The Office Where Time Eats Employees

Su Lai took out employee 1120’s ID card and swiped it. The balance that appeared
made him fall silent instantly——

[Hello, Employee 1120. Your onboarding duration has been two years. Your total
working time is 8844 hours. Your remaining usable work hours are 52 hours.]

This poor former Marketing colleague had worked for two years. If, according to
the rules, he worked 11 hours a day, all year round, with no breaks, the maximum
he could have worked in two years would be 8030 hours. Meaning he had worked at
least 1969 hours of overtime in those two years.

At this work intensity, not to mention two years, an ordinary person would go
crazy after two days. Jumping off this building was completely understandable.

The most chilling part: he had worked all that overtime, and in the end, only
had 52 work hours left.

As a fellow corporate s*ave, Su Lai glanced at Bai Ke sympathetically.

Bai Ke scratched his hairline. “Don’t look at me like that. In real life, I
already quit my old company. I’m on break right now.” “Thinking of buying a hair
transplant package. Buy one get one free. Want to invite my former colleagues to
join me, but they’re too busy to take time off. Continuous late nights and
overtime aren’t great for hair follicles either…”

Su Lai: “Congratulations.”

“Actually, last time in the urban village, since I was the one who filled out
the final collective report, I got a huge livestream reward bonus when the
instance settled.” Bai Ke guiltily averted his gaze, looking out the office
window at the flowing fog.

He wasn’t sure if it was because entering the office building had dulled his
retinal perception. Aside from the flickering lights, Bai Ke standing inside the
building had felt no change in the light outside. They were like people trapped
in a time box.

The alternation of day and night, the change of seasons outside the office
building were unrelated to the employees inside. Their lives had stopped the
moment they signed the contract. They had transformed from humans into beasts of
burden.

Perhaps having looked at the flowing fog for too long, Bai Ke felt his
consciousness becoming light and airy, his perception also blurry. It wasn’t
until Su Lai patted his shoulder and said casually, “Don’t space out.”

Bai Ke snapped back to reality, cold sweat instantly beading on his forehead.
Spacing out in an instance was often a precursor to contamination. But he was
still reluctant to immediately buy a coffee to calm his nerves.

He instinctively looked down at the familiar flip-flops on Su Lai’s feet. The
highly saturated pink slippers were out of place among the grey, downtrodden
beasts of burden. Not formal enough, yet dazzlingly bright.

Because of this, in this lifeless building, Lai-ge’s presence gave a stark sense
of security. An overly orderly environment needed a perfect intrusion and
disorder.

Bai Ke shook his head and continued. “Because of that huge bonus, I don’t have
to worry about money for a few years. I’m not planning to stay in the big city
working and renting anymore. I want to choose a coastal city with a low cost of
living, buy a one-bedroom, and settle down.”

Even though he was now in a crisis-ridden instance, when talking about his
post-resignation beautiful life, Bai Ke’s dim eyes lit up accordingly.

Su Lai: “With the economy down and housing prices plummeting, be careful
buying.”

Bai Ke smiled wryly. “I’m not a real estate speculator. It’s fine if I live
there myself.” “Lai-ge, actually, I don’t quite understand. Since you’re short
on money and have the ability to take on the risks of contamination, why did you
give me the credit for the reporting back then…”

These words had been stuck in Bai Ke’s heart for a long time. He hadn’t known
how to bring them up.

Su Lai stared at him fixedly, then spoke after half a second. “How do you know
I’m short on money?”

Bai Ke: “I’m not blind.”

Su Lai clicked his tongue. “Tough crowd.”

Knowing the boss didn’t want to discuss it, Bai Ke changed the subject. “Sigh, I
just quit and was enjoying a few days of freedom, then I’m dragged back into an
instance to work. What a bummer.”

Su Lai: “In your Admin department, what’s the work hour multiplier?”

When the other new employees were discussing their multipliers, Bai Ke had
stayed silent. Now that Su Lai had brought it up, he didn’t intend to hide it.
He lowered his voice. “Three times.”

Su Lai took a light breath. “Oh. Exactly six times mine.” “No wonder security
guards can’t afford coffee.”

If it were anyone else, Bai Ke might have felt he was being passive-aggressive.
But it was Lai-ge, so he wasn’t worried at all. “Don’t fall into the trap of
consumerism.” “Lai-ge, if there’s anything I can help with, just…”

“There sure is.” Before Bai Ke could finish, Su Lai said. “The data archive room
is under Admin’s management, right?”

