Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam-Chapter 711 - 93: Don’t Click on the Semi-Transparent Folder

That day, I went to sleep early.

After waking up from the other side, Lindong automatically put on the clothes that were specially selected for her yesterday. Before leaving, Ethan felt it necessary to guide Lindong on some skills for living in the real world. From Lindong's views and reactions to "dreams," it wasn't hard to see that her memory had also suffered some damage, so much so that she completely forgot she was once a part of modern people.

But this was also expected. According to Scarlet's memory, Lindong had fallen into a coma due to an accident when she was very young, and after that, she was immersed in her subconscious.

"From today on, I have to go out to work each day, leaving at 7 in the morning and, if all goes well, returning home around 6:30 in the evening."

Ethan picked up the cuckoo clock from the bedroom desk and stuffed it into the arms of the curious black cat. The black cat lazily lay on the bed, lifted its left paw, and gently tapped the cuckoo's head a few times. When the clock made a "cuckoo" sound, its ears suddenly perked up, and it stared wide-eyed at its beautiful heterochromatic eyes.

This harmonious and peaceful scene was once the life Ethan dreamed of.

Of course, Lindong's appearance could already be considered an unexpected fantasy. Back then, he was tormented by busy work to the point of exhaustion, coupled with frequent incidents online involving bad women, making him shy away from sweet romances. Therefore, in his initial idealized life, having a small pet at home, some savings, and being self-sufficient daily was the best state of living.

"When I'm not home, Little Dark is your responsibility to watch over. Don't let her out to bite people."

Ethan prudently reminded.

He genuinely worried about the safety of cat thieves in the neighborhood.

Little Dark, with her sleek and shiny black fur, coupled with those heterochromatic eyes, belonged to an extremely rare breed in the feline world. If seen by cat thieves, they might very likely target her.

If that happens, this city would have one or several murder cases added to its list.

"I don't bite people."

The black cat said, with a murderous glint in her eyes, "I like watching them tear each other apart."

Ethan sighed.

Little Dark's personality flaws were indeed significant; not only does she have a yandere tendency, but she also is a potential criminal. If left unchecked, it won't be long before she becomes the leader of the city's underground crime syndicate.

"What if it doesn't go well?"

Lindong nodded and asked.

From seven in the morning to six in the evening, this represents a medium-intensity position in today's empire.

"It's possible to work overtime until the early hours during special periods."

The highest record Ethan had set was staying at the company till 2 a.m., getting home by 3 a.m., lying in bed and feeling as if he had just closed his eyes before it was time to get up for work again.

"Why work?"

Little Dark was very perplexed.

As early as last night, when Ethan claimed to be poor, she began to activate her clever little brain, "I heard there's a place called 'bank' here, and it has a lot of money in it. We just need to go there, grab some, and bring it home—probably won't even take an hour."

She had at least a hundred ways not to be discovered by anyone, along with another hundred means to eliminate all pursuers even if discovered.

"It's not about money." Ethan never imagined he would say such a thing one day, "It's for information gathering."

There was an interview today, and if he passed, he would report to Pioneer Technology.

This time, he wanted to see what was going on with this mysterious big company and their boss, to the point where they even brought up something like "world destruction" out of the blue.

"Next is the food issue."

Ethan opened the computer, patiently demonstrating to Lindong the guide for using the takeout interface, "Choose what you like to eat, then press this button, and before long, someone will deliver food to your door."

"What about you?"

Lindong nodded cluelessly, "Do you want me to order for you?"

"No need, the company has a cafeteria."

"So, should I pick you up after work?"

"...No."

Ethan admitted there was a moment when he was tempted, imagining how, after a busy day, stepping out of the company's building to see a gentle girlfriend waiting at the door, all the accumulated fatigue from the day would probably vanish instantly. But then he thought, it seemed that Lindong reserved her few gentle sides all for him. When dealing with others, she usually showed indifference, sometimes even violent tendencies.

Moreover, the white hair and red eyes were too conspicuous. Her walking down the streets would undoubtedly attract many people trying to strike up a conversation.

Ethan didn't want Lindong in such tricky situations.

"If you get bored at home, there's a folder with games, by the way, you see this folder, it looks semi-transparent, right?"

"Mm."

"These are important system files. If you find such files on the hard drive, never click into them, they could cause unimaginable disaster."

