Steam Old Days: The Extraordinary Begins with a Corpse Collector

"Boss, Lyndon is back."

As soon as Secretary Ais finished speaking, Hornby spat out all the coffee he was drinking.

The coffee stained the documents on the table brown, and the liquid dripped down the edge of the table to the floor.

A few drops of coffee splashed onto Ais's clean white shirt.

Ais remained expressionless, but her body betrayed her by taking a step back.

Hornby choked on his coffee; he leaned against the table, bent over, and coughed violently.

He was speechless for a moment.

Once he had recovered, Hornby raised his head, his eyes red, and asked his secretary the same question again.

"What did you just say?"

Ais took a deep breath, slowed her speech, and made sure that every word was pronounced clearly.

"I said, Lyndon, you're back."

Snapped!

Hornby abruptly stood up from his leather chair, slamming his large hand on the table in front of him with a deafening roar.

He could hardly believe his ears.

The Phoenix family's story is being spread like wildfire in the streets. Although Hornby knows there's bound to be some exaggeration involved, even if there's a 50% chance it's fabricated, Lyndon shouldn't have come back alive!

"No way, how could he come back?"

Thinking of this, Hornby gritted his teeth and asked, "Where is he now?"

"It's downstairs, it looks like..."

Before Ais could finish speaking, Hornby had already eagerly emerged from behind the desk, opened the office door, and rushed downstairs.

Ais simply shook her head and followed Hornby down the stairs.

Downstairs in the lobby, Lyndon was wearing a coat, his left hand inside the sleeve but not his right; he simply draped the coat over his shoulder.

He held a hard piece of bread in his right hand, crossed his left leg, and sat leisurely on the sofa that was usually reserved for guests.

His expression was calm, his deep eyes fixed on the corner as he slowly ate his bread.

When Lyndon saw Hornby rush downstairs like he was in a battle, and then act as if he had seen a ghost when he saw him, he immediately broke into a bright smile.

He stood up from the sofa, munching on bread as he mumbled a report on the task to his boss.

"Good morning, Mr. Hornby. The mission is complete. I had the cemetery staff issue a certificate; here it is, please take a look."

As he spoke, Lyndon, with bread in his mouth, rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, which he handed to Hornby.

Hornby clutched the paper, unfolded it, and fixed his gaze on the last line of the paper like an awl.

There was the cemetery caretaker's signature and the church's red seal.

Hornby looked at the paper over and over again, as if trying to find some clues in it.

But in the end, he had to confirm that the proof was true.

In other words, Lyndon really did recover another corpse related to the alien species.

This is the second body he has recovered!

If Lyndon was lucky in the sewer incident, then Hornby couldn't find a second reason to exonerate him this time.

Normally, corpse collectors who encounter corpses related to alien species will die nine times out of ten, but this Lyndon is the only one who survived twice in a row.

Is that correct?

This doesn't make sense!

Hornby gripped the certificate even tighter, as if he would tear it to shreds at any moment.

His face changed from white to red, from red to green, and then from green to white.

It looked both spectacular and awful.

"You...you..."

Hornby's throat tightened, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

"What's wrong, boss? Are you feeling unwell?"

Lyndon inquired about Hornby's health.

"Boss, even though there's a lot going on at the company, you still need to take care of your health!"

Lyndon smiled, then changed the subject, mentioning the gold pound Hornby had promised him before he accepted the mission.

Hornby twitched as if bitten by a venomous snake, his steps became unsteady, and he almost lost his balance.

He pointed at Ais, then at the finance office, and said in a hoarse voice, "Go, go get it for him."

Secretary Ais turned and went to the finance office.

During this time, the hall fell into a deathly silence.

All that could be heard was Hornby's heavy breathing.

Lyndon watched Hornby's expression with interest as he stuffed the last bite of bread into his mouth and brushed the crumbs off his hands.

He then made the same request to Hornby.

"Boss, these past few days have been exhausting for me. I'd like to take a day off to rest. What do you think...?"

Upon hearing this, Hornby hurriedly waved his hand, signaling Lyndon to get lost.

He felt a terrible discomfort in his heart; if he looked at Lyndon any longer, he would collapse right there.

At this moment, Hornby just wanted this eyesore to disappear immediately, as far away as possible, and never to appear in front of him again!

At this moment, Secretary Ais also received the money from the finance department.

When the thick banknote, still smelling strongly of ink, landed in Lyndon's hand, he immediately bowed to Hornby with an impeccable smile on his face.

"Thank you, boss. I'll be going now. I wish you all the best in your business! See you tomorrow!"

At the mention of seeing each other again tomorrow, Hornby leaned against the wall and coughed violently, as if he were coughing up his lungs.

Lyndon remained silent; he simply put away the money, turned, and left the company.

Linden had only walked about five meters when he heard a cracking sound behind him.

It looked like something had been smashed.

Lyndon did not pause in his steps, and a disdainful smile even appeared on his lips.

He sneered, "Boss, boss, you're so upset that I'm not dead? Looks like you were hoping for my death."

From the moment Hornby deliberately concealed the condition of Wendell's body in an attempt to push him into a pit of fire, Lyndon's trust in his boss plummeted.

Therefore, the first thing he did upon returning was to severely provoke Hornby.

One reason was to retaliate against the hatred he deliberately concealed.

Secondly, we need to see how Hornby truly feels about himself.

Judging from Hornby's behavior this morning, his hostility towards Lyndon is extraordinary.

It was the kind of deep-seated hostility that made one want to get rid of them as soon as possible.

However, Lyndon still had some doubts about this.

I had never met him before I became a corpse collector, and I had never offended him.

Why would Hornby harbor such malice towards himself?

Lyndon couldn't figure this out no matter how hard he tried.

"It seems we need to investigate this," Lyndon considered.

"However, the main thing right now is the nightmare inside me."

As Lyndon thought about it, his hand unconsciously pressed against his chest.

My thoughts slowly drifted back to that pawnshop.

After leaving his Phoenix mansion, he carried the body to the cemetery overnight.

After obtaining the certificate, Lyndon did not delay and went straight to Alastor's pawnshop.

Alastor was still drunk and quite confused.

But after Lyndon explained the situation to him, Alastor suddenly became sober.

Lyndon touched his chest and asked, "Alastor, that's how it is. When can I see this so-called acquaintance of yours?"