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Chapter 127: Poker Game

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Earlier Chronos was sure that there's a possibility for Rex telling a lie. But now, he wasn't sure if the plan to trust anything Rex was going to tell him is a reasonable option as well.

The World Nobles, at least the [Nobles Council], all knew that Terroa is the [key] to advancing their civilization's technologies and hastening their rise to the Type-02 classification of their civilization.

(AN: see Vol.7–Ch.122)

Although Project Salvation is known to a very few select people upon a certain extent, the true and genuine purpose of the project was only known to him and Goldwyn.

He trusted Goldwyn's desperation and knew that he wouldn't be the one pulling Rex's strings so he thought that perhaps one of the Nobles Council is the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Still, for such an act, knowing the possible wrath of Chronos and the pact they are openly violating, it was too shallow of a reason as to why they will risk obliteration just for the sake of mere in-game Historical Artifacts from Terroa.

On the other hand, considering the possibility of real-world application of the game's NanoTech, it still does NOT actually fall under the classification of the in-game NanoTech being treasures of the "historical" importance.

If so, then it lands to only one thing.

Rex was just messing with him. And yet, before he could throw into a massive fit of anger, when he saw Rex's scan data, he found out that Rex was actually telling the truth.

This further confused the old man. His face was frozen stiff and he felt both shock and anger that he was actually leaning on believing the boy than to doubt him and think of this all as mere lies.

Alas, before the full implementation of the (true) [Project Salvation], Chronos still doesn't have any power to be able to control Rex and squeeze the truth out of this impudent boy's mouth.

He could only stay neutral and believe nothing. It was the safest bet. But if he chooses this then he was bound to enact punishment for Rex Kingsley for the sake of his dignity as Family Head of one of the Five Great Clans, as well as saving the face of the World Nobles, in accordance to his earlier statement: Rex must be punished for touching a World Noble's subordinate Duke House.

They wanted his and his cohorts' deaths —as this was the only equivalent of their trampled pride.

But to him and Goldwyn, however, that was just a show, a way to put pressure to Rex, to stimulate his growth, to show more results as reference for the sake of the final result of their (true) [Project Salvation].

Thinking of this, Chronos decided to stick with the earlier agreed plan: Rex's punishment will be connected to this night's Grand Event.

He must "entertain" them all.

This way, not only Rex would show results of his "modification" to the two old coots, his struggle and his explanation to why Rex wasn't killed will appease the Council and not let them dig deeper into the true aims of his Abraxas Family as well as the Goldwyn Familia.

"I feel like you're making fun of us, Mr. Kingsley, that you're not even taking me seriously."

Rex put more effort in not laughing as he pulled out his best poker face and said, "I am telling the truth, sir. They said that my revenge and all their goals are connected to Terroa so I was ordered to create as much chaos in Terroa as I can while I collect Historical Treasures. After that, they will then give me clues to the person responsible for the fate of my family. It is as simple as that."

Again, Chronos "saw" the emotional fluctuations in Rex as he answered him. At least, for the most part of it, Rex's revenge part was real and if the idea of this obsession with revenge was taken in account, then it explains why, no matter how light and shallow the reason of these traitors are, Rex is still willing to become their pawn if it means that he's going to be one step closer to his revenge at each and every time he presents them a treasure.

Chronos paused to think. If this is indeed the only reason why Rex was acting defiant and brave like this, then perhaps... he could provide help to him and then rope him in to his fold.

If this happens, then wouldn't their little project be smoother and more assured to be completed with no hitches on the sides?

Taking this train of thought, he asked, "Assuming you're telling me the truth.... then why're you now ratting on them like this?"

"Simple, sir, it's because they told me to speak of the truth if caught and asked about my secrets."

Rex was sure; you bastards created me for your Project Salvation so I know you won't kill me. And if in the rare chance that you actually do, I can still fight and struggle and I will be sure that you will regret my very existence!

He was testing the man.

In this instant, the two men were playing a deadly game of schemes and counter schemes. It was a web woven from lies and truth mixed together to form the massive and complex structure of plans after plans just to meet an end goal.

Whoever loses a card to play in their turn will lose and the loser's prices differ between the two; with the heavier falling into Chronos... being his trust to the other World Nobles.

It was Rex's plan.

The one with the biggest loss would be Chronos because Rex controlled the flow of information in their talks while Chronos' aim for this meeting was just to check what makes Rex intriguingly special.

In hindsight, if Rex loses and Chronos decides to disregard his words and deemed it all as lies, then worst case scenario will be him dying painfully.

The lighter punishment will be imprisonment and torture for telling him the names of the traitors of their World Government. And only then will he be granted death. If not, the torture continues.

It was the reason why Rex said what he just said.

Rex made it looked like his backers are aware that Chronos and the Five Great Clans will be enraged by the existence of these traitors and there will be a massive cleansing of their ranks.

Still, either two leads to his victory even if the end scenario leads to pain and suffering... if they can catch him, that is.

——because just the fact that they resorted to the threat and torture method means that he actually created a massive fissure between the ranks of the World Government's World Noble Families!

And that is already his victory.

