In spite of all the mixed feelings of him, his stop only lasted for one moment after which he continued his walk towards his booth. As soon as he passed the gathering surrounding Aya he heard a soft voice calling him:

“Can you wait for a moment please? “

He didn't need to turn around to know who was talking to him. That soft voice he had heard before in a very famous record. Although he needed to talk to her but everyone around her wouldn’t let them talk in private without drawing any attention. So he postponed talking about what he intended and turned to her saying:

“ Of course I can, but I don't think we've met before. “

“ Yes, this is the first time we meet. My name is Aya Darwish, a professional player in Tasania. “

He looked at her extended hand towards him in hesitance, then he reached out to shake her hand saying:

“ My name is Ibrahim Tawfik, and I'm the founder of the Sphinx Studio .”

“ Sphinx Studio? This is a brand new name for me.”

“Indeed, I founded it just yesterday. “

There was laughing around her when Ibrahim told her about his new studio, but he did not care about that. As for Aya, she seemed a bit frustrated from their behavior so she said:

“ Let's talk at your booth. “

Ibrahim's heart contracted suddenly as she moved before him and pulled his hand to move towards his booth in a posing manner. Although he wanted to talk to her more thoroughly, he always thought about those who were watching her. But before him Aya was moving confidently and that move was very spontaneous so it gave him the audacity to keep up with her. It was who asked him to move towards his booth in response to the mean behavior of the other players. They were I a safe position away from any suspicion, or that what he hoped. Once they reached the booth she said:

“ I apologize to you for what they have done. Although there are some bastards among them, most of them are pure-hearted. “

“ Do you know them all ? “

Aya laughed gently as she said in a proud tone :

“ I know every professional Egyptian player.”

“ You seem to be very famous . “

-Not only famous, but also the most famous player among them !

“ oh you are a celebrity then ? “

“ you can say so . “

Her speech clearly indicated to him that she was telling a joke which she laughed after saying it loudly, but despite that Ibrahim did not laugh with her. For him she was the most important player in the place here, even in the whole game. He looked around him quickly so he could be sure that they were not attracting any uninvited guests. That move attracted the attention of Aya, who said in a calm voice:

“ Ibrahim, you seem to me that you are worried. “

Ibrahim didn't answer her directly, but he looked at her eyes deeply. She felt that something bad was about to happen. Ibrahim looked carefully around them again and then moved inside the booth without talking. Aya felt suspicious of his actions, but something inside her made her move into the booth. The booth had a very simple metal table with some posters arranged neatly on it. Behind the table was a narrow three meters, There were three metal seats around the table, of which he drew one, and then gave it to Aya who was still standing in front of the table. He then nodded toward a narrower corner inside the booth which wasn’t apparent to anyone watching from outside. Then he pulled a seat toward the same place, and sat in front of the Aya, who moved behind him quietly watching him closely and carefully. She carried in her eyes many questions about his unusual behavior but she decided to follow him out of curiosity. Her suspicion was normal as anyone in her place would feel confused. He didn’t give her any room to talk as he said:

“ Like you told me right now that you're the most skilled player here, and I'm very recent in this field, so I need you to explain to me what I can do in my studio, so I hope you can nominate for me a number of currently popular games so I can financially benefit from the studio. “

In his slow and quiet talk, Ibrahim did something that Aya had never imagined. He took out his phone, turned it off, and pulled out his little battery. This movement made her feel that the person sitting next to her was not a simple person. This movement indicated that he knew there was someone watching over her. When she reached this point, she jumped to a more insane point : Does he know the secrets and dangers of Rioneed ? After Ibrahim finished his talk, he put his phone in the pocket of his heavy coat, which contained certain metal wires that repel electromagnetic waves and micro-nano frequencies. Aya kept staring deeply at the young man, who, had it not been for his suspicious movements, would not have noticed his presence. Despite the shock of what her mind had expected and her fear of what would happen if they were discovered now, she decided to risk . Taking this step in front of someone you don't know maybe was due to her impulsive personality or her desire to try something new that might add a new variable that would change the desperate situation that she was in right now. Maybe because she was too scared from who was watching her movements like hungry hawk, before she sits down she didn’t do like him to her phone but she took off her coat and put it on the metal table behind her, then she sat down and said:

” This is a long story Ibrahim. Tell me, have you ever played an online game ? What did you play ? “

“ I just played a game before and I'll play the second soon. The two games are Ashley and Rioneed . “

Despite Ibrahim's casual answer, his eyes were fixed on her. He watched every change on her face. He was able to observe a very fine tremor of her left-hand lasted for just a moment before it disappeared. His guess was correct. Ashley was a very well-known code among Egyptian players especially when they knew very dangerous secrets that they could not disclose. As usual, this code was invented by Aya. What Ibrahim bet on was that Aya invented that code before the beginning of Rioneed game, he bet it was her own code in life. What he just noticed made him realize that his bet apparently was right.

