Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

Dylan Grant’s heart sank. "And what if we’re not willing?"

"Well then, little ones, I’m afraid I’ll have to tell you... you’re not leaving this yard."

Dylan Grant continued, "Ma’am, money makes the world go round, and there are plenty of people who would do anything for it. But if you had two paths before you—one leading to money, and the other to your life—I just want to know, ma’am, which one would you choose?"

The woman was clearly taken aback. She had a vague feeling that something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t believe two little brats could stir up any real trouble.

"I want both my life and the money."

"Ma’am, you’re too greedy. If you let my brother and me go, I promise I’ll give you a huge sum of money in the future as a reward."

She was clearly unconvinced. "You think I’m going to believe the words of two- or three-year-old kids?"

"Whether you believe me or not is up to you. But I’ve said what I needed to say. Don’t regret the path you choose for yourself."

The woman turned and went into the house. A good while later, a fat, bearded man walked out from inside.

He looked the two kids over carefully and said, "Don’t give me any of your grand speeches. Even if you do, I won’t believe them. Come on and eat. After you’re done, I’m taking you two to town."

"We’re not eating."

"Don’t eat then, saves me the trouble. Just wait here."

The middle-aged man turned and went back into the house.

The two boys stood there. They couldn’t get out, so all they could do was wait.

「Ten-odd minutes later.」

The family of three emerged from the main house.

A little girl about their age walked in front, her gaze shifting away from them evasively.

The man unlocked the door, and everyone followed him out.

Then he locked the door behind them.

They headed toward the start of the road. Monty had been waiting there for a long time.

Watching the group approach, it carefully remembered Dylan Grant’s words: don’t just pop out and scare people.

So it continued to follow them from within the tall grass.

They walked into a forest, now about ten or twenty li from the village.

"Let’s rest here for a bit."

Dylan Grant spoke up. "Where are you taking my brother and me?"

"To a place, of course. Wouldn’t mean anything to you if I told you," he said, sounding impatient.

"Is this the way to town?"

"Of course it is. This is the only road to town. We’ll be there by nightfall."

Dylan Grant said no more. ’My plan is to figure out a way to escape once we get to town,’ he thought.

Elmer Grant’s initial nervousness faded. His big brother was his rock.

And so was Monty.

Elmer Grant would look back and see Monty poking its head out from the grass to check on them. After spending a few days together, he wasn’t afraid of it anymore. In fact, he sometimes found it quite cute.

They walked for the entire day. For a whole day, the two brothers, along with Monty, were starving and hadn’t had a single drop of water.

Fortunately, they finally reached the market town by evening.

Just as they were about to leave the forest, Dylan Grant knew this was the best time to escape. Once they entered the market town, their only hope would be for Monty to kill someone to save them. But right now, maybe just scaring them would be enough to get away. ’Why resort to needless killing?’

He looked back and made a hand gesture to Monty.

Monty immediately began to slither slowly onto the path, heading toward the group.

The little girl was the first to spot the python. She let out a scream, trembling all over, and quickly yelled to her parents, "Mom, look! A snake!"

The woman looked, and her face instantly turned pale with fear. She immediately picked up her daughter, stood up, and looked at the man. "Honey, that’s a python! We need to get out of here, now!"

The man stared intently for a moment, then said unhurriedly, "It’s a little hard to see what kind of snake it is, but it looks like an old python. If we... it could sell for a great price!"

Hearing those words again, Dylan Grant stood to the side, unable to suppress his anger. ’These people,’ he thought, ’they either want to sell me and my brother, or they’re plotting to get their hands on Monty.’

"I’ve heard some pythons can understand people. They know what you’re saying. We should just run."

The man smacked Dylan Grant on the head. "I’m a grown man! I don’t need a kid like you to teach me what to do!"

The moment he finished speaking, Monty shot up, its tail whipping toward the man. The force of the sudden impact sent him flying into a tree. He then fell to the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Clutching his stomach, he slowly got to his feet. His previous imposing demeanor had vanished completely. He yelled at the woman, "We need to get out of here, now!"

He looked at Dylan and Elmer Grant. "Hurry up! Or it’ll eat you two next."

"You go on. We’d rather be eaten than go with you."

But how could the man give up on this hard-won chance to get rich? He had walked all day, counting on selling them for a good price. If he gave up now, it would be a huge loss!

"No way! Get a move on."

Dylan and Elmer Grant refused to budge. They even sat down right next to Monty.

Seeing this, the man summoned his courage and stepped forward to grab them.

Monty raised its head warily, a dangerous sound coming from its mouth.

After the earlier attack, the man hesitated, standing there awkwardly.

"Kids, come over here! It’s dangerous! The python will really eat you both! Don’t you want to see your mommy and daddy again? I won’t sell you, I promise. I’ll take you back to your parents, okay? We’ll go over there and get some good food. It’s delicious."

Seeing that force wasn’t working, he switched to persuasion and enticement in an attempt to get them to go with him.

The two children said nothing more, because they knew talking to him was pointless.

Seeing that the man still hadn’t left, Monty began to slither slowly toward him again. The man saw it coming and stumbled back a few steps. As Monty closed in, he was forced to retreat further. When Monty lunged as if to attack, he turned tail and ran for his life.

Once Monty saw he had run far away, it turned and obediently slithered back to the two children’s side.

"Good job, Monty. But we can’t stay here long. It’ll be bad if he tells someone or comes back to find us. We can’t go to the market now. If you’re exposed, Monty, and the police get involved, the consequences will be unimaginable. So, let’s look around for an abandoned old house where we can stay for a while. At least we still have some money we took from the boat to buy some food."

"Okay, big brother. Let’s hurry and find a place. Monty and I are starving, and we’ve been walking all day."

Dylan Grant nodded and pointed south. "We’ll cut across this way."

The two children and the snake quickly disappeared into the falling night, leaving no trace behind.

The living room was silent. Quentin Grant, Nora Ainsworth, and Sierra Ainsworth sat on the sofa, staring at the large television screen. A major news story was being reported. The news was about Valeria’s Death Island. Due to the sensitive nature of Death Island, it was almost never exposed in the news, but this time was different.

The reporter, holding a microphone, stood in front of a white boat and pointed at it, saying, "What you are all looking at now is the construction crew’s boat from Death Island. However, more than a dozen workers from the crew were found dead together in a pit, all with bite marks on their necks. The preliminary assessment is that this was a python attack. What’s even more surprising is how this boat was started and taken out to sea. And whether there were other living people on Death Island besides the construction crew..."