Chapter 1918: Kidnapping P̶e̶n̶e̶l̶o̶p̶e̶ : Part-3

Allen froze like a statue when he saw the deep-black mech-suit flowing strangely around the person’s body, its surface shifting and moving with an unnatural fluidity, almost like a living thing that had wrapped itself around its master.

Allen couldn’t believe it... The President himself had come here.

No!

Why did he come here?

Allen stared blankly at the President, his expression lost and his thoughts scrambling for an explanation. The handgun in his hand slowly lowered, his arm losing its strength as though his body had already realised the danger before his mind could accept it.

"What are you doing here, Allen?" The President asked coldly, a faint trace of amusement beneath his voice.

Allen swallowed hard, sweat beginning to gather across his face.

"I-I was searching for the person who hurt my grandma. You know she lives here, don’t you?"

His voice carried a nervous hesitation, as though he was carefully testing whether the President remembered.

Of course, Allen had informed him about his Grandma. Otherwise, the President would have questioned why he was going into the slums in the middle of the night, right?

So Allen had told him about her, and the President knew that he visited her every now and then. That was all he knew... or so Allen thought.

"That old lady was hurt? Is she alright?" The President asked, his tone almost convincingly concerned.

Allen nodded with a tense expression. "She’s currently in the hospital receiving treatment." His face turned slightly paler as his eyes shifted toward the quiet car that had stopped behind the President.

"Oh, Allen... Still na?ve as ever, aren’t you?" The President said coldly.

Then he snapped his fingers.

The men who had arrived with Allen immediately raised their weapons and pointed them at him.

Allen’s eyes widened as he slowly looked from one subordinate to another. Every single one of them wore the same cold, emotionless expression, their weapons pointed steadily at him without the slightest hesitation.

Allen felt something inside him sink.

These people had been with him for the past ten years. He had trusted them, fought alongside them, and believed they were loyal to him. Yet now, every one of them stood against him as though the last decade meant nothing.

"W-What?" Allen barely managed to mutter, his voice trembling with disbelief.

The President looked at him with quiet amusement.

"There’s no need to be shocked, Allen. They’ve always known who their true Master is."

He casually motioned toward the group.

Part of the group immediately jogged toward the car to capture the culprit.

Meanwhile, the President walked closer to Allen. His presence seemed to grow heavier with every step until Allen could feel his own breathing becoming shallow.

The President reached out and slowly ran a finger through Allen’s black hair.

Allen subconsciously lowered himself to his knees and let his weapon fall from his hand. His eyes trembled as he looked up at the towering figure before him.

"P-President... Arrh!"

The President suddenly tightened his grip around Allen’s hair and forcibly lifted his head toward him.

Allen’s face tightened in pain as he stared into the deep-black glowing visor.

"Oh, Allen... Oh, Allen..." The President’s voice remained calm, almost gentle, which somehow made it more frightening.

"I don’t know whether I should pity you or laugh at you. Did you really think you could hide her from me?"

The moment those words left the President’s mouth, Allen’s eyes widened in pure horror.

"I know everything, Allen..." The President said coldly, his grip tightening slightly.

"I know you’ve been hiding her from me all this time."

He was utterly taken aback, unable to comprehend what was happening. His mind struggled to piece everything together, but the more he thought about it, the more confused he became.

The President slowly shook his head.

"You still think you can outdo me, Allen. Tsk, tsk... The pity is, you never did. Every victory you thought you earned was something I allowed you to have.

I merely let you believe you were accomplishing something on your own."

A faint, wicked laugh escaped him.

"Haha... You really thought you could trick me with your words? Hah... Watching you try so hard to deceive me made me giggle every time, Allen."

Those wicked laughs made Allen tremble. Under the President’s grip, he suddenly felt unbearably small, as though all the strength and authority he had possessed until now had been reduced to nothing.

"A-All this time... I... I just..." Allen’s voice faded as the realisation slowly settled over him.

Allen couldn’t believe it.

He thought he was smart.

He thought he had tricked him.

He thought he had finally outsmarted the man who had controlled his life for so long.

Yet... the very man standing before him was now telling him that all of it had been nothing more than a carefully fabricated illusion.

The President smiled with satisfaction beneath his helmet.

Just then, the armed man returned and approached him.

"President, there is no one in the car."

The President’s expression hardened.

"..."

He frowned before issuing his order. "Secure the perimeter. Search the surrounding area. They must be here somewhere."

The armed men immediately nodded and deployed their teams throughout the surrounding streets and buildings.

Allen remained kneeling with his head lowered.

So all the hard work he had done was nothing but a vain effort.

The President had already known about her. He had already known where she was, and yet he had simply remained silent, watching everything unfold as though nothing had happened.

"W-Why?" Allen could only force that single question from his trembling lips.

The President smirked beneath the helmet but said nothing.

After all... there was something entertaining about watching Allen and his wife struggle so desperately to hide her from him. They had worked so hard, planned so carefully, and risked everything just to conceal something he had already known.

Honestly, it amused him.

He had played them both like toys beneath his fingers, allowing them to believe they were moving freely while every step they took remained within the boundaries he had already established.

And even more, he wanted to see if they could surprise him after all... He was getting bored of winning.

Just then...

Thud!

