Chapter 22: How can I eat my wife’s soft rice!
If there was anything miserly bosses hated to hear, “I want a raise” would definitely be in the top three.
Jian Tang shouted “I want a raise!” three times in a row. The giant octopus was so furious he practically exploded, his tentacles flailing wildly. “Shit! You’ve rebelled! Truly rebelled! If I don’t show you who’s boss, you won’t know your place!”
Jian Tang nimbly dodged the slick tentacles trying to grab him and shouted at the top of his lungs. “If you don’t agree, I’m going to find the mayor of Jingba Town! I’ll tell him the truth about yesterday’s farce!”
This immediately struck the octopus’s vital spot. The frantic tentacles froze as if paralyzed, but his mouth remained sharp as he roared viciously, “Jian Tang! You dare threaten me?!”
“I’m threatening you, so what?” Jian Tang had cast all caution to the wind, roaring back with full vigor. “I’m almost too poor to eat, what do I have to be afraid of! Worst case, I get beaten half to death, but I wonder if the monsters of Jingba Town will go insane and come over to sabotage your orders, scaring all your VIP guests? That’s hard to say!”
…
Twenty minutes later, Jian Tang walked out of the boss’s office, looking refreshed and holding a salary increase notice.
As expected, strike at the vital point. He knew his boss cared about the orders for the VIPs, but he hadn’t realized he cared that much. As soon as he mentioned them, the boss instantly wilted. Of course, the subsequent negotiations weren’t all smooth sailing; Jian Tang and the Big Boss engaged in a fierce war of words, arguing every point. In the end, he secured a salary increase of 580 per month, plus 1,000 for “bait” reimbursement and 500 for the errand fee.
Based on the System’s 1:20 exchange rate for points to human currency, he would be able to give his wife several thousand in household expenses and pocket money every month! Any remaining points could be saved up to exchange for longevity pills from the System Mall—one every year—so his wife could live for hundreds or thousands of years just like him, and he wouldn’t have to worry about their lifespans being mismatched.
Yay! This life was looking brighter and brighter!
In high spirits, Jian Tang happily went downstairs to change into his new formal wear. After stepping out of the changing room, every monster who saw him widened their eyes.
“Wow!”
His few close friends surrounded him first, exclaiming in amazement. “Little Tang, your new clothes look so good!” “You look like a noble lord in this outfit! I almost didn’t recognize you!” “It suits you perfectly! Both cute and elegant!”
Jian Tang: “Hee hee hee.”
It feels so good to be praised! What felt even better was that he’d gotten this outfit for free. Hee hee.
Even the Hundred-Eyed Spider Matriarch couldn’t help herself. She opened the hundred eyes on her massive belly and circled Jian Tang on her silk thread, observing him, sizing him up. Then, she wrote on the ground with spider silk:
[It looks like the style the Demon race likes.]
Jian Tang stopped giggling. He recoiled tactically, gasping, “Demon race?”
Could it be that the VIP I have to entertain is a high-level demon??
He hurried to ask his friends, but they were all bottom-tier monsters who hadn’t even seen a normal Lord, so how would they know what the preferred clothing style of high-level demons was?
“It sure looks like it,” a large passing monster glanced at Jian Tang, gloating. “Those hypocritical guys love to dress up like humans; they look like elegant nobles, but their minds are even more disgusting than the foulest maggots in the sewer.”
Jian Tang: “…”
No wonder the Big Boss gave him a fake smile while telling him to ‘properly entertain the VIP’. It seemed the person he was going to entertain was genuinely one of the most evil, troublesome, demanding, and unpopular devil-clients in the supernatural world: the Demon race!
Dammit, he should have asked for more “hazard pay!”
“Jian Tang!”
Jian Tang jumped and turned to see the Big Boss, now dressed in formal wear, heading downstairs. Since a VIP was coming, he naturally couldn’t show his face as a giant octopus anymore, so he had undergone a transformation—the octopus’s fat, bald head had shrunk, his body had slimmed down significantly, and his tentacles were tucked neatly under the hem of his frock coat. He looked like an upside-down purple broccoli.
“Get out here,” the Big Boss lifted his chin, sneering. “And come welcome the VIP with us.”
“…”
Jian Tang’s face slumped, and he went dejectedly to join the Big Boss.
10:00 AM.
Jian Tang and the other six factory bosses, along with the two mayors of the town, waited outside the elevator. As for the other employees in the factory, they weren’t idle either; they stood in formation on both sides of the monster town’s road, holding flowers and ribbons, acting as the atmosphere squad. Because the bosses had been tight-lipped, until now, the monster employees didn’t know which VIPs they were about to welcome.
