May you be happy and prosperous

The next day, Lu Twelve carried a bag on his back and set off with Fa Cai to the Phantom Beast Recycling Station in G City, because I heard that the Phantom Beast Recycling Station would provide lunch and dinner for the Phantom Beast staff and Phantom Beast staff with Phantom Beasts , Lu Twelve guessed for a while, and simply didn't bring any food. After all, both the nutrient solution and the canned Phantom Beast were heavy and overwhelming. The worst thing was that the food was rough and rich.

The Phantom Beast Recycling Station is located on the other side of the suburb opposite to the Phantom Beast Black Market in City G. It takes two hours by car to reach it by maglev light rail. At that time, Lu Shieryi looked up and thought he had gone to the wrong door.

The high metal wall of the building in front of me is shining with a dazzling metallic luster under the sun, probably because it has been exposed to the wind and the sun for a long time and has not rested for a long time. The once silver building is now mottled and full of rust. Traces—From a certain scientific point of view, buildings are actually not suitable for all-metal exterior structures, because such buildings tend to give people an uncomfortable sense of impetuosity out of thin air.

It is said that people who live in such houses for a long time will become irritable and short-tempered.

The Eudemons Recycling Station is divided into three parts: the main building, the staff activity area, and the research institute. At the moment, the three areas are quiet and quiet, but the sound of a large machine running inside the building can be vaguely heard—at least Lu Shi Er didn't hear the roar of the phantom beast that he imagined, no, at this moment, he didn't hear even a little sound.

In the gate area of ​​the Phantom Beast Recycling Station, the gate that might fall if you kick it hangs precariously wide open, and there is no one at the gate guard. Lu Twelve can't find someone to lead the way. .

"——Hello, is anyone here? This is A99155766 Green Phantom Beast staff who came to report. According to the mission information determined by both parties, today I will clean up the first floor of Area A...Hello? Hi? Mosimo West?"

The answer is no one.

In desperation, he exchanged a helpless look with his own phantom beast that had changed back to the form of a phantom beast in a deserted corner a few hundred meters away. Lu Twelve had no choice but to push open the creaking door. He walked in while looking around, but just as he stepped into the front yard, a cool wind blew in front of him, Lu Twelve sneezed unceremoniously, and was immediately caught by the strange air in the air. Almost choked by the smell of—

The air floating around is filled with the pungent smell of animal excrement after it has been exposed to the sun and dehydrated. This smell is also mixed with the special smell of animal fur that seems to have been left unwashed for millions of years. The smelly hair, together with some strange smells of burning and blood, Lu Twelve stood at the door and retched unceremoniously...

Lu Twelve: "Brother Cai..."

Get rich: "?"

He lowered his head and scanned his eyes. Now he was following him with light steps, and was looking at his own rich face with an innocent furry face. He rolled his eyes and complained very bluntly: "Brother Cai, Let's see what good mission you have taken—don't say it's you now, I'm afraid my heart will be traumatized..."

Fa Cai let out a "meow", and rubbed his furry head against his master's feet, and then as if he heard something, his little ears suddenly stood up, and his golden pupils flickered under the sunlight. Bright!

Seeing this, Lu Twelve was about to ask what was wrong with it, but a few seconds later, he heard someone walking towards this side stepping on slippers. He turned his head and took a closer look. From a distance, I saw a pair of gold-rimmed glasses shining in the sun, blinding the dog's eyes. A person wearing glasses, holding an electronic cigarette crookedly in his mouth and puffing, wearing a vest with a large underpants and a herringbone Mou, the man with a dirty white coat on the outside is walking towards him - this man is still scratching his ass while walking.

Lu Twelve: "..."

When the man dragged his legs like a zombie to stand in front of the black-haired young man, he finally took his hands out of the big pants, his eyes lit up behind the glasses, and he laughed vaguely with a cigarette in his mouth : "Hey, where in life do we not meet again, it's you."

This guy... actually looks exactly like the researcher who helped Fa Cai's medical examination that day!

What's your name?Dr. Edward, right?

Looking at the man in front of him who was wearing a white coat but showed his "informality" all over his body, Lu Twelve's eyes swept over his unshaven chin, and then he raised his eyebrows calmly: "Hello, It seems that your brother once mentioned me to you?"

