The man with the triangular eyes soon followed them in, holding a flashlight in one hand and that double-barreled sawed-off shotgun in the other. It seemed the two bandits had already agreed on the order for keeping watch. After tying up Emily Bolton's legs, he sat down to the side, placing the shotgun on the inside to his left.

With four people inside the tent, it felt quite cramped. The man with the triangular eyes took up nearly half the space, so the other three could only squeeze together, sitting back to back. After robbing tens of thousands of yuan this time, the man with the triangular eyes was clearly restless, shifting around from time to time, pulling out a wad of cash and greedily counting it under the flashlight's beam. Then he carefully wiped the shotgun several times with a cloth. Occasionally, he would also stare at Emily Bolton with a lecherous gaze. Whenever that happened, the young female teacher would instinctively move a little closer to the two children.

This went on for over an hour before the flashlight finally went out. The sound of rain falling outside the tent seemed to shroud everything in a bottomless abyss. There was no other sound—only rain, rain, and more rain.

In such a dark night, the exhausted Lily soon snuggled up to James Parker and drifted off to sleep. Emily Bolton, however, was a bundle of nerves, unable to sleep no matter what. If that scar-faced man really did what he intended earlier, she would rather die. From what they said, as long as the police didn’t catch them in the next couple of days, they would definitely do something to her... and to that troublesome child as well. She had even felt touched when he came to save them, but who knew he would do something like that.

"...If you want money, why don't you just ask Emily sis? Her family is the Zhangs of Jianghai, they're loaded. Tens of thousands of yuan is nothing to them."

Now that her wealthy background had been revealed, not only might she become a target for rape, but the two men might also use her as a hostage for ransom. That meant they definitely wouldn’t let her go anytime soon, while the two children might be let go as burdens. He was too clever... Of course, a child couldn’t possibly think of all this—it must be her overthinking...

Her heart filled with resentment, so when the little boy’s body suddenly pressed closer, she instinctively tried to move away. But in the next moment, her hands, tied behind her back, were grabbed by him.

He was untying her ropes!

Her heartbeat suddenly quickened. She didn’t have time to wonder how the boy had freed himself, but as long as her hands could move, there was hope. Rather than face the worst outcome, it was better to take a chance!

Lightning suddenly flashed across the night sky, briefly illuminating the scene inside the tent. On the side closest to her, the man with the triangular eyes had a dagger at his waist, while the gun was placed on the other side. Should she grab the knife or the gun... Her hand trembled as she reached out...

Her breathing quickened, her heart pounded, and for a moment, the sound of her pulse and breath almost drowned out the torrential rain outside the tent. She slowly crouched up, reaching for the dagger at the man’s waist.

I have to get it, I have to get it, I can’t miss, I can’t miss...

Relying on her memory of that brief moment, she reached out her hand. The short span of time felt as agonizing as a lifetime. Finally, her fingers touched the dagger’s hilt. Just as she was about to pull it out, another hand suddenly pressed down on hers.

“What are you—mmph—”

The man with the triangular eyes shouted, but in the next instant, it was as if something blocked his throat and he couldn’t make a sound. The hand that had pressed down on hers also trembled and let go. Though she didn’t know what was happening, Emily seized the opportunity to pull out the dagger. Then, as lightning flashed again, she finally saw what was happening before her.

The boy named James Cooper, at some point, had gotten hold of the sawed-off shotgun, and now the entire barrel was shoved into the man’s mouth. The scene before her eyes was so surreal that Emily almost thought she was hallucinating. She hurriedly grabbed the flashlight. Before she could turn it on, a shout came from the other side of the tent.

“What’s going on!?”

A faint beam from a flashlight lit up outside the tent—the scar-faced man was clearly heading their way. Emily's mind raced. She was about to ask James Parker to hand her the shotgun when, suddenly, the gun went off!

Flames burst from the shotgun, the whole tent shook, and Lily let out a terrified scream. Amid the rain, the scar-faced man’s agonized howl suddenly rang out. Emily turned on the flashlight. The man with the triangular eyes lunged at her, but as he got up, he seemed to slip, his body tilting. In his attempt to grab the dagger, his leg swung over and landed right on it. The dagger plunged straight into his thigh, and a more piercing wail filled the tent.

Seeing the man rolling and howling desperately beside her, Emily could only instinctively retreat. In the flashlight’s beam, James Parker, who had just fired the gun, suddenly threw the shotgun aside, then yanked the dagger from the man’s thigh and held it in his hand. Blood spurted out. James Parker's hands trembled as he gripped the knife, looking panicked and at a loss: “I—I—I... I killed someone... Don’t move—”

This shout was directed at the man with the triangular eyes. In fact, the sawed-off shotgun could only fire one shot at a time. If the man with the triangular eyes regained his senses, gritted his teeth, and pulled the dagger from his leg to threaten the three of them, James Parker would really have no choice but to act.