Demons Beside YouDemons Beside You
“None of you are willing?” Chen Zhao looked at everyone.
“President, you should think for me.”
“Me too…”
“Me too. I’m only a child…”
Everyone had great excuses and no one wanted to go.
Chen Zhao narrowed his eyes. Looking at them all, he said, “Since none of you want to go, then all of you will go.”
“Huh?”
“All of us?”
“One person might not be able to lure out all the evil spirits. If you five go, then you’ll be able to lure out more.”
“We’ll die in there!” Bir wailed.
“Be braver. Look at Moore. He’s a kid but he’s not afraid at all. Look how calm he is.” Chen Zhao pointed at 15-year-old Moore.
“President…I peed my pants.” Moore lowered his red face, not daring to look at Chen Zhao.
“President, won’t this be too hard on them?” West looked at Chen Zhao.
“Then how about you go too?”
“I support your decision fully.”
Chen Zhao looked at Jolag. “When can you get the stuff prepared?”
“As long as there’s enough material, I’ll be able to finish tomorrow.”
“Then we’ll go tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night? Won’t it be too much of a hurry?”
“What hurry? It’s just one place and you haven’t had a result after many tries. How much longer do you want to drag it out for?” Chen Zhao glared at them and left, cursing out loud.
Everyone in the meeting room exchanged glances. No one spoke.
“Mr. West,” Worchester said, upset. “That president only knows how to talk. He never said what he would do. I think we should protest against him.”
“Protest? How can we protest? You want to fight him? If you can beat him, then you can be the president.”
“Uh… I can’t do it by myself, but we can’t let him rule over us and use his power like this.”
“Worcester, how come you keep trying to get us to fight against the president these days?” Jollinash looked at him coldly. “What are you trying to do?”
“What could I be trying to do? He’s an outsider. What right does he have to order us around?”
“If you’re upset with him, you can go talk to him yourself. There’s no need to keep provoking us.”
“Okay, shut up.” West hit the table. “It’s not the time for you to have internal conflicts. We’re going to have an official mission tomorrow. This isn’t just a scuffle on the fringe and leaving after killing some evil spirits. This time, we’ll go deep into Mapleville.”
“I need protective gear!” Bir cried. “I won’t go without it.”
“I need it too.”
“Me too.”
“Jolag, prepare five protective suits for them.”
“Mr. West, if I have to prepare the protective gear and the weapons, I won’t have time.”
“I can stay to help,” Worcester said.
…
The next afternoon, Chen Zhao came to the meeting room again.
“Are you all ready?”
“So what if we’re not ready?” Worcester muttered. “It’s not like you’ll let us run away.”
Chen Zhao glanced at him. “Right, did you prepare the financial records I want?”
“They’re ready. I’ll bring them tomorrow,” Worcester said.
Inside, he thought, But you probably won’t have the chance to see it anymore.
“Okay,” Chen Zhao called. “Let’s go and get it over with.”
“President, the rest of us don’t have to go, right?”
“Other than Ados, everyone else has to go.”
Ados was a regular person and only earned the salary of a regular security guard, so Chen Zhao allowed him to stay at the headquarters.
Everyone else were spiritualists and supernatural people.
No one earned the salary of a regular person, so now that they were needed, no one was allowed to shrink back.
Technically, Bir, Moore, Morid, Jollinash, and Baliya were fighters while West, Worcester, Patilu, Jolag, and, Engelite were support staff, but they actually had something they were best at.
This supernatural organization was tiny, but they still divided it up in such detail. What a joke!
So, Chen Zhao wanted all of them to participate in combat.
It was like a mercenary group. Everyone had their specialties, but everyone had to pick up their guns in a fight.
They were unwilling, but under Chen Zhao’s pressure, they could only give in.
“President, this is the protective gear I prepared for you. Put it on. It has great magical defensive abilities and protects against the attacks from evil spirits too.”
West tried to kiss up to Chen Zhao.
“No need.” Chen Zhao didn’t like this type of gear.
It stuck to his body and he couldn’t move around comfortably.
“But it’s dangerous.”
“It’s just a few evil spirits. What’s so dangerous?”
“It’s not just a few evil spirits…”
“Mr. West, since the president doesn’t want it, why insist upon it?” Worcester said pointedly.
Chen Zhao glanced at him. This Worcester had been sarcastic the first day he got here.
He was also the finance guy. Chen Zhao bet his name that he had some corruption problems.
Everyone got into the organization’s bus. It was probably the most expensive piece of property that the organization had.
Chen Zhao got in and the bus started off soon. It smelled like mold and the seats all had a layer of dust.
As the bus drove off, everyone’s heart was pounding.
They all knew how terrifying the evil spirit group in Mapleville was.
Even more, they knew how dangerous this mission was.
West got up from the back and took out a bottle of water from the box in the front.
“This is recovery potion. It can replenish a portion of your magic. Everyone take one bottle to use when needed.”
What, they even have recovery potion?
How come it’s like going to play some hidden level?
“President, this is yours. You’re strong, so I prepared two for you.”
“No need.” Chen Zhao shook his head.
The bus drove for half an hour and stopped outside Mapleville.
“Huh? Here?”
Chen Zhao was surprised.
This was Mapleville?
Wasn’t this the place that he’d come twice in the past few days?
Pamela’s home was here.
He’d thought it was some super scary place, but it was just this slum town.
West went over to pull on Chen Zhao. “President, we’re here.”
“Oh, coming.” As soon as he got out of the bus, Worcester bumped into Chen Zhao. Something in his hands splashed onto Chen Zhao.
“What are you doing?” He flicked at the liquid on him. It was odorless, but it felt sticky.
“Sorry, President,” Worcester quickly apologized. “I didn’t see you get out.”