Chapter 362: Chapter 362: The Monkey That Can’t Escape the Palm _1
The next day, Rose Iron Prison.
Aiden had Sophie Carter brought to the conference room and briefly explained to her the results of yesterday’s battle.
"...I handed Joey Lawson over to the Witch’s Meeting. Even if your organization now wanted to betray you, they couldn’t find a buyer. The crisis for you and your friend should therefore be considered resolved," Aiden said slowly, "The Smile Scale won’t learn of this news immediately, but it’s only a matter of time."
"I’m truly grateful to you..." Sophie lowered her head.
"No need for gratitude, just remember the compensation we talked about before will suffice," Aiden motioned with his hand for her not to be courteous.
"Of course, whatever information you want to know, I will disclose everything I can," Sophie nodded, "Beyond that, I can assure you that your information will not be leaked from me."
"Before that, I want to understand some things about your organization," Aiden spoke, "How much do you know about the core authority figures of your organization?"
"The central controller?" Sophie was taken aback, obviously surprised by Aiden’s question, "I really don’t know much about that, Susan and I, our interaction with the organization, is basically all done through our ’handler’."
"That handler?" Aiden frowned slightly.
"Yes. From what I feel..." Sophie pondered for a moment, "The Smile Scale doesn’t seem like a ’Kingdom’ ruled directly by a single sovereign, but more like a corporate enterprise. There are hierarchical relationships here, specific rules and regulations, and all actions are profit-oriented; the decisions relayed to us hardly ever reveal personal emotions."
"So you’re saying the core decision-making body isn’t just one person but a consortium of interests? Like a board of directors?"
"At least that’s how I see it," Sophie stated confidently.
Aiden also felt the same way, the operational guidelines of The Smile Scale utterly differed from those individuals pursuing power and authority, there was absolutely no ambition for power to be discerned from them.
Even the "Goddess of Conspiracy" had the intention to seize the power of "Hatred" to ascend the Throne of Spirit.
If the core of the organization harbored godlike ambitions, they would surely gather as much divinity as possible, allowing it to accumulate within the organization, and upon obtaining information on a unique power, they would never easily let others know.
But this organization seemed to prefer divinity shifting between individuals outside of their group through conflict, and then they would reap profiting from it. As for information about the unique power, as long as the price was right, they would spare no effort to sell it.
Their interest in the throne of the gods appeared quite lukewarm, yet they clearly felt that those vying for godhood were profitable.
Melissa’s likelihood of being behind this organization wasn’t high, but she could very well be leveraging it for her own advantage.
"You said that your communication with the organization is through your superiors, that is, that handler." Aiden posed another question, "Does that mean, all the information known to you is also known to that handler?"
"Yes. The information we brokers gather from clients is basically reported up, and our superiors occasionally inform us of information acquired by other brokers. We brokers are not allowed to exchange information among ourselves, except for what is permitted to be shared," Sophie explained.
"So his knowledge of information will only be more than yours, never less?" Aiden asked.
"Of course." Sophie didn’t quite grasp why Aiden was so concerned about this.
"So the instruction to get close to Joey Lawson was also given through the handler?" Aiden inquired further.
"Yes."
"During your approach of Joey Lawson, did you feel anything was amiss?" Aiden continued to press.
"What do you mean by amiss?"
"For example, Joey’s demeanor, did it exhibit any unusually drastic changes?" Aiden hinted.
Sophie thought back and with Aiden’s prompting, she quickly remembered, "Yes! At the very beginning, when I first tried to approach him, his attitude towards me was quite cold. But by the second time, he became... inexplicably enthusiastic and started calling himself my fan. It was then that the organization fully handed the task of probing to me... Huh? You look very serious, is there a problem?"
"No, it’s nothing..." Aiden waved his hand dismissively.
The more he inquired, the stronger the feeling became.
It appeared that Melissa had been controlling that handler the whole time, retrieving information from The Smile Scale.
The task of probing Joey Lawson had come to Sophie through that handler, and any information she gathered was also reported to him. Meaning, Melissa was very likely fully aware of this affair and could easily have meddled.
Was Joey Lawson becoming his prey a deliberate setup by that goddess? Or was she merely toying with her pieces for her own amusement?
Aiden had originally accepted Sophie’s request with the intention of developing his own sources of information, but if that handler controlled by Melissa was Sophie Carter’s superior, and if the handler was truly under Melissa’s command, it meant Aiden’s own access to information was always inferior to Melissa’s.
If Melissa had anticipated this, then this roundabout mockery was indeed quite demoralizing.
It felt like some monkey, who thought it had vast powers, only to realize after trying that it could never escape the palm of the gods.
Aiden felt a bit disheartened in that moment, but he quickly adjusted his mindset.
Surpassing a deity who had been active for hundreds of years was never going to be easy. Escaping the chessboard set by the ruler and preserving one’s pride and composure was somewhat unrealistic to begin with.
Developing Sophie Carter as his own source of information, he was still closer, if only slightly, to Melissa after all.
"After this task is completed, Susan Feng should be able to leave the organization, right?" Aiden nonchalantly steered the conversation back.
"Yes, it’s time for us to part ways. But she’ll probably have to keep up the act for a while longer, I hope she’ll at least remember to come see me in the end," Sophie said with a hint of melancholy.
"What are your plans?" Aiden asked.
"What plans can I have? Of course, I’ll continue to play the part of a petty thief caught by you until I’m eligible for parole," Sophie spread her hands.
"Isn’t this prison a bit too harsh for a big star?"
"Of course, it can’t be as comfortable as the outside, but at least... I won’t have to take on other assignments from the organization for a good long while, it will be quiet," Sophie smiled.
"Let’s hope so," Aiden nodded.
