Extra | Please Believe In Science

Draft

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"It's... It's because of my girlfriend," Hank stammered in front of a bunch of microphones.

It all happened because Hank fought with his girlfriend.

No, the reason is that a foreigner opened a bakery here.

A year ago, two out-of-towners came to town and planned to open a bakery in the newly built development zone. The bread and desserts they sell are delicious, and the manager is a middle-aged, good-looking man who made all the teenage girls wander around the bakery all day long. Hank couldn't stand it anymore, he complained to his girlfriend, but his girlfriend said he didn't know how to appreciate it, she said, "He's older than you but more handsome than you are!"

So they quarrelled, asking from: "Is the bakery manager handsome or not?" to arguing to "The last time you wore a shirt with pizza sauce on a date" until it finally got out of hand. His girlfriend told him she wanted to break up. Hank got angry and wandered outside the bakery until night, waiting to block that manager after closing, and teach him a lesson. Hank imagined hundreds of times in his mind the scene where he'd grab the manager's neck and say harsh words. He finally waited until the bakery closed off and the clerk left.

A red-haired man followed behind the store manager locking the store door behind him, and the two left together. Hank tried hard to recall and remembered that another out-of-towner, the baker of this shop, lived with the manager.

The middle-aged pretty-faced store manager spoke softly, looking at his delicate skin and tender muscles, there was a large probability that he had never fought since childhood. As for Hank, he likes basketball and is physically strong. He can beat two store managers on his own, but the baker was a tall man with muscles in his arms that could be seen through his shirt- man, this bakery's grill must be super heavy! ——He stood beside the store manager, like a bodyguard, making Hank feel anxious. Hank hesitated for a long time, he didn't dare to go forward yet he was unwilling to leave, following them to a nearby convenience store. As the saying goes, when people are unlucky, they'll bump and stick their teeth even when drinking water. Not long after Hank entered the convenience store, they encountered a devil.

All because of that damn baker.

The bakery is built in the new development zone, the town is remote, so the development zone is even more remote. The convenience store where the manager went after closing is next to them on the road. In the middle of the night, a car appeared on the highway, and a group of demons ran down from the car. they had horns on their heads and guns in their hands, shouting indiscriminately: "Hand over your valuables!" "We're demons!" "We robbed the bank!"

A clerk screamed and was knocked unconscious, and the remaining clerks and all the customers in the store (that is, Hank and the bakery duo) were locked in the storage room, The group of demons cheered and started a party in the convenience store.

"Are they going to eat us?" the still awake clerk said tearfully.

Hank didn't want to talk, Hank wanted to cry too. That's the devil! It had only been twenty years since the end of "Hell's Disaster". People under the age of twenty had never seen a demon but grew up listening to the horror stories of demons. Their fangs could crush bone, their claws could split steel, they can breathe fireballs, and can eat human flesh. They were like locusts wherever they went, even though the gates of hell closed, no one can ensure that no fish slipped through the net. The elders kept admonishing them, and the TV station warned all year round so the young people were all irrationally frightened of the devil. It was akin to monsters suddenly appearing under their bed.

There were five people in the storage room, one was lying unconscious on the ground, and the four were sitting in a circle and tied with a string. The female clerk that was in her twenties was pale, and Hank forced himself to remain calm.

"They'll sprinkle pepper on us." The clerk sniffed. "There's pepper in the store."

"The devil doesn't eat cooked food," muttered the baker.

The clerk looked at him in horror.

"I mean, it's not a demon at all!" The baker hurriedly corrected, "The gates of hell have closed long ago. After all these years, how could there still be demons running around in groups overground? Those horns look a lot like goat's horn, they're also not too heavy."

"Really?" the clerk said timidly.

"Devils won't use guns, they have claws," the baker reassured. "It's just a bunch of troubled teenagers who robbed a bank and ran away."

"So they won't eat meat, they just kill? Our bodies will be weighed with cement and thrown into the sea, it always plays like this on TV..."

"Why would anyone robbing a bank carry cement with them? The corpse will be stranded, it's more convenient to dig a hole and bury it..."

The girl rolled her eyes and fainted.

The shopkeeper gave the baker a disapproving look, and the baker smirked, looking a little embarrassed.

"They didn't rob the bank." The store manager gave Hank a reassuring smile. "The nearest city is almost a two hours drive away. If they really robbed a bank, the news would've been heard on the store's radio before closing. People like this are numerous. Robbing convenience stores, maybe smoking marijuana, but they're not outlaws. Just wait until they leave or the police arrive."

This Mr Wilson is polite, gentle and considerate, with a face that doesn't require temperament or conversation. This face usually makes Hank angry, but now it's particularly reassuring. There was an air of trust about him, the housewives claims that he could put the town priest out of his job, and the housewives' husbands' claims that he would excel in salesmanship isn't an overstatement. In such a critical situation, even Hank, who didn't like him, couldn't help but seek him for help.

"Aren't they really demons?" Hank couldn't help asking. "They have magic, maybe they can open the gates of hell by themselves?"

"Yeah, and they'll learn to drive and smoke marijuana by themselves." Rolling his eyes, the baker interjected, "No, the devil only throws fireballs. There are no devils and no angels in this world."

"But there were demons twenty years ago! And priests who fought demons!" Hank argued.

"It's all fake!" the baker insisted, beginning to plausibly like a stubborn old man. "There are no evil devils, no gods, and no priests with supernatural powers, it's all propaganda! It's a scam! You have to believe in science, you can't believe in gods."

