Chapter 347 If you can“t find us, then let us guide you!
7 DAYS LATER
After the infamous accident where the Great TimeMaster"s daughter was kidnapped, the whole world was stirred into action, as the repercussions of what had happened 7 days ago has started to affect every facet of the world.
The whole world was plunged into tension too, as uncertainty and doubts began to spread out to the mortals, cultivators, and TimeMasters alike.
Many began to fear for the chaos that might happen, leading to several unforeseen events around the world.
"So, does any of you have news about Young Mistress" location?" Inside a small, office-like room, a man wearing a crisp suit and tie asked this question for the nth time this day.
His face, although has a handsome visage, was also showing visible signs of fatigue and lack of sleep. "Did our agents find any important clue?"
"I"m sorry CEO Smith, but our agents still found nothing." The one who answered this question was a woman that was around 30 years of age. Her hair was tied in a bun, with her floral skirt and white blouse complementing her body"s curves.
Her face was also tinged with fatigue, with her eyes covered with a large patch of eyebags.
"…Is that so Andrea. This is really bad." The man, who was called CEO Smith, groaned out as he leaned back on his seat.
He then placed both of this feet on top of his table, as if he was using it to rest his legs.
"CEO Smith, even if we are in a crisis right now, I think that you should not place your foot on top of your table." The woman, whose name was indicated to be Andrea, said as she stared pointedly at CEO Smith"s foot. "We still have to show manners you know."
"Andrea, please let me do this. I have not gotten that much rest these past 7 days." CEO Smith replied as he let out a sigh. "You do not know how exhausted I am right now."
"CEO Smith, even if you are exhausted, you should remember that I am exhausted too." Andrea shot back as her eyelids started to droop. "I am your secretary, so I am also swamped with a lot of duties... But even if I am this exhausted, I still do not forget my basic manners!"
"Andrea, can we just talk about "mannners" on another day?" CEO Smith said, with his voice sounding particularly evasive. "For now, let"s continue your report."
"…I will remember that you said this, CEO Smith." Andrea muttered as she straightened her posture. "Maybe we can fix your manners after all this fiasco…"
"Ahaha, yeah, let"s do that then…"
After CEO Smith gave this awkward laugh, Andrea only shook her head as she fixed the papers that she held.
She held it against her face as she looked back at her boss.
"So CEO Smith, which one do you want to know first?" Andrea uttered as she started leafing through her papers. "All of this data had been updated just 10 minutes ago, so you can be a.s.sured that these are all reliable info…"
"Hmm…" After he received this prompt from his secretary, CEO Smith placed a finger on his stubbled chin as he started to think
"So first of all, can you tell me about the condition of Miss Alina and Mr. Alex? Are they still not coming out of their room?"
"It"s just like what you said CEO Smith. Mr. Alex and Miss Alina are still not coming out of their room." Andrea replied as she let out an exhausted sigh. "And to make it worse, there are still no signs of life emanating from that room, which makes it look like they were dead. But of course we are not sure if they are really dead since-"
"Since the Big Boss gave us the order to not interrupt those two, whatever they do." CEO Smith said as he cut-off Andrea"s words. "Sigh, it"s been 7 days already since those two holed themselves inside their room. What are they doing there right now? Did they forget that the ritual concerning Young Mistress is about to start today? Why are they not doing anything to help?"
"CEO Smith, what if they are really dea-"
"No Andrea, those two are not dead." CEO Smith said as he interrupted Andrea once more. " You personally have seen them during the attack of the Savage Sword Giant. Those two… they have abilities that are unknown even to us. For those kind of people, dying is something that is hard to happen! So, whatever they are doing inside that room, it must have been something that has incapacitated them, although not at the point of near death. You got it?"
"Um, I got it CEO Smith."
"Hmph, if those two are still busy there, then just let them stay there for now!" CEO Smith grumbled as he crossed his arms. "If those two will not help us out on rescuing Young Mistress, then fine! They should suit themselves! But if they will abandon the Young Mistress, then I will make sure to make the Big Boss know about their traitorous actions..."
