I Rely On Poverty To Sweep Through Survival GamesCh99 - DEATH Game Studio (2)

Edited by Jules

After the voice vanished, the screen went black and no other NPCs appeared around them. However, the originally black screen of the computer at the front desk automatically lit up. b2hZND

The meaning was clear: It wanted the players to go there themselves and proceed with inputting the data.

The space all around them was sealed off. Aside from following the instructions provided by the screen, the players had no other options unless they wanted to wait here for the boss to take the initiative to come out and harvest them; they could then happily welcome the outcome of living in different quilts but dying in the same grave.

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The players walked towards the front desk one after another and began inputting their personal data according to the instructions.

This wasn’t hard to do since the instructions on the computer were extremely detailed. Even those who were computer-illiterate would be able to smoothly complete the operation as long as they could read. It seemed that the game also didn’t plan to make this segment difficult for the players. 6px1kq

Soon, employee cards were made one after another, and lanyards were even provided alongside them; the players only needed to slip in their employee cards. It was simply a considerate and automatic process.

But after obtaining their employee cards, the players realised that something was wrong.

Because while the employee cards had their pictures, everyone’s faces were warped, as if they had gone through post-editing. However, the players had completed the entire process of creating the employee cards themselves, and clearly wouldn’t have any interest in doing this to themselves.

“Truly a vulgar interest.” When Cheng Wenyi saw that his handsome face had been distorted into a grotesque appearance, he smiled slightly mockingly. That smile instantly disappeared, however, and he very quickly recovered his haughty and aloof appearance as he reached out to scratch Shirley’s jaw.

As for that ugly and vulgar employee card, he only glanced at it before he put it in his pocket so that it wouldn’t pierce his eyes.

Heh, he had never been in such a low position before.

Xiao Lan looked at his photo where his face had been distorted to look more or less like the whirlpool from a toilet flushing, then shrugged and also shoved it into his pocket. If it was ugly, it was ugly; in any case, everyone was the same, so no one could scorn anyone else.

Hu Zhai was originally going to express his shock, but when he saw Xiao Lan and Cheng Wenyi, who had obtained their cards before he had, being so calm, he felt embarrassed to do so. QgbZR5

He put away his employee card, then looked at everyone else.

He then realised that most of them were the same, and only Luo was different.

The photo on Luo’s employee card was just pure darkness.

It looked like a black hole in which unknown danger seemed to be hiding; it made one uncomfortable looking at it. At that moment, Hu Zhai felt that his big faceplate that was practically distorted into a large electric fan looked incomparably pleasing to the eye. UaPVyA

At least he still had a face, right?

“Fei Luo, why does yours look different ah? It’s quite horrifying,” Hu Zhai couldn’t help but ask.

Luo looked at the employee card in his hand, then gave a standard, polite smile. “Perhaps the boss envies my good looks?”

Hu Zhai: “…” Q7U2Oy

He glanced at Luo, then looked at his own face in the reflection of a nearby flower vase that could only fit half his face.

Was it so amazing to be handsome?!

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Cheng Wenyi, who heard their conversation: “…”

Why didn’t the boss target me? I feel like I’ve been offended.  IPw9l8

His gaze shifted condescendingly to Luo: tall stature, long legs, his body proportions looked very good; even with his clothes, he could still see that he had a good figure, and he had very well-proportioned muscles; his face also looked good; the quality of his clothes was impressive; and he had an extremely distinct temperament.

Cheng Wenyi suddenly felt that he had encountered his greatest rival since the beginning of time.

After hearing Luo’s statement, Xiao Lan felt that this guy had been corrupted. From whom did he learn to have such a thick face?

It couldn’t be him, right? 6QOUbu

The job positions on the players’ employee cards were different.

Xiao Lan was assigned to the art department, along with Luo.

Seeing that Luo had been assigned to the arts, Xiao Lan felt that they were fucked.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

The other employee cards displayed programming and design positions; aside from that, there were no other arrangements. There were no positions for beta testing, administration, financial affairs, commercial affairs, and so on. It seemed that aside from research and development, this small studio didn’t have any other capabilities. X5gZUq

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Beside him, Luo noticed this small detail and shot Shirley a light look.

White and furry, with pure and limpid blue eyes. Very nice.

Luo suddenly felt that he had encountered his greatest rival since the beginning of time.

