Chapter 95 - Inner Deals

"Just what the hell is that girl?" Jason muttered with his eyes glued to a massive screen taking up most of the wall space in his office. Besides the glass barrier that separated him from the rest of the bureau, twenty of his subordinates continued to scan every line of the massive code in search for the problematic part. 

"This is either some kind of genius hacker or someone wired himself to the system directly." Jason continued his mutters, scanning the wall-full of code for the thousandth time for today. 

The numbers simply didn't make any sense. The iteration of the code that created such a bustle in the department followed every last protocol included in the code. And on this part, there wasn't a single problem, ruling out the possibility of some third-rate programmist trying to topple the dominance of Online Hub. 

The problem was hidden somewhere deeper. One of the tens of thousands of numbers flashing in Jason's eyes was the seed of the error. The problem was, no one was able to figure out just which number that was. 

'Huh?' Jason shrugged when he caught some movement with the corner of his eye. At first, he thought that someone dared to as much as stretch, losing the insanely limited amount of time they had to fix the issue. But just as he was about to open the intercom and lash at the slacker through the loudspeaker, his face froze. 'Kira? The hell is she doing in here?' he asked himself, standing up from his chair and moving towards the doors. 

Shhh. 

The gentle noise of the servomotors driving the glass door away announced Jason's presence to Kira as well. 

"Manager Jason," she nodded her head while keeping a small, shrewd smile on her lips.

"Conservator Kira, it's a pleasure," Jason lowered his head. The girl's title was special, just as was her function. While in theory, she was on the same level of authority as Jason and any other manager, in reality, her influence was on par with Peter, the high manager of the entire Hub. 

But the job that the girl fulfilled was easily capable of freezing the blood in the veins of everyone who knew the truth about it. While Investigators were responsible for discovering the problems and dealing with them before they became big, she was the one who would be called once a problem became serious. 

While an investigator in the title, she was, in fact, a force that kept all the loose ends of the organization in the palm of her hand. 

"Let's drop the pleasantries," Kira proposed, stepping ahead and making her way inside Jason's private office. While this place was supposed to be off-limits to anyone but Peter himself, the girl didn't seem to be troubled by that fact at all. "I came to inform you that you will soon receive forty saps under your care," Kira said as if she just came to talk about the weather rather than to triple Jason's manpower. 

"Excuse me... what?" Jason asked, stunned by the sudden announcement. But before long, his face straightened up as a realization dawned upon him. "Right, the report time," he said before casting a quick look at the people obediently wasting their eyes away while staring at the screens. "But to be fair, I'm not sure if forty people will be enough," he said, trying to calculate the chances of finding the error with their increased numbers. 

"I think you misunderstood the problem here," Kira shook her head slowly as if she looked at some kind of naive child. "I'm here to make sure you understand what your job is," she said, looking at Jason with her eyes squinted. 

"To fix the bug, right?" Jason stated, pretty sure about the answer. But as Kira continued to stare at him with a wide, dangerous grin, even he could realize that that wasn't likely to be the case. "Right?" this time, Jason asked rather than stating his opinion. 

"Whether you fix it or not, I don't give a damn," the girl said without any reservations. "Tomorrow is the report day. If we fail to get rid of this bug, they will likely sacrifice Peter," Kira said, revealing this seemingly vital piece of information. "While I don't think you care about him in the slightest, I went through the process of high-manager swap already," the girl stated, lowering her head. Her smile also disappeared from her lips for the first time since she entered the room. "You don't want to experience it. It's manslaughter," she said, averting her eyes. 

"Do you want me to fake the report then?" Jason asked, putting the matter directly on the table. "You know, I'm bad at all that scheming and plotting you need to do to reach for the higher ranks," he said, shaking his head to show just how powerless he felt. "I joined the hub just because I love coding, not because I care about all your inner politics," he added before raising his eyes and looking at Kira. 

"In other words, if we need you to risk your position, we need to throw you a bone as well," Kira summed up the situation. A wide smile returned to her face, this time looking for more genuine than the one she wore previously. "What would you say about a direct assistant, then?" Kira asked, moving her eyes to the ceiling. 

"As if that would ever happen," Jason scoffed. "Those are for top players only. I won't believe you could even run short of the players you need to rein under your influence so waste those girls like that," Jason laughed, aware of how insanely big of favor it would be. 

"Come on, I thought you would be more enthusiastic about this idea, like the virgin you are," Kira replied, not holding her words back even by an inch. The corners of her lips twitched a little. "A girl that's obedient, perfectly capable of all the house chores, enthusiastic in bed... Isn't that what all virgins dream off?" Kira smiled. But then, instead of continuing the debate, she turned her eyes to the side. 

Past the glass panels, the two of them could see a massive group of people swarming at the doors of the bureau. 

"It seems that our time has run out," Kira said, standing up from her seat. "Whether it's possible or not is up to me.. If you want to cast away your virginity before you turn into a wizard, you are better off just making sure that this bug will never make it to the official report," she said before leaving the place altogether.