A Conscientious and Responsible Colleague

As soon as the half hour was up, Thor took his leave without being asked.

Watching Thor walk away, Mark looked a little dazed.

"Why are you so confident in that brat?"

His palm split open again. A tongue flickered into view, but the voice that came out sounded human.

"Wasn't it the mentor who gave him a chance? Besides, I want to see how far he can go. I've never seen a Level 1 Apprentice manage Wizard Body Modification."

The palm made a swallowing sound.

Thor had no idea someone—or something—was already craving his body. All he knew was that the knowledge he'd gotten from Mark had been well worth his two credits.

Hesitate? Be afraid?

Ha.

Not a chance.

Thor couldn't wait to head to the Corpse Room and test the ideas flooding into his mind.

He hurried downstairs, and suddenly a hooded woman brushed past him.

That beautiful jawline and those sexy red lips were so familiar.

Even after more than twenty days without seeing her, Thor felt no distance between them.

He slowed to a stop and looked back.

Kongsha didn't pause. Her figure disappeared around a bend in the Ramp.

As they passed each other, she'd held up one finger.

Thor stood there for a long time. By the time he set off again, his mood had changed.

He wasn't surprised that Kongsha had hinted he should go find her.

Ever since he'd refused her request, he'd known she would come back.

After going to such lengths to get Thor placed under Kazi, Kongsha wasn't going to give up easily.

Nearly a month had passed, and Thor still hadn't given in and gone to see her first.

Today, though, Kongsha had been the one who couldn't wait.

Thor strolled slowly downstairs. Even when he passed people he knew, he didn't stop to greet them.

He entered the third Corpse Room on the second floor of the East Tower and gently shut the door.

"Phew—"

At last, he could relax a little.

"I was too tough last time. I should be gentler tonight." Thor thought about how to handle the meeting with Kongsha. "Senior Sister Kongsha probably thinks I'm a greedy, arrogant bastard. Tonight she'll either threaten me with my life or raise the stakes to lure me in. I hope it's the latter."

No matter how Kongsha planned to pressure him, Thor would agree tonight.

If Sid was still alive, he should be back soon. Thor needed someone powerful in his corner.

His outright refusal last time had mostly been a way of negotiating from a position of strength.

He didn't want Kongsha to keep treating him like expendable cannon fodder.

Thor put away the books on the long table.

He'd planned to start preparing for Wizard Body Modification today, but Kongsha's sudden appearance had thrown him off.

Though he intended to make use of Kongsha, deep down... he was still afraid of her.

In this state, his experiment was almost certain to fail.

Better to read...

"Click!"

The Candle Lamp on the Teleportation Platform lit up.

A guest had arrived.

Thor walked over and deftly pulled down the lever.

The conveyor belt began to turn, and a guest emerged from behind the black fringe.

"This person... is so clean."

Clean was Thor's first impression of the corpse.

The man looked peaceful, his eyes half-closed, his hands resting naturally at his sides. The black leather cover from the lid lay over him like a blanket, draped neatly across his chest.

Thor pulled back the black leather, only to find that the man didn't have a single wound.

"Huh? How did he die?"

He gently turned the man onto his back. There weren't any wounds there, either. That was even stranger. The Apprentices responsible for the first two stages should have examined him already.

How had they left no signs of their examination? Had they decided the corpse was completely worthless?

Thor turned the man back over and entered a semi-immersed meditative state, examining the guest from head to toe to see if he could find anything.

But even in meditation, he couldn't spot any of the familiar glimmers. The whole corpse looked blurry, as though it were surrounded by a layer of holy light.

"I really can't find anything. Why would they send a corpse like this to the Corpse Room?"

Thor straightened up and turned around, puzzled.

"Whoa!"

He jumped backward in fright.

The corpse had opened its eyes and turned its head to watch him, its expression peaceful.

It wasn't unusual for a corpse to open its eyes in the middle of an examination.

Thor had just been distracted by his thoughts, so the sudden sight had startled him.

Once he'd recovered, Thor stepped forward out of habit and tried to close the guest's eyes with his hand.

"Close your eyes. In this Wizard Tower, the dead aren't the only ones without rights. The living don't have any, either."

But as soon as he closed the guest's eyes, they stubbornly opened again.

"Fine. If you like it that way, I can't help you." Thor wasn't about to argue with a dead man. He picked up a piece of cloth to cover the man's head.

"Could you not cover my eyes? I want to watch myself die." Just then, the corpse suddenly spoke.

Well, Thor had seen corpses that could talk, but never one that spoke so coherently.

"You're not dead?"

No heartbeat, no breathing. The man should have been completely dead.

Could Wizards use some sort of suspended-animation technique to fake their deaths?

The guest on the conveyor belt wore a gentle expression and smiled at Thor, like a kind elder watching a mischievous child.

"This place is dangerous, child. What you think is good may not be good, and what you think is bad may not be bad. Someone you think is alive might already be dead, and someone you think is dead might still be alive. Me? I'm dead, and I'm not. So please, don't damage my body, all right?"

Thor sensed something was wrong. There was definitely something off about this corpse!

He reached into his pocket and pressed a hand against a small paper packet.

"This guy's a little strange. Maybe I should just toss him into the big box with the other corpses."

With that thought, Thor stepped forward to move the corpse.

But the Hardcover Book, silent for quite some time, suddenly fluttered over to him.

Shuoyue Calendar 314, June 24,

Today, while handling a corpse, you met a kindred spirit.

You talked about life together, and you couldn't bear to hurt him in the slightest.

You carefully placed his body in the box with the other corpses.

You never expected the box to be so comfortable to lie in.

You happily closed your eyes.

Thor abruptly looked up. The corpse on the conveyor belt was still smiling at him.

Thor's expression darkened. He felt around on the tool table behind him, then picked out a tool he'd never used before.

A Bone Cleaver.

He slowly walked toward today's guest, holding the cleaver.

"Um, what are you doing?" The guest's smile twisted. His eyes fixed on the blade, and his neck, hands, and feet began to twitch as if cramped, as though he might leap up at any moment.

Thor pulled the packet from his pocket, crushed it, and sprinkled its contents over the corpse.

The white crystals shattered on contact and broke down into an even finer powder.

At the same time, the corpse seemed to be pinned down by some force and stopped twitching.

The guest's tone immediately softened.

"Could you please not hurt me? I only look frightening. Things aren't the way you think! I'm not actually dead! I can still come back to life! Don't—"

"Thud!"

The Hardcover Book... obediently flew back to his left shoulder.

Thor's expression grim, he raised the cleaver again.

Once he'd finished, Thor straightened up and panted.

It was a good thing both his arms had been strengthened. Otherwise, a twelve-year-old boy wouldn't have been able to handle such heavy work.

"Though I don't know where the corpses that pass through the Corpse Room end up, I've never liked making extra work for my colleagues. They should be satisfied with what you've become, right?"

Thanks to Ah-Woo Ah-Woo Ao-Woo for the generous tip, and to all the readers for your kind words and monthly votes. Xiaojin will keep working hard! I'm full of energy today, so I'm off to write the next chapter.