So Grown Up, and Still Shy?

Roxxon Oil Company?

Sean took the business card and looked over the fat middle-aged man and the pretty secretary again.

Roxxon Oil Company was no small deal. It felt like half the gas stations in the United States belonged to Roxxon. When he had gone to Xavier's with Polaris before, he had seen plenty of Roxxon gas stations along the way.

"Mr..."

Sean glanced at the business card again.

"Mr. Smith, how did you hear about my clinic?"

Sean asked cautiously.

"I heard about it from a friend. I happened to have some health issues, so I thought I'd come give it a try."

Smith was vague, but Sean had not expected to get anything useful out of him anyway.

As far as Sean was concerned, as long as there was money to be made, that was enough.

"Oh, take care."

Smith froze at those words. Was this guy a dog? Changing his attitude the instant he turned his face?

"Perhaps we'll have a chance to work together in the future."

"Of course. Whether it's high blood pressure or coronary heart disease, I can treat it."

"Heh-heh."

Smith's expression darkened. Fat people were prone to those diseases, weren't they?

The four of them left.

The blonde beauty of a secretary lingered in Sean's mind for a moment.

"Tch, what a waste on that guy."

"Not necessarily."

Ava crossed her arms, seeming to imply something. Sean did not think much of it and casually glanced at the area made even more prominent by her folded arms.

How did this she-devil even develop a figure like that?

When Ava Ellis noticed Sean's gaze, she immediately thrust out her chest.

It startled Sean. It felt like they had suddenly gotten bigger, like balloons about to burst.

He shot Ava a glare for acting up, then turned and went into the office.

Ava deflated at once, her entire body seeming slack and listless.

"Dr. Ava, I need a desk."

Linda Carter did not care about Ava's mood at all and said it directly.

"Why me?"

"Dr. White said I'm not allowed to leave."

Linda looked a little aggrieved. Why did going to work feel like being locked in prison?

"He said you can't leave, so you just won't leave?"

Ava continued in a feeble tone.

Linda put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes, saying dangerously, "You can try disobeying Dr. White. Do you dare?"

"No."

Ava immediately backed down. She could encourage Linda to disobey Sean, but she would never do it herself. The last time she had tried, she had not dared sit down for several days.

"Then go buy a desk. If it's delivered, it won't arrive until tomorrow. The wall needs to be repaired too, and the construction company I contacted can't come until tomorrow either."

"You're useless! Watch me."

Ava rolled her eyes at Linda, took out her phone, and began dialing.

"Send me an office desk. The kind used in hospitals... Of course I want the best!... Fine, hurry up!"

Ava hung up after saying that.

Linda asked curiously, "Who did you call?"

Ava rolled her eyes and ignored Linda. With a toss of her head, she went upstairs.

Less than half an hour later, two sinister-looking men carried a desk into the clinic.

They looked around, then placed the desk where it was supposed to go.

They did not say a single word from beginning to end. By the time they left, Linda had only just come back to her senses, but their backs were already nowhere to be seen.

As for the hole in the wall, it could only wait for the construction company to deal with it.

Only then did the clinic finally quiet down, with nothing but the soft rustling of Linda tidying up odds and ends.

As the sun set, Manhattan finally revealed its enchanting side—

Colorful neon lights and gun muzzles lurking in the dark.

Off work!

Sleep!

Didn't even feel like eating dinner!

"You're not doing the night shift today?"

Linda asked in confusion.

"What night shift? I'm sleeping at the clinic tonight!"

"Ah... ah..."

Linda's little mouth opened and closed, producing two syllables in different tones. Even she did not know what she wanted to say.

Sean went upstairs and saw Yuriko sitting in the second-floor living room, whittling a piece of wood. It looked like one of the wooden legs from Linda's desk.

He walked over, stood beside Yuriko, and watched carefully.

This was the first time he had examined Yuriko's nails this closely.

They were different from what he had imagined. They were not cone-shaped claws sharp only at the tips, but bladed claws like a cat's.

Sean could imagine what it would be like to be scratched by claws like those... It would definitely be horrific.

"What are you carving?"

"I don't know."

Yuriko's answer stirred a trace of pity in Sean. What a pitiful woman. After Stryker controlled her with some kind of secretion from Mastermind, he had sold her to Sean.

Then the Black Ledger had solidified that control...

Poor Yuriko Oyama did not even have a sense of self.

...What a pity.

Let her have some peace and quiet here.

Time to wash up and sleep.

Sean turned around and left directly.

He picked a room at random, stripped off his clothes, and lay down. The bed still smelled fragrant, rather nice.

He closed his eyes...

One minute...

Five minutes...

Thirty minutes...

Sean opened his eyes again.

Infinite stamina was fucking awful. Sleeping was this hard every time!

That drowsy feeling in Mary Walker's car that day had been utterly irresistible...

Huh? Something's not right. Why did I feel sleepy?

Don't I always have to force myself to sleep before I can fall asleep?

Sean frowned and began retracing what had happened then.

It was most likely Typhoid Mary's ability!

But he could even resist the Professor's psychic powers. How had Typhoid Mary managed it?

In theory, psychic power should not affect him at all. Then it must have been some ability that acted on the body, or perhaps the brain itself?

Unfortunately, the Black Ledger could only view Mary Walker's status. It could not see Typhoid Mary's abilities.

Since he could not sleep anyway, Sean began pondering how an alternate personality like this could possess a unique ability. It simply made no sense.

Why could an alternate personality have abilities different from the main personality?

There was no way he could figure that out anytime soon.

But he was not sleepy, so maybe if he thought about it all night, he might figure it out.

"Creak—"

The bedroom door opened. Soft footsteps sounded, and then Sean saw Linda Carter walk in while drying her hair.

Their eyes met, and both of them were awkward.

This was Linda's room. No wonder the bed smelled so nice. If it had been that she-devil's... Well, it would not have smelled bad anyway, or Sean would have kicked her out long ago.

"Dr. White... Um... um..."

Stop umming like an idiot. Sean grumbled inwardly, then rolled over and got up. He could not sleep anyway. It was just changing beds, so he would go find the she-devil!

As he walked out, he pinched Linda's cheek. "You're all grown up. What are you being shy about?"

Linda froze at Sean's words, her face turning red at once. She glared at Sean's retreating back with her long, narrow eyes, then hurriedly shut the door and went inside to be embarrassed in private.

Wait... Am I really going to sleep with that she-devil?

Sean's head started to ache.

Ava Ellis: Finally, I have a chance! (〃)

This is all the word count I can manage~

No recommendations next week~ This is Old Tree's first time running into something like this. Feeling a little lost~

As usual~ Please vote~