Chapter 242: Hired II
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"An intermediate modification technician?" The candidate’s background surprised her. Her hair was tied up in a high bun, and the hair ends quivered as she lifted her chin, exposing her snow white neck.
"To think that an intermediate modification technician would come! Interesting!" Her sultry voice was sweet as honey. One could hear the sound of the others gulping in the surveillance room.
Half lying on a deep crimson sofa was a woman of unrivaled beauty, and she was the one who had spoken. Behind her stood a middle-aged man in a black suit. His profile was steely, and his muscles bulged under his suit. He looked expressionless, with his hands crossed at his back. From the beginning, his expression had not changed one bit.
The lady sat up slightly and lightly tapped on the photon processor on her desk with a slender white finger. The photon processor’s holographic screen image immediately switched to room 303.
In the holographic feed was a young man, deep in thought.
Dark red irises framed by thin, long eyebrows, under which was a smooth, aquiline nose. Her moist, lustrous lips drew up into an alluring smile. The unreadable smile made her look even more seductive. This was seduction at its finest, blooming like a flower.
One could hear simultaneous gasps in the surveillance room. Only the man in a suit behind her maintained a cold expression.
Ye Chong was now using the ample time allocated to think. Back from when he first saw the research center, he had received plenty of information, and now he was attempting to organize them in his mind.
She watched the young man thinking. No, perhaps the man was no longer so young. He was obviously over 20. This was the youngest candidate Qiu Man had seen so far. Knowledge was accumulated across time - while a 20-year-old man was considered an adult, he would still be considered a beginner only no matter which field he specialized in.
However, a talented young man would still be a good choice. Qiu Man looked at the man meaningfully, now realizing that his calm expression was contradicting too much with his age. The naive expression he wore earlier was probably only a trick of the eye. What she was seeing now was a steady, cold man.
Qiu Man’s eyes gleamed as she noticed this sudden transformation.
In the holographic feed, the man was calmly entering his answers in the photon processor, lacking the joy that most candidates would have when they solved a problem. This was a maturity that belied his age.
"Indeed, this is an interesting man," Qiu Man thought to herself as her eyes narrowed, her right hand clasping lightly on the armrest with slender fingers. Behind her, the middle-aged man stood like a wooden pole.
Next, the man’s performance surprised her. Even the one who marked his work, old Donald praised him highly, believing him to be a promising mech modification technician. Old Donald was a practical man. His stubbornness was found offensive by many, but his capabilities and insights were never doubted.
The candidate must be a genius.
However, the candidate was being too calm about it, such that even Qiu Man herself thought that something was off.
When she met the young man face-to-face, Qiu Man’s heart was already in a turmoil. The sensitive Qiu Man could sense the sharpness in the man’s calm eyes. His cold demeanor towards his surroundings reminded her of those people known as elites - their eyes were almost identical to this man’s. The thought of those inhuman personalities made Qiu Man very uncomfortable.
Swish! Suddenly the wooden middle-aged man behind Qiu Man stepped in front of her. His hollow eyes were suddenly bright as fire, glaring at Ye Chong.
This abrupt turn of events startled everyone around. Even Ye Chong was slightly surprised. The hostility in the other party’s eyes was confounding. Was his cover broken?
Qiu Man was also just as shocked, as seen from her surprised expression. Even so, she still looked just as beautiful. This was the first time Qiu Guang had moved without her orders. All this while, she had thought Qiu Guang as a puppet, lifeless, and only kept him around because of his strict obedience. However, what happened now baffled her.
Ye Chong noticed from his movements that the middle-aged man had nifty footwork.
He was a combat expert, and a highly skilled one! It was apparent from the way the man moved with his speed and accuracy.
In that instant, Ye Chong’s muscles tensed. While his feet never left the ground, he was already full of energy, ready to defend himself.
It would be suicidal to be relaxed when within 10 meters of a skilled combat expert. Ye Chong understood the potential damage that could be incurred within this radius more than anyone.
Fortunately, Ye Chong himself was not too shabby as well as a combat expert.
Ye Chong’s minute physical responses were not unnoticed by the middle-aged man. His elbows lifted a little, his body inclined slightly, and his feet moved apart. To the average person, these seemed like normal movements, but Ye Chong could sense the danger behind them. This further convinced him that the combat expert before him must be very capable.
Had the other realized his intentions?
The middle-aged man’s eyes shone brightly with ferventness.
It was a pity that Qiu Man, shielded behind him, could not see it. She asked curiously, "Guang, what is it?"
Those words seemed to cool the middle-aged man almost instantly. The ferventness in the eyes of the man called Guang vanished without a trace. His eyes resumed their earlier hollow, lifeless look.
Guang returned to stand behind Qiu Man without a word, moving like a puppet.
Qiu Man took a curious glance towards Guang, but did not see anything amiss. She decided to focus her attention back on the young man before her. His appearance had provoked that strange response from the usually passive Guang. Besides, this young man called Takano was a strange character as he was.
Almost everyone knew the identity of the one who supported Prometheus Group from behind the scenes. It would only be more unusual if none of the other powers send their spies here.
However, Qiu Man believed that this young man was a spy. The training for spies was different from the training given to combatants. Moreover, spies and combatants gave off very different vibes.
All of a sudden, Qiu Man felt that the situation had gotten much more complicated.