Chapter 268
Rhett had a gun. He had wanted to draw it since a long time ago.
However, it would have taken too long to draw the gun and pull the trigger. Matthew could have dodged his shot by taking a single step behind the wall. He couldn't possibly kill Matthew in such a short time.noveldrama
That was why he had used ten billion dollars as bait. He had been waiting for Matthew to become overwhelmed with joy after getting the money. He would've then seized the chance to kill him. The ten billion dollars would have remained his.
Regardless, he had miscalculated. The first thing Matthew had done after receiving the money was to attack him.
Matthew sneered. "Ever since I saw you, I've been waiting for the opportunity to attack." He had been worried Rhett would hurt Silas; otherwise he would have attacked long ago. Rhett felt somewhat frustrated. "We were both scheming. My attack was slower."
Matthew looked around the room, saw
blade on the wall, and took it down. He unsheathed the blade. The long and narrow blade shone brightly with a cold glint.
Slowly, he placed the tip of the blade against Rhett's leg. He asked, "You said you weren't afraid of death. Is that true?"
Rhett broke out in a cold sweat. He had said that to distract Matthew. There was no way he wasn't afraid of death. He said, "You can ask me anything you want to know."
Matthew nodded with satisfaction. Since Rhett was afraid of dying, this would be easy. He asked, "Why did you abduct Silas?"
Rhett raised his head and looked at Matthew. "Will you spare me if I tell you?"
Matthew pondered for a while. "Killing you would be the best, but sparing you is fine, too. Whether or not you stay alive doesn't matter much to me. How about this? As long as you work with me and answer my questions, I won't kill you." Rhett stared into Matthew's eyes, trying to discern if he was being genuine.
Nevertheless, he couldn't tell even after staring at him for a while.
He eventually said, "I believe you. We abducted Silas because we're pushing the development of Willoris medicine. We're short of talented people, especially those with traditional knowledge." Matthew knew a little about that. Frankly speaking, Willoris medicine was traditional medicine. They had simply renamed it.
Traditional medicine practitioners had been discriminated against and shunned locally. Yet, the Eastorians had gone to great lengths to take them away and treated them as treasures. At that thought, he felt very conflicted.
After staying silent for a while, he spoke again. "I remember that you have a plan. If I'm not mistaken, it is to oppose and stigmatize traditional medicine through propaganda. Is that right?"
Rhett looked at him, astonished. "You... How did you know about that?"
Matthew responded coldly, "I want to know what exactly your plan is."
Rhett did not get an answer to his question. He instantly thought Matthew was enigmatic. It seemed that Matthew knew much more than that.
"The plan... What I know is that we
are to stigmatize and destroy
traditional medicine through propaganda. When traditional medicine is oppressed and becomes less and less profitable, we could seize the chance and take away skilled traditional medicine practitioners.
"Actually, besides acquiring talented traditional medicine practitioners we'd get a large amount of
traditional herbs from farmers. The entire traditional herb industry will
be of service to Eastorians.
Matthew thought it couldn't be that simple. He asked, "You have another plan, which few are privy to. Tell me about that."
Rhett stared at him in horror. "You... How do you know about everything?"
Matthew was only bluffing. He had never expected to learn anything. "Come on, spill. You can leave after you tell me."
As he finished speaking, he noticed Rhett starting to tremble with an agonized look on his face. He quickly reached out to pry Rhett's mouth open. Unfortunately, it was too late. Rhett's entire body twitched as if he were having a stroke. After a short while, he stopped moving altogether. Matthew looked at his eyes. Rhett was definitely dead. It was too late to save him.
What exactly was the Eastorians' plan?
Matthew wondered why Rhett would rather die than tell him. Despite not knowing what it was about, he was certain it must be greatly important. He had to put that aside for now and look into it later. Right now, he had to retreat.
Nevertheless, Silas was still unconscious. Matthew reached out to nudge him. Silas wobbled, but he didn't wake up.
Startled, Matthew quickly examined him, thinking that he was unwell. However, there was nothing physically wrong with him.