"Soone did it!"
Fred was in chaos mode the mont he saw the old computer's reaction. His eyes read the screen reading the words 'Bloom Haven'
He paused, wasn't it recently that soone finally cleared the Miasma within that part of the ga? Until then players hadn't been able to access it, or so he thought.
A mory ca to mind, sothing so long ago he had almost forgotten it. The reason he sought to solve the puzzle of the CEO's family.
[Flashback]
Fred Berkley stood in front of the CEO's desk staring at the luxury carpeted floor of the large office. Before him, the CEO sat at a dark oak wood desk decorated with intricately carved figures of fairies and old gods.
Fred recognized so of them from Lumos inc's current project Moon Valley. The VRMMORPG was set to co out that year and Fred himself had even played and voiced so characters of his own. The grumpy librarian was one of them and a few others who didn't have as much of a morable role.
"Fred." The CEO's soft but firm voice called. Fred lifted his gaze from the floor and t warm brown eyes staring at him in worry.
"Yes sir?" Fred replied.
"Have you been sleeping much Fred?" Mr. Sinclair, founder and CEO of Lumos Inc. asked. The man laced his hands together, resting his elbows on the table as he studied the brilliant man standing in front of his desk.
"Sleep continues to elude ," Fred said sheepishly.
"And with all the caffeine you drink, it will continue to run." Mr. Sinclair said with a chuckle. The older man sobered up and sat straight-backed in his chair.
"Fred I've called you into this office today because of your past. you're the only one I trust with this."
Fred stumbled back at the sudden reminder, he glared at the CEO, angry the man would bring up sothing he wanted to forget.
Sensing the hostility, Mr. Sinclair leaned forward, intending to press the issue.
"Yes Fred, this is a task I have chosen specifically because of your connection to the flowers of the red dawn."
Fred gasped.
"You said you would never bring up my connection to that group."
"I need you to help find soone. I've exhausted all other avenues, you are my last hope,"
"Who?" Fred asked still glaring. He didn't expect the CEO would ask him to do sothing illegal, it almost disappointed him that the man would bring up his past in an attempt to use him. Fred clenched his fist.
"Fred, I'm not asking you to do sothing illegal. I rely require your trained expertise. But this must remain between us." Mr. Sinclair said sternly.
He stood up from his desk and beckoned Fred to follow him.
The two of them stood within the dusty Archives of the Lumos Inc. building which the CEO had fashioned to mimic one of the very first offices he had ever worked in.
The CEO didn't seem concerned by the dust now gathering on his expensive suit and walked forward until he ca to an analog device covered with a forrly white sheet.
From its silhouette, Fred could already tell it was a computer of so sort, so old model that couldn't keep up with innovations of the current year.
Fred stared as Mr. Sinclair pulled the sheet off, presenting him with an old computer monitor from tis long past. The rectangular, dark face of the monitor reflected him, the machine beeped, a soft distorted sound from the aged speakers.
Fred watched as it sputtered and coughed up dust from its CPU before whirling to life. Heavy internal fans spat dust and gri but finally, the dark screen glowed.
A white cursor blinked onto the screen, it was alive.
Fred moved his attention from the dusty tech and back to his boss who was now looking pleased with himself.
"This belonged to my late brother. And I believe it is the only thing that can help find my niece." Mr. Sinclair said.
"Y-Your niece?" Fred stuttered. He watched for a reaction from the CEO but the man kept his face a stoic calm. Mr. Sinclair nodded.
"For years now, I've been trying my hardest to find her, hired the best PIs searched and searched. But alas. I know her parents changed her na to protect her from my past as well. My brother and I-" the CEO cut himself off, not wanting to reveal too much.
Mr. Sinclair exhaled.
Fred paused, rubbing the back of his head and wondering how to ask the question he wanted to pose.
"Sir, how do you know she's...alive?" Fred said thoughtfully.
"Trust I know, how I know will be revealed in ti." Mr. Sinclair said. The CEO turned his back, preparing to leave the archive rooms. "Use everything available to you, to get that machine working. It alone holds the key to finding her. And I know she will be looking too."
