Troy and his bad friend's disappearance, though self-inflicted, was hard to admit that their being dragged into The Upside Down was more or less related to Mike and the others. Upon hearing this news, everyone decided to hold a temporary small meeting, still located in Eddie's club classroom.
The classroom's doors and windows were locked tight. Because it was a music classroom, the soundproofing was excellent, so no one worried that their conversation would leak out.
This meeting had no adults, only all members of the junior and senior groups, including Lucas's sister, Erica, who came after hearing the news.
"It's okay, everything Will be fine." Jonathan put his arm around his younger brother's shoulder and comforted him softly. "None of this is your fault. You know, we're brothers, and I'll always stand by you."
Since entering high school, Nancy hadn't had a proper heart-to-heart talk with Mike for a long time. Facing this situation, both siblings felt a bit awkward, but as the older sister, Nancy took the first step in communication. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Mike nodded, pretending everything was okay. Hearing his sister's concern actually made him quite happy inside.
Steve and Dustin looked at each other, eyes wide. After a long silence, Steve finally said, "Well, you have to look at both sides of everything. You can't just look at the bad side."
Dustin was always open-minded and didn't care much anymore. He just gave a dry laugh. "You're right. At least we don't have to worry about them bullying us anymore."
Several of them received comfort from those around them. Mike and the others felt much more relaxed as their inner distress was shared with others. Of course, Lucas seemed to be the exception.
The siblings, Lucas and Erica, looked at each other. Erica stared at him with a playful gaze, her thick lips slightly pursed. Her expression was somewhat "disdainful." She suddenly chuckled, "Wow, my dear brother, you're not expecting me to comfort you like they are, are you?"
Lucas's eyes widened. "WTF, don't be so full of yourself. I... I never thought that."
"Okay, okay, okay." Erica shook her head with the helpless expression of an adult dealing with a throwing-a-tantrum child. She turned her head and reluctantly said in a moderate voice, "It's not your fault. Everything Will be fine. That guy who used to pee on your head all day just got what he deserved—dragged down to hell by a demon."
"How about that? Do you feel honored or comforted now that I've said that?"
"You call that comfort? The facts you mentioned are completely wrong. He didn't pee on my head all day."
"Fine, sometimes."
"It was NEVER!!!"
Richard and Robin watched the scene of everyone supporting each other, and both couldn't help but show aunt-like smiles. Eddie and Barbara were the same.
After a long time, everyone finally stopped the awkward yet warm chatter and got to the main point of the meeting.
"Since this matter more or less involves the consciences of Mike, Will, and the other kids, we can't just sit here and hope for the best," Richard said.
Everyone nodded heavily at this, and the four, including Mike, looked serious.
"Although this is a bad thing, look at it from another angle: it's a good opportunity to expose The Lab's conspiracy," Richard said, squinting. "If we can rescue Troy, that's obviously best. But if we can't, do we have a chance to catch The Lab in their crimes and find evidence?"
Everyone realized... "What? Two children are missing?" Dr. Brennan stood up immediately upon hearing this, looking at The Lab assistant who reported it. His gaze shifted uncertainly.
Currently, about a dozen townspeople were gathered outside The Lab. They had some suspicions from somewhere... Damn it, no need to think; it must have been that bastard Jim Hopper. Now those people were gathered outside The Lab and the Town Government's office, making a scene, protesting, and claiming the child disappearances were caused by the federally funded Lab.
Damn it! How could they say it was caused by The Lab? It's only related!
These ignorant mortals!
Dr. Brennan's heart quickly flashed with such angry emotions, and frustration filled his mind. Recently, one troublesome thing after another had happened at The Lab, making him desperate to find Eleven and take her elsewhere to set up a new lab and restart the experiments.
But the current trouble had to be solved. Everything had to be handled properly. At the very least, they had to shift the blame so the child disappearances had no connection to The Lab.
Several solutions flashed through Dr. Brennan's mind. Suddenly, he had an idea and asked The Lab assistant, "Are there any dangerous ponds or lakes near the town? Somewhere few people pass by."
"Yes!" The Lab assistant replied immediately.
"Heh." Dr. Brennan showed a confident smile, then patted the assistant's shoulder. "Find Agent Frazier. Have them work overtime to create life-sized simulation models of the two missing children. Then place their models in that lake far from The Lab to fake an accidental drowning. Send a professional rescue team to act out the whole scene without leaving a single trace..."
Hearing Dr. Brennan's plan, the assistant nodded repeatedly and quickly left to handle it... "Chade, why are you suddenly borrowing money to buy a computer?" Steve asked, full of confusion, as he accompanied Richard to the electronics store.
Computers weren't a necessity for the general public back then. Due to the limitations of operating systems and networks, ordinary people needed a bit of computer language knowledge to get started. Moreover, computers in this era didn't offer much entertainment. Unless there was a work requirement or a genuine interest, few families chose to buy one, including Steve's.
"Of course, it has a use." Richard smiled slightly.
He hadn't assigned points to his Programming skill to level B for no reason; he had his own considerations. With his current skills, creating a virus to hack into The Lab's system and steal their data was effortless. However, the problem was that a place like The Lab, which was like a "strategic base," used a local area network (LAN). The network was independent, so cool remote hacking like in the movies wasn't easy.
Furthermore, Programming and hacking aren't the same; they only overlap in some coding techniques. Even if Richard leveled Programming to A, it wouldn't necessarily rival an A-level hacking skill.
So, the best way to steal the file data would be through physical intrusion. Sneak into The Lab, and in the server room, plug a storage device containing the virus into The Lab's computer. This way, he could stealthily steal all useful data. Finally, take that information to our "legendary reporter" Murray, let him help filter and process the data, find what's useful, expose The Lab's crimes to the world, and completely bring them down.
Although it sounds easy, it really isn't. This was only Richard's backup plan for exposing the truth about The Lab, as the risk factor was quite high.
Plan A was still to have Jonathan, Nancy, and the others use recording tools to take specific photos, videos, and recordings of The Lab's crimes to gather evidence. Such evidence would be more reliable in the courts of this era.
There wasn't much to choose from among computers in this era. Richard simply picked the most expensive and newest model. Of course, he had Steve pay for it. Anyway, the computer would be useful in the store they'd open later, so it counted as an expense for the electrical appliances needed for the opening.
Steve didn't object, only hoping Richard was buying the computer for a serious purpose. Computers were expensive, and the startup investment his father provided wasn't much. If it was all spent and they couldn't open the store, he wouldn't be able to explain it to his father.
Richard patted his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I definitely won't let you regret it."
The drink shop he and Steve were opening would eventually need a computer. If they bought an ordering system from the market, Richard felt it would be not only expensive but also a waste of money because he could build a better one himself and add many extra features.
Steve chose to believe Richard. To him, Richard was already his best male friend, bar none. Tommy H. from before was nothing; Richard, Jonathan, and Eddie were the brothers he had faced life and death with.
After buying the computer, they bought a bunch of computer accessories and other miscellaneous items, then transported everything back to Richard's house.
After Richard skillfully assembled the computer, he sat in the office chair, his nimble fingers hovering over the keyboard. As the computer booted up to the start screen, he smiled confidently, entered the Programming interface, and began typing code frantically at high speed...