After settling Mike's affairs, Middendorffi and Eli went home the next day.
Mike was still at the final table, and although he didn't know the result yet, he was sure to die according to the previous day's game. After all, in the penultimate game, Mike had lost his "foreknowledge buff" and had finally been thoroughly beaten by the professional international players. The difference in level of play was pronounced. Moreover, because of the cheating, the pile of chips he won a few days ago is no longer counted as his. So whatever he'd lost in those two rounds was down from zero anyway.
And this time, working out, Middendorffi and Eli's payout went to a new level.
This time, surprisingly, it was a draw based on the value of the chips Mike had previously earned. It was only 5%, but the value of Mike's chips at the time was tens of millions. If he continued to win, hundreds of millions would not be a dream.
So Adonis gave this 5% quite quickly. He saw Middendorffi and Eli heard that when the money was deposited, they looked calm and undisturbed, as if this few million was not a lot of money, and he was more and more convinced that these were two high profile people who could not be offended.
The two "masters" who got the massive sum of money still returned to their small one-hall, two-room rented house.
After simply packing their luggage - they did not bring anything - the two quickly went to the "collector".
They were there mainly to sign. The "Mayfly" material had been initially compiled, and Middendorffi and Eli, as witnesses and drafters, needed to sign off on it.
"Okay, that's good to sign; I'll scan and mention it later as an attachment to the system."
Lupin retrieved the paper and added, "By the way, I must remind you guys that the 'mayfly' thing is special and can see the future. The higher-ups may seek a meeting with you to study ways to capture it."
"It's unseen and untouchable; it can only be sensed and shattered with power, and I don't have anything to contain it." Eli returned, "And Mike himself doesn't even know how he got the thing, so who knows where he'll run into it next?"
"So I'm just a reminder." Lupin said, "The higher-ups will probably go back and interrogate Mac again about where exactly he came across the 'mayfly', but that part is out of our hands."
Middendorffi said, "If they're looking for Mac, it's advisable to do it quickly, or he won't live long."
"How so?"
"He's not in the best of health, and he's got a big debt from cheating at the casino." Middendorffi said, "Henry and I say that gambling dogs shall not die."
"You're right, and I'll have to warn." Lupin gets up to scan the paperwork and continues to chat with them, "By the way, do you guys need a break from work for a while when you get back from the field? Or do you organise your work normally?"
If it were anyone else, with so much more savings, they might have to take some time off, but Middendorffi and Eli said they didn't need to take any time off and would do their regular schedules.
Lupin said that he understood and reminded, "By the way, the case of luring suicide that you guys reported earlier has been solved. You can see the announcement and news on the internet, so if you guys are interested, just do an online search for keywords like 'suicide' and 'luring'."
Middendorffi nodded and pulled out his mobile phone on the spot to look it up.
Middendorffi nodded and took out his mobile phone to look it up, but as soon as he typed the word "suicide" into the search bar, the website automatically fed back helplines, ways to get help and suicide-related science. Middendorffi was slightly surprised: "I didn't see the news you mentioned."
"Huh?" Lupin came over to take a look and returned, "Oh, when you typed in that keyword, it was. The ones at the top of the list are designed to redeem suicidal people, and it's not just this site; many other sites with customer service for other functions also have those kinds of features. For example, shopping ones, your favourite video type ones, if you send words to customer service about wanting to kill yourself, they have a special suicide response team to try and persuade them."
Middendorffi looked at that suicide helpline on his phone's interface and said, "... There's another one like that."
"That doesn't? And it's a public service, and the volunteers who participate listen to these sufferings speak every day. It's like a Bodhisattva coming down to earth." Lupin went back for the scanned documents, "Compared to that, the guy who kills people and persuades them to commit suicide is the devil on earth."
Middendorffi had by now relied on multiple keywords to find the relevant news. An announcement in white on a blue background and clips from the news stations. He read through the passages and commented, "All of this, by one man?"
"That's not true? One man started several groups, then worked as a KOL ... oh, that's Opinion Leader in the groups, gradually making everyone look up to him." Laura, busy with her work earlier, finally took a break and poked her head out from behind the computer screen to participate in the discussion, "But those few core people who helped him out are considered accomplices. Although they are also considered victims, the legal responsibility is inescapable."
Middendorffi thought back to the setup of Jennifer's room and said, "The so-called formations, the so-called sacrifices he gave are ridiculous; how could he fool so many people?"
