Reboot: Mechanic

Shi Tian, with his quick thinking and adept communication skills, began typing the message that would be sent to Brad, the manager of the channel for StellarVision Media. 

He understood the delicate balance that Mary wanted to strike – not too light to lose out on potential gains, but not too harsh to risk escalating the situation.

His fingers danced across the keyboard as he composed the message.

"Manager Brad, we're aware of your position. Our request is simple: provide us with a reasonable sum of Source Crystals, and allow us to make a post that will be displayed on the front page. Once you do that, we'll release the data we've obtained without causing any further damage. We're not interested in causing chaos or trouble for you; we simply saw an opportunity and seized it. Let's resolve this amicably."

Shi Tian hoped that this message would convey their seriousness and willingness to negotiate while also reassuring Brad that they didn't intend to harm StellarVision Media's operations beyond this point.

Once he had finished typing, he glanced at Mary for approval before sending it. 

Mary nodded, indicating that it was an appropriate response. She patted Shi Tian's shoulder lightly and praised him.

"Nathan, you really are talented in terms of persuasion." Even she would have been fooled thoroughly by the message alone if she was in the opposing party. 

Shi Tian shrugged his shoulders. 

"It's not that I'm talented in persuasion, but the human mind and heart are easy to read in certain situations. Manager Brad is clearly desperate right now but is putting up a strong front, most likely to defend his pride and honor as the manager." He then explained. 

"Yeah, it's so easy for you to read people and be heartless as well," Vanessa rolled her eyes, slightly smacking his head with the napkin that she was using to wipe Shi Tian's sweat off.

Ignoring her remark, Shi Tian simply pressed the "Enter" key, sending the message to the other party.

As the message was transmitted, they awaited Brad's reply, uncertain about how he would react to their terms.

Time slowly passed by, and Mary was about to be bored to death with the slow response.

She was so close to simply hacking and finishing what they originally intended. 

Luckily, Brad didn't make them wait too long. Otherwise, there was truly no going back once Mary decided to proceed with the last stage. 

"Finally, what did this Brad reply?" Mary scoffed coldly and asked. 

If it wasn't for the fact that she was still minding the benefits she could obtain, she would have given Brad the middle finger. 

Her attention being short was known to Shi Tian, so he didn't mind her attitude and read the message aloud.

"The money can be deposited, and I can display the message you want on the front page so long as it doesn't go against our terms and policy. But how do we know you truly won't hack us again if you are capable of doing it once." 

After Shi Tian finished talking, he turned to Mary, clearly waiting for her decision. Brad's concern wasn't unfounded, and Shi Tian would have done the same thing if the situation was reversed.

Just how could one believe in the words of a hacker that hacked into their system? 

Not a sane person would go and say 'Okay, I trust you' if they think about it carefully. 

Mary shrugged her shoulders, clearly not knowing how to convince the other party. 

"If they really do as we requested, then there's no reason for me to keep this data. They are useless to me." She clarified, proving that she would honor her deal. 

"Yes, I know you aren't interested in it, but Manager Brad wouldn't know. We're strangers to them after all- no, it can be said we're a criminal in their perspective. Who would believe a criminal's word?" Shi Tian responded calmly.

He was not just looking at the situation from their perspectives, but also from the enemy's perspective. To construct a good negotiation deal, one must place themselves on both sides to verify whether the deal is beneficial or not.

No one would be dumb enough to strike a deal that doesn't benefit them whatsoever.

Rubbing his chin, Shi Tian knew they had to convince the other party of them being sincere.

"Mary, can you send three-fourths of the data you hacked and send it back to the other party?" Shi Tian requested. 

"What?" Mary was stunned, seemingly unable to believe what she had just heard. 

They were still on the upper hand in the negotiation, so why should they take a step back and give the other party a breather.

"How is this supposed to do any good for us?" She added, not that she didn't believe Shi Tian, but she couldn't understand the action. 

"Source: Trust me, Mary." Shi Tian replied flatly, clearly unwilling to explain more. 

Biting her lips softly, Mary wanted to say something but was unable to think of anything else to say. 

Without a choice, she decided to trust him once as she went back to her computer, preparing the data that she had already hacked and splitting it exactly into three-fourth portions. 

Afterward, she transmitted the data to Shi Tian's clone, who was still somewhat surrounded by inactive cybersecurity bots.

Meanwhile, Shi Tian's fingers were already typing on the keyboard.

He was typing a very long paragraph for the other party. But the gist of the content was basically Shi Tian offering the data they had hacked to them for free as a sign of gesture. 

As Shi Tian sent the message, he stretched his arm and echoed for Vanessa to continue to wipe the sweat off him. 

Of course, Vanessa clicked her tongue in annoyance, given Shi Tian had turned his attention to Mary, treating her as if she was a maid.

"Now we wait patiently, Mary. And you can just sit back down instead of glaring at me like that. I'm not a potential imposter like Vanessa here." Shi Tian smiled sinisterly and said.