"Quickly check the villa for any danger! If there is, sound the alarm immediately!"
The man behind Lin Qiaoni ordered, and then she was dragged into the villa.
The man’s strength was overwhelming. He covered her mouth so tightly that she couldn’t make a sound. Leaning close, he warned her again, "If you dare scream, I’ll kill you!" With that, he loosened his grip on her mouth slightly.
"MMPH!" Lin Qiaoni nodded, her eyes wide. A wise woman knew better than to fight a losing battle. She wouldn’t scream—not that it would do any good anyway.
The man roughly shoved her onto the sofa. To him, an unarmed little girl posed absolutely no threat.
He wasn’t wrong. Having regained her freedom, Lin Qiaoni merely frowned and complained, "That hurts! Don’t you know how to treat a lady with some tenderness? I’m a woman, you know!"
The man remained silent. A short while later, the men who had been searching the villa returned to the living room.
"The upstairs is clear! No one’s there!"
"The basement is clear!"
"Hey, bro, there’s so much food here! Canned beef, and even Wahaha drinks!" Lin Qiaoni glanced toward the kitchen, only to see an incredibly obese man stuffing his face inside.
Her heart bled. She screamed inwardly, desperately wishing he would stop. That was the food Luffy had found for her!
The leader looked at his younger brother with exasperation. He felt utterly helpless—how could the guy still be thinking about food at a time like this? But he didn’t say anything. His brother had a huge appetite, and because of their usual resource Control, he was definitely always starving. Now, faced with such delicacies, wild horses couldn’t drag him away.
The man asked, "How many people usually live in this villa?"
"Seven or eight, I guess. They’re all my boyfriend’s family—his father, his brother-in-law, his father-in-law..." Lin Qiaoni casually fabricated lies. Her goal was to make them wary so they wouldn’t dare hurt her.
"Shut up! I’ve already investigated this place. There are only two of you in this villa!" the man snarled, a vicious glint in his eyes. "I ask, you answer. You’d better tell the truth! One more lie, and I’ll kill you!"
As he spoke, he pointed a Crossbow Arrow at her.
Lin Qiaoni turned her face away. "If you already know, why are you asking me?"
"I’ll ask one more time. How many people are in this villa?" The murderous look in his eyes remained.
"Two! Just me and my boyfriend!" Lin Qiaoni replied, not daring to spout any more nonsense this time.
The man asked again, "Where did he go?"
"Isn’t that a stupid—" Meeting the man’s glaring eyes, she instantly chickened out and muttered, "He went out to find food. What else would we eat?"
"Where did he get his gun?"
"He found it!" Lin Qiaoni shrank back. "He really just found it! Where else could it have come from? Anyway, that’s what he told me."
The man cursed inwardly, feeling a deep sense of unfairness. Why couldn’t he ever find a gun just lying around?
"Where are the firearms hidden in the villa?" the man probed.
Lin Qiaoni stared at him, her eyes wide. "Man, those are firearms, not fallen leaves on the street that you can just pick up everywhere. He took them all with him! How could there be any hidden in the villa?" Her performance was incredibly natural.
Unbidden, the image of the storage room she had discovered in the basement a few days ago flashed through her mind. If there were still guns, she felt certain Luffy would have hidden them there.
Upstairs, beneath her pillow, lay a handgun Luffy had given her. It wasn’t for self-defense, but for suicide.
It finally dawned on Lin Qiaoni that this gang had been lured here by Luffy’s guns. She absolutely could not let them get their hands on that handgun. Four men, each armed with a High-Strength Crossbow, provided enough Intimidation. If they added a gun to their arsenal, they would pose an even greater threat to Luffy.
The man did not doubt her, as what she said sounded completely plausible.
Lin Qiaoni rejoiced inwardly, thinking her acting skills were absolutely stellar.
"Then when is he coming back?" the man asked.
