Taylor was surprised. He looked up at Zion.


    Then, he looked down and softly said, "I''m sorry..."


    He apologized.


    But sometimes, an apology would mean nothing to the actual hurt that was caused.


    If everyone had died on the 14th floor, Taylor would''ve been a selfish murderer.


    Rachel reluctantly put the rope down.


    Yasmin, who had a strong will to live, hurriedly grabbed the rope first. She looked at Michael nervously.


    "Michael... You know I can''t die."


    "Yasmin works for Peter. He knows of the secret behind the Godmaker Project," Michael said. He nced at me, waiting for my approval.


    "Even if she dies today, I''m confident that we can still discover the truth," I said inly.


    "Yeah, we can figure it out," Steven agreed.


    With her voice trembling, Yasmin said fearfully, "Stephany Larson... don''t cross the line."


    "I''m crossing the line?"


    Iughed, looking down at Yasmin.


    "Back when you baited Stephanie Carlson out, causing her to die at the hands of the killer, did you ever think that you were crossing the line?" Yasmin''s expression became increasingly grim; she looked at Michael nervously, asking for help.


    Rachel scoffed.


    "It''s karma. Did you imagine this day toe when you made Stephie die?"


    Rachel grudgingly continued, "Taylor Barlowe, hurry on up. Otherwise, you can die with her."


    Taylor came forward, but Yasmin was still holding the rope.


    Since he was desperate to live, I expected Taylor to push Yasmin away so that he could climb up, but he didn''t.


    He looked at us with a conflicted expression.


    Perhaps luck was not the only thing that helped Taylor get this far...


    I wondered if the mastermind saw hope in him.


    Suddenly, a robotic voice began to announce, "Beep! Automatic self-destruct device activated on 12th floor..."


    Everyone tensed up immediately.


    As the timer ended, cracks appeared across the floor, and the 12th floor began to copse.


    "Hurry ande up!" Zion and Eason shouted panickedly.


    Amidst the panic, Taylor still let Yasmin go up first.


    "Taylor!" Zion shouted.


    Taylor fell into the wreckage. He started to bleed from his mouth as the rubble fell on him.


    Teary-eyed, he looked at us and said in a choked-up voice, "I really just... wanted to live... I''m sorry, I''m really sorry... I just wanted to live..." He simply wanted to live.


    "Grab this!"


    After Yasmin was pulled up, Zion tossed the rope down. Taylor reached out as he cried. He caught the rope when the floor copsedpletely.


    "When I was born, my biological mother abandoned me... She was a university student and had a premarital pregnancy...Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "I heard from the director that she may have given birth to me in the washroom of a shopping mall or some small polyclinic. She abandoned me in the washroomter.


    "It was quite a big issue then. A


    couple who couldn''t conceive adopted me, and they treated me


    well at first. Up until when I was ten years old, I still believed that they


    were my biological parents.


    "But when I turned ten, they conceived a pair of twins. They couldn''t afford to raise three children...


    "So, they put me in the orphanage.


    They said that they weren''t


    abandoning me. They imed they


    did it because of the financial


    burden and promised to bring me home when things improved..."


    Taylor was injured. After he got up, he narrated his past as his trembling body leaned against the wall.


    His chest was heaving abnormally. I could tell that his ribs must''ve been broken.


    If he did not receive treatment soon, the broken ribs may pierce through his lungs... and he might die.


    "I waited for them at the orphanage. One day... Two days... Three days... I waited. I just wanted to live. I wanted to wait until my parents came to pick me up...


    "But no, they even moved. They went somewhere where I couldn''t find them... They didn''t want me anymore.


    "The orphanage was a much scarier ce than expected. Children whocked discipline from their parents were like sprouts with bad roots, growing without restraints.


    "I had received ten years of


    education, so knew what was right


    and wrong I knew that I couldn''t


    be


    a part of them, but I didn''t dare to


    defy them. They would beat me up... If I wasn''t on their side, they would exclude and marginalize me..."


    Taylor''s chest began to heave harder.