Chapter 235 Looking For Someone
In the dark and damp basement, Roy Lowe was slightly panting while holding a whip.
Being an Evolving person, there were few things that could leave him breathless. Lately, apart from indulging in some pleasurable moments in bed, the only other thing was dealing with this woman with a ghostly face.
"Not talking?" Roy said, lifting Gemma's chin with the whip and looking at her blood-stained, ugly face. "Even if you don't speak, we know. Cloud Peak Manor, right? As soon as you left, we got the news. Do you really think there's anything that we don't know?"
"Be smart and tell us how many Evolving persons you have there, how many guns, how many two-star Evolving persons, and if there are any professionals! Just tell us these things, and we'll let you go. What do you think?" Roy asked.
Seeing Gemma just glance at him coldly before lowering her eyes, Roy felt a surge of anger.
After nearly a day of severe torture, Gemma hadn't said a single word! Her body had been whipped to shreds, enduring such pain and torment, yet she didn't even let out a groan.
When his father, the head of the Lowe Family, Terrence Lowe, handed over Gemma, who was said to be a two-star Evolving person, Roy had confidently claimed that he could get the information within a few hours. But now, after all this time, he had come up empty-handed."
His father didn't have just one son.
If he couldn't even handle this task, he wouldn't get the next two-star Evolution Elixir. Thinking of this made Roy even more agitated.
With another round of whipping, Gemma's body, which was hanging, gained more than a dozen new whip marks. A two-star Evolving individual she might be, but even they had limits. An ordinary person, even a one-star, would have been dead long ago under this kind of punishment.
"Are you going to talk or not?" Roy shouted as he lashed Gemma, venting his frustration.
Exhausted from whipping, Gemma still seemed unaware of the pain, looking at him with a calm, lifeless gaze, sending a chill down his spine.
"Fine! Fine! Keep your secrets!" Roy bellowed, his eyes bloodshot.
"I'll just kill you then!"
He felt that if he couldn't get anything out of her by tomorrow, he would really lose the chance to evolve to two-star. He was already on the verge of madness.
He took Gemma down and threw her onto a wooden bed. Although on the brink of losing his mind, Roy hadn't forgotten that Gemma was a two-star Evolving person. Even though she was severely injured and unable to move, she was still dangerous.
He grabbed long nails and a hammer from the side and crudely nailed her limbs to the wooden bed.
Despite her body being covered in dirt and blood, Gemma's gaze remained calm and unruffled, looking at Roy as if she were looking at a dead person.
Roy's mouth was half-open, and his face was full of gloom in the firelight. He had made up his mind to use Gemma's intact half face as a threat to make her talk. Otherwise, he would truly disfigure her and then burn her to death!
Just then, the door was pushed open, and someone walked in. Roy turned around and roared, "Get out!"
The person who entered trembled in fear but still walked up to Roy, whispering, "Mr. Lowe, someone swam over from the lake, saying they're here for this woman."
What?
Roy's mind cleared up a bit, and he blinked.
"Let's go take a look!" he sneered.
The Lowe Family had lived on the island in Grand Lake for generations, using the lake as their base. During peacetime, this place had been turned into Grand Reservoir.
Previously, the nation's ethnic integration was already very high, and in cities, the differences between various ethnic groups were minimal. However, in remote areas and some special places, there were still a few ethnic groups that maintained relatively intact family structures.
The Lowe Family was one of them. Due to their unique geographical location, they preserved a relatively complete family form, and even some ancestral combat techniques had been passed down.
The relatively closed environment, individual bravery, and collective unity allowed the Lowe Family to quickly grow stronger after the apocalypse began, especially after discovering two roulette wheels on the island, giving them the means to combat mutated creatures.
If only those wheels hadn't been a level-one and an unusable level-three, they might have been even stronger.
At least, they wouldn't have to rely on the Zero Commerce Guild for two-star elixirs.
As the head of the family, Terrence was very low-key during peacetime. However, in the chaos, he gradually developed a bit of a tyrant's aura. By working with the enigmatic Zero Commerce Guild and carrying out nefarious deeds, he earned their protection and a two-star Evolution Elixir.
