Pampered By My Three Brothers: The Return Of The Neglected Heiress - Chapter 1173

Chapter 1173: Ouch!
Everyone was searching for Penny, Zoren, and Mark. Since all of the enemies had been subdued and locked up, and the hostages rescued, everyone formed a team solely to find those three.

They had already searched every room in every building.

So, where did they go?

They couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air, right?

The answer was…

******

[Earlier…]

‘Third — Third Brother?’ Penny mentally gasped, her eyes widening as she watched Slater approach the enemy. Slater aimed his rifle at the man, stopping when the muzzle pressed against the man’s chest.

A part of her was telling her to stop watching and look away. Another part of her was telling her to jump out and stop Slater from harming the man. She didn’t want to think too much about it. After all, in a situation like this, anyone would have to muster the courage to pick up a weapon to defend themselves.

“Where’s my sister?” Slater asked quietly, but the silence in the corridor carried his voice to the ends of every wall. “You said there was a woman here—where is she?”

“I don’t know,” the man breathed out. “I was just hiding during all the chaos. Please, I’m not going to fight back.”

Slater’s jaw clenched. “Was she hurt?”

“I don’t know!”

“Was she!?”

The man’s breath hitched. With the gun pressed against his chest, the last thing he wanted was for Slater to pull the trigger. “I… I’m not sure, but I did peek. She’s not hurt—if anything, she hurt everyone on the way!”

In the man’s mind, he wondered, how could this man act so worriedly about someone who clearly dominated the battlefield? Unbeknownst to him, the woman Slater was talking about was different from the woman the man was thinking of.

Slater was asking about Penny, but the man had only seen Mint. Considering there were two female warriors on the battlefield, the confusion was inevitable.

‘I should…’ Penny’s thoughts trailed off, telling herself to show herself. However, somewhere in her heart, she wanted to see what would happen next. Would Slater open fire? Or would he just leave, just as she expected?

Although the corridor was dim, with little light aside from the moonlight, she had a clear look at Slater’s side profile. Unlike what she expected, he didn’t look cornered or frightened. If anything, he looked a little aggressive and unhesitant.

In other words, he didn’t look like someone forced to pick up a weapon to defend themselves. He… Slater… looked very familiar with the situation.

‘What in the world is going on?’ Penny wondered, only to feel a light tug on her back. Startled, Penny turned with her rifle ready, only to see a little girl looking up at her. Deep lines appeared between her brows.

The little girl was wearing a plain white dress stained with dirt and blood. Her under-eye was dark, but she had a look of hope in her eyes. Penny intuitively assumed she was one of the hostages, as she had seen a few women earlier in the rooms.

The little girl tugged the hem of Penny’s ripped dress and pointed in a direction. Penny followed the direction the little girl was pointing, only to snap her eyes back to the little girl.

“Hey,” Penny whispered. “It’s dangerous out here. I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

The little girl shook her head and pointed in the same direction.

Penny pursed her lips into a thin line before looking back to peek over the wall. As soon as she did, she saw Slater knocking the other man with the butt of his rifle. After that, Slater turned around and left in the other direction.

Her eyes fell on the unconscious man slumped against the wall. Slater hadn’t opened fire, but he struck the man hard enough to knock him out. Penny gulped and looked back at the girl, knowing that help had already arrived and that Slater would be fine.

“What’s in there?” she asked the little girl when she faced her again. But the little girl only answered by tugging her dress and pointing in a direction.

The lines on Penny’s forehead deepened, but all the little girl did was tug her dress. When Penny didn’t move, the little girl let go of her and ran downstairs.

“Wait—” Penny stopped her quietly, only to pause as she looked back at where Slater went.

After a second, she clenched her teeth and followed the little girl.

Each building had a few entrances and exits. The way Penny had entered was one of the smaller entrances—the back entrance. She knew there were probably more exits, but she didn’t have the time to thoroughly study the structure.

The girl led her to another way, which led her to what seemed to be an emergency exit.

“Wait!” As soon as Penny stepped out of the emergency stairs, she saw the little girl still running. “Shit.”

Penny hissed, picking up her pace to follow the girl. As she did, she noticed the little girl was headed somewhere far beyond the courtyard. They were moving farther from the building, but Penny followed. She didn’t know where this would lead or what to expect, but she knew she had to follow the little girl.

After what felt like hours, Penny found a small clearing. Her steps slowed, eyes on the little girl, who had stopped running. The little girl slowly looked back at Penny and pointed at the shed. Though the surrounding area was dark, the small lamp hanging on the side of the shed provided some light.

Penny approached the little girl and turned to her. “Someone’s in there?” she asked. The girl nodded. “Someone who needs help?” The girl nodded again. “Okay. Stay here. I’ll go check, alright?”

Having said that, Penny patted the little girl’s head gently before advancing toward the shed. Her steps were careful as she pulled the wood stopper that was used as a lock. Slowly, she opened the door and checked inside. But alas, she was met with confusion when she saw that no one was inside.

“Ouch!” Penny flinched when she felt a light prick on her thigh, gazing down instinctively. She saw the same little girl holding a syringe, which she had just injected into Penny’s thigh.