Chapter 14 About the Meeting

Before leaving the company, Honglu left her EGO armor, which she used for work, inside the facility.

After all, the EGO armor, extracted from the ALEPH-class Abnormality Azure Nova, had a huge heart on the front that was too conspicuous.

He was now wearing a suit that his supervisor had somehow found out from somewhere—a very ordinary black suit.

For some reason, the secretary kept looking at her clothes with a very strange gaze.

Could this also be an EGO?

Mr. X gave him the weapon, along with the armor left at the company, and the accompanying Nova Voice.

Now, he placed the small ball wrapped in a blue heart next to the headband that held his high ponytail, making it look like a cute decoration.

The EGO weapon is attached to him; it looks like it's stuck to his headband, but it's actually floating to the side.

The secretary personally saw him out, and the moment the young man left the house, she slammed the door shut, as if she had thrown out a pest.

She still hates me so much; I'm afraid she never wants to see me go back.

In the courtyard, just like when I arrived, the Warp train station, a magical building, extended from underground, where employees in W company uniforms were constantly correcting coordinate parameters using instruments.

Unlike when they arrived, there were two more people in the yard doing manual labor.

There were two men, and the outline of one of them gave Honglu a strange sense of familiarity.

The two men were struggling to carry boxes of enkephalins, bearing the Lobotomy Corporation logo, onto the Warp train.

The team leader of the W company employees who were temporarily staying here saw the long-haired young man being shut out by the secretary and understood something:

"Were you also sent by the disciplinary department to move boxes?"

"No, Mr. X has granted me permission to rest today."

Upon hearing this, the team leader from Company W stopped paying much attention to the young man, whom he knew would never have any interaction with.

She looked at the manpower, which was far less efficient than transporting goods directly from the company via pipelines, and sighed silently.

This isn't punishing the two of them; it's clearly punishing the W company employees who are waiting to depart.

Algaria was also fed up with this endless repetitive work. He wasn't tired, it was torture. He had been moving boxes of endorphins around every day for days after work.

Unlike him, Potato was extremely grateful for escaping death and worked very hard to move the load. He was just an ordinary employee, unlike Lord Algaria.

That's a blue echo among the unique finishers!

As a result, he's still here moving boxes, just like me.

Algaria's long, fluffy white hair was tied into a big bun on top of her head.

This is similar to, yet not entirely similar to, the figure that Honglu took away the leader of the Gear Order during that night in Valpurgis.

Finally, filled with doubt, he left the chaotic courtyard in the midday sun.

The blond boy boarded the Shinkansen bound for Tokyo.

While the trains in this world are not as efficient as Warp trains, they are still much faster than normal trains.

Half an hour later, the hurried young man followed the flow of people out of the station, hailed a taxi, and headed straight for the organization's hospital in Tokyo.

Sinclair thought that Yoshihide would most likely take Ryunosuke there.

Thinking of the little girl still with Mori Ōgai, Sinclair silently apologized.

However, they will return home at most in the evening, while Ms. Ryoshu will likely remain in Tokyo to accompany Ryunosuke.

But he'll definitely have to go back, so Gin can just play those games with Dazai for now.

The blond boy's eyes darted around, his thoughts seemingly wandering to some unknown dimension.

A familiar figure drew Sinclair's attention back. The taxi was moving at a good speed, and he thought he saw Mr. Honglu.

He quickly called for a stop, left the fare, got out of the car, and headed straight for the place where he had seen the shadow.

In a typical park, a young man with long hair sat on a swing made of tires, his head down.

As Sinclair drew closer to the young man, the head-down youth perfectly matched the image in his mind: Hong Lu, the sixth culprit of the LCB.

The only difference between him and the Mr. Honglu he remembered was that he wasn't wearing an LCB uniform, but a black suit.

Moreover, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but the young man seemed to be in a bad state, somewhat listless, as if he had been severely exploited.

Combining the young man's suit with his own experience, Sinclair, who had been living in this world for three years, naturally imagined the scene.

Mr. Honglu, who has fallen into this world, is completely ignorant of common sense. After unintentionally joining a ruthless company, he is severely exploited!

That's terrible!

As Sinclair was lamenting Honglu's miserable life at the shady company, Honglu, who was looking down, sensed someone approaching.

He looked up in confusion and saw Sinclair with a strange expression.

"Mr. Honglu! You've suffered so much!"

The blond boy's words were startling, leaving Honglu even more confused. What's wrong with me?

"What are you saying, Mr. Sinclair?"

"Huh?"

The young man with heterochromia tilted his head slightly, looking at his companion who had asked the question.

"Weren't you exploited by unscrupulous companies?"

"No... I don't think so..."

Honglu realized for the first time how difficult it was to deny something.

