You're Out Daddy

Chapter 384

Benjamin stared and was a little confused, but he nodded anyway.

He understood the nature of the problem. What he couldn't understand was how the problem could be as grave as Thalia made it out to be.

It's just some doodles...

“Your talent is what the world desperately needs now, so if you are exposed but can't or won't work for someone, they will send assassins after you to prevent you from working for their competitors. You understand that, right?” asked Thalia. She was careful and truly meant it when she warned him.

“Yeah, I understand,” replied Benjamin.

Seeing how calm Benjamin was, Thalia raised her brow. She seemed uncertain when she looked at him. “Benjamin? Do you really understand what I just said?”

Benjamin nodded. “Yeah, I understand. I will protect myself and won't expose my secret until I'm certain of what I want to do in the future.”

“Okay... If that's the case, then can you at least pretend to freak out a little? You're making it look as though I'm an overreacting idiot who doesn't understand how the world works,” replied Thalia.

Benjamin frowned. “How am I supposed to behave, then?”

“Excited or maybe proud? Do what Anthony does all the time. The tiniest praise will get him smiling like an idiot,” suggested Thalia.

That was when Benjamin turned his attention to Anthony, who was still asleep. It seemed the siblings were wildly different in that sense. Anthony had always been firm and confident when he was complimented, but Benjamin would always be cautious or calm when others praised him or gave him a gift.

Still, Thalia had already requested it, so Benjamin felt compelled to smile.

Seeing that forced smile rendered Thalia temporarily speechless. “Nevermind. Let's pretend I never said anything.”

Benjamin put his smile away immediately.

As Thalia stared at Benjamin, she felt weirdly happy and proud. It was as though she was watching her baby grow up.

She took another look at the design he had been doodling and quickly closed the sketchbook before looking around. It seemed she was worried that someone would see it.

“Benjamin, put it away. Now,” instructed Thalia.

Benjamin obediently did as he was told and put everything into his backpack.

Thalia remained on edge until everything was put away. Her eyes glowed with the warmth and pride of a mother when she looked at him.

“This has got to be my lucky year because I got to meet all three of you. You kids keep surprising me at every turn. I wonder if there is anything else I don't know about you three. Maybe you should just come clean all at once. That way, my heart won't have to endure this level of shock again,” said Thalia.

Benjamin frowned before answering, “That's probably all the surprise there is.”

“Probably?”

“Definitely no more surprise,” answered Benjamin.

“Probably?”

“Definitely no more surprise,” answered Benjamin.

It was undeniable that Anthony was a genius, but so was Benjamin. The only difference was that Benjamin was unaware of his own extraordinary intelligence.

Thank the heavens that I'm the one who discovered his talents. Who knows what would happen if he had remained careless and someone else learned about this?

Thalia had lost all desire to sleep by then. She kept her eyes on Benjamin as though he would suddenly disappear if she were even a little careless. “Benjamin, I think you can continue exploring this and developing your skills. If Kyle ever finds out about this, he will surely take you away and—”

“Then don't tell him about it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don't want to be taken away.”

Thalia couldn't help chuckling a little. “Benjamin, you don't know this, but this world has always been extreme. You will only be protected if you can be of use to someone else. If you cannot contribute, death will come for you because, as far as your enemies are concerned, your mere existence is a threat to them.”

“So what you're saying is that Kyle will kill me unless I work for Darknetz?” asked Benjamin.

“Uh, no. That is not what I meant at all. Kyle is not that kind of person. If he finds out about this, he will likely worship all three of you. What I'm truly worried about is that Darknetz might not be able to handle you three geniuses,” replied Thalia before she sighed.

The truth was that the matter was easily solved once it was laid out. Darknetz specialized in hacking and assigning tasks. It knew nothing about building machinery, and expanding into that field would require a lot of resources. On top of that, their efforts wouldn't bear any fruits until years later. Many governments, who had long been in that field, would be their competitors as well. Under those circumstances, it would not be wise for Darknetz to get involved at all. There was also the part where they would have to compete against military personnel. That was, perhaps, the worst part of them all, because those people had no problem with killing and would not hesitate to annihilate those in their way.

Darknetz would attract a lot of attention if they were to dabble in weapon construction, and Thalia could already imagine the danger it would bring.

The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she became. I better meet up with Kyle as soon as possible to discuss this matter in detail.

Thalia was still excited about her discovery, but her worries had drowned that excitement out. She knew, at that moment, that anxiety would keep her company the entire journey.

Just then, Anthony, who had been sleeping, woke up because their conversation was getting too loud. He pulled his eye mask away and revealed his exhausted gaze. “What are you two talking about? You're so noisy!”

Thalia turned to look at Anthony. She whispered into his ear, but to her surprise, he simply responded with a simple “okay.”

After that, he requested, “Keep your voices down while you talk. You keep waking me up.” After saying that, he put his eye mask on, turned around, and went back to sleep.

Thalia was dumbfounded.

Must he be that calm? Or do they simply not know what I'm talking about? This is such an incredible discovery, so why are these boys acting as though it's just an everyday issue? D*mn it, they make me look like an overreacting idiot.

Thalia turned her attention to Benjamin. The latter couldn't help defending his big brother. “As far as my brother is concerned, there is nothing more important than sleep.”

Thalia replied, “Yeah, I can see that.”

“Thalia, I understand what you're worried about, but you can rest assured. I will keep myself safe and will think long and hard about what my future holds,” said Benjamin suddenly. He kept his eyes on her the entire time to show her how earnest he was about it.

Thalia turned her attention to him when she heard what he said. She nodded firmly and sighed. “I thought that Darknetz would be a home for you three, but now... Ah, forget about it. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Benjamin nodded.

“Okay, it's late, and you should get some sleep,” said Thalia.

“Okay.” With that said, Benjamin put his backpack on the table. Thalia snatched it away immediately.

Benjamin stared at her in confusion.

“D-Don't leave it there. It's not safe,” said Thalia.

Benjamin didn't respond.

“I'll hold it for now and give it back to you after we've landed,” said Thalia.

The boy didn't comment on that. He simply nodded.

“Okay, go to bed now. A brain like yours should not be strained,” said Thalia. She looked cautious and seemed on edge about his amazing brain suffering even the tiniest bit of stress.

I guess it makes sense. Precious resources shouldn't be wasted.

Benjamin didn't say anything else before closing his eyes and going to sleep.

Thalia smiled like a proud aunt when she saw Benjamin going to bed.

She sat in the middle, so she could check up on Benjamin and then on Anthony. Her eyes shone with pride, glee, and worry all at the same time.

The complexity of her emotions could not be expressed with words.

In a way, she was holding all the trump cards in the world.

It was at that moment that she felt something strange. It was as though she was invincible so long as she had them with her. She even fantasized about being the queen of the world for a moment there.