Even so, Karen lowered her head and took another sip of the hot soup, seemingly feeling much better. Angela's cooking always had a special magic to it.
"Although you're a perverted, cowardly, loud-voiced, and despicable guy who barges into other people's apartments at the drop of a hat, I know you still have a gentle side. So just say what you need, and I'll help if I can."
Is this person trying to praise or insult someone?
008: The highest grade of goods
Although Hayden wanted to complain about Karen's temper, he had to prioritize his business and focus on the matter at hand.
"Does your Mitra Group's HR department know the true state of Adam's relationship with his wife?"
Although it was a serious matter, the question was indeed quite strange. So when Karen heard this, she immediately raised her eyebrows: "Why are you asking about this?"
Hayden raised his eyebrows and replied, "It's basically curiosity. You see, Adam and I are pretty close friends, but I had absolutely no idea he was getting married, especially to the daughter of an executive at the world's largest company. It's normal to want to find out afterward, right?"
It was mostly curiosity, with the rest being about making money. By Hayden's standards, that's not exactly a lie.
"How could you suddenly come to me asking this out of curiosity... No, it might actually be possible if it were you?"
Most people probably wouldn't believe that someone would suddenly come up to ask this kind of question purely out of curiosity.
But perhaps because Hayden had always left Karen with such an eccentric impression, she actually started to believe him when she heard him say that.
"...I don't like gossiping about others, but I'll let it go this time."
She frowned, sighed for a moment, but finally spoke.
"You know Adam is now the deputy manager of the business department and the new project manager at Mitra Group's new Seattle branch, right? Not too high, not too low, that's considered middle management. But have you ever wondered why a young man who's only been with the company for six or seven years can sit in this position?"
Hayden shrugged: "Of course I thought about it. That guy is tall, handsome, popular, and sociable. When we first entered university, while we were busy studying, he was already working hard to build connections and relationships. It wouldn't be surprising if he managed to climb to that position after graduation."
Karen shook her head upon hearing this: "You're only half right. Ordinary connections aren't enough. You and Adam are both ordinary humans without genetic modification or family background. How can someone become a project manager at a large company at the age of 29 solely on their own? Half of his position is due to marrying into the family. Alicia Apsara, who married him yesterday, is the third daughter of the deputy marketing director of the Mitra Group in the American Federation."
Ah this.
Upon hearing Karen's words, Hayden finally understood. He had been a little puzzled when he received the work information from the clerk earlier, wondering how Adam Smith had become Adam Smith Apsara, but now he finally got it.
In the end, Adam became a live-in son-in-law.
"Being a live-in son-in-law is not shameful. Rather, it's a skill to be able to marry into the family of a high-ranking official. I don't have that ability yet."
He stroked his chin, still speaking up for his good friend.
"Adam is also very talented. His magical skills may not be as good as the two of us, but the business department needs social skills anyway. If he's not capable, there's no reason for the executives to choose him as their son-in-law."
Karen, however, didn't like hearing this and immediately said disdainfully, "Do you think what I said about the infighting among those mid-level employees was a lie? Even if he can outcompete many people, how capable can he really be? Ability is only one part of the promotion criteria. The office politics in big companies are filthy. If he doesn't marry into a family and rely on nepotism, Adam, even if he works until he's 59, will at most be a team leader in the sales department, and he'll never climb any higher."
Realizing Karen was unhappy, Hayden wisely decided to change the subject: "Whether it's an office political marriage or not, love is a complicated thing. So what's the actual state of their relationship?"
Karen's attitude softened as a result.
“I’ve read the report. They met and dated for three months before deciding to get married, and their relationship was pretty good. I’ve also seen some less positive things, saying that Alicia is quite the player… but they’re mostly just rumors.”
She sighed again as she finished speaking, then suddenly turned her head and looked into Hayden's eyes.
"So... I guess you don't want to see our HR department's reports, right?"
She asked meaningfully.
Hayden stared at her for a moment, then grinned: "Aren't you afraid of being punished by the company again?"
"I'm afraid. So you can only look at it here, you're not allowed to take it away or copy it. And you owe me a favor."
Karen waved her hand and said seriously,
"Also, you need to tell me exactly why you want to see this stuff. Don't tell me it's purely out of curiosity—what kind of freelance work are you doing? A gossip columnist? A private investigator? Is someone paying you to investigate Adam's marital and family situation?"
Wow, this elf is pretty sharp.
So Hayden deliberately put on his most somber expression and answered in a slightly hoarse voice:
"Actually, I'm a mercenary."
Karen's reaction to this was:
"Damn it, stop using that fake voice, it's disgusting."