Ethan issued the warning in a stern tone.

Having spent a lot of time with Little Dark, he had learned to align his heart and words.

"Disaster?"

"The worst outcome could lead to a computer explosion."

Ethan said, "I bought this computer with my first paycheck after starting work, it has significant sentimental value. If it explodes, I'd be very upset."

"Okay, I won't click."

Lindong obediently moved the mouse elsewhere.

Ethan then took Lindong to the living room, "This little white control panel corresponds to the set-top box, which has many movies inside."

"Movies? Like 'Heisenberg and the Magic Book'?"

"More refined than the techniques used by J.K Forest."

Ethan demonstrated how to operate the set-top box to Lindong, he chose the 'Family Hero' series, which Lindong could finish watching by the time he got off work and went home, "There are snacks here, tomato-flavored chips."

He checked the production date and handed them to Lindong, relieved they weren't expired.

Lindong was quickly captivated by the images on the TV screen, with a black cat lying on her lap, she focused intently, munching on the tomato-flavored chips, occasionally feeding a piece to the cat.

So far, everything seemed orderly.

The ideal life seemed to have arrived, but Ethan knew very well that an undercurrent was surging beneath this surface calm. Before leaving, he took one last look at the cat, attracted by the movie. Despite its small and cute appearance, the black cat gave Ethan the complicated feeling of owning a husky.

He couldn't ensure that his living room would remain intact when he returned.

He saluted the husky owners with respect.

Maybe when he returns, there will be two ghouls lying on the floor in his living room, eyes red and drooling.

Almost at the moment the door closed, a message from Zhuang Xiao, the HR manager of Pioneer Technology, arrived on his phone. Although Ethan was quite interested in the company's boss's theory of 'world destruction' and promptly accepted the invitation, the employment procedures and labor contract processes still had to be properly followed, as the big boss naturally couldn't handle such trivial details personally.

However, he should have informed the HR department, so this interview was likely just a formality.

Elsewhere, Zhuang Xiao was feeling anxious.

It was evident that Ethan was courteous, responding quickly to messages, and soon she would meet him in the office.

But before that, she had received a warning from the high-ups in the shelter.

Chen Qi's subordinates had somehow become the boss of Pioneer Technology, leading her to speculate that the whole company was controlled by them. As the HR manager and a staff member of Chen Qi's department, she naturally had to follow all the organization's instructions given to her.

The department allowed her to be there only because suddenly replacing the HR manager might arouse Ethan's suspicion. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

She had been warned not to disclose anything related to the shelter during her interaction with Ethan, nor could she mention her identity as "Scarlet" or anything about the events in the "otherworld." Her role now was to play a regular HR manager, meeting Ethan for the first time, unaware of the ongoing research at Pioneer Technology.

Originally, Chen Qi requested her to have a new chip implanted before entering the "dream realm" to ensure nothing went wrong, but Merlin somehow contacted the higher-ups and vetoed this order, infuriating Chen Qi who was in a bad mood all day.

Besides this, another significant piece of information lingered in Zhuang Xiao's mind.

West District, clothing store, the manager is a person in their fifties.

The feature: rather thin, with a mole on the back of the neck.

Zhuang Xiao guessed Merlin's intention, which was also what she urgently wanted to verify—whether this "dream city's" realm was actually their pre-apocalyptic world?

If there's the same clothing store in the west of the city, housing the thin old man Merlin mentioned, it would confirm their suspicions.

Thus, a new unavoidable question emerged.

Why could Ethan reproduce their pre-destruction world?

Such fine detail couldn't just stem from implanted ideas, and his understanding of his own identity, where did these incredibly real experiences come from?

Could it be Lindong?

But...

Merlin was almost convinced that Lindong had betrayed the shelter.

Time ticked away, until a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Knock, knock, knock—"

"Come in."

Walking into the office was a familiar face, almost unchanged since their treehouse meeting, except now in a formal suit and white shirt, while this "dream realm" seemed to contain some sort of cognitive interference, making him blend in without being viewed as a foreigner on the street.

Zhuang Xiao speculated that perhaps only those from the shelter could sense the anomaly.

"Welcome, Mr. Ethan."

Zhuang Xiao stood up, showing a formal smile and extended her right hand to Ethan, "I'm Zhuang Xiao, HR manager of Pioneer Technology."