Julian sat on Raquel's bed, crossed his legs, and put his hand against his chin as he was deep in thought.
"If I were the kidnapper, I would avoid the city." Kiernan said. "These detectives aren't a joke. I've heard that their success rate is insanely high, and they're quite feared."
"True, we should think further than the city." Julian said. "Maybe on a ship? The kidnapper takes the girls to the ship, sail away, and then when he is done with whatever, he drops them off?"
"Then those girls will go along the current, enter that river, and float back to the city?" Kiernan asked.
"That's a possibility," Julian replied.
"Yes, but I don't think so." Kiernan said. "A high chance of getting caught. You just can't leave Nightingale Pass with kidnapped girls without someone noticing."
"Unless he is paying someone."
"I believe this guy is very careful one, but also, I think I have a clue about that guy's martial ability."
"Oh?" Julian raised an eyebrow.
"Invisibility." Kiernan said. "These windows haven't been opened, thus, he must've entered through the front door. I think with invisibility. This might also not be his first time here.
"I believe he is scouting his targets, choosing beautiful women using his invisibility, and then I believe he waited here in her room for a perfect moment to kidnap her."
"You don't think this is the doings of Mindbreaker?" Julian asked. "Maybe he mind-controlled Raquel to open the window for him."
"No." Kiernan pointed at the window. "Do you see what is on the other side of the street?"
Julian looked over, and his eyes widened in surprise—it was a very busy-looking restaurant with balconies that were facing the windows.
"They would see him climb to the window easily!" Julian exclaimed. "Maybe one of them saw the kidnapping happen?"
"I believe these curtains were shut." Kiernan touched the thin fabric. "Someone would've reported it already otherwise. Thus, the only martial ability I can think of is invisibility."
"Can he also turn others invisible?" Julian asked. "If not, he would still have to carry Raquel out without anyone noticing. How did he do that?"
Kiernan said, and headed out of the room, then took the stairs down with Julian following him, but instead of heading to the front door, he opened the side door and began walking down some wooden stairs.
They arrived at the damp basement that was covered in cobwebs and smelled musty. It was filled with barrels of homemade wine and stacks of old newspapers.
"Oh?" Julian raised an eyebrow.
Kiernan then moved to the end of the basement, where there was another door, and opened it.
The door led to a side alleyway, which was nicely hidden from the main street.
"Bingo…" Kiernan crouched close to the pavement and saw some muddy wagon tracks leaving the scene.
"You're a genius." Julian said with a grin. "Since he scouted the place, he thought about this escape route and had a wagon waiting here. He hid Raquel at the back of the wagon and covered her with a tarp to avoid being seen."
"He then left the city to go wherever." Kiernan said. "Hundreds of wagons move out of the city every day. Last time we left, the security was quite lax, so it is easy to just slip out undetected."
"Yeah. The security around the docks is super tight, but then here it is the complete opposite."
Julian said with gritted teeth.
"Now, where could he be going?" Kiernan thought and looked at the mud. "Muddy tracks is the reason why I think he is going out of the city. But where…"
"There's only Amaranth Forest really over there." Julian said. "But what is even there except the Game. No one lives there as far as I know."
"Hmm…" Kiernan thought, but then smirked. "Where would you go as Martial King to avoid detection?"
"Far from the city, for sure." Julian said.
"There's only one place where you can completely avoid the detection."
"As Martial King, you're basically a light in the dark. The energy you give off is immense, so if someone like Martial Legend is chasing you, you will be found.
"However, if you—let's say—become unranked, perhaps. You have zero energy coming off your body, so you are invisible to those who may be chasing you using the energy-detection method."
"Are you saying…" Julian's eyes widened in surprise. "The Game?"
"Yes, and no." Kiernan said. "The Game has no place to hide in. It has thousands of people visiting every week. However, what if that's not the only special cave in that mountain?"
Julian's eyes widened in shock, and he then remembered something.
"I think that cave is not special, but that mountain is!" Kiernan said. "There might be other caves that completely reset your martial rank, and I think that person is using one of them to hide!"
"I saw something when you were still racing Gardner." Julian said urgently. "I could swear that someone was climbing the mountain!"
"The culprit?!" Kiernan asked in a hurry.
"I don't think it was the culprit." Julian said. "I think that person was Raquel. However, she was hunched over as if she were unconscious. It looked like she was climbing because she was seemingly the only one there.
"Haha!" Kiernan laughed. "It just looked like that because the culprit was using his invisibility at that moment. He was carrying Raquel on his back, which is why it looked strange!"
"That's where they are." Julian's eyes turned cold. "Let's go kill that bastard."
"Shouldn't we bring the detectives with us?" Kiernan asked and cracked his knuckles. "This is Martial King we're talking about."
"If your theory is correct, that bastard is unranked." Julian said with a smirk. "Time is ticking, and Raquel is more in danger with each passing second. I don't want to waste time convincing the detectives to come with us."
"I agree with you on that." Kiernan said. "Let's focus on rescuing Raquel. We can deal with the culprit later."