He had been waiting for this assistant since this morning. "Elle let him in," Wang Zimo ordered. The door opened independently and closed after the person waiting on the other side entered.
+++++
Wang Zimo looked intently at the person standing in front of him. He had patiently waited for this man the entire afternoon. This morning, they discovered that her assistant had sold all of Liu Leah's properties, and they could not find her whereabouts.
Liu Leah's security guards tricked his men into following four different, identical-looking cars, each carrying a different Liu Leah look-alike when Liu Leah was discharged the day before. They were taken aback when these cars rushed out from the hospital where Liu Leah had been admitted, all at the same time heading in a different direction.
They discovered too late that a helicopter had taken the real Liu Leah out of the hospital. Who would do that? She was the heiress of a large family-owned conglomerate, not the country's prime minister or president.
If Liu Leah's life were in danger, they would understand why they took such drastic action to transport her, but she was not. All information about her from online and offline unofficial sites had been scrubbed clean, except for those pesky rumors that kept popping up and then being deleted.
They had heard about the new security team that Liu Leah's parents had created for her, but wasn't it a bit over the top?
"Boss," Assistant A bowed to show respect to Wang Zimo. "We found the villa where Miss Liu is currently staying." He looked straight at his superior and got straight to the point.
He paused and silently waited for his boss, but his silence was met with his boss's silence. He looked at his boss, and his boss looked back at him. He lifted his eyebrows and asked, "Boss?"
"How often do I have to tell you that when I am silent after you give a report, it means I am waiting for you to continue?" Wang Zimo dropped his pen and started loosening his knuckles, neck, and shoulders. He has been in the office since yesterday, trying to finish all his work for the week.
Assistant A could never understand why his boss couldn't just say "continue," but whatever floated his boat. He bowed again in his superior's direction and continued his report. "Understood, Boss. We checked the owner of the villa, and it is owned by Liu Leah herself. However, we could not check if she bought any new properties."
Assistant A started showing an anxious expression as he recalled what had happened in the past few days. "We triggered an alarm the last time we searched their servers, even though it had never happened. We were attacked and lost most of our bases, so we are trying to operate both on-site and online more cautiously."
Whoever the new cybersecurity team is assigned to watch out for, Liu Leah and her company have a very sharp nose for accurately sniffing out intrusions and identifying the source.
Assistant A's name was Wang Liang. He was part of Wang Zimo's inner circle. They always adopted Wang Zimo's last name whenever he changed his last name to show their loyalty to their boss.
Wang Liang might look like your average salaryman, but his skill set was far beyond that. He might appear lost when left in a room, but he knew more than any man in any room he entered.
His unassuming and easily forgotten appearance was not his weakness but one of his strengths. He could go anywhere and blend into the background like a chameleon, moving freely in a concrete jungle without fear of being discovered. Wang Zimo relied on him a lot because of this.
Wang Zimo tapped his right index finger on his desk and silently looked down, his mind elsewhere.
After a few seconds, he looked up at his assistant and sighed. "Keep doing what you're doing and monitor Leah's whereabouts from a distance. Also, watch any activity on the dark web and elsewhere regarding her. You can leave now."
"Boss, I forgot to mention that someone has been spreading misinformation about Miss Liu. The Lius are doing well at removing it, but online trolls still make meager attempts to resurface some damaging information that seems believable about Miss Liu."
Another silence followed. Two minutes turned into five minutes as the two men looked at each other as if they were about to start a fight or were in love.
Wang Liang was silently waiting for Wang Zimo's next order or reply while Wang Zimo was waiting for Wang Liang to continue or to leave.
Wang Zimo gave up and spoke first. "How often do I have to tell you that when I give you an order or instructions, and you add more information afterward, and I am silently looking at you, my response will always be the same."
Wang Liang wiggled his eyebrows and looked back at his boss with a questioning expression. A few seconds later, he acknowledged and bowed. "Got it, Boss. That's all I have for you. I am going to leave now. Have a good evening!"
Wang Liang still couldn't understand. "Why can't Boss just say it outright? I can't read minds. How am I supposed to know? His silence has more meanings than a color wheel," he thought.
"Elle, let him out and then connect me to Assistant B," Wang Zimo announced.
"Step back, opening the door," Elle's mechanical voice resounded in the room.
After bowing and greeting Wang Zimo goodbye, Wang Liang turned around and waited for the door to open. The first time Elle was installed inside the company's central control, he was unaware, and he hit his head hard when Elle opened the door for him.
More paid sick leave was filed that day as well under work-related injury.
Because of that incident, Elle added warning notices before opening doors to ensure everyone's safety.
Wang Liang stepped outside Wang Zimo's office, turned around, bowed again, and then left entirely.
Thud.
The office door closed, and Elle started calling Assistant B as instructed by Wang Zimo.
Ring—Ring—
"Boss!" Assistant B answered after two rings.
"Send a request to meet with Liu Leah through Zhou Chun. I am dropping by her new villa this evening before dinner time," Wang Zimo said calmly, though his posture said otherwise. He began pacing back and forth behind his chair with his hands behind his back, looking down with a frown. His eyes showed an anxious feel.
"Yes, Boss, I will do it now." While still on the line with Wang Zimo, Assistant B grabbed his other phone and started calling Zhou Chun. When she didn't pick up his call, he began drafting an email and mass emailing Zhou Chun's known address, sending the message as SMS and MMS to every phone number and app they knew she used.
After Assistant B sent the last message, he focused on the quiet person on his other phone. "Boss, it is done." He knew that when his boss said to send a request, he meant to notify them, but he would still go to that meeting with or without the other person's agreement.