Chapter 89: Lina’s New Job
"What the—" Milo muttered, suddenly finding himself out of the unit.
He had been showering inside one moment, and the next, he was outside, naked. It wasn’t just him, Rebecca was by his side, looking just as confused.
"What happened?" she asked, pointing at Milo’s naked form. "Why are we outside, and why are you naked!?"
"Do you think I want to be naked out here!?" Milo yelled, desperately covering his crotch. "Hurry up and give me your leggings!"
"What will I wear then?" Rebecca shot back. "Besides, it won’t fit—"
"Just give it to me!" Milo urged. "No one’s going to look at you with me standing naked either way!"
With a sigh, Rebecca slipped out of the leggings, showing off her ancestral granny panties. Milo slipped into it, and multiple sounds of something being ripped echoed in the empty corridor.
Only when Milo felt the fabric covering him did he reach for the door. However, no matter how much strength he put into twisting the handle, it didn’t budge.
Frustrated, Milo grabbed the handle with both hands and threw his weight on it, but the door simply refused to open.
"Something is blocking it," Rebecca mumbled.
"I can see that!" Milo shot back.
He couldn’t understand what was happening. They had been living there since stepping foot inside the apartment. Everything had been fine, so why did the apartment suddenly kick them out?
[You have received a demerit from the landlord.]
[As such, you have been demoted to drifters.]
[The tenancy agreement has been voided.]
The words flashed before their eyes, but both of them refused to acknowledge them as if doing so would make everything all right.
Instead, Milo kept hitting the handle, thinking it would pry open by itself.
"Try it again," Rebecca instructed.
"I just did!"
"Then keep trying!"
With no other option left, Milo was about to kick the door in when the elevator at the end of the hall dinged. Glenn stepped out, followed by half a dozen enforcers.
None of them even spared a glance at Rebecca or Milo and headed towards their unit. Glenn produced a key and opened the door before walking inside.
"Hey! What do you think you’re—" Milo yelled.
However, all his bravery slipped away when he noticed the enforcer resting his hand on the handgun attached to his waist.
A second later, everything in the unit was hauled out. Forget the food packs, even water bottles weren’t spared. Everything was stacked in the corridor.
Rebecca nudged Milo to do something, but what could he do? The enforcers had kukris and handguns, while he didn’t even have proper clothes to wear.
"Fine, I’ll do something myself!" Rebecca hissed.
Suddenly, she began yelling at the top of her lungs while beating her chest.
"This is wrong! How can you throw us out like this!? Is there no justice in this world? It’s us today, but it would be you tomorrow—"
Rebecca wailed her heart and soul out, yet not a single person stepped out of their homes.
"Fools."
Glenn looked at them and scoffed.
They were so engrossed in the comfort of their homes that they didn’t even realize everyone was outside, either training or working. There was no one to hear their pleas.
Even if they did, they wouldn’t act out. The truth was, everyone had already seen the notification Aiden sent through their pseudo-systems.
Maybe some of them would have sympathized with them before the training began. But now that everyone was working hard outside, they didn’t have anything good left to say to the freeloaders.
By the time everything was brought out of their unit, it was clear they had been hoarding food to sell outside. After all, the resources were way more than three people, including Lina, could consume before they spoiled.
"Toss them out," Glenn ordered, pointing at two drifters.
Four enforcers stepped in, grabbed them by the arms, before dragging them outside while they threw a fit. The rest of them brought everything back to the makeshift warehouse.
Aiden saw it all unfold before turning towards Lina.
"They have been dealt with," he said, handing some food to her. "Your guardians won’t bother you anymore."
After saying so, Aiden patiently waited to see Lina’s reaction. Considering she had essentially been a servant to them, Aiden expected her to beg him to save them.
If that happened, his evaluation of the girl would drop sharply. Instead, Aiden was surprised by her reaction. The conflict of being a daughter didn’t even last a second before she stood up and bowed.
"Th-Thank you so m-much for helping me, sir!" she said, her dark hair falling on her pale face.
"You can work for me if you want to thank me. I just happen to be in need of someone to operate the workshop. Of course, you’ll get paid for your work along with free boarding on this floor."
Aiden’s disappointment in James was immeasurable. The guy had worked in the workshop for days and still couldn’t make one decent thing on his own.
Compared to him, Lina was more suited for the job. After all, she created a corrosion bomb with literal scraps, and that too without a workshop. It was that bomb that caused the incident.
Even without all that considered, she was an Evolver. That fact alone made her far more valuable than James ever was.
With all things accounted for, it was time to leave James behind. As for him, Aiden would just assign him to Jewell to conduct experiments on.
"A j-job? I accept!"
Everyone on the lower floors dreamed of living on the top floor. Since the landlord himself was offering her a chance, why would she refuse it?
[Tenant: Lina Shea has achieved an emotional breakthrough.]
[Tenant: Lina Shea’s desire rose to 11%]
Within minutes, Aiden took care of all her problems. Naturally, Lina felt deeply indebted to him, which was reflected in her increased desire.
However, Aiden didn’t pay any attention to her feelings for him. He only offered her the job because she was the most qualified for it. As for anything else... she was too gaunt for him to even spare her a glance.
"I’ll have Milarel... ah, I forgot she isn’t here," Aiden mumbled, shaking his head and just assigned James’s unit to Lina. "You can rest in your unit for now. But tomorrow onwards, I expect you to start working with all you’ve got."
"Y-You got it, sir!"