Chapter 85 - 81: Loyalty and Affection (2)

So, even though the city was a bit chaotic and business had slowed, he wasn’t living in constant fear.

But after what Paige Summers said, he started to worry.

"What do you mean by that...?"

Paige Summers blinked innocently. "Well, I just got back to the city with the Hunting Party when I found him staking out my place. It looks like he plans to abduct me, but I have no idea what for..." She deliberately kept it vague. In reality, she knew Shawn Monroe was after her mostly because of the weapons she made. But since she’d always downplayed her weapon-making, Woody Warren didn’t know.

As such, this ambiguous tone, which invited his imagination to run wild, successfully made Woody Warren’s face darken.

’With Shawn Monroe’s status, what kind of woman couldn’t he find? Why did he have to fixate on a little girl like Paige Summers? Or was it just because she’d rejected him, and he had to force her to submit just to prove a point?’ He glanced at Paige. Under the brim of her hat, her small face looked practically like a minor’s. His heart lurched. ’Don’t tell me... Shawn Monroe has that kind of perverse fetish...’

When the apocalypse had just begun, many people indulged their basest desires. He had seen things like that, and even more depraved things. Now, connecting the dots and factoring in Paige’s deliberately innocent act, his imagination couldn’t help but run wild!

At his core, Woody Warren was a rather old-fashioned man who harbored a hidden sympathy for the weak. The more he mulled over his own speculations, the more he believed they were true, and a firestorm of anger began to build inside him!

"You can hide out here for now!" he decided firmly.

Hearing this, Paige Summers didn’t immediately look happy. Instead, she pressed her lips together and said, "Shawn Monroe knows you’ve always looked out for me. He’ll probably guess I’d come here for help. I’ll just bring you trouble."

Woody Warren stared at her with a blank expression for a moment, then suddenly grinned and poked her hard on the forehead. "Little girl, playing hard to get with me, are you? You think I don’t know what you’re up to? Since I, your boss, dare to let you stay, I naturally have a plan. Don’t underestimate me!"

This time, Paige Summers was truly relieved.

Although the Boss’s goodwill towards her seemed to have hit its peak, meaning no warm current flowed into her chest, she was now more certain than ever that he genuinely wanted to help her!

She threw her arms around the Boss, thanking him in a low voice. For some reason, her voice was choked with emotion.

Woody Warren sighed quietly, patting her back comfortingly.

In that moment, Paige Summers suddenly had the strange feeling that Woody Warren was like a father to her.

’She had never known a father’s love, but in her heart, she always felt this was what a father should be like. Even if he wasn’t invincible, even if he was weak, he would still stand before her like a great tree, protecting his child with all his might!’

"I almost forgot, there’s someone else..." After her emotional moment, Paige Summers straightened up sheepishly. "That little lamb I told you about, he’s still waiting outside. I actually came back this time to leave with him!"

Woody Warren immediately rolled his eyes. "You can barely take care of yourself, and you have the energy to worry about others! I’m telling you, if you hadn’t come back to the city, you wouldn’t have been so unlucky as to get targeted!"

Paige Summers just grinned foolishly. ’Why does being scolded by my own family feel so good!’

"He’s my little bro now. I can’t just leave him behind, right?"

Woody Warren waved his hand at her in resignation, telling her to bring the person in.

’Forget it, forget it. Hiding one is the same as hiding two. He’s just a kid anyway. Might as well.’

’Besides, Paige Summers is right. Shawn Monroe is persistent; he’ll definitely find his way here. The most urgent thing now is to figure out how to get her out of the city. And it goes without saying how dangerous it is outside the walls. Although she has some skills and always comes back from her hunts in one piece, she’s still just a girl. Having a ’little bro’ with her for company, someone to watch her back, isn’t a bad thing.’

With this in mind, when he met Levi Young in person, he tried his best to make his naturally fierce face look a little kinder.

Unfortunately, Levi Young didn’t appreciate the effort at all and remained on high alert.

Woody Warren was initially displeased, thinking the kid didn’t know what was good for him, but then he had another thought. ’Wait, this is exactly right! You have to be like this to survive for long! In his opinion, Paige Summers still isn’t wary enough; she trusts people too easily sometimes. Outside the city, it’ll be safer for her with him there to help!’

Thinking of this, he smiled with satisfaction.

Little did they know, his face was destined to look even more unsettling when he smiled!

With a great sense of dread, Levi Young followed Paige Summers and was hidden by Woody Warren in a storage room behind a secret door.

Paige Summers, on the other hand, seemed quite calm. She even had the presence of mind to start rummaging through the Boss’s private stash, shamelessly making materials, tools, and other things disappear...

Levi Young’s mouth twitched. "Did you get a spatial ability?"

Paige Summers knew she couldn’t hide it from him. "Yep. You know about this stuff too?"

"Duh! I wasn’t born yesterday!"

"Haha, and you even know old sayings... that’s rare. But you seem to be talking a lot today. Are you nervous?"

Levi Young got angry. "Can you stop being so carefree! Aren’t you afraid that guy will sell you out?"

Paige Summers stopped what she was doing. After a moment, she sighed softly and looked up at him. "He won’t. Don’t you trust my judgment of people? If I were the paranoid type, I wouldn’t have kept you around back then, right? And as it turns out, we make great partners."

Levi Young was taken aback, a flicker of joy appearing in his heart. But then he thought of Woody Warren, and his face tensed up again. "But we can’t even run if we wanted to! Are we supposed to stay in this place forever?"

Paige Summers tried to be patient. "Didn’t the Boss say so? He’s going to figure something out and get us out of the city as soon as possible. Besides, it’s useless for us to go out now. There’s no way Shawn Monroe will let this go; he’s definitely got people looking for us. Even if the Boss’s plan doesn’t work out, we still need to wait for this to blow over before we leave."

Levi Young opened his mouth, about to argue further, but Paige Summers raised a hand to stop him in the next instant. "Quiet! Someone’s coming!"