Spirit's Ascension-Chapter 100—The search

Cole could see the complete unwillingness on her face, and he could even detect a little bit of fear.

"It would really help us," Cole said softly.

The girl only closed her eyes and said in an equally silent voice.

"I am sorry I can’t risk it."

The girl said nothing else and just turned around to leave.

Cole’s words were now left stuck in his throat as he could only stare at her leave.

"Sigh," he heaved out.

Cole turned around to look at his teammates, who were equally as disappointed as he was.

"Do we still head towards that place?" Cole asked.

The others had nothing else to respond to him with. They could only lose themselves in thought.

"I think we should," Bryan was the first to speak up.

"Yh, I think so too," Linda said.

Though Cole was more determined to chase the lead with the girl, his teammates had decided.

Cole had to follow arrangements like this in order to prevent any problems in the future.

"Let’s go then," Cole said.

The three of them resumed their journey, but the zeal that was present all over them earlier was nowhere to be found.

In no time, they arrived at the entrance to the building.

Cole didn’t bother with caution, nor did he care. Something had changed after that encounter.

He just forced his way through the day and entered the building.

This building, unlike the others, wasn’t a large open space.

Instead, it was divided into rooms and compartments, which the group entered one by one.

They saw all sorts of items, but there was no sign of the children, nor was there any sign of Michael.

"I really thought he would be here."

"He must have left," Cole thought.

"What’s the next step now?" Cole asked his teammates.

The three of them kept exchanging glances, but none of them seemed to know anything to do.

"Sigh,"

"We should go back and try to regroup and restrategize first," Bryan volunteered.

The others also nodded and started their return home. On their return journey, Cole scanned all around continuously.

Hoping to luckily meet that person again.

But things weren’t as smooth. Cole underwent the rest of the journey home without seeing her at all.

In the room, the group sat in separate areas, thinking of different things.

"That girl must be heavily involved in all of this in one way or another,"

"She is the only lead we have now," Cole thought urgently.

"I can’t give up on that again now,"

"I will try to look for her again," Cole immediately stood up and said to his teammates.

"Guys, I am going out to search for the girl again,"

"My gut keeps telling me she would be vital to all of this."

His teammates didn’t try to convince him, nor did they say anything else. Bryan just silently stood to his feet.

"I can feel it too,"

"Let’s search for her together," Bryan said.

Seeing the other two readily agree to search, Linda felt compelled to join them too.

"I will be with Bryan,"

"But you guys don’t know your way around the slum; you barely know anywhere."

"I will find my way," Bryan said while flashing a smile.

"Okay then, let’s get going."

The trio left the room again and went back out into the slums after just entering.

Cole’s stubborn and persistent nature was out in full display at this moment.

Outside the building, Cole weaved through the forest from one place to another.

Cole made sure to focus on the not-too-populated part of the slum.

"She doesn’t seem to like the attention,"

"I better focus on that point," Cole said.

Cole wandered and wandered all around, but it was all to no avail. There was no one that remotely looked like his target.

At this time, the sun had already even begun setting.

His wandering had moved him to parts of the slum he hadn’t expected.

Unknowingly, Cole found himself in the new settlements outside of the slum.

"I ended up here, uhh, It must be fate then."

Cole had already been suspicious of this spot, and now he had unknowingly appeared here.

"I better check it out then," Cole said.

Despite being agitated and on edge, Cole had not lost his sense of reasoning.

He knew something was wrong in the new settlements, so he knew he couldn’t just waltz in anytime he liked.

"I better wait till it gets late," Cole thought.

After forming that preliminary plan in his mind, Cole left that area and moved to somewhere more concealed.

"I will hide here until it gets dark,"

And time flew by as the sun went lower on the horizon before completely vanishing, replaced by the ethereal moon.

"It is time," Cole said, standing up from his hiding spot.

Going all around, Cole found a relatively empty and dark corner of the settlements.

"This would be a good entry point."

Keeping his head low and his form tight, he sneaked into the area.

The new settlements were formed under a deep and controlled government.

The tents were properly spaced and structured, and the streets were properly designated.

Cole moved from corner to corner, avoiding people that went by their normal life while continuously searching for anything suspicious.

He didn’t have a specific direction of destination. He just decided to follow his heart all the way.

As time went by, Cole went deeper into the settlements, and things grew much more difficult for him.

He couldn’t move as freely as he could in the beginning. Right now, every one of his movements must be carefully calculated.

The settlements also grew more enriched. From simple tents to more complex and bigger ones and even wooden houses.

"I am approaching the core areas now; I must be extra careful now."

Cole stood in his position, scanning all around him to decide on a specific direction to head in.

"We won’t let that happen," Cole suddenly heard a loud voice scream from a nearby building.

"Rice confirmed he saw one of them loitering around this point yesterday."

"We must let those academy kids interfere in any of this,"

The more he listened, the more certain he grew.

"They are talking about us,"