Defying Fate: The Unstoppable Eileen

Chapter 99

Major Warner had had it with Eileen.

He walked briskly, but Eileen trailed behind him like a shadow.

Major Warner turned around and said, “I’ve already made the call for you, and I have also asked the financial department of the TV station. They said your prize money will be sent after the advertisers clear this round of business expenses. You stalking me won’t speed things up.”

Hands in her pockets, Eileen stubbornly retorted, “They told me you’re the big cheese. If not you, who should I badger?”

Major Warner was irate, “You nagging me won’t do squat. I’m not the one with the cash.”

Eileen didn’t reply, just kept tailing him. Finally Major Warner led Eileen to the show director, attempting to pass the buck, “He’s the director. Bug him.”

Eileen’s gaze immediately switched to the director.

The director, already aware of the situation, hurriedly defended, “What power does a director have? The one with the most power is certainly the person in charge. They’re the ones who coordinate with all parties and allocate resources.”

Eileen’s gaze switched back to Major Warner.

In the end, Major Warner had no other choice but to make another call back home to inquire about the quickest possible time for the prize money to be disbursed.

After some calculations, the finance department conservatively estimated, “At the soonest, three months.”

Major Warner relayed the news to Eileen, who was taken aback, “Three months at the earliest?” Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Major Warner replied, “There’s a process to prize money disbursement. Have you ever seen it handed out lickety-split?”

Eileen was utterly frustrated.

During her shower, she stewed in her anger, only finding some relief after using copious amounts of the show’s shower gel.

After her shower, Eileen saw Egbert sending off two unfamiliar men she had previously met in the camp.

A towel hung around her neck. She held the ends of the towel, grumbling. “They said the prize money won’t come in for three months. Just thought you should know, I’m outta here.”

Egbert watched her retreating figure, and only after a while did he let the curtain fall.

Despite the champion being crowned, the show hadn’t wrapped up. Many teams were still in the game.

The next morning, as Egbert was on a call inside his tent, someone outside called for him. He hung up and stepped out. It was the show’s staff, asking if those who had finished early would like to wait for the other teams or return home first.

Egbert glanced at Eileen’s.tent not far away and asked, “What did they say?”

The staff replied, “Still checking with the others.”

Egbert headed straight for Eileen’s tent.

“Hey, Mr. Reed, good morning. You planning on heading back or sticking around?” Eddie emerged from another tent, greeting Egbert with a smile.

Egbert ignored him and arrived at Eileen’s tent.

At the entrance of Eileen’s tent, a staff member had been calling for a while, “Ms. Lopez, Ms. Lopez, are you awake?”

Egbert frowned, “She’s not up yet?”

The staff member replied, “Doesn’t seem like she’s out of bed.”

Egbert looked inside, knowing Eileen was a light sleeper and wouldn’t sleep through all this commotion. His face turned serious instantly, and he yanked the curtain open, only to find the tent empty.

Eileen was gone.

In just a few short minutes, the entire campsite became aware that Eileen, the first-place winner from yesterday, of Team 01, had gone missing.

Egbert’s face darkened.

Upon hearing the news, Lucas, Elaine, and Burton rushed out anxiously to search. The director was alerted too, asking irritably, “Who was the last one to see her?”

A soldier said, “I saw her on her way to wash up this morning.”

Egbert turned to the soldier, “And then?”

The soldier shook his head, “Then I didn’t see her.”

Burton was on the verge of panic, “Where on earth did she go?”

Elaine was even more frantic, “This is bad. Grandpa told me to take good care of her before he left. She didn’t get lost, did she?”

“No way!” Burton rebuked his sister. He then turned to Egbert, “Mr. Reed, what should we do now?”

Egbert kept his lips sealed, scanning the area. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, “Is someone missing from the camp?”

“What’s going on? What happened?” Major Warner, alerted by the commotion, stepped out of the surveillance room. The director quickly filled him in on Eileen’s disappearance.

After a moment of silence, Major Warner looked around with a complex expression and said to the crowd, “Follow me.”

Egbert was puzzled.

Everyone followed Major Warner into the surveillance room.

“Switch to the internal channel.” Major Warner instructed the soldier operating the surveillance system.

Upon pressing a button, the image on the biggest screen in the surveillance room flickered. On the screen, there was a line of defenşe soldiers, shirtless and wearing military pants, conducting a strenuous uphill run while carrying heavy loads as part of their morning exercise routine.

Major Warner pointed at a tiny figure in clothes trailing behind the defense soldiers and ordered, “Zoom in!”

The soldier magnified the image. Then everyone saw it.

A ponytailed Eileen, donning a camouflage vest, was leisurely striding along behind the regular army.

Major Warner complained, “She insisted on training with the defense squad. They didn’t want to take her, but she kept tagging along, just couldn’t be

shaken off.”

As Major Warner finished, he looked around at everyone again and finally said to Egbert, “Why don’t you go get her? The defense squad’s fed up with her. I noticed she seemed to listen to you back in the jungle.”