Chapter 192 – The Final Countdown

Author Note:

Before you continue reading this chapter, if you are not familiar with the song "The Final Countdown" by Europe, you should go listen to it on youtube (https://youtu.be/9jK-NcRmVcw). When a tune / beat is mentioned in this chapter, you should imagine the start of this song.

---

With an upturn of his lips, Noah reached his slender hand towards a waiter who was passing by, elegantly snatching a wine glass from his tray. Then he motioned a toast towards the people present and took a small yet somehow alluring sip.

The sweet red wine stained Noah’s lips a darker shade of red as if rouge. His pink tongue quickly licked it off as if a kitten lapping up milk, leaving his pink lips glossy and especially enticing.

Levi and Trey, to the right and left of him, stiffened. And much to Levi’s outrage, even a couple of old farts in front couldn’t help but swallow hard. Really made Levi want to beat people up until even their mother couldn’t recognize them!!!

As the men present raised their own glasses to return the toast, Noah stealthily tapped on the wristband of his communicator, but in reality, with an AI in his head, he did not need to press anything. “Blackie, I choose you! Whoosh!”

Blackie, who was waiting for the command, nearly triggered the wrong program, “Whoosh?! …did you just make a Pokeball throwing sound effect?!”

“Whaaat? No, of course not! Don’t be ridiculous.” Noah denied with a straight face, “Now is not the time to think about silly things, ah! Go, Blackie! Use Rapid Fire!”

Blackie, (ꐦ ◠‿◠) “…” ‘Don’t do it, Blackie. Do not strangle your host! You are better than this!’

Noah’s eyes locked with that of councilor Desmond. The other man opened his mouth to say a few words when suddenly, the communicator on his wrist dinged with a message notification.

Whatever councilor Desmond wanted to say changed into, “Excuse me–” but his words were overpowered by a series of dings coming from his communicator that seemed to form a catchy beat.

Startled and confused, councilor Desmond reached to silence his communicator, only to freeze in his tracks when he heard Noah humming along to this unfamiliar tune.

The onset of dread caused councilor’s pupils to shrink into needles, and his face paled.

“Apologies for spamming your unregistered number with messages, councilor.” Noah once again motioned his glass towards the man, “Do you know this song? It has a rather appropriate name…”– Noah’s musical chuckle reverberated through the hall – “The Final Countdown.”

The corners of Noah’s mouth curved up in a devastating smile, “Unfortunately, yours has just dropped to zero.”

Councilor Desmond was not given the time to react, for, at that moment, Fynn stepped out from behind him with a pair of law enforcement officers. “Councilor, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”

The murmurs of shock rose throughout the hall. The agitated and disgruntled councilor Desmond protested, putting up one last struggle to no avail. His communicator was immediately confiscated, and under the watchful eyes of everyone present, he was escorted by two officers out of the hall.

Well, under the watchful eyes of nearly everyone, because there was one person whose eyes were stuck on Noah, unable to look away.

“Baby, that was… so sexy~” Noah nearly jumped out of his skin when Levi’s clearly aroused, sexy grunt trickled into his ears. And with that, this stunning bushy-tailed little fox turned into a trembling little rabbit once again, with his ears flushing deep scarlet in a matter of seconds.

“You-you-you…!!” Noah spun around, heaving, but as soon as he met Levi’s scorching gaze, his wide amber eyes darted away as if burnt.

“Mn?” Levi nudged Noah’s succulent red ears with the tip of his nose. Ah, this incubus of his really made him want to drop his pants and take him right here and now!

The incubus–ahem, little rabbit Noah jumped away at the soft touch on his sensitive ear lobes. Then, abruptly realizing they were in public, he jumped back and grabbed Levi’s arm to lead him towards the next group of guests. ‘Ah, ah! Must distract this rogue ASAP! QAQ Otherwise, I’ll be bullied again!’

Noah tugged on Levi’s arm, but the other stood rooted to the spot, staring at Noah with an expectant gaze that said he wouldn’t move unless he received a proper response.

Finally, baby Noah lowered his pink cheeks in surrender and stuttered under his breath, “T-thanks? You… you t–?” …Noah caught himself before he managed to blurt out “you too” like an idiot. However, even though he managed to stop himself in time…

The meek little rabbit remained docile for only a moment, for, in the next, he spun around again in wide-eyed outrage, “You-you-you!!! Don’t laugh!!”

“Not laughing.” The clearly laughing Levi shamelessly denied and even had the gall to drop a peck on those sweet glossy lips. “Not laughing at you; just very happy.”

***

- Two days ago -

“Oh?” Fynn’s eyes snapped fully open in clear interest. “You have a way that will allow us to immediately arrest councilor Desmond if he is guilty?”

Noah’s mouth quirked up, and he nodded, “If this unregistered communicator number doesn't block messages from unknown numbers, then we can send it a message at the party. As long as councilor’s communicator receives it, we can arrest him.”

Fynn paused for a moment to process what Noah was suggesting, then his eyes lit up. “Of course! If we send the terrorist a message and the councilor’s communicator dings, it would mean he is our man!” But Fynn’s initial excitement quickly subsided, “However… what if his communicator is set to silent mode? Also, I don’t think a single well-timed ping is enough grounds to justify his public arrest. He would still be able to argue it off as coincidence.”

Noah shook his head, “He wouldn’t put his second number to silent mode in fear of missing an important message or call from Asan. He has surely already heard that we are looking for Asan, and the best way to keep himself from being identified is to get rid of everyone who knows his identity. In other words, he should be looking for Asan too right now, in order to silence him.”

Noah leaned back in his seat, “And if a single ping isn’t enough to arrest him, then what about sending a series of timed messages that will cause multiple pings? Receiving one message could be argued off as a coincidence, but what if his communicator ended up playing our tune?” Noah’s lips curved up in an enchanting smirk, “Could that still be called a coincidence?”

A snort of laughter escaped Fynn, “With so many witnesses on the scene and clear surveillance footage, I’d love to see him argue his way out of that one!”

“Then leave this matter to me. Send me his communicator number, and I'll set it up.” Noah’s eyes curved. “And when I say 'I', I mean you, Blackie. You, as an advanced AI should be capable of using my communicator to send a couple of messages with the right timing, no?”

“Pfft, of course,” Blackie puffed up his virtual chest in pride, “That's basic! Even a toaster in the Bureau can do something as simple as that! What beat should I set it to?”

Noah stroked his chin in thought, “There is a song I remember from Cradle that would be… most fitting…” Noah’s mouth spread into a cheeky grin, “The Final Countdown.”

***

Luckily, despite the arrest of councilor Desmond, the festive mood of the banquet had not been dampened. The collective mood still remained more or less the same as before – perfectly summed up with a single sentence: ‘We came to the banquet, but before the food had even been served, we got stuffed full with dog food!’ QAQ

The banquet lasted the entire day and night. But long before it reached its climax, the smiles on the hosts’ faces had already grown stiff with facial cramps. Especially the smiles on the faces of the Cordias, who were forced to explain the “inside story” of the sudden change in brides for the umpteenth time to the gossipy guests.