The moment Nero announced his decision, the worker froze.
He clearly hadn't expected the supposedly kind-hearted Nero from the rumors to be so decisive when making a call.
The Shackling Prison was no pleasant place. The worker glanced around in panic and immediately stammered out, "N-no, wait... I was wrong! I was wrong! I wasn't the one who put that thing there. Scott gave me twenty thousand credits and told me to..."
Before the worker could finish, Scott cut him off with an even louder, shriller shout.
"Hey! You bastard, you're still trying to frame me now? You're the one who put that thing in there and nearly smashed my vase, and now you're trying to pin it on me too?!"
As he spoke, Scott stepped forward and pulled out a stun gun from inside his clothes.
He had no intention of letting the worker continue talking. In a situation like this, shutting him up was the better option.
Using the worker's body as cover, Scott fired the stun gun at him.
"S-Scott, you y-y-y-you wuwuwuwu..."
The worker, who had been ready to argue with Scott, suddenly stiffened. His speech became fragmented, like a glitched recording endlessly looping the same second after dropped frames.
After a violent spasm, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed limply.
Scott pretended to steady him, but in reality he used the cover to slip the stun gun back into his clothes.
The whole process was smooth, and Scott acted completely natural throughout. It was hard to imagine how many times he must have practiced this.
Only after the worker slumped against him did Scott finally act startled and hurriedly step back. Then he shouted at the unconscious worker lying on the floor,
"Hey! What's with you lying there motionless? Trying to scam me or something? Don't push it too far!"
After yelling at the fallen worker a couple times, Scott straightened his expression and looked back at Stelle and the others.
"Speaking of which, if you people hadn't opened the package and released that thing, why would it have suddenly gone berserk?"
"My vase was packaged perfectly fine, and it almost got smashed because of you. What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Nero ignored Scott's aggressive accusations and paid no attention to the farce he'd just staged.
He was contacting Huohuo. The Ten-Lords Commission would be arriving soon enough to arrest people.
Scott was another matter. After all, the man really was sheltered under the umbrella of corporate diplomatic protection. But this bribed worker was definitely going in.
Still, it didn't matter. Someone else would deal with Scott eventually.
It was hard to imagine whether Scott would even have any dignity left once he returned to the IPC.
Even if everything on the Xianzhou went perfectly for him, Aventurine would still teach him how the world worked, let alone the fact that nothing here was going to go smoothly for him.
After all, Nero's existence alone was like an insurmountable wall standing directly in Scott's path... though the idiot didn't seem to realize that yet. The moment he decided to make that barking bet, his future had already been sealed.
Faced with Scott's overbearing interrogation, Stelle blinked and copied his tone.
"Huhhh? What was that? I can't hear you. Speak louder..."
Scott's face instantly turned purple, the muscles twitching uncontrollably.
This was bad. She learned it from him.
"And isn't it still not broken?" Sushang crossed her arms and said irritably.
"Oh? So you were hoping it would break?" Scott shot back, glaring at her.
Faced with the question, Stelle nodded honestly, displaying the same straightforward sincerity Nero often did.
"Actually, yeah. I really wish it had broken."
Scott, "..."
Maybe it was just his imagination...
That white-haired brat was already hard enough to deal with. Why did this gray-haired one suddenly seem like she'd become smarter too?
An ominous feeling rose in Scott's chest, but he quickly forced the thoughts aside. He looked around, planted his hands on his hips like the owner of the place, and barked, "No matter what, you caused all this trouble. If you don't apologize to me, that'd be unacceptable."
"W-we still have to apologize for this?"
Sushang felt like Scott was completely unreasonable. His thought process simply wasn't something a normal person should have.
At the same time, she quietly took two steps back, afraid his spit would spray onto her.
"Hah? If you don't apologize, it won't sound very good once word gets out." Scott raised a brow.
Sushang clenched her fists, then loosened them again. Frustration tightened in her chest, and even her body temperature seemed to rise.
Suddenly, she felt a cool touch at her side. Looking down, she realized Nero had tugged lightly at her.
Then she saw the boy raise a hand and mutter solemnly, "Sister Sushang, the ancestors once said, learn the barbarians' superior techniques in order to defeat the barbarians, and return their methods back onto them."
"You have to learn what the enemy is good at and use it against them. Fight magic with magic. So..."
Sushang blinked at Nero.
What was all that about defeating barbarians with barbarian methods?
She hadn't understood most of it at all.
But she did understand the part about using the enemy's own methods against them.
After thinking for a moment, Sushang grasped what Nero meant.
So she tilted slightly sideways, put a hand to her ear, and mimicked the exaggerated tone she'd learned from Scott.
"Huhhh? What? I can't hear you. Speak louder..."
Scott, "..." God damn it...
Scott ground his teeth, then sneered, "Quit fooling around here. Hmph. If I spread this whole incident throughout Aurum Alley, I imagine all the businesses cooperating with you will find things very troublesome."
"And those who aren't working with you, after hearing about your glorious deeds, will probably gain a much clearer understanding of who you people really are."
"Th-this..."
Sushang's gaze wavered, then she bit her lip.
For Aurum Alley, an apology was just an apology...
But before she could speak, Nero interrupted again.
"Sister Sushang, you don't need to apologize. Even if you did, he'd still spread the story afterward anyway, because it benefits him too much."
Scott, "?"
'This white-haired little bastard actually predicted me!?'
"And besides, say whatever you want. The Ten-Lords Commission will be here soon. Compared to the claims of an outsider like you, I think the people of Aurum Alley would rather trust the judgment of the Ten-Lords Commission. They'll publicly announce what happened today, along with the results of the interrogation."
Nero continued speaking as he casually lifted his eyes toward Scott.
"As for using the IPC's influence to spread rumors across the universe that are harmful to the Xianzhou..."
"Putting aside whether the IPC higher-ups would even allow something that could spark diplomatic conflict or draw the attention of the Xianzhou Alliance, even if they did allow it, it's not something someone at your level could accomplish."
"If you really had that kind of authority and capability, why would you need to work so hard here in Aurum Alley, playing the clown?"
Nero's voice wasn't loud, nor did he speak quickly, but every word he uttered landed with absolute clarity in the ears of everyone around him.
And every single word in that sentence felt like a cold steel spike, one after another driving deep into Scott's lonely heart.
Scott's face turned red.
"Stop talking, stop talking! Don't say another word...!" Scott roared at Nero.