Chapter 23: Rage After a lot of trouble, this house is finally not...

After some trouble, the house finally stopped leaking lightly inside when it rained heavily outside.

Mary chopped up the still-dry chairs, and Diego tossed the wood into the fireplace, using his lighter to create a warm fire.

To avoid hypothermia, Diego quickly took off his soaked shirt, revealing his muscular upper body. Mary also took off her rain-soaked coat, shoes and socks and placed them by the fire to dry.

Two horses, one brown and one gray, shook off water droplets from their bodies and licked each other's fur. The flames in the fireplace kept dancing, looking extremely precious in the precarious weather.

"Are you okay?" Mary looked at Diego. "We don't have any medicine. If you feel unwell, I'll go back to the previous town and buy you some."

Diego sneered, "Do you think I'm poor?" He suddenly grabbed Mary's wrist and said, "I think you're the one who's going to catch a cold, right?"

Indeed, compared to Diego, his body temperature is lower.

"That's the difference in our normal body temperatures." Mary moved her wrist, signaling Diego to let her go, but Diego suddenly attacked. Perhaps fearing the embarrassment of not being able to pull Mary away, he pulled Mary against him with all his strength.

Mary was not paying attention for a moment and actually fell into Diego's arms. Her cheek hit Diego's chest, causing a slight pain.

She wanted to look up, but found that her head was pressed down by Diego's palm. His cold voice came from above her head: "If you are sick with a fever, I will just leave you here to fend for yourself, so you'd better get your body temperature back up quickly."

Mary pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, and said, "But DIO, I never get sick. It's you who gets sick. I feel that your heartbeat is much faster than before. I'd better go back to the village for two days and buy you some medicine."

Before she could finish her words, Mary heard Diego make another weird sound that she thought was extremely outrageous: "wryyyyyyy!!!"

He pinched the soft flesh on Mary's waist in anger and almost roared, "You brainless idiot!!!"

Anyone who is scolded for no reason will be furious. Mary was also angry: "I will never care about you again!" She struggled to break free from Diego's restraints in a depressed mood, but this action caused the necklace she hid in her clothes to pop out.

The necklace Johnny had given him shone in the dim room with a light that didn't belong there, and Diego's pupils shrank. This reminded Mary of cats before an attack: they would stare intently at their prey and then attack without warning.

She subconsciously grasped the pendant with her right hand, ready to place it in her collar. However, Diego held her right hand tightly. In contrast, his tone was exceptionally gentle: "It's a beautiful necklace, isn't it? Why don't you let me see it?"

"No, this is my baby. I won't give it to anyone else." Mary didn't hold back this time, but directly shook Diego's hand off. Diego fell to the ground because of her strength, his hair covering his eyebrows and eyes, making it difficult to see his expression.

Is she that strong? Mary didn't have time to think about it. She quickly squatted on the ground and apologized to Diego: "I'm sorry, I overreacted. Are you okay?"

Diego, who was sitting on the ground, raised his left hand and said softly, "It hurts."

"Excuse me, let me rub it for you." Mary quickly began to gently massage the other's palm, which had been scraped off a layer of oily skin, and blew on it. Diego didn't notice this at the moment, and was still staring at the pendant hidden under his collar.

"This thing doesn't look expensive. Do you need to overreact?" Diego's tone was cold and harsh. But Mary knew she had just hurt Diego and felt a little guilty, so she answered truthfully, "It's indeed not expensive, but it was given to me by someone very important. I like it very much."

Diego didn't reply. He simply stood up indifferently, returned to his position by the fire, and put on his dried shirt. Mary also picked up her clothes, which had been warmed by the flames, and put them on. Today was the quietest day ever.

Hours had passed, and the storm was still raging outside. Mary poked her head out the window and cautiously peered out. After confirming there were no familiar figures in the sky, she closed the window, which was better than nothing, and retreated to the living room.

Diego was grooming Lulu's fur at the moment, using the brush to not only remove loose hair but also remove any water droplets stuck to it. Lulu gratefully nudged Diego with her head, expressing her gratitude and staring resentfully at her owner who was doing nothing but staring out the window.

"Um, thank you." Mary thanked the cold-faced man: "You are such a good person."

The man beside her suddenly clenched his hand around the brush, squeezing so hard that veins popped on the back of his hand. He took several deep breaths and then threw the brush into Mary's arms. "Don't mess with your horse. Get to work!"

After successfully catching the brush, she began to take good care of Lulu. Silver Bullet was leisurely eating corn kernels at this time, occasionally turning his head to lick the back of Diego's hand, gently comforting his master not to be angry.

Diego looked at his horse and rubbed its head. Only at that moment did a hint of tenderness appear between his eyebrows.

Finally, they each snuggled up to their horses and fell asleep. When Mary woke up the next day, Diego had returned to his normal state.

"We'll arrive in Arizona in three days. Can you check if the things we bought yesterday have been soaked or damaged?" he asked first.

"I checked it this morning," Mary replied. "It's all in good condition. It's just that I dried the food again after soaking it in water, so it's even harder than before."

