Chapter 3
Chapter 3
My job had been going perfectly smoothly.
As long as I followed the planned route every day-children’s apartments, cafeteria, staff apartments-I could easily get through my workload.
Until those bizarre blood-red bullet comments shattered all that peace.
At that moment, tea had been knocked over and was flowing everywhere. The man looked down at me, inscrutable, alluring, and dangerous, while my lips had gone stiff. It took me a long while to force out an explanation. “Um…”
“Yes?”
“I-I just wanted to invite you to dinner.”
“…”
He looked rather surprised.
Since I had gotten off to a good start, my lie became smoother and smoother. “You’ve always taken care of me, so I wanted to properly thank you.”
At that, the man’s expression gradually relaxed, returning to that mild, detached serenity of his. “No need.”
“I’m the boss. If anyone is treating anyone, it should be me treating you.”
I had planned to refuse outright, then find an excuse to make my escape. But in the next second, a line of bright red text slapped itself right over his face.
[Milk Boiled Loli] Holy shit, the horror boss is inviting someone to dinner?
[It’s Weige Ya] This dungeon shouldn’t be called Horror Orphanage anymore. Just rename it Sweet Love with the Bossy CEO!
[One Punch Coming In] Hey, don’t say that-actually, you might be onto something!
Me: “…”
That one second of hesitation completely ruined my plan to flee, so I had no choice but to follow Pei Yu to the cafeteria.
It was worth mentioning that the dining areas here were separated.
This was my first time entering the upper-level dining area. Looking down from above, I could see quite a few oddly shaped people, missing arms or legs, slowly shuffling along.
Having grown up in an orphanage myself, I had long since gotten used to sights like that.
While I was spacing out, Pei Yu handed me a menu. “What would you like to eat?”
“We can order dishes?”
Pleasantly surprised, I opened the menu and read out the names. “Scallion squid, squid fried rice, cold shredded squid salad, steamed squid slices…”
Come on, this was clearly the same as the employee meals! I couldn’t help complaining, “Boss, why is it squid every day?”
“Because the welfare home is by the sea.”
Awkwardly, I said, “You’re joking, right? Jiangzhou doesn’t even have a decent river…”
The man did not argue. He simply smiled at me.
His smile was gentle, yet it sent a chill down my spine.
Fortunately, the food arrived.
Seeing me lower my head and dig in, he sounded somewhat emotional. “It looks like you’ve adapted very well to the environment here.”
“It’s all right. I like the children, and I like giant squid.”
“What about the others?”
“What do you mean?”
Pei Yu held a glass in his hand, two long, slender fingers sliding along its surface with an unhurried sensuality.
“For example, that person.”
Following his indication, I saw a dark figure. Rather than calling it a “person,” it would be more accurate to call it some kind of humanoid beast.
The figure was extremely tall, over two meters by visual estimate, its entire body wrapped in a filthy rubber apron. But compared to that, the strangest part was the airtight iron hood covering its upper body.
It really did look like a serial killer from an R-rated movie.
As It shuffled into the hall, the diners around us scattered in panic. Pei Yu, however, lowered his eyes slightly and spoke in a leisurely tone. “That’s the new security guard. What do you think?”
Knowing he still hadn’t given up on testing me, my calves were cramping under the table.
“Pretty good.”
“Hm?”
“That’s just what we socially anxious people are like.”
“…”
After listening to me spend fifteen minutes enthusiastically educating him on youth subcultures like social anxiety, yandere characters, and cosplay, he fell silent.
We stared at each other for a while. Then he picked up the white napkin on the table and lightly dabbed at the corner of his lips.
“One thing you need to pay attention to is that the security guard’s role is to deal with an incoming group of volunteers.”
“Volunteers?”
“Yes. You should prepare yourself as well. Some of them are very difficult to handle.”
“Understood, boss.”
The topic ended there.
I knew this round of probing had come to a temporary close.
When we parted, Pei Yu seemed to carry an emotion that was hard to describe. “I have to say…”
“When it comes to working here, you have a talent that surprises me.”