Chapter 46: Faceslapping 102

Chapter 46: Faceslapping 102

"I'd like to apologize for not picking up the phone before, I really thought you were a saleswoman." Uriel awkwardly apologized after taking a seat at their table.

"Please, don't apologize Mister Sage, it's only because of my incompetence that I couldn't find you before. We've been looking for you for a long while and... My! My! Now I realize I haven't even formally introduced myself. I'm Nika Garcia and I'm currently in charge of the Mapple corp. security. I've been tasked to find you and recruit you for this important expedition, but I must admit I never thought you'd be a student." Nika said, sipping on her wine every once in a while.

"I think me being a student is public record." Uriel shrugged, not knowing how to lead the conversation in a way that allowed him to understand what did she want from him without being rude.

"That's not it, my mission was to bring back 'Sage' the archaeologist, no one mentioned that you'd be a student. I was puzzled by this for the longest time because there wasn't any professor by that name on the college. Anyway, now the misunderstanding is cleared I feel that I owe you a full explanation before continuing. How much do you know about the Mapple project?" She asked.

"I know quite a lot actually. Before 'the arrival' there were still many archaeological sites to be discovered and the Mapple corp. initiated a worldwide project to uncover every single one of them by scanning the whole world. That caused archaeology to become obsolete because there wasn't much to discover anymore, which left me without a job even before signing up for college."

"Yes, it was a mapping project and its intention was to uncover archaeological sites. Thanks to the new technology devised by our corporation it was suddenly possible to scan every inch of the planet without lifting a finger. Pyramids, totems, ancestral buildings, aqueducts, if some ancient culture had placed a stone on top of another, we knew. We also found something different, something that... changed our project's mission. We found that some POIs had strange structures underneath and, of course, we sent many teams to uncover their mysteries, but it was completely impossible to open the way." Nika explained.

Although Uriel knew a lot about the Mapple project, he was still taken aback by her claim. Just the possibility of hidden underground structures below ancient buildings could rewrite history as he knew it. "Did you try opening them with explosives?" Uriel finally asked an obvious question.

"Let's do this... I'll leave this piece of paper here and go freshen up in the restroom. If by the time I come back you can't give me an answer then I'll stop bothering you." Nika didn't mind making such promises, because she was certain that if she failed her boss will absolutely send someone else to persuade him.

Uriel watched the pretty woman leave the place with a deep frown on his face, mindlessly picking up the piece of paper and almost choked on his own saliva when he read it. The amount of money offered to him exceeded his wildest dreams, he stared at the piece of paper dumbfounded, trying to figure out the exact amount. It was a sum so incredibly high he didn't even know how to pronounce it. 'I can't let this opportunity pass. Even if it's dangerous, if I manage to come back my life will be sorted out!' Were Uriel's last thoughts before Mark arrived at his table.

"Oh, I see she dropped you like a bad habit." Mark said with a nasty grin on his face.

"What are you up to now? Can't you see I'm busy?" Uriel replied.

"All I see is you sitting by yourself after your date dine and dashed you. Can't you see a woman like that can only be a scammer or a prostitute. Since she got a free meal out of you, I don't think it's the latter." Mark pretended to hold back his laughter.

Uriel's face went pale at the sudden realization that he was indeed stuck with the bill. The only silver lining was that at least he did get to eat something. 'Stupid! I'm so stupid! Why would a woman like that want to buy me dinner?' Still he tried to keep appearances and replied coldly. "It's none of your business anyway."

"Oh! But it is. You see, I called Mister Flanagan to let him know what that woman said and he assured me he was the only one with the clearance to invite people to the Mapple corp. expedition. You've totally been scammed dude." He finally laughed mockingly at Uriel.