Reboot: Mechanic

The tension between Mary, Vanessa, and Shi Tian was still palpable as they sat in the vehicle. 

Vanessa clearly felt like an outsider in this dynamic, and she couldn't help but be annoyed by Mary's comments. She glanced at Shi Tian, hoping for some support or intervention, but he seemed equally exasperated by their bickering.

Shi Tian decided to step in before their argument could escalate further. 

"Alright, enough of this. We have more important matters to attend to," he said firmly. "Vanessa, take a seat. We need to discuss our next steps."

Vanessa didn't look entirely pleased but chose to comply, taking a seat and folding her arms, clearly still harboring some irritation. 

Mary, on the other hand, maintained her calm demeanor, ready to move forward. She knew she had won this bickering, even if it produced zero value or benefits. Just seeing Vanessa puffed up like a pufferfish was enough to satisfy her. 

Shaking his head, Shi Tian decided to move on regardless if these two were ready or not.

"Anyway, what kind of simple task did Vanessa fail to do?" Shi Tian asked. 

"And don't laugh or judge at her because everyone can make mistakes, Mary. similar to how you made a blunder in the sales of the first modified Claymore Mines." He added, warning Mary about her time of forgetting to limit the sales and nearly causing a riot among the crowd.

Mary clicked her tongue once she was reminded of her tiny blunder. 

"Yeah yeah, I won't laugh or judge at Vanessa." She raised her hands as a sign of resignation. 

There was no way she was going to let Vanessa learn of that blunder, given that she would definitely use that to taunt her constantly. 

Meanwhile, Vanessa kept this in mind, vowing to learn of this information from Shi Tian sooner or later. An opportunity to learn Mary's blunder, there was no way she was going to let that slip by.

As the two women similarly made up their plans, Shi Tian remained ignorant of the situation and merely wanted to get this over with.

The faster they finished, the earlier these two would split, allowing him to regain peace and tranquil moments. 

"The simple task was to leak information regarding the evolved Gilaso variant corpse containing the strange energy," Mary informed him. 

"Leaking the information?" Shi Tian raised an eyebrow, seemingly pondering why they wanted to leak such critical information. 

However, once he thought up a few reasons, he realized Mary's intention. 

"You want others to do the work, but at the same time, you don't want them to find out they're being used. Hence, feigning a leak of information and making them believe they have struck gold, they would definitely rush ahead to do the dirty work." Shi Tian exclaimed, giving Mary a thumbs up for her nefarious intention. 

"What??!" Vanessa suddenly stood up and shouted. Pointing her finger at Mary, she continued, "You wanted me to leak this information not for the greater good but to manipulate others to do your bidding?" 

"Wow, you are slower than I expected. It's unreal at this point." Mary twitched her mouth and clapped slowly. 

Even Shi Tian was able to guess her intention with just a few words, but Vanessa was still clueless about her real intention. 

"No wonder you dared to head outside despite knowing you are being targeted. Your brain needs some surgery." Mary added, kindly suggesting she undergo surgery.

Vanessa clenched her fist and wanted to fight Mary now. Mary had crossed the lines with that remark, but thankfully, Shi Tian moved his chair in between them.

Shi Tian stood right in the middle, almost as if he were the perpendicular line that stood in between the two lines. 

"One more insult or argument, regardless of who shall get kicked out." Shi Tian gave a final warning, his expression solemn. 

"But this is my vehicle…" Mary wanted to rebuke but was met with Shi Tian's intense gaze, prompting her to close her mouth.

A few minutes later, the atmosphere in the vehicle seemed to have eased up. 

The two women truly did not dare to bicker anymore once they saw how serious Shi Tian was. 

"The first step to leak information must be done discreetly. One must never find out where the source of the information came from, but it must be spread rapidly." Shi Tian rubbed his chin and said. 

"The leaked information must not deviate from the original content, only some alteration is allowed. Otherwise, the leak would be pointless. In addition, people must believe that this kind of leaked information would benefit them dearly– to the point that if they waste even a single second, it would mean loss of profits." 

He added, sounding like an expert as he continued to explain more details on how to proceed with the task.

His expertise was too much, astonishing both Vanessa and Mary.

"How does he know such details?" Vanessa turned to Mary and asked. 

Mary shook her head. 

"I don't know either, but he seemed to be an expert when it comes to manipulating people or understanding a human's emotion." She responded, conversing with Vanessa as if they were good friends now.

"Are you two listening?" Shi Tian paused for a moment when he kept hearing them having side conversations. 

Vanessa and Mary both smiled and nodded their heads. "Yes, we're listening." 

Narrowing his eyes, Shi Tian crossed his arms and asked solemnly, "Okay then what did I just say?" 

"I'll let Vanessa answer that since she's the one that needs to study it." Mary was quick to throw her under the bus again, pushing her to answer Shi Tian's question.

Vanessa was speechless at how fast Mary could change her behavior. 

Meanwhile, Shi Tian turned his attention to Vanessa, seemingly awaiting her response as if he were a professor in the lecture and she was a student.

'I really hate this bitch.' Vanessa cursed silently, wanting to strangle Mary in the neck as hard as possible for throwing her under the bus not once, but twice in almost the same time stamp.