"The Big Boss… she will surely be p.i.s.sed at these two." Andrea muttered to herself as she shuffled her papers.
"Hey, speaking of the Big Boss, have you or anyone from our company managed to make contact with her today?" CEO Smith asked, as he forcefully changed their topic.
"CEO Smith, ever since Big Boss have left the Young Mistress under the care of Mr. Alex, none of our a.s.sociates were able to contact her, even until today." Andrea said as she averted her gaze away from the CEO. "Even when I used some of my advanced skills, I was still unable to even sense the Big Boss" location…"
"Sigh… that"s Big Boss for you." CEO Smith could only say these words with despondency as his exhausted eyes started to dim. "If she does not want to be seen, then she will not be seen…"
"…"
"…"
Both of them then let out simultaneous sighs as CEO Smith banged his head on the table.
Now, pure frustration can be felt coming out from him, which made Andrea feel frustrated too.
"Andrea, from the looks of it, even Big Boss will be unable to help us now." CEO Smith said with his forehead still in contact with his table. "It will only be us TImeMasters who can do something about all of this."
"…"
"…"
Both of their moods, which was already down earlier, plummeted again, as they imagined all the things that they have to face today.
"…Okay, let"s put Big Boss" condition at the back of our minds first." CEO Smith said as he ma.s.saged his forehead. "For now, tell me about the current state of affairs in this world."
Andrea was unable to hide a grimace on her face after she heard what her boss just said.
"CEO Smith… it"s bad." Andrea slowly said as she gave CEO Smith numerous sheets of paper. "Take a look at that, and you will see what I mean."
CEO Smith hurriedly look at the contents of the paper, which only took him a few seconds.
"It"s bad indeed." This was all that CEO Smith could say as he banged his head again on the table.
"CEO Smith, our Time Stocks are at their all-time low, as many mortals and cultivators started to pull out their investments today." Andrea said as she gathered the scattered papers. "The papers that I showed you displays all the Time that we have lost just due to this sudden pull-out..."
"Not only that, but many of our business has also closed down today, as the unease and tension everywhere made it hard for business to continue..." Andrea added as her grimace worsened. "CEO Smith, if this goes on, our saved Time Essence will start dwindling…"
"Sigh… this was not this bad yesterday." CEO Smith said in a m.u.f.fled tone. "Why would all of this happen today?"
"CEO Smith, maybe it was because of the fact that the start of this so-called ritual will happen today." Andrea replied as she finished gathering all the scattered papers. "Since a big event was supposed to happen today, many mortals and cultivators must have thought that some change will happen, which lead to them withdrawing their investments…"
"Hmph, those spineless cowards must have thought that our whole system will crash today! Hah, how presumptuous of them!" CEO Smith said these words angrily, although he still did not raise his head. "Hmph, they must have been wis.h.i.+ng for those d.a.m.ned rebels to win against us TimeMasters! Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds… once we clean up the mess made by these rebels, we will put our attention to them next!"
"CEO Smith, it"s good for you to already have something planned to do in the future, but that plan will not work if you can"t do anything about the present." Andrea chidingly said as she shook her head. "Especially for today…"
"Andrea, you don"t need to remind me about that already. Everyone had been saying that same thing to me for the past 7 days, and quite frankly, it"s been taking the life out of me…" CEO Smith said as he slowly pushed his head up.
"…"
His eyes now looked hollow and empty, as if life was sucked out of them.
Andrea could only flinch as she saw these eyes, as if she felt pained upon seeing them.
"CEO Smith, its not your fault if those rebels hid themselves well." Andrea hurriedly said as she tried to console her boss. "These rebels are not like the Covenant of Immortals. They are much more secretive, and they are hiding more potent powers compared to the Covenant of Immortals! Clearly, this new rebel group that we are facing is a formidable one! So for us to be unable to find them is quite normal…"
"Normal? Heh, we are the TimeMasters, and we should have been controlling this world. And yet, we are unable to find a rebel group hidden here? Do you understand yourself, Andrea?" CEO Smith said these words in a hollow tone as he placed both of his hands on his face.
