Chapter 1003: Look at This
Luke coughed and said, “No, I’m just lamenting that the world is unpredictable.”
Robert looked at him suspiciously for a moment, before he finally gave up.
He was suspicious, but he had no proof.
They spent the day in New York City until five in the afternoon. Then, they returned to the villa and packed up, ready to go home the next day.
After a brief hesitation, Robert pulled Luke outside.
Walking along the street in the cold, Robert finally asked, “Did you hear anything about my old friend?”
Luke hesitated for a moment before he shook his head. “I only discovered that his real ident.i.ty is Frank Castle, but his family no longer lives in New York.”
Stumped for a moment, Robert was silent for a long time. “Then forget it. If he can return to a normal life, that’s better than anything else.”
Luke asked, “Is he very important to you?”
Robert sighed. “He saved my life — three times.”
He didn’t say anything else.
Luke naturally understood what he meant.
Robert was a very loyal man. Although he was usually rough and straightforward, he always remembered the favors he owed others, and would always return them when he had the chance.
It could be said that he was a very righteous man.
It was a good thing he entered the army when he was young. If he had joined a gang, he would’ve been dragged down and killed.
Frank Castle had saved him three times; this was a life debt, and a connection that couldn’t be shaken.
Luke could only rejoice that he hadn’t divulged the possibility that Frank might be in trouble, or Robert wouldn’t be able to rest easy.
Luke could only help Robert handle this matter.
Without Robert, Luke wouldn’t have been able to grow up well until he was eighteen.
There were a lot of nasty stepfathers. It was truly a blessing to meet someone like Robert, who was even better to him than an actual biological father.
Although he liked to bicker with Robert, Robert was his family.
Robert and Catherine were far more important to him than his deceased parents.
They had raised and protected him for more than ten years, and in Luke’s heart, that was stronger than blood ties.
After a brief chat, they returned to the villa.
Looking at their expressions, Catherine didn’t ask any questions. She simply had the two of them help pack.
On the morning of December 28th, Luke drove them to the airport early, and they went into the VIP lounge as usual.
Although he rarely flew, he had VIP cards for all the major airlines.
After sitting for a while, he got up and said that he was going to take a walk. He then went to enjoy the view near the airport runway.
In fact, he was doing a safety check with Sharp Nose and Elementary Sound Wave, which he was starting to become familiar with.
It wasn’t that he was paranoid, but on Christmas Eve, it was said that there had been a terrorist attack on a plane, which crashed at an airport in D.C..
As a result, the airports in New York had increased security, but Luke trusted himself more.
Suddenly, Selina sent him a short video with a message. “Look at this.”
Luke thought that she was bored and had sent him a video of the failed chocolate cake that her siblings had made.
The cake looked like a pile of sh*t at first glance, and it was rare that something could actually disgust him.
However, he still opened the video.
It showed the typical Texan wilderness, and then a huge pit.
There seemed to be something in the center of the pit, and a lot of people had gathered and were making a lot of noise.
Selina was standing on the side as she filmed the pit, and her voice rang out. “Is that a hammer?”
Luke was stunned for a moment; this scene felt a little familiar.
Then, Selina sent him a series of images and messages.
He took a look; she was probably walking along the side of the pit and taking photos as she moved.
Her messages read: “A lot of people are here.”
“There are people from the farms and pastures around Shackelford.”
“They’re pulling on the thing… It looks like a hammer.”
“They said that n.o.body can lift that hammer.”
“…That hammer looks like it’s welded to the ground.”
Looking at the images and messages, Luke cursed a rare “WTF” out loud, which attracted a lot of attention.
His voice wasn’t soft at all.
But he wasn’t in the mood to bother with them right now. He sent Selina a message, telling her to send photos, starting with the hammer and then working her way out.
Selina was already close to the hammer, so she didn’t think too much about it and did as he said.
Less than a minute later, Luke looked at the image in front of him and heaved a long sigh. “F*ck, are you kidding me? Is this the hammer?”
Even as he spoke, he immediately booked a ticket on the same flight as Robert and the others.
Plane tickets were tight around Christmas.
Thankfully, Luke had plenty of money and a VIP card. He secured the best seat in business cla.s.s, and then called Dustin to tell him that he was going back to his hometown for a few days.
Dustin himself was on vacation. He had only asked Luke to keep an open line, and cheerfully let Luke go.
If there really was an emergency, it would only take half a day for Luke to come back.
Walking back to the lounge, Luke looked at his family, who were chatting and resting, and said with a smile, “I thought about it. I’ll go back home with all of you for a few days. Happy? Surprised?”
Everybody was stunned for a moment, then smiled. Claire and Joseph surrounded him and started making a fuss.
A moment later, Luke sent Selina a message and told her to take her entire family to Houston.
No matter what excuse she came up with – she could say it was a New Year’s break for the Hayek family – she had to take everyone out for a few days.
Selina didn’t ask any questions. She simply agreed and went to make arrangements.
Luke, however, pondered how he was going to get his family out of Shackelford.
The region around the hammer wasn’t safe.
Thankfully, Robert was around, and he definitely understood how dangerous certain mysterious incidents could be.
Catherine usually didn’t say much, but she always had an idea of what was going on.
So, the only real problem was… his grandpa Drax.
It just so happened that the images and messages which Selina had sent indicated that the hammer was in the mountains not far from the ranch.
How could he get this hot-tempered old man out of his precious ranch?
Luke’s gaze soon stopped on Claire and Joseph. It seemed that he could only use his ultimate weapon — fight to the death and act like a spoiled child.
Making up his mind, Luke drew Robert and Catherine to one side and explained the situation and danger to them in a low voice.
After the incident with the big octopus on the cruise s.h.i.+p, they had a lot of faith in Luke, and easily accepted that another “mysterious incident” had happened again.