Thalia remarked sarcastically, “I've never come across anyone who would force another person to take something he or she doesn't want.”
“It seems Darknetz is made up of a bunch of shallow-minded, ignorant people.” Dave glanced at the rear-view mirror. “Darknetz might not be the best for you. I think DX suits you better. I'll take you guys to the DX headquarters once we have settled everything.”
His suggestion rendered Anthony speechless.
“Hey! You—” Thalia was about to throw a fit.
“Come, have some food!” Benjamin interrupted and shoved a packet of snacks into her hand.
“I don't feel like eating!” Thalia expressed her dismay.
“You're gonna get hungry, though,” Benjamin whispered.
Thalia looked at the snacks. He's right.
“Fine. I'll just eat it since someone has already bought it.” She slowly opened the packet and munched on the snacks.
Dave gazed at her but remained silent and kept driving with one hand on the steering wheel. He looked more like a prince than someone involved in an underground organization.
“Mr. Dave, would you like some?” Anthony asked.
“No thanks. I'm not used to eating these snacks,” Dave replied.
Thalia rolled her eyes upon hearing that. “What a pretentious man,” she said before looking out the window.
Instead of arguing with her, Dave acted as if he did not hear what she said and continued driving.
Anthony and Benjamin heaved a sigh of relief when Dave and Thalia were no longer at each other's throats.
The two brothers were worried that the war of words would not end every time one of them uttered something.
They might look chill now, but the tension between Darknetz and DX was real.
After hitting the road for nearly forty minutes, they arrived at the borders of the uninhabited zone.
The so-called uninhabited zone was merely a common name the locals used to describe the area.
After stopping the car, Dave looked at them. “Should be somewhere around here!”
Anthony glanced at his wristwatch and noticed their location overlapped with the GPS coordinates. So the place should be around this area.
Yet, upon looking around for a while, they found nothing.
Suddenly, Anthony pointed at the road in front and asked, “How about that area, Mr. Dave?”
“That's the actual uninhabited zone!” Dave replied after following Anthony's line of sight.
“The actual uninhabited zone? What do you mean?” Anthony was confused.
“That's the battlefield!” Dave's answer was brief and concise.
“Battlefield?” Anthony knitted his brows.
“It was where the two parties had exchanged fire!” Thalia piped up sluggishly.
Anthony's eyes darted from side to side. “You mean now?”
“Yes, even now!”
“Do you think we can find Daddy there?” Anthony asked.
“People have deserted that land for a long time, and the place is covered in overgrown grasses and shrubs. You won't find anything there!” Thalia said.
Anthony could only picture how the land looked like as he had only seen it in films but not in real life.
Dave drove around the area but did not find Kenneth and his car.
“Mr. Dave, since Daddy came all the way here, does that mean the person set this place as their meeting venue?” Anthony asked.
“I suppose so.”
Anthony continued asking, “Do you think they have met?”
“Probably not.” Dave shook his head.
“Why's that?”
“He said he'd text me before meeting the person,” Dave answered.
Anthony nodded although he had no clue why Kenneth did that.
After parking the car by the road, Dave turned around and looked at them. “Your daddy must have parked his car in a secluded place, so I don't think we can find it while driving. You guys wait for me in the car. I'll go down and take a look.”
“Mr. Dave!” Anthony called. “Let's go together. We should be able to cover more areas within a shorter period.”
Dave looked at them and frowned, as he was worried about them.
“We won't go missing, Mr. Dave, so don't worry. We used to live with Nat when we were overseas. Let's meet here again later,” Anthony proposed.
“But—”
“We have Thalia with us. I'm sure we'll be fine!” Anthony added.
Dave nodded without looking up. “All right, then. Let's meet here later!”
“All right!” Anthony responded.
They got down from the car and started looking for Kenneth.
Dave was on his own, while Thalia, Anthony, and Benjamin were together.
After Dave left, Benjamin looked at them and said, “We should go separate ways to speed things up!”
Thalia frowned upon hearing that. “No. What if something bad happens to you boys?”
“What could possibly happen to us?” Benjamin asked.
“You have forgotten about the incident at the bar, haven't you?” Thalia asked. “If the mastermind had not been Kenneth but someone else, Anthony would have been kidnapped and sold to God-knows-where!”
To this day, Thalia still shuddered at the thought of the incident.
Although she had been able to locate him in time, there had been too many uncertainties. That horrifying experience sent chills down her spine whenever she thought of it.
Anthony immediately refuted, “Daddy intentionally set the trap to trick me. Can we not talk about that?”
“Why not? Are you embarrassed?” Thalia asked. “You wouldn't have fallen into his trap had you been alert enough to dodge it.”
The words were on the brink of rolling off Anthony's tongue, but he swallowed them back at the very last moment.
Benjamin stepped in instead. “Anthony is right. Daddy tricked us. Under normal circumstances, no one will pay attention to a child, so don't worry about us!”
Thalia shook her head and refused to give in. “No means no!” She shot daggers at the two boys. “Battles take place here all year round. You two little boys are so young and tender and are not locals. What if someone catches you and barbecues you?”
Benjamin glowered at her. “That's disgusting. How is that possible?”
Thalia widened her eyes. “You don't believe me?”
“I'm not a three-year-old!” Benjamin uttered.
Thalia nodded. “Fine! You think you're smart, huh? Go ahead and see if I'm telling you the truth. Humans will resort to anything when they're famished.”
Anthony and Benjamin instantly kept mum upon seeing the serious look on her face.
“Go on!” Thalia raised her voice.
The two boys exchanged glances and decided not to challenge her anymore.
“All right, all right! Let's look for Daddy together, then! Anthony gave in.
Benjamin nodded. “Yeah. We know you meant well.”
Upon hearing the brothers' remarks, Thalia rolled her eyes at them. “That's more like it.”
“Come on, let's go!” They walked up to Thalia and stood beside her.
Flanked by a master of futuristic weapons and a top-class hacker, Thalia enjoyed being the center of their attention.
A corner of her lips quirked up. “That's my good boys. I'll take good care of you, my darlings.”
None of the boys reacted to her words.
The trio started walking and looking around. Suddenly, Benjamin saw a figure from a distance and knitted his brows. “Nat...”
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