He then leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. This created the cla.s.sic image of a despairing person, which was too much for Andrea already.
"Andrea, if we won"t be able to get any info about this rebel group, I am not sure if I can still face the Big Boss…" CEO Smith said as tears started to pour from his eyes. His whole body then started to shake as buckets of tears continued flowing out of his eyes.
"Why! Why did they have to do their move during my time! This is just unfair!" CEO Smith bawled out while Andrea awkwardly patted him on his back. "Why… why now…"
As her boss started to spiral into a nervous wreck, the bothered Andrea could only grit her teeth as she took a deep breath.
"Um… CEO Smith, you may think that this is unfair, but as long as we managed to save the Young Mistress, you will be able to save this whole situation." Andrea said as she decided to make her boss go all-out today. "CEO Smith, we just have to save the Young Mistress. That is all that we have to do…"
"B-but how are we going to save her, when we still do not know where she is?" CEO Smith shot back as his tear-stained face stared at Andrea. "How can we even save her when our own elite agents are unable to find even a single trace of those rebels?"
"Um…" Andrea found herself stumped by this question, as she simply knew no answer for this.
"Argh… it"s all hopeless now. I am done for…" CEO Smith then continued wailing to himself as his tears continued to flow.
"…"
At this point, what Andrea could only do was to console her boss, as she does not know what to do next.
"Sigh, today is my unlucky day." Andrea though to herself as she let out a deprecating smile. "If only if I-"
"CEO Smith! CEO Smith! We have an urgent news!" Andrea"s inner monologue was suddenly cut off, as a person suddenly entered CEO Smith"s room, shouting out words in an excited manner. "CEO Smith, those rebels have- are you okay sir?"
"CEO Smith is stressed already. Let him cry, okay?" Andrea snapped as she glared at the newcomer. "If you want to say something, just say it to me."
"Um okay Miss Andrea. I shall tell the urgent news to you then." The newcomer, who looked like to be a newly-inducted worker, started to look around him nervously as if he was finding his courage to talk.
"Come on! Just speak up! Don"t waste my time!" Andrea snarled as she glared murderously at the young man. "Why are you this wimpy, huh?"
"Okay Miss Andrea! I will really talk now!" The young man was left trembling under Andrea"s murderous gaze, although he seemed to be able to gather enough courage to continue talking.
"W-w-we just received a message 2 minutes earlier, which was placed inside a golden envelope." The young man said as his breathing started to quicken. "At first we took no note of it, since it could be just a prank message. But when we looked at the back of the envelope, we saw something unexpected!"
Before Andrea could ask what they saw, the young man fiddled with his pocket as he pulled out an object out from it.
What he pulled out was a golden envelope, which seemed to be the one that he was talking about.
He then flipped the golden envelope around as he showed its back to Andrea.
"This…"
What Andrea found on the back of the golden envelope was a message, which was written in black ink.
The way it was written was elegant, although its message has chilled Andrea to her core.
[[[HEY, 7 DAYS HAVE ALREADY Pa.s.sED BY, WHICH MEANS THAT THE RITUAL IS ABOUT TO START! HEHEHE, SINCE YOU FAILED TO FIND US IN THESE 7 DAYS, THEN WE ARE LEFT WITH NO CHOICE BUT TO TELL YOU THE LOCATION OF OUR BASE. OPEN THIS ENVELOPE, AND YOU WILL KNOW EVERYTHING! HAHAHA! MAKE SURE YOU BRING EVERYONE WITH YOU! AFTER ALL, TODAY WILL BE THE DAY THAT YOU TIMEMASTERS WILL DISAPPEAR FROM THIS WORLD! HAHAHA!]]]
There was no doubt about it.
This golden envelope was something that the rebels had made specifically for them! Just this message alone was enough to prove that!
"These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" This was all that Andrea could think of as anger threatened to explode out from her. "They really had the gall to do this to us! T-t-they will pay for all of this!"