"I don’t know, he doesn’t have a set schedule!" Lin Qiaoni told the truth again. Luffy didn’t follow a normal routine at all. Sometimes he would randomly head out in the middle of the night, and other times he wouldn’t leave until midnight.
"Bro, we still have some time. What do you think?" The obese man had returned to his brother’s side at some point. He stared at Lin Qiaoni, his eyes shining with lust, and rubbed his hands together. "Bro, you go first. We brothers can wait in line!"
The leader also fixed his gaze on Lin Qiaoni. Thanks to Luffy’s protection, she no longer had to worry about basic survival. She had long since shed her previous wretched appearance. Now, she looked pure and beautiful, radiating a unique, feminine fragrance. She was infinitely more enticing than the filthy, foul-smelling women hiding in the underground parking lots.
He was tempted. The corners of his mouth curled into a sinister grin.
Seeing the four men gearing up with eager anticipation, Lin Qiaoni’s heart skipped a beat. They all lusted after her body!
She cursed them inwardly while desperately trying to come up with a countermeasure. Setting aside whether her body could even withstand their ravaging, if she lost her innocence, would Luffy still like her? Would he still keep her around? Probably not. No man would want damaged goods, let alone someone who had been defiled by four different men.
Her eyes darted around as she quickly said, "Don’t try anything stupid! My boyfriend loves me very much!"
The man didn’t refute her claim. That much was obvious from the sheer amount of food in the villa. The guy risked his life every day going out just so his woman could eat and sleep well in the apocalypse—she ate even better than he, an Evolver, did. However, he sneered, "So what?"
"He has a gun! To be honest, with those broken bows you’re holding, he could wipe out your entire group with a single magazine of bullets!" Lin Qiaoni’s tone dripped with disdain.
"Watch your mouth, little girl! My brother is an Evolver!" the obese man retorted.
An Evolver? Lin Qiaoni’s heart skipped another beat. Though she was shocked inwardly, her expression remained unchanged, acting as if she had no idea what an Evolver even was. Instead, she challenged, "If your brother is so powerful, why is he still drooling over our guns?"
"You!" The fat man was at a loss for words.
Until one’s strength reached a remarkably high level, firearms still held a massive advantage. The leader knew this well. Let alone a firearm, even the Crossbow Arrow in his own hands would pose a lethal threat if it struck him.
Lin Qiaoni pressed on. "Like I said, if you hurt me, he will definitely fly into a rage and vent his fury on you. On the other hand, as long as I’m unharmed, he’ll still take my safety into consideration. But if I’m ruined by you, he won’t hold back at all. Honestly, in his eyes, you guys are nothing but trash!"
The man furrowed his brows. Putting himself in the other guy’s shoes, he realized she was absolutely right. He certainly wouldn’t care about the life of a woman who had been gang-raped by four men.
Besides, they needed to set up an ambush in the villa right now. No one knew when that man would return. If he barged in while they were in the middle of doing the deed, they would be in deep trouble.
The man continuously surveyed the layout of the villa’s living room. He turned to the fat man and ordered, "Hide behind this folding screen. Wait for that guy to show up, and then shoot him!
"You, hide behind the sofa. Whether Fatty’s shot hits or misses, his attention will be drawn to him. That’s when you shoot. Liu, out of the four of us, you have the most accurate aim. Look for an opening and shoot him right in the head! I’ll engage in close combat right after you all fire your Crossbow Arrows. It’s best if you hit him, but even if you miss, he’ll be completely panicked and distracted by you. I’ll deliver the fatal blow!"
"Great idea, bro!"
The fat man was the first to praise the plan, and the other two quickly echoed his agreement.
"Fatty, go find a rope. Tie her up and gag her mouth so she can’t make a single sound! Once we kill that man, we can have our fun without any worries."
Lin Qiaoni’s heart sank even further. If Luffy had no idea what was happening here and walked straight into the trap, it would spell disaster for him.
She had to think of a way to alert him the moment he stepped through the villa’s main door. She absolutely could not let him walk blindly into their ambush.