As Jenny walked back into Dark Dream, Nick looked at his three distant employees.
Petra's words made Nick feel strange.
He genuinely didn't feel like he had done anything to be proud of.
They had had an agreement, and he had simply fulfilled his part of the agreement.
He had protected his employee.
But when Petra had been so thankful, Nick felt unnatural.
It was like he was not supposed to be in this situation.
People were not supposed to be thankful to him.
He felt like he didn't deserve their thanks.
Nick knew that he had done horrible things in the past, and he knew that it was almost impossible to redeem himself.
His only hope of redemption was to make Crimson City into a utopia.
But the chances of that dream coming true were low.
If it happened, Nick felt like it would be natural to be showered with thanks and praises.
Right now, though?
It felt wrong.
'Even if I saved one life today, that doesn't even make a dent into the thousands I owe,' Nick thought as he took a deep breath.
Breathing was no longer that important for Veterans, but Nick still sighed and took deep breaths in stressful or relieving situations due to habit.
Nick just slowly shook his head, grabbed the Specter, and walked into Dark Dream.
Ironically, Petra's words made Nick feel worse.
If she had said nothing, he would feel better.
Accepting her thanks was like taking something that didn't belong to him.
He almost felt guilty.
As soon as Nick saw the first mouth on the wall inside Dark Dream, his mood returned to normal again.
Whenever he was reminded of Julian's existence, he was reminded of his goal as well.
Looking at Julian was like looking at his debt and his payment plan for said debt at the same time.
Nick walked to the third floor of the building, and just as he expected, Julian was already waiting in front of the Specter's future Containment Unit.
"You already got another one," Julian said with a chuckle.
Other people might find Julian's chuckle to be polite and friendly, but in Nick's ears, it just sounded confident and arrogant.
He was the only one who knew Julian's true face, and he hated it.
However, he still believed that Julian was a better fit for leadership of the city than the current governor.
Nick went to the console of the Containment Unit and opened it.
The alarm of the opening Containment Unit thundered throughout the entire building, reminding Nick of the alarm inside the ruin.
But right now, the Specter was more important.
Several seconds later, the Containment Unit opened, and Nick threw the Specter into it.
Then, he closed the Containment Unit again.
Done.
The Specter was now securely suppressed in the last free Containment Unit on the third floor.
The other three Containment Units on this floor contained the Bleeding Lady, the Puppy, and the Money Sink.
It was an entire floor filled with Physical Specters at the Adolescent Stage.
'Bleeding Lady is still a Mid Adolescent. The Puppy is still an Early Adolescent. The Money Sink is a Late Adolescent, but she advanced only recently.'
'This new Specter might be the strongest Specter on this floor, but I don't think that it's about to become an Adult, based on its strength.'
'The Fog and the Lover are Mid Adolescents, and the Dung Heap is soon going to become a Peak Adolescent.'
'None of them will become Adults within the next four years.'
'The Dreamer is the only one that will advance within that timeframe, and only because I had to renegotiate its ratio of Zephyx.'
'However, it needs another two years or so to become an Adult.'
'We really need an Adult,' Nick thought as he looked at the Containment Unit housing the new Specter.
'The new Specter won't be valuable enough to purchase an Adult, but it's at least something.'
Nick glanced at Julian.
'Let's hope this piece of information is worth enough. I don't want to stop advancing for several years.'
"I have to talk to you in your office, Julian," Nick said.
Julian's human body raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Of course," he said.
Nick could feel the confidence in his control in Julian's words.
The two walked up to the seventh floor of the building and entered his office.
Julian sat down behind the desk, and his face transformed into a morphing mass of mouths.
Nick showed no reaction to Julian's appearance.
This was the ugly face of his actions, and he had to look at it every single day.
"I presume there's more?" the mouths said as he appeared and vanished from Julian's face.
"Yes, there's more," Nick said.
Nick told Julian everything that happened after he left the city for the second time.
"And you risked your life for her?" Julian asked with a ridiculing voice.
"It was our agreement," Nick said.
"Right, agreement," Julian said as if he didn't care.
Nick knew that the word agreement triggered something in Julian.
It wasn't trauma or something like that.
It was annoyance.
Julian's entire existence and power relied on bets, which were agreements.
Julian was the only being who couldn't break an agreement without causing significant damage to itself.
Naturally, these agreements made him feel stifled.
Agreements were like chains that were binding him.
That was why he had a specific dislike and disgust for people who kept their agreements, even though they could break them without any consequences.
It was like somebody who had the freedom to do something but refused to do it.
But Julian also knew that he shouldn't speak too badly about agreements.
After all, he and Nick had one, and he didn't want Nick to think that he would betray and kill him.
But Nick already knew.
While Julian's acting and his mask were perfect outside, he wasn't good at hiding his intentions when he wasn't wearing his mask.
It was not difficult for Nick to see how much Julian hated keeping agreements.
"And then, I noticed something," Nick said while recounting what happened.
"There was some light coming from behind some of the silk, and that light worked against the Nightmare's influence."