But on getting to the house, he claimed to have knocked and got no response, and thus, he was forced to pick the lock and force his way in;

But on getting inside the house, he found no one and everything around seemed to point out that these people have been gone for a while;

Thus the tribe member decided go ask around if anyone had seen the couple around and they all claimed to not have seen the duo for more than a month…

It was also the same when the Guards at the tribe wall were asked and when they also claimed to have not seen them in a while, the tribe member then came to report it to the Tribe Leader;

But after some investigations on their part and without finding any form of struggle or battle within the house, the investigator declared that the parents left after feeling betrayed by the tribe, and thus, the matter ended there…

"But that's three kidnappings in a year, there is nowhere you will go and that wouldn't be alarming…" Elder Fu sounded almost accusingly;

"Like he said, we all thought they left, and at that time, them leaving sounded as the only plausible scenario;"

"After all, I will feel the same way if I told people that my only child has been kidnapped but they refused to listen and claims she ran away, when I know she would never do that…" The Tribe Lady supported;

"But the next year-" The Tribe leader continued; and this time, he said the first month, the tribe member who reported the case of the missing parents was the one who went missing, and it took a little while before they all realized that he was also gone..."

"But since the investigator just made a declarations just a few months prior, the rest of the tribe members felt the man had also deserted the tribe just like the parents…

Furthermore, it was claimed that, many people come to join their tribe almost every month, because not only was their settlement urbanized and wealthy, but they were also independent, and served as a place where people from different Empires could come together to witness, learn and enjoy the cultures of their neighboring Empires…

"Where did such a tribe such as your get the wealth to build such a place, after all you said people were attracted to this place because they saw it was urbanized which means you must have built this place to this extent before people started flooding in…" Min Hong asked through Elder Fu once again;

"Are you insinuating that we are the ones behind all these kidnappings?" The Right Grand Elder asked;

"Not at all… We are simply open minded and considering all the possible scenarios…" Elder Fu replied;

"Irrespective of however you think it to be, our source of wealth is something that we cannot share with outsiders…"

The Left Grand Elder spoke with a straight face and flat tone that indicated that the matter should be dropped;

"What if the unknown we are trying to uncover is within the unknown you're trying to keep unknown?"

Ignoring the fact that everyone in the area had to take a minute or two to translate what Min Hong was talking about, Little Fei's voice resounded within Min Hong's head;

"We are ready!"

"Alright then, begin… Remember, leave no inch of ground uninspected…"

"Got it!" Little Fei replied…

When Min Hong returned to go pick the fake hairbrush earlier, he had tucked Little Fei and Daniel into his nostrils telling them to tickle it once they were ready, so that his sneezing would be genuine and draw no suspicions from the Elders…

Thus, when he sneezed earlier, he sent Little Fei and Daniel flying into the distance, and now they were crawling through the seams beneath the doors of each individual mansions to investigate the Tribe Leader, his wife and the three Elders mansion…

"Alright, since we called for help and we genuinely want you to help us, I guess we have no choice but to tell you then…" The Left Grand Elder spoke as everyone looked over to him;

"We happen to own a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone mine, and that is where our wealth comes from…"

"Now that we have uncovered the unknown, can we move on?" He added as Elder Fu nodded his head before the Tribe Leader continued;

"After the tribe member went missing, then the number of people who went missing triple in just a week, and that was when we realized that our tribesmen were indeed being kidnapped…"

"Afterwards, entire families began to go missing all of a sudden, and the frequency of this kidnapping then began to increase, and when the entire tribe went into a state of massive unrest, we decided to request help from the East Wind Empire, but their demands were excessive…"

"Let me guess, they asked for the Spirit Stone mine?" Yu Ming asked;

"Yes, but we couldn't give it to them, because if they took it from us and decide not to help us what could we do?"

"We won't be able to ask another power for help because we would have nothing to pay for their services, and neither can we seek revenge and risk being the victim of a genocide…"

"Then we also called to the Dogon Empire for help, but they weren't in good terms with the East Wind Empire for some reasons, and our proximity to the East Wind Empire meant they couldn't help either…"

"We also tried reaching to the Jun Empire, but were always ambushed by bandits and a notorious mercenary group in the Land Of Stones, and the guan Empire was simply too far;"

"Thus, we simply made numerous flyers requesting for help and spread it across the three Empires requesting for anyone who can help us…"

"And how many have come to your aid so far?" Gong Yi asked

"Twenty four groups and nineteen individual experts…" The Tribe Leader responded, as the group stared at him in shock;

"Now you know why we're a little skeptical of your desire to help…"

"Also, our tribe is now empty, but we know if we solve this mystery, our tribe would return to its former glory, and that's why we allowed you in." The Lady chipped in…