Bear in Sheep's Clothing | Book #1

four: Invidia Corp (Part II)

Rob furrowed his eyebrows and tightened his fists. He shook his head and staggered a step. Evolving.

The word echoed in Roberto's thoughts.

Evolving!

As a druid, nature was sacred to him—and to hear a sorry excuse of a human being saying he could make it better did nothing but seed anger into his heart. Rob swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

"The Life Force Invidia injects here makes the crops strong enough to grow in a poisoned soil like this. And because of the Life Force the crops absorb, people get addicted." Léon slipped his hands to his back, straightening his posture. "This is how the company makes real money. Iara sells raw Life Force to other companies, which also produce addicting products. Those who don't buy it"—Léon gave Roberto a side glance—"don't even have a chance in the market. We control the food market in New Continent, Roberto. That's what we do."

Roberto shook his head. "And you k-kill... you kill people for that? I never thought...!"

For a long and tense moment, Léon did nothing but stare at Roberto with a somber expression on his face.

Then, Satina burst into laughter.

"Holy shit!" She cackled. "His face! Leo, did you see his face? Shit!" As she laughed, a side smile curled Léon's lips. Satina slapped a hand on her thigh. "If I thought you'd be this shocked, I'd have told you before coming here." She collected an imaginary tear. "Better yet, I'd have recorded it!"

As Satina's laughs continued, Rob frowned.

Mary patted Rob's shoulder and chuckled. "Don't be ridiculous, deary-Beary. We don't kill people; what's the profit in that?"

Léon raised his voice. "People get—Tiny, stop laughing!"

"Oh, I can't... I can't!" Satina doubled over the handrail around the platform.

Rob lowered his eyes. He cringed, the tips of his fingers massaging his forehead and hiding part of his face. His voice came a tad stronger than before. "Can you bloody tell me what happens with the workers, then?"

"Look." Léon pinched the bridge of his nose. "People get tired, but they don't die. They just lose some of their personality."

"Just?" Rob echoed.

"That's not a big deal." Satina still had laughter in her words and a smile on her lips. "I mean, the world is full of nobodies, anyway. We lose nothing when a handful of dipshits become soulless." A crease formed between Rob's eyebrows. Satina rolled her eyes and said, "Soulless. People who give too much Life Force to something they don't believe in. They kind of lose their essence, which is a totally natural thing as people grow old. This used to happen even before the frozen derelicts in the Arctic changed us. We all lose Life Force when we disconnect from our true selves and turn away from who we are."

"The difference," Léon said, "is that Iara came up with this tech thing that collects the Life Force people waste. And then, she transforms it into matter. Energy. Cogito, ergo sum—but in a more practical way, paying the bills and all that."

"And flowing through tubes," Mary added, wiggling her fingers.

Satina chuckled. When she looked back at Roberto, her face hardened. "Don't take it too seriously, dickhead. After some time, you won't even think about it anymore." She shrugged. "It's easy to ignore what you don't see."

Rob schooled his expression and took a step back.

What the hell was wrong with them?

"Is it enough for today?" Satina asked. Her tone was playful, her smile cruel.