run around recklessly. I plan to drink a cup of coffee in the courtyard while leisurely awaiting your return.”
“Wow! You sure do know how to enjoy yourself.”
He flashed her a silent grin before handing her the silver gun on the bedside table.
Not long after Winnie left, Xavier knocked on the door of the neighboring room.
The person who opened the door was Greta. “What’s the matter, Mr. Fairchild?”
“I just want to invite you two for a cup of coffee. Would you care to join me?”
“It’ll be an honor to join you.” Winnie had a dominating presence and was Greta’s boss, which was why Greta would always unintentionally ignore Xavier.
It was at that moment she understood he wasn’t an ordinary person either.
While his hand was still bandaged, his presence and aura were so outstanding that it really would be an honor for her to enjoy a cup of coffee with him.
Meanwhile, Winnie had arrived at the hospital.
The moment the bodyguard protecting Jacinta’s ward saw her, he stood from a nearby chair. “Why are you here, Mrs. Fairchild?”
“I’m just here for a visit.” She lowered her voice, “Is my Granny doing all right? Did she throw any tantrums?”
“No. She’s cooperative when it’s time for her injections and medicines. The nurse said she might feel sleepy after the injection. I don’t know if she’s asleep or not yet.”
Winnie nodded. “I’ll go in and check on her.”
The bodyguard promptly opened the door for her.
The instant she stepped into the room, the bodyguard sent a text message to Xavier.
At that moment, Xavier was drinking coffee with Mason and Greta.
He wanted to ask them what they talked about with Winnie during the morning, but they wouldn’t spill the beans.
The only thing they told him was that they wouldn’t reveal any information they obtained to anyone privately without getting Winnie’s permission beforehand.
It made the situation rather awkward.
On Winnie’s side, things weren’t going that well either.
When Jacinta heard the younger woman was leaving for a while, she became upset. “Shouldn’t we be waiting here for Rach to get better? You keep saying this place is dangerous, yet you seem to have endless matters to take care of here. Where exactly are you going?”
“Lightspring.” Winnie then explained with knitted eyebrows, “As you know, Captain Bennett is there. There’s something I need his help with.”
“What for?” The older woman lowered her voice. She was genuinely concerned about Winnie’s safety. “He’s dealing with narcotics in Avenport. Since his job is a dangerous one, doesn’t this mean it’s dangerous for you to be involved with him?”
“No! He’s a cop while I’m not. There’s a private matter I need his help with. If you don’t believe me, I can call him in front of you right now.”
“Sure. Call him in front of me now.”
“No problem.” With a faint grin, Winnie pulled out her phone and dialed Christopher’s number.
The call connected quickly. Based on the noise she heard from his end, she speculated that he was surrounded by many people at the moment.
Thus, she quickly spoke in a coquettish manner. “You’re so awful, Chris. You said you were going to come find me, yet you haven’t even called me in days!”
“No.” She shook her head. “Not only that, my grandmother’s injured too. She can’t move from the hospital bed now.”
Hearing that prompted him to frown. “What’s going on? Could it be that people from the Horton family have come here? That shouldn’t be happening!”
“No! No, it was just an accident. This has nothing to do with anyone. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“I’m glad to hear that. True, the people from the Horton family probably aren’t going to come here to raise hell. Oh yeah, what was the very important thing you said you wanted to discuss with me?”
Before answering that question, Winnie scanned her surrounding instinctively.
When Christopher saw that, he assured, “Don’t worry, this is a safe place. People don’t usually come here. Even if they do, there’s only one entrance, which I’m able to see clearly from my position. No one can escape my sight.”
“That’s good!” Winnie nodded. “Do you remember the person I asked you to look into before? I’ve gotten new information about them, although it’s only one detail.”
“Which is?”
“That their codename is called Big Black Bear. Whoever they are, they’re a master at hiding. So far, not even a hint of the new formula has been revealed. I don’t have time to wait for them to reveal themselves. I must act now to lure them out of their hideout.”
“What are you going to do?” Christopher furrowed his eyebrows. “Do you have a plan yet?”
“I do. I’m going to tell everyone I have a new formula that can create drugs with a purity of up to ninety-four-point-seven percent. My intention is to make all three of the drug lords fight over who gets to cooperate with me. Big Black Bear will no doubt be unable to resist the urge to show themself soon after that announcement.”
“Are you crazy?” That shocked him to the core.
It was the first time he used such an agitated tone to talk to her. “Do you know what you’re saying? A purity of ninety-four-point-seven percent? Are you kidding me? Do you think the drug lords will believe you if you just make an empty claim or hand over a fake formula? You can’t convince them like that! They will test the drug! And if you can’t produce what you alleged you could do, you won’t live for more than five minutes in front of them! This plan is too ridiculous!”
Compared to Christopher, Winnie seemed exceptionally calm. “I understand your worry, but I didn’t come up with this plan without thinking it through. We can judge if it’s a ridiculous plan or not in the future. Just tell me the purity of the new product Professor White made for Harold.”
He frowned. “How much do you know about drugs? How can you even say you thought this plan through? Do you—”
“Christopher Bennett.” She cut him off directly. “Do you see me as a rash and impulsive person?”
With his brows deeply knitted, Christopher remained silent for a long while before he gave Winnie the answer she wanted. “The latest one he developed is ninety percent pure, which is the purest drug on the market. Your claim of ninety-four-point-seven percent purity is too unrealistic.”
“That’s because there’s no chemistry genius here! The drug lords will undoubtedly fight for my formula if what Professor White can make is only ninety percent pure!”
“You really have a formula like that?”
“Of course. I’m not working alone. The entire Speiser family is backing me up. The stuff they gave me is definitely that good.”
“What if one of them obtains the formula? Are you really willing to risk letting such a high-purity drug leak into the world? This drug will become a greater threat to humanity than anything that came before it!”
“It’s fine even if they obtain it because the formula is flawed. If anyone tries to mass-produce it, a chemical reaction will take place. At the end of the process, those drugs will become nothing but useless powder!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I swear on my name and the name of the Speiser family that I’m certain. That’s why you must help introduce me to Harold. I want to go to his factory, and from there, to Professor White’s laboratory. Once we find him, we’ll rescue him and destroy that drug den!”
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