Chapter 88 088 The Children

In the following days, Barry, who was specifically tasked with monitoring "Tiger," would carry a communicator with him every day and report the situation to Christie as if he were giving a live broadcast.

"It seems someone from the Port Mafia went to attack Tiger on their own, but ended up getting beaten up instead. What a disaster."

"The Mafia not only didn't learn their lesson, but they've become even more ruthless!? Speaking of which, isn't this guy that lemon-themed pervert from before? Why do the locals seem to be more ruthless when they blow things up than we are?"

"This thing is called... Yaksha? I don't quite understand why that little girl suddenly jumped down, and then was suddenly saved by 'Tiger'. Am I a bit out of touch with the logic of kids these days..."

“It’s probably just a matter of regional cultural differences. Barry, you shouldn’t dwell on these things.” Christie sat in the captain’s cabin. Although Barry couldn’t see her, Christie still wore her usual gentle smile. “Sometimes things just happen like that, don’t they?”

Barry thought for a moment: "That makes sense."

"Anyway, that's the situation. What else do I need to do? Just sitting here staring around all day is so boring..."

Although this intelligence wasn't actually needed, sending Barry out had another kind of strategic significance.

That is—it is essential to ensure that Barry and Vladimir are not both on the Nautilus unless absolutely necessary!

The destructive power of the two of them alone is already astonishing. However, if there's only one of them, under the supervision of the other UN members, it's somewhat manageable. But if the two happen to meet...

That was no longer a scene that could be described with mild terms like "violent chemical reaction." It had to start with a fusion reaction.

Therefore, with both people idle, they must find a way to send one of them out to prevent the Nautilus from exploding before anyone can react.

Given that Vladimir's abilities were unsuitable for covert surveillance in every sense of the word, it was ultimately decided to send Barry instead.

Although Barry was initially very enthusiastic and even got a "disguise uniform" (though it looked rather perfunctory), his enthusiasm clearly faded much faster.

That's because the external support from both sides—the group and the Smile Company—has not yet arrived, so the various forces in Yokohama have tacitly transitioned to a truce.

The UN is short-staffed and can't withstand much disruption; the Joint Major Crimes Unit, on the other hand, is short-funded and similarly can't withstand much disruption...

The main problem is that the UN team is too bold. Every time they appear, it's as if they haven't really been there unless they blow up a building and release poison gas into a street (just kidding). As a result, the Joint Major Crimes Unit doesn't dare to take action unless they are sure of success, for fear of not being able to afford the compensation.

The UN and the Joint Major Crimes Unit have reached a rare consensus on a single topic, and have now tacitly agreed to a truce.

Everyone in the Joint Major Crimes Unit except Sherlock Holmes was quite worried. They were stuck in the same city as the UN every day, unable to make any arrests, which was very frustrating. Only Holmes seemed quite happy, spending his days puffing on cigarettes.

For Holmes, the situation will only become more interesting after the group and the Smiling Merchants enter the scene.

Holmes preferred the process of solving problems to arriving at a solution, so he was actually quite pleased that the situation had become a bit more complicated.

—It's worth mentioning here that the Joint Major Crimes Unit's budget is tight mainly because Holmes previously applied directly to the government for missiles, making it difficult for them to apply for funding now.

Therefore, Fabre and Lewis began to reasonably suspect that Holmes was doing it on purpose.

Judging from Holmes's illustrious resume, he is perfectly capable of doing such a thing.

While logically speaking, Holmes might at most be using this as an excuse to slack off, emotionally, ASA individuals simply can't control their wildly imaginative minds.

Christie maintained her polite and gentle smile, comforted Barry for a while, and sincerely explained the importance of Barry's work, praising his enthusiasm and diligence. She successfully got Barry to go back to work happily.

Christie only hung up the call after confirming that Barry's interest had been rekindled.

Defoe, watching from the sidelines, felt more and more that this process resembled an award ceremony for outstanding kindergarten teachers...

At the other end of the captain's cabin, Defoe, who was simply bored and had nothing better to do, swallowed a bite of food while following Verne and Christie: "Barry is already over eighty years old, but he's still like a child in every way."

Defoe started the conversation, and Verne put down his academic journal: "To be honest, I really admire Barry and Vladimir's mentality. How do they manage to be so carefree and like real children every day?"

There's not much to say about Barry and Vladimir's appearances; it's just the effect of their supernatural abilities, which have nothing to do with their subjective will, so there's no need to discuss it further.

But it's really not easy for these two people to maintain this kind of "carefree, innocent, yet troublesome and unrepentant" personality that you can almost only see in children.

In particular, one of them had lived for over eighty years and the other had experienced the harsh realities of society.

Verne and Defoe continued the conversation, chatting casually about this topic.

Christie listened to Verne and Defoe's casual conversation without saying a word.

A person grows by failing, recognizing their mistakes, understanding the problems, and correcting them. And when a child makes enough mistakes and corrects enough mistakes, they grow into an adult.

Growth is the process by which people use setbacks as examples to change themselves.

However, if one refuses to change after making a mistake, then the process of "growth" naturally ceases to exist.

Some people simply refuse to admit their mistakes; others are born with an understanding of the world and don't need to change it.

Some people don't feel they need to change.

Because people change themselves often in order to obtain "love" from elsewhere—not romantic love, but a simpler sense of "satisfaction" and "happiness".

Whether it's to receive this simple care from parents, friends, or those around them, people will change themselves and try to integrate into the community.

So why do children who cannot understand love or know how to love, and children who give all their love to one person, need to "grow up"?