Chapter 1
Chapter 1
I am a childcare worker.
My day-to-day job is taking care of children at Sunshine Orphanage.
But recently, I’ve started to suspect that I might be an NPC in some half-baked instance. The evidence is as follows:
1. I can only move around in fixed locations every day.
2. Unless a major plot event is triggered, I just repeat the same tasks over and over.
3. I have no real understanding of my surroundings. If someone asks me a question, I can only provide shallow, surface-level information.
But the truly terrifying part is this:
My boss may have figured it out before I did.
Since the orphanage provides room and board, plus full social insurance, I, a graduate from a third-rate university, am deeply grateful to the boss who gave me this opportunity. Every day, I wipe his desk, straighten his chairs, bring him tea, and pour him water.
Just like today.
Except at this very moment, a line of blood-red text is floating above my head-yes, floating, like movie bullet comments, rapidly sliding from left to right.
[Huh? What is this player doing?]
[Looks like… she’s pouring tea for the final boss???]
[No way! This is a Super SS-class horror instance!]
Me, bent over with a cup of water in my hands: “…”
Not far away, my boss, wearing gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and reading a newspaper with his head lowered, glanced at me.
“What’s wrong?”
Hearing that, I stopped looking at the “bullet comments” and braced myself, carrying the steaming cup of pu’er tea over to him.
“The t-t-t-t-tea is ready.”
Without even looking at it, he said softly, “It seems a little hot.”
“…”
My hands began trembling uncontrollably.
His gaze was calm, yet there seemed to be some kind of madness hidden beneath it. “Why are you so nervous?”
“I-I-I-I’m not.”
He studied me carefully. Not far away, the tea-colored aquarium reflected his mountain-ridge brow bone and sharp nose.
Impeccably dressed, and utterly evil.
“So, did you see something I can’t?”
Faced with those unfathomable, dangerous eyes, a chill stabbed down my spine, and cold sweat broke out all over me.
All of a sudden, I remembered that someone had once tried to stop me from entering Sunshine Orphanage.
It happened two months ago.
That day, I was squatting outside the university gates reselling phone cases when I picked up a poster.
[Welcome to Sunshine Orphanage!]
[Here, you’ll find adorable children, enthusiastic colleagues, and an approachable boss. What we offer you is not merely a job, but a lifelong career worth striving for!]
[Now hiring childcare workers. Room and board included, full social insurance provided, monthly salary: 8,000. No experience required!]
Against a pitch-black background, the large black-and-gold lettering was extremely eye-catching.
“For a good job, please come to No. 414 Yongle Road, Jiangzhou City!”
Unable to resist such generous benefits, I took the poster and went to a remote suburb.
The gate here was left ajar, and even in broad daylight, the place looked dim and gloomy.
“Is anyone here?”
When no one answered, I decided to go in by myself.
But just as I took one step forward, someone grabbed my sleeve.
“Young lady, are you looking for a job?”
I turned back and saw a young woman in a suit. She looked like your typical white-collar office lady.
She smiled brightly, holding a stack of posters in her hand. “May I ask, beautiful, are you looking for the job that pays eight thousand a month, or the one that pays eighty thousand?”
I looked her up and down. “The one that pays eight thousand a month, of course.”
“…”
Her eyes went wide. “No, you-”
Ha. Trying to trick me into getting my kidneys harvested, were you?
Not a chance!
I gave a cold laugh, turned, and walked through the gate. Behind me came a long, drawn-out sigh.
“Alas. Good advice can’t save a ghost determined to die!”
Sunshine Orphanage was a standard nineties-style building: brick-and-tile houses painted with white walls, large bright glass windows, and several metal rocking horses standing in the middle of the courtyard.
In the center of the rocking horses stood a woman whose bangs covered her eyes. Her mouth was stretched wide open, one hand raised high, as if she were waving at me.
Strange.
When I was outside the gate, I hadn’t seen her at all.
I said politely, “Hello, ma’am. You must be the boss here, right?”
She said nothing, her mouth still gaping wide open.
The next moment, a cool, clear voice slid into my ears.
“She is not the boss.”
I had thought that if the orphanage director wasn’t this middle-aged woman, then it should have been a silver-haired, hale old lady. But instead…
It was a man.
He was very young. The collar of his black shirt was slightly open, revealing a long, elegant neck. A beam of bright white spotlight fell across his glacier-like forehead, and for a moment, I couldn’t tell which was more dazzling.
I put on a fawning smile. “Boss, are you hiring childcare workers here?”
His gaze slid from my white shirt to my plaid pleated skirt, finally stopping on the cheap milk tea I was holding.
After a long while, he spoke, still gentle and polite. “Sorry, we don’t need anyone for the time being.”
“But the poster says…”
“Sorry.”
Under the gaze of those mild yet distant eyes, my shoulders slumped in defeat.
“…All right.”
After hesitating for a moment, I handed him the milk tea in my hand. “Sorry for disturbing you. This is a small gift… If your esteemed institution ever needs staff, please notify me as soon as possible.”
The bag opened, revealing a cup of cold milk tea. Since it was Valentine’s Day, the shop had been running a buy-one-get-one-free promotion and had even included a rose of an odd color.
When that vivid red entered his line of sight, his expression suddenly turned subtle.
“Is this for me?”
“Yes.”
“…”
After a silence brewed between us, he nodded at me. “I just remembered. We do still have one childcare worker position available.”
“Please follow me.”