Bologue is a person burdened with worries; long before, he was troubled by the mystery of his identity as a debtor. Now, after meeting the astronaut and knowing his identity as a Chosen One, Bologue's thoughts have become even heavier.

Whenever he has free time, Bologue likes to daze alone, thinking about these exhausting things. Actually, Bologue understands that his overthinking solves nothing and only causes him considerable torment.

But Bologue just can't control his thinking, like some kind of quirk, picking at scabs repetitively after a wound heals, making it bleed non-stop.

Bologue keeps pondering over everything, as if by facing the pressure, he could adapt to it all, and when the disaster truly arrives, he could confront it calmly.

Blogue's overthinking results in a dazed expression outwardly, and depending on the outcomes of his thoughts, he occasionally shows a smile or a fierce look.

Palmer is quite touched by this; on lazy holidays, the two of them snuggle on the couch languidly, with Palmer immersing in the beauty of a book, only to hear Bologue suddenly let out a foolish laugh beside him, wearing that peculiar expression...

Palmer has reminded Bologique about this more than a few times, but Bologique just can't change this habit; Bologue thinks maybe he and Belphegor share some similarities, often indulging in self-fantasies and consequently forgetting the world's existence.

Bologue said, "That's nice, this way it can save a lot of social words."

If his eyes could also signal a "standby mode," he wouldn't have to waste so many words explaining to others that he is just dazing off, not plotting some evil massacre plan.

"Yes! That way, when working, a single look would make the other party understand what I am going to do."

Aimou gave Bologue a thumbs up; this was Aimou's original intent for her upgrades.

For a long time, Aimou was a cold Alchemy Puppet. Due to technological limitations, she couldn't express as many complex emotions through facial expressions like humans, so she shifted her focus to her eyes.

Now, Aimou possesses flesh and blood and has acquired complex expressions, yet she still loves conveying emotions through her eyes and hasn't given up on improving that aspect.

Bologue smiled and nodded; his discussion with Aimou helped quiet his restless thoughts a bit.

He had been through too much in the past few days, leaving him utterly exhausted, and he needed some relief.

"Um..."

Aimou seemed to have something to say to him.

"Bologue, do you have time after work?"

"Hmm..." Bologue thought for a moment and joked, "If there are no unexpected visitors, I should have some time."

Aimou invited, "Then would you like to go to the cinema?"

Cinema.

Bologue's expression trembled slightly, a detail that didn't escape Aimou's eyes, "You don't really want to go, do you?"

"No, it's not that, just..."

Bologue's expression was bitter. To the outside world, only a few minutes had passed, but in that peculiar cinema of Belphegor's, Bologue had been pressed by the Devil to watch movies for over a dozen hours.

Even the most avid enthusiasts wouldn't have a desire to watch films again in the short term after experiencing all that.

Those with slightly weaker willpower might even consider it a nightmare, vomiting uncontrollably at the sight of a movie from then on.

"Alright, see you tonight then."

Bologue ultimately agreed to it.

From Bologue's perspective, Aimou was still just a kid. Kids need friends and play.

Thinking about it this way, Bologue felt a bit sad. Aimou had grown up in a distorted environment, and now that she's escaped the nightmare, she's no longer a cold machine but a living, breathing being. Besides work, she also needs social interaction and leisure.

Clearly, Aimou didn't have many friends, only limited to Bologue and the others, but they were all busy and had little time to accompany Aimou.

A thought rose in Bologue's mind.

Bologue couldn't bring himself to refuse Aimou's invitation, so he continued, "Besides going to the cinema, do you need anything else?"

Aimou's eyes widened in surprise, "Anything else? Like what?"

"Perhaps to a dessert shop? My treat," Bologue said, "My financial situation is excellent right now."

Compared with other field staff, Bologue's working hours were not long, but his work record was impressively good, each life-and-death action yielding him a big bonus.

"A normal field staffer, after going through your events, could start considering retirement already."

That's how Geoffrey appraised Bologue, and Bologue took it as Geoffrey's praise for him.

Aimou asked, "Oh? Just... a dessert shop?"

"Is there anywhere else you want to go?" Bologue thought deeply for a moment, "I can't think of another place."

Bologue had hobbies... but not many.

The halo in Aimou's eyes transformed into a rolling jumble of characters, she sighed helplessly but still smiled.

"Okay, see you tonight."

...

Bologue waited for a long time in the activity room. Near afternoon, Lebius finally returned to the office; Bologue didn't wake Palmer and instead went to find Lebius alone.

Lebius looked exhausted, and no one knew what he had been doing all morning. After returning to the office, this workaholic didn't immediately peruse Bologue's action report but opened a drawer to take a few pills.

"Don't worry, just for alertness,"

Noticing Bologue's gaze, Lebius explained.

Lebius didn't pay much attention to Bologue's report currently; his mind was full of the tenth group matter and Gold's "Primordial Thing".

This transaction item called the Primordial Thing seemed extremely important to Gold; for it, this stubborn, rigid guy would disrupt his plans, opting to escort the transaction item with the entire group and quickly return to the Order Bureau.

Unexpectedly, the tenth group still suffered injuries and even lost contact, disappearing within the Narrow Countries, despite having Defender Gold present.

The Narrow Countries lie outside the Order Bureau's control range, a chaotic area with frequent conflicts among multiple forces. Despite the incident having occurred for so long, the Order Bureau hasn't been able to obtain much information, not even identifying the attackers.

The only available intel comes from the tenth group members who traversed by Curved Path Shuttling, yet their reports are also extremely vague, like Mallory mentioning one before fainting.

"They were like a bunch of utter lunatics, the more mortally wounded, the more astonishing their power."

Mallory didn't engage with the enemy for long, only a few rounds, but as a battle-hardened field staffer, he sharply noticed this trait.

Lebius furiously rubbed his temples, the more injured, the stronger the combat ability—such examples are common, many forms of Secret Energy can result in similar effects, it only requires slow database comparison and analysis.

But following Lebius's intuition, this incident must be related to the Devil, with the crux lying in the Primordial Thing.

This item was a trade between the Gray Trade Association and the Scarlet Decay Sect, but the problem was, who among them was the buyer and who was the seller?

Listing over Bologue's report briefly, the records detailed every piece of information Bologue obtained while fighting Ferguson.

A casual glance, and Lebius' eyes halted, he grabbed Bologue's report tight, reading it with careful scrutiny.

Bologue was a diligent person, unlike Palmer's extremely perfunctory reports; Bologue's were substantial, sometimes even with added time nodes when necessary.

If Lebius were a director, he could even use Bologue's report as a blueprint to film the entire event process.

"The Devil's Protection... Bliss of Transgression."

Lebius recited the words on the report in a low voice; according to Bologue's description of the nature of the protection on Ferguson, it matched entirely with Mallory's description.

"They call themselves the Zongge Orchestra?"

Lebius's gaze cut like a knife on Bologue; thinking it was a problem with his report, Bologue nodded and returned the question.

"Hmm, what's the matter?"

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