Lyra smiled wide, "Seven!"
"Senior, do you like to learn a language?" asked Linden.
"Yup. I like to learn languages. I have been learning other languages since I was a kid."
"But, wait a minute. If you are learning that many languages, then why couldn't you pronounce Ave and Traek's name correctly?"
"Ah, do you genuinely want to ask that? That will cost you this," said Lyra. She picked a mushroom from Linden's plate and put it in the boiling pot at the center of the table.
"Well, I learn language mainly by reading. I rarely have a chance to practice speaking those languages. So I still have many sounds that I can't pronounce.
"It is true I can't pronounce Trakk's name. But Ave, I can pronounce it. I was only messing up with him. His reaction is always good. You can also try it," said Lyra.
She picked up the mushroom from the pot, dipped it in the sauce, and brought it to her mouth. "Uhm~ This is good… You should start eating it too."
Lyra waved her chopstick, signaling Linden to follow her, eating the hot pot. Linden decided to start eating. He pours a small plate full of little shrimp into the hot pot.
"So, what did you do before joining us?" asked Lyra.
"I was a fresh graduate looking for a job before getting an 'interview' with the manager."
"What major?"
"Software engineering…"
"That is good. But it is something that I will never touch, though. Hehe," said Lyra.
"Is it? Well, in the end, my diploma is not used."
"It doesn't matter. My language skill is also not used right now, especially when a nanomachine is inside the body. I can understand another language without learning anything about it.
"So, just take it easy. The most important thing is to have fun. I have fun working here, and the pay is huge, which is a big plus."
Lyra said as she scooped many things from the pot before putting it in her bowl. She then picks a few items to be dipped in the sauce before bringing it to her mouth using the chopstick. She then put other ingredients, like small fish and vegetables, into her partition of the hot pot.
Linden is doing the same. He scooped the soup with shrimp into his bowl. He sipped the hot soup slowly, heating his whole body, starting from his stomach. He then eats the cooked ingredient after dipping it in the sauce.
"Ah~ A hot soup on a summer night is wonderful. Better than what I expected…" said Linden. He put other ingredients into the hot pot before asking Lyra, "Senior, did you know the reason you got invited to join this work?"
"Reason? I don't know. I have asked the manager several times, but he always refused to answer. He always jokingly answered, 'It is all fates.' Maybe there is something inside me that was a big reason to add me? Who knows," replied Lyra.
Lyra then looked at Linden, "Are you looking for the reason you get this work? Don't think too deeply. I'm sure the manager knows something that you and I don't."
"Maybe you are right…" said Linden.
Linden still doesn't understand why he gets a job like this. He is an ordinary human. Nothing special, whether inside or outside.
Linden was still thinking when he heard the sound of their PDA.
"Looks like our job has arrived," said Lyra. She pours all the remaining ingredients into the pot before looking at her PDA. "Finish the meal before we start the work again."
***
"Senior, it is said that we need to capture the builder of that summoning circle. Is the 'capture' means what I thought?" asked Linden.
Right now, Lyra and Linden are running toward the building with the summoning circle. Even though both of them have just finished eating, they can maintain their running speed. Nothing unpleasant can be felt in their stomach.
"What else can a 'capture' mean? It is obviously to catch, or in a gentler word, arrest. I think the system decided to start investigating the source of this summoning circle."
"But is it okay to just catch someone? What if—"
"It is okay. We can always escape using the one-time-use portal when we get caught by the local police. Anyway, we are also police here, dimensional police."
That doesn't lessen Linden's worry a bit. He can only stomach it and trust his senior. Well, that and pray that nothing will go wrong.
"So, where do we start looking for clues about his or her location?" asked Linden. "Do we only wait in this place?"
"Of course, we are not waiting here. We will use this camera," said Lyra.
A few tiny cameras are lying in the palm of her hand. Those cameras are so small. Linden might mistake it for some scrap metal if not for Lyra's explanation.
"But, do you have other ideas? Maybe we can use it."
"Is there nothing like a surveillance camera record? Or satellite images?" asked Linden.
He has watched a few detective movies before. And CCTV recordings always play a part in the clue-gathering phase. Linden assumed that with the high technology they have, something like that should be available.
"We can request those from the system. It will look for relevant recordings from nearby security cameras. But this place is deserted. I don't think there are many surveillance cameras here.
"For satellite images, those rely a lot on luck. Sometimes we can get a good shot. But most of the time, those pictures are useless. More so for an object as small as a human. That is also not to say that high-resolution satellites are the exception rather than the norm.
"So, we will request those to the system. And while we wait for the result to be sent to our PDA, help me to set these cameras."
Lyra handed over a few mini cameras to Linden. She then teaches Linden how to set the camera.
"After the camera has been set in place, register it to the PDA. With that, you can now see the image from your PDA."
Lyra waved to the camera, and the Lyra displayed on the PDA screen followed the waving.
"There are a few milliseconds lags between these two devices. But it should not matter that much."