Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

Besides many celebrities whom Tristan knew from all the networking he did as a part of his famous life, he saw Rafael 'Big Rocket' Villanueva post a short video complaining from a hospital in Mexico about how sick he was.

And he wasn't even in America at the time.

There were enough people falling ill that people began making conspiracy theories.

Under the posts from the sick people or their representatives, were comments about a global pandemic of an unknown illness spreading over America. Or about a secret government plan of lizard people to poison all famous people. Or the wrath of God finally punishing those who deserved it.

There was a lot of talk about divine punishment lately.

'Shit… I feel like there's more information that can be found from the Internet and social media, but I can't afford to waste time on analyzing all of it right now. Not when it can just give me nothing!'

Tristan rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly.

'I didn't want to bring more of my criminal underlings into this. But if they ask questions… Well, the situation affects everybody in this country by this point. I have something I can tell to pacify them, and enough authority that most won't ask questions in the first place.'

Besides that, Tristan knew he could always scare people into compliance. He didn't want to rely on terror too often, though—loyalty was more dependable in the long run.

With that thought, Tristan put on his special earring to switch identities for a moment.

Then he called Kevin. The man was high in his ranks by now, but he was still one of Tristan's best when it came to administrative tasks.

He answered the call only a few seconds later.

"Kevin, good evening."

Tristan heard the rustling of paper from the other side of the call. He could imagine Kevin right now, sitting in his office late and dealing with paper because Tristan's underlings were leading almost the same nocturnal life as Tristan Hayes himself.

"Good evening, Mr. Hayes. Did you need something urgently? You rarely call otherwise." To confirm Tristan's guess, Kevin sounded collected and not tired at all.

"Yes, Kevin. A task for you and your people. I want it to be done as soon as possible, taking priority over everything not literally vital. I will pay you for the rush, of course."

Loyalty was important, and good pay for good work was important for instilling loyalty—something that Tristan knew even before he put five thousand points into his strategy skill. And Tristan could afford to pay his people.

"I'm listening." There was more rustling of paper. "And writing it down."

"Good. Did you hear about the 'holy war' going online? What about the 'celebrity pandemic'?"

"The 'holy war'… related to the terrorist attacks? A 'holy war' that's a pun because it's an online festival of throwing rocks at each other that's literally led by fringe religious fanatics? Everybody heard about it by now, boss. But the second thing—that's new. I've been too busy checking our finance reports to look at the celebrity gossip."

The more Kevin spoke, the more sarcastic and acidic his tone became. The amount of dislike toward online wars and celebrity gossip he projected actually made Tristan grin.

It didn't show in his voice when Tristan spoke, though.

"Well, this is what the task is about. Find people who are good at data analysis, and sift through the online shitstorm. I want you to find… anything. I feel like there's a connection somewhere. It's important."

"Um. Important how, Mr. Hayes? I mean, it would be much easier to find something in this haystack if we knew what it was."

Tristan relaxed a little. For a moment, he thought Kevin would put the task itself into doubt.

'Though he still might. And I'm sure he's full of unasked questions right now, even if he won't ask them.'

Kevin was a good subordinate this way.

"I think there's a correlation between posts from an online personality who calls himself Gospel and the sick people. I want you to find them, Kevin. Or whoever you put to this task."

"Alright, Mr. Hayes. Should it be kept quiet?"

"Don't bother."

"Understood. I will put the finance reports aside for now."

"Can you finish this in a day, Kevin?" Tristan asked.

"Uh… Mr. Hayes, I honestly have no idea yet." Tristan could feel his unease from the other side of the call. "I will assemble a team and give you an estimate within an hour."

"Do that—in text. I will pay all people involved the usual rate for the overtime."

"Thank you, Mr. Hayes. I will get to work, then, if you don't need anything else?"

Enjoy new tales from empire

"Yes. Goodbye."

Tristan ended the call, switched identities back and returned to hacking.

'I hope something is found before things get worse… Because they are going to get worse. The current situation was a heavy blow to the showbiz industry, but it's far from an endgame. And if the total destruction of show business is what the Ass-Angel Gospel wants, then this is far from it.'

Half an hour later, Kevin sent Tristan a message telling that he and his team will deliver a result within the next week.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Tristan returned to hacking, feeling like that could still take longer.

***

Next day.

In the morning, although Nelson still wasn't waking up for longer than a minute at a time, Tristan spent an hour to bring him with get-well flowers.

That hour was a welcome reprieve from the hours upon hours smashing his head into the firewalls of online giants.

Then Tristan went right back to the head-bashing. There was some progress in the hacking process, but it was incrementally small.

These things weren't done in days, even by rare geniuses. Tristan was above the level of a legendary genius, but he still wanted to scoop his brain out of his skull with a teaspoon by now.

So a call from Vargas, although promised even more urgent troubles, was another welcome break.