Never Judge

When Ian returned to Cedric's room after a few minutes, they were still baffled by the disappearing video. 

"I called the team back at R Tower, Adolfo is leading the team now to investigate." Ian told Cedric as he sat down and opened his laptop.

"Adolfo shouldn't take long to break this." Cedric said as he thought of the young genius that the had met in the Reyes Group back when he was undercover. 

It felt like he had met the young man over a lifetime ago, and yet it had only been a few years since. So much had changed that Cedric felt he was a different person back then.

Cedric heard the familiar clicking of Ian's keyboard as it seemed like he was helping the team back at home tracing the source of the video.

"It still keeps vanishing." Cedric said as he wore a worried and confused look on his face.

Suddenly Ian stopped typing and his phone began to ring.

"I hope it's good news." Cedric said as he saw the disappointed look on Ian's face.

"Adolfo would not call if it wasn't bad news and if it wasn't urgent." Ian said as he answered the call and placed it on speaker. "Adolfo, please tell me you are doing better than I am." Ian groaned as he walked over to Cedric.

"A little. Is Ced there?" Adolfo asked in a shy voice. The boy was quite introverted and didn't like to talk much, but it was different when it came to Cedric.

He had been comfortable with him from the first day and they became fast friends. 

"I'm here Adolfo, what do you have for us?" Cedric asked as Ian placed the phone down on the table.

"Which do you want first, the bad news, the good news, the I'm not sure what kind of news?" Adolfo asked with a nervous laugh.

"Bad, not sure, then the good." Cedric said as he nodded at Ian, signaling him to listen and take notes.

"Alright, the bad news is, I can't figure out who is hacking the website and deleting the video. It's odd because this person is way too good. I can only trace him to his general location." Adolfo complained. 

"What's the not sure if it's good news?" Ian asked. 

"From what I can tell, he isn't in league with the Barons, I don't know if that's bad or good for us." Adolfo told Cedric and Ian.

"It could mean two things, a new enemy or a secret ally." Cedric said as he thought of the possibilities.

"With your luck, it's another enemy." Ian teased as he laughed at Cedric who frowned at his comment.

"Can't they just let me live a peaceful life?" Cedric grumbled.

"You have too many enemies, most of them you didn't even make." Ian told Cedric, this time he wore a serious expression. 

The Reyes Group and the Reyes Family attracted many unsavory characters. Some after revenge, others jealous of their success, the thought of the Reyeses living peacefully was unimaginable to both men.

"So what's the good news?" Cedric asked Adolfo.

"Well, it seems that this upload and delete issue has had a positive effect on you. The public thinks that the Baron Family keeps deleting the video because they don't have concrete evidence." Adolfo said with a laugh. "Also the hacker seems to have stopped and allowed the video to stay online this time around."

"Oh." Cedric said as he quickly moved his mouse to switch on the screen of his laptop.

True enough, there it was, a still image of Cedric and Dave sitting across Evan Baron, the Mayor of the province they were currently at. 

"Is that all?" Ian asked Adolfo.

"No, actually there is one more thing, I just didn't know how to tell you guys this." Adolfo said in a hesitant tone.

"Out with it." Ian grumbled.

"The hacker left a message for us, it seemed he knew we were trying to hack back." Adolfo told Cedric and Ian over the phone.

"What was the message and how is this even possible? We have some of the most secure systems." Cedric asked. He had spent millions in cyber security and it seemed one man was able to hack them back.

"First of all this person had god-level skills, I'm a genius, but this guy is like the hacking god!" Adolfo said a little too excitedly for Cedric to be happy about. 

"Stop fangirling, Adolfo, what was the message?" Ian asked in an irritated tone.

"Oh, right, right." Adolfo said as he steered back on to the topic. " The message was coded so it was difficult to decipher." 

"Just tell us what it said, Adolfo." Ian complained, he was already quite short tempered today and Adolfo was not making it any easier. "Stop explaining and just tell us."

"Relax Ian." Cedric scolded his friend and assistant.

"Sorry." Adolfo told them, apologizing. "The coded message said: 'I didn't know you were such a bigshot, Ced. Last time we met you were just a lowly employee, now you own the whole damn company. You owe me a rematch, I'm coming soon.' It seems to be someone you know."

Cedric was silent for a moment as he tried to process who could have sent the message. He couldn't remember meeting any master hackers when he was still an employee of the Reyes Group or Mor Co. The only one he knew was Adolfo.

Suddenly Cedric grinned, making Ian worry.

"You alright?" He asked Cedric. 

"I think I might know who it is." Cedric told Ian with a nod.

"Adolfo, you said you figured out the hacker's general location?" Cedric asked with a smile on his face.

"Beijing, China." Adolfo told Cedric. "You know this god?"

"Stop calling him god, it's my stupid friend Ming." Cedric said as he rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about him. He'll be here soon and you'll get to meet your idol." 

"This is the guy you wanted to use against Lucius Ting?" Ian asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup." Cedric said as he began to plot in his head.