Bai Ke swallowed his unfinished words. “According to the general company setup,
yes.”

“Find a way to help me look up an accident report in the records room.” Su Lai
started delegating. “A female colleague who died in the elevator. Not sure if it
was an accident or something else. When she died, her ears and tongue were gone.
Her fingers were broken. Blood splattered all over the elevator.”

At the same time, a familiar notification came—— [Congratulations, players, for
collaboratively triggering the hidden side story: “Is That Former Colleague
Still Hanging in the Elevator Today?”] [Current side story unlock
progress: 10%.] [Exploration progress will yield generous rewards. Stay tuned.]
[Attention! Rewards coexist with crisis. Excessive side story exploration may…]

Sure enough, it was triggered. Sometimes, by bumping into things, you could bump
out a side quest.

Bai Ke roughly guessed. He pointed at the bloodstains on Su Lai’s burial suit.
“Is that… from that female ‘colleague’?”

Su Lai nodded. “She also took half a pig tongue from me.”

“… So you went through a lot even before the interview.” Bai Ke looked at Su
Lai, at a loss for words.

After completing onboarding, it was nearly 2 PM. The interviewer handed out ID
badges to the new employees, then shooed them out of the office like animals.

“The onboarding process is complete. Please, new colleagues, quickly familiarize
yourselves with your positions. Compete. Competing is the blessed retribution
for us laborers. It is the only way to achieve class mobility!” “The capable
work more. We all have a bright future.”

The head interviewer, having worked continuous overtime for months, spoke these
passionate words with a lifeless expression. It was naturally chilling in its
incongruity.

Bai Ke, hanging his ID badge around his neck, muttered quietly. “Look at him
being all capable. I’m not.” “Whether the laborers have a bright future after
competing themselves to death, I don’t know. But the capitalists sure do.”

“The streetlights downstairs aren’t even on. Guess they’re saving them to hang
the capitalists.”

Su Lai patted Bai Ke’s shoulder again. “After this job, don’t work for others
anymore.” He said it like he was persuading someone to leave prostitution.

Bai Ke perfunctorily gave him an OK sign and was hurried off to his own
workstation.

The new employees’ ID badges were all four-digit numbers starting with 17. But
Su Lai directly inherited the director’s nephew’s cousin’s badge number, which
was quite special: 1501.

The security room was small. The left wall was densely covered with surveillance
screens. The remaining space only fit a metal frame bed and a desk.

The previous guard’s leftover items were also very simple. On the bed was a
neatly folded uniform. Beside the bed leaned a telescopic steel fork. On the
uneven desk were a thermos, a high-powered flashlight, a cheap-looking digital
watch, and a rusty walkie-talkie.

Su Lai unceremoniously took off the bloodstained burial suit. Just as he was
about to put on the uniform, the walkie-talkie on the desk crackled——

[Testing… the new guard isn’t on duty yet… testing… the new guard 1501…] The
walkie-talkie’s signal was unstable. The transmitted voice had a distorted
quality, echoing emptily in the sealed security room.

Su Lai picked up the walkie-talkie and yawned. “On duty.”

His performance was so seasoned that the other party fell silent for two
seconds. Only the crackling static fermented in the stillness.

[Please complete your patrol task on the 11th floor between 2:00 and 3:00 PM
today.] [Please note to manage your time well and complete your assigned patrol
work on time.]

A task had arrived. Although patrolling for an hour would only earn him 0.5 work
hours, a mosquito’s leg is still meat. 0.5 work hours might even buy him a tea
egg in the cafeteria.

[1501 Security Guard, please note. Since the 11th floor of this building is
quite special, please follow the below precautions during your patrol.]

“Wait a moment.” Su Lai immediately opened the recording app on his phone.
“Okay. Continue.”

These rules weren’t written down. Su Lai was afraid the other party would change
their mind. He needed to keep his own evidence.

[First, during your patrol, please wear the watch for security personnel. Always
be aware of the passage of time. Do not be late for subsequent work.] [Second,
work requires down-to-earth effort. Do not slack off. Be sure to cover every
room and corner of the 11th floor.] [Third, conserving water is the duty of
every employee. Please ensure all faucets on the floor are tightly turned off
during your patrol.] [Fourth, what flows from the faucet may not necessarily be
clear liquid. Regardless of the liquid’s color, you must convince your eyes that
the liquid is clear.] [Fifth, clean the moss and hair off the sinks on the
floor. Keep the floor dry and clean.] [Sixth, remember during your patrol that
there is and only is you, the security guard.] [Seventh, if you encounter an
unhandleable (?) situation, press the button on the walkie-talkie.] …

After listening to this series of patrol rules, Su Lai almost thought he had
applied for a janitor position, not security.

