I am in marvel with the omnitrix...

Ghost, huh?? That old man sure hypes me up. God, you're thousands of years old, and you're hyping up a teenager like me?

Pttff…. hahahah…

Well, not his fault. James Lee is a person whom everyone should admire; that's one of his core traits…

Anyway, the mind games and tricks he played were funny for sure and unexpected…

There was micro dust all around the room, perfect for taking handprints… The cameras around the room were the first thing I noticed when I entered the room as Ghostfreak…

I was right; he was ready. Thankfully, I did my preparation, but still, what an old fox using his own daughter to check my intentions. That was risky…

But desperate people do desperate things. He wanted information about me, and he could not get any, so the best thing he could do was learn my true intentions. He still does not trust me, but I don't care. He already admires me; soon he will trust me—just one or two little things—and when I bring his wife back, he will be the most loyal pawn…

Hmm, Xialing, she has potential. For sure, and more than that, how did I deal with her? Well, easy, I just pat her head. When I did that, I inputted the smallest amount of chi into her body, making her feel, well, better. This trick does pretty much nothing other than warming someone else's body a little. Some people might not even notice if I do this…

But Xialing, she was not only young, but also she had the blood of Xu and Ying, who both used Chi. Plus, the blood of Ta Lo runs through Xialing, so inputting even the smallest amounts of Chi made her body react. She was feeling very giddy, and also, when I brought her mom up, she could not hold her emotions, and that's how I pretty much destroyed Xu's plan or whatever it was…

Plus, I also threw him off a little by talking about the 'Zero Circle.' Honestly, it's just going to be a group of people who are powerful, and under me, they would die for me, pretty much…

And that's all that it is, nothing more, but I wonder if he could see my hint… James Lee is also in the Zero Circle… You see? Funny thing, I can control James Lee because I am him, haha…

That's a funny wordplay. If Xu ever learned about me and everything, he would for sure laugh or cry about this one… But also, the Zero Circle really is just a way to throw JD in there. Xu will think more about me than JD; that's why I spoke about the Zero Circle. Pretty much the Zero Circle is a distraction so JD could slip past Xu's mind…

But transforming the Ten Rings? That's not a distraction. No, I want to do that… For sure, I have big plans for the Ten Rings; it will be my stepping stone for bigger things…

But as James Lee, I only have one goal, which is 'Conquest' really nothing else… Plus, this was the actual plan Gray Matter came up with; it was better than mine. My plan was just helping Frank and getting a favor from John Pilgrim, but, well, Gray Matter's plan is…

To use the Ten Rings to solve my problem, yeah, I won't even be doing anything other than maybe coming there for a small meeting, doing nothing much… and help Frank in a smooth way, and John Pilgrim will also owe me, but that's not all. Gray Matters plan was even bigger…

Blackmailing Anderson Schultz not only with the photos but also with much more evidence, which I will have with the help of Ava... And, well, just like that, I have control over a billionaire philanthropist and a big company owner whose son will also become the senator…

Not only that, by taking the photos that Amy has… Amy, be safe too. In this way, I will help Frank 2 times, but, well, I won't count this… because I will be able to get some good money…

But while James Lee does that in the USA, in China, 'JD' will open up and start dominating the gaming market there… With the help of the Ten Rings support, it will, for sure, be a hit…

And this will all take days, but I will have a lot more power… And well, Leo? What will he do? Well, just go to college, and, uh, yeah, Jessica, I see what she is up to…

I yawn and lean back on the rooftop and look down at my phone. Today was…

Saturday, huh? I should get moving and go back to my house, but should I do something else? I won't get more chances like this to come to China again unless I build a super fast plan…

Is it time? I use chi mind meld on Xu and take thousands of years of knowledge he has… I have been holding myself back from doing that. Why? Because mind meld is strong, but it has side effects too. If I am not careful, my brain might go boom! If I take in too much knowledge too fast…

Plus, I don't want Xu's useless knowledge. No, I only want the fighting and useful skills and knowledge Xu has, and it would be really hard to look through the memories of, well, a thousand-year-old man, you know? Did you know half of a human's life is spent sleeping, eating, and shitting? I don't want all the memories of Xu in the toilet for thousands of years!

It would get really hard and might take me days to actually get important information about anything, and that's if Xu himself lets me in his mind for that long…

The reason I was able to use mind meld before on Xu and learn everything about the Ten Rings is because, well, that was a core memory. The Ten Rings was something Xu only got once, and he learned about it once. It was his most powerful weapon, so it was easy to learn about the Ten Rings from Xu's mind, but anything else will take Great processing power and really fast thinking speed…

Plus, I would love if I could do this without letting Xu know about the Chi mind meld… It's one of my trump cards, honestly one of the things I want to hide because that's just how powerful this is…

Hmm, there has to be a solution, an answer for this problem, plus using chi mind meld also takes a lot of chi… So I have time limits too, plus I can't just stay in China and do this like every day. No, I have to do it once and fast…

Faster… Smarter… I have to be that… Well, wow, that answer was easy, huh, Gray Matter… Hahahaha, I found the answer with Gray Matters Brain and processing power. I could do this, but, well, now the only question is how fast can I do this? I have zero doubt that Gray Matter can't find all the useful memories from Xu. But the problem is, can gray matter do it before I run out of chi?

