Chapter 405 As Long as You Agree to One Condition
Dawn studied this dark little lump. Initially, she didn’t want to eat it regardless of what it was. “What’s this? It looks like poop!”
“Try it, it’s really good. Here, I’ll taste test one.” Courtney pinched off half a piece of chocolate and placed it in her own mouth. After a lot more coaxing and cajoling, Dawn awkwardly made herself try a bite.
The girl’s expression shifted slightly. Not long after that, the inner side of the chocolate wrapping was licked clean. “So good… Do you have more?” Dawn rifled through Courtney’s pockets, but she didn’t find another piece of chocolate.
“If you want chocolate, you can have as much as you like once you leave the island. And, there are also so many other things that are tastier than chocolate.” Courtney proceeded to describe the various tasty foods that could be found in the outside world, from hot dogs and meat skewers from roadside stalls, to fried chicken, burgers, and doughnuts, and even nicer, luxurious treats such as steak, foie gras, and lobsters. Dawn couldn’t stop drooling from her descriptions.
“There’s really lots of delicious stuff out there, like you said?”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“I knew it; I shouldn’t have listened to Fatso. He keeps telling me that I’ll starve to death outside so that I’ll give up on leaving.”
“You’ll definitely starve to death if you go alone, but if you come with me, I guarantee you can try all those things that I mentioned.”
“For real?” Dawn’s eyes glimmered, her dark and dirty face lighting up with a smile. “What are we waiting for, then? I’ll take you to see that raft I made.”
“Where is it?”
“There’s a bamboo forest behind this cave.”
The two then made their way to the bamboo forest.
…
“We got a hit from Courtney’s phone,” Oliver sprang up and yelled to the others outside when the radar displayed a signal. “I got her location. Courtney’s phone had reception for a moment.”
Instantly, a huge crowd streamed in from the living room.
Alexander was the first one to rush inside, with Elijah, Cameron, Gale, Bill, and Natasha following right after him, along with the few Blue Eagles Reserve Forces members that Tessa had brought along. All of them had looks of disbelief on their faces.
“When was this? Why would her phone have reception?” Alexander pressed Oliver, his words tumbling out of his mouth. “Where is she?”
“Just now. We got a hit for just a moment, but there’s no signal now.” Oliver was also frantic, unsure of what to do with the device.
Elijah pushed Oliver away before his fingers flew all over the device, tapping away at the apparatus with its complicated-looking cabling. When he saw the red marker marking a position, he revealed a look of delight. “Yes, it’s a signal from Courtney. Now that we know where she is, we can send people out to rescue her.”
Alexander was practically beside himself with excitement. “Gale, inform the criminal investigation team that the drug lord has been located. Get them to send some men out to the island to mount a rescue mission.”
“I’ll do that now.” Gale hurried off to call the criminal investigation team.
Cameron, meanwhile, was on the verge of tears. After their first deal, Tessa and the others hadn’t dared to follow Lil’ Mackaque and Fatso’s boat to search for the island in order to not give themselves away. They had decided to wait for the next transaction instead, but after waiting for two days, they still hadn’t received any news from Lil’ Mackaque. From the looks of things, the deal had fallen through.
And just when things were looking bleak, Courtney’s phone gave off a signal.
While Gale and company were tripping over themselves, Courtney followed Dawn and saw the battered and broken raft that was tucked away in a spot on the island.
“I hadn’t gotten a chance to leave when Fatso found out about my raft. He made me take it apart. I tossed it here and left it alone after that.” As she spoke, Dawn gave the raft a kick. “Looks like it’s useless, huh?”
Courtney surveyed her surroundings. “It’s okay. We can make another one. It’ll be done in two days at most.”
The bamboo forest, of course, had no end of bamboo for them to use. With Dawn here to help cut down the needed bamboo, it wouldn’t be difficult to finish a raft within a day.
As for why Courtney said they needed two days, she actually had no real intentions to bring Dawn along with her for her escape. Although the young girl was not happy with her life on the island, she did actually have Fatso protecting her. Courtney was unsure whether she could even get off the island and go back if she took the raft with Dawn, and on another hand, she was worried that Fatso would chase her to the ends of the world to get her back if he discovered that both of them had left.
In order to escape Fatso’s notice, Courtney and Dawn returned to the East Mountain when it was nearly nightfall. They even grabbed some foliage to cover up and hide their half-finished raft.
When Fatso brought dinner for them later, Dawn didn’t grumble about her food due to her exhaustion from the labor earlier; she tore through her food, gobbling down every morsel, not even caring that Fatso was still inside the cave with them.
Courtney sat a distance away from Fatso, eating her food with small bites while she sneakily shoved two buns under her clothes. She had better stow some rations away, for she had no idea how long it would take for the raft to reach shore.
“What do you want to eat tomorrow?” Fatso asked.
“Braised pork…” Dawn answered. All of a sudden, she glanced at Courtney through the corners of her eyes before piping up again. “And buns. Gimme more buns.”
“Why the sudden liking for buns?” A look of confusion came over Fatso’s face.
“Buns are yummy.”
“Yummy?”
“Oh come on, why all the questions? Are you gonna bring it or not? If you won’t, then forget it.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll bring some for you tomorrow,” Fatso replied good-naturedly. Before he left, he stared hard at Courtney, making all her hairs stand on end.
The wind howled outside the cave when night finally fell. Dawn fell asleep after listening to more of Courtney’s stories, snoring as she slumbered away. Courtney pulled a blanket over the sleeping girl and then tiptoed her way over to the bamboo forest.
In reality, they had more or less completed the raft earlier during the day. There was only one simple step left now. Courtney carefully tied the rope before using every ounce of strength she had in herself to drag the raft down to the river to see if the raft would float.
And it actually floated. It seemed that the raft was functional. Courtney then attempted to stand on it, but the raft began to sink before she could even gain her footing properly. The river water was bone-chillingly cold when it touched her feet. Slapping a hand over her mouth, she pulled herself back up using the rope that she had tied to a nearby tree on the shore.
If she ended up in the water for a long period of time, she would freeze to death if she somehow didn’t drown.
Behind her was a wolf’s den, and in front of her was the unknown waters. Which one should she choose?
After hesitating for a moment, Courtney gritted her teeth and prepared to get back to the water.
Just then, a cold, eerie voice rang out from the bamboo forest as a dark figure made its way over. “Planning to leave like this?”
Courtney instantly paled. “Who’s there?”
Fatso walked out from the shadows of the bamboo forest. The moonlight dragged his shadow out, making it seem unusually long. He leveled Courtney with a cold stare, as though he was looking at a lamb that was about to be slaughtered.
Courtney forced the corners of her lips up. “Fatso, I… I wasn’t actually planning to escape. I was just—I was just helping your daughter to test this raft to see if it floats. She wants to leave this place. What if the raft doesn’t work?”
Fatso gave a cold chuckle. “You think anyone would believe your words?” After all, her logic was confusing and riddled with holes.
Courtney was drenched in cold sweat now as she said through clenched teeth, “I can pay you however much you want, as long as you release me.”
“I don’t want money.” Fatso’s expression was tight. “I can let you go, as long as you agree to one condition.”
At this, Courtney’s heart skipped a beat.
