Chapter 291 - Stalling For Time
Theo blinked a few times, glancing around for a moment.
’’Ugh...’’
A dull headache had spread through his head, causing him to rub his temples.
’’Finally,’’ Owen’s voice rang out immediately. ’’The sleeping beauty is back up.’’
’’Are you alright, Theo?’’ Iris asked.
Theo slowly leaned back, pulling himself out of her embrace before glancing up at them.
’’I’m fine now,’’ he replied, feeling the headache fade away. ’’But how long was I out for?’’
Iris hesitated for a moment, then glanced at her watch.
’’You’ve been out for two hours,’’ she said, her voice low. ’’Including your breakthrough... just over three hours have passed.’’
Theo’s expression instantly changed.
Despite the countless questions running through his mind, he hadn’t forgotten why they had come out here in the first place.
’’Feng, hurry up and bring us close to the eastern side of the city,’’ he called out.
Feng glanced back at him quietly.
’’Alright, Contractor,’’ it said. ’’But we have a lot to talk about later.’’
Theo nodded seriously.
’’Definitely.’’
’’Are you sure you don’t want to wait for a bit longer?’’ Iris asked worriedly. ’’You’ve gone through... a lot.’’
Glancing at her, Theo forced a smile before shaking his head.
’’No, it’s alright,’’ he said. ’’Besides, if we don’t go now, we won’t find a guide again.’’
Iris didn’t even know what to say.
Just then, Owen let out a sigh beside them.
’’Let’s just hope Jim managed to stall them properly,’’ he said loudly. ’’Though I really wonder how the hell he’s managed to keep them there this long...’’
...
’’Explosive diarrhea.’’
Nadia, Lucienne, Gabriel and Darius stared at Jim with strange, almost ridiculous expressions.
’’What?’’ Nadia asked once more.
’’Owen has been stuck on the toilet with explosive diarrhea after eating something bad last night,’’ Jim continued with a straight face. ’’That’s why we’d like a few more minutes for him to get here.’’
Darius slowly turned his head away, having trouble holding it together.
Neither Lucienne nor Nadia knew what to say.
Only Gabriel’s face started turning red as he furiously stared at Jim.
’’Do you honestly expect us to believe that?’’ he asked loudly. ’’You do realize you are wasting the time of the Imperial Church right now!’’
Jim shrugged with a stone-cold face.
’’Why would I lie about that?’’ he asked. ’’I wouldn’t dare offend the Imperial Church with such stupidity.’’
BAM!
Gabriel slammed his hand down on the table beside him.
’’You’ve been saying that for twenty minutes!’’ he shouted, only getting angrier. ’’Not to mention the other excuses you’ve had for the three hours before that!!!’’
At the same time, Darius turned around completely.
He quickly walked back towards his group before bursting out into laughter.
Nadia glanced at him with a frown before turning back towards Jim.
Unlike Darius, she clearly didn’t find the situation nearly as amusing.
Lucienne, meanwhile, simply stared at Jim with a strange expression.
At this point, she genuinely didn’t know what to think anymore.
’’Enough of this bullshit!’’ Gabriel suddenly shouted. ’’We’re leaving right now, or I swear I’ll have your head!’’
Jim’s expression immediately stiffened.
Before he could respond, Lucienne finally spoke up.
’’We can wait just a little bit longer,’’ she said lightly. ’’It wouldn’t hurt us.’’
’’But it would,’’ Nadia immediately replied.
Lucienne glanced towards her, raising an eyebrow.
’’We’ve already wasted more than two hours,’’ Nadia continued seriously. ’’If another sandstorm appears later because of this delay, we’re screwed. Therefore, I agree with Gabriel. We should leave.’’
Before anyone could say another word, Jim jumped in.
’’Just five more minutes!’’ he said desperately. ’’I’m sure they’ll have the diarrhea exorcised by then!’’
Nadia stared at him for several seconds.
Then her gaze shifted from the pleading Jim to the nodding Lucienne, before landing on the furious Gabriel.
Finally, she let out an annoyed sigh.
’’Fine,’’ she said begrudgingly. ’’Five more minutes.’’
Jim nodded gratefully, but inwardly, he was already full-blown panicking.
’Where the fuck are you guys?!’ he thought.
They were already twenty minutes past the time they were supposed to leave!
He’d already used every excuse he could think of.
If Theo and the others didn’t arrive within the next five minutes, he genuinely had no idea what else he could say.
’Come on...’
Minute after minute slowly ticked by.
’Fuck,’ Jim cursed internally as his mind churned for excuses. ’Maybe Owen passed out on the toilet? No, I’ve already used that.’
He swallowed nervously.
’Maybe I should just start a fight with that Gabriel guy,’ he thought. ’As dangerous as it is, it’d be a fine last resort.’
Just as he balled up a fist and slowly stood up, a familiar voice rang out behind them.
’’Apologies, everyone. We had a rather difficult situation on our hands.’’
Jim froze.
His head instantly snapped back, finding Theo, Iris and Owen approaching.
An enormous wave of relief washed over him right away.
’Thank fuck!’
Everyone’s attention had shifted to the three people.
Or rather... to Owen.
After all the wild stories they’d heard from Jim, there was no way they wouldn’t recognize him now.
A huge grin spread across Darius’s face immediately.
’’Owen!’’ he called out loudly. ’’You alright over there?’’
Owen raised an eyebrow, confused.
’’Yeah?’’ he replied. ’’Why wouldn’t I be?’’
The Dragonfang members immediately burst out laughing.
As they began pointing fingers and joking around, Owen began realizing something was wrong.
Closing the remaining distance, Owen’s head slowly started to turn towards Jim.
His eyes narrowed suspiciously, his fists already balling up.
’’What the fuck did you tell them?’’ he asked through gritted teeth.
’’Nothing,’’ Jim replied immediately.
Before Owen could ask another question, Nadia stepped forward.
’’If everyone is finally here, can we leave now?’’ she asked impatiently.
Theo glanced across the gathered group before nodding.
’’Yeah,’’ he replied calmly. ’’And our apologies for making everyone wait.’’
Gabriel let out a cold scoff at the front of his group.
’’All that time wasted for some random nobodies,’’ he complained, shaking his head.
Theo glanced towards him but didn’t respond.
At the same time, Nadia reached the front of the group.
’’Everyone,’’ she called out loudly. ’’Make sure to follow me closely!’’
Just like that, the entire group began making their way out of the city.
Owen slowed down to walk beside Lyra.
For several seconds, he remained silent.
Then he leaned down beside her ear.
’’What did he tell them?’’ he whispered.
Lyra glanced up with a troubled expression.
’’I don’t think you want to know.’’