"Catch up, Manuela." Aiden suddenly turned and called out to her.
Manuela thought for a moment, then still walked in.
When Aiden and his group entered the largest room in the estate, Fabiola had already placed the freshly brewed coffee and black tea on the coffee table, and on the sofa next to the table sat a middle-aged man.
"Let me introduce, this is my father, the former head of the Lovelace family, Diego José San Fernando Lovelace."
Garcia walked to his father's side and introduced him to Aiden and the others.
"Hello, Mr. Diego." The three of them greeted politely.
"Hello, guests from afar." Diego stood up and said, "Please have a seat."
Then he looked at Aiden and continued, "You must be the Aiden that Garcia and Roberta keep talking about. I really appreciate the help you gave them in Roanapur."
"It was just a little bit of help, nothing much." Aiden replied modestly.
"You're too modest." Garcia's father smiled and shook his head. Then, when he saw Manuela sitting beside Aiden, specially noticing how her white dress had nearly turned camouflage-colored, he turned to Fabiola and said, "Go prepare some hot water, I think this young lady needs to change into some clean clothes."
Fabiola nodded and turned to leave the living room.
Then Diego said to Roberta, "Roberta, go find a clean set of clothes, then take this young lady to the bathroom on the second floor."
Roberta also nodded. She walked in front of Manuela and said, "Please come with me."
Manuela didn't get up immediately and instead looked at Aiden a bit uneasily.
"Go ahead," Aiden said. "Don't be too reserved."
Only then did Manuela stand up and follow Roberta to the second floor.
After they left, Diego picked up his teacup, took a sip of black tea, and slowly said, "Fabiola told me she's Javier's daughter. Is that true?"
"Yes." Aiden nodded.
"That's really troublesome." Diego took another sip of tea. "I've dealt with Javier before. He's not an easy man to get along with. Very bad temper, and he loves his daughter excessively, almost pathologically. If he finds out his daughter is here, there'll definitely be trouble."
"And I heard, in recent years, he somehow got his hands on some strange drugs and created many monsters."
"What kind of monsters?" Leon perked up and asked.
"Some look like frogs blown up dozens of times in size, others are spiders as big as washbasins. Of course, this is just what villagers nearby say." Diego replied.
"Has no one done anything about it?" Aiden asked with some doubt, "Like the local government, for example."
"Them?" Diego chuckled. "This is South America, the biggest backyard of Country M. No place is truly stable here. And he's rich, the biggest drug lord in South America. You should know, there's nothing money can't solve in this world."
"Besides, he already has a large number of gang members under him. Now that he's even making monsters, nobody dares to do anything about him."
"That might not be true."
Perhaps it was Diego's comment about South America being the biggest backyard of Country M that made Leon's tone a little displeased.
"I'm here to arrest Javier."
"You?" Diego was stunned for a moment, glanced at Garcia behind him, but Garcia just shook his head, so he looked back at Aiden.
"Leon is a CIA agent from Country M. He came to the rainforest this time just to deal with Javier." Aiden said.
"Haha, this is rare indeed." Diego let out a mocking laugh. "And to think I actually had a CIA agent sitting right across from me. Hahaha!"
After laughing for a while, Diego sighed. "Anyway, since you're here to go against Javier, then you're a friend, even if you're a CIA agent."
"But how are you going to deal with Javier by yourself?" Diego asked again.
"I have my ways." Leon said.
Diego gave Leon a long look, then didn't press further. He started casually chatting with Aiden about the local customs and scenery, since Fabiola had told him that Aiden came here for travel.
After a while, Roberta and Manuela came down from the second floor.
The girl, who had just taken a shower, had changed into a white dress again. Paired with her golden hair, she looked incomparably beautiful and radiant under the light.
"She's too beautiful." Leon tried hard to look away and whispered to Aiden.
"Indeed, words can't describe it." Aiden also whispered, looking at Manuela walking toward him.
However, even though they spoke softly, Manuela, like Alexia, had also been injected with the Veronica virus, so she heard everything clearly. Her face flushed red as she shyly sat down next to Aiden, lowering her head.
After chatting for a while, Fabiola suddenly popped out from somewhere and reminded everyone that dinner was ready.
