Tower of Overturn

Russell clutched the bracelet that could Open the Door, walking towards Glass's room K128, still feeling some hesitation in his heart.

This action gave him a strange sense of shame—

Of course, he knew Glass would never let him do anything improper, and he also knew he was here on official business to gather intelligence.

But he still felt slightly uncomfortable.

Indeed, one reason Russell had gone to work on Happiness Island was his mother's last words and his uncle's invitation. However, another reason was that Russell did not want to trade on his looks...

Russell's Elf mentor had always harbored some... unwholesome longing for him.

She had never even tried to hide this longing.

At first, she only asked Russell to spend more time with her, cook for her, and recite poetry to her, which was quite warm and harmonious. But later, she started bringing Russell to parties, having him drink for her, which resulted in him getting drunk several times.

If it weren't for the fact that Russell hadn't been completely drunk, he would have nearly ended up staying at her place.

Of course, Russell's mentor could be considered beautiful by both his personal taste and popular standards. Although she was over six hundred years old, she looked to be just over twenty.

Rather, unless an Elf is overly aged, it is absolutely impossible for them to be ugly—not even "ordinary" individuals exist.

In any field, whether it is appearance, talent, giftedness, or physical ability, Elves represent the absolute pinnacle.

Just like "Adjusters." They have an overwhelming advantage over ordinary people.

If it weren't for the extremely small number of Elves, Russell even doubted the need for ordinary people in this world.

By that logic, it seems that even if Russell offered himself, it wouldn't really be a disgrace to him.

But the situation was not as such.

Because the more they were together, the more Russell felt... his mentor did not regard him as an "equal" or even a "human."

But rather, she treated him as some sort of pet.

Just like pets kept by humans. Just as there is a great disparity in size and appearance between humans and cats... however, there isn't as much difference between humans and Elves.

—Therefore, there is no need for sterilization.

It was then that Russell learned from his mentor... Elves are naturally not permitted to reproduce.

Elves have special and designated methods of reproduction, and they must maintain a very small ratio with the population of ordinary humans.

With little change in the human population, generally, a new Elf is born only when another dies.

This is to maintain the Elves' exalted status, ensuring that they do not fight internally over insufficient resources, which would reduce their status due to infighting.

The specific "newborn slots" are precisely decided by the highest eighty-four permanent Directors during meetings.

If a "hybrid" offspring is conceived, it must be aborted; if it is already born, it must be "disposed" of.

Elf infants outside of the "newborn slots" are not considered Elves, not considered humans, and even do not receive a Chip.

Russell's mentor explicitly told him that if Russell agreed to her terms, they would definitely not have children. Nor would Russell have any status.

But if Russell wished, he could stop working and just stay at home where she would take care of him... because Elves and humans have different standards of beauty, what humans see as "aging" is not a detracting factor to Elves. She promised to take care of Russell until his death and during this time, she would not keep any other "pets."

If he didn't intend to be "adopted," it was also like the cats in the cat cafe, available to come and "make a deal" at any time.

—This was openly declared by her after Russell ducked her attempts to make him drink for the third time.

Although at the time Russell had not recovered the memories of his past life, his dignity still did not allow him to really become a domesticated pet cat.

Yet, Russell indeed owed his mentor many, many favors.

Additionally, his mentor was indeed beautiful and intelligent, so Russell really wasn't being unreasonable to think that merely benefiting from her was unbecoming. It was only because he couldn't accept her attitude of treating him like a pet for a moment... But humans and Elves are indeed entirely different species, a fact that seemed all too true to an Elf who could easily live over a thousand years.

Therefore, without a suitable excuse, Russell couldn't overtly refuse.

Just as Russell was almost unable to endure this persistent "pursuit of passion," even beginning to waver a bit... he finally got an excuse to go work on Happiness Island.

In this regard, his uncle's invitation came very timely.

Thus, Russell even awkwardly escaped onto the airship, and only when he was about to board the airship did he send a message to inform his mentor about it... It was because of this that he almost didn't bring any possessions with him.

Otherwise, if he had informed his mentor in advance, he would definitely have been forced to pack a backpack full of various items and might even have received a large sum of points from her.

But that would have meant owing her even more favors.

Even though these items were as trivial as a stick of salami or a packet of freeze-dried food to the Elves, Russell still held onto the principle of "fairness"—he calculated debts of gratitude based on his own situation, not according to the other person's wealth.

Even at the Hive Nightclub, it was just a fair transaction.

The current situation, however, inexplicably reminded Russell of that experience...

But it wasn't until Russell used his room card to open Glass's room door—that shocking scene made him freeze in place.

Perhaps misled by that Bear Ears high school girl before, Russell subconsciously thought that Glass was probably just drinking with a handsome guy inside the room.

However, after Russell opened the door, what he found lying in the drunken, crookedly masked embrace of Glass, constantly feeding her more alcohol...were two disheveled beauties.

One of them was a long straight-haired young girl with horse ears, the other a petite black-haired Black Cat.

Seeing Russell, with his Sad Face Mask, push the door open, they didn't bother to cover themselves up but instead burst out laughing, waving continuously for Russell to close the door first.

"Didn't I say—"

The slightly tipsy Glass raised her voice, sounding like an old man, even making a clicking sound, "Didn't I say no men?

"I wanted a pretty girl, with black hair! A beautiful girl!"

"...Miss Song Sparrow."

As Russell was closing the door, he spoke somewhat helplessly, "Sorry to disturb you, I just have something I wanted to discuss with you."

To avoid leaking Glass's identity, he had not directly mentioned the name "Glass" in front of the two girls.

Clearly, Glass had good professional integrity, as she recognized Russell's voice in an instant—upon hearing his voice, she immediately shuddered with fright, sobering up significantly in the moment.

Even the wine glass in Black Cat's hand got knocked a bit, spilling some onto Glass's chest.

The short-haired Black Cat, clearly very experienced in such situations, had a lot of understanding.

"...Shall we step out for a bit?"

She asked in a considerate whisper—not addressing Russell, but the Glass beside her.

Glass eagerly nodded her head.

After the two girls with the Sad Face Masks left, Glass scrambled up from the couch bed in a fluster, started tidying her clothes, and subconsciously adjusted her askew mask back into place.

"Please take a seat, Sir Russell..."

Her voice returned to its previous idol tone, though it still trembled uncontrollably.

Although she still wore the Sad Face Mask, Russell was sure that at this moment Glass's face must have been blushing furiously.

Russell looked at her with some sympathy.

Although Russell himself had never experienced it... this must be what social death feels like.