————————————————————————
"So... why aren't you surprised at all?"
Although he had obtained the Mitra Group's HR information from Karen, Hayden couldn't help but feel very disappointed seeing her unsurprised expression.
He had originally wanted to see Karen react with shock and fright.
"Who do you take me for? It's not like I don't know anything about urban mercenaries."
Karen scoffed.
"Many corporate people work with street hustlers. They buy information from middlemen, hire mercenaries and hitmen for dirty work, bribe journalists and police... The so-called urban mercenaries are just a general term for professional street criminals. I know you're certainly not lacking in professional skills, so why are you so surprised?"
As she spoke calmly, she projected the HR documents Hayden wanted onto her phone—Karen wasn't stupid enough to let Hayden take the company's documents. Whether Hayden had kindly brought her hot soup or not, he could only use her phone to take a quick look.
So Hayden leaned closer to the projector, started scrolling the images, and began reading.
As Karen said, there are indeed many interesting things in the HR department's investigation materials about Adam and his wife.
"It seems the Apsara family planned to bring Adam into the family as a son-in-law a year ago. Three months ago, they arranged for their unmarried third daughter, Alicia, to meet Adam, and the two got married after only three months of dating."
He quickly scanned the documents and summarized what he found interesting.
“It’s not like I haven’t seen these materials before,” Karen said impatiently. “Don’t read them aloud.”
Hayden, having made a fool of himself, had no choice but to shut up and continue reading.
Judging from these records alone, Adam and Alicia seemed to be getting along quite well. Their first week consisted of rather mundane meals and conversations at upscale restaurants, but starting from their second date, they frequently visited more interesting, even relatively down-to-earth, places—such as coastal walkways with nighttime views, rooftop gardens overlooking the city and gazing at the stars, the Space Needle, department stores, flower shops, and even game centers…and so on. Judging from the photos, they both seemed to be enjoying these activities. After only a month of dating, they officially decided to get married.
No wonder Karen said she felt they got along well.
But as Hayden turned to the next page, something began to go wrong with what was shown in the report.
First, the Mitra Group's HR department discovered extensive communication records between Alicia and other young mid-level managers within the company. While they couldn't directly eavesdrop on the communications, the records showed that even within the three months of their interactions, Alicia maintained long-term communication relationships with several young male mid-level managers at the Mitra Group. Furthermore, it wasn't just communication; they could even find reservation records in the databases of some high-end restaurants showing her making multiple private meetings with these men.
Hayden recognized the name of one of the upscale restaurants because its private rooms were very popular with people with ulterior motives—as far as he knew, those rooms were enchanted with every spell that could ward off eavesdropping and spying, making them virtually absolute magical chambers.
Of course, this doesn't prove anything. Maybe Alicia was just talking about work or engaging in office politics with those young men.
Incidentally, in contrast to Alicia's questionable behavior, there was absolutely no record of Adam's misconduct in the personnel department's files, not even a single trace.
"No wonder you said it was mostly baseless speculation."
Hayden put down the report and frowned.
"Isn't there anything substantial? Communication recordings, videos, or even just photos would do!"
These vague and uncertain things are really troublesome. There needs to be something concrete before Hayden can go back to the middleman and collect his money.
"only this."
Karen immediately pulled up a photograph. The photo showed Alicia entering a high-end entertainment club downtown a month earlier; the six-story building bore a beautiful name: [Wenle Club].
"What the hell?" This finally surprised Hayden as well. "Someone who's about to get married goes to a place like this?"
"So what? There's only one photo anyway."
Karen replied curtly.
"Besides, even if they find out, so what? Everyone is just getting married to gain an economic advantage or to improve their social class. As long as the goal is achieved, nobody cares who their spouse is with or what they do. As long as it doesn't cause a huge uproar or make everyone lose face, everything is fine. Marriage? It's already an outdated social relationship."
But Hayden shook his head, disagreeing with Karen's argument: "I really want a partner, I want a family. Don't forget the most basic social function of marriage."
"What function? Does it involve having children?"
Unexpectedly, Karen twitched her pointed ears and scoffed.
“I have pension insurance, and I’ve been taking on part-time alchemy work to earn money. Even if I live to be four hundred, it won’t matter. I don’t need a family or children at all.”
It is common knowledge that elves hardly age or develop dementia, and can live for three or four hundred years even without the potion of rejuvenation. Kallen dared to say these things not without reason.
"These days, offspring are nothing more than commodities. Look at Alicia."
She pointed to the photo on the projected screen.
