Chapter 952: Dinner Invitation

They really are in Dawn Hospital... Lu Mian wasn't surprised at all by Xu Xinyang's answer.

He gave an "Mm" and said:

"Okay, Captain."

He had thought about it. As an important base for evil gods to influence the dream city, and having a certain degree of cooperation with the Celestial Worthy, many things might not be able to bypass it later. It wasn't that he could pretend it didn't exist by cautiously avoiding it and not entering.

Therefore, it was better to take advantage of the daytime, take advantage of the fact that their team's actions hadn't developed to a pressing stage, take advantage of the fact that he still had the chance to enter again, and take advantage of having a reasonable and legitimate excuse to go and take a look. Of course, the underground floors that likely represented the abyss and Mr. Fool's psychological shadow probably still shouldn't be stepped into rashly.

Seeing Xu Xinyang off, Lu Mian and Old Xia, who was on duty with him, waited in the monitoring room until nearly noon for the colleagues who were to rotate them, then accompanied each other downstairs to the Intis Group employee canteen located in the annex of the Technology Building for a meal.

They didn't have meal subsidies, and the canteen wasn't free, but it won by having a rich variety of dishes, and the prices were controlled to a very cheap level by the group company through subsidies. Therefore, whether it was the headquarters or the branch employees, as long as they were in this building, they all liked to eat in the canteen. Director Huang himself would also come to eat two meals from time to time to determine the quality of the dishes.

The only problem was that during the peak lunch hour, the canteen was crowded, and those employees with higher incomes preferred to choose takeout or go to nearby shopping malls for meals.

As security guards, when they could go to the canteen depended on when their colleagues came to replace them. Everyone tacitly advanced the time by a period, striving to avoid the peak hour.

Lu Mian ordered minced meat steamed egg, pickled pepper flavored leek sprout stir-fried meat, fried chicken leg, cucumber meat slice soup, and a full large bowl of rice, and found a corner seat with Old Xia, eating while listening to the other party chat about the bunch of clowns at the Aurora Company.

Old Xia "tsk-tsked" and said:

"Their boss is an exhibitionist, or an 'M' in SM. There are often whip marks on his body..."

Say more, slander more, I love to hear it... Lu Mian nodded in agreement while muttering in his heart.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated twice.

He picked it up and saw that "A name that leaves you with a deep impression," which was Anderson Hood, had replied to the message:

"Is the friend you mentioned actually yourself?"

Lu Mian laughed and replied with voice input:

"You can understand it that way."

He felt that when "Hunters" chatted, whoever was anxious first, whoever was angry first, and whoever felt guilty first, lost.

Only by adjusting oneself to a state where nothing mattered could one remain invincible.

After twenty or thirty seconds, Anderson replied:

"Painting requires talent. I hope you have it.

"We don't have painting courses in our tutoring class, but I know a studio that's not bad. I learned there. If you're interested, come to the entrance of the Jinxiu Dongfang residential complex on Sifangjie at seven o'clock tomorrow night, and I'll take you to visit it."

Night? Lu Mian deliberated for a moment and said:

"Okay, thank you."

He remembered that the Colored Painting Homestay Hotel was on Sifangjie, but the internal renovation and decoration hadn't been completed yet.

…………

Administrative Department, inside the large office.

Luo Shan stretched, walked to Franca's position, and asked with a smile:

"What are we eating for lunch? I don't want to squeeze into the canteen."

Before Franca could respond, she lowered her voice:

"Other departments will find time to gather for meals to welcome new employees, but our Administrative Department doesn't.

"Mainly, those sisters don't want to go and look down on us. It's fine if they don't, but I'm afraid they'll insist on going, wanting to find some free helpers for themselves. Tsk, can you imagine what kind of development there will be? Sarcasm and hidden barbs are the norm. Crying on the spot, arguing, and wanting to move hands aren't uncommon either, leaving a pile of trouble afterward that needs to be handled. So Old Zhang simply doesn't organize gatherings in the name of the department. Those with good relationships gather privately, wanting to gather however they want."

Franca listened with great interest and said with quite a bit of anticipation:

"I don't know when Director Huang will come to the Administrative Department to look around next time."

The scene at that time would definitely be very exciting, and she wanted to witness it.

"Witches" inevitably have a tendency to fear that the world won't be chaotic enough, and using it to watch the fun can be considered very legitimate.

"Director Huang probably won't come in the next few days. He has distinguished guests to entertain, and even if he comes to the company, he goes to the 16th floor." Luo Shan revealed Director Huang's itinerary.

Zarathustra? Franca was quite concerned and attached great importance to this matter.

Outside the items listed in the Major Arcana card holders' data, they also had to guard against the Celestial Worthy and evil gods doing bad things to Zhou Mingrui in the dream city. They had to discover and stop it early.

Moreover, this could also accumulate inspiration and help them formulate an awakening plan—how the Celestial Worthy's subordinates did things, they could try to do the opposite.

"What a pity." Franca had a look of regret.

She then asked curiously:

"Doesn't Director Huang bring distinguished guests to visit the company?"

"He already has." Luo Shan suddenly froze for a moment, her voice becoming lower, "Zhou Mingrui happened to be on sick leave that day. Fufu, that distinguished guest with a very long name wouldn't be the destroyer sent from the future to the present by the evil power you mentioned, right? Was Zhou Mingrui's sick leave designed by your people?"

