Reboot: Mechanic

As the realization of Theobold's potential motive settled in, Vanessa and Mary's expressions shifted from disbelief to contemplation. 

They began to see the depth of Shi Tian's analysis, even if it had been presented in a somewhat comical manner.

Vanessa, in particular, seemed to grasp the implications quickly. She leaned forward, her brows furrowing in thought. "So, you're saying that Theobold's pursuit of power might be his way of compensating for... impotence?"

Shi Tian nodded solemnly. "Exactly. If he's unable to have a normal life in certain aspects, he might seek control and dominance in others. Power, in this case, could be his substitute for what he lacks."

"But how do you know he's impotence?" Mary raised an eyebrow and questioned. 

Everything might have seemed nice and explained everything on the surface, but the question now was… how did he come to this conclusion? 

"Do you have any evidence to back up your conjunction?" She asked again, seemingly trying to validate the claim. Back then, they had committed a similar mistake in thinking the monster wave was done by the Harrett Family.

But after numerous situations, they learned that their deductions were wrong and they had blamed it wrongly on the Harrett Family.

Mary does not wish to make another mistake because of their deduction without concrete proof.

Shi Tian nodded his head, understanding her doubt. 

Had it not been for the critical information that the integrated chip in his brain had given to him, he would have never thought of the reason being impotency. 

"Do you trust me, Mary?" Shi Tian asked.

"Trust is quite the difficult word you're asking, Nathan." Mary crossed her arms and said. "Especially when you have just tried to tell Vanessa that you're heartless and not trustable at all." She added, reminding him of his action. 

"Right… I did say that." Shi Tian smiled bitterly, having forgotten that he had just said those kinds of words earlier. 

"Whatever then, the fact remains that the enemies are spying on us because of this badge." He shrugged his shoulders and said, picking up the badge.

Now that they had unraveled the identity of the enemy, and possibly their main intention as well, the focal point now remained on how they would deal with the enemies lurking 1000 meters away from them.

"With our current loadout, we can't win them head-on." Mary was the first to give her input, being the most experienced fighter out of them all. 

She could deduce they were severely lacking in firepower and were incapable of confronting the enemies head-on. 

"I doubt the drone would be effective either. The moment I tried to go close to them under the pretext of killing monsters, they subsequently retreated as well." Vanessa added, giving her input when they were ordered to delay their movement to give Shi Tian time. 

"Who said we are going to fight them head-on?" Shi Tian questioned back. He was confused as to why they would think he wanted to confront the enemy head-on.

Only a foolish brute would attempt to confront an unknown enemy directly.

"We have traps in our arsenal, so why wouldn't we utilize them?" Shi Tian looked at the two women as if they had lost their brain cells. 

"Do you think traps are effective against these elite soldiers?" Mary twitched her brows. Since they were determined to identify the enemy to be Theobold, it goes to say that the enemies tracking them are Theobold's elite soldiers.

Hence, these elite soldiers are experienced and powerful.

Would traps even be effective against such people?

Matter of fact, even if they did lay the traps, these elite soldiers would probably discover the trap and disarm them before it could even be of use.

Vanessa, herself, also agreed with Mary. She had personally witnessed their strength during her supposed protection period. 

"If you're talking about the Claymore Mines that Optic Mech produced, then it's best to save them for the Gilaso variants," Vanessa said emotionlessly. 

"The Claymore Mines are immensely powerful now and people have already learned how to counter it by now." She added. 

Meanwhile, Shi Tian laughed bitterly in response when it was indeed true that they were underestimating him so much. No wonder they looked at him like a joke when he proclaimed to be a spy. 

"Shall we have a bet then?" Shi Tian suggested. 

And he continued, "If I can succeed in capturing them all, then you all will stop underestimating me. Additionally, Mary, you will offer me more blueprints and teach me more coding skills. As for you, Vanessa, you're not allowed to stay mad at me anymore for gambling your life." 

"Then what if you failed?" Both Vanessa and Mary asked curiously. 

"If I failed then I owe both of you a favor… of course, Vanessa would be two by then." Shi Tian said without any hesitation. 

He was determined to succeed and his demeanor showed them it. 

"The favor– we can request anything, right?" Mary rubbed her chin and enquired. 

"Anything as long as it doesn't involve telling me to kill myself." Shi Tian responded. 

"Deal," Mary quickly agreed to it.

"Wait a minute, I haven't agreed with it." Vanessa suddenly raised her hand and said. 

"Does your opinion even matter?" Mary snickered coldly, ignoring her. 

"If Vanessa is scared to make the bet, then just take it as her loss. Anyone too pussy to make a bet has no right to say anything." She added, purposely provoking Vanessa into accepting it. 

Mary was not going to let Vanessa scot-free. 

After all, the betting terms weren't anything bad for her, but if Shi Tian truly succeeded, then the so-called favor Shi Tian owed Vanessa would be nullified. 

Of course, if Shi Tian failed in the end, then she herself would gain a favor that he would owe. As for Vanessa gaining two, she couldn't care less about it.

Naturally, Vanessa understood the shrewd mind of Mary and the reason why she didn't want to agree to the betting at all.

'This Mary is really a bane.' Vanessa cursed silently.