Chapter 400 I Don’t Want to Live Like This Anymore
“Fatso…” Lil’ Mackaque’s face turned pale with fright. Knowing that he had put his foot in his mouth, he said, “That’s not what I meant…”
Fatso had always been gentle and good-natured. At this moment, however, he seemed to be pissed off. Giving off a chilling aura through every pore, he stared icily at Lil’ Mackaque before him, as if he wanted to eat him alive.
As Courtney mulled over what Lil’ Mackaque had said just now, she sensed that something was amiss. The words ‘late wife’ must be referring to Fatso’s deceased wife, but what does Fatso’s deceased wife have to do with Dragon? Why would Dragon give Fatso some compensation for the sake of a woman who had passed away?
While she was thinking about it, Lil’ Mackaque had hurriedly made up for his slip of the tongue just now and apologized to Fatso in a humble manner. Still, after beating around the bush, he persuaded Fatso to leave the island with him. “Just take your time and think about whether I’m right or not for Dawn’s sake, if not for others. The island’s full of guys like us. You can’t let a young lady spend her entire life with us, can you?”
Fatso picked up the saw on the ground, but he sawed the block of wood much slower than usual. He was mulling over what Lil’ Mackaque said. However, he didn’t give Lil’ Mackaque a definite reply even after the affair in the cabin ended. Courtney didn’t dare to stay any longer for fear of drawing their attention, so she went back into the cabin.
The air in the room was heavy with an icky smell, which smelled somewhat pungent due to the lack of ventilation. Poppy was putting on her clothes in bed. Her cheeks were flushed, but her eyes looked numb.
“I’ll get you some water.”
Unable to bear the sight of the scene, Courtney poured some water for Poppy from the thermos in the cabin. Just then, she heard Poppy’s voice say from behind, “He said he’s going to ask Dragon for a favor and make me his own in the future.”
Courtney’s expression froze at her words. “Did you agree to it?”
Poppy bit her lips, her voice quavering slightly as she replied with sobs, “I can’t help feeling that the solution you told me is not much different from sitting around and doing nothing. I don’t want to live like this anymore.”
Courtney turned to look at Poppy. This was the first time she saw Poppy shedding tears in such a long time.
Poppy continued, “He said he won’t let anyone else bully me anymore and that he’ll be kind to me. He said we have to stay on the island for the time being, but after all this is over, he’ll find a way to take me outside and help me settle down.”
“So you believed him?”
“No, I didn’t.” Poppy clenched her teeth; her voice was so choked with sobs that one could hardly make out what she was saying. “But I want to try this. Fatso’s a nice guy, which is why it’s difficult to get close to him. I have no confidence in your solution, so I want to try my own.”
“You’d better think again.” Courtney was somewhat anxious. “You have to think this through. If you become that guy’s woman, you’re only gonna feel good for now. Perhaps there’ll be an abyss of suffering waiting for you in the future.”
However, Poppy kept her head lowered as if she had done weighing the pros and cons.
Courtney pondered for a moment. “How about this? Let’s wait for two more days. Think about it again only if Fatso doesn’t come to you in the next two days, okay?”
Only then did Poppy nod reluctantly.
Courtney felt uncertain, though. Judging from Lil’ Mackaque’s conversation with Fatso just now, she couldn’t determine whether Fatso would end up leaving the island with Lil’ Mackaque. She had no choice but to leave everything to fate now.
…
“That’s the guy.” Oliver pointed at a frame on the surveillance monitor, which had been enlarged ten times to reveal a thin, angular face. “This guy’s been selling K Powder on the black market lately. He doesn’t sell much each time, but he always has the goods. We ordered 10 servings from him this time, and he’s going to deliver them tonight.”
“Where’s he from?” Gale’s face was taut. “Have you checked his background?”
“Yes, I have.” Oliver exchanged a brief look with Alexander. Then, suppressing the joy in his eyes, he continued with a straight face, “This guy’s got a criminal record. He’s been jailed several times for theft, but he never mends his ways. He came to Melrose City three years ago and had been staying in the city since then. Most importantly, we found out that he’s one of the drug dealers that slipped through the net during James’ case last time.”
Gale’s eyes lit up. “You mean this guy’s Dragon’s underling?”
“That’s right.” Oliver nodded. “Once he shows up tonight, Tess will follow him all the way. As long as we confirm his future schedule, we’ll be able to find out if he’s still staying with Dragon.”
Gale nodded upon hearing his words.
On the other hand, Alexander never said a word in the room. He had pined away almost visibly these days, and his chin was stubbly because he hadn’t shaved his beard. He hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep for a few days just to look for a drug dealer on the black market.
“We’ll get busy after tonight, so why don’t you get some sleep first?” Gale looked back and advised him. “Don’t wear yourself out.”
Alexander looked impassive. “I’m fine. Besides, we still don’t know how Courtney’s doing right now.”
Gale frowned. “Courtney’s a lucky person, so I’d say nothing bad’s gonna happen to her. Besides, we’re already looking for ways to rescue her. You have to take care of your health, you know? Your kids are still waiting for you at home.”
“You don’t have to comfort me. I don’t need it right now.” Alexander took a deep breath. “Right now, I just want to find a way to bring Courtney back. Everything else doesn’t matter since I can’t care less about them.”
Since Alexander had said so, Gale could only button his lip.
Night fell, and the liveliest and noisiest food street in Melrose City at night was chosen to be the meeting place. Tessa, who was wearing a micro earpiece to keep in touch with Oliver anytime, was sitting at a stall selling stir-fried noodles, posing as an undergraduate student eating dinner. The young man dressed like a blonde-haired rascal across from her was the informant who would be meeting up with the drug dealer this time.
“He’s here,” the man said in a whisper. Then, he answered the phone, asking, “I’m here. Where are you?”
The young man’s phone had been tapped the whole time. After the dealer gave him his location, Oliver switched the surveillance footage to that of an alley around the corner of the food street. However, the alley was a surveillance blind spot; it was so pitch-dark that one couldn’t see anything in it. The dealer’s very familiar with the streets around here. Seems like he’s made a lot of such transactions before, thought Oliver.
“Go there first.” Oliver’s voice sounded from the young man’s earpiece. “Just do as you were told earlier.”
The young man didn’t answer him. Still talking on the phone, he left the stall and headed for the dark alley.
“Lil’ Mackaque.”
“Freddy Pennington.”
“Here’s the 10 servings you asked for. Cash on delivery, please.”
“The quality’s pretty good.”
“That’s of course,” Lil’ Mackaque replied with a nod while counting the banknotes. “There’s no way you’ll find a seller that sells anything better than this in the whole of Melrose City—no, in the entire southern part of the country, I’d say. We’ve got a specialized research and development team that develops this by established procedures.”
“I didn’t know it’d be so good, Lil’ Mackaque. Actually, I’ve heard from someone else before that you sell good stuff. Now that I’ve seen this, I think you deserve the reputation, so I think I’m gonna order from you again next time.”
“Sure! No problem.” Lil’ Mackaque waved the banknotes in his hand. “You can order however much you like as long as this is in place.”
“I’d like to order more of this next time.”
“How much?”
“100 servings.”
“What?” Lil’ Mackaque was stunned.
