Chapter 97 Catching Rats, Questioning(II)
The man started talking — spilling everything he knew.
"I was told by my employer to investigate and find out every information I could about thepany, QURT Technology, and the reason why I''m following her is because she''s the CEO of thepany."
Ss nodded in understanding when he heard the man''s words. He could already guess as much but he still wanted more information.
"Tell me, why were you told to investigate thepany and who''s your employer?" Ss asked the most important questions.
The man paused when he heard Ss'' question. He saw himself caught in a dilemma as he contemted between telling Ss who his employers were and keeping their identity a secret.
His dilemma onlysted a brief second as he nearly pissed his pants when he saw a spine-chilling smile bloom on Ss'' face.
"His-His name is Rodriguez but I wasn''t given a reason. All I was told was to investigate thepany and bring back my findings," he said with a stutter.
"Hey man. I really know nothing. All I was told by this Rodriguez guy is to investigate thepany and I wasn''t told anything else," the man said after regaining a bit of his confidence.
"Hey! Do you take me for a fool? You were told by someone to investigate apany and you weren''t given a reason, and you didn''t bother to ask for the reason why? Are you dumb or are you that daft?" Ss asked with a sneer on his face.
Ss found the answer the man gave him to be very unbelievable and the man''s chatan-like appearance made it all the more difficult to believe what he said.
The man heard Ss'' question and winced in embarrassment. He knew that he should have asked for a reason behind the task he was given, but he at that moment was badly in need of money and the amount that was offered him blinded him, and made him confused.
Ok, the truth is that he didn''t want to ask. Why should he ask? What''s he going to do with the reason? Eat it? He''s a hustler for street''s sake. Why should he get himself embroiled with something that he couldn''t handle?
But it seemed his negligence hade back to bite him in the ass.
''It seems like I will have to try and talk my way out of this one. If it doesn''t work, then... I really don''t know what to do,'' he thought to himself.
"Look man, I can take you to the guy who gave me the job and you can ask him yourself. That''s the best I can do."
"You think I''m that stupid. You are willing to take me to your employer but I had to threaten you before you gave me his identity? How am I even sure that you will take me to the right person?" Ss asked, as he gave the man a deathly stare.
"Actually, I''m wasting my time asking you these questions and expecting you to answer them. I should just beat them out of you," he said, and raised his fist to hit the man.
"Please don''t hit me! I really know nothing besides the instructions I was given! I was also given a huge amount toplete what I was told! I''m really not lying! I swear on my grandmother''s life!" the man shouted in fear when he saw Ss raise his fist.
He remembered the punch that knocked him and how much it hurt — something he would rather not experience again.
Ss saw the man''s reaction — the fear in his eyes, and he understood that the man really had no more information to give him.
''It seems he''s just a little expendable pawn in the grand scheme of things,'' Ss thought silently to himself.
''But even if he''s a pawn, he still has some use. I can use him to get inside information on his employers,'' Ss thought, and came to a decision on what to do with the man.
"Tsk. Pathetic. You can continue your monitoring her and from now on, you report to me. If our conversation is to get to Rodriguez, you''re dead; If anything happens to thedy you''re following, you''re dead; If anything happens to anyone in thepany, you''re dead. Actually, you''re fucked both ways. I hope you understand that," Ss said to the man, and he saw a bewildered expression on the man''s face.
"B-But–..." the man was about to speak but was interrupted by Ss.
"No but. You either ept it or I beat you until you ept it. Either way, your choice."
''What''s wrong with this kid? I would love to beat the living hell out of him but he''s just too strong,'' the man thought to himself.
He saw that Ss wasn''t going to give him a chance to refuse and he decided to ept it reluctantly.
"Yes, I will do as you say."
"Good. I will be taking my leave and I expect a daily update from you starting tomorrow," Ss said, and walked towards the door.
"Wait, how do I contact you?" the man asked when he saw Ss leaving.
"You don''t have to worry about that. I will contact you myself," Ss said and walked out the door.
Outside, Ss took a step and disappeared from his position.
The man rushed to the door and opened it gently to peep outside, wanting to confirm Ss'' departure.
When he saw that Ss had really left, he closed the door and let out a sigh of relief.
''Fuu.. That was intense. Who was that kid? He looks so handsome and always has a demonic smile on his face, and he''s so strong,'' the man thought to himself.
He would have loved to beat the little kid until he was crying and begging for his parents toe save him, but the first punch he received made him realize that he was the one who was in a very disadvantageous position.
"Now that I think about it. Am I working for him if am I still working for Rodriguez?" he asked himself, as he scratched his head in exasperation.
"Ugh... This is so annoying. I got myself into this mess because of a little amount of money."
He was tempted to tell his employer, Rodriguez, everything that happened but he shook his head, deciding against it when he remembered Ss'' smile.
"Ahh.. Fuck it. I will take things as theye."
...
After Ss left the man''s house, he quickly made his way to the second location.
He felt he had wasted too much time and should get things done quickly and go home. N?v(el)B\\jnn
He didn''t use his self-created movement technique this time as he ran directly to the location.
Standing in front of another small building located in his neighborhood, Ss walked up to the door and knocked.
It took a minute before the door was finally answered by a middle-aged man.
"Who are y–"
Ss didn''t allow the man to finish his question before he knocked him out and dragged him into the house.
Ss repeated the same process, by sshing water on the man''s face to wake him up before he began the round of questioning.
The second man was more honest than the previous man he went to and Ss was able to get some very useful information from him.
From the information the man gave him, the man''s employer was curious and wanted to know the experts behind the creation of the AI chatbot, ELLA.
His task was simply to investigate and get information on thepany''s AI engineers and see if there''s a way to poach them.
Yes, it was a case of corporate espionage.
Ss also got to know that the two rats in the office were the man''s employer''s doing.
''They really went all out,'' Ss thought to himself when he heard this.
The funniest thing about the whole situation is that the party that employed the man is a no-name techpany.
Thepany wasn''t exactly a no-namepany as Ss called it. The reason why he called it a no-namepany is because it wasn''t a poprpany and its market evaluation was very lowpared to otherpanies that he had invested in.
After getting the information he needed, Ss decided to call it a day.
Before leaving, Ss did the same thing he did with the first man. He made sure his conversation with him wouldn''t make its way back to his employers.
One would wonder how and why Ss would believe that his conversation with the two men would be kept a secret by them?
The answer is that Ss didn''t believe it, neither did he care if the conversation leaked. He was actually looking forward to the information leaking as he wanted to see the reaction of their employers.
.....
The next morning after the family had their breakfast, Ss went to drop Alex at school and Kim made her way to the office.
After he had dropped Alex at school, Ss made his way to the office. It was time he actually got things running.