Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 632 - 534: The Highly Poisonous Sorcerer

Chapter 632: Chapter 534: The Highly Poisonous Sorcerer

Rinne returned to her usual job: being Xu Yang’s assistant.

After hearing about Rinne’s condition, Xu Yang believed completely in her potential to make a full recovery, so he took extra care of her, refusing to allow her to engage in any dangerous work, and had her handle paperwork and provide advice instead.

For Rinne, anything she was not allowed to do became her target of interest.

So she snuck back into playing "Phantom Wild," particularly choosing the same racetrack map that triggered her cybernetic mental illness last time.

At first, there were still phantoms and eerie movements in the co-driver’s seat, with voices calling for death and explosive illusions vaguely appearing, which were terrifying and all extracted from Rinne’s most horrifying memories.

Rinne tirelessly ran lap after lap, ignoring the strange yells and illusions as if they didn’t exist, until she managed to drive all the strange voices and figures away, leaving only her enjoyment of the game itself.

Rinne’s spirit was so brilliant and strong that almost everyone in the company was influenced by her light and swift attitude.

A few days later, she went with Xu Yang to work at the company. Xu Yang walked at a leisurely pace while Rinne always walked ahead, opening doors in advance, stamping her feet in place waiting for Xu Yang to catch up, and then dashing off to the next room in the blink of an eye.

"We’re going to Xu Cheng’s room," Xu Yang sent her away.

With a nod, Rinne instantly ran to Little Fool’s room. Little Fool generally roamed around at night because she didn’t like to sleep alone, and if she had to sleep by herself, she would hide under a little mountain of milk carton boxes. But lately, she was no longer afraid of the dark since she had a companion.

When Rinne pushed the door open, she saw another girl sitting next to Xu Cheng, with Little Fool standing behind the girl, weaving her beautiful brown hair into braids.

As Rinne stood there looking at the pair of little girls, her gaze was drawn to them as if by a magnet, and she immediately stepped closer, reaching out her hands to stroke their hair.

"Quack?"

"Meow." They responded cheerfully and then looked at each other, exchanging glances.

Little Fool let go of the half-braided hair and took out a big, heavy box of golden cheese rings from the plastic table beside her, handed it to Rinne, and then pointed towards the door, indicating for Rinne to leave.

"What, you don’t like me?" Rinne asked, holding the cheese rings.

Little Fool pushed hard against Rinne’s knees, shoving her towards the outside, and Rinne felt a small but firm force propelling her, though small, it was very resolute.

She left the room reluctantly, and as Little Fool closed the door, Rinne saw the other little girl still staring at her just before the door shut completely.

Xu Yang was just reaching the corridor at that moment.

"Ah, that’s it." Xu Yang pointed at the golden cheese rings in Rinne’s hand, "That’s what we need, it’s time to go."

"So, we went to Xu Cheng’s room just to get cheese?"

"Yes, hold onto it tightly."

"What is it? And who was that girl?" Rinne handed the cheese rings to Xu Yang, who broke it in half and shared it with her, "Are we just going to eat it like this?"

"That’s Little Farosa, she made it especially for you to celebrate your recovery," Xu Yang ate his half of the delicious cheese ring, "She handcrafted it using a method from a thousand years ago."

"’Little Farosa’?" Rinne thought of Lady Farosa they worshipped, "So, where did the big Farosa go? And what kind of... goddess is that?"

"Using the term goddess to describe her is quite appropriate," Xu Yang gestured, "But even a powerful Farosa, before the earliest times, was the small figure you saw in the room."

"I really want to see her true form," Rinne said boldly.

"Cherish the present time," Xu Yang reminded, "Once Farosa finishes her current round of cultivation, we’ll be busy with her ingenious ideas and grand plans that need assistance. Let’s keep moving for now, we still have a lot to do today."

Rinne glanced at the schedule.

"Who is this ’Poison Master’?" Rinne saw the meeting topic.

"A little friend."

Rinne finished eating the cheese rings, feeling full for the entire day ahead. In the Nestor Headquarters’ reception room, she saw a very plump witch, with an exceedingly voluptuous figure and quite astonishing proportions, especially her heavy bosom tightly ensconced in a white lab coat, her jeans seeming ready to burst at the seams. She wore anti-glare protective goggles, earrings, a necklace, and gloves with a composite coating, looking as if she had come directly from the laboratory.

"Poison Master?" Rinne ventured to ask.

"That would be me." The Poison Master turned to look at Rinne, "Pardon me. And you are...?"

"My name is Rinne. This is Mr. Web Monitor," she opened the door and Xu Yang walked in.

"How have you been recently?" Xu Yang sat opposite the Poison Master, and from how Rinne listened, she could tell they had known each other beforehand, so she went to prepare tea for them.

Rinne felt strange about her mindset now; whenever she saw a witch, she wondered if they had a history with Mr. Web Monitor. She placed the cups and teapot filled with green tea between them.

"Not so good lately." The Poison Master picked up the tea, not to drink it, but to swirl the cup in her hands while talking about her recent troubles, "The affairs of the Self Help Society... can’t be maintained anymore, our funds are almost completely depleted, relying on donations from the heritage of new members."

"So it’s unsustainable? Too few new members?" Xu Yang speculated.

"Maintaining this costs more money than I imagined," the Poison Master explained. "What’s more important is that we couldn’t maintain balance and unity within the society. Especially in preventing violent incidents. You know, a bunch of people... with nothing to do are bound to fight. In the end, we were left with basically just thugs who would rob internally or look for women every day, and even those who wanted to live decently had to leave."

