After the questioning, the man returned to his post, leaving the quartet in silence. They would need to follow the chain of command further up to find out which superior ordered this most recent aggressive recruitment.
However, before the four could discuss their following moves, a large light screen popped up in front of them without any warning.
On the other side of the screen, in a black leather chair, sat a cold middle-aged woman with short black hair. Her looks were average, however, the way she carried herself was not. She only sat there quietly, but her manner was more imposing than most men.
The woman, which Noah recognized as the CEO of Druxa and Asan’s mother, scanned the four people with her cold black eyes.
Fynn straightened up in his seat and opened his mouth to greet this important personage, but the woman spoke first, “I see you requested an employee and shareholder list?”
She wasted no time for introductions and went straight to the point, “What is this about?”
Fynn flashed his inspector badge and deadpanned, “We are investigating a case of attempted murder.”
The woman leaned back in her chair with her eyebrows raised, “What does your case have to do with my company?”
“The target of the attack was a Fluxer that your company has recently tried to recruit rather aggressively,” Fynn explained.
“You suspect that one of my people was behind the attack?” The woman’s thin eyebrows shot further up her forehead, “I highly doubt it, a mere Fluxer isn’t worth the risk.”
One had to appreciate her frankness. Not many could so openly declare that they weren’t going around killing people due to it not being worth the risk.
Fynn’s eyebrow twitched, “It’s not just any Fluxer but an S-ranked Fluxer employed by one of your rival companies.”
“Oh. The one working for Pharmath?” From her lack of expression, it was hard to tell whether she was surprised or not.
Fynn nodded and opened his mouth to further elaborate, but before he could get a single word out, the CEO lady interrupted him again, “In that case, getting an employee list won’t help you. It was me who passed down instructions to recruit him.”
“Is that so?” Fynn’s eyes narrowed, “Why the sudden determination to recruit the man?”
The CEO of Druxa pressed the fingertips of her hands together on the table in front of her, “Because his skills would be very suitable for one of our newest projects.”
“What kind of project?”
The CEO of Druxa rolled her eyes in annoyance, “We are a pharmaceutical company. What else but drug research and development?”
Fynn, however, pressed on, “What kind of drug?”
The woman paused, her eyes squinting dangerously, “I don’t see how this is relevant to your investigation.”
Fynn paused; he couldn’t come out and say they suspected the Fluxer had been drugged. He wasn’t allowed to reveal any details of the investigation unless the other person was trustworthy and had no involvement with the case. Putting aside the trustworthiness of the woman, he couldn’t even confirm whether she was involved in the case or not. He couldn’t sense her intents if the other person was not physically in front of him.
In the end, Fynn could only skirt around the answer, “Whether it is relevant can only be determined after hearing it.”
“Projects we are researching are all highly confidential,” the woman’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. It was hard to tell whether the smile was cold or lukewarm, mocking, or perfunctory. “If you wish to know further details, you’ll have to come back with a warrant.”
“Can we talk eye-to-eye?” The fact that the woman seemed to be sitting in her office that was just a few floors up, yet she would rather talk through a screen, did not inspire confidence in her honesty and reliability.
“No,” she deadpanned.
As expected of a domineering CEO lady, she didn’t even bother to come up with an excuse!
“If there is nothing else, I won’t see you out.” The woman didn’t give Fynn a chance to respond. With confidence and finality, she pressed a button on her communicator, and the light screen in front of the quartet flickered out.
Fynn did a double-take, Levi’s eyebrow twitched, and Noah’s mouth fell open. ‘Lady, your overbearing and domineering CEO aura is off the charts!! If I didn’t know you were female, I would have mistaken you for a male lead of a romance novel!’
(/≧ω\)
Blackie turned his sights to Levi: ‘See that? You should learn a bit. If you were half as domineering as her, you’d have already snagged your baby.’
(¬‿¬)
Levi: ‘…How dare you compare my darling to some braindead female lead?!? It takes much more than an overbearing asshole to snatch such a precious treasure!’
(凸ಠ益ಠ)凸
Trey, Fynn, and Noah shared a wry look.
To be honest, the woman’s refusal to talk face-to-face didn’t surprise Fynn. The fact that she even took the time to speak with them was already better than the majority of high personages he’d contacted previously. He had already requested to speak with most people from the list of adversaries of the city lord, but the vast majority of them didn’t respond at all, while the remainder claimed to be unavailable.
Which person would like to chat with an Intenter working for law enforcement if they didn’t have to? They might not be responsible for the power rampages, but who didn’t have something to hide? Which one of them had never taken a bribe? Which one didn’t try to pay the least amount of tax? Which one had nothing to sweep under the rug? Hell, was there even a single one who had never illegally downloaded a song or a movie before?
Voluntarily talk face-to-face with an Intenter peacekeeper? In your dreams!
To make them comply with the investigation and see them in person, Fynn had to have sufficient grounds to issue an official summoning for questioning. And that would require evidence of their relevance to the case.
Until then, his best chance of talking to them face-to-face was if he camped in the bushes in front of their house.
