Chapter 952: Having Dinner

He really is at Mushi Hospital… Lu Mi wasn’t surprised by Xu Xinyang’s answer.

He grunted.

“Understood, Captain.”

He had thought it over: Mushi Hospital, as a key base for the Xieshen s’ influence over the Dream City and having some level of cooperation with the Heavenly Lord, would inevitably be entangled in many future matters—it wasn’t enough to simply avoid it or refuse to enter and pretend it didn’t exist.

So why not take advantage of the daytime, while their operations hadn’t yet reached a critical stage, while they still had another chance to enter, and while they had a legitimate and proper excuse, to take a look around and conduct a ground survey? Of course, the lower levels—most likely representing the Abyss and the “Fool” Mr. ’s psychological shadows—should still not be recklessly stepped into.

After seeing off Xu Xinyang, Lu Mi waited in the surveillance room until nearly noon, then joined his shift partner Lao Xia when their replacements arrived, and together they went downstairs to the Indus Group staff cafeteria inside the annex of the Tech Tower.

They had no meal subsidies, and the cafeteria wasn’t free, but it offered a wide variety of dishes, and the company’s subsidies kept prices extremely low, so employees from both headquarters and branches who worked in the building all loved eating there—even Huang Zong himself occasionally came to eat a few meals to personally verify the food quality.

The only problem was that during lunch rush hour, the cafeteria was packed; employees with higher incomes preferred ordering takeout or dining at nearby malls.

As security personnel, their access to the cafeteria depended on when their colleagues arrived to relieve them; everyone subtly arrived a little early to avoid the lunchtime rush.

Lu Mi ordered minced meat steamed egg, garlic chives stir-fried pork with pickled peppers, fried chicken leg, cucumber and pork slice soup, and a large bowl of rice, then found a corner table with Lao Xia, eating while listening to him talk about the antics of the Aurora Company crew.

Lao Xia chuckled.

“Their boss is a exhibitionist, one of those M types in S&M—always has whip marks on his body…”

Say more, slander more—I love hearing this… Lu Mi nodded along, muttering silently in his mind.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated twice.

He picked it up and saw a reply from “a name that left a deep impression”—Anderson Hu De:

“Is the friend you mentioned actually yourself?”

Lu Mi smiled and replied using voice input:

“You can understand it that way.”

He believed that among Hunters, whoever got anxious first, angry first, or guilty first, lost.

Only by maintaining a state of utter indifference to everything could one remain invincible.

After twenty or thirty seconds, Anderson replied:

“Painting requires talent. I hope you have it.

“Our tutoring center doesn’t offer painting classes, but I know a decent studio—I learned there. If you’re interested, meet me tomorrow evening at seven at the entrance of Jinxiu Dongfang Community on Sifangjie. I’ll take you there.”

Evening? Lu Mi paused, then said:

“Alright, thank you.”

He remembered that Caihua Guesthouse was on Sifangjie, but its interior renovation hadn’t been completed yet.

…………

Administrative Department, main office.

Luo Shan stretched, walked over to Franca’s desk, and asked with a smile:

“What are you having for lunch? Don’t feel like fighting the crowd at the cafeteria.”

Before Franca could answer, she lowered her voice:

“Every other department holds group meals to welcome new hires—except us in Administration.

“Mainly because those ladies don’t want to go, and if they do, they look down on us—but worse, they might show up just to find free helpers. Ugh, can you imagine what might happen? Passive-aggressive remarks and hidden barbs are normal; some even cry, argue, or try to hit someone on the spot, leaving a mess to clean up afterward. So Old Zhang just stopped organizing official department meals. If you’re close, you get together privately—however you want.”

Franca listened with great interest and said eagerly:

“I wonder when Huang Zong will come by the Administration Department next.”

The scene would surely be spectacular—she wanted to see it.

The “Witches” naturally had a tendency to stir up chaos—perfectly justified when applied to watching a show.

“Huang Zong probably won’t come these next few days—he’s hosting an important guest, and even when he comes to the company, he only goes to the 16th floor,” Luo Shan revealed Huang Zong’s schedule.

Zarathustra? Franca was deeply attentive and concerned about this.

Beyond the items listed in the action outline, they had to guard against the Heavenly Lord and the Xieshen s doing harm to Dream City or Zhou Mingrui—they needed to detect and stop any threats early.

Moreover, this could generate inspiration to help them devise a wake-up plan—how the Heavenly Lord’s subordinates acted, they could try doing the opposite.

“What a pity,” Franca said with obvious regret.

She then asked curiously:

“Won’t Huang Zong bring the guest to tour the company?”

“He already did,” Luo Shan suddenly froze, her voice dropping even lower. “That day, Zhou Mingrui took sick leave. Fu Fu—could that guest with the ridiculously long name be the Saboteur your evil force sent from the future? Was Zhou Mingrui’s sick leave arranged by your people?”

