Apocalypse Forecast

"Name?"

"Huai Shi."

"Age?"

"Seventeen... Wait, does the Astronomy Club recruit prostitutes too?"

In the quiet office, the boy behind the desk scratched his chin, looking puzzled at the expressionless questioner across from him. "I mean, Uncle, you've asked and investigated me so many times these past few days. At least I helped the Astronomy Club get rid of a nuisance, right? Why am I being treated like a traitor?"

"It's a routine investigation. Please cooperate."

For the umpteenth time, the questioner said this sentence and then asked, "Can you describe to us again the process of your fight with the Red Glove?"

"I forgot. I can't remember," Huai Shi rolled his eyes. "It was probably the bald cape-wearing Pecky Xia who passed by and killed him with one palm while he was fighting the Red Glove..."

"Oh, bald cape-wearing Pecky Xia... Why is it different from what you said last time?"

"I can't remember!"

"Then, can you explain how you, as a newly promoted Sublimator, killed the third-order Red Glove? According to our previous investigation, you seem to have always been a music student and have never even been in a fight."

Huai Shi rolled his eyes. "I was born with divine power!"

"Then the next question..."

Two hours later, the questioner calmly sorted out the thick stack of records in his hand and said goodbye as if it were a routine matter. "Thank you for your cooperation and for your contribution to this world."

After shaking hands formulaically, he turned and left.

Huai Shi stood at the door, looking bewildered.

"Is it finally over? I mean, does your Astronomy Club have a problem? Sending someone over these past few days to ask over and over again..."

Ai Qing, who was reading a book, remained calm. "It's normal. It concerns Green Day, so there needs to be a detailed record. They are all record-keeping specialists. Their job is to write down everything you say and then file it away."

"Is this kind of superficial record really useful?"

"It's just a process. If no one wants to cause trouble during this process, there shouldn't be a problem," Ai Qing said calmly.

"Huh?" Huai Shi looked over. "Cause trouble?"

"Normal procedure. Sit down."

Ai Qing calmly drank the coffee brought by her female follower. "Where there are people, there is struggle. The position of the monitor is so important, and there are always more wolves than meat. If someone like me, a cripple still a few months short of being twenty, can occupy it, anyone would be dissatisfied. If causing a little trouble can open up a position, I don't mind causing a little trouble."

"..."

Huai Shi took a deep breath. "Your Astronomy Club is really intense."

"Finally, I remind you once again..."Ai Qing finally lifted her head and glanced at the badge on Huai Shi's chest. "It's not about you guys, it's about us... Of course, I don't mean to give you a sense of collective honor, but rather that if something happens to me, you won't benefit from it."

"I understand, I understand. It means we're all in the same boat, right?"

Huai Shi sighed. After so many days, he had almost adapted to Ai Qing's way of talking, but why couldn't he hear any positive words from her mouth?

If he was a negativity generator, then Ai Qing could definitely open a factory - the output level was not even on the same level.

How did this woman survive until now?

"Of course, it's all about strength."

Ai Qing answered without even looking up.

A quick look at "pawread dot com" will leave you more fulfilled.

Huai Shi was taken aback, then his heart sank. Did this woman even know how to read minds?

"I'm not a sublimator, so I don't know about those strange things. If I were you, I wouldn't write all my problems on my face."

"Hmm..."

Huai Shi subconsciously touched his face. "Is there something written on my face?"

"Yes." Ai Qing looked up from her book and gave him a pitying look. "It perfectly illustrates the nature of humanity."

"Huh? Is it written as a pigeon or a tape recorder?"

Huai Shi asked curiously.

"... "

Ai Qing didn't even want to bother with him.

Under Huai Shi's constant noise attack, she finally showed a hint of impatience, closed the book, and sincerely doubted whether her brain was not working properly when she recruited such a person as her secretary.

"What do you want to do?"

She raised her finger and pinched his nose, squinting her eyes. "You finished your report and have nothing to do. Why don't you investigate the top ten haunted houses recently listed by those do-gooders on the internet? So that no one else like you will be bored and play haunted house exploration and go crazy."

"Don't even mention it!"

Huai Shi got angry when he mentioned it. "That ranking list is a fart! The first one on the list is my house! Why is my house a haunted house? Isn't it just a little desolate and poor? If I had money, would I leave the door unrepaired? These past few days, I've driven away four waves of lunatics who came to take photos!"

"... "

Ai Qing was helpless. "So what do you want to say?"

"Well... I just wanted to ask..." Huai Shi suddenly became shy, rubbing his hands and squeezing out a flattering smile. "Boss, can you give me my salary in advance?"

"..."

Ai Qing took a deep breath and restrained the urge to throw her book at this guy's face. "Didn't I already give you more than 20,000?"

"It's gone." Huai Shi held back his tears and looked at the dead crow on the tree outside the window with a look of reminiscence. "Anyway, it's hard to say in a few words.""It's almost time for school to start, and I still owe over 4,000 yuan on my Huabei. I can't even afford food, can you please advance me some salary, boss?"

