Conquering The Game's World

Chapter 160  Chasing Them!

After arriving at the bustling metropolis of Pharmos City, Luis quickly retrieved the button drones from his mana bracelet. Then he tossed them in the air, and upon activation, they started floating. Lily took control of them and expertly maneuvered the drones through the Pharmos City, sending them ahead towards the port to search for the kidnappers while they were en route.

As they drove the rented hover-car through the busy thoroughfares, Luis and the others kept a watchful eye on the live video feed from the drones. The bustling port was teeming with activity as ships and cargo were unloaded and loaded onto massive freighters. The drones weaved in and out of the crowds, searching for any signs of their enemies.

"Luis, there are so many humans in the port. How are we going to find them?" Diana asked when she saw the vast numbers of humans in the port who seemed to be part of different ships.

In that harbor, many cargo ships that came from the Aiverson Empire docked there. If they don't have any clue that can narrow down the search, then it will be a daunting task.

Before Luis could answer Diana, Alicia also asked, "Didn't you check the dropping point where they delivered all the children?" "I did, just now. However, that area in the container yard is empty. They have probably already loaded them to the ship." Luis said.

Alicia asked, "Which medium-sized cargo ship it is? Did those agents tell you?" Luis shook his head in denial. "They had information only until the dropping point." His words made her frown, and she started thinking.

'This has become troublesome. Now what should we do? How will we search for the kids? The scan of the button drones doesn't work because of that anti-scan material of the drums.'

*Sigh*

'Hm? Wait!'

'!"

Alicia realized something and to confirm her conjecture, she immediately asked. "Luis! The button drones can't scan those drums because of the anti-scan material, but it can scan everything else, right?!"

"Yes, it should be," Luis said with a nod, and in his mind, he already had an idea of where Alicia was getting by this. 'Let's see if our thoughts are the same.'

Her eyes brightened, and she expressed her idea. "In that case, if we scan the containers of all the ships that were supposed to depart before dawn. Can't we narrow down the search to the ones that the button drone can't scan?" "As expected of my wife, she is so smart." Luis smiled at her and nodded while exhaling a breath.

Alicia didn't blush at his statement but expressed her concern. "However, to do that, we need the departure schedule of all the cargo ships. Do we have enough time to get those from the Port Authority?"

Luis patted her back. "Don't worry, I already have that." When she heard this, Alicia inquired with a raised eyebrow. "You already thought of that, didn't you?" He chuckled and didn't give her an answer. Tapping on his mana bracelet, he said. "Lily, check who that area was designated for use by."

{Master, most of the details given to the Port Authority are fake. The ship's name is Tiger101. They granted permission to someone named Muse. It says the ship's destination is Tuxel City.}

"I see. Lily, send the button drones to that ship's docking area." {Yes, Master.}

Luis turned to look at Alicia and Diana, then said, "We will arrive there within 3 minutes. Be prepared." To his words, they nodded with serious expressions.

***

As soon as they reached the port, Luis, Diana and Alicia rushed towards the Tiger101's docking area. Their expressions were grave as they had seen the video feed of that location just a minute ago.

Because there was no ship docked in that place. Only a few naval officers gathered there, preparing to go to sea.

"Stop! Where are you going?!" A beast-man naval officer stopped them. He seemed quite wary because Luis and Alicia were human.

"Officer, who is in charge here? We are here for a rescue mission at the request of the mayor of Gusto Town." Luis replied to him with a serious expression, not caring about the suspicious look he was giving. The naval officer couldn't judge whether Luis was telling the truth, but before he could say anything. Another officer some distance behind him, who was wearing a white hat, seemed to have heard Luis' words as he came towards them and asked. "Are you the people sent by Mayor Haiba?"

"Yes, we are." Luis nod.

"Sir Kuro!" Naval officer exclaimed when he saw his superior.

As Kuro confirmed the identity of Luis and the others, he waved his hand at the naval officer, signalling him to go do his work. After the naval officer left, Kuro turned to Luis and the girls.

"Officer Kuro, can you tell us the situation? Why isn't that ship here? From what you said, Mayor Haiba should have contacted the Port Authority, right? Did they not accept his request?" Luis asked all the questions in succession. Even though he seemed calm, he was quite worried.

Kuro took a deep breath and started speaking.

"Mayor Haiba's request surprised the Port Authority, but after understanding the case, we immediately acted and cancelled all the departure permissions. However, we were still a step too late. The ship named Tiger 101 that was supposed to depart at 4:30 a.m. had already set sail without permission by the time we reached here."

"What?!" Diana reacted. Even Luis and Alicia were annoyed by the situation. Olivia, who was hiding her presence, looked at Luis with narrowed eyes. 'Did he ask the mayor to make that request? But how did he know the traffickers might sail early? Is it just his intuition, or did he somehow get that information under my nose? If I consider his performance until now, I guess it should be the latter case.' As she thought of that, a wide, excited grin appeared on her face. 'You are going to be my disciple for sure, Luis. But before that, I want to see. Can you save the children in time? You only have 25 minutes left.'

This rescue mission has already gone way beyond the difficulty of a task that should be assigned to a first-year student. However, they still haven't asked for her help. "Officer, weren't they chased?" Luis asked with a deep frown.

Kuro said, "Because it was urgent. We sent three boats that were ready to chase them. But, with their speed, it will be difficult to catch up."

"Shit!" Diana cursed. "Now, what should we do?!"

Luis furrowed his brow while considering whether to ask the Professor for help. Right then, he heard Kuro's next words, and he dismissed his thoughts.

"This boat is almost ready to sail too, and it is a lot faster compared to those previous ones. Why don't you come with me? I was about to go after them just now."

"Thanks, officer," Luis said with a sigh, thinking that the idea of asking for the Professor's help could be on hold for now.

"Just follow me," Kuro said and started walking towards that boat. After him, Luis and the others also got on that boat. Kura gave a strange look at Olivia because he hadn't seen her before, so he turned to Luis and heard his confirmation. "She is with us, Officer."

"I see."

Then, within a few seconds, they sailed. ***

As Luis observed the endless dark sea in front of him, a solemn expression appeared on his face. 'We still haven't caught up to them.' They have been sailing for around 10 minutes, but the ship is not even in their sight by now.

'Only 15 minutes are left before the time given by the Professor ends. Will we fail? Although it's fine even if we don't get the rewards, but to fail after coming this far makes me have a sour feeling.' n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Alicia walked up to Luis and asked, "Did you send the button drones ahead?" He nodded. "Yeah." "How far are they from us?"

"It's still quite some distance. The boats that are pursuing them won't be able to chase them for long. Only the boat we are in can catch up. The speed at which we are going they will be in our sight within 5 minutes or so."

"That's good to know. What about the situation of the kids and the enemies?"

"We can confirm. It's them. The container can't be scanned as we expected. There are 12 humans onboard and 4 beast-man, in total 16 enemies. As for their strength, I'm not sure. But the probability of anyone above C rank is quite low."

"I see." Alicia nodded with a serious expression as she followed his gaze to look at the endless sea.

Diana, who was beside them, said, "It's good that we can catch them now. Otherwise, we will have to go to the Tuxel City and wait for them."

"Their destination is not Tuxel City, Diana. That information was fake."