Chapter 34
The next morning, Zoey, who had stayed up all night, welcomed the mysterious person he had spoken with over the phone the previous night.
This person was named Charlie, one of the government inspectors stationed at the MWCC (Mini World Construction Center) on behalf of B country.
It was a global confidential project, and each participating country could station inspectors. However, their usual work was merely to “observe,” and they didn’t hold any real authority.
Furthermore, they themselves were subject to observation. Before entering this organization, they had signed absolute confidentiality agreements and were forbidden from discussing anything they saw or heard in the organization with anyone unrelated to the project.
However, even the most robust security measures can have loopholes. Charlie was originally a top investigator for B country’s intelligence agency, so counter-surveillance was child’s play for him. That’s why he could casually discuss the little people with Zoey on the phone.
However, last night’s phone call had left Charlie feeling uneasy. Since most of the little people at Zoey’s club had come through his channels, he managed everyone in the MWCC’s Exile Zone. In the Defective Repair Department, he also had some connections with the guards, who were usually easy to sway. Offer them a good cigarette or take them to a bar on Seventh Avenue’s Star Street, buy them a bottle of whiskey, have a couple of girls accompany them, and after two drinks, they’d be calling you a brother.
Charlie played this game with discretion because he knew that the MWCC’s management of the Exile Zone and the defectives was lax. These little people had essentially been abandoned, and missing a couple of them wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.
However, if it were discovered that he had inadvertently allowed Zoey to take away a “superbeing” from the center, it would be a big problem!
Accompanying Charlie was a young man named Fink, who had recently graduated with a Ph.D. and worked in the MWCC’s research department as an assistant to a research expert. While he wasn’t a significant figure, he undoubtedly knew more about “superbeings” than Charlie did. Charlie had specifically called him to check if there were superbeings in Zoey’s club.
Fink was one of those straightforward individuals with no influential connections or backgrounds. He had received a few favors from Charlie and had given him some leverage, so Charlie trusted that even if Fink learned about these secrets, he would keep quiet about the president’s nephew’s private hobby.
What Charlie didn’t expect was to run into another familiar face here, the governor of the state of Bert.
In Zoey’s presence, the governor had a nickname, “Steven.”
They had arrived one after the other. It turned out that after Evan hung up the phone the previous night, he had second thoughts and called Steven, the owner of Little Wolf, the next morning.
Of course, he had a bit of a grudge against Zoey when making this call. Zoey had a powerful background, and Evan didn’t dare to confront him directly. Even if he was upset, he could only swallow his anger. But Steven was different, and he had the strength to challenge Zoey.
During the phone call, Evan embellished the story, mentioning everything from pigeons killing people to electrical problems and finally getting to the point: “Last night, Zoey called me, saying some of the little people had gone missing. I’m guessing, could the missing ones be Blake and Little Wolf?”
This sentence had caused Steven’s face to change drastically. He decided to drive over to investigate personally.
The impromptu meeting of the three parties at an inopportune time made Zoey’s face look grim, especially when Steven questioned him about the missing little people. Zoey hesitated for a moment but ultimately admitted it.
“But it’s not your Little Wolf,” Zoey reassured him.
This revelation shocked Charlie, who wanted to say something but stopped himself after noticing Steven’s presence. Steven could see that Zoey’s guests had something important to discuss, and they were being evasive in front of him. But he didn’t have the intention to interfere. After confirming that Little Wolf was safe, he raised his own request, “The club is in this state now, and I’m a bit worried about leaving Little Wolf here. How about I take him for now, and you can apply the game penalty later after you’ve sorted things out here?”
At this moment, Zoey couldn’t argue with him, so he reluctantly let Steven go to the basement to pick up Little Wolf.
When Steven saw Little Wolf in the basement, his heart ached. He saw the once lively Little Wolf now cowering in a corner, shivering.
“Poor little guy, your owner has come to take you home…”
Steven used his fingers to gently push Little Wolf into the transport box and then furrowed his brow, asking Zoey, “Which little people are missing?”
Zoey shook his head and didn’t want to reveal it yet. Steven saw that Zoey appeared tired and decided not to complain further, taking Little Wolf and leaving quickly.
After he left, Charlie seriously said, “What does it mean that someone is missing? How many are missing?”
Zoey slumped onto the couch, rubbing his temples, and said, “Two little people are missing. I searched for them all night.”
Charlie sternly said, “Could it be that they escaped through their superpowers…”
“No,” Zoey interrupted, furrowing his brow. “I suspect that they took the opportunity to escape during the equipment malfunction last night.”
Charlie’s face turned pale. “If those two little people escape and are seen by ordinary people, or if photos are uploaded to the internet, it will surely become a major news event. If it’s traced back to me, I’ll be in trouble!”
