Chapter 176 - The Call Pt.2

With such an intense failure, he didn't really think there would be major consequences. By the tone of the messaging from the hacker he was given a warning, so he did not expect any 'punishment' if he listened to their words. Just the way they kept riling him up and edging him with the code, it seemed like that was their punishment if there was one. 

There were people with sadistic personalities that naturally spoke in that way but for some reason he felt that this wasn't the case right now. In the moment, he had a lot of speculations and assumptions about what was going on. However, for the few minutes of peace he had after everything ended he automatically started analyzing it all. It was like a game replay in his head where he went over each section play by play. His memory was biased and he had definitely missed things in the moment, so with what he did remember he tried to analyze it. 

When doing that, he was able to deduce the hacker's personality more. It was just more in line with logic and the circ.u.mstance for them to tease him and insult him out of anger. For someone that hacked into his sound system and his computer so easily some of their actions were beneath them. They didn't have to type out each message letter by letter, surely that was annoying and tedious for them to do as well. Yet, they chose to do that to annoy him and drag on the conversation more. 

He wasn't sure if they knew his personality but it was a sure-fire way of keeping him glued to the screen. Each letter made him so mad and yet he sat there the entire time until the sentence was complete. What if the sentence was revealing important information or something he had to react to quickly? Adding on that controlling side of himself needed to see it through, the curiosity of what could be written would have destroyed him further. Especially since this wasn't a chat room or a social media platform where the conversation would be saved. Each letter came one by one, till a full sentence was formed but after a couple of seconds it would be deleted from the screen. 

Thankfully he was a fast reader and could read the sentences before it disappeared. What that did mean though was that if he got up or walked away, he held the risk of missing another sentence or attack. He did consider walking around his table and releasing the irritation he had that way. That idea was quickly shut down because of all the obvious reasons but it also made him build up more feelings inside. Which was probably their goal, to have him sit their out of force and take in everything they had to give. 

In general, the words were annoying and how it was dragged on. He disliked being close to cracking their codes on his computer and then forced back to the starting line. All of these things were common annoyances that when came together had a more significant impact. He didn't lose his mind nor would the world end from what happened today but he definitely need a cold drink after. 

Despite all that, he knew that the situation could have been a lot worse. If the hacker was capable of so much why did they stop where they did? Leave only a warning and not directly take action? They could have easily just destroyed the hardware on the computer or planted their own virus onto it. There were just a list of actions that could have occurred and didn't. Not to say that he would let it happen or that he had no way of stopping some of them. The point was that the opportunity existed and the actions were not taken.

For someone to threaten him at the end saying they will "set the city on fire" with that much power, imagine what their limit actually is. Are they referencing government? Is it a state level matter or direct fire attack? He pondered over this portion of the conversation and most and tried to theorize what that meant for Valentina. It was unfortunate that his hands were tied and that he could not do anything more cyber searching, so all he was left with were the crumbs left behind. 

He was not entirely ignorant, he knew their leniency was due to Xi Long and their way of maintaining the relationship between both sides. Since no matter what they did to him it would effect Xi Long or would be an attack towards him. That confidence paired with whatever crumbs of information he learned, them breaking up was also not within his expectations. What was the point of them being so 'gentle,' for lack of better words, then going around to do that. 

He waited with bated breath to hear Xi Long's rejection or confirmation. If what he did had caused that reaction....then he didn't know how to atone for his ways. He did not feel guilty as a whole but if they broke up, that was the only emotion he would be feeling. Being the cause of your best friend's happiness cut short isn't an easy situation to bear nor emotion. No matter what, Xi Long didn't deserve a complete cut off and he would fight Valentina if that was what happened. 

"No but it easily could have."

A wave of relief went through him as he heard those words. It felt like he had dodged a bullet and it calmed most of his anxiety.

"Again, I understand where you're coming from but you risked a lot more things than my relationship today. We barely came to an understanding and only yesterday did we have a mutual agreement. She was finally warming up to me more and being more open. Her taking of her mask and going to dinner with you was a sign of peace. Adding on that she left you alone for that gun incident on account of me. Just imagine if someone else did that to us or if I did that to your future partner and you? Just tell me how someone is supposed to react calmly in that situation. Then directly after that peace offering you try to pull up their biodata the morning after, its a complete slap to the face. Ignoring my relationship for a second, it makes you look bad. You are my best friend and to someone I consider important your image has fallen so low. That's not a position I want to see you in today nor tomorrow, however you just went and did it to yourself." 

Xi Long's voice maintained his gruff texture and held a fair bit of anger in it. Hearing those words, Zhuang Wei's reaction was to immediately respond but he paused before speaking. A lot of the anger he expected from Xi Long was there but he failed to understand the depth of his thinking. Naturally he thought he was upset about causing a rift in their relationship. However, Xi Long right now was yelling at him purely for ruining his own image. 

"Why are you silent now? Is it finally going in your head what you did? I'm trying very hard to keep my words nice but straight up, what the f.u.c.k are you doing? I keep saying this, I understand your intentions but why this method and why this timing?? For someone who is our lead strategist how is this your way of navigating the situation? If I had to search your partner up I would do so in low profile way and would try my best to avoid being caught. Creating a whole code that once released onto the web could trigger others is extremely high profile. Did you expect a woman walking around with a poison needle in her hat to not have these defences up? I'm not sure the full story of what happened on your end but I'm sure that they caught onto you quickly. Considering the timing, its only been an hour since I left work and it would take around that for you to go there. Then as soon as you tried to use it, they must of caught on a couple minutes after leading to this whole debacle. I got the call from her only a couple of minutes ago and I don't think I deserved such a morning greeting."

"Its not your fault, I did it all and may have used a different method...-"

"Are you really trying to defend yourself right now? Have I wasted words these past couple of minutes speaking to you? Zhuang Wei, I'm just asking you to be straight with me and not do this bullshit. Can you understand my feelings right now and what this looks like? I just don't understand your logic and the timing. I keep repeating it because it keeps irritating me."