In the small room, only the fire crackled, Natasha and Eva quietly shared a string of grilled spicy strips, while Dotti's gaze was more focused on the face of the man before them.
She could sense that he was serious when he said everyone could learn to be a cook, without any trap or joke involved.
This chef indeed referred to the profession of cooking.
But why?
There are three cohorts of special agent trainees here. Not to mention those who are about to graduate, but even the younger ones in the third cohort, after a few years of training, with their figures and appearances matured, would also be excellent weapons.
This is such a formidable power, having them properly used could even corrode any country or regime.
Yet he seemed unbothered, not only allowing anyone to leave, but if they didn't want to kill, they could do something else, as if throwing precious weapons into a river.
The man's one eye turned to her, as if sensing her thoughts.
"Are you wondering, wondering why I allow you the autonomy to choose?"
Dotti sighed, leaned closer to the stove, and placed her gaze on Natasha's face.
"Yes, you came here, took all of us, the purpose is to have us, the weapons. But now you let killing weapons chop vegetables, I don't understand your intention."
The man still smiled, dug out a bag of similar snacks and tossed it to her.
"Your name?"
"Dotti, Dotti Underwood."
"Oh, so it's you, the complex girl..."
The one-eyed man stroked his beard, as if reminiscing something, but Dotti was sure she had never met him before.
"There's no need to worry about the purpose, just wanting you all to live like humans, make autonomous choices, and not waste life. I'm not here to find weapons, I am the strongest weapon myself."
He used the electric glowing weapon in his hand to poke the stove fire, this weapon, like magic, being nonchalantly used as a fire poker.
Dotti knew it was true, he had demonstrated the ability to assassinate everyone in the base, he didn't need others to kill for him.
But the girls weren't very pleased with this, fearing they would become useless, which in their concept, equated to death.
"Don't believe your instructor's nonsense, because everyone is born with their own place in this world, the place of a human being."
The man stood up, pulled a paper from the nearby desk, picked up a piece of charcoal from the fireplace, and wrote a string of numbers and English on it.
Because Dotti was a senior student, she understood the concept of the world and countries, that string of numbers was latitude and longitude, presumably their current location.
Was he planning to send a telegram seeking support?
After all, one person couldn't take all of them away, at least vehicles or similar transport were needed.
But what happened next she completely couldn't comprehend. The man took off the cloak from his back, handed the paper to the cloak, and even talked to it.
The cloak seemed alive, rolled up a corner to grasp the slip of paper, the collar nodded up and down a few times, then walked out the door by itself, flying away with the slip, disappearing into the sky.
"Ah..."
The little girls rushed to the doorway, curiously watching the direction where the cloak disappeared, they couldn't understand what happened, everything felt like a dream.
But the cold wind outside whipped snowflakes onto their faces, the cold pain confirming it was all real.
"How did you do that?" Natasha's mouth still carried red oil, she too was surprised, but hid it well, showing no expression.
Yet she still wanted to ask.
The man patted her head, his gaze turned to the window, the morning light was shooting from the distant horizon, turning the snowy field into gold.
"This world is vast, there will always be unknown things, and you'll learn in the future..... But none of that's important, you haven't seen a sunrise, have you? This is everyone's first lesson, learning what hope is."
Natasha pursed her lips, turned her head to look out the window, but the window was crowded with small heads, many ran outside to stand at the doorway looking into the distance.
She had seen a sunrise, but didn't understand the word hope, yet watching the sun rise over the snowy field, she seemed to vaguely grasp something.
Some warm feeling.
The sunrise didn't last long, but each girl appeared to be contemplative, the man clapped his hands to gather them, leading them outside.
"Alright, since you've all decided to come with me, you ought to know how to address me, my English name is Slade Wilson, a businessman who lives by making goods."
He put on his helmet, the eyepiece flashed red light:
"Though I also have a secret identity, codename Deathstroke, a warrior... By the way, do you speak English?"
"Yes, each of us is required to master ten languages," Eva raised her hand to answer.
"That's great, now, we're going home."
As the man's words fell, a golden circle of light appeared not far beside him, seemingly connecting two different spaces.
A man in a deep blue suit walked out expressionless, he also sported an interesting handlebar mustache.
The girls immediately went on alert, ready to eliminate any unexpected creatures. Was the person emerging from the golden ring really human?
But the new man bowed towards the one-eyed man: "Master."