With Garcia's warm invitation, everyone enjoyed the meal thoroughly. But after dinner, they each got busy with their own matters.
Garcia's father, due to age and health, chatted for a while and then went upstairs to rest.
Garcia himself, having taken over his father's duties, had to handle some family affairs, not many but somewhat tedious.
The young maid Fabiola began cleaning up after dinner, busily moving around.
Leon told Aiden he had to contact his teammates, then left with a mini radio, destination unknown.
So Aiden and Manuela, under Roberta's guidance, began strolling around the estate and nearby areas.
Because the weather was good today and the moonlight was very bright, the three strolled under the moonlight and quickly covered most of the estate. Then they left the estate and followed a path toward a nearby river.
"This is all family land. Not to mention what's buried underneath, even just by planting crops on the surface, we can barely keep the family operations running," Roberta said while leading the way and introducing things to Aiden and Manuela.
On both sides of the path to the river were vast, flat fields. One large section was planted with what looked like banana trees.
"What about this side?" Aiden pointed to another large empty plot. "Why not plant something here too?"
"Of course we want to, but we just can't find people." Roberta glanced at Manuela. "The nearby villages are still okay because they're close to Senna Town, so some people still live there. But farther out, many villages have become uninhabited."
Noticing Roberta's gaze, Manuela's expression darkened. She knew this was definitely because of her father.
"I see." Aiden also guessed the reason and shook his head slightly.
Seeing Manuela fall into guilt, Aiden changed the subject and started chatting about tonight's moonlight.
As they strolled and chatted on the way to the river, on the other side of the river, two of Javier's hidden subordinates were observing them with night-vision goggles.
"The one walking behind must be Miss Manuela, right?" one of them said.
"Should be. I've seen the lady in person, body shape is exactly the same." the other replied.
"Since she's here, we need to go back and report to Boss Javier immediately." the first one said as he turned off his night-vision goggles.
"Alright."
The other one nodded and also packed up his night-vision goggles.
But just as they were getting up to leave, ripples suddenly appeared on the previously calm surface of the river.
The two noticed the movement but didn't care, assuming it was caused by fish in the river. One of them casually said, "Mark this spot. Next time, let's come here and fish a few rods."
The other laughed and nodded, then followed his partner toward the spot where they had parked their vehicle.
However, they didn't get far before the one walking behind felt something wrap around his foot.
Startled, he thought he had stepped on a snake. Just as he was about to look down, a huge force suddenly yanked him off his feet.
"Ah!"
He only had time to cry out before his whole body was dragged into the river.
Hearing the sound behind him, the one in front turned around and saw his companion had vanished.
"Bailey, where did you go?" he softly called out his partner's name.
But there was no response. The silence around him was terrifying.
He had no choice but to slowly walk toward the riverbank, thinking maybe his partner was just playing a prank.
Just as he reached the riverbank and peered into the water, a hand suddenly shot out from the water, and was immediately pulled back down by something.
"Oh God!" He was terrified and pulled out his pistol, aiming at the water surface.
But he quickly realized the danger, turned around, and ran for his life.
He didn't get far when a loud splash came from behind. Before he could look back, a thick tail pierced through his chest.
"No…" He looked blankly at his chest, then his body was violently dragged into the water.
While being dragged, his intense survival instinct made him pull the trigger.
Bang!
In the quiet night, this gunshot rang out far and wide, instantly alerting Aiden and the others who were walking near the river.
"The gunshot came from the other side of the river. Judging by the sound, it was a pistol." Aiden said, pressing Manuela's head down so she could crouch.
"Should we go check it out?" Roberta lifted her skirt and drew a pistol from a thigh holster. "There's a bridge ahead, we can cross there."
Aiden didn't respond immediately. He kept listening. Since there wasn't a second shot after a long pause, he finally nodded. "Let's go take a look."
The bridge Roberta mentioned wasn't far from the riverbank. The three quickly crossed over to the other side.
Aiden also pulled out his pistol. In his other hand, he held a flashlight, bracing his shooting hand on the flashlight arm, and slowly moved toward the spot where the gunshot had come from.
Very soon, they found a pickup truck not far ahead. Upon seeing the vehicle, Manuela clenched her fists, because on the body of the truck, she saw the emblem of her father's gang.
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