Chapter 24：The Benevolent Father

'Why is the benevolent father here so early? We're not supposed to meet him until we got that Security Access Keycard for the Security Room!' Calvin's figure visibly trembled.

He threw a glance at the newbies and found that all of them were frozen in fear.

Jane held her mouth with both of her hands as she desperately suppressed the scream that threatened to burst out of her throat at any moment.

Scarlette's knees trembled like a sieve.

Even Hugo, a man whom Calvin considered as someone not bad was shaking out of primal fear.

When they first arrived at this mental asylum, Calvin judged that these newbies were akin to a newborn calf, unafraid of a tiger, and ignorant of the dangers of this facility.

However, right at this moment.

Their ignorance didn't become an obstacle for them to see how incredibly dangerous this middle-aged man was.

What's more, behind the middle-aged man was the mountain of corpses that they saw earlier from the second floor.

"I-It's over..." Philip uttered in terror.

His knees went weak and Hugo hurriedly supported him, so that he wouldn't collapse and create a commotion. Medea bit her lips, this young maiden who managed to maintain that cool expression on her face couldn't maintain it anymore.

Her pupils were constricted into needles as she stood there with her shoulders trembling with intensity.

Even Calvin wasn't spared from the fear.

But he immediately recovered as he gnashed his teeth and surreptitiously glanced at Rose who stood beside her.

Handing over the small notebook to Rose, he audibly whispered, "It's over for me... That person right there is the absolute monster in this asylum. There's no way for us to escape unless one of us volunteers to become the sacrifice. I can't expect you guys to do that, right? That is why I will go..."

"Come down the stairs and go to the left corridor upon my signal. Once you are inside the left corridor, hide in the bathroom, and open this small notebook. Do not proceed further in the corridor without going into the bathroom and opening this small notebook. Do you understand?"

Calvin had an unusual look of seriousness on his face.

Rose's face went pale, but she didn't hesitate to take the small notebook with her trembling hands.

"Wha... What are you planning on doing?"

The other newbies clearly heard what Calvin had said.

Scarlette turned to look at him and asked with this incredulous tone of voice.

"There's no time for me to explain! Just know that this person standing right there is an absolute monster that we can never escape from! The only way that some of us can survive is to sacrifice someone! Save the majority by sacrificing the minority... I will be the sacrifice. The small notebook contains all the instructions that I need you to follow..."

"Understand?"

Calvin swept his gaze at the newbies.

"B-But... How can we just let you...? How can we just let you sacrifice yourself like that..."

Jane spoke up.

It was clear from her trembling body that she was incredibly afraid, yet she still spoke up.

Calvin felt warm in his heart.

"That's... That's right... Didn't you say earlier that we are a team? We can't just give you to that monster and let you die!"

Even Rose whom Calvin regarded as arrogant and hypocrite spoke up for him while biting her upper lip.

Nicholas gnashed his teeth, "C-Calvin... We won't allow you to sacrifice yourself!"

"That's right! How can we just leave you alone!" Philip even stood up for Calvin.

Medea stared right at him with this urging look on her face, while Hugo furrowed his eyebrows.

He could detect how dangerous the middle-aged man was, and he knew that there was no way for them to fight and win against him even if there were hundreds of them swarming him at once.

Calvin's solution made sense and it was the best solution available.

However...

"I can't agree with that." Hugo expressed his opinion.

"If there is someone here that needs to sacrifice himself, then that should be me."

"In fact, I should've already died a long time ago. It's only because I am lucky that I am still alive."

"Who knows if that incredible luck of mine will show up once again and let me live through this ordeal?" Hugo chuckled.

Calvin stared right at Hugo. He couldn't see any trace of deceit in his eyes and from how he looked.

With Hugo's strength and rich fighting experience, he may be able to hold back the Benevolent Father. But his suppression towards that monster would only last for a few seconds at most. In other words, it was a futile effort that not only would waste Hugo's life but also acquire the Benevolent Father's ire.

Calvin shook his head and smiled, "Thank you, everyone... But I know about this monster more than you all. What's more, I am not serving myself on a silver platter for that bastard. Believe me, I will survive through all of these, and I will meet you all in the main elevator so we can escape together from this godforsaken place."

Calvin then turned around and without waiting for anyone's response.

He walked towards the direction of the middle-aged man.

There was a casual look on his face as the slick footsteps of his blood-soaked shoes became the background music of this tense first meeting.

"Oh, a visitor? It seems that I was right. You all are the invaders that the big fat guy mentioned earlier..."

The Benevolent Father turned his gaze towards the others.

They immediately shivered in fear upon seeing the monster's gaze land on his body.

Calvin maintained the smile on his face as he closely observed the Benevolent Father.

'Man, he's even more handsome than I expected. If not for the red blisters covering the entire left-hand side of his face, then I can consider him as a heartthrob.' Calvin inwardly thought.

He turned to look at the Benevolent Father and said, "Invaders? That's so far-fetched, how could invaders appear in a place like this? What's more, it's obviously Andre who invited us here to attend the birthday party of your beautiful daughter..."

Calvin's mind madly spun.

He made sure that he wouldn't stutter as he spoke while reminiscing about the facts that he could remember regarding the Benevolent Father and his daughter. Back then— when he first entered this asylum. His team found some files describing the Benevolent Father's situation.

His madness was the result of losing his daughter in a freak accident and the doctors and scientists of this asylum took advantage of his deep-seated remorse to conduct their experiments on him. In the end, he became the embodiment of insanity.

He exhumed the body of his daughter, took her skeleton, and using the body parts of other people, she "repaired" her daughter.

Needless to say, the headless body he was holding in his hand didn't even belong to his daughter.

But that didn't matter for the Benevolent Father.

Even if it was an illusion, he was still grasping for his daughter.

Stuck in an endless loop of guilt and the terrifying memories of that tragic accident.

The mad, Benevolent Father was born.

Every brain cell within Calvin's mind focused on retrieving the relevant memories of the past regarding the Benevolent Father. Calvin clenched his fists until his nails dug deep into his palm, yet he never showed any trace of anxiety nor fear on his face.

He still had that casual smile as he waited for the Benevolent Father's reply.

The middle-aged man mused.

The permanent smile on his face opened up as he said, "So, Andre... That careless guy invited you? But he didn't even open the front doors. Oh, darling... How careless of him!"

He then approached Calvin.

Dragging the limp body of his "daughter" behind him, he stood in front of Calvin and said.

"What do you think of my daughter...?"

"Can you appreciate her beauty?"

He placed the detached of the child atop the shoulders of the headless body before presenting it to Calvin.