He Was Never Applying to Be an Employee

The person who had exclaimed looked at Su Lai in disbelief. Bai Ke never
imagined he would reunite with his “cousin” in a place like this.

After the last Spring Breeze Community instance settleded, Lai-ge’s name hadn’t
appeared on the player list. He was still full of questions. Could Lai-ge have
met with an accident at the last moment?

No way… anyone could meet with an accident, but definitely not Lai-ge. Wang
Chunying would be the first to disagree.

No matter how much he thought about it, Bai Ke couldn’t explain what had
happened to Lai-ge. He had even suspected that his cousin might not be a player.

But Bai Ke quickly dismissed that thought himself. Lai-ge was so vividly alive,
his will to live stronger than a cockroach’s. How could he be an NPC?

On his side, Su Lai was also momentarily stunned. Although Bai Ke had changed
his wig, Su Lai still recognized him among the formally dressed applicants.

Come to think of it, these applicants should all be players. How had they gotten
formal wear? And such boringly proper formal wear at that.

“Cousin!” Reunited with family, Bai Ke forgot all his questions. He was so
excited his wig nearly fell off.

Bai Ke was very interested in the role Su Lai was “playing” in this instance.
After all, the moment he appeared, he was wearing burial clothes, covered in
blood, seeming to have handled a major incident right from the start.

Su Lai wiped the lingering blood from his cheek, still wearing that same
half-dead, expressionless look. He raised a hand and silently greeted Bai Ke.

For a moment, everyone’s attention was on Su Lai. Whether it was his striking
looks, his bright red and green burial suit, or his battle-worn, bloodstained
appearance, he was far too unique, too eye-catching.

Among these gazes were doubt, speculation, and wary defensiveness. Only Bai Ke,
once his cousin, wore an undisguised look of joy.

An applicant even muttered quietly. “Is this guy human or ghost?” After all,
what living person would put on such a flashy burial suit?

“Ahem.” The interviewer sitting in the center of the meeting room scanned the
group expressionlessly. “Looks like all today’s applicants are here.”

“Please set aside your personal matters for now. Our interview is about to
begin.” The interviewer looked at the applicants with their varied expressions,
his eyes devoid of life, his voice unhurried. “Everyone is here to find a job.
Sometimes, having acquaintances in the workplace isn’t necessarily a good
thing.”

The interviewer’s gaze lingered on Bai Ke and Su Lai for a while longer. Then he
stiffly raised the corners of his mouth. He was hinting at something. Bai Ke and
Su Lai exchanged glances.

Su Lai didn’t like this kind of roundabout talk. If there was competition, just
say so. Beating around the bush was pointless.

“We will invite applicants one by one into the small meeting room for the
interview. There, we will provide you with a space to think independently and
answer questions, free from external干扰.”

“Please note, today’s interview scores will affect your subsequent work
assignments.” The interviewer’s eyes rolled towards the group, like an old man
picking over leftover meat at the butcher’s stall at closing time.挑剔, yet
craving.

Interviewer: “We currently have openings in eight departments. After the
interview, you can choose your career direction from these.”

“The eight departments are: General Manager’s Office, looking for one assistant;
Human Resources, looking for two HRs; Administration, looking for one clerk;
Technical Support, looking one technician; R&D, looking for one person;
Marketing, looking for one planner; Sales, looking for two salespeople; Customer
Service, looking for three agents.”

“During the interview process, you can also think more about which department
you’re interested in. You’ll be able to choose after the interview test
questions.”

After the interviewer finished the opening remarks and process, an HR came to
invite the first applicant into a separate office.

Su Lai, wearing his bright red and green burial suit and standing a head taller
than the crowd, was exceptionally vibrant among the sea of black, gray, and
white formal wear. With his hands in his pockets, he casually followed the staff
into the interview room. His sense of ease stood in stark contrast to the
stiffness and fear of the others. His beautiful mental state was nothing like a
job seeker’s.

Compared to proper workplace formal wear, Su Lai felt his burial suit was more
comfortable. At least it had pockets to hold his phone and the plushie.

“Mr. Wang, I suggest you leave anything unrelated to the interview outside in
the main meeting room.” The HR glanced at the pig kidney and black cat plushie
in Su Lai’s hand.

Su Lai: “Is that an interview rule?”

The HR looked at his bloodstained burial suit and shook her head. “Just my
suggestion. First impressions matter in interviews.”

Su Lai: “Thanks, but this is the first impression I want to give the
interviewer.”

