Chapter 707:
Allison had been in Verrucktâs office for barely half a day when whispers began to spread like wildfire outside. The rumor mill churned rapidly, with many taken aback by the news. A female cleaner â promoted?
The chatter eventually made its way to the first floor.
âThings are getting stranger by the minute. I hear Mr. Shaw has hired a new secretary,â one person remarked, half-focused on their work.
âA secretary? I didnât hear anything about a new hire. Howâd she land the job?â another voice questioned.
âSeriously? You must be joking. Mr. Shaw hired her himself, of course. Who else could pull that off?â came the confident reply.
At that moment, Kellan entered, his toolbox in hand, having just come from outside.
âI heard the air conditioner in this room is on the fritz. Iâm here on behalf of the maintenance department,â he said, his tone all business.
The female researcher, who had been gossiping just moments before, immediately sprang to her feet and beckoned him over. âYes, the air conditionerâs broken,â she confirmed.
âWeâve been reporting it for ages, but no one ever shows up,â another researcher sighed.
âI heard thereâve been a lot of power outages lately. The microwave in basement level one was out today, too. I think theyâre prioritizing the basement repairs,â someone else added.
âThatâs true,â the female researcher nodded in agreement, her expression weary. She then eyed Kellan and asked, âBut your uniform doesnât look like it belongs to the maintenance department. Which department are you actually from?â
âIâm from the cleaning department,â Kellan answered modestly, âbut I know a little about electrical repairs, so I was temporarily assigned to the maintenance team.â He quickly set to work, fixing the air conditioner with practiced ease.
The most gossip-hungry of the group leaned in, a spark of recognition lighting up her face. âWait, I remember now! I heard a cleaner helped with electrical repairs a couple of days ago and even got hurt.â
Everyone turned to Kellan, their eyes drawn to the small white bandage wrapped around his arm.
âThat was me,â Kellan said, offering a matter-of-fact explanation. âI got burned by an electrical spark while I was helping with the circuit box repairs.â
Soon, he wrapped up his tools and prepared to leave. âThe air conditionerâs fixed. Iâll be heading back now.â
During Allisonâs mission, Kellan had taken the time to familiarize himself with every floor in the research institute, even infiltrating the maintenance department.
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