“Oh, that’s so funny!” Emily exclaimed, laughing her guts out. She was in a fancy restaurant, eating an expensive lobster dinner, wearing a beautiful black dress, expensive jewelry, and high heels.

  A gentleman sat across from her at the table. He had blonde curly hair, green eyes, freckles spread all over his face, wore round glasses, and seemed to be blushing at the sight of the drop-dead gorgeous Emily.

  “Oh, you think so? Th-Thanks. I’ve told that joke to a few women, but they didn’t understand it,” Ryan said nervously.

  “What? You’re kidding. It was so obvious. Anyone who doesn’t get it is like a total idiot!” Emily exclaimed. Ryan’s cheeks turned redder.

  “Yeah. I’ve always thought the same thing,” Ryan said with a huge smile on his face. Emily smiled too, but it wasn’t a huge smile like Ryan’s. It was a soft, gentle smile—the type that could make any guy, no matter who they were, fall in love.

  And Ryan was definitely in the middle of falling in love. ‘Ugh. That might have been the unfunniest and dumbest joke I’ve ever heard,’ Emily thought.

  These were her true feelings. She wasn’t on a date with this man because she found him attractive or had feelings for him. Hell no! She was on a date with him because he had useful information.

  Information that, if used right, could sever her ties with DRive Virtual Reality Industries: the company keeping her hostage. The man in front of her was Ryan, a lead developer in the company. She was sure he gave her his last name, but she quickly forgot. It wasn’t important.

  What was important was that Ryan worked closely with Derek Wilams, the C.T.O. If anyone knew about the mysterious Project CANE she had overheard both Oliver and Derek talking about, it would be Ryan.

  She just had to be careful about getting the information out of him. And what better way than seducing him? She wasn’t actually going to sleep with him, of course, but if he thought that he had a chance, he would tell her everything she wanted to know.

  She placed two of her hands on top of one of his and brought her body closer to him over the table. Her chest was visible and closer to Ryan’s face, causing him to blush and jitter even more.

  “You know, Ryan? I’ve always had a thing for smart guys—you especially,” Emily said.

  “You, you have?” Ryan asked nervously. He could hardly contain himself. He was constantly jittering and sweating.

  This disgusted Emily, but she masked it with a smile. She couldn’t drop the illusion. ‘EW! Even his palms are sweaty. Keep it together, Emily. You’re almost there,’ Emily thought.

  “That’s right, Ryan. I’ve always had a thing for all this tech stuff you do. If I wasn’t an Overdrive racer, I probably would have been an engineer or developer like you,” Emily said. She looked directly into Ryan’s eyes, not looking away in the slightest.

  She could see her charm was no doubt working on him. Now it was time to act. “Can I ask you something, handsome?” Emily asked. Ryan gulped and nodded his head repeatedly.

  Emily’s smile changed into a satisfying smirk. “Thanks, handsome. I meant it when I said I was into tech stuff, so maybe you can tell me something I heard about the game. Tell me. Have you ever heard of something called Project CANE?”

  As soon as Emily had asked that question, Ryan’s facial expression and attitude changed completely. His face was stern and had a look of slight panic.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  He quickly retracted his hand that Emily had placed both of hers on. “Where did you hear that name?” Ryan asked.

  “Oh! Uhhhhhh! You know? From the other developers,” Emily said with an awkward smile.

  “You’ve been hanging out with the other developers?” Ryan asked. As he did, his eyes looked down at the table, and he turned away from Emily. It was obvious that he was upset.

  ‘Shit! I can’t have him being jealous. If he does, my entire plan goes down the drain, and I get nothing. I can’t tell him I eavesdropped on Oliver and Derek. But maybe I can give him a little white lie,’ Emily thought.

  “No, I wasn’t hanging out with the other developers; they aren’t even that interesting. Not like you, of course. I just overheard some of them talking about it. They mentioned it a lot of times, saying Derek wanted them to find it. I just found it interesting, that’s all,” Emily lied.

  She waited for Ryan to respond. He had turned his gaze to her, but he had a blank expression on his face. ‘Did he buy it?’ Emily thought.

  “Hmmmm. What developers did you hear it from? I may need to fire them,” Ryan asked.

  Emily was relieved he had believed her story, but her plan wasn’t a success yet. She still needed Ryan to give her some information.

  “I don’t actually remember their names or faces. But even if I did, I don’t think I’d tell you. I don’t want anyone to get fired because of me. Please understand,” Emily pleaded.

  She showed fake puppy dog eyes to Ryan, hoping he would drop it. Ryan smiled and returned to looking at Emily like she was an angel.

  “Oh, alright. It was a mistake, after all,” Ryan said.

  “Great! So can you tell me more about this Project CANE?” Emily said with excitement.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t,” Ryan said.

  “But, but why not?” Emily asked in a baby-like tone, trying to look more adorable.

  It worked, seeing as Ryan began blushing again. He pushed his glasses closer to his face before answering.

  “Because it’s a company top secret. You already knowing is a huge violation. You’re asking me to risk my entire career by telling you. I’m sorry, but I can’t and I won’t,” Ryan answered.

  “Oh—okay,” Emily said as she slumped back into her chair and continued eating her expensive meal. She looked down at her plate and didn’t raise her head to look at Ryan. She had a pouted and uninterested facial expression.

  Ryan asked her questions, but Emily replied by giving simple “Fines” or “Goods.” The two sat in awkward silence for some time.

  Ryan couldn’t take it anymore. A few moments ago, he felt a rush of joy and excitement, but now he felt awkwardness and a hint of resentment. He had to fix the situation.

  “If I tell you, do you promise not to tell anyone else?” Ryan asked.

  Emily smirked while looking down at her plate. Ryan didn’t see it. The plan was a success. It almost wasn’t until she pulled off one of her favorite seduction techniques: giving someone what they want and ripping it away, refusing to give it back until they fulfill your desires. It worked every time.

  Emily raised her head to look at Ryan, presenting a fake innocent smile.

  “Of course, I promise. I cross my heart,” Emily said. She then used her fingers to make an X shape on top of her chest. This made Ryan blush even more, and he turned away. He cleared his thoughts.

  “Okay. I’ll tell you what I know about Project CANE,” Ryan said.

  ‘Yes!’ Emily screamed internally. This was the moment she had been waiting for. She was going to learn the information she needed to blackmail Oliver into letting her go.

  She brought herself closer to Ryan, preparing to hear what he had to say.

  “I don’t know anything about it,” Ryan said.

  Emily’s facial expression turned blank.

  “You know, if you’re just going to lie to me, I’d prefer if you just kept your mouth shut,” Emily said rudely. She got up from her chair and planned on leaving the restaurant.

  “Wait! I’m serious. Derek didn’t tell me anything about it. Only that it was stolen, and we needed to find it,” Ryan said.

  Emily looked at Ryan with skepticism but sat back down anyway.

  “How can you find something you know nothing about?” Emily asked.

  “Derek didn’t tell me what this Project CANE is, but I believe it is some kind of Artificial Intelligence,” Ryan said.

  “What makes you think that?” Emily asked.

  “The meaning of its acronym. Centralized Autonomous Network Entity. It’s basically screaming A.I., but that’s not what’s going to help me find it,” Ryan explained.

  “Then what will?” Emily asked.

  “Its tag,” Ryan said. “Everything in Overdrive Online has something called a tag. You can think of it as some sort of label. Project CANE was stolen, but it’s still in the game. Me and the other developers are working on a program to scan every area of Overdrive Online to find it. It’s only a matter of time until we are finished.”