An Emergency

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Matilda curled up on the sofa, clutching Paddington Bear tightly in her arms, already deep in sleep. A full day of sightseeing had drained her energy. At that moment, she was like an electronic device with a dead battery, in urgent need of sleep to recharge.

For Beta, though, that much exercise was no more than a post-meal stroll.

He was still full of energy. He took out his laptop and plugged in the encrypted USB Drive. As the program overwrote the old system, the familiar black chat interface soon appeared.

Checking his messages to make sure he hadn't missed any important jobs was part of Beta's daily routine.

In the underworld, he had earned an excellent reputation for his reliable work, swift action, and terrifying long-range sniping skills. As a result, plenty of people contacted him through this encrypted channel.

While getting up to pour some hot water, Beta picked up a blanket and gently draped it over Matilda. The little girl had just finished bathing, and her hair was still damp at the ends. She was curled up on the sofa, sleeping soundly.

As soon as he returned to his seat, a notification chimed.

Beta set down the hot water he hadn't yet sipped and opened the new message.

A neon-green system notification appeared on the screen:

[Reminder] You have a new contact request

Sender: System Administrator

Content: A user is trying to contact you. Please check the message details promptly. If you do not reply within 24 hours, the system will automatically use the backup contact information you provided when registering to notify you.

Beta rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then opened the unread message.

The sender's ID was "@#qwer1234," obviously a username typed at random.

The message appeared in glaring red text: We heard about the Downing Street job. We've got a big job, with a generous reward. I'm sure you'll be interested.

Beta straightened his back and typed quickly. White text appeared in the chat box: What do you need me to do?

After pressing Enter to send, Beta leaned back in his chair and waited quietly for a reply. He had no way of knowing the other person's real identity or location, or even whether they were online.

Lifting his mug, Beta sipped the hot water and found his gaze drifting toward Matilda, asleep on the sofa.

He rose quietly and covered her with the blanket she had kicked off, carefully wrapping it around her curled-up feet before returning to his seat.

"Ding!"

Another system notification sounded, and a glaring red message appeared on the screen: Can we meet and discuss this in person?

Beta replied without hesitation: Impossible.

The other person replied almost instantly: The budget is $10 million. There'll be an additional reward after the job is done. Can we meet now?

Beta's fingers paused above the keyboard. It was indeed a staggering offer. Even Beta, who had seen plenty, had never encountered a job worth this much.

Still, refusing to meet clients was an unbreakable rule for Beta. He would never violate his principles, not even for a job worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Going after someone to collect a debt in person was a different matter.

A principle was a principle because it couldn't be compromised. One seemingly harmless exception could become a fatal slip that exposed his identity, bringing law enforcement after him or inviting revenge from his enemies.

Beta replied: Impossible. If you insist on meeting in person, I suggest you find someone else. With a reward this generous, I'm sure you'll find plenty of capable people.

The other person quickly sent another reply: I'll pay an extra $1 million for an in-person meeting. $500,000 in advance, and the other $500,000 after we meet.

Beta typed without hesitation: No meeting. If you're serious about working together, you can pay a $5 million deposit in advance, with the remaining $5 million due when the job is done.

The chat fell silent. The other person didn't reply again.

Beta leaned back in his chair and took a sip of the hot water, which had already gone lukewarm. He checked his phone, but there was still no new message from Ashley, so he casually set it back on the desk.

"Ding!"

The computer chimed.

A neon-green system notification appeared on the screen:

[Reminder] You have a new contact request

Sender: System Administrator

Content: A user is trying to contact you. Please check the message details promptly. If you do not reply within 24 hours, the system will automatically use the backup contact information you provided when registering to notify you.

Beta straightened up again, staring at the screen with a slight furrow in his brow. He began to wonder if he had inadvertently revealed a clue to his identity.

Normally, receiving two or three job offers a year was the usual pace. But today, two people had contacted him one after the other. The unusual situation left him vaguely uneasy.

Beta didn't reply. Instead, he quickly pulled out the USB Drive, stuffed the computer into his suitcase, and gathered all his belongings as fast as he could.

He hurried to the sofa and gently shook Matilda, whose eyes were still bleary with sleep. "Matilda, wake up! We need to leave for Morocco right now. Go get changed."

"Morocco?" Matilda rubbed her sleepy eyes, her voice full of confusion. "What Morocco?"

Without another word, Beta scooped up the little girl, who was still barely awake, and strode toward her bedroom.

He set Matilda down beside the bed, grabbed some clothes for going out and tossed them to her, then pointed toward the bathroom. "Go in there and change. Hurry. This is no time for jokes. Our safety is at stake."

He turned and began swiftly packing Matilda's things. "As soon as you're dressed, we're leaving."

Matilda was fully awake by now. Clutching the clothes, she went into the bathroom. Raising her voice through the door, she asked, "What happened?"

Beta finished packing Matilda's things in a flurry of motion. Then he picked up a plastic bag beside the trash can and put all the used personal items inside, including their straws, cups, and toothbrushes.

"Are you changed?" Beta tightened the knot in the plastic bag. "I'll explain on the way."

The bathroom door opened, and Matilda came out with her canvas bag on her back.

Beta immediately took out a disinfecting wipe and quickly cleaned the spots hotel staff were likely to overlook: the doorknob, air-conditioning panel, light switches, window frame, and the kettle buttons. He stuffed the used wipes into his coat pocket.

Finally, Beta took the room key card and carefully wiped it down, then hurried out of the room with Matilda.

To get the hotel to clean the room right away, he used a newly purchased prepaid phone to call the front desk, pretending to be a new guest and booking the room he had just checked out of for one hour later.

The timing was urgent enough to make the hotel clean the room immediately, while still giving the cleaning staff enough time to replace all the bedding and thoroughly vacuum up the scattered hairs and skin flakes, so the next guest would enjoy the truly spotless service of a high-end suite.

This would also eliminate as much as possible of all the biological traces Beta and Matilda had left in the room.