Uncle here isn't your average office worker!

Having already prepared herself, Apofia drove herself to the NOX Hotel as soon as the time came. Ignoring the strange look from the receptionist, she walked straight into the elevator and pressed the button for the 23rd floor.

The elevator dinged quickly, and the iron doors slowly opened. The corridor on the 23rd floor was dark, with no light source except for the fluorescent lights on the doorplates. The number 2301 emitted a faint glow in the silence, making it seem particularly eerie.

Apophis frowned slightly and tried stomping her feet, but the corridor lights still didn't turn on.

"Something's wrong? That shouldn't be the case."

This is a top-tier five-star hotel in the Grand Knights' territory; it's simply unthinkable that the lights on an entire floor would be out of order.

Although the darkness did not affect Felin's vision, Apophis still felt a chill run down her spine instinctively. But thinking that 2301 was not far away, and that she had already come this far, there was no way she would turn back because she was afraid of the dark. She stepped out of the elevator, quickened her pace, and walked straight toward the half-open door.

"Hooah!"

She darted into the house and quickly turned back to close the door. Apophis let out a long sigh of relief, opened her eyes, and began to look around the room.

The main lights in the room were off, with only the dim yellow light from the nightlight barely illuminating the room's furnishings. The bed was neatly made, the blankets smooth and untouched, and the television was on, broadcasting today's news from Kazimir, detailing the operation to apprehend infected outsiders who had smuggled themselves into Plot Zero. A peeled apple sat on the coffee table, but it seemed to have been there for a long time, covered in ants. On two pulled-out chairs, two glasses of crimson liquid glowed eerily red under the neon lights outside the window.

abnormal.

This was Apophis's first impression of the room. It was clearly not a love room prepared for a quid pro quo with a journalist; rather, it resembled a hotel room used as the setting in some horror movie.

But there are no ghost stories about the NOX Hotel! Besides, this is where Roy and I met, how could it be haunted?

By the way, where's Roy? He must have been the one who orchestrated all of this, right?

Apophis scanned her surroundings, trying to find Roy, but before she could even step out of the entrance hall, she heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom next door.

Apophis instinctively jolted, glancing towards the bathroom. She swallowed hard, then cautiously approached, calling Roy's name as she pushed open the bathroom door. The door wasn't locked. With a soft opening sound, the bathroom door slowly swung open, and the sound of running water became clearer from the shower stall. Apophis peeked into the stall; a dark figure lay in the full bathtub, while on the other side, the showerhead was running in vain, but there was no one beneath it.

"Roy?" Apophis finally breathed a sigh of relief, took off the small bag from her shoulder, placed it outside the bathroom, and walked through the overflowing hot water towards the bathroom stall.

"Did you fall asleep while waiting for me? The water's overflowing, don't scare me."

Taking a deep breath, and with the determination to see something inappropriate for children, Apophis pushed open the sliding door of the cubicle and looked at the dark figure in the bathtub.

Lying there was herself, or more accurately, herself riddled with holes, bleeding profusely, so much so that she had swelled up and overflowed from the bathtub.

"Alas!"

With a terrified scream, Apophis fell backward to the ground, thrashing about in the water, before bumping into another figure's thigh.

"Don't be afraid, it's just a doll."

A familiar voice came from behind her. Apophis, with tears in her eyes, looked up fearfully and finally met the gaze of the man she had been searching for.

"Roy, Roy, what are you doing? What is this?"

Scrambling to her feet, Apophis dashed out of the bathroom and stood leaning against the doorframe, demanding an explanation.

"Why did you put something like this to scare me? It's not fun at all!"

"Yeah, it's not fun at all. The newly appointed editor-in-chief of the Wine Journal, who is in trouble with his career, meets a mysterious person late at night and dies tragically in a hotel. This kind of news doesn't sound interesting at all."

Roy went into the bathroom, lifted the bloated lifelike doll out of the bathtub, carried it past Apophis, and threw it into the living room. An indescribable stench of blood immediately filled the room, making one want to vomit.

