SWNOVELS Chapter 499
Maddox took security seriously, so on the surface, it was just Joana and the cameraman strolling together, but he had also arranged for bodyguards to follow them.
Joana was such a scaredy-cat, she probably wouldn't wander too far, but the fact that she hadn't returned for so long was quite suspicious.
The production team noticed Joana's disappearance and had already sent out a search party, but there was no trace of her to be found. No one dared to make a fuss, but inside, they were freaking out. In these thick woods, a disappearance was definitely not a good sign.
The bodyguards and the cameraman were hulking brutes; it was impossible for them to vanish without a trace.
The walkie-talkie crackled to life, and after a few bursts of static, the voice of the patrol team came through. "This is Patrol Team Three. We haven't found Joana or the bodyguards and cameraman that were with her, but we found her watch dropped near their campsite."
Maddox's heart sank. Joana's watch was worth a small fortune, and she never took it off. "Keep looking," he instructed tersely.
Turning off the walkie-talkie, Maddox grabbed a stun baton and a flashlight and said to the bodyguards outside, "Everyone, follow me."
Jack panicked, "Boss, you can't go out there yourself!"
"If our guests are in trouble, how can I not go look for them?" Maddox's palms were sweaty. If anything happened to Joana, he'd never forgive himself.
The atmosphere had clearly taken a grim turn, and the online viewers noticed something was off. [Where's Joana?] they typed.
[Yeah, didn't she just go out to clear her head? Why hasn't she come back?]
[Did something happen?]
[Look, Astar and the others must be out looking for her.]
[Guys, I read in the news once about an adventure team that went into these woods. Three out of five died, and the other two went insane.]
[Holy cow, don't scare me like that!]
[Otherwise, explain this. There are so many cameras in these woods, so how could Joana and her cameraman just disappear into thin air? Her fans must've seen her leave, right? Does anyone know where she went?]
[Now that you mention it, I'm getting scared too. Look at Astar's expression, something serious must've gone down.] [Dang, I'm freaking out. I mean, I'm not a fan of Joana, but I don't want anything bad to happen to her either.]
[This better not be some publicity stunt by the production, right? Anyway, I don't believe in ghosts or anything.]
[Some people need to stop being so sarcastic. Don't you know how popular Mr. Maddox's show is? It's been number one for weeks; does he really need to pull stunts like this for attention?]
The tension in the chat got a little heavier, and meanwhile, Astar and the rest had been shouting for Joana as they searched, to no avail.
Naylor surveyed the area and said gravely, "She had four bodyguards and a cameraman with her. How could she just vanish?"
"Exactly," agreed Parrish. "We've been yelling her name till our throats are hoarse. Even if she got lost, she couldn't have gone too far." He muttered, then added, "Even if she didn't have her phone, those bodyguards and the cameraman do. How can they all just disappear? Hey, Chubby, are you sure you can't reach your colleague?"
Chubby, lugging his camera, shook his head in dismay.
Parrish couldn't help but grumble, "This is getting weird. What, did they evaporate or something?"
Astrid and Elio had been silent the whole time, prompting some viewers to start throwing shade at Astrid. [Astrid and Joana never got along. If Joana's in trouble, Astrid's probably celebrating on the inside, right?]