[Please proceed to the 11th floor and begin your patrol work…] The interference
on the walkie-talkie grew louder. Su Lai had already changed into the security
uniform. Taking the telescopic steel fork, the high-powered flashlight, and
wearing the watch, he arrived at the 11th floor.

The moment the elevator doors opened on the floor, a thick, fishy smell of water
hit him. Like a damp, undried mop left to ferment in a corner with a bunch of
wet hair. The musty smell lingered.

With a ding, the elevator doors closed again, the auto-sensing doors shutting
behind Su Lai.

The watch showed exactly 2:00. The entire 11th floor was a sealed space. The fog
outside the windows was even thicker. The floor-to-ceiling windows had a coating
of dark green film, completely absorbing the already dim daylight. The entire
floor was tinged with a dark, murky green, like the world seen through a candy
wrapper as a child.

Colorful, but shapes were distorted.

The floor was silent. Not a soul in sight. Through the glass walls of the office
partitions, rows of heavy old desktop computers could faintly be seen.

The vintage Windows startup animation jumped into view. The low-resolution
screens, like motion-sensor lights, sensed Su Lai’s arrival and lit up one by
one in the empty office. The retro ding-dong startup sounds echoed successively.

The dim space was tinged with a fluorescent blue glow from the screens. The
unique smell of rubber from a computer server room filled his nostrils.

The red carpet on the floor was damp and moldy. Su Lai took a few steps forward,
feeling like he was stepping on a wet sponge. His footsteps were absorbed
completely by the damp carpet, leaving only deeper or shallower footprints.

Because it was so quiet, the tick-tock of the watch’s second hand was
particularly jarring.

An empty floor, dark office corridors that seemed to never end, millennium-era
computers lighting up one by one, the fluorescent blue glow fermentation in the
dead silence, the damp red carpet, and the nonstop tick-tocking rusty watch…

For a moment, Su Lai felt an indescribable familiarity. It seemed like he had
had a similar dream long ago. Old desktop computers lit up like ghost fire in
the darkness. He was in an endless loop of offices. The ceiling was low, the
corridors long, the damp red carpet invading every tile.

This place was static. Only two emotions grew: unease and the urge to escape.

Su Lai checked his watch again. 14:02. Unnoticed, two minutes had passed.

Although the outside of this building didn’t look big, it was like a living
thing, constantly transforming and growing based on one’s perception and the
needs of the task.

Su Lai turned on the high-powered flashlight and looked into each office. The
color saturation of the computer screens he illuminated dropped.

In the sealed space, these blue lights were like pairs of peeping eyes, hiding
behind the screens, watching his every move.

Su Lai simply shone the flashlight directly at the screens. Better them go blind
than him. These peeping sensations came from the contaminant audience watching
the livestream.

Weren’t players unable to interact with the audience? Su Lai would just create a
different kind of interaction his own way: blinding them with the high-powered
flashlight.

Anyway, these contaminant viewers watching the livestream were itching for
punishment. They needed a good thrashing.

“Drip, drop… Drip, drop…” Just then, the sound of dripping water came from
behind Su Lai’s right.

Rule 3: Conserving water is the duty of every employee. Please ensure all
faucets on the floor are tightly turned off during your patrol.

Su Lai turned and walked towards the sound. Because he quickened his pace, the
tick-tock of the watch on his wrist also sped up.

After passing several offices with identical structure and décor, the dripping
sound came from the break room on this floor.

The break room should have been dry-wet separated, but it was still covered in
red carpet. Due to the heavy humidity, the carpet in the break room was a wet,
thick red, like half-congealed chicken blood. A light touch and the red would
disperse, a sweet, fishy smell spreading.

Su Lai shone the flashlight around. Aside from the not-tightly-closed faucet,
there didn’t seem to be anything unusual. He casually turned off the faucet.

But after Su Lai had passed five more offices, the dripping from the break room
started again. Su Lai had to turn back and repeat the motion of turning off the
faucet.

He quickened his pace. The watch on his wrist seemed to speed up too. The
tick-tock of the second hand like someone had pressed double speed.

He stopped, staring intently at the watch face, like looking at Schrödinger’s
cat. The second hand seemed to sense Su Lai’s gaze and significantly slowed its
movement. It now moved at a pace noticeably slower than normal.

