From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 783 Kidnapping
The area controlled by the Renaissance Alliance, Vlagon IV.

The sun slanted in through the classroom window, leaving a golden spot on Pru's desk.

She looked at the clouds passing by outside the window, tapping the desk with her fingertips, occasionally moving to the corner of the virtual screen, casually swiping to the left to switch to the next page of basic information on high-energy physics.

Mr. Smith on the podium was explaining the basic applications of trigonometric functions in a vivid and emotional manner. On the virtual screen behind him, various lines and numbers were constantly changing as he taught.

Pru, who just turned 14, raised her head and pretended to be listening attentively, but in fact she was thinking about the questions in the high-energy physics textbook.

She had already learned all the content in class when she was in Zhongsi College. At that time, Pru even learned advanced mathematics and calculus at a very fast speed.

But she still sat in the classroom patiently, occasionally writing down a few formulas on the virtual screen, just like an ordinary fourteen-year-old student.

"So when we are faced with a triangle and need to solve for the unknown side length"

Teacher Smith's voice faded in Prue's ears, and her attention returned to the high-energy physics materials she had secretly opened.

A "Puchi Puchi" sound suddenly came from Pru's right side. The little girl turned her head and saw her good friend Emily winking at her.

Pru was well aware that the other party was telling her to leave after class and not to forget tonight's activities. She looked at her friend, nodded, and quietly made a 'received' gesture.

The last class of the day often makes children feel anxious. Amidst everyone's awkwardness and scratching their heads, the bell for the end of get out of class finally rings.

The originally quiet classroom suddenly became lively, with the sounds of closing virtual screens, chairs being moved, and laughter intertwined together, like a group of caged birds being suddenly released.

"Students, don't forget to finish today's homework! Also, tomorrow we will talk about the application of the law of cosines, so please review Chapter 7, Section 3 in advance!"

Teacher Smith looked at his students helplessly and had to raise his voice to make his voice penetrate the noise.

Pru tapped the virtual screen a few times with her fingertips and quickly closed the high-energy physics materials. Obviously, this thing should not appear in the textbook library of a middle school - this was actually something that Pru had hacked into the school's teaching terminal host and imported after secretly assigning herself administrator privileges.

As soon as she finished all this, three girls gathered around her desk.

"Pru! Hurry up and pack up, my mom has prepared the ingredients. We are going to make strawberry tarts and chocolate cookies today!" Emily patted Pru's shoulder, and her golden curly hair swayed gently with her movements.

"Slow down, you little lunatics."

Pru smiled and tidied up the already tidy table, then stood up and said, "I also want to bring some back to my adoptive parents. Are you sure you won't blow up the kitchen?"

Another girl, Diana, heard this and teased, "We have a 'chef' like you, how could you ruin our reputation? The last time you made blueberry pie, Emily's dad ate three pieces and still wanted more."

"That's because Emily's dad lacks self-control."

Maria interjected, she was also the quietest of the four-person group.

"Like he drinks three cups of coffee with sugar and milk every day."

Emily covered her heart exaggeratedly: "Oh my God! My family secret has been exposed!"

Pru stood up and followed her three friends out of the classroom. The corridor was crowded with students who were leaving school. They were pushing and shoving, laughing and playing, with carefree smiles on their young faces.

Amidst the laughter and joy, Pru felt a sense of impending loss.

She knew that starting tomorrow she would no longer be able to ride the school bus with her friends, bake together, and share little girl secrets on the way home like she did today.

Pru's adoptive father told him last night that the group headquarters had sent an early warning message that the relationship between the Renaissance Alliance and the Atlas Group was deteriorating, and as a relative of the group's overseas personnel, Pru's protection level had also been increased.

So starting tomorrow, she will be picked up and dropped off by the office's special vehicle, just like other children in the office.

"Emily calling Pru, are you listening?" Emily waved her hand in front of her eyes.

Pru then came back to her senses: "Sorry, I was thinking about baking."

"You're lying," Diana narrowed her eyes, "Are you thinking about those super-difficult physics formulas again? I saw you secretly looking at those messy symbols in class."

"Don't tell me you know this," Maria pulled out her terminal, and the photo on it happened to be what Pru had just been looking at, "The calculation method of quantum field theory? Isn't this what we should learn?"

Pru quickly hugged Maria and tickled her. "Okay, you only know how to take secret photos of me during class, right? Delete it now!"

“Hahahahaha, you really understand this?” Although Maria was tickled, she still forced a triumphant smile and said, “I just guessed.”

