Call Your Friend

[Some minutes ago.]

"Hey, dude! Where is your dog taking us?" A guy asked his friend as they followed a black dog, clearly a beast.

"My beast's nose is one of the best. There might be something close by."

They followed the beast and stopped in front of a cart.

"Guy, that building belongs to the madam," one of the guys said, a little scared.

The beast's owner turned his head to the building and nodded. "That's good, but we aren't here to sell or buy anything. We're here because of that." He pointed at the cart.

Woof!! Woof!!

Before the two could walk towards it, a one-meter-tall earth cat landed in front of them.

GRRRAAAA!!

"Oh! It seems it belongs to someone. I say we take it."

"But..." The guy fearfully looked at the white building. "Won't it disturb the madam?"

"Get a hold of yourself! We're 30 meters from the building. Besides, this cat is a perfect stage beast, but only with a Lv1 combat strength, while mine is Lv2. We can simply take care of it, take whatever is on the cart, and get out of here."

The guy turned to his friend and nodded. "Come on, Angus. Show this cat what your beast is capable of."

"Yeah! Fabio! [Claw—"

"—Hey!! What are you two doing?! That's mine!"

The two turned their heads to Advika, who walked up to them, frowning.

"Oh! There's a beauty here! I think we hit a jackpot!!" Angus said with a smirk, his gaze moving over Advika's body.

His friend's eyes darted between them and the white building meters away. Seeing the two muscular men staring at them, he broke out in a sweat.

"Get lost!" Advika stood behind her beast and in front of the cart, her gaze fixed on Angus.

"Get lost? Oh! No, we'll stay, right, bro?"

"I... I... I want to go," his friend stammered, his legs trembling.

"What's wrong with you, dude?! She's just a girl!!" Angus yelled at his friend, frowning.

"She... she isn't the one I'm scared of."

"Huh? Then who?" Angus raised an eyebrow.

"Th... them!" The guy shakily pointed at the six people walking towards them.

"Huh?" Angus was stunned to see the madam, her four bodyguards, and a... guy?

"What's going on here?" Murphy asked calmly.

The three youngsters before her were horrified. Whenever the madam was calm, something bad was about to happen.

Angus thought for a moment and yelled, "This girl wants to take our cart away!!"

"What?! This is my cart!!" Advika quickly interjected. "He's lying! I went inside to handle some business and left Vicki outside to watch it. When I returned, I saw them about to attack Vicki!!"

"She's lying! I only tried to attack when the cat stopped me from getting to my own cart!!" Angus retorted.

"Okay, then what's on the cart?" Christopher asked with a smile.

Seeing Christopher, Advika was stunned, staring at him in surprise.

"Mm... It's beast's meat! Dried... Yes, dried beast's meat," Angus stammered.

"Hmm... There's a high possibility that your beast told you the answer telepathically."

Angus glared at Christopher and turned to Murphy. "Madam, don't listen to this guy. It's my cart. Don't you remember me, Madam?"

"No, I don't."

"How's that possible? I'm the only son of the Navilia family. We control the mine on the exurb. You must have heard of my father, Mr. Mike."

Murphy thought for a moment and slowly nodded. "I remember your father, but I don't know you."

"Hmm... Okay, Madam... So can I take my cart now?"

"I said it's mine!!!" Advika yelled. Her family's survival and her future depended on selling this meat, so there was no way she'd let the man take it from her.

"Okay, I want to know... Are you the one who prepared the meat? That's... butchered it?" Murphy asked.

Advika: "No."

Angus: "Yes! I'm the one who did everything!!"

"Nicely done. So can you tell me the animal whose meat this is?!"

"Em... Hmm..." Angus was speechless.

'How the hell will I know the animal when I haven't even seen the meat?!' he thought.

"What's with that face?" Murphy asked, narrowing her eyes. "What about you?" She turned her head to Advika.

"A dog and a Komodo dragon," Advika replied.

"Wow, you did all that by yourself?"

"No, Madam. I got help from Chris," Advika said, gesturing towards Christopher.

"Chris?" Murphy looked at Christopher over her shoulder and nodded.

"What?! So you all knew each other and toyed with me! I have a powerful friend in the capital. With one phone call, you'll all be toast!!"