Patrol rule 1 stated: security personnel must be constantly aware of the passage
of time. Do not be late for subsequent work. So the flow of time here had been
transformed?

Su Lai simply started jogging. The watch face, which had been moving slowly,
started spinning wildly! The flow of time also became unstoppable. In an
instant, five minutes were wasted.

So that was it…

System Livestream Backend.

“Isn’t Fortuitous Retribution Building an instance exclusively for tormenting
corporate slaves? Why is there a patrol task now?” “Probably because the
instance added a new hidden profession: security guard. New gameplay? “No… the
security guard position wasn’t newly added. This temporary player Wang Xiaosi
wanted to fulfill his mom’s dream, so he forced the connected former colleague
to quit and took the position himself.” “I like this kind of tough player.”

“So his mom is still alive? She must be very happy seeing her son so motivated,
right?” “His mom’s not a person. She never lived.” “Then her corpse must be very
warm now.” “R.I.P” Livestream viewers bought a bunch of candles and sincerely
lit them for 「Mom.」

“Has the time flow on this floor been tampered with?” “Yes, zoom in. You can see
the watch’s time flow changing. On this task, the flow of time is proportional
to the security guard’s patrol speed. Meaning, the faster the guard moves, the
more efficient his work, the faster time flows. This patrol task is a trap. It’s
designed to never be completed.”

“What if the guard chooses to stay put and slack off?” “What are you thinking?
Would the boss allow employees to slack off on company time? Stopping patrol
might slow down the time flow, but time still moves. It would still consume the
guard’s remaining time. The task still won’t be completed.”

“I get it! The 「Time」 on this floor is alive. It’s observing the player’s work
speed. The more proactive the player, the shorter the time.”

“It’s just like my boss! The faster I finish my tasks, the more work he gives
me. Endless. He’ll never let me leave on time!” “And he even educates me: the
capable work more. God, what gaslighting!”

“Exactly. The more you compete, the more work you get. If you don’t compete, you
can’t survive.”

A prophesying viewer jumped in. “Knowing the instance’s style, I bet in the end,
it will offer something that seemingly cares for new employees, but is basically
exploitation and gaslighting. Waiting for the player to take the bait…”

Meanwhile, Su Lai had already guessed the supervisor’s little scheme.

If he couldn’t complete the patrol task within the specified time, he wouldn’t
get the 0.5 work hour compensation.

Skimping on employees’ due pay was the company’s goal. Management would think of
every possible way to maximize work from employees while minimizing the payment
they make.

He knew it. Capitalists exploiting beasts of burden wouldn’t be so kind as to
give him such a simple patrol task. Of course, there was a big trap.

Just then, the walkie-talkie crackled—— [1501 Security Guard, hello. Since you
are a new employee and not familiar with the building’s interior structure, you
may easily exceed the time limit and be unable to complete the patrol task. We
completely understand this.]

Understand? Su Lai didn’t need understanding.

The supervisor on the other end continued. [Considering your new employee
status, we can extend your patrol time. Do you need this?]

The supervisor’s tone suddenly became very polite. But when something unusual
happened, there must be something behind it.

The last rule of the New Employee Handbook said: 「Nothing is free. If something
appears to be free, please do not believe it.」

Su Lai asked bluntly. “What’s the catch?”

[Our company has a high tolerance for new employees’ mistakes. To extend your
patrol time by half an hour, we only charge a 1 work hour penalty fee.]

Su Lai: “…” The company was so smart. This patrol task would only earn him 0.5
work hours. If he asked for an extension, he would essentially be paying 0.5
work hours to work.

Su Lai: “No deal. Task failure is more cost-effective.”

Seeming not to have expected the new employee to refuse so decisively, the
supervisor on the other end faltered. The fake-friendly tone also vanished—— [If
you cannot complete the patrol within the specified time, besides being
deducted 0.5 work hours, your daily report data will look very bad. You will
also bear the severe consequences of being unable to handle your position.]

Su Lai: “… I’m just a lowly security guard, and I have to write a daily report?”
He almost laughed.

[What kind of employee do you think you are? Everyone has to write and submit a
daily report every day.] [The daily report is a crucial part of work. It will
directly affect your performance evaluation during probation, your leader’s
performance, and the overall image of your department in the company.]

The other party rattled on. Su Lai, losing patience, interrupted him——

“What do I care about the leader’s performance.”

[……] The supervisor on the other end fell silent.

“Face. Whoever wants it can have it.” “I have no face.”

“There’s only me in the Security department.” “So, for the face of our Security
department, I officially give it up.”