Chapter 580 - Humans

After some time, Matthew, Vivian, and Zoey left the country club. Vivian took a different car while the two took Matthew's car.

To Zoey's surprise, Paul and the bodyguards weren't there. It was just the two of them with Matthew on the driver's seat while Zoey on the front seat.

As the fresh fruity scent with a touch of Matthew's perfume wafted into her nose, Zoey glanced at Matthew as he buckled up his seat. After he did so, he turned his head to her direction and checked if she had already buckled her seat.

"Let me," He offered, not waiting for her to respond as he leaned in and did her seatbelt. "You always had this habit of not buckling your seat."

Matthew uttered as he finished buckling her seat. Upon hearing him, Zoey arched her right brow and watched him draw away.

"You sound as if I always do this." Zoey blinked her eyes innocently, tilting her head to the side as she only recalled a few times she rode with him.

Most of them, the two of them were on the backseat. Thus, what was he talking about? Zoey didn't consider the many times she didn't unbuckle her seat in their previous life as she didn't consider Matthew to be having memories from that lifetime.

"Uh… because you do." Matthew cleared his throat, giving out a half truth and lie.

Well, Zoey had this habit in their previous life. But, during this lifetime, she somehow changed the habit or rather, she was forced to since she maneuvered the car recklessly as if she was in a race.

"Huh?"

"There's a lot of times you don't buckle your seat." Matthew looked away as he started the engine.

"Oh…" Zoey nodded in understanding. She didn't probe longer as she leaned and relaxed back in her seat.

Silence enveloped the inside of the car as neither of them talked. Matthew focused his eyes on the road, trying to ignore his other thoughts about his brief encounter with Churu and the shady grim-reaper.

On the other hand, Zoey constantly glanced at his side profile. She pursed her lips in a thin line, clearing her throat to put a pause in this deafening silence.

"By the way," Zoey started, causing Matthew to raise his brows but didn't take his eyes away from the road.

"Hmm?"

"I am expecting a container in a week." After a lot of consideration, Zoey finally decided to let Matthew know about everything.

After all, if she was asking for his help, she figured she needed to tell him details of her plan. Thus, for starters, Zoey decided to tell him about the container she was expecting before proceeding to her next course of actions regarding Cecil.

Zoey was aware that Cecil's existence was a threat to her. Even if they were business partners now, the latter could always betray her when he wanted to. It was just a matter of time.

"A container?" Matthew repeated in a questioning tone, arching his right brow as he already knew about it. "The container containing smuggled weapons?" 

Without a second hesitation, Matthew asked for clarification. Zoey furrowed her brows as he sounded as if he knew about it.

"I've been worried about your activities. So, I did a little research." Matthew explained, sensing her intent gaze. 

"I'm sorry."

He added with a sigh. He didn't want to keep more secrets than he was already keeping. At the very least, he wanted to come clean despite knowing that it would definitely displease her.

Zoey pursed her lips in a thin line and heaved a sigh. "It's fine, I guess. That saves me trouble from explaining. But, they're not smuggled weapons."

Matthew once again furrowed his brows. He was certain Paul said they were smuggled weapons. Matthew had assumed Zoey would present them to Nikolai to make an alliance and had more weapons.

But thinking about it now, Matthew had to step back and ponder over it more. If they were smuggled weapons that the Silvestri would need, there were only two possible reasons: to participate in an underground war or sell them in the black market.

Zoey took a deep breath and exhaled it before she started explaining her current situation. 

"My current client, the Feng Estate, I don't know if you already know but the real boss behind the company is Cecil -- he is pretending to be Feng Jimmy's assistant. They are using the Feng Estate as their front business while being one of the biggest distributors of drugs in the country." 

"I know." Matthew responded as he cast her a side eye before reverting his gaze back ahead. "I know Cecil, but I don't trust him." 

Matthew explained briefly that surprised Zoey a little. However, with his current activities, it would be more surprising if Matthew was kept in the dark about this matter.

"You're associated with him?" Zoey asked, her eyes fixed on his side profile. 

When Matthew nodded as an answer, Zoey needed a minute to take the information in. In her previous life, the Feng Estate was involved in a scandal that led to its bankruptcy. Zoey read that Jimmy Feng was put behind bars.

Slowly, Zoey stared at Matthew's side profile for a moment before asking, "It's your doing?" 

Matthew's lips parted before he closed them again. He nearly answered 'yes', as he figured Zoey was asking about their previous life. However, answering her would also add confusion and suspicion from her.

"Nevermind." Zoey shook her head sideways as she knew Matthew didn't know what he was about to do in the future, unlike her who came eight years from the future.

"So, what I'm saying is, it's not smuggled weapons. It's worse than that." 

Back to the main topic, Zoey heaved another heavy sigh as she turned her head to the window, seeing the side road flash by.

"If it's not smuggled weapons, what is it?"

There was a long silence after Matthew dropped his question. Slowly, Zoey finally returned her eyes back to him and opened her lips.

"Humans."