"I want the name of that person. And a confession saying that this research doesnât belong to me. If you donât give me what I want..."
"What will you do then?" The woman asked Ryder suspiciously.
"Then Iâll just leave," Ryder replied as he smiled.
"Y-you will leave? You wonât do anything?" The woman asked.
"Thatâs right. I will leave, and I wonât do anything. In fact, instead of causing any damage here, Iâll clean this place instead. Iâll clean all six dead bodies here, so the staff doesnât need to work hard to do it," Ryder replied with an amused smile on his face. "Arenât I nice?"
"But there are only five bodies here," Aaliya told Ryder.
"Oh, Iâm counting your body as well," Ryder replied before he became surprised. "Wait a minute. Donât tell me you thought I would be leaving you alive?"
"Your body would be lying in a ditch somewhere along with the men of yours who you were so proud of. And trust me when I say this, you wonât be able to stop me from doing it," he added.
"So, what have you decided?" he asked again.
"Fine. I will tell you and do as you say," the woman told Ryder as she agreed.
She had confidence in her guards, but now those same guards were dead. She had no one to protect her now. She was at Ryderâs mercy. As for her backup, that person canât come here to protect her. She knew that if she even tried to call someone, she would be dead.
"Come on, donât waste my time. Thereâs a paper before you. Thereâs a pen. Start writing everything you did wrong and who it was that betrayed us on that paper," Ryder told Aaliya.
"But if I do that, youâll use this as evidence to sue me," Aaliya told Ryder as she frowned.
"Donât worry, little girl. Why would I sue you? Just stop claiming our research as your own, and we wonât have to do anything. The only one who will get punished is the person who betrayed us," Ryder replied.
"As for this paper, it would simply be used as a backup. If you ever betrayed us and didnât do as you claimed, only then will this paper be used," he added.
"Think carefully. Iâm giving you time to think," Ryder said as he gazed at his clock. "You have a whole two minutes to decide. After that, you can tell me what you have decided."
âThis bastard! He is mocking me! Are two minutes supposed to be some great help? Fine! You bastard! I will write the truth, and I will give you what you want. But do you think youâll even be able to use the paper? The moment you step out of this place, Iâll have you killed. Nothing will happen with this paper,â the woman thought as she gazed at Ryder.
"Fine! I will do it," she told Ryder.
"Clever girl. I knew youâd come to the right decision. Fine. Go ahead and sign the paper after writing your confession," Ryder nodded his head in affirmation.
Picking up a pen, Aaliya started writing.
She wrote how an employee from Divine Corporation approached her and told her about this research and how he wanted a high position in her company in exchange for this information.
She even wrote that she was fascinated by this research and agreed to the deal and arranged everything. After she finished writing, she gave the paper to Ryder.
"Here, take the paper," she told Ryder as she slid it towards him.
Ryder picked up the paper with his left hand as he started reading it.
"So it was that guy. Well, this is a bit disappointing since he was the only one in the team that I hired."
Reading the name, Ryder was stunned to see the name. He was also disappointed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
He kept the paper in his inventory.
"Huh? Where did the paper go?" the woman exclaimed in surprise as she saw the paper disappear in Ryderâs hand.
"That paper? Itâs gone to the past just like Iâm going," Ryder told Aaliya as he smiled.
"Huh?"
While the woman was confused, Ryder raised his hand as he snapped his finger.
The time started flowing in reverse as Ryder found himself back before the woman.
It was the time when he had just entered the room and sat before the woman.
"Youâre much younger than I assumed, Ryder. So, what are you here for?" Aaliya again repeated her old words as she gazed at Ryder.
"Iâm here to tell you that you have stolen my research. And I donât like my things being taken. So what happens next will be your own fault. Donât blame me," Ryder told the woman as he stood up.
"Oh, you dare to threaten me?" The woman laughed as she saw Ryder stand up.
"Youâre such a scared cat. After threatening me, you donât even dare to stay behind. Run, little guy. Donât come here again, or you wonât even know how you died," Aaliya told Ryder, who was leaving.
"Sigh, youâre again threatening me? You little girl, you really need some lessons. I had other plans for you. I wanted to handle things the legal way, but I guess weâll have to do things the old style. I wasted a trip," Ryder muttered as he sighed.
Turning back, he brought a piece of paper out. He already saw that there was no security camera here. But just like last time, he didnât want the noises to go out.
He tore the strange piece of paper that he had received from the system and sealed the entire room.
"Madam, heâs acting really arrogant. Please allow me to go teach him a lesson," one of the guards told Aaliya.
"Fine. Just give him a little beating. Donât use your gun. I donât want another mess to deal with," Aaliya said as she gave the permission to her men.
One of her guards stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. A big grin remained on his face as if he was pleased about what he was going to do.
"You little man, you should be glad that our madam doesnât want you killed. Iâll only beat you up a little bit. Donât worry," the man told Ryder as he placed his hand on Ryderâs shoulder.
Gazing at the hand, Ryder frowned as he raised his hand.
Slap!
A slap landed on the bulky manâs face that sent him flying away. The man crashed on a wall on the other end. A single slap was enough to break his skull, killing him right away.
Watching the sudden change, Aaliyaâs mouth opened wide in surprise. She didnât expect Ryder to be able to beat such a strong man to death in a single slap. Just how strong was this man? How was he able to achieve that? She couldnât understand it.
Ryder, on the other hand, gazed at the other me, who did just as he predicted. They brought their guns to shoot Ryder.
Ryder had already committed murder here. They didnât need to hold back anymore. They could just shoot him dead now.
Unfortunately, before they could even move their guns, four bullets came flying towards them.
It was as if time was repeating itself. The same thing was happening again as the bullet stabbed through the hearts of these men, killing them right away.
The womanâs face turned pale as she saw what had happened. Her men were killed right before her eyes by the man that she called a scared cat just a few minutes ago.
She was starting to regret her decision. If only she hadnât stopped Ryder, things might be different right now. Unfortunately, she just happened to make the wrong decision and stop Ryder.
Now she was at the mercy of this guy who had just committed a murder before her. She was a witness to the crime. What was he going to do? Was he going to kill her as well? She didnât know what this psycho was going to do.
"What happened? Scared? Why are you scared of me? I didnât do anything. Since you only told them to beat me and not kill me, I wonât kill you either. Go ahead. Run," Ryder told the woman as he walked over to the wall and stood with his arms folded.
He even closed his eyes to give a bit more confidence to the woman.
Seeing his actions, Aaliya was suspicious. Was he going to shoot her from behind? Just what was he scheming? In any case, she knew that she couldnât afford to stay back. She needed to get out of here. She needed to take a risk.
Standing up, she ran towards the door. Each of her steps was filled with dread as she didnât know if she was going to be shot in the back. There was a good chance that Ryder was going to shoot her anyway.
She soon reached the door.