Therefore, it had to be something of a similar nature that was available to the people of this world, yet something he hadn't encountered during his time.
Of course, it had to be something related to magic, something that could affect his tech within its bounds. This alarmed Zach who was very reliant on his gadgets to get through all the problems in his life. If his tech could fail at crucial moments, he had to have necessary fail safes in place for such a contingency or he might even end up losing precious people to a group of nobodies.
Zach used the system to keep the drones from entering the areas covered by the EMP like field. Instead, he ordered the drones to take up position around those areas and set up a monitoring screen from all directions so he could keep an eye on all the goings in and out. He was hoping to come across a lucky breakthrough into the core area of the Hunter family. There was a high chance that Diana was being kept in that place, so Zach couldn't spare any effort to infiltrate and confirm his guess without alarming the Hunter family of his actions.
When Zach was done, he sighed heavily as he swiped the monitoring screen off his vision with a wave of his hand and shook his head like he had suffered a heavy loss.
Christina, who was close by, noticed his dejection and grew concerned.
"What happened...Why are you sighing like an old man? Is there any problem?" she asked with a refreshing smile on her face. She was trying to cheer him up because he looked quite down after staying frozen in his place for a while.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." replied Zach wearily as he tried to figure out another way in his mind.
There should be some way he could scout the Hunter family mansion without employing the drones or maybe he could try and lure them out of the protected area before making a move.
"Can I help?" asked Christina worriedly. She couldn't continue to see her beloved in such a state.
"I don't know."
"Then why don't you try me? Maybe I can offer you a solution." offered Christina with a twinkle in her eyes that made Zach want to put his trust in her completely.
"It's just that I can no longer scout the key areas of the Hunter family or find any traces of Diana in there. My little drones lose their communication with me and end up spiraling into the ground as soon as they enter within a certain distance of the key locations of the Hunter family. I can't seem to find my way around it at the moment."
Zach was worried but he didn't want to make Christina feel bad by making her think that he didn't trust her enough. So, he told her about his scouting problems in detail.
Christina didn't interrupt him as he narrated his trouble. She was already aware of all the equipment Zach could use after having stayed with him in Greenland for so long. Therefore, she had no trouble understanding what Zach wanted to tell her.
After listening to his problem, Christina pondered for a bit before her face lit up with an excited expression.
"I think that the Hunter family has deployed magic barriers of considerable strength around their core area in order to keep you or anyone else from getting any information regarding Diana. Their leader should be willing to go all out this time because this kind of barrier doesn't come cheap at all. The higher the range and strength of the barrier, the higher the price. There is no way that the Hunter family can reproduce such a spectacle again in the future. They might even have used up everything their family had hoarded for a while now."
Zach heard her assumption was in line with what he had been thinking. It definitely had to do with magic. This changed everything for him. In the future he would have to take precautions against such a defense as well or it would be akin to losing his precious items.
"If what you are saying is true then it really is the worst of situations." Zach's chest heaved heavily before he released the heavy breath weighing down his heart.
"It might not be as bad as you have assumed it to be."
Zach was surprised to hear such a remark from Christina when she had been the one to tell him about the strong barrier surrounding the residence of the Hunter family. He wondered if she was only trying to cheer him up with a false reassurance.
"How can you still say that when I have yet to obtain a good piece of information even after trying my best?"
"Since the Hunter family is willing to use such an expensive one-time barrier to protect Diana, they must consider her to be very valuable. They would probably treat her like a princess until they get the benefits that they are expecting out of her. Otherwise, wouldn't it just be a huge waste of resources?" replied as she smiled gracefully at Zach.
Zach felt heartened by her carefully crafted words. At least one of the worries he had in his heart faded somewhat. He had been extremely concerned that something like what Violet had suffered might happen to Diana while she was in captivity. After all, Diana wasn't any less beautiful than Violet. It was just that her beauty hadn't yet developed as much due to her tender age.
Still, Zach felt that his hands were tied this time completely. He could not allow himself to risk Diana's safety by trying to charge the Hunter family mansion in an attempt to save her.
Even if he managed to somehow sneak past the barrier, if his attempt got discovered by Hogan, there was a high chance that he would harm Diana or possibly kill her just to spite Zach.
This was the first time in his life when he felt so helpless despite having the strength to avert the situation single-handedly.
There was another man who was feeling equally bad if not worse than Zach already, Diana's brother, Bruce.
Bruce looked more anxious with each minute that passed with Diana in the enemy's hands. He looked like he hadn't slept for a long while and his body appeared to be extremely haggard like he had been through the wringer.
Madness began to surround him like a permanent aura as he noticed that even Zach was unable to come up with a solution to save his sister. He was more than willing to comply with the Hunter family's demands and wanted to fulfill those demands even if he had to go against all his allies and Zach if he had to.
Therefore, he planned to destroy the sugar production factories himself. Thankfully, he couldn't put his plan into action because his subordinates reported to Zach before Bruce could take action.
Even though the sugar business had been given to the Windsor family as per Zach's instructions, a majority of the shares in the industry were still with Bruce. Therefore, it was easy for him to influence the business by using some strong-handed means.
Despite his crumbling mental health, Bruce was fully aware that the end of the sugar production business wouldn't bring them any benefit at all. The Hunter family would never return his sister so easily. But still he wanted to show a gesture of goodwill in hopes that the Hunter family would treat his sister a little nicer while she was under their control.
Since Zach had already found out about his plan, how could he still let him go ahead with such a senseless move that brought them no real benefit but only strengthened the enemy and weakened their own negotiating position.
He barged into Bruce's room with a bunch of soldiers who pounced on Bruce and restrained him immediately.
"I'm sorry but I can't let you proceed with your plans. It won't help Diana in any way and might even harm her."
All the fight went out of Bruce's body as it sagged into the hold of the soldiers like a lifeless doll. The energy brimming inside him just a moment ago vanished as soon as Zach showed him the truth of the false hopes, he had been holding out in his heart in order to keep the guilt from eating away at him from the inside.
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