Chapter 182
Chapter 182
Tang Shouren hesitated for only an instant before answering. A woman’s panicked breathing and trembling voice came from the other end.
“Brother… Brother Tang, I was sitting in the office just fine, but suddenly all the lights went out and everyone disappeared.”
Tang Shouren’s forehead throbbed. As expected, everyone had a different assigned personality. Tang Ying’s words had triggered a supernatural event.
Tang Shouren seized every available second. “Have you seen a ghost?”
Tang Ying was already close to tears on the other end. “N-no. I think I’m in a warehouse. There’s a huge echo, and all I can hear is a woman humming.”
Tang Shouren was a veteran player who had cleared many instances. He determined almost instantly that Tang Ying’s words had broken a rule, but not severely.
This should be something like a warning from the instance. As long as she did not ignore it the way Monkey had, she would not be killed.
Having obtained useful information, Tang Shouren’s tone grew more cheerful.
“Xiaoying, don’t panic. Stay calm.”
Unfortunately, Tang Ying was already terrified out of her wits. She clutched the phone like a lifeline.
“Brother Tang, save me. You’ve cleared so many instances. You must have Items. I don’t want to die…”
Before she finished, her voice twisted with terror over the receiver, and Tang Shouren moved the phone farther away.
This was an unexpected gain. It seemed they could meet privately to discuss the instance, but they could not use the phones provided by the instance to discuss the Game.
That would also count as a violation.
Delight appeared in Tang Shouren’s eyes. Smiling, he spoke softly to the phone that was still transmitting screams. “Thank you. You’ve been very useful.”
Tang Shouren hung up. Still smiling, he turned his chair and met Qi Jiajia’s thoughtful gaze.
The pride and certainty of victory on his face abruptly froze.
Had she heard?
The scream had been so loud. Did she know what had happened?
Tang Shouren’s face stiffened. He had not decided what expression to show or what lie to tell if Qi Jiajia questioned him.
Then, as expressions shifted across his face, Qi Jiajia abruptly lowered her head and resumed typing as though everything before had been an accident.
Tang Shouren breathed a faint sigh of relief. Only afterward did he realize that a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl had frightened him into a cold sweat.
He stopped looking at Qi Jiajia, turned back toward his cubicle partition, and cursed inwardly.
What a sinister woman!
As the top salesperson, Qin Musong had a relatively large cubicle.
He looked at the densely written reminders in his notebook, drew a breath, and placed a call.
“Hello, President Li? This is Qin Musong!”
“Oh, Old Qin!” A greasy male voice came from the other end. “I was just about to call you. That deal you recommended last time was excellent. I expected no less from you.”
Qin Musong calmly accepted the praise, then began selling the company’s new project without revealing his intentions.
“Hey, Old Qin, your style feels a little different today.” That casual remark made every hair on Qin Musong’s back rise.
He was certain that the moment a client believed he had departed from his original personality, the rules would move in for the kill.
Fortunately, Qin Musong had weathered countless crises and did not panic.
Instances often required players to get into character as their assigned identities, although none had enforced the requirement as strictly as this one.
But based on Qin Musong’s experience, he was certain an assigned personality could be adjusted slightly as long as the changes made logical sense.
One hand had already settled on the Eagle-Eye Gun. His voice did not tremble in the slightest and even carried the warmth of a friend.
“We’ve known each other long enough that I don’t want to bother with empty bluster. You trust me, so I’ll speak to you honestly from the heart.”
Convinced by Qin Musong’s answer, the other man laughed heartily. “That’s Old Qin for you. Those are exactly the words you’d say. I trust you. Send me the contract, and if everything looks fine, I’ll sign it!”
Qin Musong remained outwardly steady while secretly breathing a sigh of relief. He ended the call and drew a check mark in his notebook.
“Not bad, Old Qin. You closed a deal that quickly!” The section chief wandered over and patted Qin Musong’s shoulder.
Qin Musong smiled with high spirits. He had not made any extravagant boasts, but the confidence flashing across his features carried considerable pride.
He was gradually grasping the essence of his assigned personality.
“You, Lin Haichao! Come inside with me.” Hearing his name, Lin Haichao glanced at the other two players and followed the section chief into the office with some unease.
“Section Chief… is something wrong?”
He and his teammate Qian Miao, who had been assigned to Research and Development, had met over dinner to analyze the situation. The hint was to get into character, so they would simply do their jobs well.
As for how to find the exit…
They were easygoing players. They would wait for someone else to solve it. They could rack their brains forever without finding the answer themselves.
Admittedly, surviving by lying low like this still required luck, but this team happened to possess plenty.
After cautiously surviving five instances, they had obtained a buff that raised every member’s luck value.
From then on, as long as they were exceptionally careful, spoke and acted as little as possible, and did not touch anything rashly, trouble left them alone.
So after arriving here, the two ignored everything around them and devoted themselves entirely to being corporate drones.
They worked conscientiously and even left the office last, all to avoid triggering anything.
Thus, although Lin Haichao was nervous when the section chief summoned him, he still planned to respond to all changes by remaining unchanged.
He was also a corporate drone in reality and had extensive experience being scolded by bosses.
He lowered his head and arranged his face into an expression that said, “I was wrong. I repent.” Sure enough, what followed was much as he expected.
The section chief slammed the desk. “What happened with that deal you ruined last week?”
As a professional at lying low in instances, Lin Haichao had long mastered the art of substituting one concept for another.
He spoke sincerely and reflected earnestly, offering useless platitudes such as, “I wasn’t careful and thorough enough. I should have gained a deeper understanding of the client’s mindset.”
And the section chief accepted the evasion.
“Hmph. I told you to salvage that deal and correct the wrong data. Did you finish it?”
So careless data entry had been the problem. Lin Haichao nodded repeatedly. He would correct it as soon as he left.
The section chief waved and said lightly, “If you mess it up again, you won’t need to keep working here.”
Lin Haichao rejoiced inwardly. Was he being fired?
Did that mean he would clear the instance?
Could he walk right out of the company’s doors?
Lin Haichao nodded meekly and headed outside, privately considering whether he could clear the instance this way and win without effort.
But his teammate still did not know how to leave, and getting fired as a method of escape remained only his personal guess.
According to the last shred of awareness he retained as a corporate drone, getting fired should be a bad thing. Could it really become the golden key to clearing the instance?
Lin Haichao did not want to gamble. Continuing to lie low was more reliable.
Once he made his decision, he searched the system for a long time before finally finding the rejected order containing the wrong data.
Cold sweat appeared alongside the vivid red warning on the screen.