Chapter 7: Suspicious Person

"I need a new computer and a stable network connection if I'm going to study the hacking and coding textbooks you are providing me with, they are too advanced for my shabby ones," Lily noted. 

{You have enough money to get those things now, but you have to create some time to attend the national fashion competition.}

"Do I still have to attend that?" Lily asked with a raised brow. 

{Of course, you have to! It's Lily's wish to win the competition and start up her fashion business after it,} the system reminded her. 

"It's already too late to join the school team now, isn't it? My spot on the team would have been given to someone else after my accident" Lily argued. 

{You can join as a private individual but you need to have a registered company and at least two workers in your company before you can register to join the competition,} the system explained.

"How do you expect me to join and win the competition now? We don't have a company at hand. Wait, when is the competition, I know nothing about fashion and cloth design." Lily panicked. 

{With me here, you can learn any skill you want, but since I'm at level zero at the moment, you can only learn basic skills but compared to the current trend in this world, the basic skill is enough for now}. 

{New task alert! Learn Basic Fashion Designing. Mission reward: 50 system upgrade points}. 

{Mission Two: create or buy a clothing company and employ two workers.}

Lily frowned at the new set of missions and narrowed her eyes at the space in front of her. 

"Will I get a new mission every time I'm faced with unfamiliar situations?"

{Most likely, if you intend to build an empire, you have to learn the basic skills at least}. 

"Alright, let's go buy me a computer first, we will start learning fashion design after successfully signing the contract with Alpha!" Lily suggested and got dressed to go out. 

{While you are at it you might as well buy some nice clothes. The original owner doesn't have anything decent, and you have to start caring for your image starting from now. I wasn't able to complain about the shabby clothes before now because you have no money but now that you do, buy more beautiful clothes!}

The next day, Lily arrived at the designated café dressed in a hoodie that covered her face, paired with a face mask. 

She stood in front of the café for several minutes, bracing herself for what was to come. The passerby gave her weird stares as she was dressed suspiciously. 

After confirming through the system that their target was in, she took one last deep breath and walked to the entrance where she was stopped by the security. 

"How may we help you? What do you need?" The first security guy asked, eyeing Lily suspiciously. 

"I'm here to meet someone," Lily replied calmly, her voice barely above a whisper. 

"Meet someone? Who?" The second guy asked, silently ridiculing her choice of dressing. It wasn't the first time they would be dealing with beggars who wanted to go into the café to beg and be suspiciously dressed, they immediately categorised her as one of those beggars wanting to break in.

"I'm here to meet the person in VIP booth 01, you can tell them Sinful is here," Lily replied calmly, trying not to get offended by the way the security guards were treating her with disdain, due to her poor choice of clothing. 

But every moment she stood by and watched them ridicule her with their eyes, she lost her calm and patience.

"Why don't you go in and check if I'm lying or not?" She asked in annoyance, the first security guy laughed mockingly. 

"You could have mentioned any other room but 01, are you kidding? You have an appointment with the person in 01 dressed like this? It won't work. You can go and beg somewhere here, our café doesn't entertain beggars like you!" He mocked and the second guy laughed. 

Annoyed, she brought out her new phone and logged in to the website to message Alpha. 

Sinful: Could you send someone to get me, I was not allowed inside. 

"It's my fault, I should have at least asked for their contact yesterday."

{Yes or I can generate their contact for you,} the system suggested. Lily's eyes widened under the hoodie. 

"You can do something like that?" She asked in surprise.

{It's one of the basic functions of the system. I am connected to the source of the internet and I can get whatever information I need at any time!} It boasted and Lily swallowed the urge to set up a shrine for the creator of the lucky system. 

Isaac, who had been on the site, studying the procedure of the firewall, was the one who got the message. Knowing that his boss wanted to meet the master hacker to discuss further partnership, he quickly put a call through to Mark.

"President, the hacker, Sinful has been outside the café but the security won't let them in," Isaac reported, almost cursing the security for delaying such divine being that has been sent their way. 

