??Chapter 38: Chapter 29 eting
Chapter 38: Chapter 29 eting
A modest-sized living room, spread with an old carpet, the light was warm, two single sofas were placed at an angle, a small wooden coffee table was in between, a little farther away was a small stool, and the wood charcoal in the fireplace occasionally burst with crackling sparks.
A man and a woman sat on the sofas, respectively.
The man appeared to be in his thirties, of dium build, with black hair casually falling over his forehead, wearing a jacket that could be bought anywhere, and although his facial features were overly sharp, he was still handso. At this mont, he was listlessly fiddling with the teacup in his hand.
The woman looked a bit older, but not over 40, dressed in casual ho clothes, sporting a very average face, yet she sohow exuded an air of grace and luxury. She was holding a book, comfortable nestled into the sofa… ah, and her hands were beautiful.
The two of them didn’t speak, with only the sounds of pages rustling and wood charcoal burning.
…
After a while, the black-haired man, probably feeling unbearably bored, asked, “How’s it going inside the ‘Dark Realm’?”
The woman turned a page of her book and casually replied, “Not enough volunteers, no progress.”
“Oh…” the man said indifferently and then found himself at a loss for topics.
So, silence fell again.
…
Another quiet five minutes passed.
Suddenly, the man felt sothing blocking the light from the fireplace. He slowly lifted his head and discovered a boy had appeared not far in front of him. No more than 15 years old, short and chubby, wearing what should be the largest available youth sportswear, yet it still seed a bit small.
“Oh, you’re here~” the black-haired man said briefly, then returned to toying with his teacup as if the boy’s sudden appearance was nothing out of the ordinary.
The boy walked a few steps forward and sat down directly on the carpet, “Showing up so early, huh!” he said offhand, his obviously excessive flesh making the act of sitting look quite clumsy.
“I don’t like keeping people waiting,” the black-haired man said.
The woman kept her eyes on her book, showing no interest in joining their conversation.
The boy pulled a lollipop from his pocket and popped it into his mouth, unconcerned by the woman’s indifferent attitude and looked at the man, gesturing if he wanted one.
The man shook his head and asked, “What do you think of this proposal?”
The boy sucked on his lollipop and took it out to look at it before casually remarking, “It’s fine, what else can be done?”
No sooner had he spoken!
A small area of the carpet twitched montarily, like a television screen with poor reception, and subsequent to that, a burly figure stood there.
It was a man, at least two ters tall, dressed in a loose-fitting black suit that still couldn’t conceal the bulging muscles beneath.
However, incongruous with his built physique, his face was sowhat pudgy.
“Hey hey! Almost everyone’s here,” the man said, clapping his hands, seemingly impatient to begin.
The woman beside him frowned slightly, struggling to shift her gaze from her book. “Are we not waiting for him?” she said with a tinge of frustration, clearly having been engrossed in an interesting part of her book.
“Ah, that old stubborn man, let’s persuade him after he cos,” the man remarked. “Besides, he’s been extrely busy lately; who knows how long we’d have to wait.”
The boy didn’t speak, just sucked on his lollipop and nodded, agreeing.
The woman sighed resignedly. Although she seed sowhat reluctant, she found the man’s words sensible and therefore, with regret, folded the page corner and closed the book!
Seeing the woman’s nonchalant deanor, the boy couldn’t help asking, “You were the one who proposed this. Why does it seem like you couldn’t care less about it?”
The woman shifted on the sofa to relieve her stiff body from the prolonged reading and answered absent-mindedly, “You’re not idiots!”
The boy laughed with the lollipop in his mouth.
“Actually, I think you should have discussed this with us first; after all, it’s no small matter!” the burly man said with a deep and steady voice.
The woman helplessly replied, “I said last ti, they were going to execute him. There was simply no ti to discuss it then!”
The boy sucked vigorously on the lollipop, then pulled it out quickly with a “pop.”
He smacked his lips and said, “So you an to tell , you think those idiots in the ‘Anomaly Research Area’ can execute him?”
Though the boy looked preoccupied with his treat, everyone present could tell that his underlying ssage was, “What are you panicking for?”
The woman looked at the boy, her eyes brimming with amusent, but the others could distinctly feel a chill going down their spines.
“What now, you two gonna start arguing again?” the man said with an impatient look, trying to prevent the other two from bickering.
Suddenly, the corner of the room flickered again.
An old man appeared and slowly made his way towards the group.
He was quite short, and with a severe hunchback, he seed much smaller than the boy.
“Fighting again!” he remarked, his voice carrying the sentint of an elder who sees the younger generation squabbling and wants to intervene but feels helpless.
His eyes were full of weariness…
“Alright! Everyone’s here now; can we start already?” the man exclaid. “I think this proposal is good.”
