Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 184 A Solid Lead

When Olivia walked into the room with the nine kids assembled in it, she found them all happily chatting away with each other without a care in the world.

However, the first boy she had interviewed froze up when he saw her, and there was clear fear in his eyes.

"All of you sit down and shut up." Olivia said authoritatively.

The kid she had already terrified was the quickest to follow her orders, and the others did as she said when they saw the look in her eyes.

"What is it? Didn't we already answer your stupid questions already? We're all happy to get out of class, but much longer and we're going to miss-"

"Did I not tell you to be quiet?! I'm the one who is going to be talking and none of you are to say anything unless asked." Olivia said, interrupting the girl that had started complaining.

The pressure that she was exuding was enough to get the kids to close their mouths and not utter another word. None of them were so dense as to not notice just how menacing Olivia was.

Having earned their undivided attention and put a little bit of fear into all of them, she turned her gaze towards the kid she had talked to first. Olivia felt that he would be the easiest to break, considering what had already happened between them.

"Now, why don't you tell me why you lied to me?"

Olivia's voice was calm as she asked this question, but the look in her eyes conveyed an intensity the shook the young boy.

He started to shake in his chair and glanced around at his friends around him. All of them giving him looks telling him to play dumb.

It seemed that being among his friends made him braver, as he simply told Olivia that he had no idea what she was talking about. He insisted that he had told her exactly what had happened already.

"I mean, does it even make sense for us to be lying at this point. We've already been locked up in this place. It was all just a stupid prank." One of the other kids asserted.

The others started chiming in as well after this. The control Olivia had over them fading swiftly.

Still, while they may have thought they were being smart, the looks they had given each other and the overly aggressive way that they tried asserting that they had told the truth was enough for Olivia to know they were hiding something.

Before she had not been absolutely certain, but now she was.

"BANG!"

As the kids continued yapping, Olivia slammed her fist into the metal table between her and the kids.

Normally this would have just created a loud noise, but thanks to her physically augmented strength, Olivia's hand sunk into the table and left a large dent.

This got the kids' attention and returned the silence. Not one of them uttered another word after seeing Olivia's monstrous feat of strength.

"It seems that none of you understand just how much trouble you're really in. You're under the mistaken impression that I'm with the local authorities. But I'm not. I was sent here directly by the Chancellor. I'm sure that all of you know at the very least who that is. Keeping lying to me, and I'll see to it that your stay here seems like a wonderous vacation compared to what's next. Kids you may be, but you're all old enough to still understand right from wrong. Don't think you are going to get away with working with terrorists."

Before the kids had a chance to fully comprehend what Olivia had said, she placed her terminal on the table and displayed the badge of the chancellor's special investigator on it.

None of the brats actually knew what this badge was, but they did recognize the emblem of the chancellor, and it was already abundantly clear that Olivia was not a part of the usual local police that dealt with nothing but misdemeanors.

Of course, she did not actually have the power to send the kids away to somewhere else, but they did not know that, and Olivia was far better at lying than any of them were.

Seeing as how they were thoroughly shaken now, Olivia figured it was time to end this. She had used the metaphorical stick enough, so it was time to offer the kids a carrot instead.

"Now that you know the importance of what you did. Perhaps all of you would be willing to cooperate. If you do, I will see that you are released from this place by tomorrow and your entire juvenile record is sealed. Frankly, I don't care about a bunch of brats. I want the one that instigated you to commit that little prank with the insects."

For several seconds the group of young teenagers remined silent and shared glances with each other. Trying to figure out what they should do.

Eventually, the first boy that Olivia had talked with opened his mouth and revealed what had really happened.

While their group had been messing around and spray painting the wall of a store that had closed down for the day, a man had approached them.

Naturally, they had all been wary at first, but he gave each of them four thousand Krenin in prepaid cards that they could use.

All of the kids came from decently well of families, but four thousand Krenin was still a lot to them. Also, since they were prepaid cards, their parents would not be able to track what they bought with them as they could when the kids used their personal accounts.

"He also offered to buy us some alcohol. We can't get that stuff ourselves, so we listened to what he wanted us to do."

Apparently, the man had told them that he was recently lost his job and wanted to get back at the company he had worked at.

It was just a mostly harmless prank that would not hurt anyone. All they had to do was release some insects into a few cargo vehicles and their work would be done.

Being the mischievous and bored lot that they were, the group of kids had agreed since they were getting paid for it and thought that it might be a more thrilling prank than what they usually did.

"Describe the man for me." Olivia said, holding out her terminal.

Each of the kids chimed in with the man's features, and the program Olivia had opened up on her terminal started recreating the figure.

Soon she had a full sketch of the person.

She was unsurprised by what she saw and sent the image to both Havanna and Rorson along with a message that said, 'Look familiar.'

A few moments later, she received replies of assurance from the two of them. Throughout their investigation, this same man had popped up a couple of times. Unfortunately, they had been unable to figure out who he was or pin down his location.

Nevertheless, with his involvement in this incident confirmed, it was likely that the produce being contaminated was part of the overarching plan that the Odium Syndicate was working on. Though, the reasons behind everything were still a mystery.

After the man had given the group a few cases of alcohol, he brought along containers filled with insect eggs that were ready to hatch. All the kids needed to do was place them in the vehicles and their jobs would be done. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

The man had also instructed them what to say if they were caught. The kids were already known as local troublemakers, so even if they had told the authorities that someone had put them up to it, they probably would not have been believed anyway.

Once they had finished telling Olivia what had actually happened, she messaged both Havanna and Rorson again and told them to see if the containers that had once held the insect eggs were still being held as evidence by the local police. It was a long shot since the man that had instigated this incident was willing to give them away, but it was possible there might be some way to trace the containers.

"Okay, I've just got a few more questions for all of you. The alcohol the man gave you. Did he have it with him when he first approached your group?"

Nearly at the same time, all of the kids shook their heads. The guy had first given them the prepaid cards with four thousand Krenin on them and then picked up the alcohol later.

"You would not happen to have any left, or know where he got it from?"

In relation to her first question, the answer was no. The kids had all partied after completing their prank and consumed everything they had been given. By this point the materials would have all been recycled.

Yet, the second part of her question received a more positive respond.

"Yeah, we were a bit skeptical, so we had Billson follow the guy to make sure he wasn't a nark or something." The first kid Olivia had interviewed said, pointing towards the quiet boy at one end that had not said anything so far.

The kid had very little presence, and Olivia could see how he would be able to follow someone without being noticed if he tried.

When asked, the boy revealed the store that the man had gone to. He had purchased the alcohol and then immediately returned to give it to the kids.

Hearing this, Olivia's lips twisted up into a smile.

'We've got you now. I'm going to make you pay for all of the tedious work you've put me through.'