Chapter 1463: Chapter 1463: Reunion
Hearing this voice, Heish was taken aback for a mont, then shook her head. She gave a bitter laugh and withdrew her gaze from the desktop. “It seems the recent workload has indeed been a bit too much, to the point of hallucinations.”
She sighed softly, looked up at the slowly rising sun outside the window, and yawned.
She raised her hand, tidied up the slightly ssy desk, and then slowly stood up.
She walked around the edge of the desk toward the closed office door.
But as she reached the edge of the desk, she paused slightly, hesitated for a mont, then slowly turned back.
The tall and familiar man was leaning against the light’s reflection, smiling as he gazed at her. “Long ti no see.”
——
Outside Ains City Defense Army Hospital
The bustling tavern continued to be lively. It’s just that the people coming and going had already changed.
The man sitting inside the glass curtain wall took a sip of the beer in his hand and looked outside the glass.
Nurous reporters and caras were still blocking the main entrance of the hospital. They either sat on small stools they had brought or leaned against the wall, showing no signs of leaving.
“No one from inside has co out for a long ti,” the man’s companion said slowly across from him.
“Soone probably left through other channels. A transcendently powerful Transcendent could easily bypass these reporters and our surveillance,” the man said slowly.
“Then could that ‘Paxiu’ have left through a different place too?” his companion slightly frowned.
“The latest news from above says he’s probably still in the hospital. With his injuries, he shouldn’t be able to take much action,” the man said in a low voice.
“Do you think this guy might be playing tricks?” the companion slightly frowned. “If he really can kill Dark Lizard as the news says, no one can catch him, right? Did he really get that seriously wounded?”
“That’s not sothing we should be considering,” the man took a sip of his beer and looked at the hospital entrance, flooded with reporters. “The people above will naturally arrange everything.”
——
Vitland
“So you are actually a projection in my mind?”
Heish slowly raised her hand, her fingertips gently touching the cheek of the person before her, but her finger passed right through his cheek.
Then she sowhat blankly withdrew her hand.
Touched her own cheek.
He Ao had just vaguely explained his state to her.
“That’s right,” He Ao looked at her and nodded slightly. “The place I’m at right now is actually akin to so part of the Subconscious Sea, and what you’re seeing of now is a form manifested in your ‘perception’ through our connection.”
Heish looked sowhat confused at her pale, slender palm, the chanical prosthetic eye flickering with a faint light.
She was now actually standing very close to He Ao, close enough to even hear his light ‘breathing.’
But she knew that none of this was ‘real,’ it was the materialization of so ‘fantasy’ in her heart.
The other party didn’t even have a tangible entity.
She raised her head, looking at the figure before her, and shook her head slightly. “I might actually be too tired or asleep, otherwise, how could I have such a dream,”
She pinched herself, but all that ca was intense pain.
Then she shook her head again. “Could it be the prosthetic eye malfunctioning? Or pollution from the Evil God?”
He Ao looked at her with so amusent.
Crack——
At this mont, the office door opened, and a petite girl quickly pushed the door open, shouting excitedly, “Sister Heish, I’m going to buy cake. There’s a new cake shop nearby that’s very delicious, and the boss even hires our Scavengers. Do you want so cake?”
Then her excited expression froze on her face.
At the end of her field of view was Heish, who was nearly pressed against the wall by the man in front of her, the two standing so close.
She slamd the door shut, leaving behind a, “Sorry for the interruption!!!”
This snapped Heish out of her contemplation. She turned around with so confusion, looking at the door, “What happened to that girl today—”
Then she suddenly realized sothing and slowly turned her head back, looking at He Ao in front of her.
Her chest was almost ‘pressed’ against He Ao’s chest.
But since He Ao had no physical entity, she hadn’t realized just how close she had gotten.
An elusive blush flickered across her cheeks.
She cleared her throat lightly, looking at He Ao. “Can others see you?”
As she spoke, she unobtrusively stepped aside, motioning for He Ao to move to the front of the desk to talk.
“I never said only you could see ,” He Ao chuckled with an obvious smile. “I’m relying on our connection to erge from the Subconscious Sea, but the place I’m in is still the Subconscious Sea, a place where everyone’s underlying consciousness intersects.”
At this, he paused slightly, smiling. “However, I can also make it so others can’t see .”
On hearing this, Heish was montarily dazed and then quietly said, “So are you permanently in this ‘state’?”