Pru let it go helplessly and rolled her eyes.

"Okay, okay, you've found out. By the way, starting tomorrow I can't go home with you. My family will have to send a car to pick me up."

"Ah? Why?" Emily widened her eyes in surprise.

Pru sighed, "They said it's the group's rule. The situation isn't good lately, so all employees' children need to have better security."

Maria, who was walking in front of them, suddenly stopped and turned to look at Pru: "What level of employees are your parents in Atlas? They can't be..."

"Shh," Pru puts her index finger to her lips, "Can we make the cake first before we talk about this?"

Walking out of the school gate, the sunlight shone on the four girls, giving them a layer of gold. The suspended school bus had landed in the landing zone, the engine roaring low, waiting for the students to get on board.

Pru and her friends boarded the school bus and found the back seat to sit down. Through the window, she seemed to notice a black hover car parked in the distance. Pru's eyes flashed, but she didn't say anything or notify others.

Emily's home was not far from the school, and the suspended school bus had its own dedicated route and airspace, so it didn't take long to arrive at a single-family house with a small garden.

Since there are not many residents on Vlagon IV, compared with those planets on the federal border that have a large backlog of population, it can be said to be sparsely populated, so the settlements on this planet are generally single-family houses.

But even so, Emily's house is not the same as ordinary houses, and it costs much more.

Pru knew that this was mainly due to the identity of Emily's father - the boss of a defense contractor who was the first to join the Resurrection Alliance after they came to this galaxy.

Before the arrival of the Renaissance Alliance, Emily's family was already well off, and when the defense contractor was incorporated, her father's status rose even higher. He was originally just an ordinary boss, but now he has become a senior member of the Renaissance Alliance in the Vlagon Galaxy.
"We're here! Get off the bus!"

At Emily's call, the four girls got out of the car happily and ran towards the house. Pru breathed in the fragrance from the garden, but she felt that it was still far inferior to the small garden taken care of by Master Ian Stormrage.

In the kitchen, Emily's mother had already prepared all the baking ingredients. Flour, butter, eggs and fresh strawberries were neatly placed on the marble countertop.

"Welcome, girls!"

Emily's mother smiled as the four energetic girls rushed into the kitchen and greeted them.

"Remember to wear an apron and don't get your clothes dirty."

The next two hours were filled with laughter and flour flying.

Pru kneads the dough intently, with a skill that doesn't seem like a fourteen-year-old girl. Her movements are smooth and precise, as if every kneading and every cut has been precisely calculated.

"Pru, you're amazing!" Emily couldn't help but exclaim as she watched Pru skillfully arrange the strawberries into beautiful patterns.

Pru smiled and continued her movements without saying anything. Only she knew that compared to the training to improve her 'psychic control ability', kneading dough was much easier.

"I think you'll be a great chef, or a physicist, or... uh, a math professor in the future?" Diana said while stirring the batter.

"neither"

"So who do you want to be, Pru?" Emily asked curiously.

Hearing her companion's question, Pru felt a familiar figure appear in front of her. That figure seemed so warm and safe, and there was always a gentle smile on his face.

Pru smiled unconsciously, and then said lightly: "Secret~"

The oven made a "ding" sound, announcing that the first batch of cookies was done. The aroma of butter and chocolate filled the air, and the four girls gathered together, admiring their masterpieces.

"I want to try a piece first!"

Diana couldn't wait to pick up a piece of the steaming cookie, fanned it hard for a long time, took a bite, and a happy smile immediately broke out on her face.

“This is too delicious!”

Pru also tasted a piece. The sweet but not greasy taste spread in her mouth, but it made her suddenly feel sad.

As a psychic, and a psychic with special experiences, she is much more mature than her peers. So Pru is keenly aware that the peaceful days are coming to an end. Starting from tomorrow, she doesn't know how long it will take before she can meet these friends again.

Pru lets out an imperceptible sigh, then begins selecting the most perfect cookies and a small piece of strawberry tart, carefully packing them into the box Emily's mother has provided.

"I have to pack some to bring back for my parents to try~"

"Bring more. Uncle and aunt will definitely want to eat the baked goods you make~" After hearing this, Emily came over to help her.

"Oh, by the way, an idea just came to me and I almost forgot to tell you~"

Pru said suddenly, a hint of smile in her eyes.

"If I can't go home with you guys from school starting tomorrow, maybe we can meet at lunch? We can figure out a way to bring the baking ingredients to school."