The HR was momentarily speechless. She then asked. “Aren’t you afraid of leaving
a bad impression? This is an interview, after all.”

She shifted her gaze back to Su Lai’s bloody hands. They were beautiful hands,
long-fingered with defined knuckles, stained with dried crimson. She hesitated,
then ultimately said nothing more, only reminding him, “The interviewer will be
here soon. Please wait a moment.”

The cramped office gave a sense of压抑. There were no windows, no greenery, just
two facing office chairs. After the HR left, the door was left ajar. All natural
light was cut off. Only a flickering fluorescent light lit the room.

On the wall was a niche, just like the one downstairs. An upside-down statue,
four incense sticks burning. The sealed office was filled with smoke. The
strange, fishy smell of the burning incense was a bit irritating.

It seemed the owner of Fortuitous Retribution Building had quite a bit of
“faith,” setting up niches incompatible with an office building everywhere,
worshipping these shady “gods.”

Unlike the 「Spring Breeze Community」 instance, where the neighbors were people
who had died in the past but still used their daily routines to overwrite the
memories of their death, pretending they were still alive. Pretend long enough,
and it becomes real. So the residents of 「Spring Breeze Community」, though their
pupils were dilated and their bodies covered in livor mortis, were still full of
“living” energy. Probably because their souls were still alive.

But the corporate slaves in Fortuitous Retribution Building, though dressed in
suits and ties, were only filled with a heavy death air. Even the female ghost
in the elevator, with her torn ears and cut tongue, was more lively than them.

He didn’t know if their “living energy” had been worn away by the daily grind of
work, or drained by the evil gods worshipped in the niches.

But Su Lai believed that endless overtime and work were more weird than any evil
god.

After a creaking push of the door, the interviewer entered. The middle-aged man
wore a neat shirt, but the few strands of hair left on his head were barely
hanging on. His face held nothing but exhaustion.

“Please note, your answers during the interview will affect your final score.
Understood?” The interviewer gave his opening lines in a business-like tone.

Su Lai: “If my interview score isn’t up to par, will I be eliminated on the
spot?”

Interviewer: “No one will be eliminated today. But your interview score will
affect your subsequent career planning.”

Su Lai: “Okay.” He had already planned for himself.

“Mr. Wang, please introduce yourself.” The middle-aged interviewer sat down on
the office chair opposite Su Lai. His gaze swept over the flip-flops on Su Lai’s
feet, his pupils slightly contracting. But the exhaustion on his face was
thicker than a livestream filter. It completely masked any other emotion.

Su Lai was concise. “Wang Xiaosi. I’m a delivery guy. Deliver anything, living
or dead. As long as the price is right and it doesn’t cross legal lines. Easy to
work with.”

The moment his words fell, the air stilled for a few seconds. The four ghost
incense sticks burned silently. There was no wind, but the smoke began to sway
left and right, as if someone had kicked the incense table.

Interviewer: “Please continue.”

Su Lai: “That’s it.” “Oh.” He suddenly remembered something and added. “If I
leave this job, and your company needs to hire me for delivery, I can give you
a骨折价.”

With that, he stuffed his “Su Lai Delivery” business card into the interviewer’s
hand. At first, the interviewer hesitated to take it. Su Lai had to force it on
him, looking at him sincerely. “Please accept it.”

He was trying to build more connections with the contaminated world. As someone
in the delivery business, more connections couldn’t hurt. The contaminants’
money was much easier to earn than that of the living in the real world.

And the interviewer had already promised that no one would be eliminated today.
So he could say whatever he wanted.

The interviewer’s gaze swept over the dried blood on Su Lai’s face. His pupils
trembled. He reluctantly took the card.

“You haven’t even started working yet, but you’re already planning for your
departure?” The interviewer pushed his thick glasses up his nose. He seemed to
be getting into the swing of things, his aura becoming cold and arrogant.

Su Lai: “Everyone dies eventually. Everyone quits eventually. After quitting is
when you become the happiest colleague in this building.” What normal person
would want to work in a dark, windowless cubicle their whole life, selling
themselves to the company?

Su Lai thought, that was even scarier than selling a kidney. Good thing it was
just an instance.

The interviewer’s facial muscles twitched. “Frequent job-hopping will make your
résumé look bad.”

“Will a good résumé make me rich?” Su Lai countered. “But if I join a few more
companies and turn all my former colleagues into clients, maybe I can get rich.”

He never ate the pie others had drawned for him. He was afraid of choking.

