Chapter 297: Chapter 297: Kidnapped?
She found a less crowded spot to catch her breath, planning to go look for the others.
Tina Jacobs pushed against the flow of the crowd, heading back in, and soon ran into Diana Sharp.
Diana was holding takoyaki in her left hand and a few skewers of tanghulu in her right. When she saw Tina, she asked, "What are you doing here? Did you want to buy something to eat?"
Tina shook her head. "No, a crowd just split us up. I’m looking for Fred and the others."
"What?" Diana said in surprise. "Come on, let’s look for them together."
The two of them walked on and bumped into Easton. He was holding a bowl of stinky tofu, his eyes brimming with ravenous hunger. But with no free hands, he was growing more and more frantic, hoping to find the others so they could all eat together.
"How come it’s just you two? Where are the others?" Easton asked.
Tina Jacobs shrugged and explained again, "I don’t know. A crowd just came through and split us up. They’re probably still somewhere around here."
So the three of them started searching together. Before they began, they shared the bowl of stinky tofu and one of the tanghulu skewers, eating as they walked.
Easton and Diana Sharp asked Tina Jacobs, "Where were you guys when you got separated?"
Tina Jacobs walked a few steps to a pillar and pointed. "Right here. There were too many people, and I’m too short. I couldn’t hold on to them."
Easton and Diana understood. They were only kids, and ordinary ones at that; they just weren’t strong enough.
But they couldn’t risk getting separated again. The three of them stuck as close together as possible, searching through almost the entire tented area.
But they couldn’t find any sign of Frederick Shaw and the other two. Easton scratched his head. "Where could they have gone?"
Diana Sharp guessed, "Maybe they went back to the convenience store?"
Tina Jacobs made a snap decision. "I’ll go back to the convenience store and the lottery shop to check. If they’re not there, I’ll come back."
She turned to run but was grabbed by Easton. His expression was serious. He sensed something was wrong and seemed to have made a difficult decision.
"If you don’t see them, tell Frost immediately."
Diana Sharp’s jaw dropped. "Aren’t you afraid Frost will beat you up? You couldn’t even keep an eye on the younger ones."
Easton gritted his teeth. "That’s still better than them being missing. If he wants to beat me, he can beat me. It’s fine!" He psyched himself up.
Tina Jacobs took off running.
Easton and Diana Sharp continued searching the market area. The night market wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small either, and it was packed with people.
They were looking for children, who were short and small, making the search difficult.
The two of them made another round but still saw nothing. Just then, Tina Jacobs returned, leading Frost Shaw and Roman Rowe.
Roman Rowe asked anxiously, "Where are they? Where are Fred, Stewart Carter, and Julius Carter? How could they all disappear in such a short time?"
(Easton, Diana Sharp, Tina Jacobs, Stewart Carter, and Julius Carter were the five children Frost Shaw had taken in.)
Easton shook his head timidly. "I was just gone long enough to buy a snack. By the time I came back, they had already been separated."
’Could it be human traffickers?’
That was the first thing Frost Shaw and Roman Rowe thought of.
Those damn things existed whether it was the apocalypse or a civilized era, as resilient as cockroaches.
They existed in the apocalypse because certain wealthy people in the bases had pedophilic tendencies or simply wanted to adopt a child who wasn’t theirs.
But more often, it was starving survivors who would steal children to eat them. Their meat was tender, and they were obedient and easy to handle.
The moment he considered this possibility, Frost Shaw’s face darkened, and a sense of panic washed over Roman Rowe.
"You three head back first. I’m going to ask Boss Hart to check the surveillance footage," Frost Shaw said, ushering the three of them back.
After escorting the three little rascals back to the convenience store, Frost Shaw and Roman Rowe went to the lottery shop.
Lily Hart was about to close up. The customers outside had mostly dispersed. A night market was called a night market for a reason—it opened late.
"What’s wrong?" Lily Hart, who had been about to head upstairs, turned to look at the two of them. They both looked frantic, as if the sky were falling.
Frost Shaw got straight to the point. "Fred, Stewart Carter, and Julius Carter are missing."
"Huh?" Lily Hart was stunned for a moment before reacting immediately. "I’ll check the surveillance footage."
Back when the tents and hanging lights were installed, Lily Hart had also set up dozens of cameras, precisely to prevent any accidents.
Lily Hart shared the surveillance feed. They started from the time Easton and the others arrived at the night market, with each person watching a different time segment.
"I see them," Roman Rowe said. The other two immediately leaned in to look at his screen.
On the screen, Easton first went to buy stinky tofu while the others waited.
Then, Diana Sharp went to buy tanghulu and takoyaki, and the rest of them found a pillar to wait by.
There weren’t many people near this pillar, which was why Tina Jacobs had chosen it. But not long after they got there...
...several groups of people suddenly surged toward the pillar from all directions, unstoppable as a flood.
They were all heading in different directions. Tina Jacobs and the kids had been holding hands, but the crush of the crowd became so intense that they were forced to let go.
After that, each of them was pushed in a different direction, and they were separated.
Roman Rowe concluded, "They did it on purpose!"
Frost Shaw was already following the directions they were scattered in, checking the surveillance footage one by one.
But strangely, after being pushed apart, they never appeared on camera again.
Lily Hart was puzzled. "They couldn’t have just burrowed into the ground, could they?"
Frost Shaw’s eyes lit up. He actually remembered a superpower user just like that—an Earth Ability User.
If you asked what his specialty was, it was burrowing. As long as there was earth beneath him, he could hide without a sound.
He could also dig tunnels. A five-meter or even ten-meter-deep hole could form in an instant. And where did the earth go? He ate it.
’But back then, he couldn’t take people with him when he burrowed. Could he have improved in the last few years?’
Frost Shaw found his contact information and sent a message: [Bro, what have you been up to lately? Taken any jobs?]
They had completed a mission together once and were on good enough terms for Frost Shaw to be so direct.
The reply came back quickly: [Nah, just lying around.] As lazy with his typing as ever.
Frost Shaw quickly ruled him out. The guy never lied and was incredibly lazy; he’d need to rest for half a year after a single mission.
’It’s probably another Earth Ability User, or maybe some rare superpower.’
Lily Hart isolated the groups of people in the footage, took a screenshot, and sent it to Elder Shaw. At the same time, she relayed the information that the three kids had been abducted and asked him to help investigate. The reply came quickly.
None of those people could be found in the base’s system.
Her heart skipped a beat. ’Could they really be traffickers operating under the radar?’
But she felt that was unlikely. For them to be targeted on their one rare trip to the night market, it had to have been premeditated.
The night market had a Protective Shield and surveillance, but that could only guarantee protection from outside attacks. A silent abduction like this was truly difficult to prevent.
Lily Hart remembered they should have some System-issued items on them. Just as she was about to ask the System for help locating them, she received a message from Elder Shaw.
"Lily... It was The Mysterious Clan. They kidnapped Fred and the others to threaten me."
Judging by the text alone, he sounded calm. But if you were standing in front of him right now, you would see his fists clenched so tight they were trembling uncontrollably.
A corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily. For the first time, he hated The Mysterious Clan with such intensity.
Lily Hart sent a message back: "What do you need me to do?"
Elder Shaw looked at his Light Brain. The short sentence brought him an immense sense of security. He gradually calmed down and opened the video sent by the "kidnappers."
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter