Epoch of Twilight

"Based on your rank, you’re entitled to two assistants. One for general administration and one for your personal affairs," Chen Xinjie said seriously.

"I think I’m good." Luo Yuan felt helpless. He found this completely unnecessary.

"Vice Captain, you probably haven’t gotten familiar with our department yet. We might not look busy, but there are several trivial matters that need to be attended to. For example, weapon customization and model manufacturing. We have to contact the respective departments. Besides that, there are also many documents and information that need to be collected and managed. All your personal chores, such as laundry and meal preparation, can be done by the assistants."

Although Chen Xinjie had said it indirectly, she actually had no confidence in the administrative capabilities of a violent super evolved human. It was true that most evolved humans were not well-educated, and they might not be able to handle that kind of work. In the end, Luo Yuan compromised and said, "Fine, but I don’t need an assistant for my personal affairs."

He could not imagine what would happen if he brought an assistant back to his house.

Chen Xinjie did not try to persuade him. She just left a stack of documents on his desk and said, "That’s up to you. These are the resumes of the assistants so you can select one. They can report directly to you, anytime."

There were at least 10 sheets of resumes. Luo Yuan lifted his hand and flipped through them. Most of them looked presentable and had graduated with a bachelor degree.

Luo Yuan read fast. He finished reading in less than one minute thanks to his amazing memory. Then he picked one and told Chen Yujie, "This one."

"Ah!" Shocked, Chen Xinjie looked at Luo Yuan. She’d thought Luo Yuan would pick a pretty one, but the girl he had selected did not look pretty at all. However, she was above average in terms of performance.

"Is there a problem?"

"No, of course not. Should I ask her to come over now?" Chen Xinjie said quickly.

"Sure!"

Luo Yuan leaned back on the chair, closing his eyes to rest. After a while, Chen Xinjie brought the girl over. He opened his eyes and realized the girl was prettier than she looked in her photo. She looked gentle and shy, but she seemed nervous and agitated.

She felt uneasy as she stood to the side, her eyes fixed on the floor. Luo Yuan smiled and said, "Relax, have a seat. Don’t be nervous. Director Chen, could you please help us prepare some tea?"

"Oh, no! No, let me do this!" the girl said in panic.

"Nah, it’s just a cup of tea, I’ll do it. Take a seat, the Vice Captain wants to talk to you." Chen Xinjie smiled and pulled the girl back to a seat. Then she walked out of the room and closed the door.

Sun Yuting grew more nervous when she saw the door close. She was pinching her shirt, not knowing where to hide her hands. She had heard some rumors before, but she also knew that this was a good opportunity. She had to grab it.

The staff from the back end were all working under the Weapon Department. They all looked great, but their employee benefits were worse than the lowest rank of government servants. However, once she became the secretary of the Vice Captain, her life would change. Her mother would not need to work in the factory anymore, or might be able to get a better position.

She was getting more nervous as she thought about it. Her body started shaking.

"Are you from Donghu City?" Luo Yuan asked with a smile.

"Yes," Sun Yuting replied quickly. She realized her answer had been inappropriate, so she tried again, "I’m from Donghu city, Jiangnan Province."

"Donghu University, 2010 graduate?" Luo Yuan asked.

"Yes, sir!" Sun Yuting answered hesitantly. She was curious about why he had asked that question. It was written on her resume after all.

"Alright, you’ll be my secretary from now on. You know the job description, right?"

"Yes, I think so," Sun Yung said. Then she seemed to realize something and said, "I passed the interview?"

She looked really excited and happy as she saw Luo Yuan nod with a smile. She almost cried.

"Go back and get prepared. You can come to work tomorrow. Is there a problem?" Luo Yuan said.

"No, no problem," Sun Yuting said before leaving the room.

Luo Yuan smiled. The reason he had selected Sun Yuting as his secretary was because both of them were from the same town and had graduated from the same university. Jiangnan Province was located on the coast, so it was probably sinking as they spoke. Donghu City had also sunk.