But compared to the visual shock before her, Roy's words terrified Apophis even more. She instinctively took a few steps back until the tightly closed door blocked her escape, forcing her to stop and ask:

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, a journalist as excellent as you shouldn't demean yourself like this and put yourself in such a troublesome situation."

Roy spoke slowly, looking at Apophis who was trying to quietly open the door, and said calmly:

"You don't need to try to run away, there are my men outside the door."

A melodious whistle came from Roy's mouth, and soon several short whistles responded.

Apophis opened her mouth, but ultimately obeyed and stopped what she was doing. She took a deep breath, finally calming down, and asked the question she most wanted to know:

"Why did you do that?"

Don't you have any self-awareness?

"...Because of my report?" Apophis asked, somewhat incredulously.

As a reporter for Wine Journal, she had written countless similar reports. Why this one? Why was Roy the only one to come to her?

“Yes and no.” Roy nodded, then shook his head, and then said with a sigh, “Because I don’t like people who are very disobedient.”

“I really hope our communication is limited to mutual benefit, and I don’t mind if our relationship can evolve into friendship, but I hate people who act on their own initiative. You’re causing me a lot of trouble.”

"But thankfully, you still have a chance, Apophis."

Roy said, looking towards the door.

"Come in, Platinum."

Book 1: Chapter 95 How Big is Kazimir, and How Big Am I?

"You are, Miss Heartlea?"

Apophis exclaimed in surprise the moment she saw the girl's face as she entered the room.

Hinterlea was also startled, instinctively gripping the dagger at her waist, and her gaze towards Apophis became even more wary.

"You recognize me?"

“Of course I recognize you. I interviewed you every day during the two years you were a racing knight! I was working for the Rose Daily back then.”

The joy of seeing an acquaintance seemed to lessen the fear brought on by Roy; Apophis, as if finding a support, tried her best to move towards Hinterlea.

"I'm your fan. I was really sad when you suddenly announced your retirement and then disappeared."

Apophis wasn't lying. After Hinterlea disappeared overnight after being invited by Roy to join the Unarmored Alliance, Apophis was indeed heartbroken for a long time. In order to find Hinterlea's whereabouts, she even sought information from paparazzi and tabloids. However, the Unarmored Alliance's secrecy measures were far better than those of Casimir's citizens. After a lot of hard work, Apophis sacrificed a lot of time and money and was even dismissed by the Rose Daily for "engaging in unethical gossip activities," but still found nothing.

But it was this opportunity that made her realize the true nature of the news media industry in Kasimir and led her to become involved with the wine newspaper, which specialized in paparazzi tabloids and gossip.

Two years have passed since then. She has become accustomed to working at the Wine Daily and is familiar with the news industry. She has also begun to find the Rose Daily's hypocritical behavior ridiculous. She has to admit that Cinderella has indeed, to some extent, completely changed her destiny.

If she hadn't suddenly disappeared, she might still be working at the Rose Daily, doing a job like serving tea and water and interviewing the little knights at the bottom of the road.

Now, she has seen Hinterlea again, and if it weren't for the somewhat terrifying occasion, she might have been even more excited.

However, just like her, who was filled with excitement but dared not express it loudly, Hinterlea, who was standing opposite her and meeting her little fan for the first time in many years, also felt a little reserved.

Originally, I promised my master to scare this disobedient reporter who made up gossip and caused trouble for Roy. How did I end up running into my own fan?

Hinterlea had somewhat forgotten her life as a former equestrian knight. It wasn't a pleasant experience; the shattered dreams, the powerlessness of reality, the exploitation by her superiors, and the pathetic feeling of being a social outcast, denied even the right to gossip—all these had filled Hinterlea with despair. Regarding Apophis's supposed daily interviews, all she could recall was a vague feeling that "it seemed like it happened." In her memory, the reporter who interviewed her back then was a young woman in a suit and glasses, her face still bearing a hint of childishness yet trying to project an air of seasoned sophistication. This was completely different from the flamboyantly dressed woman before her, who at first glance looked like either a wealthy socialite or a celebrity—something utterly unrelated to a reporter.