"Bake at school? We'll be caught by the janitor! My quality points will be deducted." Emily exclaimed. Pru smiled mysteriously: "Life always needs a little excitement, doesn't it? And I know the home economics classroom is never locked during lunch break."

"Tsk tsk tsk tsk. Pru, you're so well-behaved, but you're so rebellious at heart!" Maria smiled and shook her head.

"I must admit, this is a great idea." Diana nodded in agreement, "There's only four of us in the baking club! Let's bake for the rest of our lives!"

Time passed quickly, the sun was setting, and the orange-red light was pouring into the kitchen through the window. Pru checked the time and found that she was already later than usual to get home.

"I should go back, my parents will be worried"

"I'll let my dad take you back," Emily suggested, "It's getting dark, and it's not safe for you to go back alone."

Pru shook her head. "No, I can just take the bus myself."

At this particular moment, she didn't want to trouble her friend's family, especially since the other party's father was a member of the Renaissance Alliance.

And she believed that she was capable of dealing with possible dangers. As a well-trained psyker, Pru knew how to protect herself in an emergency, not to mention that she often went home alone.

After saying goodbye to her friends, Pru took the box full of snacks and walked towards the bus stop in the other direction. As night slowly fell, the street lights on the street lit up one by one.

Just as Plumai was thinking about the recent complicated situation and how her friends in the "Psychic Training Class" were doing, a black hovercraft slowly drove over and stopped in front of her.

Pru took a step back vigilantly, and at the same time, her right hand reached for the personal terminal on her left wrist. She recognized that this was the hovercraft she had seen near the school before.

The car door slid open silently, and two men in low-visibility combat suits got out.

"Prue Wedel? Please cooperate with us and get in the car." One of them said in a cold and hard voice.

For Pru, the flow of time seemed to slow down at this moment. She immediately and quickly assessed the current situation:
Two adult men, wearing low-visibility combat suits that integrate light combat exoskeletons and carrying weapons.

The vehicle appears to be military-grade, with additional armor and signal shielding, and there should be at least two armed men inside.

Seeing that people with this appearance and ulterior motives appeared at this time, Pru had already guessed that they must be members of the Renaissance Alliance.

To be honest, for Pru, who has reached the fourth level of psychic strength and has received combat training, she is confident that she can subdue them before the other party issues a warning to the backstage.

But soon, Pru realized that this might also be a rare opportunity. Apparently, the other party did not know her true situation, otherwise, the people who came should not be four armed men, but a professional anti-psychic team.

"I don't know you," Pru says calmly. "My father taught me not to follow strangers."

Hearing Pru's words, the man showed a cold smile: "Be good, little boy, you will see your father soon."

Pru's expression was still alert, but she sneered in her heart. This was indeed a premeditated kidnapping.

After thinking for a moment, Pru, the 14-year-old outstanding graduate of the 'Psychic Training Class', put on a vigilant expression on her face, and then 'panicked' tried to send a distress message on her personal terminal.

After seeing her movements, the two armed men grabbed her wrist as quickly as she expected, then took off the personal terminal, crushed it and threw it onto the lawn.

Then, a needle popped out from the device on the other person's wrist and pierced Pru's neck. The girl immediately felt her body begin to slow down, but this was probably because her physical condition had offset a lot of the effects of the medicine.

So Pru immediately let her body go limp and fell backwards, and as expected, she was picked up by the armed men.

"Alright, gather the troops and notify Eagle's Nest to carry out the next step."

Vlagon IV, where the employees of the Atlas Group office live.

In the study, Videl leaned back in his chair with a frown on his face. The sky outside the window had completely darkened, and the dim light enveloped his tired face.

He had just finished reading several encrypted documents sent from headquarters, each of which warned of a possible conflict between the Renaissance Alliance and the Atlas Group.

As the highest-ranking person in charge of the Atlas Group's office in the Vlagon galaxy, he knew that the situation he would face would become increasingly complicated.

"The first is the issue of employee safety. We can consider withdrawing from some remote locations. And what about the subsidiaries and branches?"

While thinking, Videl quickly edited a new email. He planned to communicate with the office security director first and listen to his opinions.

Confirm and send.

Looking at the 'Sent Successfully' reminder on the virtual screen, Videl rubbed his temples and then glanced at the clock on the wall.

He suddenly realizes that Pru would normally be home from school by this hour, but today the house is unusually quiet, without the sound of her brisk footsteps or her hearty laughter.

