All members of Cycle were gathered in the meeting room.
At this moment, all of them were looking at someone sitting on the ground with a lowered head.
It was the silent black-haired man.
His name was Neron, and he had been one of Cycle's Newbies.
Yes, had been.
Kiara and Selina took deep breaths as they looked at Neron's corpse.
It was almost like Neron was still alive.
Neron had always been a silent man, but whenever he spoke up, his words proved to be invaluable.
He had been very intelligent and thorough whenever he dealt with something.
His weapon of choice had been a pair of daggers, and he had always been the one who took care of subtle but important missions.
If Cycle needed a spy, they would have chosen Neron for the mission.
But now, he was dead.
Ardum sat on the head of the table, and right now, he could only sigh.
"I'm sorry that you guys needed to see this, but there was no other way," he said with a serious voice.
Everyone turned to look at Ardum.
"It is not easy for me to kill someone, but as the CEO, it is part of my job and responsibility."
"I brought Neron's corpse in here to show you how cruel the life of Zephyx Extractors can be."
Ardum sighed. "I knew that Neron was a spy for three months now, but I didn't mind. After all, he belonged to my brother. What was so bad about my brother knowing some things about me? It's not like we are enemies."
Ardum sighed again.
"I would have never thought that things would turn out this way."
It was difficult for the employees to accept that another one of their colleagues had died.
Sadly, that was how these things went.
Just a week ago, Cycle had had eight people.
Now, there were only six left.
Ardum, the CEO.
Stephen, the panda-man, the Chief Zephyx Extractor.
Futuma, the huge man. He was also the most experienced and strongest of the Newbies. If nothing went wrong, he would soon become a John.
Selina, the bald woman with the staff.
Kiara, the young woman with the two pistols.
And Jonathan, the young red-headed man.
These six were all the members of Cycle that were still alive.
Sarah and Neron had died.
And it was all because of Dark Dream!
"We understand," Selina said with an emotionless tone as she threw a disregarding glance at Neron's corpse.
"Neron was never our friend."
"From the very beginning, he has been our enemy."
"We just didn't know it."
The others didn't answer, but they had similar sentiments.
Kiara nodded. "Yes, screw Neron, that traitor! I will always be on your side, Ardum!"
"Yeah, fuck Neron!" Jonathan shouted with righteous anger.
Futuma silently nodded.
Stephen turned to Ardum with a reassuring smile but didn't say anything.
Ardum could only smile when he saw everyone's support.
"Thank you. You can't imagine how much this means to me."
But then, Ardum sighed again. "But now, I have to plan a war, which I am not looking forward to."
The Newbies took the hint and nodded. "We will always follow you," Selina said before leaving with Kiara.
Jonathan showed Ardum a thumbs-up and left.
Futuma nodded with conviction to Stephen and Ardum before leaving.
When the door was closed, only Ardum and Stephen were left in the room.
After a bit, Ardum walked over to his seat, sat down, and put his legs on the table.
At the same time, an arrogant smirk appeared on his face.
Stephen also grinned maliciously as he sat down in his seat.
"Nearly there," Ardum said with a chuckle.
Stephen laughed. "You're amazing at this," he said. "If I didn't know you, I would also believe you."
Ardum snorted. "Of course. I'm a Melfion. It's only natural that I am good at fooling others."
While Ardum talked, Stephen glanced at the corpse in the corner and snorted. "What an idiot."
"What did you expect?" Ardum said with a chuckle. "He had to trust someone, and he just so happened to choose you."
"Do you know what he said to me?" Stephen asked.
Ardum just shook his head.
"He said that he thinks you are only playing with us so that we would voluntarily jump into a sea of knives for you."
Ardum laughed. "I mean, was he wrong?"
"No," Stephen answered with a chuckle.
"Forget him," Ardum said without even looking at the corpse. "He was too smart for his own good but not smart enough to keep his mouth shut."
"If he hadn't tried to expose me behind my back, he would still be alive."
Stephen nodded. "But seriously, Ardum, I'm quite impressed. You managed to get rid of the troublesome employee while also fortifying your standing in the company."
"Framing him as a spy was genius," Stephen said.
"Stop sucking up to me," Ardum said with disgust but couldn't completely hide a pleased tone.
At that point, Ardum furrowed his brows.
Wyntor's last words shot through Ardum's mind.
Wyntor never had a spy in Cycle, from what Ardum knew.
When Ardum told him that he would kill his spy, he was actually just trying to frame Neron.
Yet, despite all odds, Wyntor confirmed that he truly had a spy in Cycle.
And it almost definitely wasn't Neron.
After all, Neron had tried to expose Ardum by talking to the employees, which would be stupid for a spy.
A spy was supposed to remain hidden and seem loyal.
'Does Wyntor truly have a spy in my company?' Ardum thought.
Ardum glanced at Stephen.
'Impossible.'
"Stephen, I think it's about time for your next reward. You've been quite helpful," Ardum said.
At that point, Stephen's demeanor changed, and he looked with excitement at Ardum as his breathing quickened.
"You got one?" he asked while almost panting.
Ardum nodded and slid an emblem over the table.
"I found someone that was willing to sell one for only 35,000 credits."
"You can go get her."
Stephen panted heavily as he carefully took hold of the token.
In his mind, a small and cute girl smiled at him.
A moment later, that girl was no longer smiling.
Tears stained her face as she screamed in terror.
Stephen couldn't keep his thoughts in check and grabbed the front of his pants to calm the restless thing down.
"Don't use her up too quickly this time," Ardum said with annoyance. "I don't want to hear your complaints again because you are not able to keep your toys from breaking."
"Of course, sir!" Stephen said, changing the way he was addressing Ardum. "I won't disappoint you!"
Ardum nodded. "You can go. I will call you when I've finalized the plan of attack."
"Of course, of course!" Stephen said with an excited chuckle as he ran out of the room with excitement.
Finally, he got a new toy to play with!