"I don't have any brothers." Dr. Edward waved his hand as if to repel flies, "It's just me, the one who gave you a physical examination that day but you refused to do a blood test for your phantom beast—don't look at it I am dressed like this today, in fact, to be precise, it is suitable to dress like this when working here, children who wear a suit and tie to work usually don’t last a week before resigning—”

"..."

"What's your expression like?"

"No," Lu Twelve said after a moment of stupefaction, "I remember you said that you were working in some research institute in the Middle Ancient Continent, not a recycling bin—"

"The Institute sent me down to do research," Dr. Edward said with a full face. "Just sitting in an office and writing papers is pseudo-academic. Really great science is produced through continuous practice and failure."

Lu Twelve: "..."

Failure is the mother of success?Ouch, the style of painting has suddenly turned into an inspirational movie, Lu Shishi thought blankly, but unfortunately there is still a strong feeling of being cheated of a gold coin for the registration fee, what's the matter?

As if he didn't see the black-haired young man's face full of pain at this moment, Dr. Edward said again: "Are you the Phantom Beast worker who the administrator said that he would come to clean up Area A today? Number A99155766."

Lu Twelve was taken aback, as if surprised that the other party had memorized his ID number, so he nodded and said politely, "Yes, it's me."

Even though he said that, he didn't stretch out his hand to shake hands with this Dr. Edward - because he still remembered that his hand scratched his butt just now... just as Lu Twelve said embarrassingly When his face was dark and refreshing about his wit, Mr. Doctor, who was wearing a white coat but looked more like a beggar, stood opposite him and slapped his own butt hard without any struggle. When Lu Twelve was caught by his nervous Frightened by his actions, he took a small step back subconsciously, but he raised his head and smiled without pressure: "There are fleas, those phantom beasts carry them, you know."

Lu Twelve: "..."

Sorry, it's dirty and has fleas or something... Even if I'm not a Virgo, I don't understand.

At this moment, the black-haired young man's desire to turn around and leave has become more and more irresistible—this desire has become so strong that Lu Twelve seriously considers whether he should simply stay on the earth in this life All his life, An Du forgot his identity as a Phantom Beast worker, and at the same time, he also forgot the matter of working hard to do missions to collect contribution points, just to collect enough contribution points to go to that damn Gamma A star.

But before he had time to repent, Fa Cai followed Dr. Edward's ass into the main building.

The constant temperature air conditioner was turned on in the main building, and the relatively closed space made the suffocating atmosphere even more intense. Lu Twelve raised his hand to cover his nose, as if he had walked into a huge zoo—the hall was empty. No one, following Dr. Edward's ass through a long corridor, when entering the next slightly smaller exhibition hall with various phantom beast specimens and phantom beast semi-anatomical diagrams, Lu Twelve saw To his left is a huge and rather old magnetically levitated screen.

On it is the structural diagram of the entire Phantom Beast Recycling Station, which shows in detail where the Phantom Beasts are concentrated in Area A, Area B, Area C, and the safe exits and entrances of each area. Lu Twelve noticed that there are still There is a place that looks like an ear chamber, but that piece is just drawn and doesn't indicate where it is.

Lu Twelve pointed to the unmarked area and asked, "Is this also a place where phantom beasts are kept? I will also be feeding in Area C in a few days. Do I need to estimate it together?"

Hearing this, Dr. Edward raised his head and glanced at the place Lu Twelve pointed at. The eyes hidden behind the lens lit up, but was blocked by his movement of raising his hand to push the glasses: "No, there is no use there, then It's a separate Eudemons cage, and 'Sabak' is locked inside."

"Sabak?"

"A rebellious first-generation Eudemons." Edward grinned through his white teeth and lowered his voice almost deliberately, "Killed the whole family of his first master, ripped out his guts, and ran away , the Phantom Beast staff included the task of hunting it into the golden task area for half a year, and finally the awakened Phantom Beast's "student" personally brought it back in the forest of K City. It was full of wildness, high IQ, and completely disobedient. Someone It is suspected that it has actually awakened, but it has not been revealed in front of people."

Lu Twelve was surprised: "...the first generation of phantom beasts are actually locked in such a place?"

At this moment, Fa Cai, who was listening to the east and smelling the west, also turned his head and pricked up his ears as if he was listening very carefully.

Dr. Edward put his hands in his white coat: "Yes, don't look at the shabbiness here, but at least the equipment is a relatively advanced phantom beast recycling station in the entire Middle Ages. Sabac still has research value, otherwise it will kill you with it." People who have lost their lives have long been destroyed by humanity—"

Lu Twelve: "..."