The twitching on the interviewer’s face grew more pronounced. After a brief
silence, he gave a humorless smile. “I admire your ability to plan ahead, and I
applaud your defiant courage. Now, let’s get down to business.”

“Mr. Wang, if I told you right now that our company is not a good fit for you,
what would you say?” He glared at Su Lai with dead fish eyes, trying to put
psychological and physiological pressure on the applicant with a difficult
question and an unfriendly stare.

Perhaps the burning smoke was causing hallucinations. Looking past the
interviewer’s shoulder, the applicant’s position gave a perfect view of the
upside-down god’s eyes in the niche.

The upside-down god had the same gaze as the interviewer, trying to pollute the
applicant’s spirit through their stare.

Su Lai nodded sincerely. “I think you’re right.”

He had heard that some big companies liked to use stress interviews. This was
his first time experiencing it firsthand. Su Lai was even a bit eager to try.

These provocative questions were often meant to observe the applicant’s
emotional management and reactions when faced with questioning.

The interviewer choked. “Then why did you come for the interview?”

Su Lai answered smoothly, a smile on his face. “Since I’m here, I’m here.” He
felt no pressure from the interview atmosphere. On the contrary, he was putting
pressure on the interviewer.

“Next question. Why do you think you didn’t get your last job?” Stared at by Su
Lai’s faint smile, the interviewer felt unprecedented pressure and quickly
changed the question.

This was a hypothetical question, testing the applicant’s ability for
self-reflection and to handle setbacks. Essential qualities for a beast of
burden.

Su Lai: “That didn’t happen.” “I not only got the last job, I even became the
boss’s adopted son.”

He had chopped meat and washed dishes at Wang Chunying’s wonton shop. He had
also indeed called the boss, Wang Chunying, “Mom.” He wasn’t lying.

The interviewer was briefly stunned, his expression awkward. But he quickly gave
himself an out. “You mean you’re very good at handling relationships?”

Su Lai corrected him. “Parent-child relationships.”

The interviewer was silent for another few seconds. “Um… if your superior
assigned you an unreliable project, how would you handle it?”

Su Lai thought seriously for a moment and replied. “I would take full
responsibility for the project.” “For example, however it was born, I would make
sure it died that way. Let the project go under gracefully.”

Interviewer: “What if the project has a strong will to live and you can’t kill
it?”

Su Lai waved his hand. “Then whoever wants to clean up the mess can do it.”

This time, the interviewer’s silence was longer than ever. He finally realized
that the pressure in this stress interview was all falling on him, the
interviewer.

“If the position you want isn’t available, and the company assigns you to a
position you don’t like, how will you handle it?” The interviewer’s tone grew
gradually weary.

Su Lai: “That’s easy.” “Just find a way to make the position I want available.”

The interviewer was alarmed. “How? Would you force your colleague to resign?”

Su Lai: “Or put a knife to the leader’s throat and make them add a position.”

After several rounds of questions, cold sweat beaded on the interviewer’s
forehead. His already exhausted face looked even worse, now like a冻坏ed eggplant.

Su Lai noticed that the NPCs in Fortuitous Retribution Building all had a
feature: from the front, they looked like oxen; from the side, like horses. Very
ox-horse.

It seemed that work was like depression. When it became severe enough, it would
manifest physically.

The interviewer wiped his face repeatedly with a tissue. “Um, the last question
for today.” He then took out three landscape pictures: a grassland, the sea, and
mountains.

The interviewer pointed at the three pictures respectively. “Mr. Wang, choose
the location you like best among these three.”

The previous questions had been stress tests and obedience tests. What was this
now? Su Lai couldn’t be bothered. He slacked off and pointed at the grassland,
because he liked green.

A look of disbelief flickered across the interviewer’s face. “Good. Today’s
interview is over.” “Mr. Wang, thank you for your… cooperation.”

The word “cooperation” was ground out through gritted teeth.

The interview scores were out quickly. The one announcing the results was the HR
with employee ID 999. A stiff, solemn mask was stuck on her face. She said to Su
Lai: “Mr. Wang, I regret to inform you that you have received the lowest score
of the session. A total of 2.5 points.”

Su Lai showed no surprise or rejection. He nodded calmly. “Okay. Can you tell me
the scoring criteria?”

He had thought he would get a zero. He hadn’t expected the interviewer to
actually give him a score. Even though the score was as sparse as the
interviewer’s hair.

999 obviously didn’t understand what he meant. She gave a perfunctory smile.
“Well, because your personal traits were too strong during the interview, which
are not in line with the current corporate culture, your score is far below
average.”