"Lena," Videl called his wife's name as he walked out of the study, "Is Pru back?"

His wife, who was preparing dinner in the kitchen, glanced back at him: "No, she went to Emily's house to bake today, remember? I told you."

Videl frowned, "It's already this late, she should be back."

"You can send her a message to ask her. Maybe she was having so much fun that she forgot the time." Lina suggested without stopping her work. She was still quite confident in her adopted daughter.

Videl pulled out the terminal and sent Pru a message, but after waiting for several minutes, she received no reply.

He tried to communicate directly again, but only heard the system prompt that Pru's terminal was turned off.

"Lina," Videl's voice became more serious, "Pru didn't reply, and her personal terminal is turned off."

Lina stopped what she was doing and the smile disappeared from her face. "That's not like her. Pru never turns off her phone, not even when she's in class."

"I'll call Emily's house."

Wedel quickly contacted Emily's parents. As the highest-ranking person in the office, he had also dealt with Emily's father before.

Only to learn that the girls had finished baking half an hour ago and Pru had already left.

"She's not there!" Videl hung up the phone, his expression became very solemn, and then he immediately contacted the office's security department.

"Category 3 emergency, suspected employee relative missing. Immediately attempt to search for the last known location of Prue Wedel's personal terminal!"

At this juncture, the office's security department was already on high alert, so just ten minutes later, a micro reconnaissance drone hovered over the lawn near Emily's house and discovered the personal terminal abandoned there.

Videl and Lina stood in the monitoring room, watching this scene with a grim look on their faces.

"Don't worry, let's try to activate the backup positioning system again." The security director comforted the Videl couple while asking his men to continue trying to locate them.

All Atlas Group expatriates, including their family members who follow them to settle in the base, have been implanted with a backup positioning device. This positioning device, which is not normally activated, is designed to deal with extreme situations like this.

But soon, the security director's expression changed: "The signal was blocked. They used military-grade jammers. They were well prepared. This was definitely done by professionals."

Just then, Videl's terminal vibrated slightly, and he opened it and saw that it was an anonymous message.

"Mr. Weidel, your daughter is in our hands now. If you want to ensure her safety, please strictly follow the instructions below. Do not attempt any rescue operations, and do not ask your headquarters for help. Otherwise, something unpleasant will happen to both parties. We will contact you again in half an hour."

The anonymous message included a photo of Pru, blindfolded and bound, lying in a darkened room.

Videl handed the terminal to the security director, who quickly organized a team to analyze every detail in the photos, hoping to find any possible clues.

He then asked the security chief to see if he could trace back, but the latter said that the other party's disguise was extremely sophisticated. If it was A. Bawa. Ku's host, it would be fine, but with the capabilities of the overseas office, it would be impossible to trace the source in a short period of time.

In addition, there are no Atlas Group warships in the Vlagon galaxy at the moment, so the method of using the warship's controlled personality to crack and reverse track cannot be used.

"Don't worry, sir," the security director consoled, "Since the other party wants something, they won't hurt Pru in the short term."

Videl, however, was surprisingly calm and even gave a wry smile, "I'm not worried about Pru's safety, Director Caesar."

"What do you mean, sir?" the security director asked confusedly. Not everyone knew the true identity of Videl's adopted daughter.

Videl shook her head. "I'm worried that she won't know how to deal with it."

"what?"

Videl didn't continue talking, but just looked at Lina, both of them had a somewhat conflicted expression on their faces.

After a moment, Videl finally decided, "Security team ready to go, and have the medical team on standby. Trust me, someone will need medical assistance soon, and that person won't be Pru."

He turned to look out the window at the night sky, his thoughts drifting to the special girl they had adopted from Chutsugu Academy.

Pru is not only a psyker, she is one of the 13 children that Amber brought up in the psyker laboratory on Rubion V. She completed the 'graduation test' assigned by Ion Stormrage with a score close to full marks, and is able to fully control her abilities without having to worry about her psykers getting out of control and backlashing.

Videl also knew that beneath Pru's seemingly docile appearance, she had skills that were the result of a complete set of systematic psychic combat training, and some of the knowledge in these psychic combat training was even taught directly by the Boss.

The kidnappers thought they had captured a baby bird, but they didn't know it was a bird of prey disguised as a chick.

Whoever the kidnappers were made a fatal mistake - they underestimated the seemingly weak girl.

When Pru realizes that she is kidnapped and decides to use her abilities, the kidnappers will face a nightmare they are totally unprepared for.

(End of this chapter)