"Hawk, check the data."
"One hundred and eight."
"Hawk, I need to make a trip to the SL Laboratory. Help me put away the documents on my desk."
"No problem."
"Haw..."
Today marked Hawk's twentieth day as a summer worker at Osborn Bio-Industry.
But he still hadn't found an opportunity to visit Dr. Connors's laboratory.
Over the past twenty days, forget visiting Dr. Connors's laboratory—he hadn't even stepped out of the Bio-Electrical Engineering Department's front doors.
From the moment work began until the moment it ended, he was either helping someone check data or on his way to help someone check data.
Or, like now, helping someone tidy up the documents on their desk.
Hawk watched the engineer get up and hurry away, then walked over to the engineer's desk.
Although he had spent twenty days at Osborn without finding a chance to visit Dr. Connors's laboratory, he wasn't in a rush.
For one thing, good things came to those who waited.
For another...
This place might have been busy, but the pay was genuinely good.
Eight hundred dollars a week, plus an all-you-can-eat buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the cafeteria on the eighteenth floor.
Hawk might have considered robbing a bank last month, but he hadn't actually gone through with it.
Most importantly—
A bottom line might be meant to be broken, but before Hawk broke his, he still wanted to avoid crossing it ahead of time if he could.
Because he was afraid.
Hawk didn't know what he would eventually become after breaking that bottom line.
As everyone knew—
Transmigrators were creatures with particularly flexible moral boundaries, and they carried an ingrained indifference toward everything and everyone.
Hawk was no exception.
That was why he never socialized. Sometimes, when he looked at other people, he felt as though he were looking at NPCs.
How should he put it? It was like everyone else was drunk while he alone remained sober.
The reason he was still willing to follow the rules after awakening his Cosmo was actually very simple.
The education he had received in his previous life told him to be a person. No one expected him to be a good person, but he shouldn't become an evil one.
That was why Hawk still lived rather poorly after awakening his Cosmo.
If it had been any other transmigrator, they probably would have awakened their Cosmo on the first day and declared to the world on the second, "Those who submit to me shall prosper; those who oppose me shall perish!"
Of course—
The most important reason might have been that he was kind!
Unfortunately...
Hawk felt that no matter how unwilling he was to break this bottom line, he would have to do so before long.
But no matter what, before that happened, he was still willing to abide by it.
Having worked for ten days already, Hawk had become familiar with the Bio-Electrical Engineering Department's rhythm. He swiftly organized the scattered documents on the engineer's desk, then carried them to the filing cabinet and put them away in proper order.
Just then, the office telephone rang.
"Haw..."
"I'll get it."
Hawk answered before anyone else could, walking over and picking up the receiver. "Electrical Engineering Department."
"Huh, Hawk?" A familiar voice came from the other end of the line.
Hawk raised a brow. "Gwen?"
Ever since Gwen had brought him to the Bio-Electrical Engineering Department to report in ten days ago, he hadn't seen her again.
After all, he was busy.
Gwen was even busier.
Even though Hawk was in the Bio-Electrical Engineering Department, he had heard that Dr. Connors had been conducting experiments like a madman these past few days.
He wasn't ordering lab mice by the individual anymore. He was ordering them by the crate.
Exaggerated.
Gwen hummed in acknowledgment from the other end of the line.
"It's me. By the way, our lab's voltage just became unstable. Dr. Connors asked you to send someone over to take a look."
"Okay, right away."
Hawk hung up and reported the matter to the department supervisor.
The fifty-year-old supervisor was completely bald and carried himself like a man without a single desire left in life. He looked around the empty office. "Every lab has been reporting unstable voltage today. It's probably the resistors again. We only replaced them yesterday... Forget it. You there, take Hawk and go to Dr. Connors's laboratory. Help them replace the resistor with a new one."
Following the supervisor's gaze, Hawk looked at the future Electro standing not far away—a man with a guileless expression, dark skin, and the unmistakable look of an honest worker.
Yes.
An honest worker.
Max Dillon really was an honest worker. He didn't have the sly, lazy manner of other dark-skinned people at all.
Hawk had seen it clearly over the past twenty days. If the Bio-Electrical Engineering Department had an award for hardest worker, Max Dillon would deserve it without question.
If Max Dillon had possessed even a little political sense, he wouldn't have kept mindlessly working until his own supervisor couldn't even remember his name.
But Max himself didn't seem to care. Maybe he had already gotten used to being called "you there," so after hearing the supervisor's order, he merely nodded and turned to the warehouse to fetch the parts.
A little while later—
Hawk stood at the entrance to the Bio-Electrical Engineering Department waiting for the honest Max. When he saw him approaching, Hawk said, "Mr. Dillon."
Max's body jolted violently, and his pupils seemed to contract at that instant.
His voice trembled slightly as he looked at Hawk. "You... know my name?"
Hawk smiled. "Of course, Mr. Dillon."
He had no intention of interacting too much with the future Electro, but that didn't mean he was unwilling to build a little goodwill with the current Max.
Be kind to others, be kind to yourself.
With that thought in mind, Hawk looked at Max, whose eyes seemed to be welling with tears, and said, "Mr. Dillon, let's go. Dr. Connors's laboratory just called again to hurry us along."
Max came back to his senses and nodded repeatedly. "Right, right. Let's go."
Hawk chuckled inwardly and followed Max toward the elevator lobby not far away.
He could finally visit Dr. Connors's laboratory.
After following Max into the elevator, Hawk looked at the display showing that it was going up and felt somewhat emotional.
Over the past twenty days, he had thought more than once about how to get into Dr. Connors's laboratory.
Yet he hadn't succeeded even once.
After all, this wasn't like going to a market to buy groceries.
Did anyone really think they could just walk into a laboratory that Osborn Bio-Industry had invested heavily in, hoping it would develop Regeneration Technology and monopolize the market in the future?
Later, once he calmed down and decided to let nature take its course, this opportunity to visit Dr. Connors's laboratory just fell into his lap.
Sure enough.
Mindset was important. No matter what you did, you couldn't rush it.
Hawk silently reminded himself of this, completing his daily task of self-reflection.
Very soon—
The elevator doors opened.
"Hawk." Gwen, who had already been waiting in the elevator lobby, brightened the moment she saw Hawk emerge. She hurried forward. "Why did you take so long? Dr. Connors is already losing his temper."
Hawk had just been about to speak.
But Gwen had already grabbed him and urgently dragged him toward the laboratory.
Hawk was stunned.
But at the same time, he looked toward the laboratory in the distance.
His heart stirred involuntarily!
Before you continue