055 Kali's Decision
"We can help each other." Seeing Kali's hesitation, Richard smiled and said, "You guys are searching for people one by one and asking around like this; sooner or later, there's going to be trouble."
Kali was stunned for a moment. Recalling how Richard had staked out Jared's residence ahead of them, she trusted him a bit more. "Are you saying you can find other people who used to be at The Lab?"
"I can't say I'll find one hundred percent of them, but it's close enough." Richard asked with a smile, "So, how about a partnership? You help me, and I help you."
"But Mick and the others..." Kali was tempted, yet she couldn't help but hesitate.
"You seem to have misunderstood something." Richard squinted slightly with a smile. "I only need you to show up when I require your help, and bring these friends of yours along with you."
Hearing this, Kali fell into deep thought. After a long while, she said, "Actually, neither you nor I need to care about what's happening in The Upside Down."
"The origins of The Upside Down are bigger than you or I can imagine. Although Henry seems to be in control of the situation, to me, he's just a puppet, a conduit... Even without Henry, The Upside Down has always existed. He just got lucky enough to be transported to that place. The Upside Down will eventually erode the reality we live in." Richard held a different opinion on this. "If everyone ignores it, although Hawkins Lab will disappear because of it, the innocent town of Hawkins will also vanish, and then the erosion of The Upside Down will no longer be limited to the town, but will affect the entire world..."
"That's too far away for me, and it's just speculation." Kali waved her hand, cutting off Richard's narrative.
Richard saw that behind her seemingly tough facade, she was actually just using bravado to avoid getting hurt. Therefore, he did not continue to persuade her from that angle, but instead said, "Since Dr. Brenner is not dead, then both you and I must find him. And if I may be blunt, a crew like yours might never find Dr. Brenner's whereabouts in a lifetime. You can only rely on one person's ability to do so."
"Are you talking about Eleven?" Kali didn't get angry after hearing Richard's words; she just fell into silence once more. Only after a long time did she say, "Perhaps I need to think about it."
"Alright, you can take your time thinking." Richard smiled. "If you don't mind, may I crash here tonight? Give me an answer before dawn."
Kali gave a nearly imperceptible nod, turning her back to look at the messy cityscape, no longer facing Richard directly.
Richard left the rooftop. With the help of the big guy Damon, who was gruff on the outside but decent on the inside, a room was temporarily cleared out in the abandoned factory, giving Richard a place to stay for the night.
Closing the door, Richard lay on the couch, his fingers sliding through the air, scrolling through the previous collection records of plot points.
Unsurprisingly, all four members of Kali's crew had provided him with plot points. He obtained a total of 21 plot points from the four of them. Among them, Kali gave the most, a full 12 points. In terms of plot points gained from making acquaintances, she—a supporting character who was only active in the second season of the original series—actually gave more than Steve and the others.
Richard also felt very surprised. Then he suddenly remembered that the original Stranger Things seemed to have spin-off products, with several comics released to supplement some settings and plots of the main story. Perhaps Kali had also made an appearance in the comic works.
Thinking this way, Richard felt that the scope for harvesting plot points in this world was unexpectedly large. It might not be impossible to harvest plot points from someone he didn't know or hadn't met one day.
While focusing on the system information of the [skill panel], a faint sound of footsteps and human breathing reached Richard's ears. Opening his eyes to look, he saw a dark shadow standing outside the door, forming the rough outline of a muscular guy through the frosted glass.
"Is something the matter, Damon?" Seeing that the person outside the door had made no move for a long time, Richard took the initiative to call out.
The person outside seemed startled by his sudden question. The shadow trembled, and he stammered, "Uh, no, nothing. I just wanted to ask if the blanket is warm enough, and if you need me to add a few more for you."
"Heh, you're very thoughtful." Richard said with a smile, his eyes showing no emotion. "I think it's warm enough. Any more and I'd be sweating from the heat."
"Is that so? Then do you need anything else?"
"No need, thank you."
"In that case, I'll take off. If you need anything, come find me in the tin shack on the first floor. Goodnight." Damon left these words and hurried away.
Sensing the strangeness of Damon's behavior, Richard was lost in thought...
Before long, it seemed that light was shining outside. Richard felt it was a bit harsh and slowly opened his eyes, then suddenly realized that the light was excessively bright. Looking closely, it was actually the bright beams emitted from the tactical flashlights on assault rifles.
Facing a heavy encirclement of armed personnel, several dark muzzles surrounded Richard, like a void ready to swallow his life.
In such a scene, Richard simply sat up from the bed and silently put his hands up in surrender.
"Heh heh heh, it's been quite a while, Richard." Just as Richard was calmly thinking about how to respond, a familiar figure entered the room in a steady tone, accompanied by two armed guards.
"Dr. Brenner?" Richard was somewhat surprised. "You're really not dead?"
"Lucky me." Dressed in a suit, Dr. Brenner was as neat and polished as ever. His silver hair was combed smooth and perfect, and his facial features were so calm that his expressions were minimal, making him look a bit younger. He showed none of the disheveled or defeated posture from his last confrontation with Richard and the others. He said calmly, "It wasn't easy to find you."
"What do you want from me?" Richard's eyes flickered as he asked.
Dr. Brenner said casually, "Why ask when you already know, Number 66? You took something from The Lab. Shouldn't you come clean?"
"What did I take?" The corner of Richard's mouth curled up slightly as he continued to press.
"You know."
"I don't know that you know that I know."
"..." Dr. Brenner's face stiffened, and he said darkly, "Hurry up and hand over what you stole, Number 66!"
Richard simply gave up, acting completely unbothered. He lay back comfortably on the bed and pulled the blanket over himself. "If you don't say it, how am I supposed to know what to hand over?"
"Get up, I'll shoot!" Dr. Brenner shouted angrily.
Richard pulled back the blanket, revealing his slightly "provocative" side-lying posture. A fitted shirt that showed off his athletic body added a bit of robust masculine appeal. "You can climb in here and think about it slowly."
"Enough!" A woman's sharp shout made Richard feel a shock in his brain. The next moment, the armed militants and Dr. Brenner all vanished. Only four young men and women stood by Richard's bed holding tactical flashlights, with Kali standing to the side looking angry.
"Is this your answer?" Richard looked as if he had expected this. He glanced out the window; at this time, the morning glow was rising, and a new day was about to arrive. He turned his head back to Kali and asked.
Kali was silent for a while, then said with frustration, "As fellow survivors, why are you unwilling to help me? Wasn't experiencing that pain enough? Do you still want to help The Lab clean up the mistakes they made?"
Richard sighed, got up to get dressed, picked up his backpack from the bedside, and put it on. He walked past Kali and stopped at the door, turning back to say, "According to what you said, both you and Eleven are mistakes."
"Good luck, Kali. What I said on the rooftop still stands. If you change your mind, give me a call." Richard pulled a business card from his pocket, tucked it into the gap of the door's window frame, and then left their hideout without looking back.
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