Mark stood up and went outside immediately. 

The two security guys noticed him coming out and had a gloating look on their faces.

"You said you wanted to meet the master in booth 01? There he is, let's see if he'll acknowledge you, if he doesn't we will get you arrested for distracting business!" the first guy threatened. Lily remained silent as her eyes remained fixed on the handsome young man, dark hair and a tall slim build. 

She recognised him instantly, Mark Watson, the heir to the Watson group. In her past life as Victoria, she remembered her mother had worked with him on a phone project, working with him had been one of the reasons Hamilton was nationally recognised. She could never forget how excited Mom had been after the proposal was signed. 

Mark looked around in search of the person waiting, his eyes had skimmed over Lily before he realised she was being blocked by the security. 

With pursed lips he went towards them and greeted them politely, "You are Sinful?" He asked.

"You must be Alpha," Lily replied in a deep voice, she had practiced how to mask her voice all night with the help of the system. 

"I am, please come in. I'm sorry for the inconvenience they might have caused," he apologized and glared at the two security guys. 

Seeing how Mark treated the suspicious person politely, fear filled the hearts of the security guys and they apologized to her. 

"We are sorry for the delay, we were just guarding against suspicious people!"

Lily walked away without sparing them a glance, she knew it was her fault for dressing so casually and suspiciously, so she didn't need to find trouble with them. 

Mark led her to the private room and gestured for her to sit. He gave her a look over but did not comment on her dress after remembering what Isaac had told him about the hacker. 

"What would you like to eat or drink?" He asked politely. 

"I'm okay, let's discuss the reason why we are both here," she replied. 

She provided a written plan on how she wants to develop the code and programme, and also incorporate it with new or existing technology. 

The more Mark read the document, the more interested he became in acquiring the code, but he had been in the business for a long time so he knew not to show his interest too early. 

"These are only written and anyone can do the planning, how am I so sure that the firewall and other programs that come with it can be upgraded the way you have written here?" Mark questioned as he dropped the document he was reading. 

Lily had been expecting his observation and she brought out her laptop to show him the level two of the one she had sent to him last night. 

"The level one I sent to you can only be used by large sites and companies, but the upgraded ones that I'm working on can be used on mobile phones and other portable devices." While she explained, she showed him the level two and how it works.

"Although the general idea is still retained, the more we upgrade the firewall, the more functions it will have. Level one only has the function of locking intruders out, while level two would create a wall around those intruders and trap them inside while corrupting their system, the next level would not only do the function of levels one and two, it would also gather their system information and locate their precise location, no matter the blocker they use," Lily explained in detail while showing him the one she was currently upgrading. 

No matter how Mark thought about it, he knew once the technology was revealed, it would send all the other experts into a frenzy as they would try to learn it.

"May I ask if you made the programme yourself?" Mark asked sceptically, he had made sure to keep an eye on the school that produced the best hackers and programmers so that he could employ them and that is how Alpha had remained at the top in the technology aspect of the economy. 

"Yes, I did and I'm willing to teach it to your team of hackers after all the upgrades are done," Lily replied firmly. 

Mark could not describe his happiness with words as he looked over the project plans again. Acquiring the code would not only take him a step further, he could finally throw off his uncle and cousin in the competition soon enough.

"I am satisfied with the programme and I'm willing to buy an exclusive right to it, I hope you understand what that means?" Mark asked and Lily smirked under the mask.

"I do know what it means, I'm happy you are satisfied with the programme." 

Mark provided the contract to buy the rights and after reading it over, Lily signed the contract with the base payment of a million dollars and four million when the whole upgrade was done. 

After signing the contract, Mark wanted to ask for her details, instead, she told him to pay the money to the hacker's website. The website has a policy that helps the employee and employer keep their identity secret, no matter how often they transact.

Disappointed that he wasn't able to get her identity, he sighed and decided to let go until another time. 

"I hope to continue working with you in the future, so if you have some other projects worth my time, do let me know." Mark gave her his business card.

"It was nice doing business with you."