Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam-Chapter 727 - 101: The Downsides of Too Much Free Time

This time, the handover work was quite difficult. Mr. Mediterranean was much more approachable than I had imagined, but the fear in his eyes never dissipated. It was clearly the look one gives to a deranged serial killer.

As he walked out of the office, Ethan seemed to hear the melodious accompaniment of "The Godfather."

His joke had failed and turned into an awkward silence.

This made him want to ask, "Mr. Mediterranean, what exactly have I done to make you so afraid of me?"

But Ethan never asked, because he felt that it would only deepen Mr. Mediterranean's fear of him. Even he could see the other party's embarrassment and difficulty, legs trembling under the table, constantly wiping sweat since Ethan entered the room. Despite the air conditioner set to 16 degrees, Mr. Mediterranean was still sweating profusely.

This didn't align with Ethan's memories of him.

Compared to the work at the West Suburb Laboratory, this job had much less technical content, and what he received were just some simple document organization tasks. Mr. Mediterranean was cautiously consulting his opinion when assigning tasks, afraid of tiring him out. Judging from the dialogue relationship, it seemed as though Ethan was the true head of the department.

This isn't right, Mr. Mediterranean, where is your previous arrogance?

Ethan turned on his computer in the air-conditioned office and sorted documents like a worker who had prematurely entered a state of apathy. For someone who had lived in the Empire for three years, this job was quite leisurely. It was nothing more than writing down the philosopher's descriptions of the Empire into documents, as the Democratic Assembly was trying to reconstruct the Empire from various aspects.

As for understanding faith and divine paths, Ethan felt he understood it no less than that philosopher. Besides the True God and the Middle-Level God, he could also narrate some anecdotes about Lao Ba, Lao Kai, and Lao An.

People here would never guess that Lao Ba is an art enthusiast.

As long as you master the right way to get along, there's no need to fear His existence. If He ever visits this city, He would definitely have a great synergy with the people here.

No...

If Lao Ba learned about the existence of the City of Truth, and the achievements of its film and game industries, He would definitely be eager to start a new season.

On the first day of reassignment, Ethan did not meet any colleagues. He worked quietly until the end of the workday, stretched, and out of courtesy knocked on Mr. Mediterranean's office door to inform him that he was going home.

Earlier, the stern Mr. Mediterranean would have scolded him for thinking only about going home after work at such a young age. How could someone of your age have the face to go home?

Overtime was the norm, and if you weren't careful, you'd be working late into the night.

He'd catch the last subway home, and if hungry, buy a sandwich at a passing supermarket to stave off his hunger.

A standard two-point lifestyle.

However, now upon Ethan entering, Mr. Mediterranean seemed frightened enough to hide under the desk, almost crying with joy upon learning that Ethan planned to leave work and go home.

At this, Ethan could only lament that Mr. Mediterranean had changed.

He had lost his airs and returned to the masses, deeply understanding how damaging frequent overtime could be to a young person's spirit.

This was a good sign, indicating that Mr. Mediterranean, like this city, was developing in a positive direction.

Although Mr. Mediterranean looked nearly 50, as the saying goes, to learn of the way in the morning and die content in the evening, he had an epiphany at this age, and certainly would have no regrets if he died now.

However, a leisurely job also had its drawbacks.

Ethan returned home early. As usual, Lindong was preparing ingredients in the kitchen. She was in a great mood, and the tune she hummed could be heard in the living room. The melody was from a popular nursery rhyme in the Imperial Capital. Children living in Lower City fell asleep every night to this rhyme, as their mothers sang softly at their bedside, lulling them to sleep.

The gist of the lyrics was that if the children didn't behave, monsters under their bed would come out at midnight and gnaw them to pieces.

In the Bureau's archives, such creatures hiding under beds were numbered 57, known as Night Eaters, externally similar to humans but without facial features, often appearing in prosperous cities. Almost every month, the local Bureau received several reports of children disappearing from their bedrooms.

A nursery rhyme quite fitting for the Imperial Capital style.

In some ways, Ethan felt that Lindong exhibited some characteristics of a Night Eater as well.

She would stay in bed after nightfall and launch attacks on those in the bed.

According to the eyewitness report of a victimized Imperial Capital resident named Xiao Sen, victims had a lot of energy sapped away, which could lead to them feeling listless and having shaky footsteps the next day. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Recently, Xiao Sen had frequently raised this issue with Lindong, and Lady Lindong, with her vast experience in battling dark creatures, immediately took action.

She started carefully adding goji berries, red dates, and other ingredients to dinners, even researching how to cook oysters and grilled kidneys.

