Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

The island was gloomy and sinister in the dead of night. From time to time, the howls of animals echoed from its depths, chilling one to the bone.

The two precious boys shivered uncontrollably from the cold. The night after a heavy rain was always seeped in a bone-chilling dampness.

The two of them were wearing jackets that were long since filthy and tattered. To stay warm, the boys clung tightly to each other.

And so, they struggled through the entire night.

When dawn finally broke, Dylan Grant decided they had to leave this place.

Elmer Grant climbed a tree and pulled down all the few small fruits he could find, cradling them in the hem of his shirt. Together, the two children stumbled deeper into the woods, one unsteady step at a time.

The forest was a boundless sea of trees with no end in sight.

They walked for the better part of the day, but there was no sign of a way out.

They were both exhausted. Dylan Grant’s knee wound hadn’t been treated and was now inflamed. His sprained ankle hadn’t healed either. Every step sent a searing pain through him.

His little face pale as wax, Elmer Grant couldn’t help but ask, "Brother, do we have to keep going?"

"Of course. Even if there’s no one on this island, we have to find food. Otherwise, sooner or later, we’ll starve to death."

Elmer Grant nodded and asked no more questions, just kept walking forward.

To their delight, as dusk fell, they discovered a small river. The water was very clean and drinkable.

The river was so small, it was more like a stream.

The water only came up to the boys’ waists, and it wasn’t long. Looking down from above, you could see straight to the bottom.

But the children’s surprise and joy didn’t end there.

There were fish in the water.

But after the initial excitement, Elmer Grant’s expression fell. "Brother, we don’t have fire. Even if we catch them, we can’t cook them."

Dylan Grant wasn’t worried. "We can make a fire by drilling wood. It’s just that it just rained, so there’s no dry firewood. We just need to wait for the weather to clear up for a couple of days. It’s getting dark. Let’s find a place to sleep first."

Elmer Grant looked around. "There’s no dry wood anywhere."

"There seems to be a cave over there. Let’s go check it out. It could shelter us from the rain."

Filled with hope, the two boys headed toward the hill on the other side of the stream.

As soon as they got closer, Elmer Grant’s eyes lit up. It really was a cave.

They slowly made their way toward it.

Since night had already fallen, they couldn’t see what the inside was like.

The two of them sat at the mouth of the cave, leaning against the rock wall. They ate a few small fruits before finally falling asleep.

They hadn’t eaten a proper meal in days, subsisting only on fruit to stave off hunger. Both of their stomachs felt awful, but neither complained. Because they had to survive.

Elmer Grant was startled awake by something at his feet.

Bathed in moonlight, he looked at the ground. The thing slowly slithering there scared him half to death.

Just as he was about to call out to Dylan Grant, Dylan’s hand gripped his tightly, signaling him not to make a sound, not to move, and definitely not to scream.

They already knew what it was. The thing writhing at their feet was thick-bodied under the moonlight and made a constant rustling sound.

Compared to a pile of dead bodies, a giant reptile—a python—was far more terrifying.

Dead bodies, while horrifying, had no ability to attack; you just had to get used to them. But a python... there was a very real possibility of being eaten, especially for children like them.

Elmer Grant was trembling all over. He couldn’t keep still, shaking like a leaf.

Dylan Grant was also terrified, but his main focus was to do everything in his power to calm his younger brother, even though he himself was so scared he could barely breathe.

In just a few short days, the two children had experienced things most people never would. If they had the chance to survive, their minds would have been successfully forged in this ordeal.

If. And that was only an if.

"AH!" Nora Ainsworth shot up from her sleep, clutching her chest and gasping for air.

Quentin Grant, startled awake, quickly turned on the light. "Nora, what’s wrong?"

"I had a nightmare." She threw off the covers, poured herself a glass of cool water, and drank it down with a few big gulps. Then she lay back down.

But her heart was in turmoil.

"I dreamed of something terrible, Quentin. Tell me, how are the children doing right now? Do you think they’re already..."

Quentin Grant held her close. "They’ll be fine. They’ll definitely be fine."

Just as he finished speaking, his phone rang.

"Hello."

"..."

"Okay, Nora and I will be right there."

Hanging up, he got out of bed. "Nora, Herman was monitoring Godmother’s communications. She hasn’t had any activity for the past few days, but she just made a call. The data from the other end of the line shows the location as the thirtieth floor of the Ainsworth Group Tower. Let’s go check it out."

Nora Ainsworth quickly got dressed. "Okay."

「It was 3:30 AM.」

The two of them left through the back door and went to meet Herman Hawthorne in front of the Ainsworth Group Tower office building.

The cars were parked side by side. Nora Ainsworth and Quentin Grant got out and opened the door to his car, climbing inside.

Herman Hawthorne began, "The intel is solid. The source of the call to your godmother is in this building. A call in the middle of the night, and it lasted for nearly an hour... it’s either a lover or a conspiracy."

Quentin Grant asked, "Have you sent people up already?"

"They’re up there. We’ll wait here," he said. "Did you guys know? The sixty-two kids who were sent back... none of them remember what happened these past few days. Their last memories are of being at the kindergarten. If I hadn’t gone to the trouble of having someone investigate, the parents would never have revealed that."

"An organized act of violence... it’s simply inhuman. This has to be brought to an end."

Herman Hawthorne nodded. "It’s best to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. Every day we delay is another day of danger for the two boys. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, don’t try to force her hand. They know, and we know. It’s just a matter of who loses their nerve first."

Just as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the car window. The front passenger door opened, and two Men in Black got in.

"The rest of the team is on standby outside. The thirtieth floor is very secluded, but what’s suspicious is the amount of activity in the hallway."

Quentin Grant mulled this over for a moment before speaking. "Just as we expected. The power behind Godmother is not to be underestimated. If we act rashly, we’ll both be destroyed."

"For now, Young Master Grant, you and Nora need to focus on finding clues from your godmother. If you’re careful, she’s bound to slip up. I’ll continue to check all recent sea, land, and air departures for anything suspicious. You two should head back first to avoid raising suspicion. We’ll stay in touch by phone."

"Alright. I’m already prepared for that. If we can’t find them, I’ll send people to surround the place. Of course, that’s a last resort. My godfather and godmother aren’t ordinary people. If we really do that, we’ll inevitably be taken to the International Court of Justice. That would be a whole other battle to fight."

"Mm."

Quentin Grant and Nora Ainsworth went back.

Neither of them slept again until dawn.

They went downstairs for breakfast.

When Sierra Ainsworth saw Nora Ainsworth, she gave her a slight smile and a nod.