At IOI headquarters, a woman in a tight black outfit, her hair tied in a high ponytail and her bearing strikingly sharp, arrived once again at the enormous office belonging to Nolan Sorrento in the IOI headquarters building. She was none other than Zander, the IOI field operations supervisor whom Annie had brutally taught a lesson and tossed into a mud pit, where she'd swallowed a bellyful of filthy mud.
Knock! Knock!
"!!"
"Reporting in!"
After lightly knocking twice, Supervisor Zander stepped inside and walked over to the super-luxurious game pod. Nolan Sorrento had just logged out and taken off his VR visor.
"Zander, you're finally here..."
"Any news? Get straight to the point!"
Nolan stood and rolled his shoulders and neck, then asked with some irritation.
He'd been in a foul mood lately. First, their attempt to capture people near the top of the Easter egg point rankings in the real world had failed miserably, forcing him to back off for the time being for various reasons. Next, they'd made no progress in uncovering some of the secrets of the OASIS. And then there was that damn Halliday Easter egg—its clues remained as elusive as ever. With so many things going wrong, it was no surprise he was in a terrible mood.
"Sir! We looked into it!"
"We simply can't find anything about that little girl. She's like an undocumented person with no records at all—she hasn't left a single trace or record anywhere outside the OASIS!"
"So, I'm sorry. We did everything we could..."
Watching her superior's scowl grow even darker, Supervisor Zander pressed her lips together and braced herself to be chewed out.
"..."
"She's still staying in that abandoned building with those people?"
"Yes!"
"Our drones have been watching them around the clock. She hasn't left