Potential Ally

"You okay, Dearie?" A kind woman who looked like she was just out of the office asked, worried. "Here, drink some water first." She offered Ursa a bottle of water from her bag, which Ursa accepted gratefully.

"Thank you, Ma'am." Ursa's voice was hoarse, yet that still wasn't enough to hide the gratitude in his eyes. After drinking it, Ursa rose from the floor, trying to ignore the curious gazes he received from the other passengers before telling the woman, "Excuse me, Ma'am, I will go to the washroom first."

"Oh, sure! Just come back later! I will save the seat for you!"

Ursa walked as quickly as possible through the subway's corridor so that he could reach the washroom soon. He tried to ignore the discomfort caused by the gazes he received from the people. He didn't know why, but usually, being the center of attention even though it was for a bad thing was not enough to make him uncomfortable. If he could guess, this must be the side-effect of the full-level stealth attribute from the system, making him feel so naked under those gazes.

"… I don't know whether to give you a hat-off for your courage or just give up trying to rationalize your stupidity." The hacker's voice suddenly greeted him once again after he entered the washroom. "Your reckless decision… Turns out to be a perfect one, because right after you entered the subway, Vahd Diran arrived at the same time, and if you were one second too late or you decided to follow my word and not go to the subway, you would get caught immediately."

A cold sweat rolled down his back as Ursa felt like he just dodged a bullet. Even though at that time he wasn't concerned about Vahd Diran who he thought was still far from the station, he was glad that he followed his instinct for once at that time. Still…

"It is not a reckless decision, you know?" Ursa retorted, defending himself. "It is a calculated decision based on my physical and mental state. I have been in a high-tension state since the start of the day, and being chased by a top martial artist in the country didn't help at all. If I had to be the little rat for the hide-and-seek game even for another five minutes, I am sure I would collapse on the spot."

"I… Didn't think about your state at all before, sorry."

Ursa heaved a sigh as he walked back to the seat where the lady offered him before. After smiling gratefully at her and taking a seat close to the window, he whispered back to the hacker, "What's done is done. At least you are trying to help me, and for that, I really appreciate it. Thank you."

'At least he is also mature enough to admit his shortcomings and apologize.' He added inwardly.

For a moment, there was silence between those two as the only thing Ursa could hear was the sound of the subway moving so fast and the whispers from the passengers. Fortunately, he had already readjusted himself, so that he was back to his stealth mode once again. Thinking of something, he decided to open up his phone and search for anything about Lawyer Hasan's eldest son.

"You won't get anything about me from the Internet." The hacker suddenly spoke. "I have already removed all the information about me and Aliyya from the public information, and my dad also didn't like to talk about family in front of the media. So, yeah, except for those who know my dad personally, no one would recognize we are his children. For the safety's sake, you know?"

Ursa nodded, able to see where the hacker and his dad came from. He also noted that it was the hacker who did it, meaning that his father trusted him enough with his hacking ability. Having a hacker as an ally would be a huge boost for his next escapade.

However, there was still one thing that bugged his mind.

"So, is there any traitor among your dad's acquaintances?" He decided to ask.

"… How do you know that?!" The hacker seemed to be surprised at his question. If Ursa could see his face, he could imagine the hacker had his eyes widened at his question.

"Well, you said that no one would know about you and your sister except for those who know your father, and coupled with how your little sister's kidnappers said that your father would be 'surprised' when he knows who gave them the tip about your sister, I don't need to be a genius to connect the dots."

"… In hindsight, that is pretty obvious, huh?" The hacker heaved a sigh. "So, what is it about the kidnappers of my little sister? Do you have anything important about them?" The hacker tried to make his tone as casual as possible, but Ursa could recognize a hint of eagerness in there.

"Well… I didn't get anything important about them since I just tied them up in one of the electric poles at Fahira Street – "

"Wait, you mean to tell me that they brought my sister there?!" The hacker cried out suddenly, interrupting his explanation. Ursa himself winced unconsciously at the sharp noises attacking his ears out of nowhere. Not that he could blame the Hacker, since Fahira Street was probably the worst place for a child to get lost in this city. There was no security camera there, no police dared to patrol without getting armed heavily, and most of the people living there had at least a record or two as a criminal/ For the hacker to realize his sister had just visited the worst place in this city, of course, he was concerned.

"Sorry, I get concerned. I just check my sister for a second, but fortunately, there is no single scratch on her body."

Ursa had a sweat drop at the useless information the hacker just dumped on him. "Well, not that I blame you, but back to my explanation, I didn't investigate them for too long because I was concerned about your sister at that time, but I got their phones if you are interested."  

"Shit! I am interested!" Ursa smirked inwardly as he heard the excitement in the Hacker's voice. Even though he still didn't know the hacker's motivation besides repaying the favor after he saved the hacker's sister, Ursa knew the hacker would be hooked by the phone of his sister's kidnappers. "What do you want me to pay for you to give the phone to me?!"

"Well… Let's talk about it later. For now, how about we schedule a little meeting first."