“No,” He Ao shook his head slightly. “I’m just temporarily affecting reality through this state.”
“Alright, alright,” Heish sighed. “I knew you wouldn’t co without a reason. Tell , what do you want to do for you?”
——An hour later, at the café beneath the Kewort Group building——
“Miss Heish,” a man in a silk custom suit and a smile on his face walked over. “You actually have ti today to specifically co find . Have you decided on the labor employnt issue we talked about before?”
His face held an irrepressible smile. “I have to say, Scavengers in Vitland can’t find good jobs, often shunned and excluded. Why not join the Kewort Group in mining? We offer wages much higher than Vitland’s, ensuring they can earn a lifeti’s worth of money in just three to five years.”
His gaze lingered on Heish’s pretty cheek. “Miss Heish, don’t you think that’s reasonable? And I can promise you that for every Scavenger joining Kewort Group, the group will pay you a commission,”
The smile on his face completely blossod. “This is undoubtedly great news.”
“I ca here today just to tell you,” Heish smiled and slowly stood up, picking up the half-finished coffee and drinking it all at once. “Our Scavengers aren’t interested in being your mining slaves. Do you really believe they can earn a lifeti’s worth of money in three to five years? Your ‘long-term workers’ at the mines probably won’t live past three to five years.”
“Now, don’t put it like that,” the man in the suit maintained his smile. “I guarantee they can live over five years,”
He looked at Heish. “How about you reconsider? We can negotiate the specific price and increase the refining, too. It’s business, not personal.”
“No need.” Heish shook her head.
After speaking, she got up and left the café, getting into her car.
Before driving away, she instinctively glanced at her passenger seat.
The ‘figure’ who had just accompanied her in the passenger seat was now nowhere to be seen.
She started the vehicle and drove away.
······
anwhile, in the café, watching Heish leave, the man’s expression completely darkened.
After a brief pause, he picked up his phone and quickly walked toward the door.
It was at this mont that a waiter walked past him, carrying coffee.
He glared at the waiter. “Watch it, do you know how expensive my custom silk suit is? You can’t afford it even if I sold you.”
The waiter, who was about to sidestep him, glanced back at him and slowly distanced himself.
“Damn it, this b*tch,” he muttered, heading out of the café while dialing a phone number.
“How’s the negotiation with those Wilderness Wanderers going?” he asked as he stepped out of the café.
“What do you an still negotiating? With current anti-Wilderness Wanderers sentint in the Federation, are they still dreaming of getting citizenship in Dawn City? Those greedy guys better be careful not to get eaten by exotic beasts halfway there.”
He continued to walk forward, the gloomy sky casting shadows over the muddy street,
He continued, “And about those news articles depicting Scavengers as vicious and vile, I need more of those—”
Mid-sentence, he lost his focus, his foot hitting a lamppost,
Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly lost control and rolled into the muddy streetside, becoming a muddy ss.
He struggled to sit up, just about to swear.
In the distance, a speeding luxury sports car honked and accelerated towards him.
Without hesitation, he flipped over, rolled in the mud again, and reached the shore.
As he got up and raised his hand, ready to speak again, he suddenly noticed that the wristband on his hand had been knocked off during the intense movent and had fallen onto the street.
The speeding luxury sports car flashed by, crushing his fallen wristband into pieces, splattering muddy water onto his face.
He raised his hand, wiped the mud off his face, glanced at his body covered in mud, and fell silent.
Behind him, He Ao leaned against the glass window, quietly gazing at the man covered in mud.
Theoretically, he could ‘walk’ through this world by following the connection with Heish after surfacing to this world.
But this walking was not from one place to another, but from one mind to another.
Walking out from one person’s ‘field of view’ and into another person’s ‘field of view’.
He needed a fixed influence target to maintain his presence in the surface world.
So He Ao asked Heish to find an executive at the Kewort Group as the selected influence target.
Of course, this migration process didn’t necessarily need ‘contact’.
Often, actions like ‘gaze’ and other strong mysticism-related behaviors could also enable He Ao to ‘jump’ directly.
Theoretically, ‘gaze’ through a cara could work too.
Which ans He Ao could directly appear beside soone through a video call.
But in reality, He Ao couldn’t jump too far right now, as most of his strength remained in the Subconscious Deep Sea, battling the whale, which he wasn’t good at controlling.
