Chapter 51: Stoking the Fire, Then Leaving Him High and Dry…
Ultimately, Jian Tang still ate dinner.
Because he had to accompany his wife.
Although the interview was important, his wife’s current situation was unique, and he couldn’t just leave him high and dry. So, Jian Tang made his way to the dining room.
But a blind man could see that Jian Tang’s mind was entirely elsewhere. Feng Xun tactfully skipped any attempts at a candlelight dinner, and the two of them finished a quiet, ordinary meal.
When bedtime rolled around, to Feng Xun’s surprise, Jian Tang requested that they sleep together again tonight.
However, it was strictly a matter of “sleeping together” and nothing more.
“Wife, don’t mind me, just go to sleep,” Jian Tang said as he lay beside him, clutching his phone with earbuds plugged into his ears. “I’ll be careful not to wake you.”
“…Alright.”
It was a good thing that Little Tang had career ambitions and drive; he couldn’t become a stumbling block.
Feng Xun took a few deep breaths, trying his best to calm his mind. He turned off the lights and went to sleep.
Barely three seconds after he closed his eyes, a soft sensation pressed against his cheek. The person lying next to him had suddenly leaned over and given him a kiss.
Feng Xun opened his eyes in surprise. His night vision was excellent, allowing him to see the youth smiling at him through the darkness.
“That’s a goodnight kiss.”
The other shifted closer, his body pressing almost completely against him, and kissed his other cheek.
“And this is an apology kiss for not being able to properly keep you company tonight.”
“Wife.” Jian Tang took Feng Xun’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m neglecting you tonight. Once I’m done busywork for the evening, I’ll make it up to you tomorrow, okay?”
“…Mm.”
“Thank you, wife!” Delighted by his understanding and wonderful wife, Jian Tang gave him a happy hug. Then, clutching his phone, he rolled right back over to the edge of the bed and resumed watching his videos.
Feng Xun looked at the youth a whole meter away from him, then looked down at “Little Feng Xun,” and silently turned his back.
Stoking the fire and then leaving him high and dry… He would settle this score next time.
—
The night passed.
The next day, Jian Tang returned to work at the Monster Factory.
Counting the time he spent taking the Bosses out sightseeing and his three days of leave, he hadn’t been back to the underground factory for nearly a week.
Returning all of a sudden, the town felt much easier on the eyes. Walking through the factory gates and seeing his familiar colleagues and friends filled him with a deep sense of warmth.
“Little Tang!” Little Mushroom and the others immediately swarmed him.
“We haven’t seen you in days, we missed you so much!”
“We heard you took the Realm Lords up to human territory. Was the trip smooth? Did you run into anyone from the Bureau?”
“I missed you guys too!” Jian Tang happily hugged his good friends and chatted about his experiences over the past few days. “Going up there went pretty smoothly. We did cross paths with the Bureau, but they didn’t notice me. Heheh, I made it through safely in the end.”
He didn’t mention the appearance of the Bloody Butcher. Judging by everyone’s reactions, they clearly had no idea that the three Realm Lords had engaged in a fierce battle with the Bloody Butcher. It seemed Boss Octopus hadn’t breathed a word of it inside the factory either.
Not only were the residents of Latitude Five Town completely in the dark, but when Jian Tang had checked the Monster Forum during his morning commute, there wasn’t a single whisper of the incident online.
This indicated that not only was Boss Octopus tight-lipped, but the three Realm Lords were equally secretive about their encounter with the Bloody Butcher—whether because they had been beaten too badly to speak of it without losing face, or because they had been threatened by the Bloody Butcher to keep his whereabouts under wraps.
Thus, Jian Tang couldn’t be certain whether the Bloody Butcher had just happened to be passing through back then, or if he was currently staying in this plane, living out his retirement.
If it was the former, there was naturally nothing to worry about. If it was the latter…
Ha… Haha, impossible. Totally impossible, absolutely out of the question. How could a mega-boss like that migrate to a backwater, impoverished little plane like theirs to retire? He was definitely overthinking things!
Jian Tang shook his head vigorously to banish the unease. After chatting with his friends for a bit longer and noticing that it was almost time to clock in, he headed upstairs to find Boss Octopus.
“How are the interview preparations coming along?” Boss Octopus asked bluntly the moment they met. “Are you confident you can get into that company?”
Jian Tang blinked rapidly in guilt. “It’s… It’s alright.”
