Luya, the gang leader, stared at Lia with a mesmerized expression. His eyes widened, his cheeks flushed, and his mouth slightly open. The people outside—Nica, Budi (Yanto's friend), and Yanto—had put on headsets to listen to their conversation.

"Are you sure she can get a lot of information, Mr. Yanto?" Budi asked.

Yanto crossed his arms across his chest.

"Yes, I'm sure. The reason I chose to cooperate with them is because they're not ordinary people" Yanto replied, staring into the mirror with a serious expression.

Budi, who was staring at Yanto, could only resign himself and looked back out the mirror with a worried expression.

The atmosphere in the interrogation room was tense—not because of fear, but because it was the first time Luya had seen a girl as beautiful as Lia. Lia, seeing this expression, couldn't help but smile.

Lia began to smile sweetly and waved her right hand slowly as she said,

"Hello~" Lia greeted in her soft, adult voice.

Luya, with a fascinated expression, raised her right hand and waved it slowly, saying

"H-hello..." Luya replied with a fascinated expression and a nervous tone.

Lia stopped smiling.

"Are you really Luya Tresno?" Lia asked.

"Y-yes" Luya replied, still tense.

"Hahaha, you look so tense~, relax, I'm not going to hurt you" Lia said with a chuckle.

"O-okay" Luya said.

Luya shook her head five times, then lowered her gaze and caught her breath.

"Phew~" Luya breathed a sigh of relief.

Luya straightened up.

"O-okay, please continue" Luya said.

Seeing that Luya had calmed down a bit, Lia continued her questioning (Lia hadn't brought a report sheet when she entered the room, as she only wanted to ask about things she didn't understand, and she could remember everything.), Lia placed both hands on the table.

"Alright, Luya. I want to ask you again about why you targeted two high school students. Are you willing to answer?" Lia asked.

"Didn't I tell your partner everything?" Luya asked back.

"It's true you told us before, but there are a few things we're wondering about" Lia replied.

"I see, then ask me. I'll be honest, because we were forced to do it too " Luya said.

"So it turns out they were forced to do it, huh?" Lia thought to herself, her expression serious.

"If you were forced to, why did you do such dirty work?" Lia asked.

Luya began to rest her hands on the table, her expression sad.

"To be honest, all my members come from the same area. Our local economy is under threat because we can't find decent work. Some of us work, but the pay is always not commensurate with the work we do, which is why we pool our money to join the Mercenaries website," Luya replied.

"Initially, we intended to be bodyguards for wealthy people—like protecting their homes, tending their gardens, protecting their children, and other bodyguard duties," Luya continued.

"I know only a few of my members will be accepted, but when our friend heard news on social media that Mercenaries would earn a minimum of $450 per month, we were tempted to start collecting money to join the website," Luya continued.

"I see. So, even if only a few people are accepted, at least the salary will cover their daily needs" Lia thought to herself.

"I see, so you got that information from social media on the surface web?" Lia asked.

"Yes, that's right" Luya replied.

"So, do you remember the name of the account that spread the news?" Lia asked.

"Umm, the one who remembers it is probably one of my members named Arex. We also chat with our client using his account" Luya replied.

After hearing that, Lia looked in the mirror. Yanto, who saw it and understood, immediately asked Budi to bring someone named Arex.

After waiting for five minutes, a man named Arex finally arrived. He looked young, about 22 years old. He had honey skin tone, black eyes, short curly black hair, weighed about 65 kg, was slightly muscular, and was about 174 cm tall.

Arex lowered his head, his expression tense with fear.

"So, is he the one?" Lia asked.

"Yes" Luya replied.

Nica entered the interrogation room carrying an extra chair and placed it to Luya's right.

"Please sit down" Nica said to Arex.

Arex nodded, then walked to the chair and sat down. After that, Nica left the interrogation room, and Lia continued her interrogation.

"Alright, I'll continue, okay?" Lia said.

The two informants nodded.

"Hello, Arex!" Lia greeted.

Arex glanced at Lia and said

"He-hel—"

Arex immediately froze at Lia's appearance. Lia, who saw this, was confused. Luya elbowed Arex hard. Arex immediately came to his senses.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Luya whispered, glancing at Arex.

"N-nothing, boss. I-it's just my first time seeing a woman as beautiful as her," Arex replied.

