Chapter 1742: Haley Missing, and Comforting Margaret

Five minutes later, Luke arrived at the sanatorium and sighed. “Fine, something really did happen.”

The sanatorium, which should have been conserving electricity at night, was brightly lit, and more than 50 guards were patrolling the place.

Luke glanced at them. All the guards were armed; there was definitely something wrong.

This wasn’t the reaction of a sanatorium, but a military base.

Looking at the way these people moved, they were all veterans with military training. Their combat ability wouldn’t be any worse than that of an ordinary SWAT team.

Several small drones hovered in the sky to monitor the surroundings of the sanatorium.

Luke turned to look at the beach, only to see that there were also security guards and search dogs wandering around the sewers.

There was no doubt that the guards were searching for something.

Luke stopped moving and released a mid-sized drone to monitor the entire sanatorium from a higher altitude.

Then, a large number of mini Ant drones started to enter via various hidden corners.

Compared with a big person like him going inside, the mini drones were naturally more comprehensive and efficient.

The two Ant drones in the lead were also the smallest drones.

They were only five millimeters long. They looked like big ants, but were actually new experimental models with “nuclear” and “vibranium” components.

Because it could absorb the energy of Skye’s vibration ability, Luke named the special metal “vibranium.”

Most of the time, it had very strong physical attributes.

The two vibranium experimental models had an extremely simple internal structure but durable and sturdy bodies, and had practically boundless kinetic energy in comparison with their sizes.

As long as there wasn’t some extremely thick protective layer, these two drones could deal easily with anything.

Not only that, they were also “charging stations” for the other ordinary mini drones when necessary.

On top of that, these two drones had the ability to become super assassins.

For these vibranium machines, digging up cement was no different to digging up mud; it was also easy to dig out the toughest skull.

There wasn’t even any need to go that far to kill an ordinary person.

But for Luke, using the drones as assassins was meaningless.

After all, he had a hundred ways to deal with people he didn’t like; he didn’t need to mobilize the drones for that.

Of course, Luke had to test how useful these experimental models were.

That was because the two drones had the mentality of ants, and had the second generation arc reactor which they were using as a power source after it was shrunk using the Pym Particle. The ordinary drones also looked like ants.

They were long enough to accommodate all sorts of functional components, and could pass through narrow passages dug by the two experimental models.

…

Less than five minutes later, the two drones led the main force through a gap and opened passages in some key locations, before they entered the sanatorium from the north and south.

Hundreds of Ant drones silently searched every place that had people, and recorded them.

Most of the guards didn’t talk much, but that didn’t mean it was useless.

Just like when Frank commanded a battle, the less was said, the simpler the language, and the more prominent the focus.

Luke soon uncovered the reason for the search: Two people had escaped the sanatorium.

To be precise, a “Patient Zero” had escaped and taken a doctor with him.

Luke had a bad feeling, and soon confirmed that while Haley’s phone signal was coming from the office, she wasn’t in the sanatorium.

Given the development of the Internet and telecommunications, very few people wouldn’t have their phones on them.

Even though this sanatorium was special, it was unlikely that Haley would go home without her phone.

After the drone entered Haley’s office and Luke saw her purse, everything was basically confirmed.

Haley was probably the doctor who had been kidnapped by the patient.

What was even more troublesome was that from the bits and pieces of information, it was very likely that this Zero had escaped through the sewers.

This rendered Luke’s Sharp Nose useless.

He even patrolled the coast that the sanatorium was on in stealth mode, but didn’t find any traces of Haley.

There wasn’t much he could do about that.

Even the smallest lead from Sharp Nose could have helped.

Without this lead, Luke was looking for a needle in a haystack like everyone else.

After confirming the situation, he could only tell Elena to stay with Margaret as much as possible as her friend.

The disappearance of the person closest to you would be a huge blow to anyone.

The young widow didn’t have any other family in New York, so Elena could only do her best as a friend.

Otherwise, it would be terrible if something happened to Margaret.

While Elena comforted the widow, Luke explained the situation to Elsa in a low voice.

Elsa didn’t wonder where he got the information.

She and Dustin were just one of Luke’s “information channels,” and Elizabeth was in the Internet department.

Luke definitely had more personal connections than just these old friends from work.

She simply looked at Margaret worriedly and asked in a low voice, “What can I do?”

Luke said, “Calm her down. After all, you’re her most trusted friend.”

Elsa said, “Of course, but you don’t need my help?”

Luke shook his head. “There should be something going on behind the scenes. If you start investigating, you’ll very likely draw attention. It’s easiest for me to get involved secretly.”

Elsa was a little surprised. “Secretly?”

Luke said, “Keep this between us: There’s something fishy about King’s Park Sanatorium. It definitely doesn’t have a simple background.”

Elsa said worriedly, “Will it be…”

She sympathized with Margaret, but she couldn’t let an old friend take such a huge risk.

Luke waved his hand. “As long as none of you know anything, I’m safe. So, just act like I didn’t take on Margaret’s request. You should console her.”

“Hm… I see.” Stumped for a moment, Elsa then got it.

Even an experienced officer like her had to pretend that she didn’t know anything, while someone as naive as Margaret could only be told even less.

Otherwise, if Haley was rescued, anyone with a brain would be able to find out from this young widow that it was Luke who had done the good deed.

Elsa looked at Luke helplessly. “But I’m afraid that Margaret will be very sad…”

“It’s better to be sad than to be used.” Luke chuckled. “Besides, it’s better for her to dislike me more.”

Staring at him speechlessly for a moment, Elsa finally couldn’t take it anymore. “Why do so many women like someone like you?”

Luke touched his face and said, “Do you need an answer?”

Elsa said, “…I’ll go attend to Margaret.”