The Alchemists

Aleksis managed to blend in with the waiters at Sky Bar because she wore a uniform instead of her usual shabby clothes. She also did not have Little Prince Siegfried like before. Even Claudia, who served her earlier, did not look twice when they passed each other.

"Where are you?" Aleksis whispered to her phone-watch while walking carrying a tray containing a bottle of red wine and a glass.

Terry did not answer her call.

Ugh... did something happen with my brother? thought Aleksis nervously. As far as she could see, the people from Rhionen Industries looked normal. Some looked serious in formal work attire, some looked casual, while others looked like typical technologists.

Some people looked stiff and somewhat creepy, dressed in black, while most women looked official and professional. In general, they all looked good.

She approached the masked man and placed the wine and glass on the table beside him. Aleksis deftly unscrewed the wine bottle, poured a little into the glass and handed it to the man to taste.

"Hmm..." The man sniffed his glass a little, turned it and sipped the wine in the glass, "This is good."

He raised his glass and gave a signal for Aleksis to pour more.

"OK." Aleksis then filled half the glass with wine and placed the bottle back. "Can I help you with anything else, Sir?"

The man stared at Aleksis for a long time. He seemed to want Aleksis to stay beside him, but he had no reason to hold her.

Finally, he shook his head.

Aleksis also felt somewhat disappointed. She had hoped that he would make her stay there so they could talk, and slowly Aleksis could dig up some information about Rhionen Assasins and what their relationship to this company was.

Ugh... even though Aleksis looked beautiful tonight, why did this man seem uninterested in asking her to keep serving him? Aleksis was a bit disappointed.

"Alright... then I'll excuse myself now." Aleksis walked slowly back to the middle of the Sky Bar. Her eyes watched all the people there. It looked like this company was celebrating something. She wanted find out what they were celebrating.

Aleksis took a tray of various cocktail glasses from the bar and walked over to the crowd of guests who seemed to be having a lively discussion.

"Good evening everyone... please take the drinks..." She pushed through a group with a big smile. "It seems like there is an important celebration, huh?"

The people were amazed to see such a beautiful waiter, and the men scrambled to get a drink from her tray.

"Yes... good news. We just got an automation contract throughout the European Union and China. Our artificial intelligence products will soon rule the world," answered a bald-headed and bespectacled man proudly.

"Oh... that's great!" praised Aleksis. She understood the magnitude of the value of the contract. The European Union and China arguably controlled 50 percent of the population and wealth of the earth. If they could control the AI technology there, they would have enormous power.

She had no idea that Rhionen Industries was so advanced. Maybe, if they continued to move as aggressively as this, within a few decades they would be able to overtake the Schneider Group, which had been established for almost 200 years.

This made Aleksis even more interested in knowing what their relationship was with Rhionen Assasins.

Aleksis tried to lure these people to tell more about their company and add to the gossip she heard so that they refute or justify.

"Sshhh... I heard that the owner of the Rhionen Industries  set up his company with the money he earned when he found Satoshi Nakamoto*. Is that true?" she asked with her most innocent face. "Satoshi Nakamoto is the inventor of bitcoin and nobody knew his identity for decades. Bitcoin made him a very wealthy person and many treasure hunters targeted his true identity. I once read a tabloid that stated that some people managed to figure Satoshi's true identity and took all his bitcoin 8 years ago."

The people uncomfortable exchanged glances when they heard Aleksis' remarks; some even spouted their drinks.

"Gosh... where did you hear such cheap rumor?" asked one of them in annoyance. "Our boss is an honest entrepreneur. We found a cure for cancer and got a lot of money. This has nothing to do with Satoshi Nakamoto."

Of course, it had nothing to do with Nakamoto, because Aleksis just created the gossip herself. Ha ha ha…. She only wanted to obtain information about the owner of the mysterious company.

"Oh, yeah? Did your company really find a cure for cancer? Amazing! Is the owner of the company a scientist? I couldn't find information about him on the internet... Did he ever come to this Singapore office? It would be really cool if I could meet the inventor of the cancer drug..." said Aleksis cheerfully. "I'll be able to brag to my friends then..."

A man in black suddenly pulled the collar of her uniform and looked at Aleksis sharply, "For a waiter, you have too many questions. Are you a corporate spy?"

"I'm not a corporate spy!" Aleksis, who did not accept being treated in such a manner, immediately brushed off the hands of a stiff-faced and muscular man. "You have no right to treat me badly just because I'm only a waiter..."

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*  Satoshi Nakamoto  is the name used by the pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.

Nakamoto also devised the first blockchain database. Nakamoto was active in the development of bitcoin up until December 2010. Many people have claimed, or have been claimed, to be "Satoshi."

Except for test transactions, Nakamoto's bitcoin remain unspent since mid January 2009. At bitcoin's peak in December 2017, these were worth over US$19 billion, making Nakamoto possibly the 44th richest person in the world at the time. And to this day, his real identity remains a mystery to the world.