After the car left, Benjamin and Anthony intentionally went over to take a look.
It was an ordinary shop that sold general stuff like food and beverages. There weren't a lot of products sold inside, but the building was pleasantly clean.
They walked around the shop, and it was then Thalia raised her eyes and saw the surveillance camera above her.
“Anthony!” she shouted and used her eyes to signal him to look at the surveillance camera above them.
Following her line of sight, Anthony saw the surveillance camera and narrowed his eyes in response.
“Return to the car!” Anthony was ready to leave.
Upon shooting a glance at him, Thalia said, “There's no need to make things complicated!” Then she headed to the cash register and chatted with the shop owner.
After talking with him for a while, Thalia bribed the owner. He immediately smiled and agreed to let them watch the surveillance footage.
The boys promptly approached her when they saw that.
As the owner retrieved the footage she asked for, Thalia lowered her voice and asked, “What do you think? My way is faster, right?”
Anthony glanced at her. “It's possible to do that without spending any money.”
“Then would you have known the frequency of these people showing up here?”
“Are you saying...”
Thalia nodded at him with a grin.
Immediately, Anthony asked, “What did the owner say?”
“Didn't you say it's doable without spending money? Give it a try yourself!”
Knowing when to eat humble pie, Anthony quickly said, “That's because I know how excellent you are. I just don't want to admit it.”
“Then why are you admitting it now?”
“Well, that's because... you're just so excellent that nothing can hide it! Even if I don't want to admit it, I have to.”
Despite knowing that he didn't really mean it, Thalia still felt great when she heard it. She was greatly satisfied, especially when she saw how unwilling Anthony was to say it.
“It pleases me when you humble yourself before me, Anthony.” Thalia smiled.
“All right, that's enough. Don't go overboard, Thalia. You have money, but I have money too. I could've gotten the same answer!” Anthony warned.
“Try it, then. I want to see you try!”
That prompted him to withdraw his smile and raise his head to stare at the person in front of him. “Sir—”
“Do you think his fear of death is less than his desire for your money?” Thalia interrupted.
Anthony forcefully swallowed his words and turned to look at her, who was currently smiling brightly.
Anthony knew what the store owner would pick, of course. People naturally had a hard time resisting the allure of money, but when faced with the possibility of death, money would lose its value almost completely.
At that thought, Anthony could not be bothered to continue arguing with Thalia. “You really are incredible, Thalia!”
The speed with which he changed his expression was comparable to that of a performer.
However, Thalia knew Anthony was feeling pretty anxious about the matter, so she didn't push on.
“All right, since you have said so, I'm going to be nice and tell you what the shop owner said. Otherwise, someone like you, who's far removed from the ordinary folks, won't understand it!” Abruptly, Thalia replaced her smile with a serious expression. “When I asked the store owner earlier, he said those people had been passing by the place often recently. While those people weren't the ones who showed up today, it's obvious they belonged to the same group.”
There was an indescribable look in Anthony's narrowed eyes.
“This means they probably live nearby!” Thalia speculated. “It's possible that this place isn't far from Vermillion Base.”
“Nat never drinks this kind of beverage,” Benjamin said.
Thalia was stunned. The instinct she had honed after working in the same field for years told her that something was indeed odd about it.
Those kinds of signals were often only known by the people closest to them or who understood them the most.
Upon arriving at that thought, Thalia turned to Anthony. “Really?”
Anthony nodded.
Thalia glanced at the drink. “What kind of message is Nat trying to tell us?”
All three of them studied the drink for a long while, but they couldn't figure anything out.
The surveillance footage was still playing on the screen. When Natasha had almost finished picking what to buy, Boss came in. Just as she was going to pay for the products she had picked, Boss tried to pay for them on her behalf instead.
“Seems that Boss treats Nat pretty well. He even helped pay for her stuff. She looked more like she had been invited to leave with him than kidnapped,” Thalia joked.
Benjamin and Anthony remained silent.
Yet, the next moment, Natasha pulled out her own money, paid for the items, and left.
As though everything had happened within his expectations, Boss used his money to buy a box of chocolate instead of putting it back into his wallet.
Both of them then exchanged a few words at the door, which was what Benjamin and Anthony had seen earlier, before getting into the car.
After watching the footage, the trio had an idea of what was going on.
Indeed, Natasha's current situation wasn't as awful as they thought.
As she still appeared fine and well, on top of the fact that she could ignore Boss without consequences, it meant her situation wasn't as he had described.
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