Chapter 197 They Will Soon Find Their Mother and Sister
For the past seventeen years, Soren had spent every moment outside of work searching for Serenity's whereabouts.
Back then, Serenity had left with newborn Ainsley, leaving only a letter behind. This hit Wesley hard and led him to hand over the company to Soren much earlier than planned.
Serenity didn't say where she was going, and there were no clues pointing to her destination.
Finding someone in this vast sea of people was like looking for a needle in a haystack, so all these years had turned up nothing.
Until last night, when Soren went to meet a client.
It was a businessman from up north named Joe Watson.
Because the order involved such a large quantity of goods, Soren went to meet him personally. After meeting Joe, Soren felt he was reliable, so they chatted a bit more.
At the dinner table, Joe learned about Soren's missing mother and offered to help with the search.
Soren didn't think Joe could help much—after all, the Parker family had enough connections, yet they'd found nothing all these years. But out of politeness, he showed Joe a photo of Serenity anyway.
To his surprise, Joe said she looked familiar.
Soren was taken aback and asked if he'd seen her somewhere before.
Joe said yes.
He said the woman in the photo was beautiful, and he'd seen a similarly beautiful woman over ten years ago who looked about seventy percent like her—very likely the same person.
Normally, you wouldn't remember something from over ten years ago so clearly.
But the circumstances when Joe saw this woman were special, so it left a deep impression.
Back then, he was taking a train from a southern coastal city back to his hometown. In the same car was a woman holding a baby.
The baby in her arms was very small, looking like it had just been born.
Back in those days, online payment wasn't common like now. People traveling carried cash, so there were lots of pickpockets, especially in crowded places like train stations.
Joe was a businessman who traveled widely, and he immediately noticed the expensive bag hanging from the woman's arm.
If he noticed it, others surely did too.
When the train reached a station along the way, many people were pushing toward the exit. In the chaos, a suspicious-looking man passed by the woman.
Watching the man's eyes and movements, Joe thought something was wrong—this guy was probably a thief.
They steal incredibly fast. Often in the time it takes to brush past someone, valuables are already gone from the bag.
Just as he was about to shout a warning, he heard the man scream and drop to his knees.
The beautiful woman, still holding the baby in one arm, executed a series of restraining moves so smoothly that the thief was instantly immobilized, wailing in pain.
A conductor rushed over asking what happened, but the woman said nothing. As if nothing had occurred, she simply got off the train.
Joe glanced at the station sign. It read "Stratford-upon-Avon."
The woman was so striking, and her skills so impressive, that Joe still remembered her years later.
Hearing Joe describe how the woman subdued the thief, Soren was almost certain the woman he'd seen was Serenity.
Serenity had exactly that kind of skill.
Wesley had mentioned that Serenity's background was extraordinary—she was born in Novaria and only came to Aquilonia later.
Novaria's history was a hundred years ahead of Aquilonia's, whether in military strength, economy, or arts and culture.
Speaking of military strength, Novaria not only had the most advanced technology but also the most powerful ancient martial arts traditions.
Novaria was the smallest continent in the world by area, not even as large as the country of Lumaria, yet it ranked first among the four continents and controlled the global economy. This was inseparable from its ancient martial arts families.
And Serenity came from one of these ancient martial arts families.
As for which one specifically, Wesley didn't know—Serenity never said.
In any case, Soren could now be certain that Serenity had gotten off the train at Stratford-upon-Avon station with Ainsley that year.
This gave them a lead to work with.
"Theodore, Lawrence, I'm going to send people to Stratford-upon-Avon right away to focus the search for Mother there," Soren said.
Theodore gripped his phone, feeling excited. "Good. I'll have the private detective I hired go to Stratford-upon-Avon to investigate too."
Learning this news from Soren made him really happy.
This was the biggest lead they'd had in seventeen years.
Maybe they'd find Serenity and Ainsley soon.
Theodore was full of hope.
——
Meanwhile, Isabella stepped out of the hospital elevator to find the hallway packed with people, a noisy scene.
Several doctors and nurses were surrounded by a group of family members.
The group included both men and women, a dozen or so people in total.
"Alan Bennett! I hope you die a terrible death! My son went into your operating room and never came out alive! A life for a life!"
"A life for a life!"
The family members held up banners.
They read: "Alan Bennett, heartless doctor, pay with your life!"
"What's going on? This is scary," Violet said, startled, not daring to go forward.
The hallway was completely blocked by the crowd, with many onlookers gathered around.
The male doctor named Alan and two nurses were trapped in the middle. He looked at the agitated family members, trying his best to calm them down.
"Sir, I'm very sorry about your son, but every surgery carries risks. Before the operation, I showed you the risk disclosure form, and you signed it..."
"Alan! Pay with your life!"
Someone shouted.
Instantly everyone seemed to boil over, completely drowning out Alan's voice.
Just then, the elevator doors on this floor opened again.
Two security guards rushed over. Seeing the chaotic scene, they immediately shouted, "What are you doing?"
The uniformed security guards were holding batons, and this sight apparently set off the family members.
The middle-aged man leading the group suddenly changed expression, shouting, "Alan, go to hell! Give me back my son's life!"
The man pulled a dagger from his coat and stabbed viciously toward Alan.
Standing not far away, Isabella's face changed the moment she saw that flash of silver. Her eyes went wide, her heart nearly jumping out of her throat. "Watch out!"
Not just Isabella—everyone saw the knife. Alan's eyes went wide in that instant too.
He saw the sharp blade coming at him and turned to dodge.
But it was too late.
The knife plunged straight into his body.
In an instant, bright red blood stained his white coat.
Screams erupted everywhere.
A nearby nurse froze in shock.
"Alan! Alan!"
Another nurse burst into tears.
The more timid onlookers screamed and scattered in all directions.
Alan collapsed to the ground, clutching his bleeding abdominal wound.
But the man wasn't finished.
Seeing Alan still alive, he raised his hand again, the knife stabbing viciously toward his body.