World Occult Usage Guide

Entering the empty mode, Lin An saw that Mrs. Adamek's medium branches popped up in the form of a tree diagram, proving that she was not an awakened mystic.

no problem.

never mind.

She poses no threat.

Lin An withdrew from the survey, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Edward flip his wrist, and the reflection of the miniature camera flashed and disappeared.

"Crack."

"Any discoveries?" Lin An asked through "Communication with the Developers".

“No, it’s just a personal habit,” Edward replied. “I like to document important people or moments, which might become evidence later. Of course, if nothing happens, these pictures won’t be released to the public.”

“I have to say, your habits are a bit scary,” Lin An said meaningfully. “But now I support you—'record the present moment'.”

"Forest ranger, I don't quite understand."

Lin An did not answer, while Edward's attention was quickly drawn to Mrs. Adamek.

The widow spoke in a melancholy voice, like an owl flying over a graveyard, her French thick with a Slavic accent, filled with a cold and indifferent atmosphere.

"You should have heard about the press conference in the city. In the seven days leading up to the official start of this conference, guests from all over the world will be arriving from the White Elephant Coast and staying in Abishang City. It is estimated that there will be about 1,000 to 1,500 people."

“General Loon Rubibasi has put me in charge of taking care of these guests during this period, ensuring they have a hygienic and healthy journey. For this, I need 30 cleaners, 30 errand runners, 20 porters, and 1 medical assistant.”

"The wages for the first three types of labor are 3 francs per hour, while those for medical assistants are 10 francs per hour."

Lin An clicked his tongue. According to the exchange rate before April 1st last year, 1 franc was approximately equal to 0.07 cents.

In other words, even the highest-paid medical assistants only earn 6 cents a day for working eight hours.

Back then, he worked at a restaurant in Chinatown. His senior offered him a friendly wage of $12 an hour, and he kept the tips for himself.

Now it really is "Before I Struggled" and "After I Struggled".

Despite his complaints, Lin An didn't care about the salary. His main goal was to sneak into the press conference undetected and, incidentally, gather more information about the voodoo priest behind Kapengd Kumasi.

The daily wage of 6 cents was quite attractive in Lacono, and soon people couldn't wait to ask about it.

"What are your requirements? I want to be a medical assistant."

“First of all, you’re out of the running.” The loud-voiced woman next to Mrs. Adamek glared angrily at the person who interrupted. “The lady needs someone with manners!”

"Shhhhhh..."

The lady placed her index finger on her pale lips and silenced the loud voice with her soft, yet eerie, tone.

"I want my medical assistants to speak fluent French, and it would be even better if they could speak English as well. They must be perceptive, quick and efficient, and ideally have basic medical knowledge, recognizing common medications and their effects."

Upon hearing this, most of the people in the room fell silent.

They came from remote towns and villages around Abishang, and had never received a formal education. The language barrier alone was enough to deter them.

After a long silence, Mrs. Adamek said with a hint of disappointment.

"No one has signed up?"

A middle-aged man hesitated for a long time before struggling to push through the crowd.

"My esteemed lady, I grant your request!"

Mrs. Adamek scrutinized him for a moment with her deep eyes, a faint smile curving her lips.

"Okay, let's give it a try."

The middle-aged man thought that these words meant that she agreed to let him become her assistant, and he was feeling smug when he saw a nurse in white pushing a cart with various medicine bottles and jars of different heights on it, as well as a small knife.

Mrs. Adamek gracefully removed her black gloves, picked up the scalpel with her slender fingers, reversed the sharp blade, and gently sliced ​​it across her wrist.

The sharp blade sliced ​​through her delicate skin, and blood trickled down her pale wrist.

The lady placed the knife back on a piece of white paper and gave the dumbfounded man a strange smile.

"Please help me with the treatment."

The man who had made the boast was struck dumb. After a long while, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and walk toward the nurse's cart. After picking and choosing, he picked up a small bottle full of powder and poured it onto the wound with trembling hands.

"Crack."

Something cold pressed against his forehead, the sound of a bullet being chambered rang out, and Mrs. Adamek held the gun in her other, undamaged hand, her gloomy tone now tinged with chilling coldness.

"If you don't understand even the most basic symbols, why did you lie to me? Tell me, give me a reason!"

"me……"

The man's calves trembled with fear, and he dared not continue making up lies, lest his wife pull the trigger and end his life.

"I don't know! I'm sorry, I don't know!"

"You should be glad that I was the test subject. If I had caught you and caused the guests' wounds to worsen, this bullet would not only have gone through your skull, but also through the heart of every member of your family."

Mrs. Adamek watched with satisfaction as the man's eyes reddened, tears, sweat, and saliva streamed down his face, which was now a mess of bodily fluids. He then sheathed his pistol, hiding it somewhere beneath his long black dress. "Thump."