[End Flashback]
He leaves the archival room and walks down the silent hallways to the other person who would still be here so late in the night.
"Yvlena," he said under his breath running towards the server room. If it was one place he could be sure to find player information, it would be there.
His feet echoed through the corridors as he ran through the corridors of the Lumos Inc. building. Finally, he stopped at a plain white sliding door with simple bronze lettering labeled 'Server room.'
Fred bursts through the door, startling the only person who stood amidst the large shelves of servers lining the room from wall to wall in a nearly maze-like structure.
The server room was one of the biggest rooms in the building, shiny casings reflected Fred's image at him as he stepped forward.
"Fred Barkley"
The icy tone of the sole server engineer said. She released a suffering sigh, lowering her tablet before turning to Fred to glance up and down at him in obvious annoyance.
"I need you to help check sothing within the servers."
The woman scoffed, bothered by his presence in the server room. Fred paid it no mind, knowing that much like himself, his colleague had a disdain for people entering her space.
"And why should I? it's not as if I benefit from helping the archival rat." She said, tapping her tablet.
"It's important to the CEO," Fred said.
The woman raised an eyebrow, her tapping ceased. She considered it before rolling her eyes and beckoning him as if he were a dog.
Fred walked forward, paying her attitude no mind.
Romina Walsh, chief server engineer and one of the most brilliant won Fred had ever t. He would know, he recomnded her for the position.
Romina stared at him with icy blue eyes, her short hair cut in a bob swished in the air-conditioned room as she faced him. The glitter of her diamond studs glead in the fluorescent lights, matching her equally pale skin tone.
She adjusted her glasses before speaking.
"Lucky you, I was about to go through the player database to get so information for our sponsors. Now what do you want Fred?"
"A player, she would be an elf under the na Yvlena, specifically in Bloom Haven."
Romina's mouth pressed into a thin line, she faced her table, tapping until a holographic projection popped up from the screen on her tablet. She scanned through so files, eventually narrowing it down to the area Fred wanted to know about.
"Glad you made it easy for Fred," she said with a smirk, Fred moved to the front, peering at the holograph closely. "To my knowledge Bloom Haven isn't open to players, it's the CEO's pet project isn't it?"
Romina's eyebrow shot up in surprise.
"Well, well I guess you were right." She said. She enlarged the holographic board allowing Fred to see the detailed information about the person who owned the account.
"Aya Brown?" Fred gasped, reading the owner of the email account, unfortunately, there was no listed identification. No phone number, address, or the like linked to either the email account or the gaming account.
"What about where the money goes? I see she's made large withdrawals here and here over the past two weeks." Fred said curiously.
"She uses a Gpal account, you don't need to tie anything to the account to get your cash Fred. Most likely this person resides in a low-inco area."
"How do you figure Romina? This is incredibly valuable information." Fred said intensely, His tired eyes ignited with passion. Could he finally have solved the mystery?
Romina was taken aback by the fire in his eyes but nodded and went on about the finance service.
"Gpal is one of those fintech apps developed by Nue Corp. It's a finance service you can use for instant transactions and our partnership with Nue Corp allows us to use it as one of our payout options. But as you probably have already guessed it's in the minority of our paynt options."
"Where would you say its largest user base is?"
"Axen and ricross most likely. Axen is going through one of the worst economic crises it has ever seen, while ricross has an almost even class distribution." Romina said adjusting her glasses.
"And here in Evangels, what would you say is the likelihood Gpal has so kind of user base?"
"Not likely at all, it would be sothing very underground, not sothing you would tie to a gaming account unless you're trying to hide sothing."
Fred breathed in the sterile air of the server room, and fell into thought, he considered her words.
"Thank you Romina," he said to her. The woman nodded coldly. Fred spun on his heels, about to leave when Romina called his na.
"Yes?"
"Whoever this girl you're trying to find is, I hope for the best outco." She said looking down at her tablet. The light reflected off her rounded spectacle making her seem ominous but to Fred, it brought a small smile to his face.
"I hope I can find her in ti Romina," He said leaving the server room.
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