NOVEL NEXT Chapter 102: Relaxing night and Roger introduction
That night, after returning home and finishing dinner together, Dylan went into his room. He lay down, relieved his fatigue, and closed his eyes. Suddenly, "Knock... knock... knock," someone tapped on his door.
"Come in," Dylan invited whoever was knocking to enter.
The door opened, and Maya walked in, carrying her smartphone. Her expression seemed confused and a little sad. Dylan got up and sat on the edge of the bed, signaling for Maya to sit next to him. Maya walked over, sat down next to Dylan, and immediately pressed her body against him, and Dylan immediately put his arm around her.
Maya's eyes kept looking at her smartphone screen. Her face truly looked confused. She opened her mouth but then closed it again, as if searching for the right words to tell Dylan something. Seeing Maya remain silent, Dylan finally stretched his head out to peek at her smartphone screen.
It turned out that Maya's smartphone screen was showing an email from a private email address consisting only of numbers, but looking at the content of the message, Dylan could guess who sent it. Dylan turned to look at Maya.
"Hmm... Mike wants to stop your mom's life support at the hospital so she can pass away because, apparently, your mom has already been gone for a while. The hospital informed Carla," Dylan murmured. "So that's why Carla went into the dojo earlier and was almost killed by Roger... already killed, actually... Ah, that reminds me of what happened earlier," Dylan muttered in his heart.
"What do you think, babe?" Maya asked, looking at Dylan with a confused face.
"I'll check the email address first," Dylan replied.
Dylan used his hacking skill to examine the email address that sent the message to Maya. Before long, Dylan found that the email address had just been created and had no track record at all; it seemed the email was only meant to be used once to send a message to Maya.
Then, he looked at her smartphone screen once more, relieved that Maya hadn't replied yet. But because the news in the message seemed somewhat credible, Dylan paused for a moment. Then, he turned to look at Maya.
"Tomorrow, we'll try calling the hospital to make sure. If necessary, we'll go there to see your mom's condition," Dylan said.
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, but it's far to go there, right?" Maya asked.
"No problem. I also want to personally check the renovation progress of my grandfather's house before I sell it," Dylan replied.
"Hmm... okay. Will it just be the two of us?" Maya asked.
Before Dylan could answer, "Slam," the door to Dylan's room suddenly burst wide open. Ellie, Lena, and Amy walked in and then closed the door again. After that, they sat down on Dylan's bed.
"I'm coming too. I also want to check out the house there," Ellie said.
"Same. I also want to check out Grandma's house... maybe I'll contact a realty agent there to discuss the selling price," Lena added.
"Hmm... I don't have a need, but I want to come along," Amy replied briefly.
"Alright, well, first things first, we'll call the hospital. If they can tell us over the phone, we won't go. As for the renovation progress, the contractor working on it always reports and sends me photos anyway, but I just want to see it firsthand," Dylan replied.
"Okay, let's do that," Maya added.
"Then who sent the message through that email, Maya?" Ellie asked.
"My brother. It was definitely him," Maya answered.
"Hmm... but why did he use an email address like this?" Amy asked curiously, looking at Maya's smartphone.
"I don't know. Maybe because he didn't want me to know he sent the email," Maya replied.
"See? You're still angry at your brother, aren't you?" Lena countered.
"Yes. I'll never forgive him," Maya replied.
"That's understandable. So, while we're there tomorrow, do you want to check out our old school too?" Ellie asked.
"What for?" Amy asked.
"I just miss it, even though we haven't been gone long," Ellie answered.
"Don't get your hopes up too much. We might not even go. If we can handle it over the phone, we won't be leaving," Dylan cut in.
"We know," the four of them replied in unison.
Maya, Lena, Ellie, and Amy then continued their lively conversation amongst themselves, discussing their plans for the next day, while Dylan just smiled, listening to their talk and continuously thinking in his head.
[CROWS sent it, sir.]