There had to be less than 1,000,000 survivors from the Jiangnan Province who had migrated to the rehabilitation base. Perhaps, the residents of Donghu City who were still alive were less than 100,000. Luo Yuan sighed as he thought about it.

Right after Sun Yuting left, Chen Xinjie entered the room with tea. "She’s gone?"

She put down the tea in front of Luo Yuan and asked, "What did you think of her?"

Luo Yuan believed that she was acting. He did not think Chen Xinjie had not seen Sun Yuting leave the room. All government officials seemed to be social experts. He did not take it seriously though.

"She was good."

"I’m glad you’re satisfied. Although her past performance has not been that good, she’s very detail-oriented and serious about her work. She’s also quite mature and reliable compared to others. Oh right! This is an information terminal and an anti-magnetic satellite phone."

Luo Yuan opened the envelope she gave him and took everything out. He had seen an information terminal before. It looked similar to a pre-apocalypse wrist watch.

He lifted the anti-magnetic satellite phone and realized it was bigger and heavier than a normal cell phone. There was a metal Faraday’s cage [1] on its surface.

"This is the key for your room. Let me know when you’re free to check it out."

"It’s not urgent," Luo Yuan said. "Could you tell me about the two badges I received today?"

Based on what had happened that afternoon, there had to be something wrong with those badges. They did not seem like normal badges at all.

"Oh, you didn’t know about that?" Chen Xinjie sounded surprised.

"This is just my second day in this department. No one informed me."

"I’m sorry, it’s my fault. We have an internal website. Would you mind switching on your computer so I can help you insert the address?" Chen Xinjie said sincerely.

Luo Yuan nodded and switched on his computer. The computer was also anti-magnetic, but it was not as nice as the satellite phone. There was a layer of wires on the screen, which was quite annoying.

Chen Xinjie bent down and leaned against Luo Yuan’s back. He had no idea whether she was rubbing her boobs on his back intentionally as she typed in the website address. Luo Yuan felt uncomfortable, but she luckily got up very fast. He was relieved.

"Now you need to insert your military ID and provide a password. Do remember to change your password. Anyway, it’s fine even if you don’t. No one dares to login secretly," Chen Xinjie said with a smile.

Luo Yuan remained silent. He opened his military certificate and memorized the 10-plus-digit ID. Then he typed it in and clicked ‘login’. The website looked very simple. It must have cost CNY 500 before the end of the world.

It was an e-commerce website, but there were not many items for sale on the platform. Luo Yuan realized there were only a few pages of items, and most of them were from a seller called S17173. After asking Chen Yujie, he found out that this was the official username of the rehabilitation base. Other than the official username, there were also a few other usernames. Compared to the rehabilitation base, which owned all nuclear weapons, the power of evolved humans was relatively weak.

However, although the website was simple, the items sold on the platform were not. Luo Yuan had not even seen most them in his life.

He looked at the items, sorting them from the cheapest to the most expensive. The more he saw, the faster his breathing became.

Most of the sellers had to be super evolved humans, as most of the items were weapons. The best one was a giant sword made of level eight mutated creature finger bones. The giant sword was glowing blue in the picture.

Level eight mutated creatures were beyond green level mutated beasts. Luo Yuan could not even imagine the power of that kind of creature, and he had no idea how they could be killed. Perhaps only a nuclear bomb could kill them.

The second most powerful weapon was a long red spear made of level eight mutated creature ribs.

...

Luo Yuan checked them out one by one. The first five items were all made of level eight mutated creatures. The sixth one was made of level seven mutated creature, and its price was less than 1/10 of the price of the fifth item.

Luo Yuan discovered that the ninth item was made of level eight mutated creature too. It was a semi-transparent crystal made of the heart of a level eight mutated creature. However, there was no explanation as to its function.

Luo Yuan looked at it for a long time and got his answer.

Translator Note:

1 A Faraday’s cage is a grounded metal screen that surrounds a piece of equipment and keeps out any electrostatic and electromagnetic influences.