Carl nodded. “Yeah, that goes without saying. You’re driving a sports car, so you’ll move faster. Why
don’t you intercept Declan? We’ll hurry over right now.”
“Sure.” Toby accelerated and sped forward once again.
On the congested road, Declan’s driver returned to their procession with a frown.
“Young Master Declan, there are some issues,” he reported with a grim look. “There’s a pile-up in front.
I think it’ll take an hour or two before the traffic clears up.”
“An hour or two?” The dissatisfactory answer put Declan in an extremely horrible mood, so much so
that even his face contorted. “Why would it take that long?”
“Well, a number of vehicles are involved in the pile-up,” Johnny answered in a defeated tone.
Declan looked to his left and right, and everywhere he stared, he could only see endless lines of cars.
The situation was indeed dire for Declan, and the fact that he couldn’t do anything to fix it was
excruciating.
Great! Now we’re officially stuck here!
“No, we can’t get stuck here any longer. If not, Toby and Lucius are going to catch up to us soon,” he
clenched his fists and hissed.
Johnny agreed with him and asked, “What do we do?”
Declan lowered his eyes and sank into thoughts. Seconds later, he gritted his teeth and declared,
“Forget about the car!”
“Forget about the car?”
“That’s right! Our cars can’t move an inch in this traffic anyway. To avoid Lucius and Toby from catching
up, we have no choice but to leave it here. Let’s take the mountain road by foot.”
“We’re walking to Misty Mountain?” Johnny’s chin almost fell onto the floor.
Declan shot him a chilling look. “Do we have a choice?”
“But walking on the mountain trail will take too long. It will take at least a few hours to reach Misty
Mountain.” Johnny tried to talk him out of the idea. It’s ridiculous!
Declan rubbed his temples worriedly. “I know, but this is our best bet for now. The mountain road is
definitely full of shrubs and trees. Those are perfect camouflage. Even if Lucius and Toby knew that we
had entered the mountains, they won’t be able to find us.”
Johnny took a deep breath and nodded firmly. “Got it. I will make the arrangements and leave soon.”
“Mhmm.” Declan twisted the wrench between his thumbs and looked down, while Johnny walked to the
van and knocked on the window to inform the driver, Dan.
The window was promptly rolled down, after which the hulky driver poked his head out. “What’s up?”
“Young Master Declan said that we’ll leave the cars here and walk to Misty Mountain,” Johnny
announced.
“We’re taking the mountain road?” Dan couldn’t help but inhale sharply. “That’s far.”
“We have no choice. If we wait this out, those men are going to catch up to us,” Johnny said while
taking a look at the backseat. When he saw that no one was there, his expression fell, and his voice
turned shrill. “Where’s she?”
“What?” Dan and the man on the passenger seat, Stan, exclaimed in unison.
Johnny pointed at the backseat. “I am talking about the woman in your backseat!”
“She’s there. She’s just stuck underneath the seat.” Stan, pointed lazily to the back.
Stan prompted Johnny to poke his head into the vehicle. Finally, he saw Sonia there, but he couldn’t
help but find the situation a bit funny. “Hah! How did she end up there?”
Stan patted the shoulder of the driver. “It’s all because of Dan! He took a sudden turn, and she rolled
down there!”
“Ah, is that so!” The three men guffawed in front, causing Sonia’s face to turn red in anger and
embarrassment.
She knew that her current situation was hilarious, but she felt furious and irritated at their mockery.
Still, she couldn’t do anything about it, so she quietly watched as the men treated her as a joke.
Thankfully, the laughter soon subsided as the men calmed down.
Johnny’s face turned serious, and he reminded the two, saying, “That’s enough. The two of you better
get her settled. We’ll get going soon.”
“Alright! Got it.” Dan and Stan nodded.
After Johnny left, the two of them got out of the van. Under Sonia’s fearful gaze, they opened the doors
at the back and reached out to grab her.
However, she shook her head violently, obviously refusing to be touched by them. She knew very well
that they were going to drag her off the van and bring her to Misty Mountain by foot.
No! Do I look like someone who wants to go to Misty Mountain?! Argh!
Only when their vehicles were stuck in the traffic could Toby catch up to them. If they headed to the
mountains by foot, Toby couldn’t do anything even if he arrived.
Come on, Sonia! Think! Think! You can’t just let them do whatever they want!
Alas, the plan in her mind was no match for reality. She was just a person tied up by her abductors. In
no universe could she ever win against the two strong men. Even if she were untied, she could not
defeat them.
In the end, she was hauled out of the car by the two.
One of them took off his coat and flung it onto her head. The coat was huge, and it was almost like a
blanket draped over her, covering her from head to toe.
Now, nobody could see her from the outside; they couldn’t see that she was tied up.
Her muffled groans were heard underneath the coat as she wriggled furiously in an attempt to shake
the coat off her body.
Her only hope at that moment was to shake off the coat so that passersby might notice that she was
tied up and lend her a hand.
Although she had once experienced the cruelty of others outside the hospital, she still believed that not
all humans were heartless; there had to be some kind souls out there.
Sadly, Dan and Stan knew what she was up to. They suddenly reached out to pinch her hard on the
arms. The pain shot through her body, and she grunted dully, her face turning pale from the torture.
The two men must have used their full strength on her.
Not only that, they weren’t quite ready to spare her. They whispered chilling warnings in her ear, “If you
keep pulling tricks, we might have to hack your arms off. Try us.”
Hearing that, she felt her body suddenly tensing up, and her eyes widened in disbelief.
How could they threaten to dismember my arms?!
When she finally stopped moving around in agitation, they loosened their grip on her and brought her
over to the river bank where Declan was at.
She was not walking with her two feet. To be accurate, they were lifting and dragging her along the
way. That was because her legs were tied up, and she could not walk on her own.
Their journey to Declan managed to attract considerable attention from the passersby. After all, when
two bulky men were lifting a person wrapped underneath a cloth, any sane person would feel
suspicious.
One courageous driver finally blurted out, “Hey, bros, what are you doing?”
Dan and Stan heard him but continued marching forward, regardless.
The driver who was ignored felt insulted, and his face turned red. He hopped off his car and yelled at
them in annoyance, “Yo, I was talking about you two. That’s a human under the coat, right? From the
size, I guess that the person is a woman! Could you possibly be two human traffickers?”
Dan and Stan stopped in their tracks after being accused.
Their actions emboldened the driver, who thought that he had guessed right. He pointed at the two men
indignantly. “Oh! Great! Turns out that you’re really human traffickers!”
Just when the driver was about to threaten them to release the woman, or else he’d lodge a police
report, Dan whipped around and took out an object from his pocket. “Keep spewing nonsense, and
today shall be your last day alive.”
The driver was in shock, and his eyes bulged in fear. Staring at Dan and Stan, he was sweating
profusely from the temples. His mouth was agape, but no words came out. His body was shaking
terribly.
He wasn’t only scared of the threat—he was also terrified at the object that Dan waved at him.
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