"Yes, I know. That's why we're going to confirm by calling the hospital tomorrow. It seems CROWS wants to lure us to that town," Dylan replied in his head.
[That is correct, sir. Now he no longer has an heir, and his host's time is running out. He wants to finish us as quickly as possible.]
"But isn't there still Ellie's mother and that guy from the mafia?" Dylan asked.
[They are not compatible.]
"Hmm... is that so," Dylan murmured. "But is it true he can't switch hosts anymore?" Dylan asked.
[He cannot, sir, unless he finds a compatible host again, but people who have the same ambition and goals as CROWS are hard to find.]
"That's true," Dylan muttered.
[For now, I don't think he will bother us here, but it's a different story if we go to that town.]
"I know. I also hope we don't have to go there. Tomorrow we'll confirm everything," Dylan said.
[Very well, sir.]
Dylan fell silent again. He just turned to look at Ellie, Maya, Lena, and Amy, who now looked "comfortable" chatting on his bed, even lying down and relaxing. Dylan just shook his head and smiled at the four of them.
***
Meanwhile, in the bunker, in the kitchen, Megan, Ryan (who appeared as a hologram), and Noah (who emerged from his teapot) stood surrounding Roger, who was sitting casually on the kitchen table.
"So you're the new resident here, huh?" Noah began the conversation.
"Something like that. My name is Roger. I'm actually a tiger, but at the Master's request, and so I don't scare the ladies like you, I became a cat," Roger replied, looking satisfied with himself and puffing out his chest, accompanied by his smiling cat face.
"Ha! Who's scary? I never show my true form in front of the ladies," Ryan protested.
"When they came down here, I happened to be cooking, so they didn't see that I was a djinn. At first, they thought I was human, but when they went behind the kitchen counter and saw I had no legs, they went limp. Luckily, Mrs. Clara was there," Noah replied.
"That was an accident," Ryan added.
"The point is, I won't make them faint," Roger boasted proudly and contentedly.
"Alright, don't talk about that. Welcome, Roger. I heard you helped the Master this afternoon, huh?" Megan said.
"Thank you, and yes, I killed all the Master's enemies... but I lost to that one person... luckily the Master came," Roger replied.
"Ha! Turns out you lost, too," Ryan teased.
"I'm still not used to being in weretiger form yet," Roger replied, looking down.
"It's okay," Megan said, stroking Roger's head.
"Oh yeah, speaking of which, the Master said you three ate the people who came here earlier. What did he mean by that?" Roger asked, confused.
"Oh, those three guys? I cooked them, and the three of us had a meat feast," Noah replied.
"Wow... too bad I wasn't here," Roger replied.
Suddenly, the kitchen door opened. Fiona and Iris walked in. Of course, Megan, Ryan, Noah, and Roger turned to look at the door. Fiona and Iris stepped in casually, not scared at all. They immediately walked up to Megan and pulled on her arm.
"Megan, help me with my homework," Fiona said.
"Yeah, me too. Please teach me, there's something I don't understand," Iris added, holding Megan's hand.
"Alright, let's go to your room," Megan replied, smiling.
Then, Megan left with Fiona and Iris, and the kitchen door closed again. The atmosphere returned to silence. Then, Roger broke the silence.
"Okay, those two little missus aren't scared of us, huh," Roger said.
"No, they aren't. I sometimes appear in front of them and play with them, too," Ryan replied.
"When I first arrived here two days ago, they came into the kitchen late at night asking for food and waited patiently without being scared of me. That's just how they are," Noah replied.
The three returned to chatting casually in the kitchen. Meanwhile, outside the kitchen door, Aaron leaned against the wall with his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest. He listened to the conversation of the three spirits inside the kitchen and shook his head.
"What do you mean, a normal cat rescued from a tree? What cat can stand up and pose like a human like that? Does he think I'm stupid or something... Big Brother is truly terrible at lying," Aaron muttered in his heart.