Octopus Gail stared at the youth before him with mixed emotions.
Though he had sensed on the Realm Lords’ very first day that Jian Tang seemed to enjoy their favor and might one day soar to great heights, he never expected that day to come so quickly.
Perhaps this was what they called “surviving a disaster brings grand blessings”?
For a supernatural monster to successfully escape from the hands of the Bloody Butcher, their luck had to be absolutely astronomical, regardless of their actual strength.
Jian Tang watched as the big boss used a tentacle to pull a purple disc off a shelf, while another tentacle tapped away in mid-air, clearly operating a system interface invisible to him.
A moment later, the purple disc projected three beams of light, and three tall figures materialized sequentially within the illumination.
“Little Jellybean.” Fila’s phantom smiled faintly at the startled youth. “We meet again.”
Jian Tang froze for a second before hastily bowing to the three Realm Lords.
“Lord Fila, Lord Helamis, Lord Agne. Hello.”
No wonder Boss Octopus kept saying they needed to talk face-to-face. It turned out he meant a “face-to-face” with the Realm Lords themselves?
Wasn’t this lineup… a bit too grand? This kind of cross-planar projection communication was incredibly expensive.
Fila shot a glance at Boss Octopus, who tactfully took his cue and exited the room immediately, leaving Jian Tang alone to face the three titan Realm Lords.
“Little squirt, Gail should have already told you,” Helamis said, cutting straight to the chase. “You need to transfer positions and work in human territory. Are you prepared?”
Under the intense gaze of the three Realm Lords, Jian Tang felt an immense weight of pressure. “Um… May I ask why I’m suddenly being sent to that human company?”
“We are shareholders of that company,” Agne said.
Jian Tang: “???”
“We found a planar proxy and had them acquire bulk human goods on our behalf under the guise of a company,” Fila explained. “But we don’t trust that proxy. We worry he might comply outwardly while flouting our orders in secret, so we plan to plant you inside to monitor his situation for us.”
Oh… Jian Tang suddenly understood.
To put it plainly, they wanted him to infiltrate the place as an informant and an undercover spy.
A glimmer of hope rose in Jian Tang’s eyes. “Then this afternoon’s interview…” Was it just a formality?
“You need to rely on yourself.” Helamis ruthlessly crushed Jian Tang’s wishful thinking. “To avoid raising his suspicions, we cannot plant you through our own hands. You must go through the standard recruitment process and blend in as an ordinary employee.”
“…”
For once in my life I actually have connections, so why do I still have to rely on myself?!
“Do you have any other questions?” Fila asked.
Jian Tang thought it over. “That proxy… is he an ordinary human?”
The three Realm Lords quickly exchanged a look, and finally, Agne stepped up to answer.
“He is a Task-Taker.”
A Task-Taker?
Jian Tang’s heart skipped a beat. “What… what kind of Task-Taker is he?”
Up until now, Jian Tang had only encountered three Task-Takers. One was a weirdo he met in a dungeon a century ago, another was a piece of trash like Yuan Cheng, and the last one was the Bloody Butcher.
None of those three had left a good impression on Jian Tang, especially the last one, who had practically traumatized him. Now, whenever Task-Takers were mentioned, his immediate reaction was that trouble was brewing.
The three Realm Lords fell silent simultaneously.
Naturally, they weren’t going to disclose the Bloody Butcher’s identity. Otherwise, let alone a mere F-rank little monster, even an S-rank Overlord would turn tail and run, let alone venture into the lion’s den as a spy.
“Just… just a very ordinary Task-Taker,” Fila coughed lightly, his tone completely nonchalant. “Aside from having a bit of filthy lucre, he’s nothing to write home about.”
The Bloody Butcher was ranked first on the Task-Taker leaderboard and was particularly adept at raiding and plundering monster dungeons. Over several centuries, he had amassed an incredibly vast fortune.
“Mm.” Helamis flipped her long hair, her expression unchanged. “His strength is… just so-so.”
Though they had been beaten quite miserably last time, that fight had been handled by their clones. What did that have to do with their true bodies?
Rounding it off, the Bloody Butcher hadn’t won, and they hadn’t lost.
“He doesn’t like nonsense,” Agne noted fairly. “Once you’re undercover, speak less, do more, keep a low profile, and observe.”
Jian Tang memorized everything one by one. Weighing it in his mind, it didn’t sound too bad.