Hank was dumbfounded and looked at Mr Wilson for help - the store manager had a cross hanging around his neck, obviously a believer, but they didn't seem to be on bad terms because they live together. He looked at the store manager, who was looking down at the female store clerk who had just fainted, frowning, as if he had found something.

Hank also went to see the clerk, only to see that the girl was pale, sweating profusely, and had fallen unsteadily. Could it be heart disease or epilepsy? Hank's heart tensed.

"Low blood sugar." The store manager said, adding when Hank breathed a sigh of relief, "If we can't get help fast enough, it may cause brain damage."

"What should I do?" Hank was confused.

They knocked on the door, no one listened, the "devils" had turned the music up by a lot. The baker stood up and looked up and down the door, as if ready to break it. Hank hurriedly stopped him, the people outside had guns!

"Then, there's only one way now." Mr Wilson sighed, "Please close your eyes, let's pray."

It didn't sound like a solution at all, but when Mr Wilson said it, it seemed to make sense. The robbers have guns and they are unarmed and tied up, what else can they do but close their eyes and pray? Hank closed his eyes and stammered his praise to the Father in heaven with Mr Wilson. After reading a few prayers, Hank heard a loud noise. He opened his eyes in panic, only to see that the rope on his body had broken into many pieces, and the door to the storage room was open and shaky.

The rope was as thick as two fingers, and the locked door was made of iron.

"When people are stimulated and their emotions fluctuate greatly, the human body can secrete adrenaline, which can make people burst into a powerful potential." Mr Wilson said in the same sincere tone as when he said the prayer, "You can burst out such potential because you are righteous and brave, very admirable."

"I... what?" Hank was stunned.

Even if the rope was freed by him, was the door opened by his mind? What about the baker? Where has he gone?

"There are no supernormal abilities in this world, only human potential." Mr Wilson said sternly, throwing the broken rope to the ground, "Believe in science. Of course, you must also believe in God. As long as you have faith, things will always turn around."

Gunshots sounded like raindrops outside the door.

Mr Wilson reassured: "Don't worry, no one will get hurt..."

Screams sounded one after another.

"...No one will die." Mr Wilson paused subtly.

This change of wording isn't reassuring in the slightest, especially when it became more lively outside. The howls of ghosts and wolves, the sound of heavy objects falling, the sound of car engines, and the sound of collisions were endless, making it impossible to guess what was happening outside the door. Hank hesitated again and again, and finally summoned the courage to take the opportunity to go out and call the police. He got up, and so did Mr Wilson. When Hank came to the door, the store manager suddenly opened his mouth.

"Did you see that shelf?" he said.

The store manager pointed to the shelf in the storage room near the door. There was a protrusion that was almost as high as Hank's forehead. Mr Wilson said: "It's positioned badly. If you run fast without paying attention, you'll hit it."

Was it a warning for me to not hit it? Hank didn't know why, before he had time to thank him, he felt a force coming from the back of his head, smashing his head heavily on the shelf.

When Hank woke up, the dust had settled.

The clerk with low blood sugar was hooked on glucose, and the robbers who pretended to be demons were all arrested, all thanks to Hank. When he found that someone had fainted, he broke free from the rope and bravely led everyone to their escape. Their bravado frightened the group of high-flying teenagers away, and the troublemakers raced off the road until they hit a street sign and crashed the car into a coma. Hank was a good and brave young man, but he was a little reckless. When he finally rushed back to the storage room, he bumped into the shelf there and knocked himself unconscious. He became the only victim of this incident and the one that was the most hurt.

Hank was honoured on his hospital bed, the crowd was already surrounding him, and the flashing lights were clicking. Dozens of microphones were plugged into his mouth, asking him to talk about his feelings about his bravery. Hank was stunned, unable to remember how he acted bravely. "Are you sure it's not a mistake?" he said uncertainly, "I don't remember that I did this..."

"Who else but you? The two gentlemen in the bakery have been complimenting you!" The reporter spat "Do you want to believe people who use drugs develop bad brains?"

The surveillance cameras were all damaged, and the two shop assistants were unconscious throughout the whole process. Except for the two gentlemen of the bakery, the only witnesses on the other side could testify were a group of troubled teens pretending to be demons. They woke up screaming, howling that a demon had suddenly burst into the crowd and beat them so hard that they cried.

"The real devil! A monster!" the driver of the car hysterically said, "We didn't hit the road sign! It pulled the sign and smashed the car to a stop!"

-Apparently, no one believed them.

How could there be a demon that fell from the sky just to subdue robbers? This group of people has no flesh injuries on their bodies, only a few impact injuries. "I've seen a lot of juvenile delinquents like this," the town's sheriff said disdainfully. "If they were really 'beaten by the devil', where did those injuries go? Did a holy son fall from the sky and cure them?"

The joke was so funny that the baker laughed for five minutes when the sheriff told it to the other two.

So Hank became a well-deserved hero, receiving public recognition and numerous interviews. Hank stood sluggishly on the stage, the mayor shook his hand and smiled at the camera with his eight remaining teeth. Hank looked around the audience, where his mother was wiping her tears, his father looked relieved, the baker folded his arms in delight, and Mr Wilson smiled encouragingly. His girlfriend who was in the back in his arms waved to him, and he laughed stupidly.

"It's because of my girlfriend." Hank cleared his throat and said, "Jane had always wanted me to be a hero in the danger..."

Of course, there were no demons or saints that fell from the sky. This is just all human potential. Believe in science.

【END】

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PastTimer: One more 'extra' chapter and we're officially done