The "Painter's" spiritual intuition is also very strong... Franca smiled and said:

"Is that distinguished guest named Zarathustra?"

Luo Shan nodded solemnly.

"That's him." Franca confirmed the other party's guess just now.

Luo Shan was silent for a few seconds, her eyes turned, and she said:

"Why don't I find Zhou Mingrui and have a meal with the two of us? That way you'll have a chance to get to know him and chat."

Damn... So fast? So direct? Franca felt a sense of being startled.

She had thought that she and Lu Mian would have to spend a week or two, through work matters, to contact Zhou Mingrui normally before reaching the level of being able to add each other on WeChat or chat a few words.

Who knew that Luo Shan would want to find Zhou Mingrui to eat together on the first day she started work!

Too, too fast...

This progress is too advanced, I'm not ready yet...

Seeing that Franca didn't answer, Luo Shan said with a smile:

"Zhou Mingrui owes me several meals. Every time he asks me about things, he says he'll treat you to a meal next time, treat you to a meal later, but so far he's only treated us once.

"Mm, welcoming my sister to join the company is a very good reason."

As she spoke, she picked up her phone and pa-pa-pa sent a message to Zhou Mingrui.

After a while, Luo Shan raised her phone and said:

"He agreed, but said it's tomorrow dinner, because he has to work overtime tonight, and those who do technology have too little break time at noon, so they can't go eat something good."

He actually agreed... No reaction, no evasion? Franca suddenly remembered an old saying:

The best way to approach a person is to know the people around him.

Helping Luo Shan was indeed a correct choice... This is a good deed being rewarded! Franca pondered for a moment and said to Luo Shan:

"Zhou Mingrui seems to care a bit about those paintings you put on the table before. He didn't refuse your invitation but agreed instead. Maybe he also wants to confirm or test something..."

Before Luo Shan could respond, Franca added:

"If that's really the case, then that can be considered a good thing."

The only problem is, does dinner count as night?

This violates the planning of the action outline and might lead to confusion and blurring of experimental results...

If the sky isn't completely dark, it shouldn't count, right?

…………

4:30 PM, Lu Mian and Old Xia, who had finished patrolling the floors again, arrived at the underground parking lot of the Technology Building and saw Captain Xu Xinyang sitting in a dark gray SUV, reaching out from the passenger seat and waving at the two of them:

"Over here."

Lu Mian and Old Xia walked over and sat in the spacious back row.

"Just us few?" Old Xia looked out the window.

Xu Xinyang smiled:

"Where would a whole bunch of people go to visit a patient in a hospital? The nurses wouldn't let us in at all!

"Just the four of us. Little Zhao is driving, and the other brothers will go directly to the gathering place to wait."

Little Zhao was a young man sitting in the driver's seat, his profile looking a bit chubby.

At this time, the road was still quite smooth. Before five o'clock, Lu Mian and the others arrived outside Dawn Hospital.

The two young men each carried a box of fruit and a bag of nutritional supplements, following behind Xu Xinyang and Old Xia as they walked in.

The lobby of Dawn Hospital was no different from when Lu Mian came last time—ordinary, people coming and going, only occasionally could one find certain nursing workers with indifferent gazes and somewhat mechanical movements.

Lu Mian withdrew his gaze, confirmed that his own spirit had no warnings, and there were no anomalies around, then entered the elevator going up and arrived at the 12th floor.

Out of the elevator area, turning into the ward area, and after pushing open the main door, what entered his eyes was a quiet nurse station and a corridor extending into the darkness.

The light at the end of the corridor seemed to be broken and hadn't been repaired in time.

Under the guidance of a nurse who looked very normal, they entered a double ward where Old Wang and Old Ding were both here.

Before Lu Mian, Little Zhao, and Old Xia could see the condition of the patients clearly, two accompanying family members rushed to Xu Xinyang's side, saying one after another:

"Captain Xu, this is definitely a work-related injury for our Old Wang!"

"Sob sob sob, Captain Xu, our Old Ding almost died. Look at him, look at him, don't know how long it will take to recover."

"..."

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

"Two sisters-in-law, this definitely counts as a work-related injury. Director Huang said, not only will we compensate according to the national standard, but the company will also give an extra sum, and at the same time reimburse all medical expenses outside the insurance, and continue to pay wages according to the normal standard until Old Wang and Old Ding are fully recovered and can go to work. We won't let our brothers bleed and sweat and then shed tears!"

While Xu Xinyang was comforting the family members, Lu Mian and the others cast their gazes toward the hospital beds, seeing the two patients wrapped in white bandages all over, with only their eyes, noses, and mouths exposed.

Old Xia couldn't help but lean close to Lu Mian and say in a low voice:

"It's not that I, Old Xia, am unkind, but they really look funny in this state. I thought only what was performed on TV was like this. I didn't expect that in reality, there would also be people wrapped into rice dumplings."

Lu Mian didn't respond to Old Xia because he thought of mummies.

Mummies that were said to have a close connection with the "Wraith" pathway controlled by the "Mother Tree of Desire."

And this was Dawn Hospital.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 953 =====