"Me?" I asked, astonished. Bu Fan nodded before he took a long drag on his cigarette and puffed out a breath of smoke. I instinctively leaned back, trying not to inhale it. Despite medical science advancing to the point where we could finally cure cancer, I still preferred to not suffer from it in the first place. Besides, it wasn't a pleasant experience to breathe in secondhand smoke.
"Yeah, you. You're the genius inventor. Invent something to take these guys out. Invent something to bypass their security. I don't know. You figure it out and get back to us, and we'll use your inventions."
In the end, they were just shoving everything onto me. To be fair, this was something only I could do. And they would handle the stuff I couldn't do…such as dirtying their hands and fighting. I didn't have the underground connections that Bu Fan had, and I lacked the ruthlessness.
Even so, they were asking me to invent something that could help them murder people. I wasn't sure I was comfortable with that.
However, if I didn't take out these bastards, they would end up killing innocent civilians in the city. Damned if I do, damned if I don't. Inaction made me just as culpable of murder as these ruthless, cruel CEOs. Some might argue otherwise, but what was the difference me and the murderous CEOs if I knew that they were going to kill others but didn't do a single thing to stop them?
Unfortunately, to stop them, I had to kill them…because they were exploiting the law to protect themselves, bribing judges and corrupting the system to their advantage. As much as I hated it, Bu Fan was right. There was little else we could do to stop them. After they got away with this one, they would take it for granted and continue committing atrocities while staying above the law because they were rich and powerful.
What could the little guy possibly do against them? They weren't even allowed to quit because they couldn't afford it. The CEOs and employers exploited them as much as they could, overworking them and withholding their salaries and bonuses over the most trivial nonsense. This was basically employee abuse. It might be amusing if you were the CEO male lead or female lead who solely got pampered (unless it was one of those abusive CEO stories where he imprisoned the female lead, deprived her of her freedom and repeatedly raped her, insulted her and either physically or psychologically tortured her – or both). Just look at My Paranoid Lover, What a Brutal President, An Exorbitant Wife, The Deserted Woman, Embrace my Shadow and more. Hell, even the CEO male lead in My Super Hot Mom Is An Assassin repeatedly raped the female lead (even though she was supposedly a top assassin…yet she couldn't kill anyone at all and was always defeated in combat by even common robbers). Even so, it seemed that the female leads would always develop Stockholm syndrome and fall for their abusers anyway. So whatever the case, the female readers would support the CEO's abusive behavior of the poor staff who had to endure his tantrums.
Seriously, how the hell did these successful multibillionaires always get portrayed as childish, petty and psychologically deranged? If they weren't rich and handsome CEOs – hell, if they weren't young and handsome, they would be imprisoned (you had to pity the middle-aged, balding and chubby CEOs in these stories, they get treated very differently from the handsome and young CEO male leads) or fired from their jobs and disgraced. But hey, the world revolved only around the female lead and her idealistic fantasy of being a special snowflake princess, so who cared what happened to all the poor staff who had to bear the brunt of her prince charming CEO's temper, right?
That made me more determined than ever to fight for the poor employees. They were victims in all this. I had to achieve justice for them, no matter what.
But how?
"Do we really have to resort to killing them?" I mumbled.
Bu Fan exchanged a glance with the other bosses of the underworld. They looked as if they were about to say something, their gruff features displaying annoyance and impatience. Fortunately, Bu Fan held up a hand to stop them. He turned to me.
"You don't have to worry about that. How we deal with them, that will be up to us. I'm not going to get you involved. The less you know, the better."
He was trying to protect me. I understood that much.
"We just need you to disable their top security systems…a way to incapacitate their security and bodyguards."
"Incapacitate? Not kill?"
Bu Fan smiled grimly. "I know you're quite the naïve and pure fella, but you're not stupid. You know what we want."
I gritted my teeth. I didn't want to be part of murder, but I couldn't do nothing either. I would have to find some sort of middle ground. An in between measure that didn't kill people. The CEOs and their boards were one thing – they were guilty of corruption and exploitation, as well as mass murder. But their guards were being paid to protect them. They were simply doing their jobs.
No. I was being overly naïve, like Bu Fan said. If I were to condemn myself for inaction despite being aware of the CEOs' crimes, then why was I giving these guards a pass? Surely they couldn't possibly be unaware of what their employers were doing. Yet they accepted the jobs and protected them as best as they could, not stopping them from indulging in their atrocities. All because they were paid well. Did they really deserve to be forgiven?