"So that’s what happened..."

"That’s what unsettles me the most," the Poison Master sighed. "I had never thought that the Self Help Society would end like this: people no longer feeling safe enough to go on with their lives, rapidly turning into a society of cliques and chaos, where violent gangs had secretly acquired guns and swords. Among them were no shortage of cyborgs with their own weapons, and after a couple of bloody nights, the Self Help Society was finished."

"With your power, you shouldn’t have gotten hurt," Xu Yang thought of the Poison Master’s deadly toxins.

"Of course not, actually, it happened after I left," the Poison Master nodded, sipping her tea but not refilling her cup, she moved the empty cup to her side to avoid harming others with the poison. "I felt that I couldn’t control people anymore, so I left early, abandoning the entire Self Help Society. But it seems you were mistrustful from the start."

"I won’t make judgments."

"Then I can only evaluate myself," the Poison Master sat in a plastic chair, "I believe... we have an inherent instinct to help each other. So whether it’s corporations or states, those constraints, laws, regulations, and frameworks set up with the attitude of ’it’s about time for some control’ go against our nature. We should return to the ideal state of mutual aid—the Self Help Society had its good days, the best days! Everyone showed virtue, as you have seen, in that old factory, in the jungles on the outskirts of Anjiu City. Everyone was free, not having to work or fear threats."

"Then why has it ended up falling apart today?" Xu Yang sized up the Poison Master.

"There are evil people among us," the Poison Master shifted her gaze outward, "These bad elements contaminated the whole model of mutual aid."

"How can we get rid of these bad people?"

"Some people... the bravest of the good ones need to come together and eliminate these evil people," the Poison Master’s voice grew increasingly vague.

"How do we distinguish between the good and the bad?" Xu Yang pressed on.

"Morality," the Poison Master said subconsciously.

"But everyone has a different definition of morality. How can you provide a paradigm that’s both fair and convincing?"

"Written laws," the Poison Master had to admit, "But laws are also there to preserve the will of a portion of the populace. The Self Help Society never had laws, and I think that was not bad either."

"No laws and no violence that can be called just, yet still aiming to deal with the bad people. Did the Self Help Society specifically change customs and teach people to comply with order and covenants?"

"No," the Poison Master sighed, "Let’s not talk about it anymore. Is Nestor Corporation still hiring?"

"The artificial intelligence in the information center will send you where you need to go," Xu Yang explained.

"Of course, that’s the first place I’d go to, but the terms it offered were too poor," the Poison Master frowned. "It doesn’t even recognize me as a toxicologist, although I haven’t earned a chemical engineering certification, I do have practical experience. The options the information center gave me were only two: one was to be thrown into a workshop at some town’s factory, and the other was to serve in the ranks of the Battle Witch troops. Is that really fair? You know my capabilities, I can do much more than that, that’s the main reason I came here today."

"Otherwise, what do you want?" Xu Yang was curious, "To become a Science Officer? Life in a chemical lab isn’t easy either, we have more than 18 sizable chemical research institutes, all pretty short-staffed, but also all very busy. Being a Science Officer means exploring the frontier of the world tirelessly."

"Something more leisurely, more..." the Poison Master defended, "more... lucrative. I don’t like sitting in an office."

"No worries," Xu Yang nodded, "How about this? You can join Miyazato Kazama’s research program. She will study your toxins and might incorporate them into our company troops’ weapons to amplify their power. Or create a variety of poisons. Simply selling the toxins made with your Magic Power should be quite leisurely."

"That would be great." The Poison Master breathed a sigh of relief. "I still hope to live such a life, at least to save some money first. You seem to know exactly what’s on my mind."

After the pleasantries, the Poison Master stood up and walked out. She picked up a large black suitcase from under the coffee table and left the room.

"Mr. Web Monitor sure settled that one quickly," Rinne was curious.

"Speak thoroughly, and you can make others rely on you," Xu Yang nodded, "You go find the Poison Master and talk to her first, she’s a witch not to be underestimated."

Rinne slipped out, quickly catching up with the Poison Master.

"The Poison Witch is truly impressive," Rinne began with praise, as everyone loves to be complimented.

"Are you also a witch?" the Poison Master put down her black suitcase and turned to size up Rinne.

Rinne nodded, manifesting her Magic Power and effortlessly walked up the wall and onto the ceiling, then dropped down from the opposite side of the corridor as nimbly as the most skillful dancer.

"Zero-gravity walking, huh?" the Poison Master mused, "A witch of the headquarters. How are your markings coming along?"

"What markings?" Rinne was curious.

"You’re so close to the core, no need to hide it from me," the Poison Master shook her head, then lifted her shirt to show Rinne the magic tattoos on her lower abdomen, "Let’s pledge allegiance to the Witch Goddess, the Master of Restoration, the Slaughter Queen, the one and only Witch Ruler, and the most exalted Empress."

"Having to pay homage to so many, that must be a lot of trouble."

The Poison Master laughed.

"You’re too funny," she opened the black suitcase, taking out a bottle of deep brown poison, at least 500 milliliters. "Take this as a gift from me. This toxin allows you to kill anyone you wish."

Rinne accepted it cautiously.

She examined the vial of poison. Could there really be someone deserving of being dispatched with such potent venom?