"You're being sensible now, looking at these people; of course, you think they're bewitched." Lupin returned, "But most of those victims who have committed suicide have drilled into a dead end, and logical thinking isn't the same as the average person's. It's hard to pull them at those times, but it's easy to push them. This suspect doesn't want their money; instead, he talks to them in different ways to suit their situation, and they're easily trapped. This suspect is a master psychologist, and with several groups and thousands of people, this environment also accelerates the breakdown of the psychologically vulnerable."
Laura spits out, "It's not entirely about the money. He's touched several people's mobile phones and jewellery when he's asked them to commit suicide, and they've died."
"At least the ones who were alive, he acted like he didn't want money." Lupin said, "I don't think he's an opinion leader, close to a religious leader. It's not obvious that he's yet come up with a denomination."
Laura rubbed her arms, "Yeh, wouldn't that be a big pervert if he wasn't after money, purely to get people to kill themselves?"
"Or maybe he thinks he's a nice guy who helps people 'solve their troubles once and for all'." Lupin said, "Many people have that kind of twisted thinking. He thinks you're not in a high enough realm if you don't understand him."
"Ha, I don't talk about realms with people like that." Laura bristled, "I don't want to know what stupid people think; I don't share feelings with him."
At that, the words came out rough; Lupin laughed a little and didn't reply. Instead, Middendorffi added, "He's just a simple human who did all that? Nothing wrong with him?"
"I don't think so; everything's normal, at least for now; neither the police nor the man himself has offered to check for mental illness." Lupin returned, "Does it still feel like it's too scary and unbelievable that a human being could actually do all these things and still pull it off? It feels like he's been bent over like a demon."
Middendorffi nods.
"Hey, just look at the compilations of law and order cases and the police documentaries, and you'll see what kind of people are out there." Laura laments, "One look at those, and you'll think the world is full of strange people. Hell is empty, and the devil is on earth."
Lupin said, "You guys went to the casino this time; you should have seen a lot of crazy people, too, right? It's good that you didn't indulge in it; casinos are simply the most testing place for humanity."
Laura said, "Yellow gambling and drugs are all, can't touch them!"
Middendorffi did not refute, nodded, and left the "Collector" with Eli.
***
When they returned home, the clothes they had thrown into the washing machine before leaving the house were already washed.
They then took them to the balcony dryer for drying.
Middendorffi's hands and feet were nimble, and after drying them, he stood on the balcony and looked down at the pedestrians coming and going on the roads in the neighbourhood. Middendorffi watched them for a moment. Eli was about to ask him what was wrong when Middendorffi snapped, "Humans, they're getting harder and harder to understand."
"Think humans are bad because of what happened with Jennifer and Mike?" Eli walked up to him, side by side, "But like I said, you don't have to understand everyone, and many humans can't understand each other."
"It's not just because of that." Middendorffi said, "I just looked up information on the internet that says that humans engage in all sorts of behaviours caused by hormones. Some people act in ways that are just physiological reactions, not controlled by reason."
Following his train of thought, Eli struggled and asked, "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm trying to say, can I understand you?" Middendorffi looked at him, "Can I be a friend who can talk to you as a human? Everything I say in answer to you is just mimicking and guessing at a logical human response. Sometime in the future, you may think that my answers are not coming from my heart because I am just a creature without a heart. No, I'm not even a creature. I probably don't understand you either, and I'm just pretending to understand you. It's so easy to react along with your words."
"Don't you think that!" Eli grabbed his hand in one fell swoop and pulled him back into the living room, "Let's come in and talk. Was it my behaviour in the future, always wishing you were in human form, that caused you to think that? Did you think that if I suddenly reacted to the fact that you weren't human and all your human-like reactions could be faked, I wouldn't feel like friends with you?"
Middendorffi looked at him calmly, "That's a fact that could happen."
"It's not!" Eli said, "Okay, you're powerful; you've probably seen more world lines than I have. Maybe seeing the occasional one in your world lines is like that for me. But you can't judge me like that."
"I'm not judging you, and I wouldn't think that about you now." Middendorffi looked at him, "Look, I'm just talking about a possibility. I'm just being available to you, and you stretch so much. I don't know if I want to learn that behaviour. If I learnt it, would it seem more real to you or more false?"
"Don't you say such things!" Eli grabbed his hand and placed it over his heart, "Do you remember my usual heartbeat? You can feel my heartbeat going haywire, can't you? I feel sour inside. Because I feel aggrieved for you when I hear such things."
Middendorffi said, "I don't feel aggrieved."
"I feel." Eli looked at him and held his hand down tightly, feeling his powerful heartbeat.
"You don't feel it, you don't understand it, then I feel aggrieved for you. It doesn't matter if you don't understand those feelings; I'll feel them for you."
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***