“We don’t know, but why doesn’t Little Tang know either?” Bored from waiting, Little Mushroom and his friends began to whisper. “The Big Boss custom-made Little Tang a new outfit, yet he didn’t tell him who he was welcoming? Isn’t that strange?”
Little Zombie’s gaze swept over the bosses in the distance, finding them equally nervous and apprehensive. “Maybe…” he suddenly had a strange guess, “the bosses don’t know who’s coming either.”
“Eh? That’s impossible, right??”
“It’s possible.” The little spiders, always at the forefront of gossip, joined the discussion. “I heard the brokers who first contacted the bosses only revealed a portion of the client information, like their background, but which agent these?? (behind-the-scenes) powers would send, the bosses probably don’t know.”
“So mysterious.” Little Mushroom was awestruck. “What level of Great Lord could this be? Even the secrecy work is so…”
Before he could finish, the massive elevator at the end of the road gave a Duang— sound as it landed.
All the monsters immediately fell silent, countless eyes converging on the gray iron-bucket elevator. The bosses and mayors waiting in front of the elevator instinctively held their breath, straightening their bodies. Jian Tang was also exceptionally nervous, his palms sweating.
Under the spotlight of everyone’s attention, the elevator door slowly opened.
Before they could see what was inside, all the monsters felt a wave of strong, surging power—like a tsunami—wash over them. The monsters dwelling in this remote little town were all below C-rank; how could they withstand such oppressive pressure? Not only did the employees on both sides of the road collapse in a heap, but even the few C-rank bosses couldn’t hold on, falling to their knees one after another.
Jian Tang, however, although suffering under the invisible pressure, didn’t have legs weak enough to collapse. He took a few deep breaths and stood tall.
“…Hm?”
An intrigued question came from within the elevator—a lazy, languid tone with an elegant, half-smiling inflection, sounding very much like the smug tone a playboy might use upon discovering his prey.
A slender human figure stepped slowly out of the elevator.
He wore a Gothic-style black-and-red formal suit similar to Jian Tang’s. His facial features were handsome and dimensional, his skin pale and bloodless. He made no sound as he walked—if one looked closely, one would see the black boots on his feet weren’t actually touching the ground, but hovered 1-2 centimeters above it, avoiding any dust or filth.
And what shocked Jian Tang the most was—he was in human form.
The higher-ranked the monster, the more difficult it was to condense their massive power into a common human form. At least in Jian Tang’s limited experience, he had never seen an S-rank or higher monster maintain a human form. Yet, the “person” in front of him had a human form that was perfect, not in the least inferior to his own.
“Hm? There are humans here?”
Behind the handsome man came another hoarse voice. Jian Tang subconsciously glanced at the source of the sound, his pupils shrinking instantly. He recognized who the second VIP was.
Not just him—under the oppressive weight of the power, the other monsters who were unable to get up had managed to squint and see the three figures emerging from the elevator, and were then so shocked their minds went blank, doubting if they were dreaming.
Duke of Nightmares, Fila! Hell’s Eye, Agne! Evil God, Heramis!
Three World-Lord rank powerhouses! T0-level existences at the peak of the supernatural monster world!
But, but how is this possible?
As the gatekeeping BOSSes of System SS-rank dungeons, they theoretically couldn’t leave their dungeons. How had they bypassed the System restrictions to leave the public dungeons??
Although Jian Tang only recognized one—having seen his photo on the cover of a weekly monster magazine—feeling the equally powerful auras of the three VIPs, he could guess they were all World-Lord rank tycoons.
The low-level F-rank monster swallowed hard, wanting to compress his presence to the minimum. But as the only monster present who hadn’t been pressed to the ground, Jian Tang’s existence was too conspicuous. Every World-Lord emerging from the elevator looked at him instantly.
“No, he is not human.”
The Evil God, who walked out last, glanced at the youth and concluded.
Duke of Nightmares Fila, who had walked out first, came to Jian Tang and looked down at him. He suddenly pressed the black-gold scepter in his hand against the youth’s chest. Jian Tang felt his heartbeat accelerate like a wild horse gone loose, thumping frantically.
“…Interesting.”
The other party withdrew his scepter, the corners of his lips hooking up with interest. Jian Tang watched as the Duke of Nightmares’ black pupils slowly turned into blood-red crescents.
They were the eyes of a demon.
“Little one, your soul has the scent of a human on it,” the man said with a smile.
“You were once, weren’t you—raised by humans?”
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