"Hurry up and clear it!" Chester snapped.

One of the men crouched at the stern and reached into the water. A few seconds later, he hauled up a tangled mess of debris.

"Fuck, the water’s full of trash." He tossed the dripping mess aside. "The propeller got wrapped up in it. We’ll need to clean it out."

Chester looked toward Wendy’s direction.

The black speedboat had already gotten much farther away, reduced to a tiny silhouette in the distance.

Grinding his teeth, he barked, "Move faster!"

The men hurried to untangle the propeller together.

"Hey, Chester... I don’t think it’s working." The man operating the boat was drenched in sweat. "The blades look bent too. That hit just now wasn’t light."

Chsester’s expression darkened.

He looked once more toward the direction Wendy had disappeared, then down at their crippled speedboat, rage boiling inside him.

"Fuck!" He slammed his fist against the railing.

What kind of shitty luck was this? They had already gotten so close! And now the damn boat was broken too.

Parker was definitely going to tear into him for this. Just thinking about it made his temper flare hotter.

At that moment, something flashed beneath the water.

Before Chester could react, one of the men suddenly screamed and collapsed onto the boat clutching his arm.

"What happened?!"

"Something bit me!" the man cried, his face pale as paper.

Two tiny puncture wounds had appeared on his arm, blood steadily seeping from them.

The others immediately tensed, scanning their surroundings.

The water’s surface was completely calm, smooth as a mirror. Nothing could be seen. But an inexplicable chill spread through the group, freezing everyone in place.

"Go!" Chester made the decision instantly. "Forget the woman. We’re heading back first!"

The driver tried starting the speedboat again. The engine sputtered a few times before finally roaring weakly back to life. It was slow, but at least it could still move.

Chester glanced one last time toward the direction Wendy had vanished.

The water stretched empty and silent. There was nothing there anymore.

The speedboat slowly turned around and headed back the way they came.

Beneath the water, a cluster of black water snakes slithered past the underside of the boat before disappearing into the depths.

***

Twentieth floor.

From Parker’s vantage point, he could see Chester’s speedboat slowly limping back toward the building.

His brows furrowed so tightly they could crush flies.

Beside him, Vanessa kept peering outward as well, her gaze locked firmly onto the approaching boat.

"Looks like... she’s not there," Vanessa muttered with a frown.

Everyone aboard the boat was someone she recognized. Everyone except Wendy.

Did they fail to catch her? So many men sent after a single woman, and they still failed? What kind of joke was this?

Vanessa was frantic inside, but she couldn’t show it in front of Parker. She could only force herself to remain calm.

The two waited nearly twenty minutes before Chester and the others finally returned upstairs.

"What happened?" Parker demanded.

Chester wiped rainwater from his face, his expression grim. The men behind him looked equally defeated. One of them clutched his arm tightly, blood leaking through his fingers, his face deathly pale.

"We lost her," Chester muttered.

Parker’s frown deepened. "So many of you chased one woman... and still couldn’t catch her?"

"The boat had problems." Chester pointed at the man behind him who had been steering. "Kevin, you explain."

Kevin stepped forward, frustration still written all over his face.

"Boss, it’s really not that we couldn’t handle it. We hadn’t gone far before the propeller got tangled up in something. The water’s full of garbage, fishing nets, all kinds of random crap. It wrapped around the blades completely."

Parker’s voice sank lower. "And that was enough for you not to catch her?"

"The propeller blade got bent." Kevin let out a bitter laugh. "No clue what we hit underwater, but one of the blades warped. The engine still ran, but the boat moved slow as hell. Crawling like a turtle."

Parker looked toward Chester. The latter nodded, confirming kevin was telling the truth.

"And what about him?" Parker’s gaze shifted toward the man clutching his arm. "What happened to Monkey?"

Chester’s expression darkened further.

"Something in the water bit him. We’re guessing it was a snake."

On the way back, they had carefully checked Monkey’s wound.

There were two puncture marks, clean and obvious. Other than a snake, they couldn’t think of anything else that could’ve caused it.

Parker’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. He walked over to Monkey and pulled his hand away to inspect the injury himself.

Two small holes marked the skin. The flesh around them had already swollen, turning an unhealthy bluish purple.

"Take Monkey to get treated immediately. Chester, stay behind."

Parker waved his hand dismissively.

The others quickly left.

Once the door shut, only Parker, Vanessa, and Chester remained in the room.

Parker sat back down on the sofa and sighed heavily.

"Your luck today was unbelievably bad."

He trusted Chester’s abilities completely. He had genuinely thought the guy would bring Wendy back without much trouble.

Who would’ve expected things to go sideways like this? Fate truly refused to cooperate.

"Parker, something about this feels wrong..." Chester frowned. His brows knitted tightly as he repeated, "Seriously. Something about this whole thing feels off."

Leaning back against the sofa, Parker tapped his fingers lazily against the armrest.

"What do you mean?"

Chester fell silent for a moment, organizing his thoughts. He had never believed in ghosts or superstitions. Well, not before the apocalypse. Not after it, either.

But this trip had been so bizarre that it left his scalp tingling uneasily.

"Parker, I’ve followed you for this long. Since when have I ever screwed up a job?" he said at last, his voice heavy.

Parker didn’t respond. He simply watched him quietly.

Chester continued, "Every time we went out scavenging for supplies before this, things went smoothly. The boats never had issues. Nobody got hurt. Even when trouble showed up, we could always deal with it."

He paused, glancing down at his still-soaked pant legs. His voice dropped lower.

"But today? The boat hit something almost immediately after we set out. The propeller got wrecked. Stuff like that normally doesn’t happen so easily. And then Monkey got bitten..."

"There being snakes in the water isn’t strange. But why did it happen exactly while we were chasing someone? And why did it just happen to bite one of our people?"

The more he spoke, the colder his spine felt.