Chapter 122 About the Golden Bough
A space magician appeared out of nowhere at the base of the Saint Fool's branch of the brewery, ignoring the former brewery members who pulled out guns and pointed them at him.
The white-haired clown looked down at the demon sitting in the chair, his black hair hidden by a fluffy white hat.
The cynical clown had dropped his usual smile, and his unmasked silver eyes were devoid of emotion. Now, there was only a blank-faced Gogol.
My friend seems to have been hypnotized, or rather... according to the terminology used in the neighboring country, it would be more accurate to say that he's been bewitched.
The demon, now the second-in-command of the distillery, knew who had arrived without even looking. He waved his hand, signaling the member who was reporting to him to leave.
The member did not leave; his body left, but his soul remained. He placed a small listening device on the green plant by the door.
Both Gogol and Fyodor looked at the green plants by the door.
The bugging device was cleverly placed at the intersection of light and shadow, where the strong color contrast made the tiny device perfectly invisible.
The clown simply snapped his fingers, and with a crisp sound, the entire potted plant vanished from its spot. As for where it went, he had no idea; it was a true random teleportation.
“Dostos.” The clown looked at his friend, his tone tinged with heaviness.
The distillery's second-in-command, whose name he was calling, remained calm, his deep purple eyes fixed on his friend who genuinely cared for him.
"Is Jinzhi still with you?" the demon asked.
The clown looked at him suspiciously; there must be something fishy going on here, otherwise he wouldn't have asked this question right away.
Thinking of the bugging device from earlier... Gogol teleported himself around, silently "walking" through the entire office.
The conclusion is that this place is very quiet, and now that the plants have been thrown away, it means that other methods were used.
"Yes, it's still with me."
Gogol continued speaking in unison with Dostoevsky. He didn't understand what Dostoevsky meant at first, but he understood the meaning in those purple eyes.
It's just acting, right? He's a clown; how can he do it if he can't act?
Seeing Gogol's knowing look, Dostoevsky couldn't help but sigh inwardly, their brainwaves finally aligning on this matter concerning the Golden Bough.
None of them realized that they were actually thinking their own thoughts, completely diverging from each other.
Through his fabricated memories of working in that fake city and through subtle inquiries, the demon also learned about the origin of the Golden Branch.
Essentially, the Golden Bough is the culmination of Lobotomy Corporation's technology, a product of science, which is why they were previously... Any supernatural abilities or anything else are completely incomprehensible.
Rather, is this kind of thing even scientific?!
Looking at the "threatened" Dostoevsky, Gogol felt that his friend was definitely acting, and that he would probably try to use an item called the Golden Bough to kill the person who threatened him.
Thinking he was about to have a good show, the clown took out the golden branch that he had carefully put away.
The pale golden branches emitted a faint glow as the two allies, who thought they understood each other, completed the handover of the branch.
Dostoevsky wasn't just wasting his time in the cycle of reincarnation; he could roughly figure out how the Golden Bough would be useful to Lobotomy Corporation.
No, it should be said that it was because of the existence of these golden branches that the supervisor and Lobotomy Corporation were nailed to this world.
Once all the gold branches have been collected, they should leave.
The demon's deep purple eyes stared at the golden branch he held in his hand, his gaze complex.
This is the final step. As long as we give these things to the supervisor, the existence of Lobotomy Corporation in this other world will probably be ejected from the world consciousness.
*
The members of the distillery codenamed "Bourbon" closed the distillery that not long ago belonged to Rum... no, it still belongs to the members codenamed "Rum," but the person under the codename has changed.
It's unclear when exactly, but the existence of this organization became somewhat subtle. Others might not have noticed, but Bourbon, who had handled a lot of intelligence, sensed something was amiss.
Ever since "Rum" parachuted into the intelligence department, everything has changed. He still receives missions similar to those he used to, such as stealing intelligence, but... he can sense the difference. It seems the organization wants to go legit.
The most direct evidence was the change in attitude of his contact person, who was a police officer. The words that the somewhat clumsy junior unintentionally uttered made him realize the change in the attitude of the higher-ups.
Their current identities are less like undercover agents within a dark organization, living on the edge of death, and more like supervisors planted by the authorities... or, perhaps, self-righteous, one-sided "supervisors."
Many new people came with this new rum to the organization, while many familiar faces disappeared.
Among them, his childhood friend, the police undercover agent who infiltrated with him, codenamed "Scotch Whisky" Morofushi Kagemitsu, also disappeared.
He had not received any news about Rum since shortly before Rum appeared, and even the intelligence team had no record of him.
The last news he received about Hiro was that he was being transferred to another place. But the question is, does being transferred mean that no news can get out at all?
