<h4>Chapter 515: An Empty Trail</h4>


    Eric immediately zoomed in on the map and clearly saw the ind’s name: Russfish Ind. It wasn’t veryrge, and its owner was someone named Charlie.


    Eric quickly checked a list and discovered that Charlie was on Mason’s list of friends!


    In other words, Charlie was a friend of Mason’s!


    This was good. With this lead, Eric finally saw a glimmer of hope. If Mason was using Charlie as a middleman, then... Elias was likely on that ind.


    Eric quickly informed John and the others, applied for a flight path to Russfish Ind in Country W, and after making all the necessary preparations, set off immediately.


    By the time they arrived at Russfish Ind, it was already the afternoon of the next day.


    The sound of the ne drew the attention of Charlie and his people. They couldn’t believe Mason and E had returned so quickly, but when they saw a group of stern, unfamiliar faces disembarking, Charlie was utterly stunned.


    "I’m the owner of Russfish Ind. Who are you?"


    Eric strode forward, and Charlie’s bodyguards grew tense, but they were quickly subdued by the overwhelming force of Eric’s group.


    Eric grabbed Charlie by the cor. "Are you Charlie? Where’s my wife? Tell me now!"


    Charlie waspletely baffled by the question. John stepped forward and rified, "Our Mr. Nelson’s wife is named E. Did Mason bring her here? And is our young master here as well?"


    Eric’s heart sank heavily. There were far too few people on this ind for it to be a hiding ce for E and Elias.


    But Charlie surely held important information.


    Charlie suddenly understood. "So... Miss Davis is your wife? She was taken by J, or Mason as you call him."


    Charlie habitually referred to Mason as J because they were old schoolmates, and many people abbreviated Mason’s name to J, as it began with that letter in the Country Wnguage.


    Eric was furious. He had flown for over ten hours to get here, only to receive this answer?


    "Where did Mason take her? Speak!"


    Eric yanked Charlie closer, his voice icy and menacing. Charlie shivered, feeling a chill run down his spine. "I... I don’t know! I’m sorry, J never reveals his exact ns to us!"


    Ovee with anger, Eric punched Charlie hard, sending him sprawling to the ground.


    He ced a foot on Charlie’s chest. "Tell me every detail of what happened—leave nothing out!"


    Although Eric was hostile, Charlie obediently recounted the events without skipping a single part.


    When Eric heard how Mason had brought E here and Charlie had mistaken her for a prostitute, his fury only deepened. He kicked Charlie, who cried out in pain.


    "Sir... please don’t get upset. I didn’t know she’d been kidnapped! J said she was a gift for me... so please don’t misunderstand. I meant no harm to Miss Davis..."


    Charlie begged for mercy, writhing in pain, and Meena hurriedly intervened to block Eric.


    John leaned in and whispered, "Boss, getting angry won’t help right now. Maybe the ind where E and Elias are being kept is nearby!"


    Eric panted, his eyes bloodshot. For four days, he had barely slept as he frantically searched for inds that matched the photo.


    Many private indscked detailed records, so finding the "research ind" based solely on the photo Be had sent was incredibly challenging.


    Even during the flight, Eric and his team had tirelessly searched but still failed to find a nearby ind that resembled the one in the photo.


    "You have aputer here, don’t you?" Eric asked coldly.


    Charlie nodded quickly. "Yes, yes... I have one here!"


    "You guys go inside and rest. I’ll take a walk here," Eric said, panting as he tried to calm his anger.


    "Boss, you need to rest too," John said worriedly, seeing Eric’s nearly breaking point. Even if they found E and Elias, what good would it be if Eric copsed from exhaustion?


    Eric squinted at the shrinking figure of Charlie.


    The man was tall and thin, with an air of indulgence about him, as though his life had been one of long-term excess.


    "Charlie, did Mason leave anything unusual with you?"


    Charlie froze for a moment. "No... nothing."


    Eric felt a pang of disappointment. His head throbbed painfully, forcing him to retreat to Charlie’s vi to rest briefly.


    He also needed to look for any clues E might have left behind.


    But at that time, she hadn’t yet reached the vi. Even if she had left something, it likely wouldn’t be much.


    Charlie exined that Mason didn’t give E much time after arriving; he had left with her shortly thereafter.


    Eric silently berated himself. If only he’de sooner, he might have seen E.


    But regret was useless. There was no time to waste. After drinking the coffee John had prepared for him, Eric resumed working through the night, hoping to pinpoint the ind Elias was being kept on.


    A man like Isaac, who had been expelled from research institutes, would certainly conduct hical experiments in remote, hard-to-detect locations.


    Eric had also investigated missing persons reports. During Isaac’s disappearance, 15% of Country W’s missing poption had beenprised of gifted children and teenagers.


    This strongly suggested that Isaac was behind those disappearances.


    Eric pored over the maps on hisputer, studying ind after ind, but eventually, his exhaustion caught up with him. Having not had proper sleep for several days, his body was at its limit, and his eyelids grew heavy.


    Turning to John, he said, "Let me nap for half an hour. Wake me after that."


    With that, hey down on the nearby sofa, his strained eyes finally getting a moment of reprieve.


    Even as hey down, sleep eluded him. His nerves were strung so tightly that he couldn’t truly rx until he saw results.


    With a sigh, John asked someone to bring nkets from Charlie to cover Eric.


    The ind’s temperature was particrly low, but Eric barely rested ten minutes before his eyes opened again. He immediately resumed scrutinizing the maps.


    Mason had left the map at his house, meaning his pilot was familiar with the location.


    Perhaps the ind was within their current range of view.


    Eric couldn’t count on Mira and her team anymore; after all, gaining ess to a state-level security database was nearly impossible, let alone hacking into it.


    At the same time...


    Over on E’s side, it was alsote at night.


    E sat by Elias’s bed, watching his peaceful sleeping face, but her heart felt unbearably heavy.


    If she wanted to rescue Elias, doing it alone would be extremely dangerous.


    If Mason willingly let her and Elias leave, it would be much safer. The problem was... would that lunatic Isaac allow it?


    E had taken note of the situation. Isaac had three assistants, two bodyguards, and four fishermen.


    Out of the nine people, if she could take down Isaac and his five closest associates, the four fishermen should be easy to handle, especially if she managed to get her hands on a gun...