"Whatever, let's go." Diego rushed forward, map in hand, with Mary following closely behind. Their journey today was even longer than usual. If they didn't give it their all, they'd probably be sleeping rough again tonight. So the two of them barely exchanged words, concentrating solely on driving their horses.

The closer they got to their destination, the more severe the desertification became. Humanity's industrial civilization had to temporarily give way to nature, and now there were no more row upon row of buildings. They had to run for kilometers before they could see a flimsy, dilapidated hut.

Diego took out a mask and silently covered his mouth and nose, thinking that as long as he got a legacy of millions of dollars, he would never set foot in such a shabby place again.

Mary was thinking about Johnny during the long and boring run. Is he okay? Because she was afraid that the president would investigate Johnny, Mary could only, contrary to her usual practice, not send him any letters, for fear that Fanny would know how important Johnny was to her.

Otherwise, the previous separation and anger would happen again, and Mary no longer wanted to experience it again.

As long as she can successfully get the $100,000, she will take Johnny away and will never be targeted by Fani again!

But Mary didn't know that Johnny was on the verge of going crazy because of this incident.

The sound of the bullet being loaded was so clear. Tears welled up in Johnny's eyes, but his tone was calmer than ever before: "You promised me, but you didn't do it."

Manden, who was being held at gunpoint, lowered his head, his face full of regret and self-blame: "You're right, it was me... who didn't keep my promise."

"Then do you remember what your promise was?"

"Use your own life to protect Mary's safety."

"What was the result?" Johnny let the tears flow down his cheeks and pointed the muzzle of his gun at the man's eyebrows in front of him: "When Lilith's life or death was unknown, I warned Mary not to interfere, but not only did you let her interfere, you also brought her more trouble!" Even though the anger had burned out Johnny's reason, his hand holding the gun still did not tremble.

He has already made up his mind to kill

Manden wasn't afraid of death, but he knew that a disabled Johnny alone couldn't find Mary, so he whispered, "Mary isn't dead, and neither is Lilith, but we need to investigate their whereabouts. I know I have no credibility with you, but please believe me, I'm the only one who can help you now."

His chest heaved several times, and Johnny thought of himself a few days ago, when he was preparing lunch and waiting for Mary to come back. But he waited and waited, and when the sun set, the person he wanted to see still did not show up.

At first, he thought Mary had been delayed by something and was staying quietly at home. But when he didn't see Mary the next day, an inexplicable panic emerged in his mind, and he turned his wheelchair almost instantly and rushed out of the house.

His head was buzzing the whole way, filled with Mary's quiet silhouette. He himself didn't know how he found Diego's house, nor how he got here. He only knew that the door that stood before him, blocking his way, showed no sign of life.

Weeds grew wildly in the garden, and vines climbed over the high walls. There was no one in sight, either inside or outside the gate.

what is going on? !

He turned his wheelchair and asked random passers-by, but no one gave an answer.

Most people impatiently pulled back their clothes, telling him indifferently that they didn't know what was going on. A few lowered their voices and whispered that they heard gunshots. Others would ramble on and say they saw the president...

Although there is a lot of miscellaneous information, there is only one thing that is certain: this luxurious villa is empty and something bad has happened inside.

There is only one possible explanation for the current situation, that is, Mary really found evidence that Diego killed the old lady, and then... she was killed by Diego.

My fingers were trembling, and after coming to this conclusion, I felt my mind dizzy as if I had been thrown into an oxygen-free vacuum.

Why?

Why did the only person who cared about him die?

Why?

Why was it that just when he began to yearn for life, everything was ruthlessly shattered?

At this moment, he thought of the white mouse that was thrown into the jungle when he was young, he thought of his brother who should not have died, and he thought of himself who was able to laugh because of Mary.

"Ahh..." I've had enough.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" He had had enough of it all.

Tears flowed uncontrollably as Johnny thought of the man who had inexplicably entered their lives, Manden Tim. If it weren't for him, he and Mary would still be living peacefully together, there was no way they would be separated, and Mary would never have gotten into trouble!

He really wanted to kill the man, but it was undeniable that when Manden admitted in person that Mary was not dead, an unprecedented hope burst out in his heart.

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because I sneaked into Diego's house and found signs of a struggle on the fourth floor, and I saw bullet holes." Manden lowered the brim of his hat and said, "But there was no blood, and Diego's silver bullet disappeared. These signs can only mean that Mary and Diego were attacked by someone, but they also managed to escape."

He looked at the boy in front of him who was determined to kill someone and said, "I'm sorry, I will find Mary and give you an explanation."

"No, it's you and me." Manden watched the young man in front of him finally put the gun on the table next to him, but his eyes did not change at all.

There was an indescribable flame dancing in those blue pupils, which looked cold and deep. "I want to find Mary too. I want to see her alive or dead."

"Mr. Joestar, your leg..." Manden hadn't finished speaking when the young man raised his pistol again. "That's your concern, not mine." His voice was icy cold. "Remember, you're not in a position to negotiate with me right now. In my eyes, you're not some good cowboy, but the sinner who lost Mary."

Manden swallowed the advice in his mouth. Indeed, everything was caused by him.

Pulling down the brim of his hat, Manden twirled the rope in his hand as deftly as a living snake: "Then Mr. Joestar, let's get started."

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