Still, he could still do so small checks and influences on people’s ‘consciousness’ and ‘mory’.
In his field of view, the Kewort Group executive stood up, glanced around as if looking for a place to shower.
But there was not even a hotel nearby.
Finally, he headed towards the Kewort Group building.
——
Ains City Defense Army Hospital
Vigina sat in the empty ward, looking at the overcast sky outside, raindrops were already beginning to fall on the window edge.
Everything around was so quiet.
The Doctor from Stars Pharma had just been here, and their conclusion was simple: Paxiu should have been dead long ago; it’s a miracle he’s still alive.
They also believed Paxiu’s life might only last a day or two.
Afterward, several more waves of doctors ca, each reaching similar conclusions.
So thought Paxiu wouldn’t survive past today, while others thought he might ‘live’ a bit longer, but none of the news was good.
The ti of day was approaching noon, yet the daylight grew increasingly dim.
Buzz—
At this mont, a wristband nearby buzzed. It was Paxiu’s wristband.
It was a ssage, and although the number had no note, Vigina rembered it.
It was a number from Gray Stone Palace.
She raised her wristband and opened the ssage, the content was simple.
[Hello Mr. Paxiu, due to the President’s health, after consulting with doctors, we regrettably have to temporarily delay the visit. The specific ti will be determined once the President’s health improves, at which point we will notify you by email and ssage. Thank you for your support of the President.]
“Delayed?”
Vigina looked bewilderedly at the ssage on the wristband.
It seed she no longer had to consider whether to take a leave of absence for Paxiu.
She instinctively raised her head, looking at the figure lying on the hospital bed.
A baseless thought suddenly arose in her mind: could this delay have been part of Paxiu’s ‘calculation’ too?
She quickly shook her head, dispelling these inexplicable thoughts from her mind.
Buzz—
At that mont, a middle-aged military officer appeared at the door of the dical room.
He was the South City Defense Army Commander.
Vigina slowly stood up and went out.
“How is Paxiu now?” The middle-aged officer looked at Vigina, asking softly.
“Not very well,” Vigina shook her head, turning back to glance at the dical room, “The doctors say her condition is very bad.”
Upon hearing her words, the middle-aged officer was silent for a mont, “He is a true hero.”
At this point, Vigina looked at him with so confusion, “Did you co here for sothing?”
“Well,” the middle-aged officer hesitated slightly, appearing sowhat embarrassed as he said, “can part of Paxiu’s health condition be made public now?”
“What?” Vigina was taken aback.
By then, the middle-aged officer had already opened his wristband, showing Vigina so news.
‘City Defense Army unwilling to reveal hero’s information, is there sothing fishy going on?’
‘Explosive! Latest news, hero critically ill, City Defense Army refuses treatnt’
‘Unbelievable! The hero who saved the city is actually dead!’
‘Unspeakable secret of the City Defense Army Commander, why is he refusing to release the news.’
‘Top secret! City Defense Army officer does this to the hero for Senate election…’
…
After just reading a few headlines, Vigina’s eyes widened, “No, how can they…”
“They’re all fake news, right,” the middle-aged officer said, sowhat helpless, “That’s how these dia are. One or two calling it fake is fine, but once everyone says it, it becos hard for us to clear it up.”
He paused, then continued softly, “In a way, they’re also forcing us to publish the real news.”
“I’m a bit confused here.”
Vigina rubbed her forehead.
She vaguely realized the news outside wasn’t that simple, but she couldn’t sort out the relationships in it.
She looked awkwardly at the middle-aged officer, “Can I think it over for a bit?”
“Of course, Paxiu is a heroic figure,” the middle-aged officer nodded, his voice gentle, “If you don’t want to make it public, the City Defense Army will certainly keep it confidential.”
“Thank you.” Vigina nodded.
Then the middle-aged officer left.
Vigina stood at the entrance of the dical room, glancing at the figure lying in bed.
There was certainly so kind of secret struggle hidden in these news articles, yet she didn’t know what decision she should make.
At this mont, she truly wished Paxiu could sit up and tell her what to do.
After pondering, she called Ines.
The call was quickly connected, and Ines seed to know what she wanted, quickly saying, “Make the illness public,”
Then she paused and continued softly, without waiting for Vigina to question,
“Don’t ask how I made the judgnt, but please trust , Paxiu would also support this decision.”
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