Filled with great doubt, Bourbon left while listening to the conversation between the superhuman and Rum through the small listening device.
But... nothing happened. They didn't speak, or rather, the superhuman used something to prevent him from hearing them.
This was not unexpected. The blond codenamed member walked forward and saw Vodka crouching in the corner, his body ashen.
This large, imposing figure shrank into a giant mushroom, covering his face with his hat.
Hearing his footsteps, he took off his hat, looked him up and down, and then sighed heavily.
Vodka stood up, stomped his numb lower limbs, and patted the shoulder of the intelligence officer who would soon be "transferred" and who knew nothing of what was about to happen to him.
"What's wrong with you?" Bourbon looked at Gin's underling, who seemed completely off. "Where's Gin? Why are you all here alone?"
It would have been better if Gin hadn't been mentioned, because as soon as Gin was brought up, Vodka sighed. He wanted to follow his older brother too!
But... headquarters didn't want him! The manager with the golden eyes just looked him up and down and then rejected him!
He went so far as to say that he was not qualified.
When he and his older brother went to register for the job, he didn't even bother to ask him what skills he had! He just sent him back!
The older brother was taken away for further examination, which they called an employee rating assessment.
Damn it, he doesn't even have the qualifications to be rated!
However, he was indeed not as capable as his older brother. Thinking of this, Vodka, who was good at consoling himself, breathed a sigh of relief, wondering how his older brother was doing.
Gin stood in the testing room, looking through the glass at the two people who were reviewing his data.
This wasn't unusual for him; as codenamed members, they were required to undergo various tests regularly.
Because he was one of the few genuine members of the brewery, X initially thought his qualities wouldn't be so balanced, but when the test results came out...
Where did this wild war god come from? X knew that Lobotomy Corporation's evaluation criteria were based on a person's inner qualities, which had nothing to do with a person's stance or sense of good and evil.
But isn't something wrong if the four-dimensional ultrasound is over 90?
Hod was prepared to take the new employee to the training department, but when the young woman looked at the report in X's hand, the original plan she had prepared for the new employee was completely useless.
She was still holding the folder in her arms. The brown-haired minister was about to take her leave, since it seemed there was nothing more for her to do here.
However, her supervisor stopped her: "Michelle, he's been assigned to the training department. Why don't you show him the work process?"
Having been assigned a destination, Gin followed behind the brown-haired department head, with passing employees and clerical staff occasionally greeting her.
Surprisingly, the staff here didn't secretly glance at him with either respect or fear, like the peripheral members of the base. They simply chatted among themselves and passed by him with unusual calmness.
He also noticed that their way of addressing her was different from that of the supervisor. He called her "Michelle," while the staff uniformly called her "Minister Hod." Was that also a code name?
In the training department's lounge, there were two familiar faces from Gin. Scotch and Rye, who had been transferred a long time ago, were sitting in their seats looking pale, each holding a steaming drink.
When Gin entered, the two showed no surprise whatsoever, remaining seated and lost in their own thoughts.
After they had fully adapted to life at Lobotomy Corporation, the supervisor simply transferred them to the training department. After all, they were different from the employees from the city and got along well with the kind-hearted Hod.
For the sake of their ministers' mental health and for easier management, they moved to the upper levels.
There weren't many workdays at Lobotomy Corporation, and the three of us ended up sitting there, spacing out.
Gin already knew from the undisguised way the surrounding employees called them "rats," but what did their being rats have to do with Kurosawa Jin, an employee of Lobotomy Corporation?
Shuichi Akai took two cups and gave one to Jin Kurosawa and one to Kagemitsu Morofushi. The three of them looked at the ceiling of the training department together.
This is a hard-won break. Recently, for some reason, my supervisor has been working overtime longer than the senior colleagues have told them.
*
The Demon brought Golden Branch to Lobotomy Corporation. He once had the idea of uniting those people by making himself their enemy. According to his original thinking, Lobotomy Corporation could undoubtedly replace him and become the real public enemy.
However... Lobotomy Corporation is far too far ahead of this world, both in terms of the technology they can offer and the anomalies they contain.
He didn't dare to gamble, nor did he want to gamble, so he came here. The world doesn't need Lobotomy Corporation.
The boyish "supervisor" greeted him, and the boy looked at him with an all-seeing gaze, his golden eyes meeting his purple eyes.
After a long pause, he slowly nodded: "Don't worry, we won't stay here for long."
"You've come to greet me. Is the supervisor at work?"
Abel placed the golden branch inside his white coat: "He's gone to America. What you're hoping for will come true when he returns."
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Author's Note: EMM, it's almost the end! [kiss][kiss] Any side stories you'd like to see? [eating melon emoji]
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