Becoming A Tech Tycoon Begins With Regression-Chapter 223: An Even Playing Field

Madam Xu frowned at his words, she knew that this was a mistake but doing nothing also meant pissing the Collector off.

Which, come to think of it, wasn't a better alternative either.

With a sigh, she asked, "what happens to us now?"

Ethan's avatar placed a hand on its chin seemingly seriously thinking about it, after a while, he spoke, "how about an exchange?"

Jian and Madam Xu looked at the screen suspiciously, the grin on the avatar's face wasn't helping with the situation in the least bit, "what do you want?"

"Nothing much," The avatar answered, "in exchange for your freedom, you'll tell me the identity of your benefactor, the collector."

Now he did have a way to get it out of them, but he wanted to see if they would betray him when they had no choice.

Besides, this time, he had made sure nothing would happen to them, not before he extracted what he needed.

Instead of an answer, Jian suddenly started chuckling one that soon changed to a full blown laughter.

Madam Xu, by his side only sighed, she completely understood why he was laughing and OmniTech's offer definitely seemed like a joke.

"So I get to choose between certain death and certain death," Jian said after a while of laughing, "I think I like my odds against you better, after all, the collector isn't one to give chances."

"Ah I see," the avatar nodded, "so that means you have no intention of taking the deal?"

"No," Madam Xu was the one who answered, her expression was completely cold, she knew this was the end of the line for them either way.

So she didn't intend on going out as a rat.

"Alright then," the avatar seriously nodded, "do know I still have a way of getting the information out of you."

"If you think toture will—" Jian started only to be cut off by the avatar.

"Torture?" Ethan's avatar asked, "no way, I don't even need you to say a single word, all you have to do is lean back and don't try to resist, after all, it would just hurt a lot more."

The two were a bit confused, until one of the other guards walked forward with an object in hand.

It looked like those helmets one would see in sci-fi movies and honestly, it looked ridiculous.

"What's that?" Jian asked as the guard approached him with it.

"That?" The avatar repeated, "it's just a little something that would help me gain the information I want from you, it might turn you vegetable afterwards though."

Jian and Madam Xu immediately had a bad feeling about the helmet and from his words, it's definitely nothing good.

"Now then," the avatar said, "who's willing to go first?"

***

It took a while, but Ethan eventually got the information he needed from the two...well, rather than get it, it was more accurate to say he extracted it.

To his surprise, although they looked like they could barely keep their head up, Jian and Madam Xu were mostly fine.

They hadn't become vegetable as he predicted, but they were definitely in so much pain, hence the reason their brain had shut off until it was sure how to deal with it.

Ethan on the other hand, immediately received their memories reconstructed as video which he scanned through until he came upon the information he needed,

The collector's identity.

Ethan had thought of many possibilities, maybe the Collector was someone influential in his past life, or maybe even a regressor like him but from the memories....

He was none of the two, rather, he was just a man with enough money and time in his hands to be playing Collector.

Well, that was an over simplification, but the important part was, both parties knew the identities of the other, which made moved this game to a whole different stage.

Well, for Ethan anyway.

The collector's identity was an asset to destroying him, and Ethan planned on using that asset in a few days.

***

Ethan let out a sigh as he leaned back on his couch, nanobots were mostly complete, he just needed a few anti hack adjustments and he'd be good to go.

He had also mostly taken care of the obstacles in his path, except Helix but they might prove useful, they were under the Collector right now, and all he needed to do was have the Collector in his palms....which he knew exactly how to do.

Another obstacle that remained was to face his past...or was it the future.

Olivia.

Since his regression, he hated her, he had calmly planned out his revenge against her, one that involved getting her to completely trust him, before destroying her.

But now that she was within reach, he felt it wasn't even worth it.

Thanks to the Vitaband they had bought, he now knew exactly what Victor had against her.

Her mother.

At first he wanted answers on why she hadn't told him about her mother's condition, did he not make her feel safe enough?

Wasn't he a good enough husband in his previous life?

Now though, he didn't care enough to find out anymore, but that didn't mean that he was just going to forgive her.

Not in the least bit.

He'd make her life miserable but unlike Nathaniel death would be too easy of an escape for her.

He had trusted her, loved her even, but it all ended up being for nothing, even to his last moments, she hadn't shown the least bit of regret.

....yeah, maybe he was still a bit angry.

"Let's take care of all this mess," Ethan said standing up, "and we'll refocus on our guests from the stars."

He walked back to his lab, "we can't let them visit such a messy world, can we?"

He had to complete the nanobots first, then deal with both the collector and the system's quest in one go.

***

The collector meanwhile sat with a glass of whiskey in hand, he hadn't heard from the two since they left which meant only one thing.

OmniTech...or rather, Ethan had dealt with them.

Instead of disappointment in the two, there was a smile on his face. He was glad that Ethan Carter didn't disappoint him.

But still, since the game was in his favor, maybe it was time to end it and bring the kid to his side.

If his goals of having this world on his palm, he needed an asset such as Ethan Carter. The kid really was a genius and only such geniuses deserve to be by his side.

That's what he had been doing all these year, collecting geniuses, hence the reason he was known as the collector.

But Ethan was the one that had piqued his interest the most.

Like him, the kid seemed to have an ambition to have control of this world and two people with dreams as big as such couldn't coexist.

So he needed to get the kid beneath him first, he needed to have leverage against him.

"Perhaps I underestimated you," the collector said softly, lifting the glass to his lips.

He already knew what had happened to Jian and Madam Xu. Their disappearance was too clean.

They hadn't even used the channels he provided them. That alone told him everything he needed to know.

Ethan had dealt with them proactively, before they even had the chance to make a move.

That realization didn't irritate him. If anything, it amused him.

Most geniuses panicked the moment they realized the board was bigger than they thought. They scrambled to protect what they had, made rash decisions, exposed weaknesses.

Ethan hadn't done any of that.

Instead, he had waited patiently, predicted their actions, and then removed the pieces that threatened him before they could even make their move.

That alone made him worthy.

But it also made the Collector realize something, he had been laying back far too much, maybe now was the time to actively start pressuring the kid.

Else he'd just wake up one day with everything out of his control.

And before he would know it, he would've been made a puppet to the kid instead of the other way around.

The Collector set the glass down slowly, the clink against the table echoing faintly in the quiet room.

Pressure.

Yes, that was what was missing.

He had enjoyed watching Ethan maneuver around his board, dismantling traps with elegant precision, but admiration alone would not bend someone like that.

Geniuses did not submit because they were impressed. They submitted because they were cornered.

And Ethan Carter had not yet felt cornered.

"Let's see how much foresight you truly have," the Collector murmured.