Chapter 11 – Taking Down the Local Pride (V)

Their barkeeper silently placed the Fizz in front of Alex and Weite.

The anti-antiTox guy had left, presumably to gather his man and wait for Alex downstairs.

The smell of the drink had a sour component, like oranges and tangerines but also a strong spicy component, like ground black pepper.

After exploring the unfamiliar smell, Alex took a sip; he leisurely explored the prickly bliss of drunkenness washing over his tongue…

Two breaths later, it had vanished completely as the antiTox inside his body took care of the alcohol.

"If I drink the whole bottle, I should only be drunk for 20 seconds max," he reckoned.

Bio-engineering had taken quite the leap in this world; many wealthy people were immune against a variety of poisons.

So, he decisively downed the rest and then stopped Weite from doing the same.

"I can…" Weite argued weakly.

"He certainly is more of an engineer than a genuine business partner right now… I will have to strengthen his temperament," Alex thought and said,

"No need, just stay here while I handle this."

"But…" Weite uttered.

"If his protests sound so weak, why even raise them at all?" Alex ridiculed in his head, and cut him off,

"If I need your help, I will naturally ask for it.

"Do not get involved here."

Weite sighed,

"What about calling the police? He…"

He was interrupted by Alex who sent his auth to the barkeeper and instructed,

"His drinks are on me."

Addressing Weite, he ordered,

"Try some drinks. If you are still sipping the Fizz when I return, I will assume you want to go home."

He sighed in his mind, "What a boring personality. Reading his history, I thought he had some backbone.

"Better read his psych data later; with his talents, it would be a waste to leave him like this."

Manipulating people, breaking them, changing their minds and personalities, Alex had done it all.

Remodeling someone's character to make him a better subordin… business partner? Keeping Alex life philosophy in mind, this was nothing at all.

"Survive!", "Enjoy the luxuries of life!", "Ensure you can continue to do so in the future!".

Having relationships with competent people would help with every one of those.

"I envy those harem protagonists who meet enough competent women to cover all their needs," lamented Alex as he stepped on the floor below, heading towards the elevator.

"There seem to be a lot less people here now…"

He quickly arrived at the building's exit; he immediately identified the brain-dama… the rude guy's men waiting for him.

"Only six? Well, at least he is taking me a little seriously."

These men were fighting machines, not ordinary thugs.

"After fighting Little Wei, they certainly are a step up…"

Alex stepped out of the building and the moment he had passed the building's security, those men approached him.

While the two security guys eyed them, they did not take action since this was outside the bar.

"Our employer would like a word with you."

Like Alex, the guy was wearing data shades.

Alex chuckled:

"Sure, and I with him. Where is your employer at?"

A little surprised by his response, the man only resumed his speech after a few breaths.

"You will have to follow us."

"Lead the way."

They did not walk to the main access road but took the nearest 'descendor' – a type of elevator that only went downward – to access the district's side road network.

Most people would rather walk a few minutes than use these smaller roads with only two lanes; they probably wanted to get him in a car.

Not only would this make it harder to escape but also prevent him from making a scene on the street.

On the underground side road, a car was already waiting.

After getting in the car, a notification popped up in front of his eyes:

His watch had discreetly informed him that its connection to the public network had been disrupted and only the Organization's channels were still available.

Alex could access the public network through those, but an ordinary person would have been left with no means of communication.

Not minding the other men in the car with him, Alex called up a paper on his reading list and sent it to his shades for reading.

After ten minutes, they arrived at a mansion in a 1st rank district.

It looked more impressive than Alex' home as it featured holograms everywhere.

"Tasteless…" Alex judged.

While it looked very lavish and colorful, the design had no style, only the taste of a braggart.

After the car door opened, he elegantly evaded the grip of one of the men who wanted to grab his arm.

Seeing that he was neither stunned nor unwilling to go, the man let it go.

The man with shades led the way.

Not taking the main entrance, they eventually arrived in a basement.

"How cliché," Alex commented inwardly.

His assessment was even more apt than he knew.

Leading him to a different area, they arrived in a room bearing the stench of blood.

Multiple instruments lined up the walls and littered… were placed in the room.

"Someone read too many 'I Was Reborn As The Villain' novels."

Alex knew, in these times, most of these instruments and devices could be considered obsolete.

"Well, it is not too bad…"

Seeing Alex inspecting his stuff, the boss sitting on an armchair in the middle of the room laughed,

"Regretting your decision?"

Returning his attention to the guy, Alex answered with a laugh.

With a few swipes on his watch, he was informed that there were no recording devices transmitting on any frequencies.

This did not necessarily mean that none had been placed, but they would be storing their recordings locally; thus, he could effortlessly take care of them later.

Mistaking his actions for an attempt to alarm the authorities, the guy laughed again and said in an amused voice,

"It's no use, the moment you sat in the car, it was too late. You won't get any connection in here either."

"So, what do you want to do?" Alex asked calmly.

"That depends, will you tell me your name now?"

"Which dog wants to know?"

"YOU!"

"Déjà vu," Alex laughed inwardly, "He is so easily provoked."

After taking ten breaths to calm down, the guy smiled a devilish smile,

"I am Jonson Miler, the son of Mei Country's current ambassador to Central.

"As his family, I have diplomatic immunity, not that you will be able to prove any crime…"

"Get to the point," Alex interrupted Jonson.

"YOU you…"

"… …"

After calming down, Jonson grinned:

"Ha, you're really fearless.

"Hook him up!" Jonson ordered, pointing at a machine.

The men immediately tried to grab Alex.

Without hesitation, Alex pulled out a weapon, wherefrom the men could not determine, set it to stun, and shot.

"Ta! Ta! Ta!"

Three of the men went down in the blink of an eye.

"Tata ta tatata!"

After two breaths, the only moving people were Alex and Jonson.

It was Alex' turn to grin at Jonson:

"Now, shall I hook you up?"

Jonson was stunned; how had the youth moved so fast?

Unfortunately, the author left him no time to contemplate this question, as he was dragged out of his armchair by Alex.

He only opened his mouth, when Alex had placed him on the slimy surface of the machine and was strapping him in.

"Wa-wa-wait! I admit you are skilled, if you work for me…"

Alex interrupted him, "I usually enjoy simply beating waste like you up…

"However, since you wanted to use this on me, I will let you try it."

Hearing Alex use the words 'try it out', Jonson's countenance brightened up again:

"Do you even know what this is? Have you ever used this machine before?"

"Yes, I do know. As for your second question, I have never used this specific model before."

This machine was the evolution of the taser torture.

Through the slimy gel electric shocks and current could freely and precisely be applied to any part of the body.

Feeling no need to read the instruction manual, Alex decided to familiarize himself with this model through experimentation.

Identifying the button for gel submersion, he reminded the guy,

"Time to lift your head unless you want to eat slime," and pressed the button.

Jonson's arms and legs immediately started to struggle, helplessly twitching in their restraints, as everything except his raised head was submerged in slimy gel.

Having observed his weak struggle, to prevent him from dropping his head and choking, Alex put a strap underneath the guy's head.

"You… you be-better stop this instance!"

Giving up the struggle, Jonson used his energy to shout at Alex.

"If you don't stop, I will…

"Aaaa- gugugugu!"

Having finished familiarizing with the settings, Alex had activated the first program.

It delivered needle like shocks to the body in waves.

"Now I better tie up those guards. They should be out for 2 hours; but better do it now to have fun in peace."