Chapter 188

Chapter 188

Tang Shouren sprang to his feet as though stabbed by a needle, once again drawing baffled looks.

By the time he stood, the hand was gone.

Ignoring everyone staring at him like a lunatic, he rushed straight into the stairwell.

Only after he entered did alarms begin ringing in his mind. He had been so frightened that he failed to think carefully.

Now that he had calmed slightly, he realized the thing could appear even in a crowded place, much less this stairwell where he stood alone.

Tang Shouren took out his life-saving Item, an umbrella. As long as he held it open, it could guarantee his life for three minutes.

He heard a sound upstairs. Even with his eyes closed, he could imagine the dead, hideously mangled figure identical to him crawling slowly down the stairs on all fours.

Without hesitation, Tang Shouren opened the umbrella, made certain it covered him completely, and stared motionlessly at the turn in the stairs.

He waited until cold sweat soaked his back, but the thing never showed its head.

Tang Shouren estimated that the umbrella’s duration was almost over. He still needed to save it for the most dangerous moment.

He carefully closed the umbrella and peered into the stairwell, confirming that no terrifying ghost occupied the place where the strange sounds had originated.

Breathing a faint sigh of relief, he turned to open the stairwell door.

An icy hand seized him. The man who had waited behind him for so long, a man identical to Tang Shouren, gave him a venomous smile.

Qin Wen now volunteered for every scrap collection job. First, he agreed with Cheng Miao’s reasoning, and collecting scrap was the work most valued by the leaders of Logistics.

Second, scrap collection let him learn which players had died as quickly as possible, allowing him to identify and avoid the rules responsible.

So when he rushed to the stairwell under his leader’s approving gaze and found Tang Shouren dead with his eyes still open, he knew Tang Shouren’s method of clearing the instance had been wrong.

At the very least, it had been incomplete.

He carefully collected the corpse and returned to Logistics.

“Xiao Qin, come to my office.” The head of Logistics poked his head out. Qin Wen swallowed, straightened his clothes, and entered the office.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in Finance remained relatively harmonious. The section had many employees but also many key employees. Because it controlled the company’s economic lifeblood, it offered one of the easiest paths to promotion.

Qiudong had already destroyed the ghost following him and had even less interest in work for the rest of the day.

Still, he gave the instance a little respect and did not go too far. He remained in the office during working hours.

Kiki had died almost as soon as the instance began. Of those remaining, Yun Su was perfectly calm and composed.

Even in this inhumane work environment, she completed every duty meticulously.

She appeared to have planned this from the start. Cheng Miao’s shared clue merely confirmed that her reasoning was correct.

Thus, while everyone searched for clues upon arrival, she devoted considerable time to building relationships with her superiors and completing her work.

The Chief of the Finance Section wandered over and first looked at Qiudong. He originally intended to reprimand Qiudong for his lazy work style.

But when he met Qiudong’s cool gaze, the section chief spinelessly turned away and looked at Yun Su.

He smiled. “Xiao Su, come inside with me.”
Yun Su calmly followed the section chief into his office. He studied her for a while before smiling. “Upper management has given Finance one opening for promotion to key employee. I intend to promote you.”

Yun Su reacted as though this had nothing to do with her survival. She merely curved her lips and thanked him evenly.

Her superior liked precisely how Yun Su remained unmoved by favor or disgrace. He tapped his index finger on the desk. “There is just one issue. The Corporate Audit Section seems to have found a problem with one of the payments you issued and is investigating it.”

Yun Su’s brows shifted almost imperceptibly. The section chief smiled, but his eyes remained locked on her face. Seeing no reaction, he nodded approvingly.

“As long as there is nothing wrong with that account, I can promise you in advance that your name will be on the key employee promotion list the day after tomorrow.”

Yun Su nodded her thanks and left the office. Sitting at her desk, she lowered her eyes to a screenshot saved on her phone.

It showed a chat history with Lin Zhu.

Cheng Miao had already tried every password she could think of without finding a clue.

But she had made another discovery.

The company’s internet truly seemed problematic. Everyone used company Wi-Fi. She had often posted her longing for the outside world and complaints about the company on message boards without consequence.

But on the day before they were transported into the instance, the same day her assigned identity entered the Confinement Room, something happened.

That day, she received a notification that one of her posts had been deleted. Based on the topic she had answered, Cheng Miao inferred that she had attempted to reveal the company’s address and information to the outside world.

There could not be such a coincidence. The only possibility was that the company had been secretly monitoring them all along.

They believed they possessed freedom and rights, when in reality the company controlled their every word and action.

Cheng Miao’s assigned identity was a young woman who longed for the outside world. She had repeatedly tried to communicate beyond the company and was ultimately sent to the Confinement Room.

The Confinement Room…?

Was it an accident that the ghost she saw looked exactly like her?

When Cheng Miao emerged from her thoughts, she found Qiudong standing beside her and had no idea how long he had been there. She checked the time and realized it was time for dinner.

She scratched her head in embarrassment and followed Qiudong out. “Why didn’t you call me when you arrived? Have you been waiting long?”

Qiudong brushed a scrap of paper from her clothes and shook his head. “It would have startled you.”

When they reached the cafeteria, Qi Jiajia and the others were already there.

Cheng Miao saw two women rush to Qi Jiajia’s table. They seemed to be arguing with her and even tried to attack.

Before Cheng Miao could hurry over, and without Qin Musong needing to act, Qi Jiajia’s face turned cold. She shed the false smile she had worn at work for two days and revealed the scent of blood and murderous intent surrounding her.

The two women retreated in fright but did not forget to throw out several threats before supporting each other away.

“What happened?” Cheng Miao examined Qi Jiajia and relaxed only after confirming she was unharmed.

Qi Jiajia shrugged. “They make me do their work every day, so I helped them properly this time.”

Lin Zhu had grown increasingly devious and now grinned without a care. “Sister Miaomiao, you don’t know how much chaos there was in the General Office this afternoon. The script they submitted to the chairman contained a major error. They didn’t dare admit they forced Jiajia to do it, so they had to swallow the consequences themselves.”

“Look.” Lin Zhu pointed with his chopsticks at the departing short-haired woman. “That one nearly got fired.”