These descriptions could easily apply to his own big boss. It was nothing more than switching from a monster boss to a human boss; it shouldn’t be much different.
He was a seasoned wage slave with 999 years of working experience, after all. Working for someone was just working; it was just a matter of changing employers. Piece of cake!
“Do a good job.” Before the communication ended, the three Realm Lords dangled a massive carrot. “If you can discover any anomalies regarding that fellow and provide valuable clues, your bonus will not be small. The sky’s the limit.”
“Right! I understand!”
—
At 1:50 PM, Jian Tang arrived at the interview location right on time.
The company was situated on the fifth floor of an office building. Jian Tang took the elevator up, and the two people riding with him seemed to be fellow applicants. He listened to them whispering.
“…I wasn’t even going to come at first. The benefits they offered were so high for a newly established company that I suspected it was a scam.”
“Me too. I have a relative who’s been in the export trade for decades. He asked around the industry, and no one has ever heard of a ‘President Feng’.”
“Maybe he’s some nouveau riche tycoon entering the market? Or a rich second-generation kid playing around. I’ve never seen an interview that pays compensation for lost time just for showing up. If the benefits they listed are real… then we’ve struck gold.”
Ding— The elevator arrived at the fifth floor.
The two left the elevator, and Jian Tang followed behind them. He discovered that this entire floor of the office building belonged to the human company he was applying for. The massive, glaring logo of [The Big Three and Sharking Mad Export Trade Company] hung squarely on the lobby wall facing the elevator.
The logo’s color was a garish, wealthy gold.
Both applicants froze visibly, glanced around, and walked toward the direction marked with the “Interview Hall” sign.
As Jian Tang trailed behind them, he chewed over the information he had just overheard.
When he submitted his resume, he hadn’t paid much attention to the human salary offered by the boss. Was it really that high?
He hadn’t paid attention to the boss’s name either. So he was called President Feng.
No wonder the company name included “Sharking Mad.” Haha, turns out he’s a mad president.
Complaining about the boss was the best mental massage for a working stiff. Much of the anxiety in Jian Tang’s heart dissipated as he followed the two into the interview hall.
Though called a hall, the layout inside resembled a lecture theater, complete with fixed seats and small pull-out desk panels. Name cards corresponding to the applicants were placed on the panels to make it easy to find their seats.
There were no recruitment personnel from the company present. Hanging openly on the four walls of the interview hall were four surveillance cameras. Their blinking red lights indicated they were actively recording. Realizing that someone might be staring at them from behind the screens, every applicant who entered behaved perfectly, none daring to whisper to one another.
While searching for his seat, Jian Tang noticed that alongside the name cards, there were also a few pages of paper and two pens on each desk. Some applicants who arrived early were already reading the papers, while others had picked up their pens and started writing.
Jian Tang’s heart sank.
This… this can’t be a written test, can it?
He had spent all his time reviewing interview techniques and hadn’t prepared for a written test at all!
If he had to answer theoretical questions regarding export trade, wouldn’t he be absolutely doomed?!
As if to confirm his worst fears, the LED screen at the front suddenly lit up, displaying a line of text:
> [The written exam will last a total of two hours. You may hand in your paper as soon as you finish. Afterward, please proceed to the neighboring conference room to await your results.]
It really was a written test!
Jian Tang looked utterly miserable, sitting down in his seat as if attending a funeral.
He glanced left and right. The people around him had already begun writing furiously, looking incredibly capable at a glance.
He suspected he was the only fraud in the entire room.
A supernatural fraud who had managed to squeeze his way in solely through a forged resume and pure dumb luck.
Dejectedly, Jian Tang flipped open the pages before him and looked at his exam questions.
[Foreword: Employees are the foundation of the company and its most vital assets. Caring for employees’ physical and mental health, emotional well-being, and family situations to enhance their sense of happiness is crucial to the company’s development.]
[Applicants, please answer:]
1. What are your views on your domestic life? What are you satisfied with? What are you dissatisfied with? (No less than 150 words)
2. What are your views on your cohabiting partner? What are you satisfied with? What are you dissatisfied with? (No less than 150 words)
3. What traits do you hope your cohabiting partner possesses?
4. Where is your ideal date location?
5. What are your favorite romantic movies?
6. What is the gift you most look forward to receiving?
7. …
Two large sheets of paper were packed full of similar questions.
Jian Tang: “…”
Jian Tang: “?”
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