Chapter 1444: What’s the worst that could happen?

Atlas stared at the three, his gaze cold and indifferent—almost as if he were looking at mere slabs of meat ready for butchering. If not for the mental name tags he had assigned them, he might have mistaken them for just that... flesh.

"However, it is, indeed, concerning," Atlas finally broke the momentary silence. "What should we do? I don’t think we’ll be able to sleep with such discomfort."

His brow arched as his gaze landed on the blanket-wrapped figure of Slater. "Aren’t you hot?"

"He’s hiding something he doesn’t want anyone to see," Penny waved dismissively before continuing, "First Brother, you should try an ice bath to cool down your body. Since you don’t feel anything except your usual urge for mass destruction, I think that should be enough."

"I prefer hot showers," Atlas replied flatly. "Don’t you have an antidote?"

Penny deadpanned. "Is an elephant heavy? First Brother, I’m more surprised that you think I carry sedatives around like breath mints. I’m not Second Brother."

Atlas frowned, while Penny clicked her tongue.

"It’s either a cold bath or... sex," she stated bluntly. "And since the latter is impossible right now, you don’t really have a choice."

Turning to Slater, Penny continued, "As for you, I’ll take you to the hospital."

"No way!" Slater immediately scurried backward, wrapping himself tighter in the blanket. "Penny, do you even know who I am?"

"Uh..." Penny blinked. "You’re my brother?"

"I’m Slater Bennet!" he shrieked. "If I go to the hospital for something like this, my name will be on every tabloid! I’d rather die than have people talking about... this!"

Penny opened her mouth, then closed it. Did that even make sense? Of course, there were alternatives to going to the hospital—she was licensed to prescribe medicine, after all. But she wasn’t irresponsible enough to do so without a proper diagnosis.

She wasn’t about to hand out prescriptions like candy.

"Oh... okay," she said, nodding in understanding before a wicked smirk curled her lips. "Then, I guess you have no choice."

Slater’s eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean... you’ll have to take care of it yourself," she stressed before hissing her next words, "Beat it."

Slater’s face turned beet red. His breath hitched, his neck tensed, and then—

"Noooo!!!" he wailed, burying himself deeper into the blanket like a pig being led to slaughter. "Why would you say that?! And why do you look so evil?! Penny! You’re evil!"

Penny chuckled, unable to hide her amusement. But before she could say anything else, she noticed Zoren slipping out of the room, phone in hand.

’I should probably help him first,’ she thought, biting her lip. Slater and Atlas would be fine—at least, that was her assumption. Her husband, however, was suffering.

Just as Penny was about to follow Zoren to end his sufferings, Hugo came barreling back inside.

Flinching, Penny turned to see Hugo panting, drenched in sweat, still missing his shirt. He rested his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. Slowly, he looked up.

"Penny," he wheezed. "Something’s wrong with me."

"Uh... Second Brother, that’s because—"

"Am I high?" Hugo cut in.

"What?"

"What kind of drug is this?" he demanded. "It’s a drug, isn’t it? What kind?"

Penny opened her mouth, then closed it. "Second Brother, it’s not—"

"I can’t stop," he interrupted, his voice low.

"...What?"

"My heart is racing, my blood is boiling, and my hands are itching," he explained. "I want to fight."

"..."

"Like, punch someone really hard—"

"Hey!"

The moment Hugo uttered those words, a loud voice rang from outside. He turned to see several night guards standing by the broken entrance, glaring daggers at him.

"Miss Penny!" one of the guards hollered. "Sir Hugo just picked a fight with us and then ran away!"

"He knocked out a few of us!" another shouted indignantly, barely restraining himself from questioning whether all of Penny’s family was like this. After all, they still remembered that night when a drunken Penny had caused absolute chaos, leading to security mistakenly thinking an intruder had broken in.

"Not just that—he insulted my girlfriend!"

Hugo scoffed. "I wasn’t insulting her. I was describing her."

"See, Miss Penny?!"

"Oh..." Penny bit the inside of her cheek, trying to keep a straight face. "I swear I am not trying to laugh."

Hugo smirked at her. "It’s funny."

’A little,’

That would have been much more difficult.

Meanwhile, Angel and Mark, who had followed the growing commotion purely for entertainment, shook their heads.

"I think we should stop them," Mark muttered, stepping forward.

Before he could take another step, Angel slapped the back of his hand against Mark’s chest.

"Wait," Angel whispered, eyes locked on the scene. "I want to see what happens."

Mark let out a long sigh. "My instincts are telling me that if we don’t intervene, this won’t end well."

"What’s the worst that could happen?" Angel replied.

He shouldn’t have asked, because the answer was a big fat yes.

"Okay, okay. I understand what you feel. So, sure." Penny flashed them a smile. "As long as no one use a weapon and you don’t kill him —"

Before she could even finish, the guards suddenly yanked both Angel and Mark forward, shoving them into the front lines.

"Captain! Please stand up for us!" one of the guards pleaded. "Fight him!"

Angel turned to see the entire team staring at him expectantly, as if their collective honor rested on his shoulders.

"Sir Mark, you’ve always stood up for us. We may not be a match for Sir Hugo, but if you and Captain Angel fight him together, you can take him down!"

"Show him our pride!"

"Please give us the justice we deserve!"

Mark: "..."

Angel: "..."

Mark slowly turned to Angel, his eyes silently screaming, ’See? I told you something worse would happen.’

Angel opened his mouth to apologize, but it was too late. Had they just kept their mouths shut and walked away, they wouldn’t be in this mess. Now, they weren’t just spectating, but somehow got dragged into this.

"Holy..." Angel exhaled sharply. "...shit."