A Madman’s Guide to Traveling the World Chapter 130: The Public Security Bureau's Mental State, As A

When he arrived at the first-floor lobby, he found the entire hall empty, not a single person in sight.

This made Grill frown.

This was highly unusual.

No matter how you looked at it, the Public Security Bureau lobby shouldn’t be completely deserted.

He walked to the reception desk and glanced around, noticing a note left on the counter that read, "Reception is temporarily occupied. If it’s important, please go to the Chief’s office on the second floor."

The receptionist went to the Chief’s office?

What would she be doing there?

Rebelling?

Grill instinctively glanced upward, but through the ceiling he could see nothing.

He kept feeling like this was exactly the kind of thing his bunch of kids could pull off.

But his intuition warned that it might be even worse.

He had always trusted his gut.

He lowered his head again and casually rifled through the docunts on the desk.

He picked up several files, all ordinary and unimportant.

Nothing special — after all, anything classified wouldn’t be left at the reception.

Soon, his attention was snagged by a newspaper.

Grill picked it up and found the front-page headline read: "Tensions in the Rondos Federation Intensify, Civil War on the Brink"

[Recently, political polarization in Rondos has sharply escalated. Conflicts among multiple factions have intensified, the situation is tense, and the risk of civil war is imminent. Longstanding ethnic and resource disputes have flared up, leading to frequent ard confrontations. Observers report major factions have mobilized forces, sporadic border skirmishes have occurred, and civilians’ lives are severely affected.]

Grill rembered that Rondos was a federal nation and a mariti state on another continent overseas, far from Liastan. Even if war broke out there, it wouldn’t affect them.

Still, no war would be preferable…

He set the paper down and turned to leave.

He quickly passed through the first floor, crossed the second floor, walked down the corridor, and returned to the door of his office.

His office door wasn’t closed properly, only ajar, and hushed voices could be heard from inside.

It sounded like soone was in his office, doing sothing unknown.

Grill’s ears twitched. He heard the heartbeats of about a dozen people coming from inside his office.

Good, it seed he had found where those absent security officers had gone.

So, he kicked the door open and shouted.

"You little brats, I’m back."

He was t with surprised stares.

Everyone from Branch Three of the Public Security Bureau was in his office.

His office wasn’t particularly large, but if no one moved around, it could hold a dozen people without issue.

"What’s this? Why are you all staring at like that?" Grill said as he began to scan the room, puzzled about what they were doing in his space.

He focused and soon realized his desk was covered with wreaths and fruit baskets. His chair had been moved to the corner, replaced by a tombstone with his enlarged black-and-white ID photo affixed to it.

A dozen security officers and clerical staff stood around his "grave," all turning their heads to look at the man who had just burst in.

They all wore black suits with bow ties, gathered around his "tombstone."

One security officer wore clerical robes and held the Divine Lord Church’s Bible, apparently performing a rite for his grave.

Grill blinked, and they blinked back.

"It’s all your fault!" one officer suddenly accused another loudly. "I told you the boss wouldn’t like wreaths and fruit offerings, right? Look, the boss is riled awake. I told you we should have lit a cigar instead."

"That’s just because you want to smoke it yourself! Don’t pretend you were gonna burn it for the boss!" another officer imdiately retorted.

"Better than nothing, right?"

"What kind of attitude is that? You wanna duel?"

"Bring it on, loser!"

"Fine, you think I’m scared of you?"

Grill’s ears twitched as he overheard two officers whispering.

Their voices were low, but with Grill’s four-mark hearing, he could still catch every word.

"What do we do now that the boss is back?"

"What do you an, 'what do we do'?"

"I an the boss’s funeral pay — do we give it?"

"Of course not. We blew all the money. What would we give?"

His gaze shifted.

Grill saw two junior security officers start gobbling down the offerings as soon as they realized he had returned, apparently worried he might take them all.

The scene was oddly harmonious.

At that mont, the officer dressed in clerical robes circumvented the others and stepped in front of Grill, murmuring prayers.

A few seconds later, he reached out, pressed down on Grill’s eyes, and slid his hand downward as if trying to close the eyelids of a corpse refusing to rest.

"Rest in peace, boss, rest in peace."

The pretender-priest droned on.

Grill’s eyes remained open. He stared at him expressionlessly.

The robe-clad officer paused, then pressed again.

"Rest in peace, boss, rest in peace."

Ah! Son of a—!

Smack.

Grill slapped his hand away.

"What are you doing?" Grill asked flatly.

"Well…" The officer had a guileless smile on his face. "Boss, we already voted that you died in the line of duty, so why don’t you just be a good sport and die one more ti for us?"

Grill remained expressionless and said nothing.

After waiting a few seconds, the officer, still wearing that innocent look, continued:

"If you don’t say anything, we’ll take that as your consent."

Still silence.

The officer raised his hand again, trying once more to press Grill’s eyes closed.

"Rest in peace, boss…"

Smack.

His hand was slapped away again.

"Why won’t you play along, boss? I’m telling you—"

Smack!

This ti the blow landed on his face, neither light nor heavy.

Quickly, the over-two-ter-tall, broad-shouldered officer in clerical robes clapped a hand to his face, splayed his fingers theatrically, and ran off, whining.

Mm. Their ntal state, as always, was well ahead of the curve. These lovable little brats, no doubt.

These rascals were getting itchy; it looked like today would require so serious real-combat training.