The husband and wife were half-convinced by their daughter's words, only believing her after Sonita brought out the robot head as proof. The group immediately began preparations, setting the departure date for two days later, planning to drive there. A long-lost smile appeared on Daechir's face; she felt that this time her dream would finally come true. On the day of departure, the couple sat in the front, with Sonita and Kit in the back. It was a manual van, very old. Once everyone was settled, the car started. The journey from Lucapa to Eagle's Nest crossed three countries, a distance of nearly four thousand kilometers, requiring them to pass through a primeval forest. Daechir was placed on the dashboard to act as a navigator. After driving for eleven hours, the car suddenly stopped on a road in Shamuteba. "Dad, what's wrong?" Sonita asked.
"Seems like a problem with the tire. I'll get out and check." A short while later, the man returned to the car. He shook his head, spread his hands, and said helplessly, "It's the tires."
"Don't we have a spare?" the woman asked.
"We do, but both rear tires are punctured, and we only have one spare."
"What do we do now? There's no repair shop here," Sonita interjected anxiously.
Just then, a car drove by. Kit rushed out of the car, waving his hands to stop it. But the car didn't stop. It wasn't until the fifth car that someone was finally willing to help. The person happened to have a spare tire. The man bought it and spent over an hour changing the wheel. He was sweating profusely from the effort. After a few minutes' rest, they were back on the road. Sonita asked worriedly, "Dad, what if the tires go flat again?"
The man laughed, "We can't be that unlucky, can we?"
"If there's a repair shop ahead, we should get the two spares patched up first, just to be safe." Sonita's worries did not materialize; the car moved forward smoothly. They were now crossing a grassland, a boundless green ocean on both sides. Just as everyone was immersed in the beautiful scenery, the car screeched to a halt with a sudden brake, stopping because a herd of wildebeest had suddenly rushed out from the side of the road. After waiting for more than ten minutes, the animals showed no sign of leaving. Kit said impatiently, "I'll get out and shoo them away."
"Don't get out! They'll attack you if they get scared," the man warned.
"Then how long do we have to wait?"
"I'm tired from driving anyway. Let's just take it as a break."
Sonita taunted from the side, "Kit, if you want to die, just get out. Then the treasure will belong to our family."
"On what grounds? We should split it fifty-fifty."
"What! You alone want to take half?" Sonita said with great dissatisfaction.
"Of course. Daechir is my robot. Without her, you guys wouldn't get anything."
"Alright, you two. You haven't even found the treasure yet, and you're already fighting over it. Don't you think that's ridiculous?" the woman coaxed.
"Mom, look how greedy this person is," Sonita continued, unrelenting.
Half an hour passed, and the wildebeest finally left. The car continued on its way. The journey was quiet. Kit, feeling bored, called out to the front, "Crazy woman, sing a song."
"I don't want to sing. You sing if you want to."
"I'll sing!" Sonita volunteered. A moment later, a beautiful melody filled the car. The lyrics went, "Well I don't know why you come here, But you can't stay, Let's make that clear, Your eyes are closed but you don't speak, Is it comfort that you seek..."
When the song ended, Kit couldn't help but clap. "You sing really well, no worse than the crazy woman."
"Thank you!" Sonita was praised and her heart blossomed with joy.
"After this grassland, it's about another hundred kilometers to a town. Do we need to stay there for the night?" Daechir, acting as navigator from the dashboard, asked.
"Dad, what do you think?"
"Of course. I'm tired too." The small town of Froussa was located at the foot of the famous Drakensberg mountains. Its excellent location, nestled between mountains and water, made it a representative of African small-town scenery, attracting tens of thousands of tourists by car every year. Although the town had a population of only over seven hundred, it was fully equipped with all facilities, from star-rated hotels to entertainment venues, museums, a police station, clinics, churches, and more. It was nearly dusk when Kit and the others arrived in town. They got out of the car, looking for cheap accommodation, but there were only two hotels, and the prices were ridiculously high. "Why is it so expensive?" the woman whispered.
The price for a room was five hundred and forty Star Coins per night, several times higher than the cost of a room at their own inn. "Dad, let's just sleep in the car tonight!"
Kit immediately objected, "How can we sleep in the car? We can't even stretch our legs."
"If you have money, go get a room yourself," Sonita retorted angrily. Kit touched his pocket, and most of his anger deflated. At the same time, he thought, "How is this family as poor as I am? What bad luck."
In the end, they chose a compromise: sleeping on an open space in front of the church. As the temperature dropped lower and lower into the night, Kit shivered with cold and unconsciously hugged Sonita, who was sleeping beside him. The girl, sleeping soundly, suddenly felt a warm breath on her face. She opened her eyes to see Kit's mouth blowing air at her nostrils. Her expression changed drastically. With a smack, she sat up and slapped him hard across the face, shouting angrily, "You pervert!"
Kit clutched his face in bewilderment. "Why did you hit me? What did I do?" The couple, not far away, were woken up and asked simultaneously, "What's wrong with you two?"
Sonita stood up crying and ran to her parents, pointing at Kit and saying, "He bullied me."
"You're lying! I was asleep just now. I don't know anything," Kit immediately defended himself.
Sonita refused to go back to her spot to sleep and lay down next to her parents. Kit, being wrongly accused, was too angry to sleep. An idea for a prank came to his mind. When the family of three was fast asleep, he quietly got up and stuffed a small beetle into the back of the girl's collar. He had just found it on a tree. The beetle had an armor-like shell, was black and white all over, had a Y-shaped horn on its head, and six pairs of legs, each with a claw at the end. After doing this, he quickly returned to his spot and lay down. A moment later, an incredibly shrill scream pierced the night sky. Kit pretended to be asleep, not moving a muscle. After her father helped her deal with the bug, Sonita walked over to Kit, fuming. While he was lying on his side, she kicked him in the butt. "I know it was you." Sonita wasn't sure, so she kicked lightly. Kit remained still, afraid he would laugh out loud. "Hey, are you dead?" she said, kicking him again, much harder this time.
Kit rubbed his eyes, turned over, and sat up, muttering, "Can't you let a person sleep?"
"Did you put this bug in my clothes?" Sonita asked, holding the beetle in her hand.
Kit shook his head like a rattle-drum. "Don't you dare accuse me wrongly. I'm very afraid of bugs."