The implication was clear. The company’s culture couldn’t accommodate a thorn
like him. The answer was obvious.

Su Lai: “I’m just curious. How did I end up with these 2.5 points?”

999’s smile froze. Then she said matter-of-factly. “If we gave a zero, the
interviewer would have to submit additional paperwork.” “And the interviewer
admires your fearlessness of death.”

She emphasized the word “death,” her gaze sweeping over Su Lai’s bloodstained
burial suit and those bright, incongruous flip-flops.

“The interviewer also very much admires your… taste.” 999 used the same
gritted-teeth tone as the interviewer.

Bai Ke had also just come out of his interview cubicle. He heard the HR announce
Su Lai’s score. He came over and patted Su Lai on the shoulder. “Cousin, my
condolences. The workplace is always like this. Miracles never happen.”

Compared to calling him “Lai-ge,” he now preferred calling Su Lai “cousin.” The
experience from the last instance gave him a sense of security. He wasn’t as
afraid of contaminants as before.

Although he knew Su Lai’s score was pitiful, Bai Ke wasn’t actually very
worried. In his mind, Lai-ge always had a way to handle any crisis.

Su Lai obviously seemed unconcerned. “A mosquito’s leg is still meat. 2.5 points
is enough.” He already had employee 1120’s ID card. If anything happened, he
could use it to switch identities. No panic at all.

He could not only play the role of Wang Chunying’s missing son, but also that of
the employee who had already jumped to his death.

“The other players are all discussing that the available departments given by HR
are traps. If you accidentally step in it when choosing, you’re in trouble…” Bai
Ke frowned, scratching his newly bought wig.

Su Lai: “Don’t worry.”

Hearing Su Lai’s confident tone, Bai Ke’s eyes lit up with hope. “Do you have a
lead?”

Su Lai: “No matter how you choose, it’s all traps.” How could a company that
tried to erase its employees’ personal traits possibly make things easy for new
hires?

All the positions were traps. It was just a matter of size and depth.

Bai Ke choked. Then he nodded emphatically. “You’re right.” “Lai-ge, do you have
a department in mind?”

Su Lai nodded. Bai Ke pressed further. “Which department?” He wanted to use it
as a reference and maybe copy the answer.

Su Lai: “Not in the options given by the interviewer.”

Although he was used to Su Lai’s unconventional ways, he hadn’t expected him to
have already found a different path. But whatever Lai-ge said, he believed.

The players gradually came out of their interview cubicles. The head interviewer
stood at the highest point, his gaze sweeping over the group. “Today’s interview
has concluded. Remember all the emotions you felt during the interview: anxiety,
anger, humiliation, being at a loss…” “These negative emotions may appear in
your work and accompany your career after joining.”

The head interviewer’s blunt statement made everyone suck in a cold breath.

“We have already introduced the current job vacancies. Next, Human Resources
will, according to your interview scores, give you the right to choose your
joining department in order.” “The higher the interview score, the earlier you
get to choose.”

At this, the crowd erupted in noise. Some players had already anticipated that
scores would be tied to the order of choice. But even so, most of them had no
way to judge the pros and cons of the departments and positions. Even with the
earliest choice, it was still a gamble.

After entering the instance, players were immediately thrown into the interview
phase. No extra time to explore the instance.

“Cousin, your interview score should be pretty good, right?” Su Lai glanced at
Bai Ke’s wig. He remembered his “cousin” was a seasoned corporate s*ave, surely
well-adapted to stress interviews.

“Sixty-five points. Passed. Not high, not low.” Bai Ke wasn’t being modest. He
knew there were players who had scored in the eighties or nineties.

Bai Ke continued. “I still know nothing about the instance’s mechanics or these
departments. If I scored the highest, I don’t know if that would trigger some
contaminant invasion…”

He remembered being young and naive in the urban village, accidentally raising
his resident affection too high, which caused the blurring of boundaries with
neighbors, leading to those opportunistic neighbors invading his home and
personal space.

When the situation was unclear and there were many players, taking the moderate
path was often a way to survive. There were always suckers willing to charge
forward, and always someone at the bottom to clean up the mess. Especially in
the workplace.

Su Lai nodded. “Cousin, you’ve grown.”

Bai Ke smiled bitterly. “Just been soaked in the workplace too long.”

Su Lai: “I’ve never had a real office job. Literally speaking, which of these
departments are safer?”

