When Charles heard Celestine’s question, he spread his hands and shrugged, indicating that he didn’t know either.
“Probably scared because they know about you,” Celestine said, blinking her big eyes and staring at Charles.
She was quite concerned about Charles and had been quietly keeping an eye on him. She knew about Catherine’s departure, and she could sense that Charles was feeling a bit sad and down.
Aside from some mental turmoil, Celestine mostly felt jealousy and relief!
She was jealous of how important Catherine was to Charles. What would happen to Charles if she ever left him?
On the other hand, she was relieved that Catherine was gone. Now, Charles only had her as the opposite sex by his side, which greatly increased her chances!
The two of them didn’t say anything further and hurried toward Cross Street.
By the time they arrived at the specific location of the bounty task, it was already noon.
At 9527 Cross Street, freēwēbnovel.com
the small courtyard was already surrounded by quite a few people, among them nine individuals who were part of the earlier team that accepted this task.
“Finally here; now we have everyone!” said a Beast Master with a terrifying scar on his face as he looked at Charles and Celestine’s arrival.
“Hello, we’re both Beast Masters who took the task as well. Is there any information you can share?” Celestine asked while holding Charles’s hand.
Students from the three major academies were required to complete a certain number of tasks at the Beast Master Guild each semester, as part of the collaboration between the guild and the academies.
This wasn’t Celestine’s first time taking on a task from the Beast Master Guild, and she knew more details about it than Charles did.
“What a joke, just two people, and they don’t look that strong,” someone muttered quietly.
“Isn’t that better? The weaker they are, the better for us. Now, no one can compete with us!”
“That’s true, but I think I’ve heard of that male Beast Master. His name is Charles, right? He’s a student from Cyber Academy!”
“Just a student. There’s nothing to worry about. Those academy students are all rookies; they haven’t experienced anything!”
Charles listened expressionlessly to the murmurs around him. This was normal; he and Celestine were in competition with the other Beast Masters.
Whoever completed the task first would be able to claim the reward, while the others might just end up working for nothing!
The first to speak was the scar-faced Beast Master, who said, “I’m Jason Long. The situation is like this: there are basically no usable clues.”
“The place where the children went missing is on this street, but the exact location is unclear, and there are no usable cameras nearby.”
Charles wasn’t surprised. Cross Street was one of the more chaotic areas in Calivia.
It was inhabited by outsiders, all sorts of people, and even if surveillance equipment were installed, it would likely be destroyed at the first opportunity.
Finding any relevant footage was essentially impossible.
Just then, a couple walked out of the house. The man wore thick glasses and appeared scholarly, while the woman was in an apron, her eyes red and swollen, her face filled with sorrow.
“Everyone, I’ve said what I needed to say. The hope of finding my daughter is in your hands!” The bespectacled man slowly bent his waist and bowed to the Beast Masters in the courtyard.
His wife, seeing this scene, immediately choked up again, crying as she said, “We only have this one child. She’s usually very well-behaved. It’s all my fault; I sent her to buy some spices yesterday, and then she disappeared!”
“Don’t worry, we’ll do our best. By the way, I see from the task that five other children are also missing. Where are their parents?” Jason Long, the scar-faced Beast Master, asked.
“They’re inside. Some of the children went missing a week ago. We reported it to the constable, but there hasn’t been any news. They’re all poor people and can’t afford to post a bounty.” The husband, whose emotions were somewhat stable, replied.
He took out several printed documents from his pocket and handed them to everyone, saying, “These are all the relevant details. I put this together just yesterday. See if you can find anything.”
Charles took one of the documents. He didn’t open it immediately but instead focused his gaze on the bespectacled husband.
Clearly, this man was the type who preferred to stay low-key. He could afford to pay for a piece of orange-quality rare metal as a reward.
If it weren’t for that, no one would know about these missing children.
Thinking this, Charles began to look through the documents in his hand. After carefully reviewing them, he casually handed them to Celestine.
He fell into deep thought: from the information provided, the missing children didn’t have any obvious distinguishing features. There were both boys and girls, and their birthdays and zodiac signs varied.
However, they were all under ten years old, and the places where they went missing were all within the area of Cross Street.
Charles quickly made a judgment that this was likely an organized crime activity.
With so many children missing and no clues at all, it was clear that the perpetrators had come prepared.
If they hadn’t made a mistake and kidnapped the child of this low-key couple, no one would know what was happening here!