Rex made it look to Chronos that it was "okay" to be a pawn of chaos as long as he gets closer to the person responsible for the fate of his family and exact his revenge. Cortana made sure that it was this notion itself that's supported by the false data he fed to Chronos' scanners.

The web of lies Rex had woven was now set and scattered. All that's left is for the moth to fly into it and get eaten alive.

*****

Chronos frowned, these traitors are testing me!

They made use of Rex's obsession for revenge to cause a massive doubt in the integrity of their entire organization. But, why? Surely, it's not just to get their hands on in-game Historical Artifacts, right? And certainly, it's NOT just to cause internal discord into their ranks... wouldn't it?

Chronos spend a few minutes to think about the matter and the silence made Rex smile internally as he pretended to wander his eyes around the different relics "saved" in this small room.

He wished dearly that he had a Liberty Drone to scan his surroundings to know what was beyond the walls of this room, and increase his sense of security. Unknowingly, this uncertainty of his in his defenses was becoming dominant so he tried to look around to hide this growing anxiety from showing on his face.

Chronos saw this and interpreted it as curiosity, solidifying the thought of Rex not caring a damn thing about being a pawn of these backers of the organization called Mitra.

—now that I think about it, this actually explains how and why this unknown organization was able to have this kind of power under our noses... this Mitra have the same resources as us. If we want to find them, we just have to trace all the missing resources and we will be able to pin down those traitors' whereabouts!

If there are traitors in the World Government, the strength of Mitra and the support on Rex when he saved the kidnapped Amanda was finally able to have a light of explanation.

Thinking of this plan, Chronos' thoughts began to relax as he made an initial form of an idea on how to weed out these stinking traitors.

Chronos couldn't even deem to connect it all to anything else. Even the thought of the existence of something like a [Cortana] did not even as much as grazed his mind at all, much less connecting it all to Eosin Bozkovich's missing NanoPaper that he had lost upon his escape, or even less connect it to WHAT was that 10ZB that Joana Cruz downloaded from the PH-Server and then gave to Eosin Bozkovich.

Ah, how could Chronos know, Rex fed him lies founded from facts. Now, he was like a moth in a web as the spider approaches to wrap him in the cocoon of more lies and trickeries.

Chronos decided to rope Rex in and enact the plan he thought of earlier.

"You do know you're being used, right?"

"I am indeed aware." Rex looked at him and said.

"Yet you still willingly support them. Why?"

"Because they gave me the means to exact my revenge... that is all."

Again, Rex's emotional circuits fluctuated and the old Family Head was convinced that Rex's choice was infected by his obsession for his revenge.

......and he knew who Rex's target was.

But Chronos can't give him that. He didn't even know if Rex's target and the person he knew was responsible for the deaths of his parents were the same person.

He asked, "Do you know who you're seeking?"

"Alfred Pegasus." Rex's voice was cold and acidic that even Chronos felt the palpable murderous desire Rex had in his voice.

It felt like an invisible pressure —the kind you feel when scuba diving, or when pressing something heavy in front of your chest. He wasn't unfamiliar with this feeling but it was also one thing if this is coming from a 19 year old young man.

Chronos felt shocked. This was a bloodlust on the level of a professional killer. Even he felt his heart skipped beats. But all the more, he also felt excited at the prospect of this "simulated room" being able to exactly replicate even the feeling of dread you feel from someone who was used to killing people. This is such an exciting discovery!

He reined his emotions in with effort. It was rare for his old bones to be this excited but he still felt his blood rush in his head and his heart starting to skip beats at the prospect of the Project Salvation finally achieving their sought after results.

—I was right. These traitors are using him!

Rex inwardly laughed. The moth was captured.

Also, based on Chronos' statement just now, Rex was informed by Cortana of the possible ending of this meeting. One of them had a possibility of a 38% happening, the one with the highest chance of actually happening, it was the possibility of this old bag of bones trying to reel him into his fold.

'Cortana...'

[Six more minutes, sir.]

Rex felt his heart beating hard. Six more minutes and Chronos will be his prisoner instead. Or even if they don't get a fall out, he could still steal these books from this private server. No. In fact, he can actually steal this entire room and everything in it and make every information in here his; or he can just secretly copy everything here and give it back without the server guys knowing anything.

But this plan was only when they do indeed have total fallout and decided to abandon negotiations.

—I just have to keep his attention for at least six minutes more and this entire server would fall in my control...

"Actually, I don't care what I am used for. As long as I can get my hands on Pegasus, as long as I can make him bleed myself, I don't care what I've got to do..."

Chronos stared at Rex for quite a while before he made a long sigh, "You're playing a dangerous game here, kid. Are you trying to tell me that if I bring you Pegasus, you will tell me everything you know about your backers?"

"As long you can bring me Pegasus, everything is negotiable. My backers have also talked me about this scenario itself. As long as the price is right, it won't matter if chaos would ensue right after their capture...it doesn't matter which side I pick. They only wanted me to do this job as long as it was in Terroa and causing chaos inside it, they will keep on supporting my actions regardless of anything else that happens in the real world."

