Chapter 775: Coming to the Door on One’s Own

Chapter 775: Coming to the Door on One’s Own

"He's the one who brought you here. Without him, Fiona never would have had a chance to get close to you."

William's face was filled with anger. If it weren't for Philip, none of this would have happened.

"He was fooled by Fiona too."

Margaret looked around. Fiona had been arrested, so it was time to tell Philip the truth.

"Now he's suddenly disappeared. Could it have something to do with Fiona?"

Margaret asked, then winced as a sharp pain shot through her shoulder again.

"Hiss..."

William noticed something was wrong and quickly lifted the back of Margaret's shirt. There on her smooth skin was an ugly purple bruise.

William frowned, his eyes full of concern.

"I'm going to find her right now."

He couldn't believe Calla had hurt Margaret this badly. When Calla kidnapped Margaret before, William hadn't had the chance to deal with her. Now, it seemed, she had brought this on herself.

"That can wait."

Margaret shook her head, though she knew Calla had to be punished.

Seeing how bad Margaret's injury was, William let out a long breath and sat back down beside her. He picked up the first aid kit and gently cleaned her back.

It still stung a little, but Margaret could tell William was being as gentle as he could.

He picked up a cotton swab, dabbed it in iodine, and carefully applied it to her back.

A moment later, Margaret took a deep breath. He was done.

The way William handled it so gently, he must have practiced how to be careful about this before.

The thought made her smile at him.

"Officer, we're missing someone from our group. Could you help us look for him?"

Margaret stood up and spoke to the nearby police officer in the local language.

Philip going missing was serious. They needed to find him as soon as possible.

The officer looked surprised that Margaret spoke the local language so well.

He nodded. "Don't worry, we'll help you find him."

Soon, the group headed up the mountain together to look for Philip.

Halfway up the mountain, Philip suddenly realized the people around him had all gone.

Not only were William and the others missing, but even the tourists who had been climbing alongside him had vanished.

The mountain wind kept blowing past his ears, and Philip started to feel uneasy.

He looked around. There was still no one in sight.

The higher you went, the steeper the mountain got. He stared at the endless trail ahead and lost himself in thought.

He had no idea what was happening down below. He wished he hadn't rushed ahead so quickly.

Philip stamped his foot in frustration, and a few small rocks broke loose and tumbled down the slope.

He swallowed hard. Going up seemed wrong, but turning back didn't feel right either.

He was stuck.

Now that he thought about it, he had faintly heard William calling his name earlier, but he had been too focused on climbing to pay attention.

Looking back now, he realized he was the one who had wandered off from the group.

Philip started kicking himself.

He found a spot to sit down, pulled a bottle of water from his backpack, and drank it in big gulps.

Fiona's face drifted into his mind.

She was so delicate. He wondered if she could handle a climb this steep.

Lost in thought, he had already drunk half the bottle.

He thought about heading back down, but after climbing for so long, turning around felt like giving up.

He looked toward the summit. Usually there were people living somewhere on a mountain like this. Maybe he should go up and see if anyone was around.

With that in mind, Philip pushed himself to keep climbing.

The short rest had helped him recover, so the climb wasn't too bad now.

By late afternoon, Philip started to feel lightheaded. The mountain was incredibly steep, and after a full day of climbing, his body was starting to give out.

The sky grew darker, and Philip swallowed nervously.

Who knew what might be lurking on the mountain at night. He was all alone, and he wasn't sure he could handle whatever came his way.

And sure enough, his fears came true. Philip turned around and spotted a snake moving toward him.

He instinctively stepped back, but he was on the slope with nowhere to go.

As the snake crept closer, Philip grabbed a few rocks off the ground and threw them at it.

But instead of scaring the snake away, it only made it angrier.

Just as the snake was about to strike, a rock came flying and hit it hard.

The snake stopped moving. Then a man stepped forward and slammed it with an iron rod, killing it on the spot.

Philip let out a breath of relief and turned to the stocky man standing in front of him.

"Thank you so much."

The man shook his head as if to say it was nothing, then glanced around at Philip's surroundings.

"You're alone?"

"Yeah."

Philip nodded. "I got separated from my group and ended up here."

"Come with me."

The man waved him over, and Philip followed.

The man led Philip to a cave halfway up the mountain where a family lived.

Philip thanked them one by one. Luckily, they were kind enough to let him stay the night.

Philip had been leaving markers along the way for William and the others, so he wasn't worried about them not being able to find him.

And so Philip spent the night with the family on the mountain.

Meanwhile, William and Margaret had spent the entire afternoon searching for Philip, following his footprints step by step up the mountain trail. Along the way they spotted the markers he had left, so they didn't get lost.

As it grew dark, the police officers had brought tents along and found a relatively flat spot to camp for the night.

The next morning, as soon as the sky began to lighten, the group set off again to find Philip.

On a hillside, they found one of the markers he had left behind.

From there, they could see that Philip had changed direction at some point. Instead of continuing straight ahead, he had turned off another way.

They followed the markers and eventually found the family Philip had stayed with.

One of the officers went up and knocked on the door first. The woman of the house came out to answer.

The officer explained why they were there, and soon the group was invited inside.

When Philip saw Margaret and the others, he rushed over to meet them.

"You finally made it."

Philip told Margaret everything that had happened the night before, then pointed to the family beside him. "These people saved me last night. If it weren't for them, I probably would have been eaten by some wild animal or a snake."