Ethan did not expect that the conversation he overheard would be about him.
At that exact moment, Ethan suddenly returned to the scene. His unexpected appearance instantly startled the guilty gatekeeper and the bearded master. Both of them stiffened, clearly caught off guard.
The janitor hesitated for a moment, his words coming out unevenly.
"N-No… it's nothing. Why are you back so suddenly? Did something happen?"
Ethan did not press them further. Instead, he calmly raised the question that had been bothering him.
"I just remembered something," Ethan said evenly. "Why were you both so surprised when you found out who the other party was earlier?"
Hearing this, the two men instantly relaxed. It was clear now that Ethan had not heard their earlier discussion.
The gatekeeper exhaled softly and began to explain.
"'Cthulhu' is just a general term," he said. "There are many kinds of them, and the difference in strength between them can be enormous. Because of this, there are also many different organizations of aliens."
He paused for a moment before continuing in a more serious tone.
"The most troublesome ones are the semi-inhumans. They possess the abilities of aliens, but at the same time, they still retain the combat strength of professional awakeners."
Ethan frowned slightly. "So what? Having two kinds of power doesn't automatically mean they're strong in battle."
The gatekeeper nodded.
"What you're saying is correct," he admitted. "Having two abilities doesn't guarantee superior combat power. However, you should know that organizations made up of pure aliens are actually much easier to deal with."
He continued patiently, as if explaining a hidden rule of the world.
"Those organizations are usually formed by people who failed their job awakening. This means they can only attract weaker evil gods, and they can't truly blend into our society."
Then his voice grew colder.
"But semi-inhumans are different. They were once normal professionals. If an evil god was able to corrupt them, then that evil god must be extremely powerful. More importantly, these traitors usually still have access to normal professional backgrounds."
"They help the evil god hide," the gatekeeper said grimly. "They integrate into society, lurk among us, and operate from the shadows."
Ethan finally understood.
"So what you're saying is," he summarized, "these semi-inhumans are basically traitors. They look like professionals on the surface, but in reality, they might already belong to the enemy."
The janitor nodded firmly.
"That's exactly right."
At that moment, everything made sense to Ethan. Now he understood how that butler uncle had managed to hide for so long.
Without help from normal professional organizations, a group of low-level aliens—who could be exposed at a glance—would never have survived for so long.
As Ethan processed this information, another thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Wasn't killing aliens extremely rewarding in terms of experience points?
A bold idea formed in his head.
He asked bluntly, "Is it possible that some large families or organizations deliberately raise aliens… just to harvest them later?"
The moment those words left his mouth, the janitor froze.
His expression stiffened, and he stared at Ethan with a sharp, serious gaze. Only after confirming that Ethan was speaking casually did he respond.
"There has been such a precedent," he said slowly. "But once an organization like that is discovered, it is immediately hunted down and destroyed by the entire Dragon Kingdom. That's a rule set from the top."
From the gatekeeper's tone, Ethan could tell something important.
Such an organization really had existed before—but it had clearly been wiped out.
The Dragon Kingdom's stance was understandable. Even if aliens were being raised in captivity, who could guarantee that such actions wouldn't eventually spiral out of control?
Raising tigers only invited disaster.
Besides, from a moral standpoint, such behavior crossed an unacceptable line for the people of the Dragon Kingdom.
The gatekeeper deliberately emphasized the name Dragon Kingdom, which made Ethan suspect that similar situations might still exist in other countries.
After all, not all professionals stood on the side of justice.
To be honest, if Ethan were in their position, he wouldn't really mind raising a batch of aliens just for harvesting.
The experience points gained from killing aliens were far more efficient than grinding wild monsters in secret realms.
Suddenly, another thought struck him.
They couldn't kill the aliens they raised themselves—but someone else could do it for them.
If Ethan ever discovered such an organization, they would probably be more than happy to let him "help."
After all, those beings were no longer human. Ethan felt absolutely no psychological burden when killing them.
And on top of that, there was even a chance of gaining dismantling rewards.
With his curiosity satisfied, Ethan waved his hand lightly.
"Alright, I don't have any more questions. I'll take my leave."
He paused, then added casually,
"By the way, if you ever encounter something like evil blood or cursed materials that you can't destroy, you can come to me."
"But," he added with a faint smile, "I'll be charging a fee."
The three men stared at him in silence.
"???"
After getting the answers he wanted, Ethan disappeared from the scene once again.
The coordinates here were originally just before the rebellious boy completed his alienation. Ethan had planned to retreat first and then return later to help clean up the remains.
Unfortunately, the Lord of Ravenshade City managed to hold on long enough for the rebellious boy to complete his transformation.
As Ethan vanished, the remaining three looked at each other and silently agreed on one thing.
They would not stay here to chat anymore.
Ethan appearing and disappearing twice like a ghost was enough to scare anyone.
At that moment, the Lord of Ravenshade City took out the earlier list and handed it to the gatekeeper.
"Leader," he said seriously, "please sign this. All my losses were caused by you."
"Relax," the janitor replied. "The ancient tree you burned down will be crossed off."
However, when he saw the numbers on the bill, his face twitched uncontrollably.
"This is what happens when you attack the system using 'procedures,'" he muttered.
Still, without hesitation, he picked up a pen and signed.
Seeing how quickly the janitor signed, the City Lord couldn't help adding,
"Don't even think about delaying payment. This is the City Lord's Mansion—it represents the face of Ravenshade City."
When the word "face" was mentioned, the gatekeeper and the bearded master glanced around at the surroundings.
The ancient thorny trees, twisted and terrifying, stood everywhere like monsters.
They nearly burst out laughing.
"Are you sure this place still has a 'face'?" one of them muttered.
However, the City Lord already had leverage.
"Don't worry," he said calmly. "If you procrastinate, I'll simply tell Ethan about the big disaster that happened earlier."
"Damn it," the gatekeeper cursed. "Is it appropriate for you, the Lord of Ravenshade City, to be this shameless?"
"When you set the fire," the City Lord shot back, "did you think about this being the City Lord's Mansion? Did you think about me being the City Lord at all?"
"You…"
---
Meanwhile, Ethan Returned Home
Ethan arrived back at his house.
Seeing that the principal of Third Middle School and the principal's grandmother were still not home, he felt a faint sense of disappointment.
He had achieved such outstanding results in the entrance examination, yet there was no one to share it with.
What others thought of him didn't matter.
The opinion of the principal of Third Middle School mattered far more.
Shaking his head, Ethan sat down and began organizing his gains.
Then he suddenly remembered something important.
Now that he had reached Level 38, there was still something he hadn't checked.
Back when he reached Level 30, he had opened an SSS-level Talent Gift Pack.
But before he could examine it, an incident had occurred in the secret realm.
At that time, he was too busy cleaning up the chaos inside the secret realm and had almost completely forgotten about this critical reward.
Now… it was finally time to see what kind of SSS-level talent he had obtained.
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