Chapter 370
She slammed on the brakes.
Had she hit something?
Sophia gripped the steering wheel tightly, frozen in shock.
On the other end, Sebastian heard the tremendous impact first, then silence from Sophia—
"Sophia?! Can you hear me?! Sophia!!"
He immediately knew something was wrong.
He grabbed his car keys and bolted out the door.
Once in his car, he started the engine while dialing—
"Find Sophia Sullivan's exact location within five minutes... And have a team on standby, ready to go..."
Meanwhile, Sophia, still shaken, looked out her window.
Cautiously, she didn't exit the vehicle immediately, first ensuring all doors and windows were locked.
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm.
Sophia Sullivan quickly regained her composure.
The high beams flashed, blinding her momentarily.
She slammed on the brakes instinctively.
The sound of impact echoed.
But she was certain she hit an object, not a person.
Why was there something on the road?
Just before the high beams lit up, the road was clearly empty.
Unless…
It appeared out of nowhere.
Ruling out the supernatural, only one possibility remained—it was deliberate.
Sophia waited in the car for five minutes.
There was no movement.
She decided to get out and investigate.
She grabbed her phone and retrieved a folding knife from the glove compartment.
The blade was compact, easily concealed in her palm.
Exiting the car, she scanned her surroundings first.
Two overhead streetlights were broken, casting a dim glow.
There was a scratch on the front bumper.
She had hit a metal crate.
The crate was rusted, with visible weld marks and several dents that had been hammered out.
Sophia frowned.
A metal crate in the middle of the road late at night?
It felt like it was placed there just for her.
She immediately took photos for evidence.
Just as she was about to return to her car, her phone rang.
It was Sebastian Evans.
She moved to answer, but three men suddenly rushed from the trees beyond the guardrail.
Sophia instantly reached for the car door.
One of them was faster, shoving the door shut.
It slammed closed with force.
"You're blocking my door," Sophia said, looking up, her tone even.
All three men had square jaws and upturned eyes, resembling family.
The one blocking the door was a tall, lean middle-aged man.
He sneered. "Think you can just hit something and drive off? Not that easy!"
A heavier man chimed in. "Yeah!"
An older man threw himself onto the hood, clutching the metal crate and wailing. "Our heirloom is ruined! I can't face our ancestors!"
The heavier man rushed to support the older man. "Dad, don't do this!"
The lean man kept the door blocked. "You have to pay! You must compensate us!"
Sophia understood.
This was a setup.
She gave a light laugh. "A metal crate is an heirloom? Do I look that easy to fool?"
The lean man snorted. "The treasure is inside the crate! Big brother, show her!"
The heavier man opened the crate, revealing a pile of fragments.
"This is a Tang Dynasty blue and white porcelain! Passed down for generations! It's auction-house quality!"
The older man puffed on a pipe. "Young lady, we're not trying to cause trouble. But this treasure is something our whole family venerates. We hardly dared to touch it."
Sophia countered calmly, "If it's such a venerated treasure, why was it in the middle of the road at midnight? And inside a metal crate?"
The older man sighed. "We were moving today. It was temporarily stored in the crate. We were waiting by the roadside for a ride when you swerved and hit it. We almost died!"
"I was driving straight, never veered to the side. How could I have hit something on the roadside?" Sophia's gaze was sharp. "Unless the crate was already in the middle of the road."
The lean man roared, "Are you saying we're scamming you?"
Sophia replied coolly, "Aren't you?"
"Fine! We are scamming you! You're not leaving today without paying!"
Sophia's expression turned cold. "If we can't agree, let's call the police. There are traffic cameras on this stretch, and my car has a dash cam. We'll see what really happened."
The lean man's face changed.
The older man hurriedly tried to mediate. "Young lady, just pay a little something, and we can all walk away."
Sophia subtly stepped back.
The lean man immediately advanced.
She pulled out her phone to call the police.
The lean man snatched it from her hand. "You refuse the easy way? Fine! If you don't hand over five hundred thousand today, I'll slash your pretty face!"