Back at the Church, Colin naturally had his work to do, Logan took Miriam home, and Faye began preparing dinner with the little leopard, little wolf, and little lamb.
Malin, having nothing to do while the girls chose to enter the kitchen, pulled out today’s Carterburg Times from his personal mailbox at the Church, and then casually mailed his own manuscript to the National Publishing House in Carterburg—publishing in this world was very strict, and anyone wanting to publish books and picture albums had to register with the National Publishing House, also submitting the manuscript for confirmation—otherwise, no one would know what you were printing.
Even with confirmation, smooth sailing wasn’t guaranteed; inspectors would extract a certain number of books from the market to verify if their publication process complied with the regulations.
If compliant, all was good; if not, then the head of the publishing house could only visit personally with his team to deliver "warmth"—indeed, it was not uncommon for books to have errors, but they certainly couldn’t be filled with content like "The Love of a Kind Father," "The Blood God and I," "Parrot Breeding," and "The High and Mighty Senior Fell for Me."
Such content could lead to the loss of lives, and not just a few, but a blunder could result in total annihilation.
Therefore, Malin could only mail his manuscript to the publishing house and wait for the inspection to be completed before asking them to contact the printer for publication.
Speaking of printing, it was also a troubled area, which somewhat affirmed Malin’s belief—that more knowledge doesn’t necessarily equate to more reliability.
Otherwise, why would the National Publishing House guard against printers as if guarding against thieves?
Back in his room, Malin started reading the newspaper. Although recent events in Carterburg had been plentiful, the Times still managed to write about all the issues.
This caused Malin to become a bit curious about the newspaper’s background; much of this information was published without being decrypted.
Where do they get their news from?
With that thought, Malin turned the page; the second page was full of wartime progress, showing that the forces of Chaos in the North were indeed faring worse day by day. Last week, the allied forces had just cleared a vital traffic route in the Central Administrative Province.
However, looking at the recruitment situation, it was quite obvious that Chaos had not yet reached the point of defeat.
Yet all this clearly had nothing to do with Malin, who flipped another page, this time to find an advertisement for his novel, the "Holmes Collection," probably paid for by the printing department—after all, with sponsorship, Faye had also adeptly managed the advertising agency for the group organized for Malin. As long as there was money to be made, Malin never minded which methods he employed.
Beyond that, there were other novels and stories which had nothing to do with Malin.
"Malin, if you have the time, come to my room and fetch a few bottles of fruit wine," Faye’s voice called from the kitchen.
"No problem." Malin put down the newspaper and went to the kitchen, where he received the key to her room from Faye.
"Remember, the sooner you go, the sooner you return." The girl touched faces with Malin while smiling, then gestured for him to hurry.
Malin pushed open the door, following Faye’s directions to her room.
After circumventing the small plaza at the center of the rest area and the dormitories for male and female students, Malin showed Faye’s key and his own face, passing the dormitory manager’s inspection, and opened the door to Faye’s room. The wine crate was to one side of the small corridor, from which Malin drew two bottles, ready to leave.
Upon exiting the door, he felt something cling to his leg.
Malin looked down and saw a large dog wrapped around him.
And there was an old man with an unfriendly expression looking at Malin: "Who might you be, and why are you in Miss Faye’s room?"
"Ah, we’re classmates, and she’s preparing dinner with some girls today, asking me to come over and fetch two bottles of fruit spritzer."
Malin’s reply was flawless. The old man fell silent for a moment, then turned and left.
The large dog, somewhat reluctant, chose to leave as well.
Malin returned to the dormitory with the fruit wine, just in time to see the girls serving portions of food in the dining room.
"You’re back a bit late, Malin."
"Yeah, I ran into an old man on my way out. He looked like a steward and even had a dog with him." Malin reported his encounter with the stranger to Faye.
"I don’t even know who that fellow could be." Faye smiled at Malin.
Malin nodded, "Then next time, I’ll just ignore him."
It didn’t sound like a lie.
Meanwhile, the old man walked out of the Church with his dog and approached a carriage.
"Jason, how is the child Faye doing?"
"She seems as stubborn as ever, madam, but I encountered a little fellow."
"A little fellow, who might that be?" the woman’s voice inside the carriage was low and quick.
"A boy," the old man said calmly.
"An uncontrollable fellow... eliminate him," the lady issued the command with her voice.
"Yes, madam, your orders." The old man extended his hand, performed a very formal chest salute, took two steps back, and then vanished into thin air.
Malin enjoyed his dinner immensely today, the girls had made many delicacies, and for the first time since his rebirth and transmigration, he experienced the feeling of being completely full—it was indeed wonderful.
After dinner, Malin began to take the girls home, starting with Faye, who was stuffed into the carriage for home—although Malin indeed did not want to let Faye go, if she really couldn’t get home, Malin was sure that he wouldn’t need to wait until tomorrow, someone would come with their fellows tonight to have a talk with Malin about what life is all about.
Then there was Lillim, the little lamb also had a very happy meal, so in the end, Malin held out his hand to help the girl onto the Church carriage—she had drunk some fruit wine, and after entrusting her to the Proxy of the Church, Malin began the final ’delivery’ work—Jessica.
This girl lived nearby, and Malin took her home.
After bidding farewell to the girl, Malin turned around and walked towards the direction of the dormitory.
Walking through the corridor, Malin sniffed and then walked two more steps forward.
Malin felt as if he was half a step above hell, he frowned and didn’t want to take another step forward.
"Malin, what are you doing?"
Just as Malin frowned, Colin’s voice came from a side door nearby, and then Malin saw Colin’s head poking out from the door: "Good timing, the instructor is looking for you."
"Alright, I’ll come with you." After saying that, Malin noticed the previous sense of danger had dissipated.
With such doubts, Malin followed Colin into the instructor’s office.
"Child, can you think about it, in the recent two incidents, is there something inconsistent yet profound that happened?" The instructor was obviously trying to get information from Malin.
Since he wanted to get information, Malin opened his mouth and said, "There’s no problem, instructor,"
Old Hoffman was silent for a moment, then finally nodded: "If you have nothing to say, then that’s it."
"Instructor, why not start with the victim’s social network?" Malin asked, frowning.
"We have already investigated, there’s no information, it seems the culprit also knows this, maybe he has already removed them from the vortex of the event," Colin answered quickly while glancing at the instructor, who nodded, then turned to Malin: "Little fellow, have you been enjoying yourself recently?"
The inexplicable conversation ended there, the instructor lowered his head to review the documents, and Malin stood there puzzled for a good while, until Old Hoffman agreed to his departure.
When leaving the office, Malin was still utterly confused.