What turned her into this?

What? It was me all along?

Hinterlea cast a questioning look at Roy. She did feel a pang of pity. After two and a half years as a competitive knight, her departure seemed so ordinary, as insignificant as a drop of water in the ocean or a grain of sand in the desert. Now, suddenly knowing that there was someone who had always thought of her, although she wasn't moved to tears, she still felt a warmth in her heart.

"She's my fan, Master Roy."

Hinterlea moved closer to Roy and whispered.

Roy raised an eyebrow, his expression unchanged, and responded in a low voice that only the two of them could hear:

"What? Touched? Want to protect her?"

Hinterlea shook her head:

"I really hope that I won't hold back just because she's my fan, and that I'll scare her even harder!"

Having a fan did warm her heart quite a bit, and it was a small way of making up for a regret from her two and a half years as a knight trainee, but only if that fan didn't do anything bad. Apophis spread rumors about Roy, and to make matters worse, those were about his love life. You see, even Hinterlea herself knew nothing about Roy's past. When she first read that news, Hinterlea was so distraught that she couldn't eat or sleep, and even the entire fuse project was affected. If Xuan Tie hadn't discovered this in time and cleared up the rumors for her, she probably would have suffered from a non-existent jealousy and lost a non-existent romance.

Thinking about this, let alone being an idol who warms the hearts of fans, Hinterlea couldn't wait to reveal the reason behind Apophis's third-degree burns.

It’s hard, the fist is hard!

Looking at Hinterlea's kind and friendly smiling face, Roy felt it was about time to stop.

He didn't really intend to let Apophis "disappear" here. Putting aside Roy's own character, Apophis was still useful to Roy, and very useful at that.

Controlling a mouthpiece is crucial for both the Unarmored Alliance and Roy. However, in the current climate where the media is largely controlled by the Federation's conglomerates, secretly cultivating a high-performing, shameless, and obedient media outlet is practically an impossible triangular relationship; the best approach is to poach talent. Perhaps their first encounter with Apophis was merely a small coincidence, but with Roy, Apophis has already proven her capabilities.

Once the Unarmored Alliance is reorganized into Originium Cloud, Roy wouldn't mind recommending Apophis to Xuan Tie, allowing her to leverage her current high profile to separate from the Wine Report and become a new media outlet controlled by the Unarmored Alliance. Of course, the prerequisite is that Apophis has to be obedient.

Roy went to such lengths tonight to get Apophis to obey. Now, with Platinum's connection, that goal has become much easier.

With a quick glance around his eyes, Roy spoke up:

"Aren't you curious about why Hintrea is by my side, and why I call her Platinum?"

Roy gave a cold smile:

"Hmph, my greatest hobby in life is taking in social outcasts like you, helping you rise to prominence, making you famous, and giving you everything you want. This kind of nurturing gives me a sense of accomplishment. But..."

Roy tapped the table: "I also hate disobedient pets, like your idol, Hintria."

Roy winked at Platinum and continued:

"She forgot my teachings as soon as her path as a knight was beginning to take off, and even tried to escape my control by running away. Of course, I had no choice but to grant her wish and let her vanish into thin air. Now, if you mention the name Hinterlea to her, she won't react at all. She's become a good girl, my Platinum, the one and only Platinum. Right?"

Hinterlea was taken aback, but seemed to quickly get into the mood without any adjustment. Her face flushed, both shy and accommodating, and without the slightest resistance, she rested her head against Roy's outstretched hand, nuzzled it, and whispered:

"Of course, Master..."

What terrorist organization? What have I gotten myself involved with?

Apophis fearfully raised her hand and held it in front of her, turning her head away as if she didn't want to see Hintelia's current appearance.

"You didn't even ask for my opinion."

She said, trembling.