Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 361 Western Suburbs Research Institute
"Letting Zhuang Xiao participate was absolutely a mistake!"

Somewhere in the shelter, Chen Qi roared almost like a madman. He stood at the door of the conference room, in a dark room where seven old men sat at a table. Faced with the hysterical Chen Qi, the old men remained silent until he stopped complaining.

After venting his anger, Chen Qi realized his loss of composure. He took a deep breath and said, "I stand by my opinion. Even if you insist on involving those two people, you must implant a chip in her and erase her memory! We absolutely cannot take that risk!"

Chen Qi didn't have any ill feelings towards Zhuang Xiao; what truly angered him was that things had gone beyond his plans.

In his department, someone had launched a new experiment without his permission, which he found unacceptable. "You should all know very well that the dream experiment is still in an unstable phase, and no one can guarantee what will happen over there."

"Colonel Zhuang Xiao is a person who knows how to conduct herself. She completed the mission excellently, and it would not be an exaggeration to call her a hero."

The elderly man who spoke sat at the end of the square table. "She is also the only person who has ever interacted with Him... This was a decision made after deliberation in the council."

"Please understand, I am not questioning the decision of Parliament."

Chen Qi lowered his head and remained silent.

The old man's gaze didn't linger on him for even a second longer. He waved his left hand, and seeing this, Chen Qi could only leave the conference room dejectedly.

Once the conference room fell silent again, the old man turned his wrist, aligning the halo around his wrist with the part of the conference table bearing the same emblem.

Deep blue light, like blood, flowed into the grooves of the conference table, eventually filling the entire conference room.

Bathed in the glow of the light, the conference room became surreal and mesmerizing. The elderly men sitting around it all looked on with longing. For a moment, they felt as if they had returned to the past, no longer hiding in a shelter beneath the earth, but standing atop the entire city, overlooking the whole city from a towering tower that reached into the clouds.

A holographic screen appeared above their heads, and on the other side of the screen was a pure white sphere of light.

It was like an eye, scrutinizing everything in the conference room, making the elderly man at the head of the table both apprehensive and excited. "We have established contact with Him. Please give us another chance. This time, we will not fail again!"

However, all they received in response was a cold, mechanical synthesized voice: "Number 52, simulation failed, destroyed... You should not exist."

A failed communication.

As the deep blue light faded, the old men, as if drained of all their strength, slumped in their chairs, filled with either fear or despair.

Until the old man at the end of the table spoke again, his expression was almost frantic, "No, it's not over yet, we still have a chance, we must seize this last chance."

..............................

the other side.

"Are you sure this is here?"

Standing in front of the clothing store in the western part of the city, Ethan looked at Zhuang Xiao with suspicion. He had to remind her, "I probably didn't apply for a sales position."

Although the clothing store looked very luxurious, like a luxury brand frequented by the wealthy, he was chatting with the owner of Pioneer Technology about theoretical physics yesterday, even discussing the "end of the world" hypothesis. As a result, after the interview today, he was assigned to the clothing store.

Is it possible...

The fact that he had never actually attended Moss Polytechnic University was eventually exposed.

"Manager Zhuang?"

"Ah, yes."

Zhuang Xiao snapped out of her daze and, through the glass window of the clothing store, she clearly saw the tall, thin old man Merlin had mentioned. He was also observing the two of them through the window.

Merlin's guess was confirmed, and she never expected to appear in front of the clothing store in this way.

"According to the company's arrangements, this is your work location."

She managed a weak smile.

The clothing store was empty. She pushed open the door and led Ethan inside. She introduced him to the store owner, saying, "This is Mr. Ethan."

The stern, tall, thin old man merely nodded slightly and said coldly, "You can go back now."

Zhuang Xiao couldn't immediately determine whether the old man was also Chen Qi's subordinate, so she politely said goodbye and walked out of the clothing store. She still had more things to investigate, and before that, she didn't want Chen Qi to suspect her.

If Chen Qi finds something wrong with her, the shelter will definitely erase her memory and install a new chip in her body.

That was the standard procedure at the shelter, to ensure the plan went perfectly. However, after returning this time, Zhuang Xiao felt a strong sense of resistance. She was still willing to continue working to rebuild the surface world, but definitely not in the way of a puppet.

“Mr. Ethan, please come with me.”

After Zhuang Xiao left, the old man became much more polite. He walked ahead and took the initiative to lead the way for Ethan.

"To be clear, I have never sold clothes before, and I don't plan to stay in a sales position for long."

"you misunderstood."

The old man smiled slightly, "They're all waiting for you."