Honestly, I can't say I wasn't exploited, but it's hard to say I wasn't exploited either.

In this world's parlance, this is Schrödinger's exploitation.

Sinclair sensed Honglu's hesitation, thought for a moment, and then extended his invitation:

"Mr. Honglu, would you like to come to the organization where Miss Liangxiu and I are first?"

After thinking for a moment, I corrected myself, "In urban parlance, they'd be considered an underground gang."

"Hey~ Are Sinclair and Yoshihide together?"

"That's great!"

For some reason, Mr. Honglu in front of me suddenly became happy.

However, the blond boy remembered the original purpose of his trip to Tokyo.

“Mr. Honglu, I accidentally died this morning.”

"I'll be resurrected soon! Manager Dante must be in this world too!"

The blond boy's eyes were practically shining. Honglu, watching the excited Sinclair, quietly added:

"Mr. Sinclair, was he hit on the head and died?"

How did Mr. Honglu know?

Sinclair touched his head. Could there still be blood on it?

“This morning, I also died. When the manager revived me, another person with a mental problem was also revived at the same time.”

There's nothing wrong with his head. Since Sinclair is dead, then it must be him who has a problem with his head.

"Is Manager Dante with you?"

"Sinclair, would you like to come back with me?"

The blond boy shook his head.

"Let's go find Ms. Yoshihide first; she's in Tokyo right now."

Honglu stood up and followed the blond boy outside. It seemed his vacation hadn't been in vain; he'd even gained something unexpected.

With Akutagawa, who looked like a lop-eared rabbit, Yoshihide decided to return to Yokohama. Since it was all the same no matter where he was, he might as well go back to a place closer to him to recuperate.

Gin, having had enough of this farce about seeking medical help, was the first to leave.

There were no unexpected people or things outside the elevator this time, until he saw English Whiskey, who, like Barbaresco, was supposed to stay obediently in Tokyo, at the corner.

What? Did they come as a group? And who is that long-haired pretty boy?

Why are all sorts of people being brought here?

What are you doing here?

A deep male voice came from around the corner, startling Sinclair.

"Mr. Gin"

England greeted this semi-boss.

Gin, with an unlit cigarette in his mouth, sized up the long-haired youth who had been brought here from England.

Wearing a black suit, is he a member of the Port Mafia? He also has a small gray ball with a heart on his head, what strange taste.

"I'm here to see Miss Barbaresco."

The blond boy looked at the imposing silver-haired man and explained why he was there.

Honglu remained silent, secretly observing the man.

Gin didn't pay much attention to the two. Rum called him over for a face-to-face confrontation, which was also the Boss's order. He didn't have time to deal with these two derelict people.

With a stern face, Gin strode out of the hospital; he had to drive himself today.

It was the same elevator, but this time, Ryoshu and Akutagawa were standing inside.

She raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at Honglu, who was unexpected.

"Where is it? How did you find it?"

"Please come with me, the manager is over there."

Honglu said it directly.

Unlike Sinclair, Ryosuke, who had a sick child with him, drove himself.

Inside the car, the black-and-white-haired child was still coughing incessantly.

Seeing that Ryunosuke was still showing no signs of improvement, Sinclair thought of the little girl left behind at Mori Ōgai's place.

"Gin is still in Yokohama, I'm going to pick her up."

The blond boy began to plan, clearly intending to leave the organization immediately after recognizing Dante.

"No need to rush, Mr. Sinclair."

Liangxiu looked at Honglu's head suspiciously.

"Your head is attached."

"Miss Ryoshu asked what's that on your head...? Isn't that just an ornament?"

Honglu touched the small ball on her head and smiled faintly.

"This is what the manager told me to carry for self-defense. My Guan Dao is too big in this world; the police would confiscate it."

"A new EGO?"

As the car drove on, the road became increasingly remote, and behind a grove of trees, a detached house came into view.

"Miss Ryoshu wants to cure this child, doesn't she?"

Honglu led the way and asked Liangxiu.

"Your method? Speak quickly."

"Actually, we have the same K-company reactor as the Lobotomy Corporation branch here."

"Lobotomy Corporation branch? Do branches exist in this world?"

Lobotomy Corporation has branches all over the city, in every nest, so where is there a Lobotomy Corporation branch here?

Honglu waved to them and started fiddling with something on the courtyard gate.

As he moved, the three people who had never been here before watched the scenery gradually change before their eyes.

The tranquil background fades away, revealing a residential house and a courtyard that can only be described as bizarre and surreal.

This place clearly utilizes P Company's space expansion technology; the space inside the courtyard is frighteningly large.

In one corner of the yard, a Warp train was parked.

"Mr. Honglu, where exactly is this?"

A note from the author:

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