To Live Again, For the First Time!

"Some more investigation has to be done on whether they used any form of transport that would leave traces, but considering how clean everything else is, there is also the possibility that those were forged for the eyes of the outsiders," Liam speculated.

What he meant by that was that if they bought plane tickets or train tickets, they would have to leave an ID, etc, but they had even left the people they had hired to follow Levi in the dust.

Those were all qualified mercenaries, though of course, further cooperation with them was impossible considering they had both lost track of the target and also failed to inform them at first notice.

  "It is not like he lacks the means," Elijah commented offhandedly.

They had both TWO, who could easily wipe out the tracks and create new ones, as well as enough money and connections to discretely go through other means of transport.

"This is quite interesting…" Elijah said in a low voice after he dressed himself.

His bedroom, bathroom, office, and meeting room in this base were all interconnected and so, after changing in his bedroom, he walked back to his office with Liam following him.

After the contraption was closed, the office looked just like a normal office and no one would be able to find the bedroom, which led to many more misunderstandings from Elijah's subordinates.

Those silly gooses thought that their boss worked so hard that he couldn't even get out of this office of his, many times "sleeping on the couch" or some other silly thoughts like that.

Of course, Elijah also had a "bedroom" outside of this one, but that was for other things, like keeping up appearances. 

Which was FYI, not the official use of the room.

Whenever people pitied their boss who had to "work" through the night, Elijah would often show a smile of pure joy, looking at how cute and naïve these people were.

If he was working through the night, what did he have them for?

As for people in the know, like Liam.

Ha Ha.

Did you just say that our boss is so serious and hardworking, and we should follow his lead?

*Blood splatter*

Yes, I'll follow his lead all right.

Such people couldn't even expose their boss's secret rooms where important files were kept, as well as where their boss would be in the case of an emergency as that would put their boss's safety on the line.

But boy did they want to slap those people who pitied the boss that worked them like dogs.

[A terrible saying as dogs definitely don't work more than most humans, but I guess it works out. It would really be more accurate to say, worked them like 9 to 5 workers with a lot of overtime a no overtime pays.]

"To think that we have had more action in project X20Xn3 in this last month than in the past few years. Don't you think that that's quite interesting?" Elijah had this inexplicable feeling that something was going to happen soon.

That there was going to be developement in this case.

Liam thought about it for a bit.

"Indeed. The only two people we know to have contact with Master M, TWO and Mr. Xander have both shown signs of strange movements in the past month as compared to the past 2 years we have been observing them," Liam thought out loud.

"While TWO, who has often stayed elusive and has supposedly only even been seen making a move when being attacked has made a move to investigate Miss Margarette, Mr. Xander and Mr. Levi, who have never been seen to make any suspicious moves, have completely gone off the radar. And in the same period of time as well," Levi summarized.

"Indeed, it would be hard not to suspect that something is going on, but at this point, other than the plans with Teacher, I'm better off waiting and seeing on Xander's side," Elijah informed Levi that there was no need to make too much trouble.

It was enough to know whether the information was available or not on where exactly Xander was, and if not, then that was just that.

Elijah would rather not waste more time going around in circles where there was a better lead with TWO around.

Liam knew his Boss very well.

As a matter of fact, he had to do most of the interpreting and talking for his boss when they were together, and his Boss was valuing his words.

In his heart though, he would often like to complain that this boss of his was quite the poser.

"Very well, I will ask group 9 to just do the preliminary investigations and report back," Liam left with a serious expression that he had already perfected over the years.

He felt like if he claimed to be able to control his temper second best, then whoever claimed to be first was out looking for trouble. In fact, Liam felt like his efforts in controlling his temper when with this boss was so great that if someone claimed to have more patience than himself, he might just cave in and punch the guy.

[AN: So many things wrong with that last sentence, but I'll let you guys figure it out.]

Elijah, on the other hand, also realized his assistance's sentiments as he had the tendency to resort to such a face when all else failed.

It was quite funny.

Elijah leaned his head back to find the headrest and closed his eyes, hiding his pale green pupils.

It was his habit when he was in deep thinking mode.

His whole mind would relax to work at its optimum for those few moments.

After going through a number of plans and options in his mind in a matter of seconds, Elijah got increasingly tired.

Not because he was using his brain too much as there was no such thing, but rather because he realized that though he could slack off in some aspects to some extent, there were still too many restrictions to such words.

There were still quite a few places where he had to make his appearance in person as well as getting some things done outside of this base.

There were still many things to do, just not right now.

Though he would love to say that his being overworked was a complete lie, his schedule was still packed full when looking at the big picture.

At this moment, Liam came back in.

It was unknown how much time passed, but it wasn't long, that's for sure.

"Boss, there was indeed a trace of plane tickets having been bought, but we are unsure of how accurate this information is. The destination was Opaque city (chapter 91 for more information). The thing is, it also says that the place of departure was right around here, in White City," Liam found this information both shocking and hard to believe.

What were the chances?

White city was one of the 3 cities closest to this base of theirs and if this information was really correct, then it begged the question, why did both Xander and Levi suddenly take a helicopter flight to White city out of nowhere?

It wasn't as if there were any official business from the International Medical Association here.

But unlike Liam's visible disbelief, even when informing his boss of this information, Elijah smiled.

"Now this is getting really interesting. It seems like the hunt will be commencing soon."

Very soon.

He clearly had a piece of information that Liam was lacking to plug in the holes.

"Boss, do you mean…"

Liam's voice trailed off midsentence as he too didn't know what he was going to ask with his question having no real substance.

But Elijah clearly knew what he meant to ask.

"Do you want to hear something even more 'coincidental'?"

Liam's ears perked up.

He knew that his boss didn't believe in coincidences more than he could throw them.

When it came to coincidences, two were already a crowd. 

Any more and you might just get suffocated to death.

Elijah didn't wait for Liam to respond.

"Teacher's daughter, Miss Margo, the very same person who TWO had been investigating a few weeks back, just so happens to be in Opaque City, Phashi. Now if we take into consideration the amount of time Xander was there and if we assume that he still is for no apparent reason…"

Elijah smiled beautifully.

"Doesn't that make an interesting mix?"

Liam immediately got what Elijah meant.

There were one too many coincidences here.

Indeed, the slow hunt showed some signs of progress as Elijah was now seeing signs of the shadow of his prey, which he waited one too many days to find.

Now there seemed to be something worth investigating once again.

As Elijah thought some more, there were only so many more things left for him to do.

"Liam, get group 9 and 10 to work together. Don't get caught. Be discreet but get them to put this as their first priority and get it done fast. Investigate who Xander went with, check who was on the same plane, and the planes before and after, departing around that time too and from this area to that area."

"It would be best if we could get testimonies of the ones on the flight as well as those of the flight attendants, do it cleanly," he emphasized.

Elijah propped his chin on his hand.

"Yes Boss, do you need another team to go and search for their tracks at Opaque City?"

"There is no need," Elijah responded with no hesitation as he waved Liam off.

His pale green eyes shone as the aura around this man became sharper and sharper.

Then, in a silent room, he spoke once more.

"There are only so many places one can hide, and I'll search them all if need be."