Ivan spent a pleasant amount of time with Daiyu in his apartment. They had breakfast together, which Daiyu had thoughtfully prepared. Their casual chat spanned various topics, and they genuinely enjoyed each other's company.
Daiyu had to leave for work; it was getting close to the time her shift began. She worked as a salesperson at a megastore that operated 24/7. Her shift today would start at 12:00 PM.
The time was 10:29 AM. Ivan had a broad, contented smile on his face. His thoughts were filled with confident assurance that nothing would go wrong in the relationship he had just started with Daiyu. For a while, he couldn't think about anything but Daiyu. He couldn't help but wonder how Chioma and Roger would receive the news. He and Daiyu agreed that they would tell their friends about the development the next time they met.
Ivan finally gathered his thoughts. He brainstormed about his schedule for the day. His vehicle's replacement was yet to arrive, so he was free to do whatever he desired.
"I should go for therapy," he muttered to himself.
Ivan still felt a pressing need for counselling to address the trauma he had sustained from witnessing a child he had saved die before his eyes. He believed that if the trauma remained unresolved, it could lead to significant problems in his day-to-day life and even in his newfound relationship.
He picked up his phone and went online to book a therapy session. Luckily, he found a therapist free to talk for the next two hours. He promptly booked a thirty-minute session with the therapist.
At the VC AR gaming hub, Rodrygo had reported to work. He sat with his two colleagues, overseeing live surveillance footage. Suddenly, they all heard someone's stomach rumble loudly. It was not Rodrygo, but he soon heard another stomach grumble. He observed that his colleagues' faces looked deeply troubled, as if they were desperately restraining their rectums from unleashing an explosive diarrhoeic stool.
Rodrygo watched as his colleagues abruptly abandoned their workstation for the toilet. He couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"What did you guys eat before coming to work?" he wondered loudly, amused.
The image on the monitor before him had abruptly changed to display the chilling image of Grimm Bastard's face. Simultaneously, the lighting in the room shifted to an ominous green hue. Rodrygo was slow to realise the dramatic shift in his environment.
"Why is everywhere green?" he mused as he slowly turned his gaze to the screen.
The image on the screen jump-scared him, and he sprang away from his seat, exclaiming, "What the hell!"
Within its helmet, Grimm Bastard smiled, satisfied with the regular character's startled reaction. It moved its rotting mouth to speak, but the voice that escaped the orifice was clearly that of Lady Flux. She had intentionally used the summon's glass traversal ability to appear on Rodrygo's monitor's screen.
"Mr Rodrygo, we meet again," she stated, her voice calm but authoritative.
"Lady Flux?" Rodrygo asked nervously, his composure shaken.
"Your brains are still working," she replied. "Had to trouble your colleagues so that I could speak with you. Return to your seat; let's have a quiet chat."
Rodrygo cautiously returned to his seat, his heart still pounding.
Lady Flux continued, her tone serious. "You sell surveillance footage from your company, which is a clear breach of the rules. But since you are working with the liberation force, you are exempted from punishment. But what happens if your colleagues or your boss discover you? They won't be happy, and they will see you as a greedy piece of shit."
"I came here to warn you to be careful with how you move. If you are reported, the liberation force may not be able to protect you. There is friction between the Liberation Force and the government; you wouldn't like to be used as a scapegoat."
"My honest advice for you is that you share the spoils with your colleagues and perhaps your boss. Sounds ridiculous, but that's what you should do. Anyone who acts funny, you remind them that they blindly dined with the devil."
Grimm Bastard's face disappeared from the screen, and the environment returned to normal. Rodrygo breathed a deep sigh of relief. While Lady Flux spoke, he couldn't help but feel that she was going to punish him for something he had done. Fortunately, it was not as he thought. She had merely given him a stern warning.
He didn't waste time acting according to her shrewd advice. He had the account numbers of his boss and his colleagues. He was going to transfer some money from the substantial reward he had obtained from selling the surveillance footage from yesterday. He didn't need to be told that he was to use an anonymous bank account to execute the transfer.
He did the calculations and shared the rewards equally between himself, his two colleagues who were still in the toilet, and his boss, who owned and managed the AR gaming pub. He transferred the funds to them and placed his phone on the table. He felt a significant weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He leaned back into his seat's rest while he gazed at the ceiling, numerous thoughts flying through his mind.
'I hope they don't report the transaction,' Rodrygo thought anxiously.
Lady Flux was a person who highly valued the discretion of sensitive matters. If she felt the importance tied to the discretion of a certain matter was too high, she would get deeply involved with the matter to ensure there were no slip-ups.
Concerning keeping meticulous track of Ivan and other emerging special characters in Section 2, she had formally relieved Anderson_Shoeberry of this crucial responsibility. This was because she simply didn't trust him. She reassigned the responsibility to Brainboss_7, who was a Gold-transcendent-rank Detective-class character.
Brainboss_7 was one of the special characters present in the meeting with Lady Flux earlier. He had worked with Lady Flux in the past, and because of his proven efficiency and effectiveness, he was highly regarded by Lady Flux.
Brainboss_7 had discreetly designated an honoured-bronze-rank person to closely keep an eye on Ivan. He had arranged for the honoured-bronze-rank character to move into the same apartment building as Ivan. This person would replace one of the current neighbours who stayed on the same floor as Ivan.
Ivan, dressed in deep blue plain trousers and a light blue shirt, made sure that the electronic door on his door was securely fastened. Before he had even stepped out of his flat, he noticed that one of his neighbours was in the process of moving out.