"Right..."
Sugou put on his goody two shoes façade once more. He looked at Shouzou.
"About your wife..."
Unlike Shouzou who completely trusted Sugou, Asuna’s Mum, Yuuki Kyouko had qualms about Sugou.
Shouzou is too busy managing his own businesses to care about his own family. He saw only Sugou’s entrepreneurial skills, management ability, and ambition. He overlooked the part about assessing someone’s personality.
Like Shouzou, Kyouko also couldn’t see past Sugou’s façade. However, her intuition told her to stay on her guard around Sugou, despite his stellar performance.
If Kyouko found out, she would probably drag this matter out, something very unfavorable for Sugou who wants to get this done while Asuna’s still imprisoned inside his virtual world.
Shouzou frowned when he thought about his wife. He felt helpless because he’s sure his wife would delay the matter, at least, she won’t agree as easily as him.
Shouzou didn’t go back on his words. He gave Sugou a verbal promise.
"Worry not, I will convince her..."
Shouzou patted Sugou on his shoulder.
"Your accomplishments and talents are obvious to anyone who can see and hear. Kyouko is a tough nut to crack, I am sure if you keep buttering her up, she will agree one day..."
"I see..."
Sugou smiled.
"As long as I can get the consent of you all..."
A lazy voice rang in the room while the two businessmen talked.
"Nope. Uh-uh, I object..."
Shouzou and Sugou gasped because they completely missed the man in casual black clothes. They looked at the source of the sound and they saw Wu Yan who acted like a knight serving his princess, the red-eyed youth with black hair caressed Asuna’s cheek with a caring and warm look.
Shouzou and Sugou backed away at the same time.
They stood at the entrance, if anyone came in, they would have noticed. The only other entrance would be the window. The door is shut tight, by logical deduction, this meant the guy creeped in through the window.
Anyone climbing in through the window is definitely suspicious, right?
"Who are you?"
Shouzou sternly asked the young man. Sugou recovered too, but, he’s seeing red because Wu Yan is currently touching Asuna’s cheek.
The youth stopped when he heard Shouzou, unwillingly, he distanced his hand from the sleeping beauty’s cheek. His red eyes shifted towards Shouzou.
"You can call me Wu Yan..."
"Wu Yan..."
They tried to cross-reference his name to anyone notable. Almost immediately, they identified this man.
While SAO imprisoned the players, experts tried to see if they can free the players from the outside.
Kayaba is very thorough, the Nervegear’s capability is through the roof, there is almost no loophole in the hardware. As for the software, the Cardinal system, it’s so robust that nobody could crack the game. While trying to free the players with preservation of lives as the main priority, all the experts in the world tried and failed to hack into the game. They couldn’t even forcefully pry into the game to understand the general situation inside the game. In the end, the players freed themselves.
The world had countless geniuses, some of them tried to use the indirect method to sketch a picture of the status inside the game. They parsed the data released from the game and they analyzed the information within to gather intel on the events inside SAO. For instance, they could see the players’ power and attributes.
Anyone with the appropriate clearance knew about the strongest player in SAO, Wu Yan.
Shouzou and Sugou were powerful individuals, they managed to gain this intel through their industrious means and relationships.
"You’re that Wu Yan?..."
Shouzou raised his guard against Wu Yan. This guy appeared like a phantom, even his identity is relatively unknown.
When the authorities found the player data known as Wu Yan, they started their own investigations.
All of which led to a dead end.
Wu Yan is completely off-the-grid. With no bank account, identity, or official papers, this guy was like a boogeyman in terms of his existence.
When the boogeyman comes, why wouldn’t Shouzou be vigilant?
"Should I treat you as a trespassing hooligan?"
Shouzou thought about calling the cops.
Wu Yan chortled. He looked at Sugou and then he looked at Shouzou.
"Well, you’re free to do whatever you want. However, your action will be troubling..."
Wu Yan scratched his head. He pulled Asuna’s hand up.
"Yuuki-san, we can talk about this incident later. For now, let me rescue Asuna first yeah?..."
"Wh-what are you talking about?..."
Shouzou and Sugou had shocked looks. Shouzou yelped first.
"You said you have a way to save Asuna?..."
Wu Yan glanced at them. He returned his attention to Asuna. His heart started aching when he saw her weak appearance. Her eyebrows were furrowed like she’s having a nightmare. Waves of killing intention rose up within his eyes. He directed his killing intent towards Sugou.
With prior knowledge, Wu Yan knew Sugou is the criminal who locked Asuna up. In the original work, this guy stopped short of violating Asuna’s innocence. His crime is enough for Wu Yan to put this guy on his to-kill list.
Most importantly, he had to save Asuna first. Sugou can be deep-fried another time...
"Yuuki-san..."
Wu Yan looked at Shouzou.
"Please exit the room..."
Shouzou struggled with his thoughts. He balanced the pros and cons of leaving her beloved daughter in the hands of a man from an unknown origin.
Wu Yan’s words were too tempting...
What should I do?...