The Beast Masters in the courtyard began to take action, with some summoning mystical beasts to use their sense of smell to find clues.
Others started canvassing door to door to see if there were any eyewitnesses.
Only Charles, Celestine, and the scar-faced Jason Long remained, exchanging glances that showed their surprise at why they weren’t out searching for clues.
Jason Long spoke up, looking at Charles, and asked, “Hey, friend, are you thinking of something?”
Charles shook his head, found a chair, and sat down. While pulling out his phone, he replied, “No, I don’t think those who went out will find any clues either.”
“Oh? Why do you say that?” Jason Long asked with curiosity, while Celestine and the couple also turned their attention to Charles.
Charles continued searching for information on his phone, not looking up as he answered, “This matter isn’t that simple. The children went missing too cleanly; typical clues are definitely not going to be found.”
Upon hearing Charles’s words, Jason Long was taken aback; clearly, he had thought the same thing.
Sending the team out was just an attempt to try again.
Based on his experience, he judged that there must be some other secret behind the children’s disappearance!
He didn’t expect that Charles would be so perceptive, and his judgment was even more decisive than his own.
Jason Long watched Charles busying himself on his phone, feeling a bit curious as he stepped forward a couple of paces to discreetly glance at the content on Charles’s screen.
Charles looked up at him, showing no hesitation, and said, “Actually, I’m having a bit of trouble compiling this information by myself. If you have some free time, you could help me out.”
Jason Long instinctively nodded in agreement, but then realized,
as an experienced Level 5 Beast Master, why he was taking orders from a young guy?
Not wanting to dwell on it too much, he focused on the most important task: finding useful clues.
He asked directly, “What do you need me to do?”
Charles replied, “Check various public platforms to see if there are any other missing children cases. I’m looking for those without eyewitnesses, no surveillance, and no clues at all!”
At first, Jason Long didn’t grasp the full implication of this.
After thinking it over for a bit, he understood what Charles meant, and he spoke up in shock, “Are you saying there are more than just these six missing kids?”
“Yeah, also look at other areas, but it’s best if they are in places with more chaos and poverty. This is just my guess; let’s start by taking a look,” Charles explained.
The couple nearby listened to the conversation between Charles and Jason Long, and their eyes instantly lit up.
Compared to other Beast Masters, Charles, who seemed likely to uncover something as soon as he arrived, clearly gave them more hope!
“Sir, is there anything I can help with?” The husband, having lost his daughter, didn’t intend to sit tight and wait for death; he wanted to contribute in some way.
Charles paused his search, thought for a moment, and said, “If possible, could you find a detailed map of Calivia? A printout from online would be fine.”
“Sure, no problem!” Seeming to see Charles’s determination, the bespectacled husband immediately agreed, and his wife followed him out.
Now, in the courtyard, only Celestine was left with nothing to do, unsure of what to occupy herself with.
Watching Charles and Jason Long busy at work, Celestine thought for a moment and then turned to head to a coffee shop on the street. She bought two cups of coffee, one large and one small, the large one naturally for Charles.
The small one was for Jason Long; since he was helping Charles, a little coffee wouldn’t hurt.
When Celestine returned, several of the Beast Masters who had gone out had already come back, all looking dejected. It seemed they hadn’t found a single useful clue!
“Jason Long, no discoveries at all? This is strange; there couldn’t possibly be no clues left behind!” one of Jason Long’s teammates spoke up directly.
Jason Long’s expression grew heavier as he looked at the information on his phone, remaining silent.
“Jason Long? What’s wrong?” the teammate continued to ask.
Jason Long glanced up at Charles, his expression complex, and slowly replied, “It’s nothing; this matter may be more troublesome than we imagined.”
“Jason Long, did you find anything?” The teammate’s first reaction to Jason Long’s words was that he had uncovered some clue.
Before Jason Long could speak, Charles interjected, “There’s nothing significant yet.”
As he spoke, he looked at Jason Long, who seemed to have thought of something and quickly nodded, saying, “Not yet; I just have a gut feeling that this situation is not simple.”
“If it were simple, we wouldn’t need to be here. Look at the last two Beast Masters who came back; they didn’t do anything and just went off to drink coffee!” Someone, feeling frustrated, spoke up to complain.
Jason Long and Charles exchanged glances, both ignoring what the others were saying.
“Mr. Charles, right? I have a few questions I’d like to ask you. Could I have a moment of your time?” Jason Long asked cautiously.
Charles nodded, and the two moved to a corner of the courtyard.