Lia, who could hear the whisper, immediately smiled.

"You, it's like it's your first time seeing a beautiful woman!" Luya whispered in an annoyed tone.

"Enough~, enough~, let's continue this interrogation~" Lia said with a soft smile.

"O-okay!" they both replied nervously.

Yanto and his friend could only stare blankly at the two gangsters' behavior.

"Arex, do you still remember the name of the account that spread the news about the Mercenaries website?" Lia asked.

"Y-yes" Arex replied.

"Good, next, do you still remember the name of the account that was your client?" Lia asked.

"Y-yes" Arex replied.

"Great!, Now, Can you show me?" Lia asked.

Arex nodded, then took his phone from his right pants pocket. Arex turned it on, connected to the VPN, opened the browser app, and logged into the Mercenaries website.

He opened the chat, then handed it to Lia. Lia accepted it.

"Thank you~," Lia said with a soft smile.

Lia looked at her phone and saw the chat. Since Arex's phone is an Android, she quickly took a screenshot of the chat—in case the client blocked her mid-sentence. Then she saw the client's account name.

Lia glanced at Arex.

"Okay, next, tell me where you got the news about Mercenaries from?" Lia asked.

"X" Arex replied.

Lia exited the Mercenaries website and opened the X app. Lia looked at Arex.

"The account name?" Lia asked.

"Buto IjoX1" Arex replied.

Lia looked back at phone screen and started typing the name. A list of people using that name appeared, and Lia glanced at Arex.

"The one with the profile picture of the gray donut that's been bitten?" Lia asked.

"Yes" Arex replied.

Lia looked back at phone screen and tapped on the account with that profile picture. She scrolled through the profile.

"So the client really is using a fake account, huh?" Lia wondered, her expression casual—as if she already knew this would happen.

Lia opened Mercenaries again and scrolled through their chats, thinking to herself.

"But," Lia said to herself, smiling faintly.

"Even if he's using a fake account, we'll still be able to catch them—using the program Tia completed last year" Lia continued, smiling faintly.

Seeing Lia's smile, Luya and Arex felt anxious.

"E-excuse me" Luya said.

Lia stopped looking at phone screen and looked at Luya.

"Yes?" Lia asked.

"I wanted to ask, is our client dangerous?" Luya asked.

"Yes, that's right" Lia answered honestly.

Their expressions were immediately shocked and fear.

"D-dangerous? Is it because our client is a terrorist group targeting teenagers?" Luya asked, panicked.

"No, your client is probably part of a drug syndicate" Lia replied.

Luya and Arex immediately flinched. The chairs they were sitting on creaked softly as their bodies jerked—almost as if they were trying to escape the reality they had just heard. Even their breathing grew heavier, their expressions tightening at once.

"A-a drug syndicate...?," Luya asked, his voice hoarse and her expression dumbfounded.

"So... we've been working for people like that all this time?" Luya continued.

Lia leaned back slowly, her hands still neatly on the table—her right hand still holding phone, her expression calm but her gaze sharp.

"Yes," Lia replied.

"Your client used a fake account, a fake IP address, and even employed a very careful communication pattern," Lia continued.

"That kind of pattern... is typical of an organized group. And the most fitting one—a drug syndicate" Lia continued.

Luya swallowed. Her voice cracked as she asked,

"B-but... They said they were looking for a bodyguard to guard their house, so we accepted!" Luya said, her expression visibly panicked.

"Then, why did you target two teenagers?" Lia asked.

"The client said the two teenagers owed money to a big boss!" Luya replied, still panicked.

"Hmm... I see..." Lia said.

Lia leaned forward on the table, and Luya and Arex immediately became shocked and blushed when they saw Lia's cleavage.

"Have you ever seen your boss's face? Or have you ever been to his location?" Lia asked.

Luya and Arex looked at each other. Then they looked at Lia.

"Never" Luya replied.

"Have you ever met your client either?" Lia asked.

"Yes, we have" Luya replied.

"Where did you meet?" Lia asked.

"Umm, we met in the park near Hore High School" Luya replied.

"Hore High School? Where is that?" Lia asked.

"Pantai Bahagia, Bekasi Regency, near the Citarum River" Luya replied with a serious expression and no hesitation.

~To be continued~

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