The one-eyed man warmly patted the other's shoulder: "Just in time, Hamill, come see our students."
"Too cold," the newcomer responded.
The cloak returned through the ring of light, flew back behind Deathstroke, the collar shrank, transforming into a very ordinary style.
"Ah, you're right, it is indeed too cold here. Let the kids go with you first, I'll lag a few steps behind and leave a gift for the Leviathan here," Deathstroke said, pulling out a small blue square from behind him.
Dotti was the last to step into the ring. She turned her head to see Deathstroke throw the blue square at the small house, then fire at it with a ridiculously large golden lance from his back.
A blast of blue flames erupted, and the entire house vanished instantly, with the passageway below collapsing as well.
Deathstroke was still arranging corpses in the snow to spell out a phrase in German - "Hail Hydra!"
"Why are you not going in yet? Master Hamill is struggling to maintain the Teleportation Gate," Deathstroke walked over and urged her to enter the gate.
"Is Hydra that mythical creature?"
"It's none of your concern. You're sixteen or seventeen this year, you have to think for yourself. Do you plan to learn cooking or how to operate an excavator?"
"???
.....................
The destination they arrived at was the Grand Hall of Zhongsi Academy. The girls who had been cramped in the small house didn't seem as numerous here.
However, there was heating, ample chandelier lighting, and the walls were adorned with beautiful wallpaper, making the young girls appear quite happy.
It was currently midnight in New York, with about five hours until daybreak. Seems like the next lesson should have Hamill discuss geography and time zones.
"Boss."
Gin came over to greet, he was here too. Doesn't he need to sleep at night?
"With Hamill here at the school, it should be enough. Why haven't you gone to rest? It's too late now," Su Ming sighed, patting the old buddy's shoulder.
Gin was actually resigned. Hamill is a typical scholar and lacks some common sense.
Lately, Gin had been managing school affairs, such as arranging for chefs and property management, purchasing teaching materials and supplies, while Vodka and Jos were scouring the world for teachers...
After all, this is New York, and Hamill couldn't even find his way to buy hundreds of blankets here.
Gin had many subordinates to run errands, but he also had to hold the fort due to the many trivial tasks.
After hearing Gin's reasons, Su Ming had no better solution. Assigning Hamill as principal was primarily due to his knowledge and combat skills, not for him to handle the menial tasks from the start.
Su Ming wasn't often around, Wilson Enterprises needed a strong figure to oversee things. Although Hamill may not compare to many, you have to consider who stands behind him.
"He learns quickly, it will be better in a few days," Su Ming comforted Gin, as he still had to manage business affairs, which indeed was quite burdensome: "Has Lorin reported in?"
"She will be here soon. She's been staying at the academy recently, probably dressing up now. But boss, you'd better change your outfit, appearing as Deathstroke before her is a bit premature."
"No worries, I'm leaving immediately. I'll leave everything here to you guys, I need to head out again."
"Alright then, how should these girls' classes be arranged?"
"Give them a vacation first, let them rest for a while. They've been too tense for too long, not resembling children at all," Su Ming shook his head, looking at the crowd below the stage: "Hamill, keep an eye on them, don't let them kill anyone."
"Understood." Educator Hamill adjusted his glasses.
"It's up to you, but it'd be best to practice smiling, you're too serious," Su Ming shrugged, turned, and left through the rear exit of the hall.
"..."
Hamill contorted his face into a terrifying expression, barely resembling a smile, and it only lasted a fleeting moment.
Gin stepped onto the podium, looking at the little girls below, also found it a headache.
"Hello students, I'm Mr. Wilson's assistant, everyone calls me Gin. From today, you'll be living here, and if there's any problem, you can find Principal Hamill and your teacher Lorin."
"Will we continue to learn to kill?" a girl asked from below.
"If you want to continue learning, we have people who can teach you. But if you don't want to learn, no one will force you. Freedom of choice is our school's creed," Gin replied with a smile, like a kindly old gentleman.
In reality, his boss was indeed a free spirit who hadn't set any strict rules for the school, except for a bizarre 'Magic Tome'.
Gin had glanced at the thick book Su Ming handed to Hamill, the preface read something like "Loyalty not absolute, is absolutely disloyal"...
At that time, Gin just snapped the book shut, the brainwashing was too blunt, the damn thing couldn't be used at all, he'd have to figure something out.