Shirley merely felt a cold gust sweep over it before it instantly disappeared. It turned its head warily but didn’t detect any danger at all. Shirley’s ears twitched and it appeared a little uneasy. It quietly whimpered, then dug a little further into Cheng Wenyi’s embrace. PpjFwh

Cheng Wenyi was a little surprised by Shirley’s stickiness today but still held it tighter and stroked its fluffy and soft white long fur.

Aw, only a butt was left in the furriness. Xiao Lan could only regretfully withdraw his gaze.

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Luo smiled secretly.

After all the players got their employee cards, a system notification rang out: R6zc7j

“Ding dong —”

“Visitant from nowhere, return whence you came.”

This voice was cold and spine-chilling. The content of the statement was also very strange. What was ‘Visitant from nowhere’? And where was ‘return whence you came’?

From this vague tip, the players could more or less guess that they had to send off something or someone. As for other clues, perhaps they had to look for them themselves later in the game. 3A dPv

With the appearance of the notification, the game was officially declared open.

“Beep —” The lock system of a sealed glass door on one side of the lounge lit up, indicating that players could now go through it to enter the work area.

The players swiped their cards and went in one after another.

Behind the door were shut room doors, and the rooms were even closer together than residential rooms; each room wasn’t very big and probably couldn’t accommodate so many people at once. It was obvious that the staff here didn’t work en masse in a big office. LKZCpi

Xiao Lan found a room that was labelled ‘Art Office’, opened the door and entered.

The other players also each found their workstation.

The ones who entered the art office were Xiao Lan, Luo, Mu Yang, and Hua Bei. It seemed that the four of them were assigned the post of artist.

There just happened to be four workstations in the office, and there was even a collapsible bed beside each station. The meaning was evident. htaf5L

Beloved staff ah, the office is your home. How can just 996 be enough in your adored home? It would be better to be 24/7 ba; dedicating your youth to the company is the correct way of the world.

The company’s rules system was even pasted on the wall.

The content was roughly just: Overtime is good, the more overtime, the better the results; the company provides food and lodging; all those who return home and ask for leave aren’t worthy of promotion.

“Th- th- this boss is too- too scary ba…” Hua Bei looked at the game’s dog-like workload and felt some trepidation. YRipuN

Xiao Lan sized this place up. “Say, do you guys think the staff in this company died suddenly from working through the night? The grievances of these overtime dogs then transformed into evil spirits that worked hard to make everyone who entered experience their suffering.”

Mu Yang lifted his head from his game: “…”

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What kind of terrifying mortal suffering was this?

But why did it feel vaguely familiar? This sort of ‘the more overtime, the better the results, and the company provides everything’… why was it like his Lunhui ne… L5Id8H

The punk youth who realised a certain truth suddenly had the illusion that he was under pressures of life which he shouldn’t have at his young age.

Luo said with a small smile, “Did they still have hair when they died?”

The other three looked at him: “…”

This gentleman, are you a devil? dlGhyF

Overtime dogs are already very pitiful; don’t remind them of the pain of losing hair, okay?

Based on their work IDs, the four of them found their workstations; only then did they realise that not only did their stations have the usual keyboard, mouse, and digital screen, each person had even been allocated a handphone.

Xiao Lan picked up the phone.

On the screen was his distorted employee card profile. He unlocked the phone, and the programs in it were also very simple. It was basically software related to previewing art images. It also had the internal company app for contact and clocking in and out. The Internet connection on it was also just LAN, and it couldn’t connect to the outside world at all. Dc0nf6

Mu Yang raised his handphone. “This… because they knew players mostly wouldn’t bring their phones into games, they specially provided us with them?”

Xiao Lan also looked at the phone which he hadn’t touched in a long time. “The Advent World unexpectedly has such a considerate service.”

They truly made one feel… that they were better off without it.

Mu Yang fiddled for a while, then said regretfully, “Unfortunately, games can’t be downloaded. It’s rare to have such a large screen.” SrhN1y

Xiao Lan clicked into that inter-company contact app on his phone and saw an unread message. The message was from the boss, and it told them to go to the meeting room upstairs in twenty minutes for a project meeting.

He glanced at Luo with a questioning gaze. Luo revealed his own handphone screen which had an identical message.

It looked like the boss was genuinely treating them equally. He also wasn’t tired and privately messaged them one by one.

Over ten minutes later. o825j7

The players all emerged from their offices and headed for the meeting room upstairs.

There was a rather large office on the second floor, and on the other side was a shut room. From the texture of the door, it looked to be the boss’s room.

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The meeting room had a long table and seats on both sides. In the front was a screen for displaying powerpoints during meetings. Speakers were set up on both sides of the screen.