The black-haired young man was silent. At this time, Dr. Edward returned to his normal tone, and smiled at Lu Twelve like an ordinary superior: "If you want to see what the first generation of Eudemons looks like , but you can go and have a look, regardless of remembering to stand far away, if you stand too close and get eaten, we will not provide compensation for the death of the Phantom Beast staff-besides, before the work starts , you can take a look at whatever you want."

Lu Twelve said "Oh", and then really just twisted his neck and looked at it casually without interest - at the moment he is still immersed in the matter about the first-generation Eudemons, and he can't extricate himself... …

When he glanced at a half-broken sculpture of a flying-type phantom beast, and saw that it had been treated with special anti-corrosion techniques, but at this moment it was exposed to the air's internal organs and metal heart, he frowned and twisted his face away, and then put his own His gaze was fixed on his feet.

At this time, Fa Cai was approaching a specimen of a land combat phantom beast with his neck up -- the phantom beast's body was already covered with dust, and Lu Twelve really couldn't quite tell what it looked like, so he could only vaguely It looked like a wolf—red eyes, metal fangs, very thin...

Fa Cai's tail was drooping, only the tip was raised a little bit, and he was looking closely at the specimen with great interest. After looking at it for a while, he turned his head and called out "meow" to the black-haired young man who was following behind him. Twice.

Lu Twelve perfunctorily said in a low voice like coaxing a child: "Oh, is this phantom beast alive? Well, I also know that it was alive before, but now it is dead." Holding the back of Fa Cai's neck, he picked it up from the specimen and put it in his arms - the specimen was so dirty, if Fa Cai rubbed it all over his body, he would have to wash it at night .

At this time, it seemed that he heard the "dialogue" between Lu Shishier and Facai. Dr. Edward, who was standing in front of the screen at the moment, turned his head when he heard the words, and watched with great interest, who was lowering his head and dreaming with his family at the moment. The black-haired young man muttering: "Can you understand what your Eudemons are saying?"

"Oh, I don't understand," Lu Twelve said while reaching out his hand to touch Fa Cai's furry ears, "But it doesn't hinder our conversation."

Fa Cai: "Meow."

That's right.

Dr. Edward: "..."

I almost forgot about the "brilliant performance" of this black-haired young man in the Eudemons Research Institute and communicated with him as a normal person. It seems that I am really tired from work and my self-vigilance ability against creatures like "funny" has plummeted ——No, it’s like flying straight down three thousand feet.

After realizing this, Dr. Edward reined in the precipice, and immediately lost the patience to continue wasting time with Lu Twelve here. He handed over the key to Area A to Lu Twelve, and told him where to pick up his lunch and dinner. , and according to the regulations, impatiently told some workflow and precautions when doing cleaning tasks, then hurriedly left and went back to the interior of the research institute next to the main building.

When only Lu Twelve and Fa Cai were left in the entire exhibition hall, the surroundings suddenly became quiet again.

Holding Fa Cai in his arms, Lu Twelve stroked its head thoughtfully, and went to the front of the electronic map screen to find out where the area A where he was going to do the mission was located, and went there without much hesitation— —Although he really wanted to see what the legendary first-generation Eudemons looked like, but before doing so, it's better to figure out the amount of work he is about to complete.

The cleaning work of the phantom beast recycling station is as follows: enter the designated area, jump on the special aisle - use the electronic key to open the gate of each cage, and drive the phantom beasts locked in the cage into the main cage one by one In the connected spare cage - close the gate, open the flushing system, and then use the faucet to flush away the hair, feces, and food residues that the Eudemons have fallen off one by one... because during the flushing, there are likely to be stuck in the corners Food residues or excrement accumulations cause blockage of the sewage pipes, and cleaning personnel need to jump down the staff passage to a place closer to the cages of the phantom beasts to clean them up with a shovel. Escort your staff so that they are not accidentally dragged into the cage by other phantom beasts and accidents occur.

All in all, this is a relatively easy task if you are lucky.

The "good luck" here specifically refers to: the sewage pipes are not blocked, and the Phantom Beast workers don't have to jump down the special aisle to work as excrement workers.

……

When Lu Twelve came to Area A with Fa Cai, he opened the heavy door. When he smelled a stronger smell than in the exhibition hall, he subconsciously held his breath and glanced at it quickly. The true face of the Phantom Beast Recycle Bin—in fact, the situation of the Phantom Beast Recycle Bin is really better than what JAY said...

