As a transmigrator, there were some things best kept to as few people as possible.
But Sean held a lot more information now. For one thing, his original body's memories had almost completely awakened, so he no longer had to worry about giving himself away in front of familiar faces.
For another, Moza really was someone he could trust.
In the game, the protagonist could choose from several progression routes. One of them was the control build.
By turning the mob enemies and Elite monsters serving under a boss, you could strip that boss down to a general without an army—as long as you had enough patience.
However, a very small number of characters in the game were exceptions.
Sheryl, for instance. And Moza, right in front of him.
Sean still remembered that both of their stat sheets carried a trait that could never be removed: Absolute Loyalty.
In fact, these two recognized only Sean as their boss. Even Jin Kui couldn't order them around.
This had everything to do with what the three of them had lived through as children. Of course, the original Sean had been a clever guy to begin with; he'd just come off as weak in the storyline and died a rather pathetic death.
Hearing their exchange, Luo Xi snapped her head toward him. "So you're still planning to bring Sheryl's mother over and take care of her?"
Sean didn't bat an eye, his face the picture of shamelessness. "Sheryl and I are like brothers. It's only right that I look after his mom."
Moza pushed up his glasses. "Boss, Sheryl's mom died a long time ago. You and I were the ones who helped him bury her."
Sean: "..."
Cursing under his breath, he walked over and kicked Moza. "You just have to flap your fucking mouth, don't you? Interrupting your boss—do you have any manners at all?"
Although they had been conversing normally, seeing Sean's reaction finally put the silently observing Moza at ease.
He had heard that the Academy possessed the ability to alter personalities, supposedly by implanting a new Mind Chip directly into the back of the skull, letting an artificial consciousness replace the original.
With Sean missing for so long, he'd had to account for that possibility. From the looks of it now, his boss was still the same clueless, ill-mannered old pervert as ever.
That was a relief...
Sean curled a finger. "You checked the scene?"
The moment the scene was mentioned, Moza's entire demeanor turned ice-cold.
He offered up the steel pipe with both hands. "The bullet trajectories were wrong... There's a mole in the guard detail. Boss, this was my failure. I request punishment."
Sean studied him for a moment. Just when Luo Xi thought he was going to let the matter drop with a wave of his hand, he spoke up: "I need you working on something right now. We'll put it on your tab for now; you can take your punishment after it's done."
Moza simply lowered his head. "Yes, Boss."
In his lowered eyes, a cold light flickered.
He had handpicked the guard detail himself, yet someone among them had tried to make a move on Sean. It was a massive failure on his part.
He also understood that when his boss said to put it on his tab, he wasn't just finding a casual excuse to let him off; he would face severe punishment afterward.
To Moza, that was exactly what he wanted. He refused to allow Sean to be put in danger because of his own negligence, and he insisted on being punished for it.
Setting that aside for the moment, Sean asked, "What's the situation in the gang?"
Moza raised his head and pushed up his glasses. "Business as usual. Boss Jin Kui hasn't reached his time to leave the capsule yet. I mobilized a quarter of our manpower to search for you in the city. The ones who weren't very cooperative were Red Ridge and Tide Wraith."
Though the Gold Ghosts were a gang, the behemoth had long since organized itself into various departments.
Red Ridge, Tide Wraith, Yinshan, Barren Mother, and Kneecap Shovel—these five departments oversaw the Gold Ghosts' various operations.
Sean's Trident sat independently above those five departments, serving a leadership role.
The heads of Red Ridge and Tide Wraith had never really seen eye to eye with Sean. In short, whenever Jin Kui was incapacitated and unable to manage internal gang affairs, both of those departments felt they had the seniority to take charge, rather than letting some greenhorn like Sean sit above them.
The greenhorn rubbed his chin. "Right now, it's hard to tell whether someone struck a deal with the Academy, or if they just wanted to eliminate me while it was convenient. Tsk, whenever the boss is awake, not a single one of them dares to even fart."
Moza pushed up his glasses. "Regardless of the reason, it makes no difference. It isn't just the Academy—the traitors inside the gang need to pay with their lives all the same."
"Well, there's no rush on that." Sean casually smoothed a few strands of hair hanging over his forehead. "Right now, we need to collect a little interest from the Academy first."
He let out a dark, sinister chuckle. "Daring to target me—looks like it's been too long since I went and raised hell at the Academy."
Moza reminded him, "Boss, right before the incident, you went to the Academy and beat someone up yourself. You used my steel pipe."
Sean waved it off without a care. "You call that raising hell? Tsk, if they want to capture me, the price might be a whole lot higher than they imagine..."
Luo Xi, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke up. "What are you going to do next?"
"What am I going to do?" Sean licked his lips excitedly. "Why, let you take me to claim the bounty, of course."
Luo Xi shook her head in confusion. "If we're inside the Academy, there's no way I can escape with you."
Sean sneered. "I'm not an idiot. Of course we can't make the trade inside the Academy. Besides, luck is on our side, isn't it?"
"Luck?" A question mark practically popped up over Luo Xi's head.
"Moza, call in the boys—and you, Your Highness, can go ahead and send them the message."
In the suburbs, the Academy's unit was still standing by on the spot.
Lu Xin, whose chest cavity had been half-shattered, should have gone back to receive better medical treatment, but he had gritted his teeth, accepted basic emergency aid, and stubbornly insisted on staying.
Qiong Ying knew that this vindictive bastard wanted to see the captured Sean with his own eyes, and then thoroughly torture him.
I really shouldn't have taken a mission with an idiot... For some reason, Qiong Ying felt a bad sense of foreboding.
While she was pondering where that unease was coming from, a sixth-year student brought over a report.
"Senior, there's a new note at the drop point you told us to watch."
Qiong Ying took the note and furrowed her brow a moment later.
That girl from the Iris Hive Tribe wanted to see an Academy Airship before she would hand him over.
What's more, the trade had to take place on board the Airship.
After thinking it over, Qiong Ying gave her orders. "Send the signal. Have the Airship that's been stationed outside the city head to the designated coordinates. Keep half our people here to continue the 'mission.'"
"Understood, Senior."
Lu Xin, his chest wrapped in bandages, walked over at the sight of this, his face burning with impatience. "Has Sean been brought over already?"
Qiong Ying relayed what was written on the note, frowning. "Still, something feels off about this. Lu Xin, stay here and keep an eye on the signals. If anything goes wrong on the Airship, return to the city and report immediately."
Lu Xin's face twisted with ferocity. "Are you kidding me? I'm seeing Sean with my own eyes. No one has tied this business to our Academy anyway, and our presence out here looks like a standard operation. As long as no one from the Gold Ghosts actually sees Sean, who's going to have proof?"
Qiong Ying scratched her hair in frustration. That was true enough, but she still felt something wasn't right.
Besides, there was no way this idiot cared about the mission; he just wanted to vent his own rage.
Noticing Qiong Ying's expression, Lu Xin said darkly, "Senior Qiong Ying, there's no need to be so paranoid. Even if we do get spotted, so what? Would the Gold Ghosts really dare go to war with us over it? Besides, the squad standing by on the Airship is an Elite Academy team, and the ship is loaded with our most advanced weaponry."
He sneered coldly. "The Gold Ghosts are already divided from within. Other than Moza, who's going to wage a war over a piece of trash?"
Qiong Ying wanted nothing more than to slap him across the face—right now, their Academy was going to massive lengths precisely for that piece of trash!
That guy definitely had some kind of secret hidden on him; otherwise, why would they have gone to such trouble to hire an unknown powerhouse who had just arrived in Paradise City to make the move?
If anything goes wrong this time, I'm definitely reporting this idiot to the instructor!