Chapter 497

There were chains and a convenient looking hook that they used to hoist the man up on. He was still tied-up in ways that made Arthur think of certain Japanese movies, rather than spy movies; but he had to admit, it worked. It also had the added benefit of making the man look around with a slight air of desperation and fear, as though he too had watched some of those banned movies in Malaysia and drawn some rather unsettling conclusions.

Especially when Yao Jing kept checking over the ties, running his fingers along the man’s constrained limbs, making sure that there was enough space even when he was suspended to allow bloodflow. It was rather caring, but also just a little demented.

“Hold still,” Arthur said, as he yanked down the man’s gag and held the phone up to their face. Yao Jing made sure the assassin did not spin, but it did little as the man screwed up his face immediately, blocking any attempt at the face recognition from working. “Really? You keep that face, it’ll freeze like that when you grow up.”

When everyone looked at him rather incredulously, Arthur shrugged. “It was worth a shot, lah.”

“It really wasn’t,” Eric said.

“I could stab him till he stops doing that,” Jan said.

“We’re not torturing him,” Arthur snapped. “Yet.” He nodded to the man. “Look, we’re not the bad guys here. We just need to know who told you to kill me.”

“Oh, and you going to let me go after that?” For a rather grizzled thirty year old, ex-soldier, the man had a rather high pitched voice.

“Maybe.” Before the man could continue sneering, Arthur added. “I’ll definitely break all four of your limbs though, so that you can’t be joining in the fight.” He blinked, after consideration and turned the phone, realizing that after the man had spoken, he had stopped scrunching his face up such that the facial ID had worked. “See, was it that hard?”

“You won’t find anything in there!” the man said, louder.

“Sure, sure…” Arthur nodded, agreeably. He took a seat across from the other, starting to scroll through the various message sections, private chatting services and otherwise, browsing for details. It was all, mostly, for show. Eric’s cloned version actually had more information available, supposedly; with the man even now browsing through that looking for deleted messages and chats in the phone’s memory. Nothing deleted ever stayed truly deleted, or so he said. Not if you knew what to look for, and how to do it. Rather disturbing, really, and a reason for Arthur to get a new phone.

The silence stretched as Arthur made little noises as he looked over it. At one point, he turned the phone sideways, looked the man up and down, focused on his crotch and then held the phone forward. The assassin eyes widened, then a deep blush appeared on his face.

“Well, I got to give it to you.” Arthur nodded. “It’s quite a good angle.”

“It’s not an angle!”

“Sure, sure.” Letting the man continue to fume, he finished flipping through the phone’s pictures and turned to other apps. The man was right, there wasn’t a lot of direct information to be had. There were a lot of code words – or what he assumed were code words – being tossed around by a number of individuals in the messaging apps, talking about picking up regular deliveries, about kuey teow and kuih that had to be taken, or collecting money for food. Too often and too regular to be amongst a group of friends.

Gang activity, obviously, though whether it was for drugs or stolen goods or counterfeit products, Arthur was uncertain. It mattered little, in that sense, since it all painted a few, clear pictures. First off…

“So you’re not really a real assassin. Just good with the rifle, eh?” Arthur mused. “Still go shooting regularly with your army buddies. Were you with the gangs before or joined after your service?” No answer, so Arthur continued. “Either way, good on you for making something of yourself.”

“Boss, you sure good idea leave him alive?” Jan frowned, having been looking over his shoulder. “He might come after you again…”

“We could cut his fingers off,” Eric said, from where he was seated outside of the man’s field of vision. The voice made the other twitch, but he stilled after a moment. “They used to do that to the English archers. No finger, can’t pull a trigger.”

“Boleh use false hand, lah.” Yao Jing shook his head. “Better just blind him.”

“Ooooh, yeah…”

All that casual talk of violence seemed to firm something in the other, causing his head to lift and a glimmer of anger appear. Arthur sighed, waving the group to silence.

“No, I told you. We’re the good guys.” He rubbed his chin. “Other option is see if we can put him in a Tower.”

“A Tower?” They looked surprise and Arthur shrugged.

“Beginner Tower, of course. But he won’t be able to do anything for a bit. Better than breaking his limbs.”

“He tried to kill you!” Jan said, heatedly.

“Yeah, but doesn’t mean he wanted to. He’s just a minion.” At the confusion Yao Jing shot him, he clarified. “Thug. Order taker.”

“Soldier,” Eric added.

“Exactly.” Arthur sighed, tapping the phone. “One who has a six year streak on a language learning app. Vietnamese. I guess that’s your backup plan?” He touched the phone, smiled a little. “Ooops. Account deleted.”

That got the soldier to glare at him, even as Arthur flipped through. “Oh, and a lot of points for a food delivery app. Well, he did. Thanks for gifting it to us.” Another swipe of his fingers, as he continued. “He also saved his bank account information in here.” A pause. “And his… sister’s?”

“Don’t you dare! I’ll kill you. I’ll-”

“Tell me what I want to know.” He tapped the phone against his knee, letting the other side show that he really was in the banking app. “You have a family that needs you, obviously. While I won’t touch them, I don’t see a reason why I’m not taking the money they sent you to kill me away. And everything else.” He added, after a moment. “On the other hand, you’re skilled. You have to disappear, after failing. And I have slots to fill in the Tower.”

“What!?” Almost everyone shouted, in one way or the other.

“What I said. He can become a Durian, run the Tower. He can keep the money, make sure his sister gets her share monthly while he runs. He even gets death benefits, if he doesn’t die. And if he comes out…” A shrug. “Well, you can do a lot more as a Climber.”

“Why? Why help me?”

“Not helping. Bribing.” Arthur raised a finger. “I want information. You have it. And as many have pointed out, you get a lot more bees with honey than vinegar.”

“Also, flies with shit.”

“That too. So, are you a bee or a fly?” Arthur grinned wide. “Well? Tell me, Numair.”