His question lingered, causing silence as they both stared at each other. Thinking about his words, they turned back to him and answered.
"Is that even supposed to be a question?"
Mia turned to Sera, noticing her expression had changed again and she seemed even more excited than before.
"What about you, Mia? What's your answer?" He turned his head to Mia, expecting another sarcastic reply.
"Well, if you both are in, then I don't see why not. It would be fun to work together again anyways. Besides, we promised we'd stick together after the last fight with Carl."
Liam nodded at her response, rising up to sit properly.
"So you both are in, knowing the dangers in this alliance. There is no backing down afterwards—we keep going until the goal has been achieved."
They turned to each other again, then nodded.
"Yeah, we're all in. I'm in mostly for the fights though, so don't mind me when I don't bring brains to the table."
Sera muffled, flipping the empty packet of chips she was eating earlier into the waste bin.
Liam then turned to Mia, who seemed relaxed and calm about it.
"Well then, since that's settled, I'll be on my way out."
He rose to his feet, dusting off some crumbs that stuck to his shirt.
Mia stood up in response. "Where are you going?"
"Ohh right, I have a meeting with Jin. If you're willing to stay calm, then you can come with me. I'd be happy to introduce you all to each other."
His body twitched with tension as he spoke, knowing he just reminded her about Jin—whom she probably tried to forget after he mentioned her the first time.
"Right, your partner," she muffled, emphasizing the "partner."
"Well, if we're meeting her, I'd prefer it to be in the bakery, not in some random server café or something."
Sera nodded in agreement. "If anything the meet-up with Carl taught me, it's to never meet up in creepy, weird places. It's best at open, public places if the person is as transparent as they said."
Liam sighed. "So that's your point of view about it? Alright, I'll try bringing her to the bakery, though I'm not completely sure it might work out."
"Well, that's all I can say about meeting her. I'm not going to one abandoned server café just to meet someone I just heard of."
Liam then turned and walked toward the door.
"Take care of the bakery then. I'll take care of the things I need to take care of."
He opened the door and left, making sure to shut it behind him.
Well, she does have a point. I mean, I'm only meeting up with her because I have the system to help me out if things go north—but they don't. Sure, Sera can take care of herself, but Mia can't, so I totally understand her point of view.
Liam got into the cab that stopped for him, looking at the bakery one last time as it drove off. He saw Mia waving at the glass door, with a smile on her face.
He waved back as she disappeared, then relaxed on the chair, placing his head on the door glass.
"Hopefully, I can get to know more about NetVigil."
Yeah, you're probably wondering why Liam hasn't visited his new workplace as the CEO. Well, it's because he hired someone to take his place as acting CEO until he was back.
"They've probably not even seen who their real CEO is," he chuckled as the cab drove through the blinding lights of the city.
After a couple of minutes (less than an hour), they arrived right in front of NetVigil Technologies, which was his new company.
He stood with his arms in his pocket, glaring at the tall office building that stood mighty in front of him.
"Nice."
He went through the gate that was thrown open, with a single security guard standing by it.
Just like every regular customer that came to buy appliances, he got checked by the security personnel, but he didn't bother about it since they were simply just doing their jobs.
He went straight for the receptionist for directions to his office, since it was his first time here.
"Uhm, good day, but uh... do you know the way to the CEO's office?"
She glared at him like he was some lost individual that came to beg for food.
"Excuse me, but may I know who you are?"
He knew she might ask that, but he couldn't avoid the question since he can't just be moving to and fro in the building searching for it.
"Right, I'm Liam, and I happen to be the CEO of this company. So I'd be glad if I could be directed to my office."
He spoke, hoping she'd actually buy it and save him the time of explaining himself.
"I'm sorry, you must be in the wrong building. I've already seen and worked with our CEO, so your claim doesn't sit right. Please take your leave before I call security."
He sighed, before glancing around for anyone that could recognize him. I expected this.
"Sir, I ordered you to leave a while ago. What are you still doing here?" Her voice was louder and more commanding than before, which caused everyone to stare in their direction.
"Hey, can you calm down and not drag attention to this area? I'd really appreciate that."
She stood up from her chair at his words. "Are you okay, sir? Because you can't just barge in here and tell me you're our CEO and expect me to believe that. Who told you that would work? Please leave before I call security."
Everyone slowly started gathering at her rants.
"What happened, Pema?" A man in a white tuxedo walked up to her, fixing his cufflinks. It was obvious he carried aura as he walked, meaning he held a good position at the company.
I seriously just told you not to drag attention here. What's wrong with all these people? Don't they have jobs to do?
"This man just walked in here and is telling me he's the CEO of our company and he wants to know the direction to his office."
The man chuckled at her words, then turned to Liam. "That's the best lie you could cook up?"
"I'm not here to cause trouble, just direct me to the place and I'll be on my way."
"I'm sorry, but we don't allow low-class strangers in here," the man flaunted his outfit at Liam, making sure he noticed every design on it, then turned and called for security.
"Security! Come take this man out of my sight!"
Liam sighed. "I didn't want to do this."
He pulled out an ID card from his pocket and dropped it on the reception. "My full name is Liam Maddox, the one you all secretly know as Panda Investor."
Everyone gasped and started murmuring to each other.
"Oh please, Liam Maddox is dead—and anyone can assume the profile of the Panda Investor, but no one can truly do what he does," the man interrupted.
He slid the ID to her and tapped on the table. "Check if it matches."
After a couple of investigations, it actually matched Liam Maddox—but not the Panda Investor, since his identity was hidden.
"It's not possible. Liam Maddox is dead. You're just his lookalike. No way you're him."
The receptionist didn't know where she stood anymore after seeing the ID and searches, while the man continued flaunting his power.
"Take him away. His shenanigans are not needed here," he said, gesturing to the security personnel that stood amongst the crowd.
Just as they were about to touch Liam, someone called out from behind.
"Don't touch him!"
Everyone turned to see who it was and they were all immediately shocked by who the owner of the voice was.