Chapter 178: Sudden News.

At those words, Vivian’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"So they made sure that... even if someone discovered it, we would have no way of tracing it back to them."

Robos closed his case.

"That is what I believe."

"They did not simply prepare a trap. They prepared a trap that would disappear after being triggered."

He sighed and shook his head.

"Even so, I am afraid the situation may be worse than we think."

Vivian looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

Robos hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"If someone went through the trouble of setting up a spatial gate just to harm you, I doubt they would choose a safe place for the other side to open."

His expression became somewhat grim.

"Whatever is waiting on the other side is probably not somewhere pleasant. It could be a dangerous area, or perhaps even a lair of powerful... beasts."

He sighed again.

"Honestly, Madam Vivian, I would not put too much hope in those who were teleported."

Vivian’s expression darkened.

"You think they are already dead?"

Robos sighed.

"I cannot say that for certain."

"But considering the intention behind this whole thing, I doubt the people who set up the gate had any intention of letting the thing that would come through keep you alive."

Barbara and Vivian fell silent.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

Then—

BANG!

The office door suddenly swung open.

A beautiful woman rushed inside with a serious expression on her face.

It was Grace.

Her gentle and innocent expression was gone.

Instead, a quiet determination filled her eyes.

She looked straight at Vivian and shouted,

"No! Jake is still alive!"

Vivian smiled wryly as she looked at Grace.

She seemed to have changed a little after Jake disappeared.

Vivian had expected her to panic or even break down and cry, but instead, Grace remained surprisingly calm.

There was even something different about her now.

Her eyes, which had always been gentle and innocent, had become much sharper.

Even her presence seemed to have changed, and Vivian could faintly feel... a pressure coming from her.

And it seemed she must have overheard their conversation.

Vivian sighed.

"Is that so? But as you already have heard from the expert... the chance..."

Grace shook her head firmly.

"No! He is still alive. I am sure of it!"

Barbara and Vivian looked a bit helpless at her firm tone, after all they knew how close Jake and Grace were, while Robos raised an eyebrow.

"How can you be so certain?" he asked.

Grace took a breath before answering.

"I don’t know where he is, but I can still feel his presence."

Robos blinked.

"You can feel him?"

Grace placed a hand against her chest.

"Yes..."

"It is faint, but it is still there."

Grace hesitated.

She closed her eyes for a moment, as if concentrating on that faint feeling deep inside her.

"I don’t know how it works. I just know that Jake is still alive."

Her fingers slowly tightened against her chest.

Her voice was quiet, but there was an unmistakable firmness in it.

"So we cannot give up. We have to find him!"

"I don’t care where he was sent. I don’t care how dangerous that place is. If Jake is still alive somewhere, then we have to bring him back!"

Clenching her fists, she declared, "We can’t just stand here and assume he’s dead because we don’t know where he is."

Her voice cracked for the first time as she added, "He’s waiting for us! So we have to go find him."

Although Grace sounded completely confident, everyone in the room simply looked at each other.

Barbara sighed quietly.

Robos just smiled wryly and looked away.

Even Vivian did not know what to say.

They all thought the same thing.

Grace was probably just refusing to accept that Jake might be dead.

Vivian was about to say something to calm her down when the door suddenly opened again.

And another figure stepped inside.

It was Garrick.

Vivian’s eyes widened slightly when she saw his serious expression.

"Oh?"

She looked at him.

"You seem to be in a hurry. What happened?"

Garrick did not waste any time.

"Vivian... The Great Island Lord, Lord Blauer, has arrived."

The moment those words left his mouth, everyone in the room froze.

Vivian’s eyes widened and stood up.

"What!?"

Even Barbara and Robos looked stunned.

They all knew exactly what a Great Island Lord represented.

They were not ordinary nobles or rulers.

The Great Island Lords stood at the very top of humanity’s powerhouse.

Each one controlled an enormous territory and possessed strength that ordinary people could hardly imagine.

And Haunfen City was under the controlled territory of the Great Island Lord, Lord Blauer the Azure Dragon.

But even so... for her to come directly to the merchant guild was unusual.

Vivian immediately asked again.

"Why is she here?"

Garrick shook his head.

"I am not sure."

He paused before continuing.

"But it seems Lord Blauer wants all the major merchant guilds in the surrounding islands to attend an emergency meeting."

Vivian’s expression became serious.

"An emergency meeting?"

"Yes."

Garrick nodded.

"And apparently, it concerns something important enough that she came here personally."

For a moment, nobody in the room said anything.

The atmosphere had changed completely.

Just moments ago, they had been discussing Jake and the people who had disappeared.

Now, with the arrival of a Great Island Lord and an emergency meeting being called, everyone could not help but feel that something much bigger was happening.

Barbara exchanged a worried look with Robos.

Vivian slowly narrowed her eyes.

Something was not right.

The atmosphere in the room had suddenly become tense, and everyone was trying to figure out what could have happened to make Lord Blauer come here personally.

Everyone except Grace.

She seemed completely uninterested in the situation unfolding around her.

Her mind was still fixed on one thing.

Jake.

As long as she could still feel his presence, she had no intention of giving up.

She just wanted to find him as quickly as possible.

’Jake... Wait for me. I will definitely save you...!’