The negotiation went unexpectedly smoothly. Initially, Mag had thought he needed to use his gift of the gab to persuade the biggest capitalist in the world in order to make her give up the greatest benefit for this world and its future. He hadn’t expected he only needed to give her a planned solution, and everything was solved.

  “Miss Scheer’s forward environmental awareness is impressive,” Mag said sincerely. A capitalist like her was rare.

  “Mr. Mag’s sense of responsibility is equally impressive.” Scheer smiled as she looked at Mag with the same appreciation.

  Mag didn’t want to remain here and continue praising each other. He was also very sure that Scheer was 100 times busier than him, so he swiftly concluded the topic. After asking Scheer to communicate with the city lord’s castle, and then inform him for a formal three-party docking, he returned to the restaurant.

  “Boss, Rena is missing.” Yabemiya came up to Mag urgently as soon as he returned to the restaurant. “She’s not at the dormitory, either. Normally, she would come to the restaurant to prepare for the hot pot by now. Could the man from the teahouse have grasped her?”


  “I have checked on that teahouse. Rena isn’t there,” Elizabeth said.

  “Could that fellow be so stupid? How dare he even kidnap her?” Mag furrowed his eyebrows, and his expression became cold.

  Mag flicked a glance at his watch. It was already four o’clock. He went out with his bicycle, and at the same time said, “I’m going out for a while. If I’m not back by 4.30 pm, we will cancel dinner service.”


  “I’ll go with you,” Elizabeth said in a cold voice, and then followed after Mag.

  “We will go with you too! We will go save Rena!” Yabemiya, Babla, and the rest also followed him out angrily. They displayed great anger at the fact that someone actually dared to kidnap their companion.

  Amy happened to return to the restaurant with her school bag on her back, and saw Mag and the ladies who were about to leave. She let go of Krassu’s hand, jogged over, and curiously asked, “Father, where are you all going?”


  Mag looked at Amy with surprise before looking at Krassu. “Why is Little Amy back so early today?”


  “Boss Mag, I have something urgent today, so I have to send little Amy back 30 minutes earlier. I got to go.” Krassu urgently left on two fireballs after saying that.

  “Rena was kidnapped by baddies, and we’re going to rescue her now. Are you going to come with us, Amy?” Yabemiya asked Amy.

  Amy nodded with worry on her face. “Big Sister Rena must be in great danger now. Let’s go and save her! I am very fierce at beating up baddies!”


  Mag looked at all of them filled with righteous rage with resignation and gratification. After pondering for a while, he said, “Alright, let’s split up. I’m going to find out where Rena could be. You ladies go watch around the dormitory and teahouse to see if there is any news. If I get any news, I will come back and take action together with you.”


  “Mm-hmm.” Everyone nodded as they followed after Mag’s arrangement.

  Mag left on his bicycle. He had wanted to act alone at first, but after thinking about it, Miya and the gang also wanted to show their concern for Rena. Furthermore, they could get rid of the other party easily with Elizabeth, an 8th-tier Frost Dragon, taking charge. He didn’t even have to find an excuse to cover it up afterward.

  The bicycle stopped at the Gray Temple’s back door.

  “My employee is missing. It should be connected to Bennett Marquis. I hope Gray Temple could explain to me how she could have gone missing under your people’s watch?” Mag asked Borg with a serious expression.

  “Seems like it’s the people who guard her that are a problem.” Borg also frowned when he heard that. With a serious expression, he continued, “Don’t worry. We, Gray Temple, will find her quickly and send her back safely.”


  “It’s fine. I just need you to tell me where she is, and we will get her back ourselves.” Mag shook his head.

  Borg stared at Mag silently for a while before nodding. “Alright. Give me 20 minutes, and I will tell you her location.” He turned and left immediately after saying that.

  Mag waited at the door for approximately 15 minutes before Borg returned and passed a note to him. “She is at this location right now.”


  “Thank you.” Mag threw a glance at that note. On it was written, “The basement in the small courtyard at the end of the 13th lane in the west of the city.” He then left on his bicycle.

  Borg went in with a dark expression.

  ***

  “Now you have two choices. One is to write out the hot pot’s recipe honestly. I will let you go after I make sure that it’s correct.

  “The other is to die in this basement with humiliation. Perhaps someone is going to find a naked body here many years later,” Bennett, who sat on a chair with legs crossed, said in a low voice to Rena, who was tied to a pole.

  Only an oil lamp was lit at the stone wall in the dark basement. Apart from Rena, who was tied to the pole and Bennett, there were another two orcs and three strapping men.

  “Hehe.”


  The orcs and strapping men all began to smile with evil intentions as their gazes roamed up and down Rena’s body unscrupulously. Although this maiden looked weak, she was still rather good-looking.

  “Y-you people are committing a crime!” Rena struggled to back off, but both her hands and feet were tightly bound. She was on her way to the restaurant earlier, and she suddenly lost consciousness after she smelled a strange fragrance. She found herself in this basement after she regained consciousness. She didn’t even know where she was.

  The ropes that were tightly bound and those evil-smiling strapping men caused a thick fear and helplessness to creep up Rena’s heart slowly.

  Since Bennett didn’t bother to hide his identity, this meant she wasn’t going to leave this cellar alive today.

  Fear didn’t make her lose her rationality. Instead, she calmed down after she was certain of that.

  She was going to die with dignity if she was definitely going to die. She didn’t want to die with humiliation at the hands of these fellows.

  “I can write out the hot pot’s recipe for you, but you’ve got to promise you will never come and harass me again,” Rena said to Bennett.

  Bennett’s eyes lit up, and he uncrossed his legs. He began to smile warmly as he nodded. “Sure. As long as the formula is correct, not only will I not make things difficult for you and your mother, I will even give you a huge reward that will make you wealthy for the rest of your lives.”


  “Alright, I will write it out for you.” Rena nodded.

  “Release Miss Rena, and then bring the pen and paper over,” Bennett smilingly said.

  Two orcs came forward to untie Rena’s hands, and gave her the pen and paper.

  Rena thought about it briefly, and began writing on the paper. All the names of spices and condiments were written with her neat and tidy handwriting.

  Bennett’s smile got brighter as he looked at the increasingly interesting recipe. As long as the hot pot restaurant could open, he wouldn’t have to worry about money.

  Just as the people in the cellar gradually relaxed while they watched Rena write the recipe calmly, Rena suddenly turned the pen around and stabbed it toward her throat.

  “Grab her!” Bennett’s expression changed instantly.

  However, just as the tip of the pen was one centimeter away from Rena’s throat, Rena’s hand was caught by the orc next to her. His other hand took the pen, crushed it, and tossed it onto the ground.

  “How dare you fool me? You have no idea whom you are dealing with!” Bennett’s face darkened, and he kicked Rena’s stomach. He saw Rena struggling to grab that broken pen and waved his hand. “Let her have a taste of what is worse than death itself.”


  “Hehe. Allow me.” That orc who was two heads taller than a normal person walked toward Rena with a smirk, and reached out to grab Rena’s hair.

  Crack! Crack!

  Right then, sounds of ice forming could be heard. Frost suddenly appeared on the cellar’s walls, and rapidly spread to the floor and toward their feet.