Chapter 483 - PLAYING DIRTY

Hu Lei walked to Akira and pushed back the ergonomic chair along with the pregnant lady away from the computer. However, Akira's eyes remained glued to the screen, as if she could not see anything else. Hu Lei turned the chair to face her directly with red eyes. 

"Is the computer more attractive than me?" Hu Lei asked with a teasing smile. 

"Yes," Akira said without hesitation. 

Hu Lei was defeated in a single move. However, she was resilient, and she understood the hearts of tech junkies. Well, not exactly, but she could deal with them. For instance, when Zhong Feng told her about some new great technology, she would gasp, nod and exclaim. 

And he would be very happy.

"Did you find something new?" She asked Akira. 

The bloodshot eyes finally focused on Hu Lei. Then, Akira lodged into an explanation about something relating to the guy who set up the hunt and the dead pool. The complicated details passed over Hu Lei's head, but she grasped the core matter. 

"You have a suspect?" She asked in surprise. 

"Yeah. I listened to what Zhong Feng said and decided to stop looking at things in a standard approach. The person hunting me down knows that I am a hacker. However, they are confident enough that I cannot find them." Akira said excitedly. 

"I decided to scrap my usual MO. Every hacker has some predictable patterns. If someone can anticipate the moves of a hacker, they can avoid detection. The only way I could catch this guy was abandoning every formula I use and develop a new procedure." She continued. 

Hu Lei nodded. "So, did you succeed?" 

Akira rolled her eyes. "A little, but it turns out that it is extremely hard to switch styles. I keep falling back to the old patterns. I could not get anywhere. But I also found a breakthrough. If I cannot change my patterns, it means that the person behind Watch and the dead pool might have the same problem." 

"So, I have been studying the information Zhong Feng collected on the streaming app and the dead pool." She smiled with satisfaction. "And I have noticed a familiar pattern in the underlying coding. I think I know the culprit." 

"Who is it?" Hu Lei asked. 

Akira's face changed into one of morose. "I think it is one of my old team members. Only two of them are versatile enough to have come up with the idea and execute it. But I cannot discount the fact it is not a single person." 

Hu Lei once again felt heartache for the young lady. "What are you going to do?" 

"I can hardly storm there and accuse anyone. Plus, if I accuse a fellow agent of treason, I need solid evidence. Otherwise, I will be the one at a disadvantage." Akira lowered her head in thought. 

She could also tell the Chief and Raiden about her suspicions and the things she had found. However, her current ȧssumptions were based on the fact that she knew the general style Fuji and Miki used when investigating. 

It was not enough to be used even as circumstantial evidence. The two of them probably studied under the same teacher, so their styles were similar. And she was not close enough to either of them to identify any uniqueness between them. 

If she forced the Chief to take her side, the entire case would probably come apart. She needed to move with care to avoid alerting the skin or harming innocent people. 

"It is not a difficult problem." Hu Lei said. 

Akira looked up with blazing eyes. "Do you have a solution?" 

Hu Lei chuckled. "Ah-Feng was right. Your thinking is a little too straightforward. When you are fighting for your life, you cannot only think about the white channels. You need to play dirty or you will be swallowed up." 

"What do you suggest?" Akira asked. 

"You just need to figure out what the other party truly wants and find a way to offer it to them. Judging from the explanation Ah-Feng gave me about the Watch app, this person is probably looking to pool funding to build a small criminal empire." Hu Lei said. 

"So, I should find a reliable method to offer them what they want. When they think the end is in sight, I pounce." Akira was enlightened. 

"Exactly. Of course, you have to be careful. Most people involved in the underworld are extremely cautious. That's why Ah-Feng said that you need the right kind of identity and special verifications on certain websites." Hu Lei warned. 

"If you decide to lure the person in the dark, do not expose anything that could make them suspicious. Otherwise, you will become even more vulnerable." She added. 

"Are you finally ready to hear about the trip?" Hu Lei asked after a short moment with twinkling eyes.

Akira had been trying to avoid hearing about the trip, but she could not push it away forever. She needed to face the matter head-on, even though she had lost hope. At least, she could rest knowing that Kaito was safe for now. 

"Ok. How did it go?" Her voice was softer than a squeak. 

"I have two pieces of good news." Hu Lei smiled. "I don't know if you have heard it yet. The person who began this whole matter of the hunt on you is dead. Actually, the entire board of the International Health Alliance is dead." 

Akira's eyes widened. She had not been paying attention to the news. In the past two days, she had revolved between the library, the nursery and the bedroom. She did not spare a moment to other issues. She would even have forgotten to eat if not for Housekeeper Li. 

"Did you do it?" She asked in an awed voice. 

"Pfft!" Hu Lei laughed. "I didn't even kill them when they were after me. I am an upright citizen. According to the news report, it was either a vigilante or hitman. Of course, the public has a theory that a government agency is behind it." 

"You know who did it." Akira was certain. 

"How could that be?" Hu Lei placed her hands on her cheeks in mock shock. 

"What about Kaito?" Akira asked the main question. 

Hu Lei smiled widely. 

"You will have your Kaito back soon."