Chapter 397 - La Grenouille Verte (1/2)

The “suicide” of the Ford driver impacted the 01 guerillas significantly. To help Edward, they had voluntarily stepped forward, attacking Black Nest’s CTOS Project to uphold justice and protect internet freedom. They were certainly not inspired by superheroes and were simply an ordinary group of people at best. Reality was way crueler than they had thought, especially after seeing four gunned men exiting the Citroen. They finally realized how dangerous this whole thing was, and whether they wanted it or not, they were now involved in it.

All five attempted to put themselves in the shoes of the driver of the red Ford, deducing that he must have had no other option but to kill himself. It appeared he would rather do that than to beg Black Nest to spare his life.

Everyone in the Renault fell silent.

“Whoever here that’s starting to regret; it’s not too late to quit now.”

Zhang Heng was the one who spoke up, leaving Little Boy clueless as to how someone could still remain so calm at a time like this.

He drove past the accident site at a steady speed, as if nothing had happened.

The members of the 01 guerrillas were undoubtedly excellent in their respective fields. As long as they were a.s.signed to the right task appropriately, they could provide unparalleled technical support. However, Zhang Heng could not force them to partic.i.p.ate in something so dangerous. It was better to give them an option to leave now rather than allowing an unsuspecting member to suffer extended psychological damage later on. “Are you kidding me? Do you think such things scare us?” Little Boy was the first to speak up.

Zhang Heng was mindful of not embarra.s.sing her in front of the team. When the Ford driver jumped off the bridge, her body had started shaking. It was probably her first time witnessing somebody ‘dying’ at such close proximity, and besides, there was a possibility that they too would end up like him. Philip wanted to say something, and even though he had opened his mouth, he decided to keep mum. Nevertheless, the calmest person among the five turned out to be Semiprime, only speaking when necessary. “We already know that this is a dangerous journey, don’t we? The right choice is always the hardest choice to make. Think of a.s.sange, Aaron Swartz…”

“No offense, I like Aaron too, but I don’t think it’s a good time to mention his name,” Waldo said, “But I don’t plan to leave. I once got into big trouble. Edward helped me settle it, so, for me, this operation is more than simply upholding justice.” Philip sighed again. “I can’t imagine what my future daughter’s life would be like if she lived in a world ruled by CTOS.”

“Wait… so, it’ll be okay if you get a son?”

“Yes.”

Philip thought on it for a while, then affirmed, “Yup… if it is a son, he will be fine.”

“I’m glad we have once again reached a consensus,” Ponytail said with clasped hands. Amid the group’s discussion, he had been working on completing the photo’s processing. The man in the picture had a pair of blue eyes and a hooked nose, looking somewhat like a vulture. Ponytail then sent the photo to Waldo.

“Leave it to me,” Waldo nodded.

It took him only two minutes before he found the online account of the hooked nosed man, but it took almost twenty to hack into his account. “Are you in trouble?”

“Give me five more minutes,” replied Waldo. He didn’t look up, eyes focussed on the screen and his fingers busily tapping away on the keyboard.

“Okay!”