"So, what are the results of the examination?" Mao Akai wore a sneering smile, as if mocking the cowardice of the person behind the scenes. Squinting against the blinding glare, she stared directly into the camera in the center of the room. This unyielding expression amused Lord Rum; he enjoyed taming subordinates like her.
"I am very satisfied. Welcome to our ranks, Miss Scarlet."
At Lord Rum's cowardly habit of hiding behind the scenes, Mao Akai merely let out a cold laugh. "I'm sorry, but I suddenly don't feel like joining you anymore."
Hearing Mao Akai say this, Pinga, monitoring from behind the camera, was utterly shocked. How could such a person exist? Even after undergoing brainwashing, she was still defying Lord Rum's orders.
Little did Pinga know, this only made Lord Rum think even more of Mao Akai. He offered countless conditions, yet Mao Akai remained unmoved, until Lord Rum finally threw out a condition that made her heart skip a beat.
"I hear you like Bourbon? As it happens, Bourbon is one of my subordinates."
...
After agreeing to join The Organization, Mao Akai was still confined to this villa. She knew it was because Lord Rum was verifying her background, but she trusted that the MI6 agents had handled her records cleanly—after all, from start to finish, her name had never actually appeared within MI6.
An Organization member named Curaçao appeared twice to test her combat skills. Mao Akai was certain Lord Rum must have been very satisfied, seeing as Curaçao left with a broken arm the second time.
During this period, the detestable brainwashing was carried out two more times. Mao Akai noticed that the intensity of these sessions was not as great as the first; Lord Rum likely felt by then that she posed no real threat to The Organization.
However, Mao Akai had no intention of playing along with Lord Rum. During the second brainwashing session, she displayed overt resistance toward him, and by the third session, she covertly replaced the mental trigger of obeying Lord Rum's orders with obeying Bourbon's commands.Although she felt a little sorry for Bourbon, just the thought of the ugly expression on Lord Rum's face as he watched her being brainwashed through the camera made Mao Akai want to laugh.
Just as Mao Akai had expected, when Lord Rum heard Bourbon's name come out of her mouth, his face darkened instantly. Even though he knew this woman had come here for Bourbon's sake, he still felt irritated that she could use that as a reason to resist the brainwashing.
Pinga, who was assisting with the operation, also sensed that something was amiss and asked cautiously, "Lord Rum, should I increase the dosage of the drug?"
However, after a brief dark look on his face, Lord Rum rejected Pinga's proposal. He wanted to gain a capable assistant, not push someone into someone else's camp. Ever since the second brainwashing session, Mao Akai had been fighting back; he could not push her too hard. Besides, the investigation into Mao Akai had just concluded.
Utilizing one codename member and multiple peripheral members, Lord Rum had discovered that before being hired by the mafia Salvation, Mao Akai had spent a long period working as a bounty hunter. Information on Mao Akai prior to that was extremely scarce, but based on his observations, she was likely an assassin cultivated by some other organization.
"It's time to let her get in touch with some of the Organization's affairs." Lord Rum decided to influence Mao Akai subtly; after another three or four brainwashing sessions, she would likely harbor no rebellious sentiment toward The Organization.
Having been locked up for nearly a month, Mao Akai was finally released from that villa. When Curaçao appeared before her, her expression remained defiant, but a large part of its aggressiveness was gone.
"Hey, where are you taking me this time?" Languidly following behind Curaçao, Mao Akai asked nonchalantly."I'm taking you to restock your weapons, and then we're heading to Gaul."
"Tch." Mao Akai clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. "I remember when I joined you people, you supposedly promised to hand Bourbon over to me."
Ignoring her, Curaçao kept her head down and walked on ahead.
"I'm not going anymore." Mao Akai stopped in her tracks.
Curaçao spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick straight at Mao Akai's chest.
Mao Akai raised an arm to block, then grabbed Curaçao's ankle. The silver-haired woman put strength into both legs, but still failed to pull her leg free.
"Let go," Curaçao ordered coldly.
As if deliberately defying her, Mao Akai's grip tightened. As though testing the flexibility of Curaçao's body, she slowly lifted the other woman's leg higher.
A flash of anger crossed Curaçao's usually serene face. The muscles in her supporting leg tensed up, and just as she was about to spring forward, her cell phone rang.
Mao Akai's lips parted into a malicious smile. With a sudden yank, she pulled Curaçao toward her. The moment their bodies closed the distance, she fished the phone out of Curaçao's pocket, then shifted her body slightly to the side to let the stumbling Curaçao fall past her.
Fortunately, Curaçao was agile; she steadied herself after staggering a few steps.
By then, however, Mao Akai had already answered the call, and Lord Rum's synthesized mechanical voice echoed from the phone.
"Scarlet, if you demonstrate sufficient value, I can let you see Bourbon."
"Speak, what do you need me to do?" Mao Akai wasn't curious as to how Lord Rum knew what she had just said; after all, she had known from the very beginning what the little gadget on her was for.
The task Lord Rum assigned to Mao Akai was very simple: head to Gaul and eliminate a traitor.
Normally, dealing with organization traitors was Gin's job, but as it happened, this particular person who had betrayed The Organization worked directly under Lord Rum. Because the traitor held too many of Lord Rum's secrets, Lord Rum had no choice but to strike first.
Mao Akai quickly obtained the complete dossier for the mission. Coincidentally, she had actually seen her target before in the MI6 database.
That person was an international police officer. Mao Akai didn't know how he had blown his cover, nor did she know whether Lord Rum was aware of it, or if this was yet another test. She cared about all of it, because the best way to fool others was to fool oneself. Right now, she was simply Scarlet, a bounty hunter infatuated with Bourbon.
True to its reputation as a massive transnational criminal syndicate, The Organization quickly transported Mao Akai from Neon to Gaul.
Low-ranking peripheral members had already prepared all the materials. The moment she saw what they had prepared, Mao Akai knew the undercover agent had already realized he was exposed.
What a pity, she sighed inwardly. If that person had moved just a little faster, he might already have made it back to his safehouse by now.
Yet not everything in the world goes according to wish. With a loud bang, the undercover agent collapsed in a pool of blood.
Mao Akai's no-nonsense, highly efficient attitude toward her missions left Lord Rum extremely satisfied, prompting the start of her career carrying out assignments all over the globe.
Her shockingly high mission success rate and rapid ascent in rank made most of the codename members in The Organization intensely curious about her. Bound by regulations, however, no one dared to pry into her background; they only knew she was Lord Rum's newly favored favorite.