The CEO's Wife Is Super Charming-Chapter 374 - 371: The Circle
Elliana Lyle woke up to find herself asleep against the wall, covered by her own clothes. The fire had gone out, and a beam of sunlight through the window warmed her gently.
Looking around, she didn’t see any sign of Joy Lyle. She got up and put on her clothes. Although they had partially dried, they were a bit wrinkled and covered with leaves and mud. With no place to wash them, she had no choice but to wear them as they were.
Pushing the door open, she wasn’t sure if it was afternoon or the next morning. It still felt like the rain from the previous night.
But the storm had indeed started in the morning, and she didn’t know how long she had been there. Eventually, she fell into a drowsy sleep, half-hungry and half-cold.
Stepping outside, Elliana didn’t dare go far because she didn’t know where Joy had gone. Could it be that she was captured by those people? The thought worried her, but what if Joy had just gone out for a while?
Elliana decided to wait there for a while. If Joy didn’t return soon, she’d have no choice but to go out looking for her.
After staying at the doorway for a while, the sun got quite hot, which helped Elliana realize something; it was probably the next morning since the sun didn’t look like it was in the afternoon sky.
Returning to the small house, anxious and unsure where to search for Joy, she remembered the phone Eleanor Llyod had given her. She quickly took it from her chest and pressed a button.
Her heart sank; the phone was unresponsive! It must have gotten water-damaged from yesterday’s rain. The rain had been heavy, and despite keeping the phone secured to avoid water exposure, the downpour drenched her completely.
She placed the phone on the windowsill to let it bask in the sun, hoping it might work after drying out.
"Elliana."
The door opened, and Joy Lyle returned with a pile of shellfish cradled in a large leaf. Seeing her, Elliana hurried over and asked urgently, "Joy, where have you been?"
Joy put her things on the ground and saw that the firepit had only smoldering embers left. She quickly picked up a piece of dry bark from the side and blew on it to rekindle the fire!
Standing up, she said, "I went to find something to eat. You were sleeping so deeply I didn’t want to wake you. I found some shellfish by the sea. We’ll roast them and have a bite to eat!"
She helped arrange the sticks over the firepit to place the shellfish on. In no time, the distinct aroma of seafood permeated the air as they began to eat.
Suddenly, the sound of a car engine came from the direction of the road. The two quickly put down the shellfish, and Joy kicked the makeshift wooden rack aside, stomping out the fire.
Though the fire was out, even more smoke rose up. The two exchanged a glance, knowing this was bad, as the smoke was like a signal through the window!
The car’s noise stopped on the road not far from them, and it was too late. They hurried to flee, and after a few steps, Elliana remembered something and quickly turned back to grab the phone she had left on the windowsill to dry!
Just as they disappeared from view of the road, they heard urgent whistle signals from the shelter where they’d taken refuge, which was how the strangers communicated with each other.
The two of them moved south along the edge of the woods because there was a cliff to the north. As they went along, they noticed more and more people were searching for them. The pursuers must have confirmed their proximity!
Crucially, the strangers seemed familiar with the terrain, forming a search perimeter from the south, pushing them gradually toward the cliff!
Walking south would lead them into the searchers, so even after detouring far away, there were always people searching to the south!
With no other options, they had to retreat to the woods where they had initially hidden.
Slowly, the search perimeter began to enclose the forest.
