"Ah… I wasn't told that the first thing a temporary worker encounters on the job is facing an explosion shockwave… Cough cough, is this considered my first protagonist-like incident?"
Coughing, Li Lin waved away the smoke and dust floating around due to the explosion and other reasons, shaking his head to clear it. His first reaction was to look towards the kitchen shrouded in mist, asking tentatively.
"Exusiai? Are you still alive?"
"Apple pie…"
"…"
Ah, still alive.
Just why is there a pot on your head?
Looking at Exusiai amidst the smoke, wearing a large pot on her head, plunged into the oven with a muffled voice, Li Lin shook his somewhat dazed head and continued looking behind him.
In his impression, Texas seemed to have struck a super cool pose facing the window. But because the explosion was in the bedroom, the angle wasn't adjusted well, and she was directly blown away, who knows where she ended up. After waving his hand to disperse some mist, he finally saw Texas buried amidst the rubble and tiles.
Her entire body was hit squarely by the blown-off wall, directly slamming her onto the floor. You couldn't see this beautiful girl's graceful figure at all; instead, that tail sticking straight out and dangling was quite comical.
"Hey? Miss Texas? Are you still alive?"
Li Lin patted the bricks beside her and asked loudly:
"If you're still alive, make a sound?"
"…Mmph."
A muffled response came from within the ruins. The huge tail twitched, looking so weak and powerless that it made one want to go up and pull it.
"Can you still talk? That's good. Need my help?"
"No, I wasn't hurt much either."
The tail gradually regained vitality, swinging flexibly to sweep away the debris on top. Texas's palm stretched out, pushed hard against the ground, and the broken bricks on her body fell directly to the side. This beautiful girl, hit sideways by the shockwave, didn't seem seriously injured, just had some messy lime dust left on her face.
After the huge tail twitched, scattering a pile of pebbles, Texas frowned, looking at the innocent-faced Li Lin behind her, then at Exusiai who had a pot on her head, apple pie stuck in her hair, wailing while plunged into the oven, and finally sighed.
"My apple pie… My hair…"
"Bear with it."
Walking out, she casually pulled Exusiai out of the oven, and amidst Exusiai's tearful expression, she cut off the burnt ends of her hair with one stroke, forcibly turning the originally long-haired beautiful girl into one with short hair, only then did she breathe a sigh of relief. Turning to look at Li Lin, she nodded somewhat apologetically.
"Sorry, you might have been caught in this undeserved disaster."
"What?"
"What else could it be, Prophet… It must have been done by those competitors, my apple pie…"
Exusiai knelt on the ground, looking at the shattered apple pie, on the verge of tears, yet surprisingly indifferent to her already shortened hair.
"I think so too."
Texas rubbed her wrist, glanced coldly out the window, and explained in a low voice to Li Lin who was stretching his body:
"Those people probably followed us here, then blew up the bedroom to warn us. Basically, we occasionally do this too. Not killing anyone basically won't anger other organizations, but it can also serve as a good warning to other organizations not to cross the line. Maybe it was because the last delivery was a bit excessive."
"Then what should I do next?"
"Go straight back to Penguin Logistics."
Looking at the somewhat bewildered Li Lin, Texas sighed.
"You don't have a place to sleep now, right? Sleep in the Penguin Logistics dormitory. Although the place might be even smaller."
"Smaller than here?!"
"Collective dormitory, shared bathroom, just don't take other people's things by mistake."
"Apple pie…"
"Go back to Penguin Logistics, just make another one directly at the company."
Texas said casually, drawing her two light swords, and walked straight into the still-burning dormitory to see if there were any discoveries to be investigated.
But clearly, the enemy came prepared. Apart from the arrowhead embedded in the wall and the debris scattered by the explosion, there was nothing left behind. Instead, on the other wall that hadn't been blown away, some stickers remained. However, most were completely destroyed, only one marked in red, a laminated copperplate paper sticker with 'Novel Pre-set' written on it, hung there.
"…?"
This is the so-called novel that guy was working on?
Taking down the only well-preserved piece of paper from the wall, Texas shook off the dust on it, looking at the beautiful but somewhat strange handwritten font on it.
'The Darkest Hour'
'As we all know, we understand that the human spirit is fragile and meaningless. We know that many images and suggestive words can completely destroy a normal human's logic and morality. So what exactly needs to be done to achieve such an effect? How can we resist the illogical everything in this dark world? Everything is within this book.'
'This is the overall file! Overall setting! I won't add bookmarks or anything else later! Too troublesome! Even Exusiai is saying how much paper I waste, I don't want to either! Once written, no changes! The setting, once said no changes, means no changes! If I change it again, I'll chop off my hand!'
'Setting File:
Mental Pollution & Creatures: Page 1 to Page 3.
Origin of Demons: Page 4 to Page 7.
Research and Development and Possibility Exploration of Bioengineering: Page 8 to Page 14.
Organization Settings and Political Considerations: Page 15 to Page 19.
Religion and Cults: Page 20 to Page 27.
Special Spells and Originium Arts: Page 28 to Page 33.
Possible Social Decisions and Impacts: Page 34 to Page 39.
Character Settings: Page 40 to Page 66.
Outline: Page 67 to Page 70.
Main Text: Not written yet.'
"…"
With so much effort put into the novel's setting, yet not a single word of the main text written, can you really make money from novels?
Texas looked at the messy bedroom blown open with a large gap, scratched her scalp, and walked out carrying only this outline. The other materials were either blown away or burned into fragments, basically nothing worth paying attention to.
In her impression, for things like writing novels, if you have such an outline, the rest just needs to be rewritten. There was no need to continue staying in this dangerous place. The enemy's situation was still unclear, and it was unknown if there would be subsequent attacks. After searching for some still usable items in the ruined dormitory, Texas directly closed the door and left hastily.
And not long after the people from Penguin Logistics left, a tall figure pushed open the crumbling main door. Several figures emerged behind him.
"Don't move! Lungmen Guard Department!"
"No one left already."
This huge figure, a full two heads taller than an average person, said casually and walked directly into the bombed bedroom. He looked silently at the charred fragments for a long time.
After a while, he bent down to pick up a fragment, gently blowing away the dust covering it. Looking at the cryptic phrases written on the remaining paper and the outlook on future possibilities, this huge figure stood amidst the dust for a long, long time. After a moment, he finally sighed, then gave low instructions to the Lungmen Guard Department members standing guard outside the door.
"There's nothing else in here, probably just a gang vendetta. Tell those guys not to go too far."
"Yes, sir!"
The Guard Department members outside the door raised their hands in salute and quickly rushed out.
And the tall figure casually gathered the remaining notes into his palm and walked out expressionlessly.