90 Identity

In a corner of a PC cafe, Sia made all her preparations before logging into her account. She had been too busy these days and ended up overlooking the commission she previously agreed to look at. Though this mission did not seem important at first glance, considering the other side had a group of highest level hackers, she couldn't overlook the possibility that they might be useful in the future. Moreover, though she had top level hacking skills, she was still inexperienced as she had been protected by Cain all the time, having only taken missions that went through Cain's screening and were on a relatively safer side.

Now that she thought about it, considering Cain's skill-level, even if it was not a public knowledge that Cain Greydale was the number one hacker, quite a few in the circle knew about this. This was why it felt like she always had the answer to Cain's identity, yet her stubborn self continued to refuse digging deeper into his identity leving her speculations unconfirmed. She had brainwashed herself into believing that she did not know his identity, and that only he could tell her who he was or what his real name was. Coupled with the promise she made to him not to try to identify him, she had always ignored the glaring hints his actions, skills and authority gave her in the past. Nevertheless, though she was not free from regrets, her deliberate ignorance still gave her the opportunity to meet him face to face and experience his persona and handsomeness first hand.

Realising her thoughts had drifted, Sia closed her eyes to clear her mind. The next moment, her eyes opened, shining in a much darker hue of gray, ready to take on anything that came her way.

She shifted her thoughts on the mysterious client, contemplating the possibilties as to who could wield that much power. Depending on their task, Sia planned to start narrowing down the list of possible identities the commissioner could have. However, the other side would naturally have considered all of this too and would thus have been prepared to counterattack. This was why Sia chose such an inconspicuous PC cafe that also did not have cameras installed. Coupled with her disguise, she was certain that it would be close to impossible for the other side to find her.

With these in mind, Sia relaxed considerably and started reading the mission details commissioned through the Dark Web. However, the more she read the more tense she became. The mission objectives, deadlines and rewards were quite clearly stated, however, the contents were scarily familiar with her.

It didn't take a genius to guess who her commissioner was…

On the other side, Luke was getting more impatient as he waited for a reply from Q. He reread the commission details and saw no problems with it. Simply put, his request to the other side was to investigate the incident at the Herondale's 15 years ago, and hack into the Herondale files to find what was lost from their records at that time.

Luke chose not to mention about Black Lily because he was clear that going after the group would not yield any results as, if they were so easy to find, the Herondale's wouldn't stage this act. Instead of looking for a needle in a hay, he would rather use the Herondale's weakness against them. If luck had it, he might really get a lead on Black Lily's whereabouts, however, he would rather have a more foolproof plan, than believe in luck. All he needed now was to get the agreement from Q, and start putting him to use.However, seeing no reply from the other side after some time passed, Robert sent a question mark to Q at Luke's request.

At this time, Sia's mind was calculating all the pros and cons of this transaction. Having heard a lot about The Lion from Cain, Sia was clear that the other side wouldn't trust her to do the task alone. As if to prove her conjecture, it was even stated in the commission that Luke would have his men work with her. She could insist on not working with his men, but she was certain that the most she could achieve was having less people checking up on her.

This mission was commissined through the Dark Web, so Sia knew that the moment she accepted the task she would be very limited at machinations that she could do, given the rules of the Dark society. The moment her betrayal or lies to the the commissioner were discovered, her reputation would go down the drain, and she would be on the black list of the Dark Web, which meant that the whole community would hunt for her. Luke was also not an easy opponent and he would certainly not take betrayal laying down if she ever tried to mislead him. This scenario could also bring problems to Cain, as the moment he knew that she was in danger, he would spare no effort to help her.

The alternative would be for her to complete the mission diligently, but she would be dumb to do so. Why would she help her man's opponent? Even if there was an extremely slim chance that the commissioner was not Luke, this matter involved Cain and she couldn't take chances. She would rather be wrong, than risk Cain and his plans.

Coming to a conclusion, Sia's surging emotions calmed down and she finally put her fingers back on the keyboard, proceeding to type her reply. As soon as she clicked the return button, she blacklisted Robert's account and logged out from the Dark Web. Once she erased all her traces, she left the cafe and walked to fetch a taxi from the road all this time humming a relaxing tune. Before she reached her residential buildings she changed cabs 3 timed. Once she arrived at her destination, she entered the same way she left previously… no one would have ever guessed that someone had exited and then entered one of the most highly protected residential areas in Rubekia…

While Sia behaved in a collected manner throughout the whole process, Luke and his men were nowhere near as calm as her. The room became a mess as Luke smashed many pieces of furniture and technology at hand.

As he walked towards the door, he said in an almost inaudible voice,

"You will beg with interest as soon as I get hold of you."

He then took one last look at the four-word message that openly mocked him, before he left the room. These four words read:

"I lost interest, bye."