The corner of Bai Ke’s mouth twitched. What Lai-ge just said would make most
people envious.

Bai Ke: “Judging just by common sense, people usually think Administration and
Human Resources are safer. Admin jobs are usually more relaxed, without many
KPIs. HR has the power to lay off, and the daily work is relatively固定. But you
have to deal with more people, handle complex workplace relationships. That
might not necessarily be a good thing in an instance.”

“As for the assistant position, who knows if the instance will have
socializing-related duties. That would be okay for socially adept players, but
very unfriendly for introverts.” “Technical Support and R&D are more technical.
Players without relevant experience might not be able to handle it. Not sure how
the instance would安排 those.”

“But Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing sound like they’re easier to trip
up. Sales often has unachievable KPIs. Colleagues compete viciously. Daily
meetings are like public executions.”

“Customer Service is even more headache-inducing. Endless calls, endless bizarre
customers. You’d have a mental breakdown before long. Going by real-world common
sense, avoid them if you can.”

“Marketing has to cater to clients and data. They’re always in a time race with
deadlines. Endless PPTs, endless meetings with leaders and clients. They’re
never satisfied with the乙方’s proposals. Unless you have a strong inner core, the
internal wear and tear is severe. In the contaminated world, it would only be
worse.”

Although Bai Ke had never worked in these departments, he had years of
experience navigating the workplace. He knew what he was talking about even if
he hadn’t done it himself.

“Lai-ge, do you have any advice?” Bai Ke was no longer as jumpy as last time. An
office building was familiar territory for him. People were always more at ease
in familiar environments, even knowing that this familiar was not that familiar.

The contaminants had silently permeated every corner of the office building,
just like the smoke from the niches.

Whether in the instance or in reality, for humans, work itself was a huge source
of contamination.

Su Lai: “The Marketing department is a bit dangerous.”

Bai Ke quickly asked. “Do you have some intel?” Although he knew the pitfalls of
marketing, for Su Lai to say this suddenly, it must not be from real-world
experience, but from finding clues in clues.

Su Lai: “I met a former colleague. Could tell from his appearance.”

Bai Ke was confused. “Former colleague?”

Su Lai nodded and looked out the window. “On my way here, a former colleague
from Marketing jumped from the building. Died on the spot. So now he’s a former
colleague.” “He almost hit my little e-bike.”

His tone was calm, showing no fear of death or relief at having survived.

Bai Ke opened his mouth, not knowing what to say. Finally, out of habit, he
said, “Amitabha.” “My condolences.”

He wanted to say more, but the department selection had begun.

Among the players, a few who seemed familiar gathered together and murmured
quietly. The two players who had scored in the eighties and nineties, as Bai Ke
had predicted, chose Human Resources and the General Manager’s assistant
position first.

Su Lai, with his pitiful 2.5 points, was naturally last. He leaned listlessly
against the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the flowing fog outside blur into
gorgeous colors under the light of “Fortuitous Retribution Plaza.”

Unlike the urban village, the people and ghosts in this building were clearly
separated. Perhaps under the seemingly orderly daily routine, a horror-related
main quest was hidden.

When it was Su Lai’s turn to choose, only Customer Service and Marketing had
available spots.

Anyone with basic workplace common sense knew these two departments were not
easy. Best to avoid them.

The head interviewer had already heard about Su Lai’s interview. He now gave him
a hypocritical yet expectant smile. “Mr. Wang, hello. I am pleased to inform you
that the Customer Service and Marketing departments are still available for you.
Based on the company’s understanding of applicants, these two career paths are
also quite in line with your previous work experience.”

“Which department would you like to join?”

All eyes focused on Su Lai again. Su Lai’s interviewer finally stopped wiping
his cold sweat and broke into a bright smile. He seemed to be looking forward
more than anyone else to seeing Su Lai forced to “choose.”

Su Lai was expressionless. He gave a flat “Oh.”

“Children make choices. Adults, of course, choose none of the above.” Su Lai
said.

… None of the above?

The interviewer and HR were both stunned. “Mr. Wang, you must choose one.”

Su Lai threw the interviewer’s words from the phone call back at him. “People
without career plans will not have high demands on themselves in the workplace.”
“I know my career plan very well.”

Su Lai pulled out the protective charm Wang Chunying had given him. There was a
hint of nostalgia in his flat voice. “Mom always told me since I was little:
others are suited to work inside the office, but I am more suited to be a
security guard outside the office.”

“I’m here to fulfill Mom’s dream.” “I want to be a security guard.”