After half an hour, Jacob's figure appeared outside the secret underground stairs while holding the scanner in his hand.
After exiting the passage, he pressed the scanner's screen a few times before he activated the self-destruction protocol without hesitation.
He took whatever he deemed important from this facility, which included the data on cannibals and a jar of titan tears which were clearly saved for the cannibals.
Although the effect of Basic Grade Titan Tears almost none exists on Jacob in his current state, it was still better than nothing.
As for other things like firearms, Jacob didn't need them anymore, not of common region quality at least.
To make things difficult for the killer skull society, he decided to destroy this facility.
But he wasn't going to kill those mutants roaming freely in the uncommon region since it would be quite cumbersome, and the more time he wastes here the more danger he'll put himself in.
After knowing about the star ranks and extraordinary ranks, he wasn't arrogant enough to think he could fight on equal ground with a dark organization like Killer Skull Society. Who knows just how deep their roots are?
After he activated the self-destruction protocol, a five minutes timer appeared, and Jacob stowed away the scanner and left the place without looking back.
His next destination was the capital city of Humane Kingdom, where he sent Alice to monitor the movement of royals.
As for his reason, it was simply because he didn't want Alice to come with him and Harrison on this venture. She would've only gotten in his way, and Harrison would be suspicious.
Jacob's actual plan was to use Harrison to bait A-9999 before absorbing her heart essence and then fetch Alice to use both her and Harrison if he had survived this venture as bait to hunt down those other three skulls in Rainy Mountain Ranges.
But the presence of that brain chip made all his schemes in disarray, and all the skulls appeared together.
Nevertheless, not only he was able to hunt all of them down, but he even acquired a 1-star core in the process.
If not for Immortika's subtle suggestion, he would've left Alice alone since she served no more purpose and only got in his way in the place where he was going.
This time, it took Jacob only half a day to reach his destination, which was the territory of Duke Riley!
Alice had told Jacob that if he wanted to find her before their impending meeting, she would be in the secret hideout she had created many years ago as a backup if she ever had a falls out with Samuel.
Jacob entered a town named Bright Town in the west of Riley Duchy's fief.
Since it was already night and Jacob was too fast for anyone to notice him, he easily reached the town lord's mansion, which was the place where Alice should be.
The town lord of Bright Town, Yisrael, was an old man and a baron rank noble. He was a trusted aide of Alice, even her father didn't know about it.
Yisrael was in his study when an icy voice sounded, nearly giving him a heart attack!
"Where is Alice?"
Yisrael yelped and nearly fell from his sitting position, and when he saw the cloaked man standing behind him, his old face went pale with fright.
How could he not be spooked when this mysterious man appeared in his study without even alerting anyone?
However, finding Yisrael was quite easy with Jacob's current hearing, and there weren't many people in there, to begin with, the door wasn't locked either, so Jacob easily found Yisrael with his described appearance.
Yisrael's voice trembled as he shouted, "W-who are you? Do… you k-know who… who I am?"
Jacob coolly said, "Do you think I care? Where is Alice? I'm here to pick her up, don't waste my time."
A hint of astonishment shone in Yisrael's old eyes before he couldn't hear Jacob's words clearly in his shock. Now that he heard Alice's name clearly, he was somewhat at ease.
Because if this man was Alice's associate and know about him, then he couldn't be here to assassinate him.
Yisrael replied after inhaling deeply, "Sir, if you're looking for young miss, I'm afraid she's not here. I haven't seen her in years. But you should look for her in the tyrant mansion. She worked for Lord Silver Tyrant now."
Jacob's eyes narrowed because Yisrael was probably telling the truth. He could easily tell the difference with his heartbeat.
'Don't tell me she fled after getting titan tears? Could it be she broke into A-rank with just ten drops and decided she didn't need titan tears anymore and fled this place? Or she was planning this from the start?'
A dangerous glint flashed past Jacob's eyes as again asked, "Are you sure she didn't come here?"
"Y-yes. You can check the secret base in the willow garden. I'm not lying." Yisrael felt his heart palpitate and break into a cold sweat.
He didn't know why, but this person was giving him a feeling of death which he never felt from even a B-rank mercenary he met one time.
Jacob still doesn't find any lying in Yisrael's voice, even under his faint killing intent, so his conjecture about Alice was probably true.
Alice most likely had fled after she deemed there wasn't a need for her to have titan tears.
'She might be planning this from the start, but she hid it too well, not like that idiot Harrison. I should've given her the black potion instead of the titan tears like Harrison's as well.
'I miscalculated her intentions and let her grow out of hand just to make her powerful cannon fold. But this cannon fold seemed to become a cannon instead. If not for Immortika's suggestion, I won't even bother coming here and then found out about this.
'Well, this is what I get for trusting and not enslaving someone with an astute mind. Even if she's hiding in the uncommon region, it would be akin to searching for a needle in the haystack.'
'Sigh… I would take it as another lesson to not trust a woman again.' Jacob sighed ruefully but a faint smile appeared on his lips the next moment.
"Alright, I believe you."
Before Yisrael could react, Jacob had already vanished from his spot like a phantom, making Yisrael fall on the floor with an appalled look in his eyes, as if he just escaped death.
---
Somewhere in the Rainy Mountain Ranges,
A woman with fairy-like beauty sat in front of a bonfire with an expressionless face as she watched the burning flames in deep thought.
It was none other than Alice, who was heading toward the border river to cross into the rare region after she fled the uncommon region. She didn't have an accurate map, so she was still far away from the border river, but not lost, either.
She had long planned to flee the uncommon region after she got titan tears from Jacob's hand.
Her reasons were simple, first, after she saw those humanoid monsters wreaking havoc in the Aureate Kingdom she knew something was amiss with the uncommon region.
Furthermore, the presence of Jacob and other people like him was enough proof that people like her were mere cannon folds and ants in their eyes.
Second, she would never accept subjugation and wanted to be one who subjugates others.
She knew Jacob was using her, and once she served her purpose, he might discard her despite showing consideration toward her.
She never believed for a second that just because of their physical intimacy, Jacob would consider her anything but equal. As long as she didn't have power equivalent to Jacob, he would never think of her as an equal, and she would always be a tramp in his eyes.
So, she decided to make an escape while she had the chance. She knew the people behind those monsters and Jacob might be scheming against each other, and she would be the first one to die at that time.
Alice had already made preparation before she reported the situation of the Aureate Kingdom to Jacob. If he sent her on another such mission or somewhere else, she would've escaped no matter what.
Her entire plan would've been destroyed if Jacob hadn't sent her on another mission, but the temptation of titan tears was too great for her to take such a risk. In the end, her gamble paid off.
Although, she was still some distance away from being an A-rank despite consuming those ten drops of titan tears, but she was not far away.
She was confident in crossing the uncommon region and border river, which was a dream of hers.
However, even after she escaped Jacob's clutches and a new adventure awaits here in the rare region, she felt empty for some reason while being all alone in this vast wilderness.
She always thought about her time with Jacob and how he appeared in her life like a storm.
Suddenly Alice's cherry lips curled upward into a mesmerizing smile as she mumbled coldly, "Next time, I'll subjugate you, Jacob Steve, just you wait!"
