Chapter 163
Chapter 163
tan was choked up by Briar’s casual attitude and awkwardly stopped beating around the bush, “Alright, here’s the good news. I’ve got a bad en trie person you asked me to keep an eye on…”
Briar finally glanced at fan, piecing his words together and asking hesistantly, “You mean the person who is selling information about me?”
lan clapped his hands and praised, “Briar, you’re sharp.”
Briar smiled in response, “They’ve got some nerve.”
lan watched Briar’s smile closely. Although she was smiling, her eyes were cold. He commented, “They probably never expected someone would track them down through the international dark web.”
Briar picked up a piece of tender fish and munched on it slowly as she probed, “Did you find the IP address they used to sell information about me?”
“Of course. You know my tracking skills. Once I set my sights on someone, they rarely get away,” lan nodded in response. He grabbed his phone and tapped a few times on WhatsApp. Briar’s phone immediately pinged with several notifications.
He explained, “These are screenshots of the IP addresses I tracked and the transaction records when they posted the information…”
Noticing the hesitation in lan’s voice, Briar picked up her phone, opened up WhatsApp, and scrolled through the screenshots one by one. “If you have something to say, just spit it out,” she stated.
lan leaned back in his chair, one hand in his pocket, and sent over the remaining screenshots. He continued, “You’d never guess where I finally traced those virtual IP addresses to. The last one landed in a luxury villa in the wealthy district of Shoneport, Dasmieca.”
His hint couldn’t have been more obvious.
Briar had already finished looking through all the screenshots. She set her phone down, sighed as she rubbed her temples. She calmly stated, “It’s the Jennings family. It’s Beatrice.”
lan clicked his tongue in surprise and replied, “I thought you’d guess Edgar.”
Briar let out a cold laugh, “No matter how clueless Edgar is, he hasn’t survived in business all these years by being a fool. The only ones who’d lose their cool this easily are probably those three fools from the Jennings family.”
Since returning to Dasmieca, Briar had been choosing to be lenient with the people around her. Even though their antics often annoyed her, she didn’t feel the need to confront them seriously. To her, they were more of a hassle than anything else, and she didn’t want to waste her energy on them. As long as they didn’t push her limits, she decided it was easier to overlook their foolishness for the time being.
lan rubbed his arms and whined, “Briar, seriously, don’t smile like that. You’re giving me chills.”
He pondered, ‘Beatrice likely has no idea how cunning and relentless the infamous Briar truly is. Once Briar decides to confront her, Beatrice will realize just how much trouble she’s in, and she will end up feeling devastated.
‘Man, now I’m looking forward to the show!‘
Briar tapped her fingers on the table, and just as lan’s eyebrows twitched for the fifth time, she finally spoke, “It would be rude not to return the favor, right? Since she loves playing such dirty tricks so much, wouldn’t I be letting her off too easily if I don’t do anything about it?”
lan’s temples throbbed with excitement as he leaned in, “Briar, what are you planning? Are you thinking of taking her
As he spoke, he made a slicing gesture across his neck.
Briar grinned slightly, “What? Are you picking up jobs this small now? This can’t even cover your minimum fee, can it?”
lan let out a dramatic sigh, “What can I do in this situation? You know how it is, Briar. I’m no longer alone. I have a little sister at home whom I need to
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care for. I gotta grab every job, big or small!”
Briar didn’t bother calling him out on his act. Given that lan had approximately $ 64 million to his name, pretending to be poor seemed ridiculous. It was clear he was just looking for attention and excitement.
“Alright, I’ll put up 66 thousand dollars for Beatrice’s leg,” Briar said, her tone all business. For someone as irrelevant as Beatrice, that’s top dollar for her on the darknet.
lan flashed her an “OK” sign as he laughed, “You’re savage, Briar. You don’t mess around! So, when do you want it done?”
As far as he knew, Beatrice was a dancer. Taking out one of her legs would mean she’d never set foot on a stage again.
Briar’s lips curled into a perfectly measured smile, “There’s no rush. Shoneport University’s sports meet is coming up soon. Let her finish the competition first. After all, we’ve got to respect the spirit of sportsmanship.”
lan fell silent while his mind raced, “Sportsmanship? Are you serious?
‘You’re an elite instructor at the DDC Vanguard Mercenary Special Operations Base, and you care about that?‘
“Alright, whatever you say. I might as well go check out the Shoneport University sports meet while I’m at it,” lan said with a grin.
The meal lasted a full two hours before it came to an end. The restaurant manager personally escorted them to the door, and as soon as lan drove Briar away, the manager immediately pulled out his phone to report to Ashton. “Mr. Wade, Miss Jennings, and her companion have left.”
Back at the Wade Group’s President’s Office, Jalen was in the middle of presenting his report to Ashton when he heard the news. He stared at Ashton in disbelief as he asked, “Mr. Wade, are you for real? You’re watching Briar this closely?”
Ashton hung up the phone and shot Jalen, who was making a fuss, a thoughtful glare. He said, “What do you know? That friend of Briar’s, lan, is a mercenary who’s been active along the border. Even Connor has tangled with him before. Briar’s so naive and soft–hearted. What if she falls in with the wrong crowd and gets tricked?”
Jalen was speechless as he inwardly chanted, ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, beauty is in the eye of the beholder…
‘Briar might look soft, but naive? Not a single chance.
‘The Jennings family abandoned her, and she grew up as an outsider in Qathana for over ten years. Her files are still locked and blank to this day. How could someone like that possibly be naive?‘
Briar spent the entire afternoon holed up in the lab. She had teamed up with Frank and the others to conduct a series of small experiments. She became so engrossed that she completely lost track of time.
When the experiments finally wrapped up and she walked out of the research building, she spotted Ashton chatting with Joshua outside. Only then did she automatically reach for her phone and realize there were more than a dozen missed calls from Ashton.
“Hey, there she is!” Joshua called out with a smile, waving at Briar as she came out laughing and chatting with Frank and the others. “Briar, come here.”
Briar walked over and greeted, “Mr. Swift.”
Joshua waved her over and explained, “Ashton’s been waiting for you for over an hour. You’d better take him away. When he’s standing here, none of my other students dare come near.”
Briar hesistantly replied, “Alright, we’ll get going then.”
Joshua watched as Ashton obediently followed Briar away, muttering to himself, “Well, there’s always someone who can keep you in check! When has this brat ever been so well–behaved?”
Frank, who had somehow wandered over, nodded and put on a serious face. “Exactly! Since when has Ashton ever been anywhere close to obedient?” Joshua shot him a glare and pointed off into the distance before commenting, “Same goes for you. Don’t just stand there. The guy in that car over there
Chapter 163
has been waiting for you for over an hour.”
Frank followed Joshua’s finger and, sure enough, spotted a car parked under à nondescript tree. The man sitting inside was none other than Connor the one he’d been pestering to come pick him up.
