Chapter 287
Ashton and the other two laughed.
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Their admiration was both reasonable and exaggerated. But they had to admit, ever since Briar had returned. no one had really managed to harm her.
Just then, Briar pressed the Enter button and calmly said, “Done.”
Ashton and the others all looked over. Hamish asked, “Briar, what’s done? You’ve been fiddling with that ever since you got back. What exactly have you been up to?”
Briar turned the screen of her laptop to face everyone and pointed to a flashing red dot. “This is the signal source from the latest model of tracker I’ve detected inside Harith’s body.”
“What? There’s a tracker in Harith’s body?” Reece was stunned. He shot to his feet, about to rush to the basement.
Hamish grabbed him. “Calm down. Since Briar found the tracker inside Harith, she must have already engaged with the people on the other end. Let’s hear what she has to say first.”
Reece finally sat back down on the sofa and looked at Briar. “Briar, hurry and tell us what happened. We all inspected Harith’s body but didn’t find any tracker on him!”
Briar looked at the silent, frowning Ashton. “Ashton, what do you think?”
Ashton pressed the space between his eyebrows. “If none of us found it then, the tracker must be embedded in Harith’s internal organs.”
They had been careless.
A tracker’s purpose isn’t just to track someone’s movements. A modified one can also work as a listening device.
Their ability to capture Harith so smoothly didn’t rule out the possibility that someone had deliberately let them take him.
‘What would the purpose be?‘ Ashton wondered.
Ashton looked at the calm and composed Briar. Her eyes were resolute and indifferent, as if she had everything under control.
“Inside his organs?” Ashton’s question made Reece furrow his brow. “Implanted in his heart?”
Hamish stroked his chin thoughtfully. “It’s very likely. The Lopez family made their fortune through human experimentation, so implanting a listening device into a heart wouldn’t be difficult for them.”
Briar nodded. “That’s right. It’s in the heart, and it’s synchronized with Harith’s heart rate. If his heartbeat becomes irregular, their people will detect it immediately.”
6:04 Sat, Sep 27
Chapter 287
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Alexia couldn’t help but scoff. “Why do these people always misapply their talents? If they sold this heart- implant technology to the Hacker Alliance, it would be so much better! Think of all the time we could save digging up intel, oh!”
Before Alexia could finish her thought, Alex clamped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, everyone. What she just said was her personal opinion and does not represent the principles of the Hacker Alliance!”
Alexia and the others were momentarily speechless.
It was a classic case of talking too much.
Nobody believed Alex.
‘Since when does the Hacker Alliance have principles? Hasn’t the Hacker Alliance’s way always been that whoever pays is God?‘ Alexia wondered.
Ashton steered the conversation away from the controversial topic raised by Alexia and the others, refocusing everyone’s attention. “Was the bug planted in Harith just in case he got caught later?”
Reece scoffed, “In my opinion, those people are all incredibly cunning. This matter isn’t that simple.”
“Yeah, don’t tell me…” Hamish chimed in, “This bug doesn’t have an explosive function, does it?”
The words had barely left Hamish’s mouth when a sharp emergency alert blared from Briar’s laptop.
Briar turned back to her laptop, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she said with a grim look. This is bad. It’s a time bomb countdown.”
Everyone else shot accusatory glares at Hamish.
“…I was just making a random comment.” Hamish felt incredibly guilty. It almost felt like he jinxed it.
Ashton picked up the phone and called Brandon, telling him to evacuate everyone else from the basement in case the bomb detonated and hurt innocent people.
When Brandon received Ashton’s call and learned that a bug with a timed self–destruct feature had been activated inside Harith’s body, he was so enraged that he gave Harith two more hard kicks
‘Damn it, no wonder the guy was so tight–lipped! He was prepared to be a human bomb all along” Brandon thought angrily.
“Ashton, can Briar stop the countdown?” It was clear Brandon had great faith in Briar. He calmed down quickly after his outburst.
Ashton noted Briar’s grim but composed expression and said, “I’m sending lan down to help you with the interrogation. Get the information we need as quickly as possible.”
Ian glanced at Briar. After she nodded, he turned and headed for the basement.
“Briar, are you confident you can handle this? How powerful is the explosion from the bug?” Hamish leaned close to Briar, watching the constantly updating data as he asked with a mix of nervousness and anticipation.
6:04 Sat, Sep 27
Chapter 287
“It’s not very powerful. It just ensures the bug’s carrier is blown beyond all recognition Briar mumbled.
Briar looked up at Hamish for a moment and smiled. “Hamish, you and your big mouth. I’m not confident can stop the bomb, but I can delay it by half an hour.”
Hamish let out a couple of awkward laughs. “Haha, delaying the time bomb by half an hour is already impressive.”
“I got you half an hour of interrogation time. Is that enough?” Ashton, still on the phone, asked Brandon and lan at the other end of the line.
Brandon and Ian replied in unison, “More than enough.”
“Stay safe. Get the people out of the basement as soon as the time is up.” Ashton then hung up the phone.
Alexia and Alex watched Briar anxiously. Alex said with a hint of regret, “Briar, it’s a shame to just let him get blown up like that. Why don’t you dissect him instead?”
At this, Alexia’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! Can’t we just keep Harith’s heart? Briar, I thought you loved dissecting men Dissect him and make him your 38th skeletal lover!”
The moment Alexia finished speaking, the living room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Briar’s hand froze over the keyboard. She could feel a burning, scrutinizing gaze on the back of her head.
Without even turning around, Briar knew exactly who was staring at her.
It has to be Ashton’s cold, deep, dark eyes, fixed firmly on her.
Clearing her throat awkwardly, Briar guiltily touched her nose and continued to tap on her keyboard, but her speed was noticeably slower than before.
She didn’t dare to turn around and tried to explain seriously, “Ashton, don’t get the wrong idea. The person I’ve wanted to dissect the most is you.”
AD
