Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam-Chapter 728 - 102: They’re All Dead

In the sanctuary's dining hall, only synthetic food remained after the surface was destroyed. Zhuang Xiao disliked the texture of these foods, especially the synthetic meat here, which felt like marinated dry plastic. This discomfort grew stronger, especially after tasting normal meals in her dreams.

Lately, enjoying a hearty lunch in the dreamscape had become her salvation.

But alcohol was a good thing; no matter how the brewers in the sanctuary made it, at least it tasted no different from the real thing.

Merlin had booked a small private room, and a few bottles of alcohol would be quite an expense, even for those like them who held minor positions in the sanctuary.

Duli, also known as Mr. Mediterranean, seemed like an honest person. From the moment he sat down, he kept his head down, his uneasy hands not knowing where to place themselves.

"Come, Mr. Duli, I toast to you."

Once the hot dishes were served, Merlin started the formal toasting.

He was such a goal-driven person, not to enhance friendship or establish connections, but to get Mr. Mediterranean drunk with alcohol, and then extract some useful information from his mouth. Zhuang Xiao had no doubt that if a cudgel could achieve the same effect, Duli might have been knocked out by Merlin on the way here.

"To the descendants of heroes!"

Such a title caused a noticeable change in Duli's expression, his unease intensified, but under the influence of the drinking atmosphere, he reluctantly raised his glass and downed the spirits in one go.

"An astronaut, what a remarkable identity. We can't even reach the surface now, but your grandfather broke through the sky and reached much farther."

"You know, I can't reveal more to you..."

Duli said, "It's a confidentiality agreement."

"Of course."

Merlin smiled.

Sometimes he didn't need direct, explicit answers. Like just now, Duli's response confirmed his internal suspicions. In fact, he didn't know the exact identity of Duli's grandfather. Everything was based on the limited information he could investigate, along with conjectures after reading "City of Truth."

In fact, at least on the surface, the sanctuary left no information about that spaceship.

Duli's honest appearance evoked some guilt in Zhuang Xiao. She felt the unscrupulous Mediterranean boss's prototype might not be Duli himself, but perhaps his grandfather or other family members.

But the guilt was quickly diluted by the quest for knowledge.

What followed were normal exchanges between department colleagues. They chewed on unpalatable synthetic ingredients, but the most important task was to persuade Duli to drink.

Mr. Mediterranean was a person who was not good at refusal, and in his past decades of life, he had never been as important as these days. Before Chen Qi approached him, he lived an ordinary life in the South Shore District of the sanctuary as an average citizen, long forgetting those so-called "family secrets."

His alcohol tolerance was as honest as his character. After a few drinks, he became somewhat dizzy.

Residents of the civilian area did not advocate drinking as they viewed it as an expensive and unpalatable thing that, when drunk, always caused trouble, doing more harm than good.

However, today, after trying it himself, Duli discovered one of the benefits of drinking.

When the dizzy feeling surged up, the fear that had enveloped him since the afternoon was slightly alleviated. He no longer felt like he was in an ice cellar; the alcohol flowing in his veins warming him up.

"I hope you understand Minister Chen Qi; his work has recently hit a snag, which is why he had no choice but to seek your help."

The light in the compartment made Duli feel somewhat dizzy, and the sound in his ears went back and forth, "Facing fear outright must be really hard, right?"

Face fear?

He paused in confusion.

Huh, strange.

Had he mentioned this to Merlin?

This was covered by a confidentiality agreement, and when Chen Qi invited him, he promised many things, such as installing a cognitive implant chip for him that recorded his grandfather's thought patterns, supposedly allowing him to forget fear and, more importantly, think like a true hero.

Grandfather was the pride of their family, but due to the so-called confidentiality agreement, they couldn't mention his name to anyone.

Yet again, the sanctuary failed to keep its promise.

The chip they implanted malfunctioned. When he met Ethan on the other side of the dreamscape, all the shadows from his childhood surged up in an instant. He couldn't even see Ethan's face clearly; he only felt the writhing darkness permeating his office.

This was definitely a wrong decision.

The sanctuary should never have gotten involved with such things!

This was what Duli thought, but he dared not express it to anyone. It seemed like the story of his life, like when he was deciding to convey his intent to withdraw from this plan to Chen Qi upon exiting the dreamscape, but a few failed conversations left him skulking away alone.

Maybe tomorrow.

He could only silently comfort himself as usual.

"If you quit first, perhaps I could help relay it to Minister Chen Qi."

The voice at his ear interrupted Duli's train of thought, pulling him back to reality once more.

"No, no need, I'd better tell him myself."

"Actually, I'm curious, what really happened on that ship?"