Chapter 323 Futility

Chapter 323 Futility

William had a smile on his face. He even asked Dylan to buy him a cup of coffee and pick up a grilled sausage for him.

Then he sat down on a chair by the roadside, eating as he watched.

Benjamin still wouldn't give up, even lying there on the ground.

"You can hit me, and I can pay you for it."

"But sir, I just want to ask, have you seen my wife?"

The owner of the wonton soup shop heard him bringing it up again.

Furious, he threw down his strainer and kicked Benjamin's chest directly.

"Bastard, are you ever going to stop?"

William held his coffee in his left hand and the grilled sausage in his right.

Food he normally wouldn't even touch now seemed to have a special flavor.

When the owner stopped, it wasn't out of fear—he was just worn out from beating him.

He was breathing heavily, resting with his hands on his knees.

Benjamin's head was already bleeding, blood trickling down from his forehead.

He struggled to stand up, his legs unsteady, his body swaying.

"Sir..."

He felt his pockets, and his eyes grew dim.

He had no money on him, and no photo of Isla either.

The owner took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

"I'm really scared of you."

Then he picked up the strainer and fished out Benjamin's phone.

The phone had been boiled in the pot and wouldn't turn on anymore.

The owner tossed the phone onto the table and said coldly, "Get lost!"

"Don't let me see you again."

Perhaps feeling guilty, or perhaps knowing he was in the wrong, the owner didn't continue pressing for compensation.

Benjamin bowed to him apologetically, then kept fiddling with his phone and tried several more times.

It still wouldn't turn on.

In that instant, his tense body could no longer support him, and his back hunched even more.

People came and went on the snack street, with few stopping to look.

They walked past in a hurry, gave him a brief glance, then disappeared back into the crowd.

Under the patchy streetlights, Benjamin shuffled forward with his hunched back, limping along.

Without his phone and no photo on him, he didn't know what to do next.

But a voice in his heart kept telling him: Are you giving up just like this? Don't you want to find your wife?

Benjamin finally lifted his head, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and walked very slowly, his gaze scanning the snack shops on both sides of the street one by one.

He did it all just to find the next wonton soup shop, because the private detective had told him that the owner of a wonton soup shop had once seen his wife.

William finished his grilled sausage and watched as Benjamin disappeared into the crowd, his figure gradually fading away.

"Let's go!"

"Back home."

After eating the late-night snack, William suddenly felt nauseous.

He normally didn't eat anything at this hour.

Just one grilled sausage and half a cup of coffee, and his stomach was already protesting.

William held his stomach and, as he got into the passenger seat, looked back one more time.

Suddenly, he turned to Dylan. "Don't you think he's too easy to fool?"

"Hasn't he considered that the information might be fake?"

Dylan thought for a moment. "Maybe... maybe when you miss someone so much, you dream of finding them."

"Whether the information is true or false, you'll try everything you can."

"Because he doesn't want to give up the last shred of hope, even if that hope is tiny."

William fell silent.

He closed his eyes. Through the car window, he could hear the noise of the night outside.

Too many people were talking, too many voices mixing together. All those voices turned into noise, and he really couldn't make out what anyone was saying.

He just felt annoyed and suffocated, wanting to leave this place quickly.

William stopped paying attention. He didn't know that after they left, Benjamin still hadn't given up searching.

Without his phone or any photos, he started using words to describe, describing what Isla looked like in his eyes.

He told the wonton soup shop owners what kind of dress Isla liked to wear, what her face looked like, and the way she talked.

The busy shop owners listened as he described and gestured wildly.

They all looked confused, unable to understand.

He found five wonton soup shops on this street in total.

After each description, he would bow to show his thanks.

One owner, seeing his injuries and hospital gown, thought he was a beggar and offered him a free meal, but Benjamin refused.

Without money and with an unusable phone, he could only walk back to the hospital from the night market on foot.

By the time he reached the hospital, both legs were sore and swollen.

His toes and ankles had been rubbed raw.

With each step, his slippers scraped against the open wounds, making him gasp in pain.

The security guard at the entrance saw him, and not only did he not stop him, but he even stepped aside to let him through.

When Benjamin returned to room 406, he was too exhausted to wash up and collapsed straight onto the hospital bed.

When his body relaxed, the pain from his head and chest surged up all at once.

He hurt so much he couldn't even turn over, because just lifting his arm slightly would pull at the wound on his chest.

He curled up on the hospital bed, lying on his side.

After closing his eyes, he kept murmuring Isla's name.

"Where are you?"

"What did I do wrong for you to leave me?"

"Why did you leave without saying goodbye, without even a letter?"

"Even if you don't want to see me, you should at least call me, so I know how you're doing."

The next morning, William sent someone to bring him a new phone with all the data copied over and every contact saved.

After receiving the phone, Benjamin immediately called the private detective.

But this time, he didn't get any useful information.

Because the private detective didn't know what lie to make up that wouldn't raise suspicion, he could only come up with a temporary excuse.

"I'm investigating an important lead."

"When the investigation makes progress, I'll contact you. Goodbye."

After hearing this news, Benjamin just lay back down on the bed in disappointment.

When William came to the hospital, he immediately arranged for a doctor to give Benjamin a full body examination.

After discovering Benjamin had a mild concussion and that his sternum also had slight fractures, he immediately arranged surgery for him.

Throughout this process, William waited at the hospital.

He wanted to personally confirm that Benjamin was safe and sound.

He couldn't die.

If he died, William wouldn't be able to see that person, full of hope, make every effort, never understanding that no matter what he did, it would all be futile.

Because his hope didn't exist at all.

After the surgery was completed, William walked into the hospital room. Benjamin's emotions seemed agitated.

"Why didn't you protect Isabella?"