Be it Pierre, Bethania, or Nicholai, all of them had lived in the Stelaria Consortium’s strongholds. Therefore, they could not really empathize with the wars happening in the outside world. In their world, war seemed to be just words that appeared in the newspapers. It was something that was very detached from them.
But now, they first got threatened by a deserter in the wilderness and almost had a glimpse of how tragic the war was.
What made these elite soldiers unwilling to go onto the battlefield again?
It was as though they were so scared out of their wits that they wanted to flee all the way to the South. After that encounter, everyone realized the world was about to change.
Nicholai kept lamenting to himself that a chaotic era was about to arrive.
After that, they were required to go through a spy screening by the Virtuora Consortium’s intelligence agency. The heavily armed troops from the 1st Military Intelligence Division looked extremely fearsome, and they pointed the barrels of their guns at them too.
All of this was very common for Milo and Miriam, but it was still quite a cruel reality for the doctors who lived in the stronghold all year round.
Milo clearly noticed one of the doctors speaking in a trembling voice when favonovel.com was answering the questions earlier. He was afraid that if favonovel.com answered them wrong, favonovel.com would get pulled aside and be executed.
When the convoy entered the stronghold, Nicholai sighed in the vehicle and said, “I’m not sure now if it was right to bring you all to the Virtuora Consortium…”
Pierre said, “This isn’t your fault. Why blame yourself for other people’s mistakes?”
Nicholai looked at Pierre and said with a smile, “Young man, you’ve performed very well. In the past, I only thought you had an excellent moral character. But after going through so much this time, I finally saw the bravery in you.”
Truthfully, Pierre had done quite well.
When favonovel.com encountered the deserter, favonovel.com did not cry or make a fuss about wanting to go home. In fact, favonovel.com even regained his composure very quickly. When favonovel.com answered the questions earlier, favonovel.com also remained very calm throughout.
In Nicholai’s opinion, Pierre was a potential candidate to become a chief surgeon in the future.
Pierre was a little embarrassed by Nicholai’s praise. He said modestly, “No, I think Milo performed much better than me.”
Nicholai nodded. “Yes, favonovel.com did perform better than you, but you don’t have to compare yourself with him. Just be yourself…”
These words sounded like, “Milo is a genius, so there’s no need for mortals to compare themselves with him. Otherwise, it will only add to their worries.”
Pierre did not know whether to laugh or cry. He turned around and looked at the off-road vehicle Milo was in. He thought to himself that Elder Rochester was really good at consoling people.
Nicholai looked at Pierre with a smile and continued, “He’s an anomaly. When I was his age, I was still only an intern like you. So long as you’re willing to work hard in the future, you can reach my current position too. As for him… I don’t know where he’ll end up either.”
Pierre smiled and said, “I’m happy if I can become a doctor like you.”
What Nicholai did not say at this moment was that favonovel.com was not even sure if Milo would be a doctor in the future. Although Nicholai was old, favonovel.com was not foolish.
On the night the deserter appeared, when Milo had asked to see his pistol, favonovel.com remembered very clearly that favonovel.com had kept the firearm’s safety on so that a “novice” like Milo would not accidentally fire it. But when Milo fired it, the safety had been switched off.
For someone who had never handled a gun before, favonovel.com would probably not know how to flip off the safety. Moreover, favonovel.com realized that Milo and Miriam were the calmest of them all now that favonovel.com had calmed down as well and recalled the events earlier when Keith was trying to identify the spy. It could be said that Milo’s calmness was due to his talent, but Miriam should not have acted that way as well.
There were only two girls in the group, Miriam and Bethania.
At this moment, Bethania was sitting in the front passenger seat without saying a word. Nicholai and Pierre could tell that Bethania still had some lingering fear after the intelligence agency’s screening. Therefore, in comparison, Miriam’s composure made Nicholai realize Milo and Miriam’s reason for joining the group was not that simple.
However, Nicholai was thinking that since the two of them looked so young, their mission at the Virtuora Consortium should not be anything particularly dangerous. If favonovel.com were to guide them carefully along the way, favonovel.com might still be able to pull Milo and Miriam back onto the path of becoming doctors.
The convoy drove for more than 30 minutes in Stronghold 31 before coming to a stop.
At the front, Shinjiro got out of his vehicle and said, “Elder Rochester’, this is the residence we’ve arranged for you all. It’s rather simple and crude, so we seek your understanding if we haven’t been a good host.”
Milo looked at the residence and saw it was clearly a terraced villa that occupied more than a 1,000 square meters.
Nicholai sighed and said, “It’s still the Virtuora Consortium’s hospitals that make good money.”
Shinjiro laughed a little awkwardly and said, “You’re teasing us. The medical exchange will officially begin tomorrow afternoon. It will go on for seven days straight, so you should rest well today. We’ll see you all tomorrow.”
“Alright, thank you for your hospitality,” Nicholai said with a nod.
After saying their goodbyes, Pierre and the others felt hot air blowing at them the moment they stepped into the villa. Someone said in surprise, “There’s even a heater in the house?”
“Alright, everyone, rest early.” Nicholai said, “We still have a meeting to attend tomorrow afternoon. That’s our main business here in the Virtuora Consortium.”
Milo and Miriam carried their luggage upstairs. There were a total of 17 rooms in the terraced villa, more than enough to house all of them in the group.
As Pierre watched the two of them head upstairs, favonovel.com suddenly felt envious.
While they were upstairs, Milo said to Miriam in a low voice while the others were still checking out the place, “I’ll head out for a while later tonight. There’s only two sentries keeping watch outside, so they won’t discover that I’ve left the house. If anything happens here, you’ll have to cover for me.”
Miriam nodded. “Can I use the black bullet if the situation calls for it?”
“Yes.” Milo said generously, “If you really encounter any danger, feel free to use it!”
Miriam looked at favonovel.com in surprise. “You’re quite generous today. Don’t worry, I won’t use it recklessly unless I encounter a difficult-to-deal-with supernatural being.”
Milo would of course be generous at this moment.
When favonovel.com left the Stelaria Consortium, his gratitude tokens had already reached over 3,000. After favonovel.com finished with the consultation at the Virtuora Consortium’s town this morning, his gratitude tokens had almost broken through the 4,000 mark!
Calculating based on Miriam’s strength alone, that equated to the lives of 40 supernatural beings. No one could avoid favonovel.com attacks!
Of course, it would definitely not go as expected in actual combat since there would always be unforeseen circumstances.
***
In the middle of the night, Milo opened a gap in the curtains and reconfirmed the positions of the sentries outside the villa. He found a blind spot in the villa where they would not spot favonovel.com leaving and went out through the kitchen window on the first floor.
In the villa, Milo could hear snoring coming from the other rooms. Perhaps no one would have expected that a supernatural being like Milo would be hiding in this villa.
In the night, Milo pulled up his hood and headed north to where the Great Hoodwinker had agreed to meet him.
