013 Steve the Sucker
After nine o'clock in the evening, the Halloween revelry for the children ended, and the town became quiet. The children drifted off to sleep, while the nightlife for adults was just beginning—except for the miserable workers... workers have no nightlife.
Inside Hawkins National Laboratory, which had a background in national energy research, personnel were on duty in shifts twenty-four hours a day, never stopping.
Tonight, Dr. Brenner, who should have returned to rest long ago according to his regular schedule, could not sleep because an accident had just occurred in The Lab once again.
Dr. Brenner stared at the interdimensional rift on the wall. Several sinister vines, like the claws of a demon trying to crawl out of hell, were clutching the wall, constantly eroding the real world and propping the rift open. Meanwhile, the rift continuously spewed out mysterious white flakes and toxic air from the other dimension.
Dr. Brenner frowned deeply. This time was different from the previous two accidental openings of the rift. This time, the rift had not been properly repaired by Eleven. The passage was becoming harder to close each time, and judging from the opening over a month ago, the existence in the other world had also set its sights on their world.
There was some kind of abnormal creature in that world. When Eleven's superpower constructed the passage between the two worlds, that creature could open a temporary passage anywhere in the town or outside The Lab without using Eleven's channel. This proved that every time Eleven opened a passage, the two worlds might become more closely linked, and the creatures from the other world had already begun learning how to set anchors in this world.
Fortunately, the last time the passage was opened, it was for a very short duration, so the only anchor set by The Upside Down in the real world was the one in the forest by Mirkwood, and it had already been closed.
Dr. Brenner already had some idea of who had closed that passage.
That would be the town's sheriff, Mr. Jim Hopper.
The reason was far too easy to guess. Calculating from the time Chief Hopper began investigating The Lab, it matched up almost perfectly with the confirmed time the forest passage disappeared. Combined with the battle traces left in the forest, it wasn't hard to deduce that the sheriff had experience fighting an Upside Down creature, discovered the passage, and found a way to close it—all of which were likely accidental discoveries during the battle.
But the passage opened this time was different from the last; it had become much harder to close and required professional equipment.
"Shepard, Avery, are you two ready?" Dr. Brenner said into his radio.
Soon, the two men outside the sealed lab—two lab guards wearing thick hazmat suits—responded one after another through the radios on their chests.
"No problem, ready to start anytime."
"We're ready, Doctor."
Dr. Brenner's expression was solemn as he pressed the talk button: "You two be careful with your distance from the passage. Those vines will attack any nearby life forms."
"Understood," the two guards replied in unison.
"Commence action."
As Dr. Brenner finished speaking, the operator monitoring the sealed lab's door pressed the switch for the mechanical gate. Immediately after, the two guards, looking like astronauts, entered the sealed zone with flamethrowers, walking with somewhat awkward strides as they slowly approached the rift.
"Fire!" Once he confirmed both were in position with their weapons, Dr. Brenner decisively gave the command to attack.
Whoosh—
A massive sheet of flame swept out like a fire serpent. Sensing the sudden burst of fire and high heat, the vines propping open the rift began to retract like a startled octopus. However, the parts that couldn't be pulled back in time were burnt to pieces by the intense fire.
Seeing that the vines, which even sharp blades found difficult to cut through, were as fragile as paper under the damage of high-temperature flames, Dr. Brenner nodded silently, once again noting the weaknesses of the vines from The Upside Down.
As the vines propping open the spatial rift disappeared, the scenery of the world beyond the rift slowly distorted and receded, eventually shrinking into a small black dot and vanishing rapidly. It left only a cracked fissure on the gray wall, exposing the raw wall beneath the paint and concrete.
"We succeeded, Dr. Brenner." The cheerful voices of Shepard and Avery reached the control room. The Lab personnel inside let out sighs of relief, their faces full of joy, and Dr. Brenner nodded gently as well.
Dr. Brenner had the two guards who successfully completed the sealing mission return, then ordered other personnel to disinfect and clean both the guards and the sealed glass lab. Only after all toxic gases were removed and the air was refreshed did everyone dare to return to the glass lab normally used for researching and developing the experimental subjects' superpowers.
"Dr. Brenner, are we going to continue with this experimental research?" a thin doctor with a straight red beard asked. His eyes were full of concern for the future, yet simultaneously held a contradictory expectation, hoping the experiments would continue.
As a lead researcher at Hawkins Lab, he had also noticed that the passage was becoming increasingly difficult to close.
Dr. Brenner glanced at him, his expression as calm as usual, carrying a hint of determination and coldness. "Of course. At all costs."
...Zzt— Zzt— Zzt—
A small-scale voltage instability occurred in the residential area near the town's laboratory. Richard's house, which happened to be within this range, was naturally affected.
Having just finished a horror movie and still carrying shadows from her experience over a month ago, Robin couldn't help but break into a cold sweat when the lights and TV flickered.
"Are they coming?" Robin jumped up from the sofa, nervously grabbing a knife from the table, her expression tense.
Richard, who had been observing by the window for a while, turned back and shook his head at her. "Doesn't look like it. It's just simple regional voltage instability. The electromagnetic field range affected by monster appearances isn't that large."