"Whether it's her beauty or her abilities, her family has molded her to the highest level, making her a so-called high-end commodity. She lives for this purpose, using her beauty and abilities to build relationships and build connections—that's the mission of this commodity."
Karen's voice was very cold.
Why should I continue producing this product?
Hayden could guess why she was in such a bad mood. Karen's father was the head of human resources for Mitra Information Group in the American Federation—a true high-ranking executive at a major company. Although she had left her hometown, Karen was still living in her parents' luxury apartment, suggesting a rather awkward family situation…hmm?
Thinking about this, Hayden suddenly realized something strange: if you really look at the issue from Karen's instrumental view of offspring, then her parents were actually quite tolerant of her, right? After all, Karen was still able to maintain the freedom to live alone, vent her temper, take on part-time jobs to earn extra money, and insist on not getting married!
If Karen was truly being used by her parents as a tool for an office political marriage, shouldn't a team of elite security guards be immediately dispatched to apprehend Hayden, this unemployed man? How can they allow him to remain in Karen's apartment?
"Thank you for the information, Karen."
But let's not be curious about that now. Hayden hasn't finished his important business yet.
So, he thanked Karen in a rare serious tone, saying, "I owe you a favor."
“You’ll have to pay me back next time,” Karen said seriously. “So whatever job you’re looking for, whatever you do, don’t get involved in the private lives of high-ranking executives at big companies, or you’ll be in serious trouble. Do you understand what I mean?”
Of course I understand. The idea that "domestic disputes among company executives equal power struggles" is certainly very Karen Mok's style.
So Hayden nodded and gave her his most confident and charming smile: "Don't worry, a mere high-end entertainment club can't possibly take advantage of me, can it?"
This action indeed provoked Kallen's vicious curse: "Seriously, you should just go and get fucked once, it's disgusting."
So Karen didn't notice that Angela was observing her and Hayden's interaction with great interest, as if she were constantly recording and analyzing something.
Although Hayden had been paying attention to Angela's strange behavior, he didn't think too much about it at the moment.
Never meddle in the family affairs of high-level executives in big companies.
Makes sense.
But for the commission of 10,000 gold coins, and also for his own curiosity, Hayden still has a lot to do.
009: Star Network and Dolls
"The interaction between my master and Miss Starflower has given me a lot of inspiration!"
Stepping out of Karen's upscale apartment and back onto the streets of the city center, Angela clasped her hands together, a happy smile spreading across her face.
"The propagation of bloodlines and the continuation of life—this is truly the greatest mystery of humankind!"
She was speaking to Hayden on the street, expressing opinions that were as incomprehensible as AI.
To be honest, her reaction actually made Hayden quite worried about what she was thinking. It's actually quite frightening to think about an AI whose specific thought processes you don't know.
"Ahem, alright, stop making such a fuss."
So he coughed lightly to calm Angela down.
“Karen did show us a lot of good stuff, but that’s not enough. We need to investigate that so-called ‘Wenle Club’ further. So I plan to hack into the network and see if I can find something in its database that we can use to get by.”
Hayden was well aware of his mediocre hacking skills. If he tried to mess with the firewalls of large companies, the best-case scenario would be being ejected from the network with a nosebleed, and the worst-case scenario would be having his brain fried.
"However, this time I'm not going to mess with the firewalls of big companies; I'm just going to spy on an entertainment club. No matter how high-end it is, it's just a place for entertainment; it's not like it's going to blow my head up, is it?"
He's never afraid to set goals for himself.
"Unless it's actually a secret facility of a large company disguised as a club. But how could that be? What are the chances?"
Right?
"You said this morning that you learned about the internet last night, so do you have a way to use the direct internet connection function now?"
So Hayden asked Angela.
As expected, Angela wore a confused expression, as if asking, "What are you talking about?" As always, she was completely ignorant of modern arcane technology. Last night, when she secretly went online, she must have simply used Hayden's phone or computer without permission. It's like those ordinary internet users who don't understand arcane technology; they only know how to use tools to access the internet, but don't know how to connect to the network directly with their own minds.
The problem is, Hayden certainly included built-in internet connectivity in her design. After all, these days almost everything can connect to the internet. Aside from cell phones and computers, Hayden's refrigerator, lights, washing machine… almost every household item is connected to the network.
Hayden originally intended to mold Angela into the perfect wind-up wife, so he naturally included the wireless connectivity feature in the design from the start. However, she now has no idea how to use it.
This strange AI is indeed very suspicious.
"Okay, I'll take a look and check it for you."
Therefore, Hayden said so.
He quickly found an internet cafe with two-person booths and booked one with Angela. How many people glanced at Angela during this time was completely irrelevant to Hayden.