Chapter 240: Overthinking

Daniel stared at the severed hand of his Fallen, lost in thought.

This hand confirmed it—his Fallen were truly dead. It was something he didn’t want to accept, but he had no other choice.

The evidence of truth was right in front of him. He could no longer ignore the possibility that they were dead.

But how? The lives of the Fallen were directly linked to his own. As long as he lived, they couldn’t die. Even if they were badly injured, they would automatically return to his Spiritual Sea.

And more importantly, the Mother System was supposed to issue a notification if even one of his Fallen died—so why hadn’t there been any announcement?

’How powerful would someone have to be to pull something like this off?’ Daniel thought to himself, letting out a sigh.

It looked like he’d let his guard down too much. Sometimes, being overly cautious could be a good thing.

But for now, none of that mattered. What mattered was the condition of his family. If he wasn’t mistaken, they had definitely been kidnapped. The Fallen acted to rescue them, but whatever had taken his family also killed his Fallen.

Whoever did this must’ve been strong enough to completely erase his Fallen from existence—because that’s the only way Daniel could think of to truly kill them.

’If this was a kidnapping, then what do they want? They didn’t leave any note or clue for me,’ Daniel frowned.

If he was the real target of the kidnapping, the kidnappers should’ve left something behind to lead him to them.

’Ugh... how short-sighted of me. Of course they left something. This hand.’ He looked at the Fallen’s hand again.

In fact, he had a skill called Forgotten Eyes, a power that allowed him to briefly bring back the soul of any being for a few seconds.

All he needed was the full corpse of the dead Fallen—if anything was left of it at all.

Then, using Forgotten Eyes, he could bring their soul back for a few seconds, ask whatever questions he needed, and easily find out the identity and purpose of the kidnappers.

However, there were a few problems. First, he needed the complete body to use Forgotten Eyes. Second, he didn’t even know if the skill would work on his Fallen.

And third—how did the kidnappers know that he had a skill that could reveal their identity or intentions through just this one hand?

’Maybe I’m overthinking it. Most likely, the kidnappers left this hand behind expecting me to use tracking items or memory-replay items to uncover their identity and goals.’

But that raised another question—why would they think he had such items? He turned around, and his gaze landed on August.

He didn’t have those kinds of items—but the President of the Awakened Association did. In fact, just a few minutes ago, August had mentioned that he owned such items.

It wasn’t a secret that he had a good relationship with August. Anyone could find that out with a little digging. But knowing that the President of the Awakened Association had those specific items? That was a different matter.

Daniel doubted that was public information. It was probably something only employees, subordinates, enemies, or close allies knew.

"Mr. August, I need a favor," Daniel turned toward August and asked.

Even though he had learned a lot just from that one hand, he still didn’t know where his family was—or who the kidnappers were.

And he didn’t have time to waste. He had to find them before they got hurt.

"Go ahead, kid," the President of the Awakened Association looked at him curiously. In just those few seconds, a lot of emotions had passed through Daniel’s eyes—and August had noticed.

He was curious to know what that hand was—or who it belonged to.

"Do you have an item that could help me locate the body this hand came from?"

"No problem. Actually, I have a few items that might help you out. But keep in mind—they have limited range. If the bodies are outside the city or completely destroyed, the item won’t be able to do anything."

"Thank you so much," Daniel said gratefully. He was pretty sure the body was either still somewhere in the city or had already been destroyed.

The kidnappers couldn’t be stupid enough to carry the body of a Fallen with them. In the best case, they would’ve destroyed it completely. And if they were in a rush, they’d have just left it behind.

"Remember when I gave you that key? I told you I’d ask for a favor in return someday?" the President of the Awakened Association suddenly said.

"Hm? Yeah, I remember," Daniel thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Well... I was going to ask you to clear a dungeon for me. But the situation has changed. Now I need you to save this city," August hesitated a bit, then sighed.

Daniel answered right away. Right now, his family was his top priority. The city was the least of his concerns.

Still, this city had been his home for a long time—and more importantly, he owed Mr. August a favor.

"My family comes first. As long as I know they’re safe, I’ll have no problem saving the city."

"Good... thank you so much."

"I’m a little curious. Why aren’t you doing anything? With your power, shouldn’t it be easy to handle this Break quickly?" Daniel asked.

"It’s not that I don’t want to... I just can’t interfere unless the situation gets truly critical," August answered with a cold smile.

"Because of some kind of law or regulation?"

"Of course not... it’s because of an incurable wound." A cold and dark light flickered in the eyes of the President of the Awakened Association.

Painful, bitter memories surfaced in his mind—memories from the time he entered the dungeon of the Horseman of the Apocalypse.

Then he stood up and placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder.

"Get up. Let’s go—I’ll give you the items you need."