The scene was painful to watch, but Leland Burns casually said, “It doesn’t hurt,” as if he wasn’t the one injured.
This reaction was understandable. When a person undergoes immense stress that the brain cannot process, the entire nervous system slows down, reducing the sensation of pain momentarily.
However, it’s impossible for someone to feel nothing at all unless they pass out from the pain.
Clearly, Leland Burns was deceiving himself. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hands had started to tremble. Wesley didn’t dare touch him and just stared at him in shock.
Leland Burns had already descended into madness. He tilted his head, looking at his hand, and muttered to himself, “It doesn’t hurt at all. I must be dreaming. How could Winifred Dawson be dead?”
Henry, who realized what was happening a bit later, had a complex expression on his face: Wasn’t this man already insane?
If Leland Burns went mad, what would happen in the future? There were still so many things left undone.
Henry had chosen to follow Leland Burns because he had helped him and because he saw Leland’s ambition and capability. He wanted to fight alongside him and reach the pinnacle of power and wealth. In just one year, Leland Burns had accomplished what others couldn’t achieve in a lifetime, which solidified Henry’s choice.
But ever since Winifred Dawson appeared, Leland Burns’ actions had disappointed him.
Everyone makes mistakes; as long as they can correct them and move past their failures, it’s fine. But Leland Burns… he fell once and then again, and now he couldn’t get back up.
Now he was going mad over an insignificant woman. It was pathetic. If he continued like this, unable to wake up or stand up again, Henry felt he wouldn’t last long.
Henry was ambitious too. He called Leland Burns “boss” out of respect, trust, and admiration. But if this continued, these feelings would eventually fade. He couldn’t gamble his entire life on it.
Winifred Dawson’s life or death didn’t matter to him. In his view, her death was actually beneficial for Leland Burns.
Long-term pain is worse than short-term pain. Time is a great healer; it would help Leland accept reality and completely let go of Winifred Dawson.
What Henry needed to do now was not let Leland live in the agony of “Winifred Dawson is dead.”
This was a gamble. If Leland could endure it and accept reality, he would become even stronger than before-perhaps a cold-hearted extreme egoist. If he couldn’t endure it, he’d just be a lovesick fool.
Henry preferred the former outcome. He believed Leland wouldn’t be defeated so easily. Seeing Leland staring at his bloody hand and claiming it didn’t hurt, Henry walked over and poured a bowl of soup over him.
“Wesley-” Wesley tried to stop him but it was too late.
Fortunately, the soup had been sitting for a while and wasn’t hot anymore; otherwise, it could have scalded him severely.
Mrs. Protich had prepared mushroom chicken soup today. The old hen had been roasted before being stewed in the pot; the rich aroma of chicken fat filled the air. The soup had a layer of oil floating on top that splashed onto Leland’s face along with mushrooms sticking to his head, making him greasy all over.
The splash of soup woke Leland up. He looked dazedly at Henry holding the ceramic bowl as if waking from a dream.
Henry seemed to have found newfound courage and no longer feared Leland: “Are you awake now? Do you feel the pain?”
Henry looked away with a deep tone: “Mr. Burns, whether you believe it or not, Winifred Dawson is dead-that’s a fact. If you want us to find her body, we can try… but the sea is vast; are you sure we can really find it? The ocean is so big-how much time and effort will it take? The body might have decomposed or been eaten by fish by now. You can’t keep deceiving yourself just because we can’t find her body and exhaust our resources in vain. Set a time limit.”
Leland Burns initially insisted on seeing her alive or dead because he didn’t believe she was gone.
Leland seemed to take Henry’s words seriously as he looked at his ring finger-the place where his wedding ring should have been was now stained with blood. His whole hand was sticky with blood.
He raised his right hand to wipe his face; his expression shifted from panic to calmness as his eyes turned dark like drops of ink in water. Lowering his head with trembling eyelashes, he voiced his thoughts: “I really can’t accept that Winifred Dawson is dead. From the beginning, she wanted to escape from me. Once she confirmed I wasn’t dead yet, her first action was to run away after securing her future plans. Winifred Dawson is someone who fears death; she’s proud but also smart enough to fake her own death just like I did before-why wouldn’t she? This time she might have staged everything to deceive me for her peace of mind later on-how could I let her succeed!” Leland gritted his teeth with determination in his voice.
“Faked death?” It wasn’t impossible but…
“But she wouldn’t need to involve an entire ship of people in her act.”
“Are you sure she boarded the ship?” Leland asked.
Henry replied: “There was a ticket in Winifred Dawson’s name; surveillance cameras also captured her boarding.”
“What does a ticket prove? She could buy one without boarding; even if she did board, she could sneak off later. She knew we’d see her on camera-this could all be part of her plan…” The pain in his finger made him more alert as his mind became sharper.
Maybe Winifred Dawson wanted them to believe she boarded while switching locations midway-who knew that ship would meet with an accident? No one survived from that ship; she was listed among the dead.
Perhaps Winifred never intended to fake her death but encountered an unexpected accident instead.
Coincidences aren’t easily explained in a few words.
Of course, this was just Leland’s speculation; no one could say for sure what really happened.