"It's all gone."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the driver's face turned sheet white.
One of the bodyguards waited for a long moment before pulling a cell phone from his pocket and dialing a number.
He spoke cautiously into the phone. After about ten minutes, he tucked the phone back into his pocket and turned to the chubby driver and the other bodyguard.
"Sokes wants to see us."
Hearing the name "Sokes," the fat driver began to tremble so violently his flab shook like a sieve. With a dull thud, he collapsed onto the shipping container, his legs giving out completely.
To the driver, Sokes was the devil incarnate. Today, he had stumbled into a misfortune that would likely cost him his life.
---
On the other side of London, a miracle was unfolding.
Ever since Dr. Willy Bruce injected the potion Rey gave him into his daughter's IV bag, he had been keeping a nervous vigil by her bedside.
He stared at his comatose daughter, afraid to relax for even a second. His hands were clasped tightly against his mouth, his posture tense. He looked like a man praying, begging for a miracle to happen.
He stayed like this for a full day. He didn't eat; he didn't do anything else.
Please, let her be okay. That was his only request. If she died, he would be a sinner who could never forgive himself.
He waited all day. The miracle of her waking up didn't happen.
However, at some point, her complexion improved significantly, and her breathing became stronger and more rhythmic.
Willy Bruce was a doctor. He knew exactly what these signs meant for a patient who had been in a deep coma for so long.
After checking her vitals again, Willy began to pace back and forth beside the bed.
He smiled!
Tears welled up in his eyes as he slapped his own forehead, as if trying to confirm that his daughter's recovery wasn't just a dream.
Unfortunately, Rey didn't have a phone and hadn't left a number. If he could, Willy would have rushed to see him right now.
Suppressing the joy in his heart, Willy took one last look at his daughter and left the room.
Rey knew where he lived. If Rey needed him, he would come to the house.
With no other way to contact the boy, he could only go home and wait for Rey to appear again.
---
Rey didn't let Willy Bruce down. After resting for a day at the Leaky Cauldron, he arrived the next morning.
"I found a wizard who can treat your daughter."
There were no pleasantries. As soon as Rey entered the house, he gave Willy the good news. Having been a father himself in a past life, he understood exactly how Willy felt.
Willy paused in the middle of pouring a glass of water. It was obvious—this was the best news he could have hoped for.
"Thank you!"
Two simple words, but coming from the fifty-year-old doctor, they carried a heavy weight.
"However, there are conditions," Rey continued as he took the glass of water.
"Does it cost a lot of money? I have some assets I can sell."
"It's not about money. The condition is that during the entire treatment process, ordinary people cannot be present," Rey said regretfully.
Telling a father he couldn't be there while his daughter was being treated was indeed a hard pill to swallow.
Willy fell silent for a moment. He took a sip of his red wine and asked, "Is this wizard confident?"
"I don't think there will be any problems. I've already described your daughter's condition in my letter."
"How long will the treatment take?"
"It's hard to say, since he hasn't personally examined her injuries yet."
"Is that so?" Willy asked briefly.
"Yes," Rey replied, then added, "I'm sorry, but this is a condition the other party absolutely will not budge on."
Rey had done all he could. It was up to Willy to choose. Although the doctor still seemed hesitant, Rey could already guess the outcome.
"Will you be the one taking my daughter there?"
"No, a friend of mine will join us. She can take care of your daughter during the process."
Knock, knock, knock!
Just as Rey finished speaking, there was a knock at the door.
Dr. Willy was surprised. He couldn't imagine which of Rey's friends would be visiting at this time.
"That should be my friend. Sorry, I thought it would be better for you to meet her, so I took the liberty of asking her to meet us here."
Rey apologized, then walked through the entryway and opened the door.
The person outside was, of course, Agnes. Wearing a casual dress, the thirteen-year-old looked like the sweet little sister from next door.
"Hi, Rey!"
"Hi, Agnes. You got here fast."
"I took the Knight Bus. It's a bit faster than the subway."
"Are you Mr. Bruce? I'm Agnes Greengrass. Rey mentioned you and your daughter in his letter."
Women are naturally better at lowering a man's guard. The fact that the person who would be caring for his daughter was a thirteen-year-old girl instantly helped Willy make his decision.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Rey, but compared to a meticulous girl, a teenage boy like Rey just didn't seem as reassuring for caretaking duties.
This is a universal truth for fathers with daughters; there are no exceptions.
"Miss Greengrass, hello. Thank you so much for coming."
Since his daughter's vitals were stable, the three discussed the plan and decided that Willy would discharge his daughter and bring her home to recuperate.
"She will come here for the treatment. Mr. Bruce, you just need to avoid the room while it's happening."
Agnes brought another piece of good news to Willy. This surprised Rey as well; it seemed Agnes had put a lot of effort into arranging this.
---
"Thank you, Agnes."
Once they left the house, Rey immediately thanked her.
"You're too polite, Rey. I finally get to come out for a bit, can't you drop the formalities?"
Agnes was in a great mood. Walking ahead of him, she skipped along like a genuinely happy little girl, full of life and energy.
"Okay. Since it's rare for you to get out, where do you want to go today? I'm at your command."
"I've never been to a Muggle amusement park. You know more about what's fun in the Muggle world than I do, right?" Agnes asked, turning back.
"Alright, I guarantee you'll have a blast today." Rey smiled and made a promise.
"By the way, didn't you say you had a plan? Can you tell me about it today?"
"Of course. You're already part of the plan. It's too late to back out now."
"When did I become part of it?"
Agnes stopped walking and looked back at him in confusion.
"Just now. Willy Bruce is a key member of this plan, and you saved his daughter."
"He loves his daughter very much. A father like that is worth helping," Agnes said seriously.
Her reason for trying her best to find a healer wasn't just because Rey asked, but also because she respected Willy's devotion to his child.
---
While Rey took Agnes to enjoy herself at the amusement park, screams of agony were echoing from the basement of a secluded manor on the outskirts of London.
A pot-bellied fat man was tied to a chair.
It was the truck driver who had transported the shipping container.
He was soaked from head to toe, his clothes tattered, and blood mixed with water dripped from the chair onto the floor. His chest heaved violently as he gasped for air, his eyes looking glazed and unfocused.
Standing in front of him were the two bodyguards who had been in the truck.
Each of them now sported a fresh, jagged wound on their face. They were the ones currently torturing the driver.
Bang!
With a soft sound, the basement door was pushed open. A middle-aged man around forty, wearing a suit and sunglasses, walked down the stairs.
His deep voice broke the silence. "Did he spill anything useful?"
The voice was calm, yet it made the two scarred bodyguards shudder involuntarily. It felt less like a person had walked down the stairs and more like a beast ready to devour them alive.
"No. He only said that half an hour after setting off, he heard a strange noise from the back of the truck."
One of the bodyguards glanced timidly at the newcomer, then quickly lowered his gaze and answered respectfully.