"We originally agreed to eat together. You know, even if our ranks were different, we could still hang out freely during our private time."
"That day, she stood me up. She said her superior wanted her to go to the hotel to deliver a document... I never saw her again after that."
"When I went to ask the next day, they said she had already resigned."
Song Ping looked quite pitiful as he finished speaking. The only friend he could actually talk to had vanished without a sound.
"When you mentioned her going to deliver a document just now, your tone was strange." Nan Yue had been listening carefully and caught the inconsistency.
"Yeah, because she was already at that level. Delivering documents isn't something she should have needed to do."
"Did you ever try to contact her again?"
Song Ping looked melancholy at the question. "The company doesn't allow contact with resigned staff... I secretly sent her messages, but no one ever replied."
Nan Yue fell into silence. This Jiang Su was one of countless people who had resigned, but she was the one most closely linked to Nan Yue's own position.
What had she encountered?
"Jiang Su once said something. She said work is for a better life, but we've reversed the meaning of work."
Song Ping's voice carried a hint of a sob, but his words struck Nan Yue's mind like a bolt of lightning.
The meaning of work... was that it?
Until there was evidence that Jiang Su was the core figure of this mission, Nan Yue wouldn't have considered an NPC's thoughts to be that important.
The shock this sentence gave her was simply that someone actually thought that way.
But on second thought, it was normal. In the real world, no one had a so-called life. With society on the verge of collapse, everyone's goal was to sacrifice their lives to purify the world.
However, the mission worlds had always allowed everyone to choose their own development, so it was normal for Jiang Su to have such thoughts.
Yet for some reason, Nan Yue suddenly felt a pang of envy toward Jiang Su.
She lived in a world where life wasn't yet on a fixed track. She could have countless choices. Although those choices might not be the right ones and might lead her down many detours, it was a life she could fully control, a life that belonged to her.
For a moment, Nan Yue's heart was filled with mixed emotions. Song Ping was also immersed in his memories, and neither of them spoke.
Nan Yue's gaze fell on the clock by the bed. It was already three in the morning.
"Are you going back?"
Song Ping snapped out of it and followed Nan Yue's gaze to the time. He shook his head. "No. If you won't let me stay the night, I'll go rest in the lobby's utility room."
Seeing Nan Yue's confused look, and perhaps thinking they had already shared some secrets, Song Ping lowered his voice.
"Everyone says the dormitory building is haunted."
Nan Yue arched an eyebrow, her interest piqued.
"Haunted?"
"Over thirty years ago, a man couldn't take it anymore and jumped from the dormitory building."
Nan Yue had already heard this gossip, so she didn't react much. Seeing this, Song Ping tried harder. "Since then, the man's vengeful spirit hasn't been able to dissipate. Sometimes, he reenacts his death from that day. If you run into him, he'll take you with him."
This related to the sounds they had been hearing these past few days. No wonder no one came out to look. There was a ghost story like this behind it.
"Is that reliable? If it's really that scary, why didn't anyone tell the new hires? If it's true, isn't that just hurting people?"
Song Ping spread his hands. "Something based on rumors like this obviously can't be said openly. Besides, normal people wouldn't hear a noise at three in the morning and run down to check it out themselves."
Nan Yue: ...That actually makes a lot of sense.
The problem was that they weren't normal people!
"So that's why you're not going back?"
Song Ping nodded. "Better safe than sorry."
Nan Yue leaned forward slightly. "Has anyone actually encountered him?"
Was this rumor true, or was it meant to stop people from investigating those sounds?
"I don't know about that. But curiosity killed the cat. As long as you don't seek death, you won't die, right?"
Song Ping thought for a moment. Seeing that Nan Yue seemed interested in the ghost story, he added.
"I heard that if you really run into the returning spirit, don't let him discover you."
It was the middle of the night, and with Song Ping lowering his voice, it really did feel a bit eerie.
"Do you know the name of the man who jumped?"
Song Ping shook his head. "No idea. The company doesn't allow discussion about it. I heard he was some unlucky guy who stayed in the same spot for years without advancing."
Song Ping gave a self-deprecating laugh. "But then again, who isn't..."
After seeing Song Ping out, Nan Yue lay on the bed and raced against time to... fall asleep.
Her brain was packed with information, but she could sort it out tomorrow.
While Nan Yue was sleeping soundly, Tan Jiaojiao and the others had only just finished cleaning the basement around two in the morning.
The two male NPCs had left long ago. They were just going through the motions anyway. They had only been dragged into it by association, so they went back to rest as soon as the midnight peak hour passed.
Only Tan Jiaojiao and Bi Danyuan remained.
Bi Danyuan had discovered a secret door in the basement, but she didn't tell Tan Jiaojiao. She carefully observed the surroundings and saw no obvious cameras, but she didn't dare act rashly.
What would be behind the door?
She thought of many possibilities.
It wasn't until two o'clock that Tan Jiaojiao finished the cleaning with an aching back, and the two of them headed back together.
On the way back, Tan Jiaojiao couldn't help but start complaining again.
She felt it was unfair that Nan Yue and the others could just rely on their looks to become V8s directly, without having to be bullied like them.
Even if they were all V10s, newcomers were still newcomers.
"I've been doing missions for years. I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice. How could they put me at the very bottom?"
As she spoke, she thought about this mission again. Everything in this company was a mess. Superiors practically bullied their subordinates.
"How can work be done like this? You young people..."
Tan Jiaojiao shook her head and sighed. Bi Danyuan didn't say a word, even putting some distance between them.
She didn't know if Tan Jiaojiao's psychological value was failing or if her skill level was simply insufficient, but it was certain that she was completely ruled by her emotions.
The treatment over the past few days had left her immersed in a sense of injustice. She felt targeted, and the scavengers who were supposed to be teammates were instead stabbing her in the back.
Fool.
Bi Danyuan remained expressionless. If nothing else, those scavengers who became V8s right away—which one of them hadn't come out of the meeting room within minutes?
She still remembered when she entered the meeting room. Five department heads stared at her with cold faces, motionless like mannequins.
At the time, she couldn't gauge the situation and didn't dare move until someone became impatient. Only then did she remember to introduce herself.
She had been fluent enough, but it was inevitable that she was a bit constrained by over-caution since the mission had just started. It was normal to get a low score.
Tan Jiaojiao was even worse. Because she was one of the first few to go in, she stayed for nearly half an hour before coming out. Looking back now, that initial blow at the start of the mission was likely used to differentiate their levels.
Rate on N.U.
