Meeting

Chen Chen arrived at Mickey Cafe ahead of the others.

As a high-class cafe, Mickey Cafe had specialized boxes that its competitors did not have. Each box had its respective theme. Chen Chen had already made a reservation for the wonder house themed box several hours ahead.

After arriving, Chen Chen checked the time and called a waiter over. He instructed the waiter to cut off the power in the box upon receiving a signal in the form of a text message from him.

The waiter had never heard of such a bizarre request but the customer's will was their command. The waiter pocketed Chen Chen's hundred dollar tip and thumped his chest to say that he would get it done.

After that, Chen Chen closed the blinders in the box and turned on all the lights. He started waiting patiently.

After about ten minutes, there were approaching footsteps…

…

"How many pax, please?"

The waiter greeted Zhan Fei with a smile when he stepped into Mickey Cafe.

"I'm meeting someone. My name is Zhan Fei."

Zhan Fei looked troubled. Perhaps it was because he was being threatened and he was in no mood to be courteous to the waiter.

"Alright, the name of your box is Mickey Wonderhouse. There's already a gentleman inside. It's down that way."

The waiter politely pointed the way for Zhan Fei. At the end of the corridor, there were several doors closed shut.

Zhan Fei scoffed before quickly walking in front of the door. After a moment of hesitation, he mustered the courage to pull open the door.

The inside of the box was not very bright.

Even though it was mid-noon when the sun was the strongest, the thick curtains in the box shielded it from all sunlight. There were several fluorescent lamps overhead.

Under the illumination of the room, Zhan Fei could see a medieval European styled roundtable. A young man who looked around twenty-year-old was observing him silently.

Zhan Fei had never been a believer in abstract things like an aura. The way he saw it, aura just came with the way people dressed. Let anyone who was attractive and fit put on glamorous clothes and they would give a false impression of having this so-called aura.

It was until now when Zhan Fei had realized that perhaps there existed something as mystical as an aura.

The youngster before him looked around twenty years old, which was considered pretty young. Yet, his eyes were illuminated like stars in a pitch-black night.

Zhan Fei felt like he was being pulled into a black hole when he locked eyes with the youngster…

In terms of appearance, the youngster was average. He was also dressed commonly. However, there was something different about him that was difficult to be put into words. 

If he had to describe it, he would describe it as an aura similar to confidence.

The supreme confidence the youngster had given him a distinctive color. Even though he was dressed commonly and his appearance did not stand out, he was able to radiate energy far more charming than any celebrity!

Facing a youngster who looked more than a decade younger than him, Zhan Fei had a hard time breathing. The questions he was going to ask got caught in his throat.

"Please come in, Mr. Zhan."

For a moment, the young man inspected Zhan Fei who was standing by the door. He then showed a courteous smile. "Please come in, what's with the formality?"

'Formality my *ss!'

Zhan Fei opened his mouth and then quickly suppressed the urge to scold him. It would be wiser to proceed with caution before he knew more about the other party.

Zhan Fei walked into the wonder house box and sat opposite the young man.

"What would you like to drink?" The young man tossed over the menu.

"A cappuccino will do," Zhan Fei said without making an effort to pick up the menu.

"Waiter?" the young man promptly shouted at the door, "The mada… The gentleman will have a cup of cappuccino."

Having just come in from outside, Zhan Fei still had not adjusted to the lighting in the box. He frowned a little and stared at the youngster sitting opposite him, "So, you're X?"

"Yes, I'm X."

To Zhan Fei's surprise, the young man admitted his identity. "I was the one who contacted you lot this afternoon."

'You call that contacting? That was a threat on top of blackmailing, alright?'

Zhan Fei cursed in his mind but his expression appeared otherwise. "You said you invited King and the others. Where are they now?"

"They are all late."

The youngster motioned with his hands. "But never mind that. King has been observing this place from the opposite restaurant for half an hour now. SB and CZH will be here shortly."

He even knew about King stalking from the opposite street?

Zhan Fei frowned. Then again, if this X could hack the base station, it was no surprise that he could trace them with mobile phone GPS tracking.

It was just as he said, after several minutes, more footsteps approached. Two men with glasses and slightly balding came in together.

Zhan Fei was not acquainted with these two men. Judging by what X had said, these two should be the infamous SB and CZH.

These two seemed to be familiar with each other in real life since they came together. Also, the fact that both of them wore thick-rimmed glasses and had signs of balding complemented the age-old saying, "Birds of a feather flock together."

The two of them walked in and barely glimpsed at Zhan Fei. They cast their heavy gaze on the youngster who sat at the opposite side.

"Spill it, what do you want from us?"

One of the two men did not bother with any form of pleasantries. "If you're trying to threaten us with our identity on the dark web, you're going to be in for some disappointment. We're not afraid of your threats. At the end of the day, we have never committed any heinous crimes."

"That was never my intention."

The youngster waved his hand and looked at the doorway. "Since you two are here, King may come in as well."

Zhan Fei and the other two immediately turned around. A middle-aged man in a suit appeared out of nowhere by the doorway.

The middle-aged man who had just made his appearance had slender cheeks. He was tall and dressed like a noble. Anyone could tell that this man came from a formidable background.

Yet, for some unspeakable reason, his aura was overshadowed by the young man sitting on the opposite side of the table.

"Are you really X?"

The middle-aged man walked in all high and mighty, ignoring the other three people in the room. He glared intently at the youngster. "You're the employee of the company I found from the government official site?"

"I certainly am." The youngster smiled. "I know it's hard for you guys to make sense of all this. Don't worry about it. We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other after we arrive at an agreement."

"I never said I was going to work with you." Zhan Fei scoffed.

"Of course. If you guys are still not interested after I've expressed my terms to you, then you're free to leave."

The youngster who sat on the opposite side smiled. "I promise I will not continue to threaten you guys."

"Do you give your word?"

"You have my word."

The youngster nodded solemnly. "Let's begin with some introductions. I'm Chen Chen, also known as X on the dark web. Of course, I'm sure you guys have never heard of me before. After all, I'm just a small-time player not even worth noting."

The four of them did not bother entertaining the youngster's courteous introduction. 'If someone like you would call yourself a small-time player, then nobody in the dark web had the right to call themselves a major player.'

If X had gone all out instead of just threatening them, they would have been long defeated.