And before I time out…

I have to test things. I am not sure about a lot of things. I am sure I can do this, but how long will it take? Is that the real answer? If it takes more than 5 hours, then this is impossible and pretty much no use doing this, but…

This is Grey Matter we are talking about, the one alien I have used the most ever since I came to this world… Yeah, I believe after testing it will be possible, but not now; it will take time…

I stand up and look down from the rooftop. I was actually right now standing on the top of Shanghai World Financial Center, one of the tallest buildings in China. The view was, well, breathtakingly beautiful.

You know, there was a time when I did not understand words like breathtaking, but now…

I understand them…

I let out a breath and look at the sunset…

…

..

.

He did not come today either!! What the hell! is up! Huh? Did he leave college? Did he somehow learn that I was on his tail so he stopped coming to college?!

I run around in my room in a grumpy way!

Ugh! What is he so… him!

I lay back on the bed and open up my laptop again and start to look up 'JD'….

Nothing, huh? Where is he? What is he doing? Ugh! Why do I keep thinking about him? He is not 'JD,' but there is proof…

Ah, ok, maybe he is JD, so what? It's not like I care or should care, but he did save me, and he did not even talk to me again, like that never even happened…

Why do I even think about him, huh?? He is just good-looking and good at studying, and he might be running 2 companies now…. He might be the famous secretive JD, and he also saved me…

So what?

But still that night there was something weird about it… Leo never questioned me or talked about it. Uh, I guess he did keep to his word about not chatting about me behind my back…

But why do I feel like he is avoiding me? Ugh, this is so annoying…

…

..

.

I reach the 'wooden house,' and just before reaching it, with a green flash, I become human again… Oh, that was close. I almost timed out as XLR8…

phew… I walk in the house, and the lights in the house light up fast, and Ava speaks…

"Sir, you shut down your phone again. Where have you been? I told you not to do that, right? And also, sir, the USB has been activated and is online. I have formed a connection to it… And, after reading a few files, I realize it was one of the servers of the TEN RINGS! Sir! Sir! What have you been doing behind my back?!" My phone pretty much vibrates in my hand as I put it on the bed and smile. It looks like Ava was quick to react and still a little worried…

"Ah, Ava, calm down, will you? I am fine. You know that I am in my hotel room, and yes, maybe I did go to the Ten Rings…" I speak in a calm tone as I sit down on the couch and pull my transparent, skin-tight gloves off, and I pull my shoes off…

"You went WHERE? Sir, don't you understand? The Ten Rings is a terrorist organization! Without telling me? And how did you even find that place? And wait, is this the reason you have been coming to China?!

You told me you were only coming here for sightseeing. I knew you were doing something behind my back, but this?…" Ava spoke in a loud but almost low tone. She seemed worried and sad that I did not tell her the truth…

And I just sit there for a few seconds, letting Ava speak… And I lay back on the couch and speak in a calm tone, "Ava, I am sorry I did not tell you what I was doing here, but you have to realize this: if I did tell you my plans, would you ever let me do them? No, right?"

"But, sir, that still does not mean anything. You kept things away from me… hided things important things like this you always do… Even in your own house, you always put me to sleep when doing something… It's like you don't trust me." Ava's voice was in a low tone as she spoke…

'Ah, so that's her thought process, huh? Well, it's not that I don't trust her… I do. The only one who even knows 40% of what I am doing in this world is Ava. I trust her more than anyone in this world… But it's not about trust; it's about ideas, knowledge…

The things I know… Even an AI like her can't predict them. She can't understand my actions, so she thinks I don't trust her. Simple answer, but the most likely… And, well, to some extent she is not wrong. But it's not about trust. I do trust Ava. It's more like I can't tell her my plans until they're complete. Only then can I have a 100% guarantee that nothing could go wrong. Only then do I tell Ava because that's just how paranoid I am. It's a bad habit of mine, ha…

Plus, like, things could always go wrong. Like, let's say I did tell Ava what I was doing; then, well, she will help me. I know she will; that's just how I made her. And let's say the Ten Rings had some good hackers? And what if they just happen to hack into Ava? Well, then the Ten Rings knows everything about me…

See? How easy is it for information to leak? Plus, it's not like Ava is the only AI right now. There is Jarvis, even though Ava called him a bot. He will become much better in the future. Not only that, there are also other AIs in the shadows. I don't know how Ava will compare to them, but I don't want to find out…

But who am I kidding? I made her. I know how smart she is right now on earth; she might be the smartest AI, but still, I am not stupid or arrogant enough to think there is no one in this world who can break open Ava…

It's better to be safe than not… That's why I don't tell anything to Ava…

And that's why even my own thoughts right now I can't tell Ava… Because it will just sound like a bad reason, an excuse…