After the players entered the meeting room, they each found a place to sit. 4s28Sm

However, no one else appeared in the meeting room.

It was only when the time given by the boss arrived that the meeting room’s projector suddenly lit up, displaying a ghostly and eerie ‘Yin’ word on the screen.

There was only this deathly white character on the black background. The projected image was a little unsteady, causing this word to flicker on the screen like it was alive. The viewers were very uncomfortable.

“Everyone arrived on time; very good.” The cold voice which the players had previously heard boomed from the loudspeaker. Az3XxS

It seemed like this was the voice of that boss.

Although he said “very good”, his tone was a little regretful. It was obvious that he had hoped a few careless guys wouldn’t be that obedient, so that he had a reason to give them a small punishment.

Unfortunately, no blockheads appeared this time.

“First of all, we welcome the participation of new colleagues. The goal of the meeting this time is to introduce everyone to the project you will be participating on. I will first give a brief explanation. As everyone knows, our DEATH game studio is well-known for developing indie horror games…” mBqaw

After that was a flowing speech on the studio’s large portfolio of achievements that stretched out to several thousands of words and seemed as if it would never end.

It seemed that no matter the world, a leader’s brief explanation was never brief.

As the players’ eyes were starting to glaze over, their expressions on the verge of becoming dazed, the boss finally came back to the subject of this meeting:

“And this time, the project we are developing is called ‘Yin’. ghuf3M

“The game is mainly about a ghost hiding among the humans. It can secretly swallow up a person, and the person devoured by Yin will be forgotten by everyone, like they never existed.

“Alright, the content of the work has already been sent to your computers.

“I hope everyone can work earnestly. The meeting is adjourned.”

Then the projector’s screen disappeared. tYpcC2

Dong — dong — dong dong —

Following the boss’s declaration that the meeting was over, the crisp sound of a bell rang out from the speakers.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

The players stood up and walked downstairs.

This time, the number of people who walked out was — Dz RXo

Eight people.

When all the players returned to their offices, Xiao Lan heard Hu Zhai’s voice from the corridor outside.

“Um… I think something isn’t right.”

Drawn by his voice, all the players walked out and headed towards the planning office. BJDmQU

Unlike the other offices, the planning office only had two workstations, and Hu Zhai was the only player who was part of planning.

The other offices had been arranged specifically according to the number of people; why would there be one extra workstation in Hu Zhai’s office?

“Look at this.” Hu Zhai pointed at the work table in front of him. On it was an employee card that felt very familiar to the other players.

Xiao Lan went over to pick up the employee card and examined it closely. The lanyard and the content inside was very similar to his, but the information and photo was blank. vKQ1d

A player called Mo Dan said, “Who took one extra?”

Cheng Wenyi lazily said, “All of us remember how we inputted our data at the front desk, then watched our employee card appear before our eyes, correct? We put on the lanyard ourselves; with so many people watching, none of us saw anyone take one extra.”

“Then… could it be that this was misplaced by a past admin employee?” another player said.

Mu Yang gave him a ‘what a stupid mortal’ look. “Have you seen any admin staff here?” nZIzfq

The player who was thinking wishfully was left speechless.

A faint speculation appeared in the players’ hearts. They recalled that when the boss had spoken about ‘Yin’, the devoured person would disappear from everyone’s memories.

They looked at each other’s faces. These faces were the ones that had come out of the meeting room with them.

That also meant that previously, while everyone was gathered together in the meeting room, a player disappeared out of nowhere, just like that. VLPW 4

The boss thus made a person disappear right under everyone’s noses! This sort of disappearance also meant death more often than not.

Not only had they been unaware, this boss unexpectedly possessed the ability to change their memories!

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

The players all fell silent, and the atmosphere turned tense.

At that moment, a string of black words appeared before Xiao Lan’s eyes. The handwriting was elegant, strong and distinct; it was Luo’s handwriting. 0qt5lB

【The player who disappeared was called He Kaisui】

Unexpectedly, Luo remembered!

Faced with Xiao Lan’s slightly astonished gaze, Luo continued writing:

【Yes, my memory wasn’t tampered with】 sA9Ifr

The author has something to say:

Cheng Wenyi: I’ve used countless ways to promote myself and even dressed so handsomely, but all the readers say they don’t remember me. I’m panting with rage…

Mu Yang: Who told you to have so few scenes. You can’t even be considered male lead number 5. pQPJot

Cheng Wenyi: …Add another essay.