He raised his hand, as if he were voting at a family eting to decide on ‘where to go this weekend.’
The old man moved the small stool over from the corner.
“I think we need to follow the rules, or there’s bound to be chaos!” he said slowly and earnestly.
The woman knew he would say that, hence she rolled her eyes in resignation, her face carrying the expression of soone trying to explain trending fashions to an outdated elder.
“Rules? So, what do you suggest we do? Execute him? Then wait for another lunatic to erge? Or lock him up and sink him to the bottom of the sea?” she asked.
“If that would work, we wouldn’t have to rack our brains like this.”
The old man fell silent…
Seeing that the old man had stopped talking, the boy interjected, “Now things are pretty good, aren’t they? There’s soone watching him, he can’t get out!”
The woman pursed her lips; in fact, she had liked children a long ti ago, until she t this guy.
“This is only temporary; he will be infected sooner or later. Your approach is just using a mistake to cover up another mistake! By then, we might have to face two terrible individuals!”
Everyone present frowned as if recalling a very unpleasant mory.
The woman rubbed her head, “Look at what you’ve done. It’s a good thing people think he is dead now. I don’t even want to imagine the mont when the lie is exposed!”
The boy pouted and sucked on his lollipop, making “squelch squelch” noises, and then said, “Actually, as long as we…”
“No!”
“Rejected!”
The old man and the other man said almost simultaneously, without even thinking about it. Even the usually quiet and muscular man shook his head.
The woman glared at the boy, “That blue, chubby guy could destroy the world! Do you realize that?”
She said sowhat angrily.
“We’ve all agreed, the ‘Dinsional Materialization’ proposal is terminated, and it will never be restarted!”
The dark-haired man also chid in, “Exactly, our world already has enough to worry about!” He had an expression full of deep resentnt.
The boy whispered with a wronged face, “Oh, okay, I know. I was just struck by a sudden idea at the ti; who knew it would turn out like that.”
The old man’s expression softened slightly, clearly finding the woman’s words quite reasonable, but being accustod to following the rules, he still felt a bit uncomfortable.
So, he asked again, “Then how can we ensure that he will behave? We have no idea what he’s thinking?”
The woman smiled thinly, “No, we don’t need to know his thoughts. We only need to know what he is after…”
The boy picked up on her words, saying, “Interesting?”
“Right, interesting!” The woman nodded.
…
The atmosphere quieted down, people deep in thought!
The man looked at the other three, who had all fallen silent, and hurriedly urged, “Alright, alright, since we can’t deal with him, let’s just go along with him. It’s a very simple and effective thod, and in fact, you all find this proposal pretty good, right? So there’s no need to waste more ti!”
He didn’t appreciate this thod of overthinking everything. It’s not that he wasn’t intelligent, but rather, he was a very straightforward person.
The old man’s temper was clearly the opposite, so he still hesitated, “I still don’t think it’s good to bring soone so dangerous into our fold. Actually, we could promise him…”
The woman didn’t wait for him to finish and cut him off mid-sentence.
“Oh co on, the word ‘promise’ isn’t even in his vocabulary. Restraint and suppression are useless with him; we can only give him what he wants.”
“And as for taking dangerous individuals into the fold… which mber of Oga Squad isn’t dangerous!”
As she spoke, she turned her head to glance at the dark-haired man sitting beside her.
The man smiled as if taking it as a complint.
“And if it finally cos down to it, we still have the last resort, don’t we?” The woman pressed on, adding another sentence while the iron was hot.
The old man thought for a while.
“Hmm… alright then!” The old man nodded and said.
Seeing the old man relent, the man looked pleased, imdiately raising a hand, saying, “I agree.”
The woman, too, smiled and raised her hand, saying, “I agree!”
The boy crunched his already broken lollipop and raised his hand, “I agree!”
The old man thought for a mont longer, and finally, he too raised his hand, “I… um… I agree!”
At this ti, everyone turned to look towards the tall, strong man who had not said much throughout. Actually, everyone knew he would agree.
Indeed, he had already raised his hand, stating with a stable voice, “I agree!”
In this cozy little living room, everyone said the sa three words, raising their hands in the sa way, as if performing so kind of ritual.
“Proposal approved!” the man said, his tone noticeably more relaxed.
“Finally over with it, I’ve got things to attend to on my end, I’m off!”
“Hmm… I’m off too!” The boy crunched the last little bit of his lollipop and said.
…
The fireplace flas seed to be blown by the wind, twisting violently for a mont, and then with a “whoosh”, went out.
At so point, the little living room was empty, as if the five people had never been there at all.
The blackened embers on the logs still held a golden-red afterglow, wafting smoke slowly.
Still cozy.
Quiet.
…
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