In some cases, these guards were the ones who went around beating rivals or enemies up, blackmailing victims or intimidating them – particularly those who threatened the CEOs' beloved. They were definitely not innocent. I suspected many of them were involved in the mass murder, just like the mercenaries. In fact, how were they any different from the mercenaries?
Taking a deep breath, I nodded, hardening my resolve.
"All right, I'll do it," I agreed. "Give me a week and I'll see what I can come up with."
"Good." Bu Fan grinned. "We'll be counting on you then."
*
A week later, I met up with Bu Fan and the underground bosses once more. They were waiting in Bu Bar, in the usual place, just as I expected. They watched when I entered the same room, their gazes filled with anticipation.
"What do you have for us, Trevor?" Not one to waste any time, Bu Fan immediately asked. I hesitated, and then reached into my pocket and pulled out a tiny mechanical bug.
"I call this the Locust," I explained. Metallic wings spread out and it buzzed around the room before landing on the table in front of Bu Fan and his associates. They all stared at it curiously, obviously wondering what it could do.
"A robot bug?" one of the thugs, a bald man in a cheap purple suit but smoked expensive cigars, asked. He had a scar that ran from his temple to the side of his brow, a badge of honor that he had apparently earned during a knife fight. "What are we supposed to do with a robot bug? Is it an infiltration unit? Surveillance? But we already have spies inside the various companies. We don't need a spy robot bug."
"You forget who you are speaking to," I said with a smirk. "It's not just a simple robot bug. Its primary role isn't reconnaissance or spying."
"Oh?" Bu Fan raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Then what is its main function?"
I pushed my glasses up my nose, my lenses gleaming. "Take out your smartphones, everyone. Electronic devices, ever laser weapons."
The gang members exchanged wary glances, but at a wave of the hand from Bu Fan, they grudgingly obeyed. I smiled and clicked something in my smartphone.
Immediately, a crackle filled the air and all the electronic devices died. Smartphones, laser weapons, tablets, computers…even the lights went out. The music that was playing in the background went eerily silent.
"You…what the hell did you just do?!" A lanky gang leader shouted in panic, fumbling about in the darkness.
"I am simply demonstrating the ability of the Locust," I replied, standing in the middle of the darkness and not moving at all. "As you requested."
"This is…an electromagnetic pulse?" Bu Fan was quick to recognize the effects of the attack. "An EMP interference?"
"That's right. The Locust is capable of delivering high-energy electromagnetic pulses to disrupt and damage electronic equipment. This should allow you to forcibly shut down whatever security systems you have to circumvent. And that's not all."
At a snap of my fingers, the darkness was illuminated by an azure web of electricity. Arcs of blue lightning flashed about, striking the ground and leaving scorches on the ground. A few of the thugs who served as gang muscle flinched, backing away. From their expressions, I could tell that they had gone numb, thanks to the electricity. One of them crashed to the ground, his muscles seizing from the potent voltage.
"You can adjust the voltage," I explained, lowering the power. "Just like a Taser, if you know what I'm saying. The Locust can discharge enough electricity to render an adult man unconscious. If you dial up the power, it might even electrocute someone to death…though I don't recommend it, for obvious reasons."
"Perfect!" The bald guy clapped his hands. "This is just perfect! With this, we can fight back against those evil conglomerates!"
Evil conglomerates? That was rich, coming from a kingpin ruling over one of the many warring factions in the underworld. I suddenly wondered if this was a huge mistake, working with the devil. I trusted Bu Fan, but I wonder if he would be able to rein his subordinates in before they went overboard.
"Excellent. I knew I could count on you." Bu Fan grinned and bowed his head. "We'll definitely reward you heavily for this, Trevor. Now we'll be able to deliver justice to those who seek to oppress the poor and the weak!"
"Uh, right."
I shut my eyes briefly and sighed wearily. This had better not be the biggest mistake in my life. While some people mistakenly believed that this was supposed to be a parody story (like catvi), they were sadly mistaken. While there were satirical elements here and there, they weren't the main focus. This whole story was about me inventing stuff to improve my livelihood. The constant snipes I made at CEO stories, while amusing, were just an aside.
Call me a hypocrite if you thought I was succumbing to the same tropes as other CEO stories. I couldn't care less. My main goal was – and still is – to invent stuff for humanity. Not realism, and not to make fun of other CEO stories (though that was admittedly fun…and an outlet for my frustration regarding many of the toxic CEO novels I had read).
"I'll make as many Locusts as possible," I continued. "Then you guys can launch your plans or whatever."