As they needed to kidnap people alive, the difficulty was raised. Most of the cult members changed their strategy, from kidnapping children until using powerful drugs to render their target paralyzed.
Not only that, but some people also used deceived strategy like what Patrick had done. Patrick deceived the slum's people and kidnapped their children slowly. He built their trust first and offered an opportunity to make them off guard.
During these two months, everything went well. As the slum was a place that was avoided by the people in this town, Patrick's movement was hindered. He quickly gained the trust and managed to kidnap two children.
However, yesterday, something unusual happened during his daily visit. An unrecognized person went to that place, which was Auron. Usually, Patrick and his gangs would keep a tab on every new person who stayed in this town. It was in preparation in case the military had sent someone over.
However, Patrick was more alert when he found Auron in the slum area. It was a rare occurrence for a newcomer to venture around to the slum area. Hence, Patrick sent someone to probe about this man and whoever comes with him.
At first, his invitation's goal was to get to know Auron better and investigate the man before him. However, it changed when he received a report that there was nothing extraordinary in Auron and Alice.
Patrick intended to kidnap the two of them. There was a different value for the sacrifice. The stronger the person, the higher the point they would get. And, obviously, an a.d.u.l.t should be stronger than a bunch of children. Unfortunately, this plan led to their doom.
Fortunately, Auron and Alice could stop them with only two victims. Since these two victims had been gone for more than one week, Auron could only pray that they survive even though the probability for that to happened was near zero.
Auron suddenly remembered something. He moved to the man and asked, "What did you do to the two children?"
The two children that Auron mentioned were the two children for the new slots. The man that told the story knew what Auron meant. He shook his head, "They had been brought away this afternoon."
In operation, the cult divided the group into two categories, the bait and the executor. And, Patrick groups fell to the bait category.
Patrick and his gangs' job was to mark the target and gather every information the executor needed to kidnap them. And, the two children had been delivered to the executor this morning. Even Patrick didn't know what their fate was.
Just like what happened to the group of merchants, Patrick had provided the necessary information to the executor, and they would be the ones who executed the kidnap.
Of course, the points would be shared splitter to the two of them. However, usually, the bait would get the bigger portion of the point.
Auron gritted his teeth and pushed the man in his face. It had been more than 6 hours since the children were brought away. So, it would be difficult to trace them. Moreover, their survival chance was low.
The man was in pain because of Auron's punch. However, he could not hold his face since his hand was tied. He could only be rolling on the floor in pain.
Now, it was time for Auron and Alice to decide what to do with these three people. Alice glanced at each of them.
When Alice glanced at the external member, the man immediately pleaded and reminded Alice, "You had already promised me!"
Then, Alice went to the next man who immediately said with a weird noise holding his pain, "You also had promised me!"
Alice went to the last man, Patrick, who did the same as the previous two men. However, instead of pleading, Patrick threatened, "If you kill me, you will regret it a lot!"
"To ensure everything was secure, every day, there would be a meeting, and every operation leader had to be there to report, including me. If I could not go to the meeting, as the protocol had said, it would be that there was something wrong with me, and every operation would be halted."
"Which means, you would lose your chance," Patrick explained.
Alice frowned. She looked at the other two who nodded their heads, confirming what Patrick had said.
As if he won, Patrick smiled. He was saved. Tomorrow, when the meeting begins, he would seek a way to tell everyone what happened here.
However, to Patrick's surprise, that was the last smile and last thought that he had as a sharp pointy blade pierce through his forehead.
Auron was surprised, so as the other two men. However, Auron quickly calmed his mind. Alice was way more experience than him, and she knew the consequences of killing Patrick. She must have a way out.
Meanwhile, the two other men cried and pleaded to Alice. They didn't want to die. Although Alice had promised them, she had didn't have an obligation to fulfill it. But, they still hoped that Alice held her promise.
"Ssshh..." As the two men cried loudly, Alice shushed them.
Both of the men immediately shut their mouths. "Relax, I will keep my promise with you. I will let you go, but not now!"
"If you cooperate well with me, I could even give you a present on top of letting you run away."
Alice had a plan. To dig deeper into this cult, she intended to join the meeting and knew what their plan was. However, to do that, she needed these two people alive.
With that, Auron and Alice sacked both of the man's head with a black bag and tied them tightly to one of the iron tables.
Then, silently, Alice called Auron over. Alice told Auron about her plan for tomorrow. Also, what he should do next.
It was a long night for Auron for tomorrow's preparation. However, he needed to do this for the success of their mission.