Robin finally breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back onto the sofa. "I don't even want to sleep now."
"It's just as well you don't want to sleep; I didn't plan on letting you sleep tonight anyway." Richard's eyes narrowed slightly, the corners of his mouth curling up.
Hearing this, Robin's heart skipped a beat. She grabbed both blankets on the sofa and wrapped herself up tightly, covering her long legs and figure. She said nervously, "Dude, this isn't appropriate."
"How is it not appropriate? Tonight's atmosphere is just perfect!" Richard approached calmly, step by step.
Robin curled into the corner of the sofa, looking somewhat frightened, yet she watched Richard slowly approach with wide eyes. She felt that the pressure Richard brought at this moment was even more terrifying than the Demogorgon. She said submissively, "Don't..."
"Scared of what? Tonight I'm going to tell you some ghost stories from classic American folklore, so you won't even dare to get up for the bathroom in the middle of the night." Richard sat down beside Robin, grabbed the blankets on her, and yanked them all off with a forceful tug.
Robin, who was about to scream, felt the breath she had taken in get stuck in her throat upon hearing Richard's words. After a long moment, her bewildered face twitched slightly as she muttered, "Eh???"
...The next day, Robin went to school with dark circles under her eyes and bloodshot, resentful eyes, while Richard was radiant and smiling brightly as usual.
The students were very calm about the two of them riding the same bike to school again with such contrasting appearances. Their expressions were nonchalant, as they had already grown accustomed to it.
No matter how much these two 'protested,' their 'suspicious private life' was already a concrete fact in the students' minds.
Unable to bear Robin's resentful gaze which lasted for two whole classes, Richard finally turned around and asked with concern, "Are you okay? Do you want some candy?"
His look was so caring and concerned, as if he wasn't the one who had told ghost stories so vividly the night before.
"Screw you!" Robin flashed a forceful middle finger, gritting her teeth.
Richard smiled affectionately and opened his arms to her. "Bring it on."
Robin covered her forehead, lamenting her poor choice in friends. He knew she was a bit of a scaredy-cat, yet he still told her so many horror stories!
During lunch break, Robin lay on her desk and went straight to sleep, too lazy to care about Richard's sudden move to sneak out of the classroom to find Steve. Her exhausted brain could no longer support that much thinking.
Over the past month or so, the relationship between Steve and Richard had improved. Steve was even somewhat grateful to Richard. If not for Richard's help, he probably wouldn't have known how to secure his position as the top guy at Hawkins High School after Tommy left.
So, when Richard called him out for a private chat, Steve agreed without a second thought. In his heart, Richard was already considered a friend, albeit one he was slightly in awe of.
"I'm asking you, what do you plan to do after graduation?" Richard asked.
Facing this sudden question, delivered in a tone like a guidance counselor, Steve was stunned for a long moment before asking back, "Why are you asking this?"
"Your grades are pretty bad, right?"
"Hey, why are you suddenly stabbing me in the heart? You're making me all confused now." Steve's lip twitched, and he suddenly looked miserable, rubbing his temples.
Richard chuckled, "Do you have any confidence in getting into college?"
"Whew..." Steve let out a long breath, messing up his carefully styled hair. "To be honest, I want to go to college with Nancy, but I know my grades aren't great. So I want to at least stay on the same level as her, even if we aren't at the same university."
"Can you do it?" Hearing this, a glint flashed in Richard's eyes. It seemed Jonathan had still lost to Steve; Steve had successfully asked Nancy out last night.
"..."
Richard looked at the silent Steve, patted his shoulder, and smiled. "Have you ever thought about starting a business?"
"Starting a business?" Steve blinked, suddenly seeming to understand Richard's intent. He asked tentatively, "You want to start a business?"
"I want to bring you in as a partner." Richard nodded.
Steve scratched his head in frustration. "Actually, I haven't thought about those things. Even without Nancy, I have to work hard to get into a college according to the goals my parents set for me."
"With your family's wealth, can't you just donate some money to a college and get in easily?" Richard crossed his arms.
"That's the root of the problem. Regarding college, my dad doesn't plan to help me." Steve sighed. "He wants me to get into college on my own merit."
"What is your parents' ultimate goal for you going to college?" Richard ignored what Steve said and asked instead.
Steve was stunned, not understanding why Richard was asking this, but he thought for a moment and replied, "To prepare for taking over the family business?"
"Is the core of it making money?"
"...Yes, I guess so." Steve said blankly, feeling Richard's intensity growing stronger because the other's hands were already firmly gripping his shoulders.
Richard said with a beaming smile, "Then it's simple. We can skip the college step and get straight to work. Your family's business is in real estate and investments, right? No matter, we won't do that. We'll open a restaurant!"
Richard had countless optimized recipes in his head, along with the concepts of mainstream restaurant business models from the twenty-first century of his previous life. He had already put a lot of effort into this over the past month, putting together a comprehensive plan to make money.
He had the expertise and the business plan; all he lacked was capital and manpower.
The Steve in front of him was a perfect partner; Richard had no reason to let him go.
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