The “Painter”’s spiritual intuition is quite strong… Franca smiled and said:

“Is the guest named Zarathustra?”

Luo Shan nodded solemnly.

“That’s him,” Franca confirmed her earlier guess.

Luo Shan fell silent for a few seconds, then her eyes flickered:

“How about I invite Zhou Mingrui to have dinner with the two of us? That way you’ll have a chance to meet and talk with him.”

Holy shit… so fast? So direct? Franca felt startled.

She had assumed she and Lu Mi would need weeks of normal work-related contact to reach the point of adding Zhou Mingrui on WeChat or chatting casually.

Yet here Luo Shan was, on her first day at work, already planning to bring Zhou Mingrui to dinner!

Too… too fast…

This progress is way ahead of schedule—I’m not ready…

Seeing Franca didn’t respond, Luo Shan smiled:

“Zhou Mingrui owes me several meals—he always says ‘next time I’ll treat you’ or ‘I’ll treat you next time’ every time he asks me for info, but he’s only treated me once so far.

“Hmm, welcoming my sister into the company is a good reason.”

As she spoke, she picked up her phone and quickly typed messages to Zhou Mingrui.

After a while, Luo Shan held up her phone:

“He agreed—but said tomorrow night’s dinner, because he has to work late tonight, and tech staff get too little lunch break to go out for a proper meal.”

He agreed right away… no hesitation, no excuse? Franca suddenly recalled an old saying:

The best way to approach someone is to know the people around them.

Helping Luo Shan really was the right choice… good deeds bring good results! Franca thought for a moment, then said to Luo Shan:

“Zhou Mingrui seemed to pay attention to those paintings you left on your desk—he didn’t refuse your invitation, he accepted it. Maybe he wants to confirm or test something…”

Before Luo Shan could reply, Franca added:

“If that’s true, it’s a good sign.”

The only question: does dinner count as evening?

This violates the action outline’s plan—it could cause confusion and ambiguity in the experiment results…

As long as it’s not fully dark, it shouldn’t count, right?

…………

At 4:30 p.m., after another floor patrol, Lu Mi and Lao Xia entered the underground parking lot of the Tech Tower and saw Captain Xu Xinyang sitting in a dark gray SUV, waving at them from the front passenger seat:

“Over here.”

Lu Mi and Lao Xia walked over and sat in the spacious back seat.

“Just us?” Lao Xia glanced out the window.

Xu Xinyang smiled:

“Who goes to visit a patient in a group? The nurses won’t let you in!

“Just the four of us—Xiao Zhao is driving; the others will head straight to the restaurant to wait.”

Xiao Zhao, the young man in the driver’s seat, had a slightly chubby side profile.

The roads were still clear at this hour; by five o’clock, Lu Mi’s group had arrived outside Mushi Hospital.

Two young men each carried a box of fruit and a bag of nutritional supplements, following behind Xu Xinyang and Lao Xia as they entered.

Mushi Hospital’s lobby was unchanged from Lu Mi’s last visit—ordinary, bustling with people, though occasionally one might notice certain attendants with blank stares and mechanical movements.

Lu Mi lowered his gaze, confirmed his spiritual sense gave no warning, and found no abnormalities around him before stepping into the elevator and ascending to the 12th floor.

Exiting the elevator, turning into the ward, and pushing open the door, he saw a quiet nurse station and a corridor stretching into darkness.

The light at the corridor’s end seemed broken, still unrepaired.

Under the guidance of a seemingly normal nurse, they entered a two-bed room where Lao Wang and Lao Ding were both staying.

Before Lu Mi, Xiao Zhao, and Lao Xia could even glimpse the patients’ conditions, two family members rushed forward, speaking over each other:

“Captain Xu, this is definitely a work injury!”

“Wahhh, Captain Xu, our Lao Ding nearly died—look at him, look at him, who knows how long it’ll take to recover?”

“….”

Xu Xinyang finally found his chance and pressed his right hand down:

“Ladies, this is definitely a work injury. Huang Zong said not only will compensation follow national standards, but the company will also give extra payment, cover all medical expenses beyond insurance, and continue paying full salary until Lao Wang and Lao Ding fully recover and can return to work—we won’t let our brothers bleed, sweat, and cry!”

As Xu Xinyang calmed the families, Lu Mi and the others turned their gaze to the beds and saw both patients wrapped entirely in white bandages, with only their eyes, noses, and mouths exposed.

Lao Xia leaned close to Lu Mi and whispered:

“I’m not being cruel, but they look ridiculous—thought only TV dramas showed people wrapped like this, never imagined it happened in real life.”

Lu Mi didn’t respond to Lao Xia—he was thinking of mummies.

The mummies closely linked to the “Desire Mother Tree” and the “Soul of Resentment” path.

And this was Mushi Hospital.

(End of Chapter)