Terrence wasn't content with being manipulated by others forever. He was biding his time, waiting for the number of two-star Evolving persons in the family to increase and for their overall strength to grow. Once that happened, he would go hunting for three-star creatures, using the island's roulette wheels to elevate himself and his family to three-star levle. By then, all the powerful factions in Accraville City, even the Zero Commerce Guild, would be at his mercy.
But for now, caution was key. He could afford to be patient.
However, today's events were somewhat amusing. After bringing Gemma to the central island, he first received a message from the Zero Commerce Guild saying she was from Cloud Peak Manor, a newly rising faction.
Then, before his people could extract more useful information, someone came for Gemma.
The central island was easy to defend and hard to attack. A sneak attack was impossible; the miles of lake surface made any target visible. This person swam over from the lake, and naturally, the island saw him early on. Terrence knew about it too. When this person got on the island and clarified his intention, Terrence admired his courage but also thought the guy was lucky.
The lake had mutated aquatic creatures. When Lowe Family members went out, they were often attacked, but thanks to their sturdy boats and strong combat skills, nothing major happened. Yet this person swam over alone and wasn't eaten. If that wasn't luck, what was?
Of course, to Terrence, this young man was also foolish. Coming alone to the Lowe Family was no different from seeking death. Not only would he fail to save her, but he would also lose his own life.
So, Terrence left it to his children and subordinates to handle. He sat in his room, eyes closed, contemplating the grand plan for the Lowe Family's development.
When Roy hurried out, his older brother Alec, younger brother Travis, and sister Valerie were already in the hall. They had clearly listened to their father Terrence's instructions. Several managing uncles, all strong Evolving persons, were also present, along with many warriors and members who had gathered to watch the show.
"Roy, Dad gave us this task today. We better do it right. And you, questioning a woman all day and getting nothing. So useless," Travis scoffed.
Favored by their mother, Travis always looked down on Roy. Seeing Roy come out, he mocked him, making Roy look even angrier. But seeing Terrence resting with his eyes closed, Roy held back.
Valerie, who had been teased by Darryl, shook her head at her three brothers' behavior and sat aside, eating a bag of snacks she had found outside last time.
Despite being a girl, she was the best at the family's combat techniques among Terrence's four children. After becoming an Evolving person, she was also the strongest, giving her a somewhat special status.
Roy didn't argue with Travis, but he wasn't kind to other less significant family members. He shouted, "Where's that fool who came to save her? Bring him in, let me see!"
A family member immediately ran out and brought the person in.
Moments later, the people in the Lowe Family hall saw a young man, soaking wet and unarmed, walk in.
Terrence opened his eyes, glanced at William, and whispered to a family member beside him to be cautious of William, who was also a two-star Evolving person.
However, Terrence didn't pay much attention to William.
So what if he was a two-star Evolving person? There were three two-star Evolving persons in the hall right now! And dozens of family warriors around the hall, half armed with powerful automatic rifles and shotguns, the other half with lances. Even if another two-star Evolving person came, they could kill him too.
At such close range, even a two-star Evolving person would surely die under a barrage of bullets.
"I'm here to find someone," William said calmly.
Roy, seeing his calm demeanor, felt a surge of anger.
'The hell? Just like that woman. You're all about to die, and you're still acting all high and mighty?' Roy thought as he walked out.
Standing in front of William, he shouted, "You think you can just come in here and demand people? Who do you think you are? Wipe that damn calm look off your face. That woman was just as calm as you. I whipped her over five hundred times today. If you keep acting all high and mighty in front of me, I'll give you five hundred lashes too!"
"Do you understand?" Roy enunciated, slapping William's face with each one, making three not-so-loud slapping sounds.
"So, she's here with you," William said, maintaining that same expression, as if he were talking to himself.
Roy cursed and pointed at William's nose. "I'll make you understand today, we..."
Before he could finish, a loud bang was heard.