Seriously more.

The entire area of ​​the huge area A is in a completely closed state, dark and humid, and there is an uncomfortable atmosphere floating in the air.

There are precarious disinfectant lamps hanging from the ceiling, and the purple light makes the atmosphere even more depressing; there are exhaust fans in all directions of the entire area. Although the exhaust fans are running, they are already covered with dusty and dirty phantom hair. , their original colors can hardly be seen; Lu Twelve's eyes moved, and then he was surprised to find that there is actually a skylight on the top of the head in this area, and from the gap of the skylight, there seems to be a faint ray of light projected from the outside of the house. Brilliant afternoon sun...the switch for the skylight may be somewhere in this house, but the skylight...looks like it hasn't been opened for a long, long time.

When Lu Twelve glanced around, he could hear the wailing or angry roar of phantom beasts coming from unknown cages from time to time. When Lu Twelve closed the door, the heavy iron door made a "bang" sound. There was a loud noise, and he heard the phantom beasts in the cages making a commotion as if they had been frightened, followed by the terrible sound of the phantom beasts biting each other.

If there was anything to describe this place, Lu Twelve would probably only think of "despair" or "deadness".

Lu Twelve lowered his head to look at Fa Cai, and found that his phantom beast was lying on its phantom beast at the moment, with its ears pricked up, looking intently at the surroundings.

The entire area is arranged in a "T" shape. The upper half of the letter represents the stairs on both sides for the staff to go up to the special passage. A long aisle in the middle runs through the entire area. There will be a pair of dirty The red and green colors are so bright that you can hardly see the original color. At the foot of both sides of the aisle, there are countless densely packed cages.

Lu Twelve did not hurry up to the special passageway for cleaning personnel, but turned around and approached the phantom beast cage closest to the door—at this moment, what was locked inside was a skinny beast with only a handful left When Lu Twelve walked in, it was curled up in a ball on a pile of haystacks in the corner of the cage. The haystacks were already wet. I don't know if it was the last time. The water from the rinse was still wet, or it was its own feces at all.

This phantom beast has become dull to a certain extent, even when Lu Twelve stood firmly in front of its cage, it still buried its head in its front legs... as if it had died.

On the dirty cage in front of him, there are spots of rust and red and black stains that make it hard to imagine what it is... Lu Twelve's chest felt tight, and his frowning brows couldn't relax when he saw this scene. Open, almost frowning so tightly that his temples throbbed with pain... But at this moment, Fa Cai, who had been quietly in his arms all this time, let out a low cry, and the phantom beast seemed to have heard it. Like a cry, he suddenly moved, and then raised his head.

This phantom looks like a fox with a metalized ear.

When it slowly raised its head, Lu Twelve found that both of its eyes were blind, as if it had been injured by something like a sharp claw, and the wounds on the eyes had not been treated, when it limped When the ground groped with three legs and approached Lu Twelve and them, Lu Twelve could almost smell the stench coming from its eye wound.

I saw this phantom beast slowly leaning towards the edge of the cage, whimpering softly. It stood firmly at the position separated from Lu Shier by the railing, raised its head, and pointed its dirty face at It walked in the direction of the black-haired young man, sniffed it, and let out another low, long whimper... Then, it seemed to be a little disappointed, lowered its head, turned around, and limped again under Lu Twelve's gaze. Abducted back to the corner of the cage, lay down, and resumed the original movement.

I don’t know why, but Lu Twelve just knew that the one just now was actually a phantom beast because his eyes were blind, so he could only tell who was standing in front of the cage by his sense of smell——when he found out that the person standing outside the cage was a stranger When it was human, it left with its head down in disappointment.

——This phantom beast, which has obviously lost its ability to fight, is still waiting for its owner to come back to pick it up.

—Maybe it doesn't know that it has been abandoned.

--perhaps……

At this moment, the black-haired young man standing in front of the cage only felt that his throat was tight, his whole heart seemed to be squeezed into a ball by one hand, and even breathing became difficult—he suddenly regretted coming Coming to this cage, out of curiosity, he inadvertently gave a dying hope of life, and then smashed it to pieces.

"..."

Lu Twelve decided that no matter how bad things Fa Cai did in the future, he would not threaten it with "throwing you into the recycling bin".

Even if it was a joke, he would never say a word again.