"It's only the end of September, there's still half a year until Chinese New Year."

Ai Qing looked at him expressionlessly, then took out her phone after a while. "How much do you need?"

Huai Shi's eyes lit up and he leaned over. "Uh, 5 or 6 thousand will do. I'll pay you back when I get my salary."

Ding!

"You've received 4,000 yuan on Alipay."

Ai Qing put away her phone indifferently. "This is your basic salary for this month. Take it and make do with it until the 15th of next month, unless there are any other temporary tasks."

"Your salary is 4,000 yuan a month?!"

Huai Shi was ecstatic. He never had this much money when he played music in bars for charity events.

"Oh, Lao Liu is getting discharged from the hospital tomorrow. I can treat him to a meal."

"When did you two become such good friends?"

"Haha, envious?" Huai Shi became complacent. "That's how simple male friendship is."

"Is it?"

Ai Qing calmly picked up her coffee and took a sip. "So, have you figured out how to explain to him about the car that you bought with his loan of over a million yuan and then burned down?"

"..."

Soon, Huai Shi left the office with a heavy heart, and Ai Qing finally enjoyed a rare moment of peace.

In the silence, she sighed and looked at the bank page on her computer screen, with a total transfer amount of 3.4 million US dollars.

Never mind, she decided not to tell him about the bounty on her Red Gloves for now.

"You said it was a good house, why is it a haunted house?"

Huai Shi stood at his doorstep with his hands on his hips, looking at the towering trees, the green moss on the walls, and the ivy climbing up them.

Behind the rusty gate, wildflowers and green grass bloomed in the courtyard, and the broken statues reflected white light in the sun...

"It looks beautiful and sunny to me!"

After spitting on those online lists that ranked his house as a haunted house, Huai Shi chose to ignore how creepy it became at night, shook his head, and pushed open the creaky gate.

"I'm home!"

No one answered, only the sharp sound of the gate closing behind him.

See that? So thoughtful! Even the gate is automatic!

Is there anything else like this? Huh? Huh? Huh?

Those who called this place a haunted house were just being malicious.

After a cold snort, Huai Shi stepped on the creaky floor and pushed open the front door, returning to the dusty hall. He then picked up his cup of hot water and went back to his room to pack for the new school year.For someone like him who relied on cramming for his academic subjects, the courses in his third year of high school were basically given up on. Instead, he prepared more for the professional-level performance materials and textbooks he would take next month.

The professional performance certificate from ABRSM can be used as a diploma in most countries around the world. With this, as long as his college entrance exam scores are not too bad, there should be no problem getting an admission notice from an art school.

"So, does this really mean anything to you now?" Crow asked.

"Hmm?" Huai Shi was confused.

Crow asked again, "Do you think a diploma has any meaning for a Sublimator?"

"Do Sublimators not need to eat? Do they not need to work?" Huai Shi rolled his eyes. "Can't they just sit at home and have money fall from the sky?"

"..."

Crow sighed. "What I mean is, for most Sublimators, money is not a problem. Although they may not be extremely wealthy, they don't have to worry about their basic needs."

"Where do Sublimators get their money?" Huai Shi sneered. "By killing and burning? Isn't that the same as robbery? Can't they just live a peaceful life and make a living?"

To be honest, although the Astronomy Association did give him a very generous salary, even if he did nothing all month, he could still earn a base salary of 4,000 yuan. But thinking about it, he knew that when he had to work, it would be very dangerous.

Just look at Liu Dongli.

A prostitute who had been living a good life came to be his bodyguard, and then trouble ensued! Not only was he forced to join the elderly women's sunset red dance troupe, but he was also stabbed in the back by a gangster.

If Huai Shi had any feelings about the world of Sublimators during these days, it was just two words: danger.

Large numbers of border relics that were stranded in the realm, with unknown functions and threats, and unique soul abilities and strange Holy Marks that were integrated into the bodies of high-level Sublimators...

Each one was enough to easily put a person to death.

Even Liu Dongli, a prostitute who sold his face, could forcibly charm people to the point of forgetting to breathe and suffocating to death with his own flourishing beauty (as he claimed).

And he himself was just a weak, helpless, and negative energy generator.

Just repairing a half-disabled red glove had almost cost him his life several times.

Risking life and death?

Forget it.

He should find a way to become economically independent as soon as possible, then quit his job at the Astronomy Association, and work hard towards his dream of playing the violin in Vienna.

It wouldn't be too bad to become a music teacher!

"...Although the lives of Sublimators may be dangerous for most people, there are also those who are self-sufficient. Don't think that all Sublimators in the world are bandits, okay?" Crow sighed helplessly, lifting up his phone with one claw. "Take a look at this news first.""What the hell is this?"

Huai Shi leaned over and examined the article from Tomorrow News: "Roman Auction House breaks the record, 5th Tier Holy Mark Nidhogg from the Dusk lineage sold for forty-three...one, two, three, holy shit, why are there so many zeros!"