“Ashley's game is an old game, and your experience won't help you with what you will be facing in Rioneed.”

“I don't think so. Ashley's game made me realize the basis of the online games. It's a very complicated game, and it has a lot of secrets and difficult confrontations between the players, so I'm totally ready for this Rioneed game .”

What they said was much deeper than what it seemed. The rule that Aya set in the Ashley code was to start talking about Ashley in any phrase, then to associate it with the subject she was talking about. What she said to him meant that Rioneed game was not like any previous game in the online games, which Ibrahim knew very well. Aya understood from his words that Rioneed was a very complicated game with many secrets and conflicting situations among players . The number of questions that struck her mind was much more than her ability to process them at once. But a certain fact seemed very clear to her : This strange guy knew the secrets of Rioneed game. But why did he talk to her? did he know what she was planning to do in the game ? She was so scared that she was on the verge of collapse. What was she thinking in her mind was the details of a conspiracy she did not expect to face so quickly, a plot planned by the Tasania and Solron agents. She didn’t know how they discovered her, but apparently the young man in front of her was working for them, and what he had said to her just now was part of that conspiracy to reveal her true intentions, plans, and plot. She didn’t find any other answer to the question of how could such a young man possibly know such secrets of high secrecy and danger? How could for anyone to know her most precious secret, Ashley code? She never told anyone about that code and no ordinary person could discover it . As for the man sitting in front of her, he not only knew the code but also used it perfectly to communicate with her. she felt threatened by Ibrahim. At the same time, during the flood of her stormy thoughts, Ibrahim noticed that her calm look had changed towards suspicious one showing emotions of hatred, doubt, and fear. Her reaction was just a natural one that he had expected before so he quickly said to clear this misunderstanding:

“You don't believe that my experience in Ashley is different and unique. I was one of those who resisted invaders to defend the holy land of Ashley, and through my experience, I knew that fighting on my own was difficult and wouldn't achieve the goal I wanted. So I decided to set up Sphinx studio so that I could gather skilled players who have the enthusiasm and experience of the online games to use them to play Rioneed and try to earn money . “

Although she understood his message that his intentions in Rioneed were much different from what she thought as he intended to fight invasion against Egypt in the game, and that he was looking for a group of players to help him, she was still looking at him with the same amount of hatred and fear. He added, in hasty words, out of fear that she might do something reckless:

“In Ashley's game, I've never been a traitor. I also hate ay rat who may sell me to my enemies. So I'll be very careful about choosing who join Sphinx especially when I play a dangerous online game like Rioneed. In Ashley if you want to betray someone, you won't know about their betrayal only when it’s too late “

Ibrahim's heart rate was too fast. What he just said carried a great danger to him. If anyone heard him he might understand the messages he just said. The truth was that he wanted to tell her everything he knew but he was afraid from people who were watching her. It doesn't matter whether she believed him or not, but he was very afraid to risk revealing himself and hers too, especially that he was capable to escape but she couldn’t. Suddenly his mind stirred to think about this new crazy idea that just hit him, what would happen if he made her run away with him? It was a very tempting idea to him, but after moments of thoughts he completely abandoned it. Now,she still didn’t believe what he said to her and misunderstood every word. How would she agree to bet her whole life on him? Although the words that he just said made a lot of sense to her and told her that there was no conspiracy against herself, but her mind told her not to risk her whole life and trust such a stranger she just met. She would never risk her life for anyone, no matter what, let alone someone she only knew for a few minutes. She stood up from her seat without even saying a farewell statement. As soon as she approached her coat, he rapidly said:

“I was playing at Ashley's game in a good city called Tiba. My name there was Ibro. Have you ever seen my name there before ? “

Her hands stopped for a moment before taking her coat and moving away from him as if he was infected by plague. He followed her with his eyes, and he didn't know if she understood what he wanted to tell her.