Chapter 194
Chapter 194
Qiudong did not take long. By the time Cheng Miao smelled the heavy reek of blood, it was already over.
Qiudong had told her not to look, so Cheng Miao obediently moved to the corner, faced the wall, and ignored the screams coming from behind her.
Who knew whether the president had ever harbored the same filthy intentions toward other female employees?
After Qiudong cleaned the Kun-Bone Dagger and returned it to Cheng Miao, he took her hand and led her out. Cheng Miao quickly realized he was in a bad mood.
Qiudong always wore the same cold expression, but Cheng Miao could somehow discern his mood with uncanny accuracy.
The two left the hidden room and watched the door close behind them.
Cheng Miao knew that if they said nothing, it could be a very long time before anyone discovered how many lives had been lost in there.
Qiudong led her toward the restroom. After thinking for a moment, Cheng Miao spoke, only for her voice to overlap with Qiudong’s.
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry.”
Huh?
Cheng Miao tilted her head. Why was Qiudong apologizing to her?
Qiudong clearly had not expected Cheng Miao to thank him, either. The man’s actions toward her had infuriated him just now.
It had been a long time since his emotions fluctuated at all. He did not know why he had become so angry that, without thinking, he had killed those men right in front of Cheng Miao.
But Qiudong had one virtue. He might be inarticulate and poor at expressing himself, but he did not agonize over things.
His feelings for Cheng Miao were different. Although he had yet to fully understand why, that difference no longer seemed to be merely the “admiration” he had originally believed it was.
But since it had happened, he would not overthink it.
His fingers moved. Without drawing attention to it, they brushed against Cheng Miao’s soft fingertips as he changed the subject. “Hmm? Why are you thanking me?”
Cheng Miao raised a hand and scratched her cheek in embarrassment. “I’m already a veteran player, but I still can’t quite bring myself to attack people. That’s a weakness. I need to change it.”
Like a student writing a self-criticism, Cheng Miao earnestly reflected on her shortcomings.
After speaking, she obediently lowered her head and waited for Teacher Qiudong’s guidance.
She waited for a long time, but no criticism came. Instead, she heard the man beside her give a quiet laugh. “Heh.”
The deep, magnetic laugh resonating in his chest caught Cheng Miao completely off guard.
Qiudong looked pleased.
Cheng Miao always managed to surprise him. He had thought she would be uncomfortable after watching him spill blood, but she was not.
Cheng Miao had even deliberately ignored why Qiudong had used the dagger when he could have snapped the president’s neck cleanly and efficiently.
This trust and goodwill from a companion felt novel and interesting to him.
Of course, that was also because it came from Cheng Miao.
Qiudong knew that no one else would place such unconditional trust in a companion.
Especially not when that companion was a veteran player and receptionist whose identity remained unknown.
The two had only just washed their hands in the restroom and had not yet returned to their respective sections when police sirens wailed outside the company.
The police arrived faster than Cheng Miao had expected.
This also indirectly confirmed one of Cheng Miao’s theories: this instance encompassed an enormous world. Beyond the company at its center, this place had an oversight agency and social networks.
Countless people lived their orderly lives here.
It almost made the company feel less like an instance and more like a place that truly existed.
Cheng Miao was now certain that working diligently at the company, surviving the pressure and ghosts, and earning promotion to key employee was the safest and most broadly applicable method for clearing the instance.
But this method placed an extreme strain on players’ psychological endurance, especially when one wave of players had already cleared while they remained behind to continue working for the company.
Anyone with low psychological resilience would meet the same end as Song Lei.
The method Cheng Miao chose was riskier and far more dangerous, but it produced results much faster.
Of course, it also depended on choosing the right assigned identity. If Cheng Miao’s personality had not been someone filled with longing for the outside world, then another person whose identity fit better might have needed to make the final post.
Even the loftiest snow-covered mountain collapses swiftly and helplessly before an avalanche. As the police escorted Cheng Miao toward the exit during the evacuation, she gazed at the company’s many different people and felt as if a lifetime had passed.
Some veteran employees had discovered the truth and realized they had wasted decades of their lives. They wept bitterly and did not even want to leave the company.
Some, trapped in the terminal stages of Stockholm syndrome, continued arguing stubbornly and refused to face reality.
Some embraced their friends and cried with joy because they could finally see the light of day.
Others rushed at management and attacked them to vent years of hatred.
Cheng Miao did not know how to feel.
Suddenly, a faint sigh sounded beside her ear, as if someone had breathed it directly against the rim. Goose bumps rose across Cheng Miao’s body.
She turned around. Apart from the varied scenes of humanity around her, she saw nothing.
But she was certain that the sigh had come from her own voice.
It belonged to the brave Cheng Miao who had fought for everyone’s freedom.
Sadly, that Cheng Miao had ultimately met the same fate as countless others, her body buried in this man-eating company.
Her young life had ended abruptly before it ever had the chance to bloom.
When they returned to the settlement area, Lin Zhu and Qin Musong counted the people in the darkness again and again. Only after confirming everyone had made it out did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Time flowed differently in the settlement area than inside the instance. From their perspective, everyone arrived one after another, so they had not waited long.
After hearing Cheng Miao and the others describe what finally happened at the company, Qin Musong sighed and patted Lin Zhu on the shoulder.
“That’s why you must always investigate carefully before taking a job. Plenty of companies are like this, and in many more, once you’re in, you truly never get out.”
Lin Zhu nodded, taking the lesson to heart. Qi Jiajia said nothing. This time, she had experienced the life of an ordinary person herself.
She never wanted to experience it again.
“Ding! Looks Are Justice Team has cleared the instance [Work! Work!]. Team Travel Coin reward: 80,000.”
“Player Cheng Miao earned the highest contribution score in [Work! Work!]. Travel Coin reward: 40,000.”
“Player Cheng Miao completed the side quest [Bring Down the Company] in the instance [Work! Work!]. Travel Coin reward: 40,000.”
“Player Cheng Miao received a performance rating of A in the instance [Work! Work!], with a main-quest completion rate of 100%. Travel Coin reward: 40,000.”
“Player Qi Jiajia received a performance rating of A in the instance [Work! Work!], with a main-quest completion rate of 90%. Travel Coin reward: 36,000.”
“Player Lin Zhu received a performance rating of A in the instance [Work! Work!], with a side-quest completion rate of 85%. Travel Coin reward: 34,000.”
“Player Qin Musong received a performance rating of A in the instance [Work! Work!], with a side-quest completion rate of 95%. Travel Coin reward: 38,000.”
“Looks Are Justice Team earned a total of 308,000 Travel Coins in the instance [Work! Work!]. Remaining Travel Coins: 488,000.”
“Player Cheng Miao brought down the entire company in one stroke and has obtained the Item [Resentment of Twenty Employees]. It may be used once as an offensive Item or for another purpose. Please discover its specific uses yourself.”
“Player Lin Zhu’s Item [Lifelike Doll] has successfully leveled up. Please discover its new functions yourself.”
“Settlement complete. Looks Are Justice Team’s return point: Peacock Grand Hotel.”
“Teleporting…”