Atticus's Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground novel Chapter 1516

Chapter 1516: A Favor

Moments later, he returned with an armful of files, dumping them onto the table. The trio immediately got to work, flipping through each one.

"Have your people made any headway in solving this?" Atticus asked without looking up.

"N-not yet, my lord."

"How long has this been happening?"

The commissioner paused, counted on his fingers, then said,

"Three days!"

’That’s a long time.’

Time moved differently inside the territory. Three days here might as well be months. And yet they had made no progress.

’Incompetence? Or whoever is responsible is simply good at covering their tracks.’

Either way, Atticus intended to find out.

They finished reviewing the documents in moments.

"This is everything you have?" Anorah asked again.

The man nodded quickly.

"W-what are your orders, lord? Your most loyal subject is ready to do anything you command!"

Atticus barely acknowledged him. He exchanged a glance with the others, then vanished from the office without another word.

According to the files, exactly 189 children had vanished without a trace in the past three days. The police force questioned their families and every relative they could find, but no one had seen anything.

Most of the disappearances happened at night, parents waking in the morning to find empty beds.

Only now did Atticus fully understand the anger of the masses. Unexplained disappearances almost always pointed to an unseen hand.

And with him as the only absolute figure of power in the territory, he became the easiest target the moment the rumor surfaced.

Atticus hovered high in the sky, Anorah and Whisker beside him.

"Tell me again..." Whisker said, brows raised. "How exactly do you plan to find them?"

"The children are likely dead."

The words tasted bitter, but he couldn’t afford to ignore the possibility.

"So?" Whisker pressed.

"So, no one can enter or leave this territory without my consent. If there are any remains... they’re still here."

Atticus glanced at Anorah. Her expression had tightened. Fake or not, children were still children. One had to be truly sick to target them.

He closed his eyes and expanded his senses. The entire territory lit up like a painted canvas in his mind. Every sound, every movement, every heartbeat. He saw everything and scrutinized it.

After glimpsing far too many people either taking a shit or bathing, it became clear the city didn’t hold what he was looking for.

Atticus pushed farther, through the vast unoccupied lands of forest, mountains, and sea.

He stopped, then opened his eyes.

"I found something."

They vanished instantly, reappearing above the middle of an ocean.

Atticus focused. Waves quivered, then rippled outward as multiple objects rose from the depths across different points of the water.

The moment Whisker and Anorah saw them, their expressions darkened. Atticus’ own features hardened.

’Insane...’

A large number of rotting, waterlogged corpses floated up before them. They were child sized, with limbs swollen and discolored. Their forms had been held down by boulder sized rocks tied to them with thick, frayed ropes.

"They’re sick for doing this!"

Anorah’s fists trembled, her eyes burning with anger.

Whisker said nothing, but the coldness in his demeanor spoke louder than words. It was easy to dismiss rumors. It was different seeing something like this with your own eyes.

"I need a favour, my star actor," Whisker said quietly. Though his voice was calm, Atticus could feel the simmering rage beneath it.

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