Perhaps influenced by videos, Lindong lately fell in love with cooking. Little Dark, who stayed at home every day, eating and drinking for free, had become quite well-behaved.

After several days of interaction, Lindong had thoroughly grasped this black cat's habits.

Essentially, this was a keycap.

Upon first meeting, she appeared to be a sickly, clingy girl, looking like a competitor, but after a while, Lindong found that it was more in line with a cat's "guarding food" trait. This was a cat that liked to do nothing once it moved in, bothered you continually, and liked to drive away all other humans who came close, simply because she didn't like others hovering around her.

Heh, completely lacking in competitiveness.

Lindong labeled the black cat the next day.

"Teacher, busy, huh."

"You came back just in time, there are drinks in the fridge, go have one."

"The drink, it's not going to be..."

"You mentioned you don't like the taste of goji berries and red dates."

Lindong turned her face slightly and gave a gentle smile. She was wearing an apron, her long white hair tied into a single ponytail behind her. Just as Ethan thought he had dodged a bullet today, she spoke with words cold as winter, "So I made it taste like sour cherry for you."

Ethan also took a good look at the oysters neatly arranged on the steaming tray.

This made his vision go black.

FW Investigation Bureau.

He's been attacked many times recently in the middle of the night, isn't there anyone who can do something about it?

You see, this is the downside of having too much leisure in life.

Ethan resignedly took out the chilled beverage, realizing it was bound to be another sleepless night.

..............

Zhuang Xiao also spent the entire day in the human resources manager's office, the event planning was completed, and next was the task of execution. The good news was that a series of recent upheavals had left Chen Qi overwhelmed. He had increased personnel, yet they still couldn't influence the decisions of the Democratic Assembly. After two days of effort, the boss they planted in Pioneer Technology barely managed to get a foothold in the Democratic Assembly.

And he only held the power of one vote.

The other six council members wouldn't completely follow his opinions.

"No new progress today, I'm going back to rest."

After waking up, Zhuang Xiao rubbed her somewhat aching forehead. She was becoming more and more accustomed to the pain of cutting out of the world. The time she could move freely after "time stop" had also been extended.

"That's just as well; I have some new updates on my side."

Merlin said, "How's your alcohol tolerance?"

"Average."

Zhuang Xiao frowned, "I'm not interested in social events or gatherings."

"Chen Qi is finding ways to expand recruitment; he sent a few more people in yesterday."

"They're all his henchmen."

Zhuang Xiao said, "Are you thinking of getting something out of them? You might as well think about how to get Song Xian out."

"That's usually the case, but not all subordinates can play their roles well, especially those who need to interact with Mr. Ethan for a long time... You should be well aware of the situation on that side; not everyone has the guts to deal with Mr. Ethan."

The "dream experiment" is not a game; to this day, no one knows the outcome of dying in the dream.

They might gain the ability to resurrect like the members of the pioneering team, or they may die forever in the dream. Judging from the headache symptoms every time they cut out of the dream, most people believe the latter.

"Chen Qi brought in an unofficial member."

Merlin said, "Do you remember the idea we implanted in Mr. Ethan? There's another project manager in that office; they're trying to move Mr. Ethan to a familiar position, hoping this will restore everything to normal, so they need an actor who won't break character—ideally, himself."

Zhuang Xiao raised her eyebrow, sensing the smell of conspiracy, "So?"

"Usually, Chen Qi would implant chips in participants to clear their memory." Merlin paused, "But sometimes, electronic devices malfunction. If his memory wasn't fully overwritten..."

He didn't continue, but with Zhuang Xiao's intelligence, it was enough.

Late that night, Zhuang Xiao met a man with a Mediterranean hairstyle.

He looked in terrible shape; however, Chen Qi and his subordinates were too busy to help an unofficial member adjust after the fourth day of the dream experiment. They saw it as just a headache symptom, something you power through. If not, take a sleeping pill and sleep through the night.

"Mr. Du Li."

Once the Mediterranean man left the office area, Merlin led Zhuang Xiao up to him.

Du Li turned to leave at once, but the two blocked him front and back. Merlin said, "I heard about your grandfather, and I've always respected him. He made indelible contributions to the refuge."

"You guys..."

"You need to find someone to talk to, don't you?"

"Yes, Mr. Du Li, I'm also a participant in the dream experiment. We all belong to the unofficial members; if something happens over there, we can look out for each other."

Zhuang Xiao's words made Du Li hesitate.

Merlin pressed on, "I know a good place; shall we talk about your grandfather?"