Chapter 1156: Good boys

[PRESENT TIME]

Just a moment ago, Penny saw her husband drop to the floor. She saw it with her own eyes — how those men knocked out Zoren... or so they thought. If Zoren hadn’t peeked at her briefly, she would’ve tossed all these men aside and shouted a change of plans.

But somehow, Zoren managed to stay awake. How? She had no idea. However, that also meant their plan was moving forward as intended.

’Still... that’s strange,’ she thought to herself. ’That Glenn person seemed willing to give up Third Brother and Benjamin.’

Zoren had probably seen that too. But after the person — who was supposed to get Slater and Benjamin — returned empty-handed and whispered something in Glenn’s ear, things suddenly went sideways. Glenn’s demeanor changed completely. After dealing with all sorts of people—both good and corrupt—Penny had a few theories.

One was that this was Glenn’s plan. He might be greedy to the bone, but she knew he wasn’t as sharp as he thought he was. And the second was that something had gone wrong—something even Glenn wasn’t aware of until the soldier arrived. Maybe he couldn’t afford to lose this deal, and thus, Glenn decided to resort to extremes.

If it was the latter, then...

’What happened?’Penny wondered to herself, letting the men drag her along while she acted like a sack of potatoes. ’Did they find Mint?’

Keeping her head low, Penny observed the men dragging her. ’I doubt they know Mint is already here. If not that, then what happened?’

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, her heart thudded in her chest. Penny pressed her lips into a thin line and held her breath.

’It’s not that... something bad happened to Third Brother and Benjamin, right?’

As Penny distracted herself with other thoughts until she reached their destination, the men holding her began to frown more deeply. The longer they dragged Penny, the heavier she seemed to get.

"Damn it. Hold her properly, will you?" One of the men growled. "She’s getting heavy."

"I’m holding her—are you blind?" the other man frowned, tugging Penny’s arm with great difficulty. "You should hold her, man. Feels like I’m the only one putting in any effort here."

"Hah! The only one putting in effort? Can’t you see my shoulder’s all red?"

"Damn..." the other man cursed under his breath, glaring at the woman they were dragging. "Is she dead? She’s not moving at all!"

"She probably lost all hope. People like her are fragile, you know? Their spirits break so easily," the other man snorted. "Her husband is only knocked out, but she’s acting like she just saw him die in front of her."

"Well, this is what happens when people are sheltered when they’re young. Pathetic."

"But seriously, why is she so heavy? Was she this heavy earlier?"

"She’s small with the weight of a whale."

Penny’s face blanked as the two men dragging her started hitting her where it hurt. And they were saying all this while knowing she was conscious!

"That’s a bit rude," she remarked, looking up at them. "You don’t just talk about a woman’s weight. Do you know it hurts to be called a whale?"

The two men paused and looked down at her, only to see her frowning in displeasure. They didn’t bother tying her up, because what could she do? There were two of them, and she was just one woman—a naturally weak creature.

"Just shut up, will you?" the man on her right barked. "Also, get your feet working. You’re heavy!"

"Hah! I’m not dumb!" Penny scoffed. "I’m being held captive! Why would I help you take me to a place I don’t know?"

After saying that, Penny let all her weight down, almost making the two men bend to their knees. She was heavy. Even though these men worked within these walls, this was by far the heaviest load they had to carry.

Fortunately, they were trained enough to maintain their ground. Looking down at her in disbelief, they couldn’t help but wonder if she was actually enjoying this. Ever since she stopped struggling, Penny had been dragged with her heels scraping the floor. She hadn’t struggled for long, either.

From an outside perspective, it probably looked like they were dragging a very lazy person to her destination.

"Hey, I’m asking you to cooperate," one man said, attempting to intimidate her. "If I were you, I’d listen."

"Nope!" Penny shook her head. "Go ahead and take me wherever this place is. But I’m not a willing victim here. If I’m going to be tortured, I might as well share my future suffering with you people beforehand. Go on—drag me. Don’t be lazy. This is for your own good—ah!"

Before Penny could finish her nonsense, the two men looked at each other and nodded. A moment later, they both dropped her, and she landed straight on her buttocks.

"Ouch..." Penny winced as she rubbed her lower back. But before she could say anything else, she felt someone looming over her.

"Cooperate," the man said, holding her at gunpoint. "If you think acting like that will help your situation, let me tell you, you’re making it worse. Even if you’re the wife of the owner of that island, you’re just a woman in our eyes."

"Get up," the other man warned, his breathing heavy from dragging her that far. "Get up and walk. NOW!"

Penny flinched a bit and covered her ears. "Please don’t shoot me," she whimpered. "I’ll get up. I’m sorry."

Both men nodded in satisfaction, watching her slowly get up. They stood on either side of her, lowering their guards, as they didn’t see her as any threat. The man who had pressed the rifle against her lowered it slightly, realizing they should have done this much sooner instead of dragging all that weight.

Penny kept her head low. Standing on her feet, she glanced at the man on her right, then at the one on her left. The latter was the one carrying the rifle across his chest; the other man had it slung over his back.

"I’m sorry, I’ll go..." Slowly, Penny turned around. But instead of following their orders, she swiftly reached out for the person who had held her at gunpoint. She slid her feet to him, taking control of his brief loss of balance.

Before they knew it, Penny had slid behind him and snatched the knife from his side. She pressed the sharp tip to his side, her other hand in front of him, holding his rifle and pointing it directly at the other man.

The other man was a second late, so when he managed to pull the strap of his rifle and pointed back at her, all he heard was, "Nu-uh. That gun isn’t powerful enough to kill two at once. Pull it, and I’m still the one walking out of here alive"

The man froze at her remarks, the naive woman they were just dragging moments ago was nowhere in sight. All he could see were her sharp eyes that were akin to a snake.

"Move, and this blade goes through you," Penny breathed out to the person in front of her, pressing the knife on the man’s side to make him feel it. "This part is an instant kill; my doctor friends would guarantee that."

Both men didn’t move at all, knowing what she said was true. If the other man across from them did something, even if he shot her, he would only hit his partner. And if the one she was holding captive did something, both of them would die.

They weren’t foolish not to know that.

"Good boys," Penny smirked as she returned what they had said previously. "Now, get your feet working and cooperate."