Unable to withstand the mental pressure any longer, the man immediately knelt on the ground, his whole body trembling violently.

"Just kidding, look how scared you are."

"Get down, get down!" The loud-voiced man, with a keen eye, lifted the limp man, dragged him out of the villa's gate, and threw him onto the street. After dealing with him, he came back and asked, "Anyone else want to volunteer?"

Having learned from the man's experience, the temporary workers remained silent.

After observing this farce, Lin An had some more guesses about Mrs. Adamek's background.

Her words and actions didn't seem like those of a woman who sold her body. If one had to choose a more credible explanation from the rumors circulating in the city, Lin An believed that her money might have come from smuggling.

She has a similar temperament to drug lord Carlo Bennett.

“Madam, I would like to give it a try.” After thinking it over, Lin An spoke up.

All eyes were on him, filled with admiration.

Although the lady did not fire, no one dared to gamble on her mercy.

“Oh, come quickly.” Mrs. Adamek squinted. “My hand is in terrible pain.”

Lin An lifted her wrist without any psychological pressure. The woman's skin was as smooth as jade, but her body temperature was unusually low.

The wound was shallow and small, and it stopped bleeding and scabbed over in just a few minutes. However, the blood that hadn't been wiped clean was still smeared into a clump, making it look particularly gruesome.

So he used saline solution to dry the area around the wound. Blood seeped through the cotton ball and clung to Lin An's skin, making it wet and cold.

He then picked up a cotton swab, dipped it in iodine to disinfect the wound, and applied a band-aid.

This is a standard procedure.

With a monthly salary of $1.8, do you really expect to hire Nobel laureates?

Mrs. Adamek admired the bandage, as if savoring its dryness, then suddenly ripped it off fiercely and put her black gloves back on.

“You’ve passed, sir.” She nodded slightly. “Go over there and get your employee badge.”

…………

Afterwards, Lin Xile and Edward were selected through a loud-voiced interrogation and became a cleaner and an errand runner, respectively.

During the day, they are assigned to work in seven different hotels, and at night they rest in a clinic that smells faintly of disinfectant.

After finishing their first day of work, Lin An and Edward lay on the creaking caregiver's bed, opened the virtual page of the World Tree, and exchanged information about the day.

“I’ve got media information from two hotels,” Edward said. “Italian newspapers: ANSA, République, and Corriere della Sera; Lion Country: Greater Manchester, News of the World, and Broadcasting Corporation; and Russia…”

"Alright, let's talk about what impact your report's exposure will have on the Red Poppy Chamber of Commerce," Lin An interrupted his rambling.

“At least 200 million people will know that they discharged radioactive wastewater into the Kuba River,” Edward said confidently. “Assuming that 5% of them will spread the news, and those in the know will spread it again… the final result will be that about 3000 million people have seen it.”

"What if someone uses money to suppress the hype?"

“Hmm…” Edward’s expression darkened. “Alright, a conservative estimate is 500 million people.”

This is no small sum; it's enough to severely damage the image that the president of the Red Poppy Merchants Association has been trying to maintain.

"Did you gain anything else?"

“That’s all. I’m sorry, Ranger, I can only observe the world of ordinary people, and I can’t tell you how many Mystics or other 'Commerx' energy anomalies are present.”

The lack of awakening is indeed a major flaw.

Lin An instructed, "Edward, don't leave Lin Xile's sight." After a pause, he continued, "I'm with the doctors from Adamek Hospital, going door-to-door to vaccinate guests against local infectious diseases."

“I was also pricked three times when I entered the country back then.” Edward touched his arm with lingering fear.

"Was it really only when you entered the country that you got stabbed?" Lin Anpo glanced at him meaningfully.

"What do you mean?" Edward asked, puzzled.

"Let me get back to my discovery. I didn't encounter any mysterious people in the hotel."

"Muggles are the majority, aren't they?"

"In January 2039, less than two years will have passed since the orbits of 'Commerx' completely overlapped. According to a certain foundation's estimate, the current ratio of mystics to ordinary people is already an astonishing 1:7500."

“There’s a mysterious person among roughly seven thousand people…” Edward’s expression grew increasingly serious. “Considering the population of Abishon City and the residential density of the Grand Hotel… this is impossible.”

Lin An shrugged noncommittally: "Edward, I suspect there's something wrong with these vaccines."

"My God!" the reporter exclaimed in shock.

“But to verify my guess, we need to observe for a while longer.” Lin Anyong propped his head up with his elbow, quietly watching the uneasy Edward, and shook his head with a sigh. “Let’s wait, Edward.”

"Well……"

Edward frowned, sensing that something was amiss. (End of Chapter)