Pampered by my three brothers: the return of the neglected heiress novel Chapter 1784

1784 /1784

Chapter 1784: Stick to the comms

Meanwhile, in the original place where Zoren’s group had originally planned to dock, the three groups who had parted from the main group to dock there sat around. All of them were panting, with at least three of them injured.

"You guys alright?" one of the men asked, eyes on his comrades.

The person he was looking at winced a little but nodded. "Was grazed, but fine. It’s not going to kill me."

"It’s been a while since we’ve been deployed on a mission, and here we are," one of them uttered, his voice mixed with amusement and sarcasm. "Talk about disbandment."

"At this point, we might not get disbanded, but die instead."

"That’s up to you if you let that happen," another one mused.

Upon hearing that, all of them fell silent and let out heavy breaths. Their eyes then fell on their surroundings, filled with men—enemies—they had taken down in an ambush.

"There’s a mole, that’s for sure. It’s just not in our group," one of them muttered. "We should start moving and find a way to regroup with the main group."

"Yeah?" another one spoke, already standing with a pair of binoculars in hand. "Well, I guess we should start crawling. More are coming in here."

Everyone looked at the last speaker and shifted their eyes to where he was looking. They all knew it wasn’t over yet because this ambush was not only meant to stop a few men, but Zoren’s entire group.

Someone on this island was making sure Zoren would die even before they got further into the island.

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Meanwhile...

Taking the route Zoren had told them, three trucks made their way through the quiet woods. One of the trucks’ headlights was broken, while the other wasn’t working. Considering these trucks had simply been looted from the groups the soldiers had blended in with, signs of battles were evident on the vehicles.

Zoren kept his eyes down, clutching a handle in the back of the open truck. The road was rough, making them bounce every few seconds. However, they all traveled in silence.

In this silence, Zoren couldn’t help but recall the aircraft that had exploded.

If Penny had other plans, she would’ve told him first. However, he didn’t want to entertain the thought that he had lost his wife.

’She’s somewhere here,’ he told himself. ’She lived two lifetimes... she probably just didn’t have time to inform me.’

Zoren clenched his teeth, his grip on the handle tightening.

Meanwhile, Atlas was also quiet, unfazed by the rocky road they were taking. When he glanced up, he caught the dark look plastered on Zoren’s face. Hugo, on the other hand, sat next to him. But unlike them, Hugo seemed to have shunned any thought of the aircraft previously.

Just like all of them, Hugo was in the most denial, treating this as if everything was part of the plan.

Improvisation—that was what everything was about.

Not that anyone could blame him. Even Atlas was guilty of the same denial. After all, if they accepted that Penny had been in that craft, their morale would not just dip. It would disappear all at once.

As they moved in silence, getting through the dark woods to avoid gathering attention, they suddenly heard a loud rotor sound. Everyone—even the drivers of each vehicle—gazed up.

There, they caught a helicopter flying over the forest they were in. Due to how low it was flying, it made them slow down. However, the noise it was creating was enough to draw everyone’s attention.

"Who is in there?" Hugo wondered to himself, his brows furrowing. "That chopper... I think I’ve seen it somewhere."

"It’s the Prime Group’s," Angel, Atlas, and Zoren answered in unison.

Even with that, they didn’t take their eyes off the helicopter. Those three—Angel, Atlas, and Zoren—were aware of every vehicle Penny owned. One, because Angel had worked for Penny before he was deployed to Zoren. And Zoren and especially Atlas had ridden in it many times before.