He opened a door in the staff room, behind which lay a space resembling an emergency exit. Incandescent lights illuminated a downward staircase; anyone who stumbled upon it would likely mistake it for a passageway to the underground storage room—not unusual for a clothing store, as there was always a large amount of merchandise that needed to be stored in the warehouse. The old man didn't intend to follow Ethan downstairs; he gestured for Ethan to go down with him. Once Ethan reached the first floor, he slowly closed the door and returned to the clothing store.

Ethan walked down the stairs, pausing briefly before the last door.

Finally, he put his hand on the doorknob.

"Bam—!"

Almost the instant the door opened, the sound of fireworks erupted from the other side, and ribbons fell like snowflakes onto Ethan's shoulders. Three men in white coats seemed to have been waiting for his arrival.

"Welcome to the top students of Mochi Polytechnic!"

This is an underground research institute; a banner like this is posted on the wall in front of the counter at the entrance.

"I never expected the company could hire someone as talented as you!"

"I read your graduation thesis, and it was very inspiring for our research!"

"Come on, let us show you around our lab first. We'll be colleagues from now on."

……

The three were Professor Sun, Professor Zhang, and Professor Zhou. Just introducing their work experience and achievements in their respective disciplines to Ethan was enough to make him feel numb. Before his arrival, their latest research result was a small-scale space teleportation device.

Professor Sun personally demonstrated the use of the device to him. He put a Rubik's Cube into the container on the left side of the device. With a sound of lightning and thunder, the device shook violently a few times. The Rubik's Cube was swallowed by the dark yellow lightning and then transferred to the other end of the device.

They used scientific knowledge that Ethan couldn't understand at all to achieve small-scale spatial teleportation technology.

This immediately made Ethan feel that he shouldn't be there.

To make matters worse, this was a job with no internship period.

Without any experienced mentors to guide him through his work, the three of them eagerly invited him to participate in academic conferences on his very first day.

They are working on using this technology to transport live organisms. The laboratory's warehouse stores a large number of mice for experiments. Currently, the technology has encountered a bottleneck. Although the equipment can transfer mice to the other side, they only get one dead mouse.

This research was led by Professor Sun, a bald old man in his early sixties who was once a professor at a top science and technology university and led a number of patent research projects. As for the specific research projects, they were like gibberish to Ethan, and he could hardly even repeat the titles of those research and papers.

"We've been stuck on this part for a week. In principle, objects undergo a process of disintegration and recombination during transport, but this can lead to the death of living organisms. We don't yet know exactly where the problem lies."

However, once the theory was put into practice, Ethan was able to understand.

Fortunately, he had encountered similar "teleportation technology" in the Empire.

When Ivy first visited Hearth Bay, she explained the principle of teleportation arrays to him. It sounded similar to Professor Sun's teleportation technology. When the caster triggers the teleportation, their body will also undergo a process of disintegration and reconstruction.

Then the problem is coming.

Why don't people from "another world" die suddenly after being split and reassembled?
Could it be because the physical strength of the inhabitants of "another world" is usually equivalent to that of physical education students here?
Ethan fell into deep thought.

In this world that reveres scientific theories, he couldn't simply ask Rowena for a teleportation scroll; he had to figure out how to decipher its principles.

Fortunately, the three professors did not expect him, a newcomer on his first day, to come up with a practical and effective solution. They believed that Ethan's confused state was simply because he had not yet gotten used to the new work environment.

Even Ethan himself couldn't stand his own performance on his first day of work.

All three of them had their own research projects, but he, whose theoretical knowledge was not solid, could wander around the research institute like a retired old man with a cup of coffee.

He slacked off like that until evening.

Having just finished his work, Professor Sun met Ethan and said, "Young man, there are no fixed working hours or KPI assessments here. You can freely arrange your research direction. If you need new experimental equipment, you can prepare a list and give it to the manager of the clothing store."

Ethan learned that the three of them usually lived in the research institute, where a special living area had been set up for them, with all kinds of facilities.

The job did not require mandatory accommodation, and the three of them understood Ethan's desire to go home.

"That being said, we are all racing against time."

Professor Sun added meaningfully, "Before the bells of the end of the century ring."

"understand."

Ethan nodded. He decided to provide off-field assistance. Once back in the capital, he would consult Rowena about the principle behind why users of the teleportation array wouldn't die suddenly. "I already have some ideas."

"That's good."

Professor Sun's eyes were full of relief. "This is an extremely important technology, which may directly determine whether we can escape at the last moment."

(End of this chapter)