Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Bang!
The kitchen’s iron door beside the serving windows gave a deafening crash. A tremendous kick sent the entire door flying.
“Who’s complaining that my food tastes bad?!”
The cafeteria fell silent at once. All the employees who had been eating with their heads lowered stopped in unison.
Lin Yinxi hastily chimed in. “Oh, Qianli, look what you’ve done. You’ve made our Head Chef angry.”
The Head Chef charged out, her head resembling a giant octopus, carrying a half-meter-long bone cleaver dripping blood.
Behind the door she had kicked away, Lin Yinxi saw several rows of hanging blue staff uniforms.
Some of the uniforms were still bulging.
The Head Chef was enormous. Above her countless tentacles, two fist-sized eyes turned toward Song Qianli.
“You lowly temporary workers haven’t even tasted my meals for permanent employees, yet you dare criticize my skills?” the Head Chef raged. “No matter. The ingredients you brought with you look very fresh. Let me make you a Meal A right here!”
Song Qianli looked at Lin Yinxi, a flash of malice in her eyes.
Lin Yinxi returned an innocent look.
Don’t look at her like that. She didn’t know a thing.
The Head Chef gave Song Qianli no chance to react. With a howl of displaced air, the enormous cleaver came straight down toward her head!
As Song Qianli dodged, her neck turned 180 degrees with a crack. The skin of her gentle face peeled away.
Lin Yinxi scrambled beneath a dining table.
It was sticky down there.
When she pressed her palm down, she touched a lock of wet hair.
The cafeteria erupted into chaos.
The entities were fighting.
While the Head Chef tried to cleave Song Qianli, Lin Yinxi ducked and wove beneath the tables, slipping out through the cafeteria doors.
So tired. So very tired.
Taking this opportunity, she hurried back to the dormitory.
She searched Song Qianli’s suitcases.
Inside were many other employees’ nameplates.
Lin Yinxi photographed them as evidence, then searched around Song Qianli’s bedside. In a gap in the bed, she found a battered diary.
She opened it.
Since there was a bed, she might as well read lying on her side. Take whatever rest she could get.
She pulled the nearby quilt over her lower belly, switching into power-saving mode first.
Song Qianli did indeed have a younger sister studying at Jincheng University.
A year ago, when the university became a contaminated zone, Song Qianli lost contact with her.
In the diary, she expressed deep concern over her sister’s disappearance.
Then, more than half a year later, she suddenly received a text from her sister asking for help.
To rescue her from Jincheng University, Song Qianli made inquiries everywhere and found a rescue team in a safe zone.
Too many people were trapped in contaminated zones. The rescue team only provided paid rescues.
They took Song Qianli to a safe zone near Jincheng University. Once she had saved enough Rabbit Coins, they would accept her commission.
To earn Rabbit Coins, Song Qianli entered the Deep Blue Aquarium scenario.
Surviving as a human in Zone B was extremely difficult. She watched the humans initially trapped here search for jobs that would let them survive, only to be dragged into the Feed Processing Room one by one for breaking rules.
She gradually became contaminated. The same happened to her sister at Jincheng University, whose requests for rescue turned into requests that her older sister send Rabbit Coins for tuition.
[I got another part-time job today.]
[Once I’ve saved enough Rabbit Coins, I can save my sister.]
[My sister said she’s cold.]
[My sister said someone always knocks at night at the university.]
[My sister didn’t reply today.]
[Why does she only appear when a transfer succeeds?]
[Is she really my sister?]
Song Qianli received messages from her sister only on the days she sent money.
Part-time jobs were limited.
Amid extreme panic and disordered thinking, Song Qianli developed a terrible logic. She believed that if she became one with the employees here, their jobs would become her jobs.
She secretly entered other employees’ rooms, killed them, and stripped off their blue uniforms.
At that moment, the human Song Qianli died, and the entity Song Qianli was born.
The last few pages had rotted from soaking in water.
One sentence was written over and over:
[I need a job.]
[I need a job.]
[I need a job.]
Lin Yinxi had pieced together this sequence of events from Song Qianli’s writing.
The diary was not that detailed.
Especially toward the end, it was full of confused ramblings.
This was enough evidence.
Lin Yinxi photographed all of it, added the fish-headed supervisor on Green Bubble through the group, and sent everything to him together.
She also composed a message: Supervisor, I found some other employees’ nameplates and Song Qianli’s diary in the dormitory.
She seems to have been violating regulations by repeatedly assuming other employees’ identities. I’ve organized and sent all the photos. Please investigate.
The fish-headed entity received the message.
A little later, he replied.
The message read: Outrageous! She dares cause trouble on my turf!
It was followed by a sticker of a live fish turning into a grilled fish.
Lin Yinxi was about to turn off her screen, collect her work uniform, and go early to the Feed Processing Room to look for tonight’s work rules.
Just then, Rabbit Keeper sent her a private message.
[Rabbit Keeper: Are you adjusting to the work these past two days?]
Lin Yinxi sensed that Rabbit Keeper probably held a very high position.
He managed more than one scenario.
She replied: It’s going well.
She added a sticker to make it less solemn.
She chose a rabbit wiggling its ears, one she had not used before.
After she sent it, the initially kindly-looking rabbit suddenly lashed its ears out like whips and pulled another rabbit into the frame. Then came a wet French kiss.
The rabbit it had pulled over did not struggle. Its ears drooped as though it had been kissed to death.
Let it all end! Let the entire world end!
Was there a single decent sticker in this rabbit pack?
Lin Yinxi silently turned off her phone’s screen and lay flat, both hands resting on her stomach, utterly peaceful.
Rabbit Keeper seemed to have replied.
She did not want to open it right away at all.
Avoidance was shameful, but useful.
She rested a while.
Her alarm woke her.
She checked the time. The phone screen lit her face. Her night work was about to begin.
There were still three unread messages from Rabbit Keeper.
Now Lin Yinxi had the energy to open them.
[Rabbit Keeper: I hear you like Jellyfish Café’s white bread. This kind of pica is very bad and will hinder your growth.]
The next message came five minutes later.
[Rabbit Keeper: You should only eat Jellyfish Café’s white bread occasionally. Many low-ranking entities are curious about human food, but that isn’t normal feeding. I’ve arranged a healthy meal for you instead. A delivery worker will bring it to your dormitory door.]
Lin Yinxi paused. Had Rabbit Keeper ordered takeaway for her?
Twenty minutes later came his third message.
[Rabbit Keeper: I ordered an extra serving of human food for you. It has little nutrition, but you seem to like it.]
Lin Yinxi sent no sticker this time.
She simply replied properly.
“Thank you.”
Rabbit Keeper, however, replied with a feeding sticker.
Lin Yinxi got out of bed and put her hand on the handle. Carefully, she opened the door a crack. Outside, all was silent, but the motion-sensor lights kept flickering.