{2 days later}
A long queue was slowly shortening overtime outside Luxury Meals since morning.
Once it was noon the queue finally dissipated leaving John sat in front of his desk with his eyes closed.
"Ok, I have decided. Luke start writing these names down." Ez ordered to Luke who got ready with a pen and paper.
Soon a list of names spewed from John's mouth, while Luke was furiously writing the names down.
Luke very quickly moved onto another paper and pen provided by Ellis from the side as soon as space or ink ran out.
"... and that is it." John instructed, while both Luke and Ellis started to relax after constantly writing for the past 1 hour.
As soon as that had happened, the door to the restaurant was slammed open revealing an old man standing there. "Hahaha who missed me?"
"No one." John was very quick to reply, while both Luke and Ellis visibly tensed for a moment seeing the old man.
'Bastard' Ellis thought with flaring rage and anger.
'Old Man' Luke thought with the reminiscence of his time spent with the general in his past life; most of those memories he had with the old man was of warmth.
"Why are you here? And don't use the excuse you weren't aware that the restaurant was closed?" John asked as his eyes slowly started drooping.
"Oi at least try giving an appearance of putting some effort while talking to me." Albert chided John who seemed to be filtering out his voice.
*Yawn* "Get to the point old man. I am very busy." John replied while slowly nodding off.
"Busy my ass." Albert mumbled not so quietly, intending for the others to hear him.
"Anyway brat, I heard you are hiring. So, I thought I will give it a go. Tell me what are your requirements?" Albert asked with an air of confidence.
"None other than being interested and knowledgeable in doing some research." John replied in a hurry.
"Oh, last time I checked I am in love with researching and making new things. Ask me any questions you want?" Albert replied in excitement.
"No need you are hired." John replied without lifting his eyes.
"What!" All 3 people inside the store chorused loudly.
"Could you exclaim a bit quietly? I am trying to sleep here." John covered his ears while looking at the 3 of them in displeasure.
"Screw your sleep. This is concerning my future here. I have got a family to feed. Could you take this a bit seriously?" Albert replied in fake anger.
"And you are fired for not respecting your superior." John stated amusing Albert while astounding the other 2.
"You know what, keep your shitty job offer I quit this job. You are the worst boss anyone has ever had." Albert shouted in rage before storming out of the building.
While both Luke and Ellis wondered what the hell just happened.
--------------------------
{2 days later- Ez P.O.V}
Seeing the number of people gathered outside the store, a smirk slowly found its way upon my mind.
Seeing me walk forward the people gathered in front of my store and the crowd standing around watching the spectacle went silent.
"Those that were invited please step forward inside the restaurant and follow me, while wearing the badge provided to you in a visible location." I ordered, following which I walked inside the restaurant, while the guards standing outside my restaurant kept an eye out for those infiltrators without the badge.
The group of 50 people stepped inside in an orderly manner, following me to the side where the garden is located.
Outside the garden there was a hatch, opening it I climbed down the ladder, while the rest followed me nervously.
Reaching the brightly lit and newly built underground area, I walked towards the opaque glass door where 5 guards stood in waiting.
I waited for a while before the last person was inside the room.
"The poster that you all saw a few days ago was the invitation to all scholars and those who genuinely seek knowledge beyond that of just magi. Amongst the thousands that had applied only 500 of you have been selected.
Of the 500 you are the 1st batch that is here for your induction.
Your job while working here is simple. Explore, build, research, experiment and investigate to the task you have been assigned.
Once you are inside this underground facility consider this as a different world.
In here everything will be different from the outside world, including the currency, which will be denoted in contribution points. More about it will be explained later.
For accommodation, you are each given your own private rooms, inside the facility which you will be given a short tour of.
Meals will be provided in the cafeteria 24/7 free of charge for all staffs here, except for the premium meals, which will require contribution points to buy.
This underground facility is pretty self-sufficient.
If you require anything more you can inform your superior who will guide you to the correct area to place an order.
If you manage to make enough contribution or any of your superior finds that any of your ideas are feasible, you will be appointed the head of a research unit or part of a unit depending on how well worthy your idea or contribution has been.
You are free to enter and leave the facility, as long as you adhere to the proper security protocol placed in here.
Now you will be given a brief tour and more information about this facility by your new superiors." Just as I finished the glass door behind the guards slide open, revealing a group of 10 people. Amongst the 10 scientists were Dr Whizz.
They nodded towards me in greeting.
I walked through the glass door and entered one of the elevators and chose the number 19. The lift started moving down while I contemplated my future plans.
It had taken a combined work of several tens of magi, 3 days, under my employment to construct this facility according to my plans. Although in the beginning, they were very reluctant to be used as builders, flashing a few gold notes in their direction was enough to get them on board.
This new facility and its people are going to be my shield and cover for what I am going to prepare for the world.
The 10 chief scientist I have chosen, including Dr Whizz, each have an area of field where they are interested in working. For example, Dr Whizz is interested in researching new form of travelling methods in different terrains, such as air, water, soil and ground.
During my interview when picking the new staffs, I chose 500 staffs who would be interested in working for one of these 10 chief scientists.
The new 500 staffs has already been assigned to one of the 10 chief scientists, who will then establish and make it clear to them the hierarchy and all necessary information of this facility. After that, they will bequeath adequate position and jobs to each of the staffs in their group.
As soon as the current batch of 50 is finished with their inductions, they will be allowed to wander and explore the facility, till tomorrow.
Then soon Ellis will bring in the next batch, after which Luke will bring in the next.
Along with the researchers and scientist I had also hired about 280 guards who rotate in 4 shifts, each shift lasting 6 hours along with some other miscellaneous staffs such as cooks, accountants etc.
All in all, this was a massive facility lying under the belly of the empire, after getting the approval from the emperor and the imperial court.
This facility has 19 massive floors which can further be expanded if the need ever arises.
The first 5 floors were dedicated for accommodation, cafeteria, admin building, library etc for the common staffs and researchers.
Floor 6 to 15 was dedicated to each of the chief scientist and their research unit, for their lab and amongst other things.
Floor 16 to 18 was designed for private research units for those who had enough contribution to creating a new research unit ever came about.
Then Floor 19 was designated as the private area of the superiors or those that had enough contribution to afford to live in this area.
As the lift arrived in floor 19, I walked out ignoring the luxurious decorations and gold-plated lights hanging around the hall.
Reaching a door, I scanned my card to gain access to my room.
Opening the door, I walked in to see quite the spacious and luxurious studio apartment. The room also had quite the garden and a small pond set up outside under the fake sunlight and clouds.
Not bothering with anything I walked towards my comfy bed and laid down.
It will take all of the new employees several days to get used to this new area, but once they are used to this place and their work I can slowly integrate myself amongst them while working on my projects from the shadows.
After all countless years in heaven, where seeing universes that have reached the apex of science has taught me, along with enabling me to memorise many things that I can easily replicate here; viruses like Rioxin D being one of the simplest and basic of things.