Chronos frowned, isn't this just the mentality of a terrorist? What's going on here? And based on the dying man's intel, Rex shouldn't be this much extreme in his actions as well... what drove him to, no, is it really just purely because he's made aware that the World Government is hiding Alfred that he's willing to be used like this?

Rex's words confused Chronos. Every one of the World Nobles are a proud bunch that likes to feel like they're gods who can dictate the very lives of every human. So why then, would they allow Rex to rat on them and even allow him freedom?

As he pondered about this question, Chronos was able to land on an answer.

Yes.

Rex said the answer..... it was chaos. The World Nobles serving as Rex's backers doesn't want any material things as they already have it all. All they want may just actually be just the excitement of a chaotic situation —CHAOS, that's what they want.

In all aspects, these people are smarter than any ordinary man could actually fathom. They blend in so cleanly and so seamlessly that Chronos did not even detect their existence at all.

To have these people within the ranks of World Nobles, the UNICORN is actually in trouble for its 'destination' was being contaminated by the intent of these despicable terrorist scums. In his eyes, in the perspective of a World Noble with a clear goal for the sake of human evolution, these kinds of people are criminals. They are obstacles in the path of innovation for the sake of mankind.

They must be purged!

Chronos suddenly recalled something the criminal psychology circle loved to tackle: criminals aren't really complicated. You just need to work out what their objective is in order to predict their next set of actions, and then capture them.

It was easy enough to understand in the surface at first but... as he recalled the memory of this one particular discussion, he also recalled what a certain individual said that incited the commotion.

Back in 2008, someone going by the pseudonym "Dr. F. Roy Dean Schlippe" posted an article in "The Psychologist's Journal" about this topic.

(AN: ref: Artemis Fowl BOOK 2)

In his paper, he argued: while majority of all these typical criminals can be classified and understood, some criminals are just plain... as is. They weren't looking for something or anything logical like piles of money, women, glory, or revenge as they can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with.

Some of them just wanted to see the world burn.

.......and these... these are the most dangerous of people that could exist.

Chronos shuddered at the thought.

It was one thing if they were people with no kind of background whatsoever, but if they were those in power... people like the World Nobles, then the problem escalates and it affects their plans.

Chronos felt the crisis creep up his spine. If Rex is being supported by a bunch of these kinds of people, then they could possibly ultimately affect the realization of their plans. They won't care if they were caught or killed, but it was sure that by the very event of that happening, back up plans is sure to be incited and this may cause a chaos in a global scale. It may even affect Project Salvation.

In this situation, in this meeting-turned-negotiation event, Chronos had an option to either risk some sort of chaotic event happening within UNICORN to secure Rex Kingsley and get Intel on all of his backers or bring him Alfred Pegasus —make him an escape goat— and then get the intel so that he can stabilize the situation before it escalates to an uncontrollable scale.

But the thing is they still needed Alfred. He was an integral part in the realization of their Project Salvation and the stabilization of the situation right after the dawn of the New Age they are ushering with [Project Salvation].

What more, there was no assurance that Rex will also cooperate with them once he gets his hands on Alfred and he exacts his revenge.

There was even a huge chance that Rex will still be working for the traitors of the World Nobles Faction and sabotage the entire operation of the World Government GRASS PORRIDGE!!! —although it won't actually affect the result of their Project Salvation at the very least.

—So what was the problem here?

Chronos' silence lasted an entire minute as he put his mind into pondering over a decision. When he noticed this fact, his eyes went wide as he came on a realization as well as an answer to that very question itself.

"Ahahahaha.... boy, you got me."

Rex was unperturbed. "What do you mean?"

"Heh. Alright. If I get you Alfred Pegasus are—"

"Augustus Laniary."

Chronos wanted to point out that the topic they're talking about is actually too far and too remotely connected to the original purpose of this meeting.

He wanted to ask in passing the question whether he will be willing to tell him whoever it was that's supporting him if he gave him Alfred Pegasus.

And yet before he could even ask the question, Rex had already beaten him to the punch.

"You wanted to ask me who was my contact in the World Nobles... I can honestly say that Augustus Laniary is one of them. But I cannot tell you the others' names until you get me Alfred Pegasus."

Rex saw the Chronos was still in shock and for a reason he didn't know, Chronos showed a face of understanding.

"I see. If it's that guy... it might be possible." he murmured under his breath.

Rex didn't know this but Chronos knew AG and his tendencies. Rex's aim for inciting this chaotic mesh of lies to create a truth is all for the sake of shrugging these old men's eyes off his back.

AG's knack for inciting chaos and his antics that in more ways than one often led to war between minor countries around the globe due to clashing interests were known to everyone.

What more, because of Goldwyn, Chronos is also aware that AG had made contact with Rex after his accident. They shouldn't be surprised that AG was one of the traitors in the ranks of the World Noble Council. It's just that, what he didn't expect was AG actually having other collaborators among their World Noble ranks. This was a huge slipup in the Godfather who boasted of his unparalleled ability to gather Intel.

It made Chronos silent while pondering over how to fix it and seeing him now made Rex secretly bit his lips in full effort not to laugh.

Venting his anger like this ain't bad at all.