Overprotected By My Tsundere CEO

Chapter 993 - 678: Loulanel City [14] Frank Got Beaten Up (Second Update)

"Are you..." Jared swallowed again, his face turning slightly pale. After a long pause, under the rather impatient gaze of Nora Scott, he asked in a very soft voice, "Living Map?"

Nora turned her head and glanced at him.

Jared felt a chill through his bones from that glance.

However, Nora merely chuckled lazily, leaned back, crossed her legs, and responded slowly, "Yeah."

"..." Jared was dumbfounded.

"..."

April Thomason’s steering wheel slipped, nearly driving the SUV down a slope.

"Wait," April steadied the wheel, breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked over in shock, "It’s one thing to keep it from him, but how could you keep it from me too? Am I not your sister?"

Nora raised her hand to touch her nose, thought for a moment, and said, "It seems like you never asked."

April: "..."

Seems about right.

She didn’t really care whether it was the Living Map or a dead map.

"Come to think of it, I did hear from your senior apprentice sister that you often hang around the northwest, taking jobs," April suddenly calmed down and analyzed, "Is that how you got this title?"

"Pretty much," Nora nodded.

The title was indeed true, but the reputation was exaggerated.

At first, something was just a bit exaggerated, within the realm of human capabilities, but as stories spread, over time, to others, she became "not human" in their mouths.

Sometimes, she would brag about it, but most of the time, she had self-awareness and knew the extent of her true abilities.

Whose knowledge didn’t come from burying their nose in books?

"...Sis."

Jared, still in shock, was on the verge of tears.

He sniffled, "Since you’ve got the real deal here, why did you have to let a fake like me stand up?"

"As a decoy," Nora replied matter-of-factly.

"..."

Heartless.

His idol was heartless.

But... No matter how heartless, she was still his idol.

Jared sniffed, "Will there be any danger to my life?"

"Probably not," Nora patted him on the shoulder, watching him shrink three inches before silently withdrawing her hand. She then raised an eyebrow, "Aren’t I here?"

"Sis, I trust you completely..."

Tears welling up, Jared pledged his loyalty.

Nora said, "Then perform well."

"My legs are giving out," Jared said and directly knelt down.

Nora chuckled softly, flexed her wrist, "How about I treat you?"

"No, no need," Jared shivered, struggling to stand up, then moved back to his seat, weakly saying, "I just need a moment, just a moment."

April glanced back at him, saw his cowardly look, and snorted, "Pathetic."

"..."

Under her disdain, Jared said nothing.

He felt his soul had left his body...

Damn it.

From a whim to follow a fake Living Map as an assistant to being exposed by Nora, then pretending to be the Living Map, learning its ways, and successfully playing the role before two groups of people... For someone new to the Martial World, it all seemed like a dream.

Sometimes it was even fun.

After all—

The novelty of it all could be treated as a dream.

However, one sentence from Nora snapped him back to reality.

Oh my god, he met his idol, and the idol even helped him pretend to be herself... He could burst with excitement.

Half an hour later.

The once lifeless Jared finally came back to life.

He leaned between the two seats, head poking forward, coming alive again, "Idol."

"Hm?"

Nora knew he was calling her.

"Isn’t being a slashie exhausting?" Jared sincerely inquired, earnestly asking.

"Sit back down," Nora glanced askew at him.

"Got it."

Jared obediently responded, returning to his seat diligently.

Since regaining his senses, he realized he could compare notes on the inconsistencies in his writings with Nora, which revived his enthusiasm for sticking to her. Eventually, having no way to rid herself of him, Nora gave him a karate chop to the back of his neck, knocking him out cold.

He fell beneath the seat.

Nora couldn’t be bothered to care.

"By the way, he won’t betray you, right?" April suddenly asked.

Nora replied calmly, "He doesn’t have the guts."

*

Jared indeed lacked the guts.

Besides, he had no reason to betray.

Before knowing Nora was the Living Map, the only factor that could sway him was the Living Map herself. Now that she was on his side, he had no motive to be shaken.

Moreover, wasn’t Nora’s Biel Hall, northwest connections, Mechanical Techniques, Master of All Things outmatching Annabelle Pinto and Robert Durant? Was there any need to abandon Nora and turn to people Nora could crush at any moment? Absolutely no need.

Jared saw very clearly.

Thus, upon reaching the destination, Jared jumped out of the car and worked especially hard at portraying the "Living Map" role, even when doing inspections, probably using all his lifelong tricks to ensure Stella Durant and Annabelle Pinto didn’t find any inconsistency.

The only trouble Stella and Annabelle seemed to worry about was not being able to inform their contacts that everything was progressing smoothly and the Living Map agreed to cooperate.

...

For three days straight, the five of them were on the move.

On this particular day, the five returned only at dusk, all somewhat exhausted.

The vehicle had just reached the entrance of Maze Village when Nora and her team ran into the exploration party—or more precisely, the people sent by the exploration party to wait for them.

A few were even injured.

Nora noted the bruises on Frank Ford’s face, furrowed her brows, leapt out of the car and walked straight over, "What happened?"

"Got into a dispute with people from the neighboring village," Frank rubbed his cheek and winced.

"There’s a village nearby?"

"...Two hours’ drive."

"..."

That "neighboring" is quite a distance away.