Another mech-suit descended from above and landed directly behind the President.

Allen slowly lifted his head and looked behind the President.

His eyes widened.

Alpha had arrived as well.

"I have checked the local data from the Zeta tower, President," Alpha said in an indifferent tone.

Alpha then raised her hand.

A series of holographic images immediately appeared in the air before them. The first showed Lily getting into a taxi. Another displayed the taxi’s route as it travelled through the city, reaching the coastline. Followed by footage from multiple security cameras that had captured her along the way.

The final image showed Lily disappearing into an alley.

Allen’s eyes widened in shock.

His daughter.

She was supposed to be at her friend’s house.

"No..." Allen whispered, staring at the holographic image as though refusing to accept what he was seeing.

"I have checked the alley and found a path leading toward the slums, President," Alpha continued in a serious tone.

"N-No, no! You’ve got to be kidding me..." Allen desperately shook his head.

"She didn’t know anything about this! It must be a mistake!"

The President did not even look at him. His expression darkened beneath the helmet as he stared at the holographic footage.

"Just as I suspected..." he murmured. "She was the one who kidnapped her."

A brief silence followed.

Then the President’s voice carried a faint note of curiosity.

"Interesting... Why would your daughter suddenly do something like that, Allen?"

Allen shook his head. "I really don’t know..." His voice remained uncertain as he struggled to understand what Lily could possibly have been thinking.

"Tell me the truth, Allen. Why would she kidnap her? Did you inform her about something behind my back?" the President asked, his tone becoming slightly more tense.

Allen shook his head again, but this time, instead of panicking, he answered truthfully with an unusual calmness.

"No, I did not tell her anything about Aether’s mother, or even about her own grandmother. I swear, she knew nothing from me."

The President tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"Then... why would she do it?"

No matter how he looked at it, it simply did not make sense. Lily had no apparent reason to take Aether’s mother, especially if Allen had never told her the truth.

The President’s thoughts moved rapidly as he tried to connect the pieces, but nothing fit together cleanly.

He turned his attention toward Alpha and ordered,

"Find them. That woman is already brain-dead, so she’s of no concern to me. But Lily... bring her back alive. I want to know what she was hiding."

Alpha gave a brief nod. "Understood."

In the next fraction of a second, her mech-suit vanished from where she stood.

Allen’s face turned dreadful as the fear he had been desperately suppressing finally broke through.

"N-No! No! President, please... don’t hurt my child... Please..." he begged, his voice becoming increasingly desperate.

The President merely glanced at him,

"That depends entirely on how she chooses to cooperate with me, Allen."

Allen’s entire body shuddered in fear. His hands trembled against the ground as the realisation settled in that he could no longer protect his daughter through his own strength. Whatever control he thought he had over the situation had already slipped from his hands.

Meanwhile, standing hidden within the shadows some distance away, a pair of ice-blue eyes silently watched the situation unfold.

Aether remained perfectly still, listening to every word while his mind struggled to process the revelations one after another.

After several seconds, he slowly turned his head toward the night sky, his expression becoming increasingly bewildered.

’What the fuck is going on here?’

Aether was beyond confused by everything that was happening.

His stepfather knew about his motionless mother.

Lily had kidnapped his motionless mother.

And now his stepfather had discovered that Lily was the one who had taken her.

Was all of this something that had happened in the previous timeline?

Had Lily done something this reckless before?

If so, then why had she acted as though it was her first time when she barged into the house?

Her reaction had seemed genuine, almost as though she had never seen the place before or had no idea what she was going to find inside.

The contradictions kept piling up inside Aether’s mind, making the entire situation feel like a puzzle with several pieces belonging to entirely different pictures.

There was only one way to find out. He had to capture Lily before anyone else did.

Aether clenched his fist tightly.

’This was supposed to be the easiest mission on my entire plan, but... FUCK!’

The last thing he wanted was to reveal himself to his stepfather right now.

After all, Aether had yet to gain any real advantage. Every move he made had to be calculated carefully.

The people he cared about were still under his stepfather’s control, and with one wrong move, he knew that bastard would use them against him without mercy.

He could not afford to fight him yet.

Not here.

Not now.

With a quiet groan, Aether stepped backward and allowed the darkness to swallow his figure. Within moments, he disappeared deeper into the shadows, leaving no trace of his presence behind.

But not before cursing his terrible luck.

’Fuck my luck!’

Meanwhile, far away, on the side of a broken bridge, a rusted ladder descended into the darkness below. The old metal was stained with years of rust, and every movement caused it to creak beneath the strain.

A figure carefully climbed down the ladder, gripping the cold metal tightly while struggling to maintain her balance. Another person was strapped securely against her back, making every step considerably more difficult.

Yup, that was Lily.

She continued climbing down the rusted ladder with Aether’s mother strapped tightly against her back. Her arms trembled from the strain, her shoulders burned with exhaustion, and her breathing had become increasingly heavy.

Yet Lily refused to stop.

Her bloodshot eyes remained fixed downward as she slowly descended toward the darkness below, each step taking everything she had left.

The weight of two people was already straining her exhausted body, but she tightened her grip around the ladder and forced herself onward.

"I won’t give up!"

Lily gritted her teeth as determination burned through her exhausted expression.

She had already come this far.

And she was not going to give up now.