Chapter 165: Memories

Jane was the first to regain her composure as she dispersed the toxic smoke. With her manipulation of air pressure, she made sure that the smoke cleared.

"Mia?! Mia!" Miser cried out as he could not see her figure anywhere.

Hugh was also worried as Mia was out of his vision. Even with his eagle eyes, he could not see Mia anywhere. It was as if she disappeared out of nowhere.

He knew at this point that she had been kidnapped. It was easy to guess that this was a premeditated plan since they made sure to occupy them before they made their move on Mia.

Hugh pinked up one of the bandits in the mud and raised him in the air. The bandit's body was full of bruises and cuts, and he was almost out of consciousness.

"Where is she?" Hugh asked. He made sure to put more pressure on the bandit's collar so that he would speak the truth.

The bandit struggled in the air, wiggling his arms with a smile on his legs to try and break free. However, Hugh's grip was too strong to break.

"Don't bother. Tell me now or else you will experience the worst pain in your life," Hugh threatened the bandit once again.

The bandit was still adamant in keeping his mouth shut. He did not want to be the person who betrays his comrades.

"Mia?! Mia?!!" Miser continued to call out. He refused to believe that Mia was out of his sight he did not want to believe it, he could not afford to lose her again.

Darren smacked himself in the face as he realized that he had failed his mission. He vowed to himself that he would protect Mia at all costs, but he let the perpetrator getaway.

"Darren, where is she? You saw her, right?" Miser asked Darren with insanity in his eyes.

Darren could not help but be silent at Miser's question. He did not dare tell Miser the truth right now or else Miser would truly lose his head.

"Where…where…Mia…," Miser uttered as his knees soon buckled. In this situation, he could not help but live in the cruel reality.

On his knees, Miser grabbed the soil on the ground and smashed it into his hands. He was once again helpless as Mia got abducted.

How many more times must this happen before he truly lost Mia once and for all?

"You…," Miser said as he soon raised his head and looked at the bandit that Hugh was holding up.

"Tell me!" Miser rushed towards the bandit. "Tell me where she is!!!"

Miser tackled the bandit with his whole body and pinned him to the ground. Then, he started to punch the bandit with all of his strength.

His knuckles ached as soon as he hit the guy's face, but he did not care. He wanted to vent his anger, anxiousness, nervousness, and many more to the bandit who helped his daughter get kidnapped.

Jane also bent down next to the captive bandit and put her hands on top of his mouth. With her Desire, she deprived the bandit of his oxygen.

"Don't waste your breath," Jane said as she watched the bandit get suffocated.

Jane waited until the bandit started to lose consciousness until she let the bandit breathe once again.

"Gaahhh!" the bandit gasped. He felt relief as the oxygen entered his lungs.

However, Jane was not a benevolent captor. She once again covered the bandit's mouth and suffocate him. The bandit was left to suffer.

With this kind of torture, the bandit soon cracked and told everyone the truth.

It turned out that the bandits were hired by a third party to ambush the carriage. They paid upfront and with sufficient enough funds, so the bandits complied.

Their only instructions were to stop the carriage and fight the guards. Then, with their distraction, Mia would be dragged away.

This was not the worst thing that the bandits had done, so they thought that the mission was simple. They even felt like it was easy money, but it did not enter their minds that multiple chosen would guard the carriage.

"Did your employer give his name?" Hugh asked.

The bandit shook his head. "No. We met only at his indiscretion, and he never showed his face."

Hugh racked his brains thinking up possible reasons why Mia was kidnapped.

It could not have been the commander since they were still ways away behind them. Then, it must have been another third party who knew Mia's true lineage.

Hugh looked at Kiser and gave him a look. They both excused themselves from the situation and talked away from the crowd.

"Do you know any others who know about Mia?" Hugh asked. "Are there any other reasons why they want to get Mia?"

Miser balled up his fist. Just thinking of those bastards who wanted to capture his daughter boils his blood. He did not want to live in this constant fear of Mia getting captured away.

"Just a few. I kept this secret under wraps for a long time. Who knows who discovered the secret," Miser answered.

Hugh scratched his chin as he thought deeper on the subject. He wanted to find Mia as soon as possible since losing time would not be beneficial to them.

The commander's army was only a day away from them, which meant that they had to find Mia as soon as possible.

Seeing that Mia's captor did not leave any ransom notes, this meant that the kidnapping was not because of money. It must have been for something else.

"We have to find her!" Miser said to Hugh while grabbing his collar.

Hugh put down Miser's hand. He did not get mad even though Miser was being disrespectful. He understood the type of pressure and pain that Miser was going through.

"Don't worry," Hugh said as he put his hands on Miser's shoulders. "We'll find her. No matter what."

——————

"Are you sure you don't remember anything else about your employer?" Jane asked the bandit.

"As I told you," the bandit said with a bit of an annoying voice. "I don't remember anything else."

Even though the bandit said he did not remember anything else, Jane felt like the bandit was still hiding something.

However, no kind of torture would bring out this information. This was because even the bandit himself did not know about his memories.

"Ugh!" Serena said as she squatted down. "I really, really, really, did not want to do this but,"

Serena reluctantly put her hands on the bandit's head and focused all of her powers. Then, pink smoke started to emerge from her body and funnel into her hands.

Then, the smoke started to penetrate deep into the bandit's head. It was at this point that the bandit started to feel drowsy and sleepy until he lost consciousness.

Serena, herself, also felt sleepy as she lost consciousness at the same time as the bandit.

——————

Serena looked around the blurry surroundings. It was dark in the undisclosed location, and she was walking towards a pillar.

"I'm here," Serena said.

However, her voice was deep, and unlike anything that was lady-like. It was deep, like that of a man. It was also very similar to the voice of the bandit from before.

Right now, Serena was experiencing the memories of the bandit from a first-person perspective.

"Your compensation will be delivered tonight. Follow my instruction correctly and I will give you what you want." a mysterious voice said.

Serena could see that the mysterious person was leaning on the pillar. She could not see the man's face, but she could see that the man wore expensive coats.

She could also smell a particularly oily scent. It was less scented than a perfume, but it was very strong and unique.

"Will she be okay, will my wife and kids be freed?" Serena asked.

"Yes. Your debts will be paid," the mysterious man replied.

Then, Serena felt an alarmingly hurtful headache. She could not concentrate or focus on anything.

Then, she started to feel dizzy and drowsy at the same time. It was not long until she closed her eyes and lost consciousness.

After that, she regained her consciousness. When she opened her eyes, she could see the blue sky above.

Everything that she saw felt like a dream but also felt like reality. When she looked at her own hands, she recognized them to be hers.

"Serena, what happened?" Jane asked with a worried face. "You passed out."

Serena used Jane's hand to help herself up. She stretched her whole body and looked at the bandit in the ground.

"I accessed his memories," Serena said.

Jane widened her eyes as she heard Serena's explanation. She did not think that Serena was serious, but Serena was not the type to joke about things like this.

"You're serious?!" Jane said.

Serena nodded her head.

"Ugh! Ew! I hate doing that!" Serena said as her whole body shivered. "It feels like reaching down someone's throat and touching their organs."

Jane ignored Serena's complaints. "So, What did you see?"