I Finally Caught You!

At that, Shigure Ryoko gave Chelsea a slightly reproachful look.

It wasn't that she lacked confidence in the mission. Capturing a conglomerate's young master was no harder for her than capturing Silka Bond had been.

The troublesome part wasn't capturing him, but... the lack of overtime pay.

After all, every mission like this took a great deal of energy to plan. She had already been forcibly dragged back from her vacation to do grunt work, and her recent workload was practically squeezing her dry.

Seemingly noticing Shigure Ryoko's miserable little expression, Chelsea rubbed her brow and said:

"Don't look at me like that. I'll arrange an extra bonus for you once this is over."

"Yay!"

Miss Shigure's expression changed instantly, and she said with a grin:

"Consider it done!"

"This Jonas Wetting is no pushover. Don't let your guard down and get caught out."

Although Chelsea privately disparaged Jonas Wetting in all sorts of ways, she wasn't someone who let her personal feelings influence her plans.

Jonas Wetting had acted decisively when stealing the chip, and the methods described in earlier rumors were equally sophisticated.

She might disdain her enemy strategically, but she would never underestimate him tactically.

Even though she didn't think he could get the better of Shigure Ryoko, she still offered a warning:

"Be careful."

"I'm an old hand at this sort of thing..."

Hearing that, Shigure Ryoko patted her chest and said:

"Don't you trust me, Miss Chelsea?"

Chelsea frowned at her response, but ultimately set aside her doubts and said:

"As long as... you know what you're doing."

"Mm-hmm."

Although Shigure Ryoko nodded repeatedly, she didn't take Chelsea's warning to heart.

She had even kidnapped senior officers of the Peacekeeping Forces. Surely a conglomerate heir would be a piece of cake?

The Wetting Conglomerate, Alt Branch Building.

Jonas felt a little relieved as he read the message from the research and development department.

Although they hadn't fully decoded the chip stolen from the Nathen Conglomerate, they had almost finished dismantling its tracking system.

In other words, even without a jamming device, they would no longer have to worry about the Nathen Conglomerate tracing the chip's location.

Most of the plan had already succeeded. Only the final step remained to bring the whole affair to a close.

Looking over the tasks Jonas had assigned her, Eiffel couldn't help frowning. Somewhat hesitantly, she asked:

"Mr. Jonas, are you sure you want to do this?"

Miss [Steward] was among the very best in all of District 25 when it came to getting things done. There was no one better suited to these tasks.

"Miss Chelsea isn't a fool, and neither is the Miss [Shadow Blade] at her side..."

Jonas paused before continuing:

"If you want the fish to bite, you have to be willing to put out some bait."

At that, Eiffel opened her mouth, but couldn't find anything to say for a long while.

She could only say helplessly:

"But this plan of yours is far too risky."

As Jonas had said, they had to be willing to put out bait if they wanted the fish to bite.

But using himself as that bait made it very difficult for Eiffel to feel reassured.

"You must understand that if this fails, every advantage we've gained will vanish, and you'll be in danger as well."

Jonas smiled, looked at Eiffel, and asked:

"Have you ever seen me do anything I wasn't confident about, Miss Eiffel?"

Eiffel froze for a moment at his words.

Although Jonas's previous actions had all seemed reckless, there was no doubt that he had only done those things because he was confident they would work.

After a brief silence, she said:

"I'm willing to trust you... so what should we do next?"

A trace of amusement flashed in Jonas's eyes. After a pause, he said:

"Next, I'll need your full cooperation, Miss Eiffel."

"...?"

Looking at the amusement in Jonas's eyes, Eiffel felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

As everyone knew, Jonas Wetting, heir to the Wetting Conglomerate, was a notorious young master.

Although he had enjoyed a few shining moments during recent incidents, those couldn't change his rotten nature.

His previous incompetence might have been an act, but his long record of misdeeds certainly wasn't.

At heart, he was no different from any other conglomerate heir.

Greedy, lazy, arrogant, lustful.

Shigure Ryoko crunched the lollipop in her mouth as she studied the information she had gathered over the past few days.

Chelsea had been right. This really was a difficult enemy to deal with.

She had watched him for three days straight, yet he hadn't given her a single opening. He was even more cautious than the old conglomerate foxes she had kidnapped before.

She couldn't help slapping the documents in front of her and snarling:

"Does this bastard know I'm coming to kidnap him? How can he practically stay inside the company for two or three days straight?"

Honestly, if he kept holing up in the company like this, there really wasn't anything she could do.

Breaking into the Alt Branch Building alone, kidnapping Jonas, and escaping unscathed was something only a superhero could pull off.

All she could do was look for an opportunity when he went out...

But after tracking his movements for two or three days, her only discovery was... that if he kept this up, she really couldn't get him.

"I don't believe you'll stay in the company forever."

She cursed under her breath. A moment later, something unusual suddenly appeared on the surveillance feed in front of her.

The facial recognition system locked onto someone in the crowd. Although he quickly got into a black sedan, it had still captured his face.

It was none other than her target, Jonas Wetting.

Shigure Ryoko's eyes lit up, and she quickly tracked down the black sedan using the Nathen Conglomerate's satellite.

-I finally caught you!