Zoey understood, but he still held onto a sliver of hope. “One of these two little people was captured from the Exile Zone, and the other was fostered here by a wealthy retailer. I don’t think anyone will trace it back to you. Besides, with their survival abilities, even if they escape, they might get bitten to death by rats or starve to death. They might not even survive a week.”
Charlie fell silent for a while, wearing a stern expression. “Let’s check first. I hope those two who escaped aren’t ‘superbeings’.”
Zoey nodded and led them to the basement.
Fink looked at the huge sandbox, approximately ten square meters, in front of him, and he was astounded to learn that people dared to privately raise miniature little people. It was mind-boggling.
But he had learned about Zoey’s true identity before coming and wisely kept his mouth shut, not daring to say much.
He took out his equipment – in truth, determining if someone was a superbeing wasn’t as simple as using standard instruments. Each superbeing possessed unique attributes, and the research center had a specialized testing system that involved comprehensive stimulation of superbeings, recording precise data when their bodies responded to stimuli. Data analysts then drew conclusions based on the results.
What Fink held in his hand was just an electromagnetic wave detector.
The night before, Fink had received a call from Charlie, who claimed that his friend had secretly raised a few little people at home and that there had been several power outages, leading them to suspect that one of the little people had superpowers.
When Fink heard these words, he was on the verge of laughing out loud, and the annoyance of being awakened from his sleep by Charlie disappeared.
Charlie asked him to bring his tools to help check for his friend and said that if they found a “superbeing,” Fink could sneak back to the MWCC and claim that he had discovered this “superbeing.” He assured Fink that he would earn recognition for it.
Fink had given verbal assurances that “there wouldn’t be a problem” in the phone call, and he expressed his gratitude to Charlie. However, once he hung up the phone, he rolled his eyes and inwardly criticized, “What an ignorant fool. Does he think finding a superbeing is as easy as picking cabbage in a supermarket?”
But, in order to maintain a superficially friendly relationship with Charlie and potentially make some powerful connections through him for more benefits, why not go along with this? So Fink brought the “electromagnetic wave detector” with him.
His inspection method was quite simple. The electromagnetic wave detector had a discharge probe, and he would give each little person an electric shock. If during the electric shock, strong electromagnetic waves were rebounded from the little person’s body, it proved that the little person had “electromagnetic abilities,” making them a superbeing. If not, they were not.
Fink pushed up his glasses and explained the principles of the verification to Zoey and Charlie, showing his professionalism.
Zoey found his explanation convincing, but he had some concerns. “Will the electric shocks affect the little people?”
Fink replied, “No, the electric current emitted is very weak and at most causes the little people to briefly lose consciousness.”
Zoey felt relieved, and the three of them watched Fink perform the “checks” intently.
When they saw the first little person convulsing from the electric shock, Zoey was a bit nervous. However, that little person recovered in less than half a minute, and Zoey’s expression eased.
One after another, the instrument responses were normal, and Fink became increasingly convinced of his theory: there couldn’t possibly be superbeings among the little people Zoey had picked up from the Exile Zone.
“One last one,” Fink said with a relaxed expression, positioning the probe towards the silver-haired little person in the center of the square. As he watched the little person’s body twitch from the electric shock, Fink felt a slight pang in his heart.
However, he didn’t pay much attention to it. When the instrument showed little reaction, he straightened up and said, “Mr. Zoey, your little people have no issues.”
Zoey let out a sigh of relief, but then furrowed his brow because the little people inside the facility seemed fine. But did this mean the missing two little people had issues?
Considering the timing of the first incident and the fact that Blake and Kai had been present, both of whom had also taken part in the food competition, Zoey couldn’t help but worry.
“Forgive my bluntness, but during your events, with so many high-power devices running simultaneously, voltage fluctuations are quite common. Sometimes, changes in the electromagnetic field and vibrations in mechanical components or spatial volumes due to these devices may generate noise. Perhaps this noise happened to reach the resonant frequency of the camera lens and caused it to shatter,” Fink shrugged, presenting himself as an experienced researcher. “Furthermore, superbeings are the highest research achievement of the MWCC’s Human Genetic Modification Department. Only one out of thousands of genetically modified individuals may possibly become a superbeing, and they are born with their superpowers; it’s not something that emerges after a while. So you really don’t need to worry.”
To be honest, not even Fink had seen what superbeings looked like, so he confidently assured Zoey, who seemed unfamiliar with the subject.
Zoey, after hearing his explanation, gradually put his worries to rest.
“Mr. Fink, you are truly knowledgeable and versatile. I’ll direct any future doubts I have in this area to you directly.” To express his gratitude, Zoey slipped a stack of payment discreetly into Fink’s pocket.
Author’s Note:
MWCC stands for Mini World Construction Centre, abbreviated as such.
