Chapter 56: Making Liliana Palmer Join Me
Klaus left the apartment.
Liliana, still dumbfounded by his unbelievable display of power, slowly stepped closer to Flinn, lying down on the floor with a pained expression.
A swollen mark had formed at the center of his forehead, hinting that Klaus had used more strength now than he had against the Milten gang.
She stared at Flinn’s face with a deep frown, her fists clenched tightly, nails digging into her flesh yet unable to draw blood.
She didn’t know what to do. She was angry, devastated, couldn’t believe anything, and didn’t know who to trust anymore.
Was she supposed to kill him? No, she couldn’t even think of doing something like that. Punish him? He was an employee at Hephaestus Technology and Powers; they could get him out within a few minutes.
There was literally nothing she could do.
Burdened by her thoughts, she shifted into a chair and mindlessly stared at Flinn.
She sat there doing just what he had wanted for all those years. Yet he was still unable to enjoy it. It was ironic more than anything else.
Time passed; the sunlight streaming through the windows changed intensity and color as the afternoon went by and the evening fell.
Right then, the apartment’s door opened, and Klaus walked in with a flat expression.
Liliana raised her head and looked at him.
"Who are you?" She asked before shaking her head and following up with: "No... What are you?"
Her gaze turned both curious and horrified.
He stayed silent for a brief moment and then said in an unbothered tone, "I am the future... or at least, I intend to become it."
He smiled faintly and continued.
"If you are asking whether I am a good person or a bad one, I don’t know. But one thing I am sure of is that I want you, Liliana Palmer, to join me."
He stepped closer to her and bent down to meet her eyes. "I want you to join what I envision."
With an unwavering gaze, he added, "I need you."
She glanced down and thought, ’Can I trust this person?’
Taking a deep breath, she asked, "What do you want from me?"
"I want you to be the voice of what I am building."
She frowned, unable to understand the meaning behind his words.
"I don’t get it."
Klaus sighed inwardly. He was expecting that.
"What do you think people believe the most? Facts or lies? None of them. They believe the person saying them. We have had many people saying the same things yet having a different effect on the people."
"You are one of those people. Your voice can make people believe a lie is the truth and doubt the truth as if it were a lie."
"You want to manipulate the public?" She questioned, her voice heavy.
"No." He shook his head. "I am building something that will change everything, but people won’t trust something they don’t know. I need you to introduce it to them."
Right at that moment, Klaus’s untraceable phone began to ring.
Liliana and Klaus turned their gaze to it before the latter pulled out the device and picked up the call after putting it on speaker.
Hearing the voice, Liliana furrowed her brows and remarked inwardly, ’What kind of weird guy talks like that?’
"Did you get it done, Trenton?"
’Trenton?’ She frowned; she did remember hearing a similar name a few years back but couldn’t recall anything about it.
The reason Klaus had left was to give Liliana some time alone and to have Trenton Schwartz get Flinn kicked out of Hephaestus Techs so they would no longer care about him.
Liliana blinked her eyes, and she mumbled in a disbelieving tone, "Trenton Schwartz...?"
She knew the person. A few years back, he was one of the candidates for the position of CEO, but due to some unknown reason, he completely gave up on that and stopped giving the outstanding results he used to. That caused him to slowly lose the influence he had, but to think someone like him was working for the masked man... it seemed like she had underestimated him even after everything he had shown her.
"Great work," Klaus praised.
Klaus smiled and cut the call.
His gaze shifted to Flinn, and he said, "Well, now you don’t have to worry about Hephaestus Techs while thinking about what to do about this guy."
Liliana speechlessly stared at his face for a long while, and then she said, "I don’t know whether my choice is wrong or right. But I feel like I will regret not joining you, and the last thing I want anymore is more things to regret."
"Is that a yes?" He asked.
She nodded. "For now, yes."
He extended a hand to her. "It’s good to finally have you."
She gently shook his hand and said, "Please don’t make me regret this."
"Did I tell you that I also hate regrets?" He muttered.
She let out a chuckle. "That’s good."
At that very moment, a blue screen appeared before Klaus.
[Host has formed a meaningful connection!]
[Host has gained another companion!]
[Host has leveled up!]
[The quest can be repeated three more times!]
[Gain another companion.]
’Heh. Finally a level up,’ he remarked inwardly.
She turned to Flinn and pulled out her phone.
"What are you planning to do?"
"I am going to hand him over to the police... If I let him go, things would only become much more troublesome for me because he’d take it as weakness rather than sympathy."
"Heh," Klaus snickered and said, "That makes me remember a line I once read. It goes like: sympathy to your enemy is betrayal to yourself."
"Yeah... I read that as well. I believe it was in a bio of a teenager going through their Emo phase."
"Oh? Me too."