"Really? Go ahead," Christopher smiled at him.

"What?" Angus was stunned.

"Call your friend. I want to see him. Or you don't have any."

"You!!"

Angus turned to his friend. "Tell them I have a powerful friend in the capital city!"

"Sorry!!"

With tears in his eyes, he ran away, not even looking back.

"You! Coward!" Angus yelled at the running guy and brought out his phone.

"You think I'm lying, right? Just wait."

The group watched as he tapped the screen of the phone, then put it to his ear.

"Hello—" He stopped talking for a few seconds and continued, "Your elder brother is in Exurb?! Where? Just tell me his name, and I'll ask around—" He stopped talking again:

"Oh, my location? You can ask anybody about a white building. They'll direct you because it's the only white building in Exurb!"

"You're already in Exurb! Wow, I'll be waiting."

GRRAAA!!

THUD! THUD! THUD!! THUD!!

Wee!!! Has! Wee!!!

VOOM!!!!

VOOM!!

DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA

"So fast?!"

Angus was stunned to see more than ten police vehicles and black SUVs driving towards them. Even a helicopter was hovering above them.

"Hahaha! This is how powerful my friend is! He can mobilize the security department as many as he wants. Now, you're all going to prison," he smiled at them.

'No, I can't go to prison. Who'll take care of my mum, dad, and sister? Can... can I escape?' Advika's gaze moved around, settling it on the enclosed meat on the cart:

'No!! This is far more important!' Advika fixed her gaze on the cars which quickly surrounding them.

The doors of the black SUVs opened, and men in black suits got out of each one.

Christopher smirked at the guards and asked Angus, "What's the name of your friend?"

Whoosh!!

Before Angus could answer, they all looked up, seeing a huge red dragon descending towards them.

'That... that's a legendary stage beast! With a combat strength of Lv7!!' Advika was horrified.

"Friend!"

Angus quickly walked up to the 10-meter-tall dragon, with a flattering smile.

"Elder Brother!!!"

Angus froze in surprise, seeing his friend and his sister getting off the dragon and running towards him.

'Huh? Am I related to the Valhalla family?! I'll have to ask my mother, but... Young Master Adonis is a year older than me, so why did he call me Elder Brother?'

Before he knew it, the two ran past him, towards Murphy and her group.

"Huh?" Angus turned around in surprise.

Everyone watched as the two rushed up to Christopher and gave him a tight hug.

"WHAT?!!!"

Angus's face turned to horror, jaws dropped, seeing that the one the two hugged was the guy behind Murphy.

Adonis: "We missed you, Big Brother!"

"Yes!! What happened? How did you end up here? And where's your car?" Katherine separated from the hug and looked around, searching for the car.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you everything when we get back. How's Mum?"

"Mum? She's miserable! She needs you back, like, back!" Adonis emphasized the word "back."

Christopher raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm... Brother... who is this?"

Katherine walked up to Advika, who stood behind her beast.

GRRRAAAA

The cat growled, but the moment it saw the small spider that jumped down from the dragon and walked up to Katherine... Vicki took a step back in fear.

The spider climbed onto Katherine's leg and perched on her shoulder, its gaze fixed on the cat.

Seeing her brother's silence, Katherine asked, "What happened here?"

Advika looked at the beautiful woman in front of her for a few seconds, then turned to Christopher, then back to Katherine.

"Well—"

"—Let her be, Katherine. She's Advika, a friend."

"A friend?"

Adonis and Katherine were stunned to hear their brother's words.

"Friend?" Katherine repeated, still skeptical, but sighed softly and turned to Murphy:

"Murphy, the lady of power, owner of all the black markets in the entire country... I know you. I'm just surprised you and my brother know each other."

Murphy smiled at her and turned to Christopher. With a nod, she walked back to her building with her four bodyguards.

"That was... weird," Katherine muttered, glancing at Advika over her shoulder.

'My brother would never befriend someone from the exurb... I'll have to look into her information,' she thought.

"Come on, Big Brother, let's go home," Katherine said with a smile.

"Okay, but there's one thing to take care of."

Christopher turned his head to Angus, who instantly broke out in a sweat.