Overprotected By My Tsundere CEO

Chapter 999 - 682: Loulanel Village [18] Broad Daylight, Clear Skies_3

She had to run.

Once she got caught, it’d be over.

Luna Durant had hardly ever been involved in the family’s business; now she might actually be able to stay clear.

"What about Mechanism City?" Luna asked.

"Who the hell cares about Mechanism City right now?!" Stella Durant’s face instantly fell as she snapped, "Move it!"

Luna shivered.

...

Today April Thomason and Jared Oliveira were going with the research group to the neighboring village, Annabelle Pinto included. The research group always set out very early, so they’d also gotten up at the crack of dawn, bleary‑eyed, to go over and have breakfast with them.

Nora Scott had nothing better to do, so she tagged along.

The yard was too crowded; lots of people were standing at the gate or out in the street eating, chatting as they ate, enjoying themselves.

"Huh, how come no one’s going next door for breakfast?"

Someone asked, puzzled, not sure who.

Several gazes were drawn over. Looking carefully, they realized the person was talking about the Durant Sisters’ "canteen." The villagers had already prepared breakfast; usually at this time that place was just as packed as here, but right now not a single person had gone over.

Jared looked around, smacked his lips, and guessed, "Did something happen?"

A crow’s mouth if there ever was one.

Not two minutes later, they saw the Durant Sisters with a group of people, marching over in a big rush, looking very much like they were fleeing for their lives.

"You guys even team up for meals?"

Clueless Jared even called out a question; in a scene like this, it sounded particularly cheap.

So the moment Jared finished, he saw the sisters, who were normally all respectful and deferential to him, throw him a man‑eating glare, vicious to the extreme.

Jared: ???

As she passed Nora, Stella Durant glared at Nora with bloodshot eyes and spat out viciously, "Nora Scott! You’d better not end up in my hands!"

"Relax," Nora took a sip of water, utterly at ease. "You’re not getting that chance."

"..."

Stella ground her teeth hard.

But this was not the time to bicker with Nora. Every second counted. Stella could only swallow down a bellyful of resentment and stalk off furiously.

"Not having breakfast?"

"Where are you guys going?"

"Don’t tell me something really happened..."

The research group muttered among themselves. The occasional stray comment carried over and sounded especially harsh.

Yet the sisters’ crew, whose tempers were usually worse than the next, actually didn’t say a word this time and hurried away.

The people in the research group were even a bit dazed.

—They’re really going to run for it?

"You’re just gonna watch them walk off like that?" April nudged Nora’s arm and asked suspiciously.

"In your dreams." Nora let out a short, mocking laugh and lowered her voice. "When I went to get the night‑vision goggles last night, I poked holes in their tires while I was at it."

April: "..."

That was ruthless.

...

The Durant Sisters did not manage to escape.

While they were changing tires at the village entrance, the police arrived just in time and hauled every last one of them away.

Facing a scene like this, all anyone could say was: justice from above.

However, when the research group tried to ask the police for help, see if there was any way to deal with the situation in the neighboring village, the police said they were powerless—They’d come from Lanel; this wasn’t their jurisdiction.

The research group could only weep bitter tears.

Around eight o’clock, the research group set off.

Nora was wandering idly around the village at the time. Running into them, she drawled, "Good luck."

"..."

Because her attitude was just too "none of my business," no one really responded.

Nora didn’t care. She strolled back to her room and started studying the map she’d "snatched" last night.

After seeing Stella last night, Nora and April had gone straight to bed when they got back; they hadn’t had time to sort any documents. —Of course, the main reason was that the kerosene lamp was too dim; going through paperwork at night was bad for the eyes.

Nora wasn’t in any rush anyway. Come daylight, while she was in the village, she sorted and studied the maps and documents on her own.

What interested her most, instead, were those 365 Maze Village maps.

She cleared off the table, took out the stack of maps, and, starting from the first day of the lunar new year, began looking through them one by one. Same as before, there was that indescribable sense of familiarity, but when she tried to think it through, she couldn’t pin down where it came from.

She forced herself to be patient and kept looking slowly.

*

Ten Path Village.

April and Jared followed the research group to the outskirts of the village. No one was blocking the road for the moment, so the group went ahead and started their work first, continuing the survey that had been cut off yesterday.

April and Jared had nothing to do. They sat in the car, enjoying the breeze, occasionally pulling out their phones to play.

—In this village, without Nora messing with things, there was still cell service. It just wasn’t very good.

But it was workable.

April was clumsily using a social app.

"They’re here."

Suddenly, Jared’s words yanked April’s attention away from her chat.

She looked up.

Jared jerked his chin toward outside.

April looked over and saw a "big brother" with his shoulders and upper arms bare, tattoos all over, strutting along like he didn’t recognize his own relatives, crab‑walking toward the research group. Behind him was a gang of underlings wielding sticks and long knives, very much with the air of a village tyrant.

"April, think you can handle this?" Jared asked cautiously.

He gauged it by eye; there were about a dozen of them.

Every one of them was broad‑shouldered and beefy.

If it really came to blows, the research group would be lucky to hold off two or three; the rest would have to be handled by April, Jared, and Annabelle.

Frank Ford could’ve taken on one or two as well originally, but he’d been injured yesterday; he’d be doing great if he could manage one, maybe half of another.

"We’ll see how it looks," April estimated. "I’ll run a few of them over with the car, then grab a long knife. That should about do it."

"Sis, it’s broad daylight..."

Jared looked worriedly at the blazing sun outside.

"It’s not like I said I was gonna kill them." April shot him a glare, then added, "Where’s Frank Ford, tell him to get the amulet out."

"Huh?"

"The amulet Nora mentioned last night."

"Oh, oh." Jared came to and called Frank while asking April, "April, you know what her amulet is?"

April shrugged. "Nope."

She’d been a bit curious yesterday, but hadn’t asked.

"You mean the amulet my wife gave me?" Frank, having picked up, suddenly asked when he heard.

"Uh, yeah." Jared answered.

Frank said calmly, "Oh, it’s her photo."

Jared: "..."

April: "..."

This really was... just a tiny bit narcissistic, huh.