The four left the conference room in silence, with Levi looking mightily displeased. This Concordia really had a bunch of shitty laws. If this was Astarea, he’d have surrounded the building and questioned everyone one by one. Where would there be any daring CEOs who’d refuse to cooperate?
This so-called freedom and equality only looked good on the surface. If such laws impeded the crime investigation, then the only ones who profited from it were the criminals.
Look at this mess. Not only did they fail to get the company’s financial accounts, but they didn’t even get the list of employees and shareholders
***
After the quartet had put a sufficient distance between them and Druxa, Fynn finally opened his mouth to ask what had been bothering him for a while now, “Aris… how is your relationship with Asan like?”
Asan’s CEO mother had no response whatsoever to seeing her son’s childhood friend among the investigators. One could easily conclude that she didn’t know Cordia Aris at all.
Noah flashed a cheeky smirk, “Wondering whether he hates me enough to want my head?”
Fynn shrugged, his facial expression a humorous mix of “oh no, I’ve been exposed” and “le gasp, you are so astute, young master Cordia!”.
Both helplessness and amusement danced inside Noah’s glassy orbs as he shook his head, “Asan might find me displeasing to the eye, but I highly doubt he abhors me to the point of murder. In the past, we used to be friends, and although we no longer see eye to eye, we don’t have much enmity between us either.”“Why did you two stop being friends in the first place?” Fynn wondered.Noah pondered over how to explain the reason why Asan and the original Aris had a falling out.“There was no particular
Trey’s pupils dilated, his arms shot out to envelop Noah in front of him, his shield following close behind, yet, before either could fully reach Noah, an overwhelming burst of force erupted from Levi.Like a tsunami, the crushing pressure exploded in all directions, directly pulverizing Trey’s shield that was yet to solidify fully.As if hit by a truck, Noah and Trey barreled back, slamming heavily into the bullet-proof glass of the Magcart behind them. Trey, who received the brunt of the blow, coughed up blood and fainted on the spot. Noah fared comparatively better; he had the air knocked out of his chest, feeling as if he had been punc
Astar Levi’s eyes were open, but all he could see and hear was noise.His mind could not register nor comprehend a single thing. As if he was not an intelligent being but a wild beast, ruled only by subconscious urges.He hung suspended in between consciousness and unconsciousness. Unable to think but still able to feel everything.And everything was wrong. All wrong. Uncomfortable, unbearable, irritating.Wrong, wrong,
It was then that the paramedics and peacekeepers swarmed the scene. But Levi noticed none of the changes around him. The only thing his two eyes could see was the precious treasure in his embrace, and the jarring crimson liquid gushing out of his mouth.The cacophony of footsteps, voices, and sirens blended into one. People were speaking, yet he could not understand a word of what they were saying. Familiar faces appeared in his peripheral vision, but he could not recognize a single one.Then someone put their paw on his darling’s back, and Levi nearly attacked them in response. Only at the last moment did he realize that the person was a healer
As soon as Noah’s life signs had stabilized, Fynn had given Noah’s father, the city lord of Concordia, a call. Their family’s spicy old ginger had immediately connected many different things together and issued his verdict – rest at home.Since Noah was fully healed, there was no need to go to the hospital. Not only would he have more privacy and comfort at home, but he would also be safer and better cared for.His son just needed to rest and recuperate. And what would happen if he was allowed to stay in the hospital? Forget the privacy issues, the noise, the people, the reporters crowding around the hospital, etcetera, what wa
In the silence of the bedroom, Noah’s quiet sniffles seemed terribly loud.Slowly, he moved his red-rimmed eyes away from his bedside table and looked towards the bed he was currently lying on. Or rather, the bed that hewasn’tlying on, for what he wasreallylying on was a broad and hard chest of a big koala bear known as Levi.Remember how Cordia daddy had decisively made Fynn send Noah home? Yeah, a significant factor in making that prompt decision was this big brother-in-law that hung off of Noah and refused to let go.
The little one seemed lively, which made Levi feel an intense mix of elation, thankfulness, and relief. His baby’s body was warm, moving, and breathing! How would he not feel euphoric?Yet, even though he was clearly very, very happy, his heart couldn’t help but feel a sharp stab.A day before, he had been full of beautiful, extravagant hopes for the future. Yet now that his baby was awake, he could no longer immerse himself in his own idyllic fantasy. Everything was a beautiful but fleeting pipe dream. And it was now time to wake up and face the harsh reality.
Noah didn’t need Blackie’s mind-reading powers to deduce what dark thoughts were going through Levi’s head. The incident had clearly dealt a huge mental blow to this obstinate brother-in-law.Astar Levi was a proud man who was hard on others but harder on himself. He had little tolerance for mistakes to begin with, so having his own power hurt people he cared about would undoubtedly be something hard for him to accept. Even though he logically knew that it was out of his control, he couldn’t escape from blaming himself.‘If only he had waited for Trey’s shield before coming out of the Magcart. If only he wasn't so i