Chapter 385

Chapter 385: Chapter 385

She guessed it was something like a bun—or perhaps an actual bun.

However, given the current scarcity of resources, it likely wasn’t a pure white flour bun, but rather coarse flour mixed with other ingredients.

"Thank you," Suzy said.

Nate waved his hand with a smile. "No need to be so polite. Come on, I’ll see you off for a stretch."

"We wouldn’t want to trouble you," Suzy said, stowing the bag away.

"It’s no trouble. There are still quite a few of our people further up ahead. If they see you leaving, they might insist on questioning you a bit. Having me around will save you plenty of hassle."

Since Nate had put it that way, Suzy couldn’t bring herself to refuse.

And so, Nate escorted Suzy and Mark out of the base.

"Do you think he has ulterior motives? I’ve been feeling like he’s not as simple as he seems," Mark murmured inside the vehicle, his eyes fixed on Nate’s car ahead as he speculated.

"What kind of motives do you think he has?" Suzy asked back.

Mark shook his head. "I don’t know, but I just feel like this guy is a bit strange... and somehow familiar."

"Familiar how? Have you met him before?" Suzy cast a glance at Mark.

"Never, but... it’s just a feeling."

"I can roughly understand what you mean. We’ll take it one step at a time; if he really has any hidden agenda, it’ll come to light sooner or later."

"Alright."

The vehicle had already driven out of the base, coming onto a straight, broad highway ahead.

This road was far better than the one Suzy had traveled on the other side of the bridge, without even a hint of bumpiness.

A few people could be seen in the vicinity, standing in groups of two or three along the left and right sides of the road, holding weapons in their hands and red cloth strips tied around their sleeves.

These were all Nate’s men.

Along this stretch, there were indeed quite a few of Nate’s subordinates. Just as Nate had said, having him lead the way saved a lot of trouble.

At the very least, these people along the road made no attempt to intercept Suzy’s vehicle.

Up ahead, Nate’s black SUV cleared the path.

Suzy and Mark followed behind, maintaining a consistent distance between the two vehicles.

Suzy didn’t know how long this road went on for. Right at that moment, their vehicle passed by another pair of men.

It was precisely at this second that the black SUV ahead suddenly accelerated.

Without a single warning sign.

Suzy’s vehicle had been traveling at a steady speed, but Nate’s sudden surge of speed left them far behind in his dust.

Instantly, an ominous premonition engulfed Suzy.

Knitting his brows, Mark stared intently at the tiny black dot in the distance. "What is he doing? Did his car lose control?"

"No—it’s not that. Something’s wrong!"

Just as Suzy finished speaking, several figures suddenly bolted out from ahead, hurling items in their hands onto the road.

Several spike strips abruptly materialized, blocking the path right in front of Suzy’s vehicle.

Suzy slammed on the brakes. The tires emitted a deafening screech of friction against the pavement as the car’s body veered sharply to one side.

Still a step too late.

The car body traced an irregular arc across the road surface, producing a heavy, muffled thud as the tires rolled over the road spike strips. Suzy felt as though her entire body was about to be flung into the air.

Just like that, the vehicle was forced to a hard halt in the middle of the road.

The world spun wildly around her, and her vision ahead blurred into a messy overlap of triple shadows.

"Are you alright?" Mark’s voice sounded beside her.

Suzy clutched her forehead and looked in his direction, only to see three Marks in her sight.

"I’m alright... I think," Suzy opened her mouth, a metallic, sweet taste of blood spreading across her teeth and lips.

She forced her gaze forward. The reinforced car was incredibly sturdy—even after absorbing such a violent impact, the windshield hadn’t suffered a single crack.

The good news: Suzy’s vision was gradually returning to normal.

The bad news: people were closing in on them, getting closer and closer. There were at least five of them, and two were holding firearms in their hands.

"Someone’s coming," Mark said.

He had taken a lighter hit than Suzy during the impact and had pretty much recovered by now.

Suzy’s eyes were still seeing double vision.

There was no time to care about appearances. Reaching her hand into the side compartment, Suzy pulled out a bottle of Spiritual Spring Water and chugged it down in heavy gulps.

Beside her, seeing that she still had the presence of mind to casually drink water at a time like this, Mark didn’t know what to say.

The enemies are literally closing in on us!

"There’s a gun in the glove box in front of you," Suzy said.

With a few gulps of the Spiritual Spring Water in her belly, Suzy’s head cleared up almost instantly, and the annoying double vision vanished.

The Spiritual Spring was healing her body at an astonishing speed, tuning her physical state back to its absolute peak.

In no time, even the dull ache throughout her body faded away.

Within mere moments, Suzy had completely restored her full strength.

She quietly pulled out a gun, loaded a round into the chamber, and fixed her eyes on the five approaching figures.

Five unfamiliar faces—Suzy hadn’t seen a single one of them before. What she could confirm, however, was that they were all Nate’s men, given the red ribbons tied around their arms.

This whole setup was undeniably linked to Nate.

Without Nate’s direct orders, these men wouldn’t have dared to move against them. Furthermore, they had clearly laid an ambush far in advance, just waiting for Suzy to fall into the trap.

Otherwise, how could the timing have been so impossibly precise?

Nate’s vehicle had suddenly accelerated to pull open a gap, someone had abruptly darted out to hurl spike strips onto the road, and every single beat landed so seamlessly that they had zero time to react.

"Why is he doing this?" Mark voiced the exact question burning in Suzy’s mind.

Suzy shook her head. "I have no idea either."

She was more bewildered than anyone else.

Why was Nate suddenly throwing a fit out of nowhere? They hadn’t said anything wrong to offend him—could it really be just because they refused to stay for a meal?

Was it really worth going to such lengths?

Besides, with Tina acting as a mutual connection, Nate shouldn’t have turned against them under any circumstances.

Or had he set his sights on her stockpiled supplies and decided to launch a direct robbery?

If that were the case, why didn’t he just move against them while they were back at the base? Why go through the trouble of coming out this far just to intercept them?

No matter how Suzy racked her brain, she couldn’t make sense of it.

Looking ahead, Nate was nowhere to be seen, and there was no telling where he was hiding.

Seeing the five men closing in on the vehicle, Suzy hastily gestured to Mark to play dead.

The men outside looked remarkably relaxed, seemingly convinced that the passengers must have fainted from the heavy impact and possessed no ability to fight back.

Suzy decided to play right along.

She left a tiny crack open in her car window, waiting quietly as the five men drew nearer.

As they closed the distance, bits and pieces of their conversation drifted into Suzy’s ears.

"Relax, they should be knocked out cold by now. Don’t be so jumpy."

"Are you sure?"

"Stop asking stupid questions! After taking a hit like that, this piece-of-junk car even rolled a full turn over. You think the people inside are made of steel? It’d be a miracle if they weren’t completely out cold."

"Fair point. But why are we intercepting them in the first place?"

"How should I know? We just do whatever the boss orders. Things like this aren’t ours to question."