Chapter 23
Si Chen stayed at Ji Chuyao’s house for three days. When he came, he was empty-handed and when he left, he carried all sorts of big and small bags, all of which contained Ji Chuyao’s “unwanted” things.
These things included university textbooks, illustrated guides of High Dimensional Creatures, guides for evolution and so on.
Although they are priced at a few hundred credits each, they’re actually prohibited from being sold outside and aren’t even included in libraries.
To be honest, it was rare to come across someone like Ji Chuyao, this spendthrift who asked for nothing in return.
In some other parallel universe, people would call someone like him an “angel investor” or a “leek”.
When Si Chen arrived home, there was one day left of the leave he’d asked for from his team leader.
On his social account, he received a message from Du Jingtian.
Du Jingtian: You didn’t come to pick up your medicine this month.
Du Jingtian: Did something happen?
Du Jingtian: I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so harsh on you last time
Si Chen lowered his head, he opened the dialog box and two completely different voices intertwined in his mind.
The first voice said, tell Du Jingtian that his words hurt you and that you won’t trouble him again in the future. After you tell him that, blacklist him directly.
The second voice said, just be honest and tell Dr. Du that you no longer need to go to the hospital to get medicine. And then say thank you.
If it were even just a month earlier, Si Chen felt that he would have chosen the former without any hesitation.
But it can’t be helped, he wasn’t born evil. He wanted a better life.
Si Chen: Thank you, Senior. I don’t need any prescription medicines anymore. My illness has already been cured.
He threw in a cute emoticon at the end.
Du Jingtian hesitated for a long time: …I’m sorry. Did I hurt you by speaking too harshly the last time?
Si Chen: No, I became the Evolutionary V. I don’t need to use gene medicine now!
Though the crux of the matter was that selling meds on the black market was simply too inefficient. It didn’t bring in enough. Better to think of some other money making scheme.
Du Jingtian: Congratulations! That’s great!!!
Du Jingtian: Though I heard that it isn’t easy for the low-level Evolutionaries. I won’t be able to help you but I wish you all the best.
Si Chen also felt pretty good.
…
…
It was Tuesday when Si Chen returned to work.
In order to conform to his image of having just had an abortion, Si Chen applied liquid foundation on his lips. He looked extremely haggard.
These days, there aren’t many actors as dedicated to his craft as he was.
He looked in the mirror and felt very satisfied.
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.
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This scene made the eyes of his surrounding colleagues fill with unshed tears.
Si Chen never used to be absent-minded at work before! That dog of a man made Si Chen suffer so much.
Xiao Zhang took out a napkin to wipe his nose. “That bastard Ji came to the office before and I already said he looked like a dog! He’s simply inhuman!”
“Damn plutocrat’s son.”
“May he die childless!”
Ji Chuyao, far far off in the distance, suddenly felt his nose itch.
Si Chen could no longer eat his usual lunch. Instead, he bought a bottle of nutrient solution. Ordinary nutrient solution tastes like water. Although it has no additional nutrition, it can at least maintain what the body needs.
As soon as he returned to the lab, their team leader mysteriously approached him. “Xiao Chen, come here. One of the higher ups is looking for you.”
Because of the special nature of work in a scientific research institute, Si Chen has been working in the company for half a year and has yet to meet any of its leaders. After hearing what the team leader said, he was inevitably a little surprised.
When Si Chen arrived at the office, his eyes zeroed in on the man sitting behind the desk.
Young, with long hair. In a laboratory full of people suited up in protective clothing, he was actually wearing a white suit over a red shirt. A string of Buddhist beads was around his bare wrist.
He clasped his hands together, raised his head and glanced at Si Chen’s eyes. His were a very dark red. He looked a little cold and arrogant.
In contrast, his team leader, standing beside the man, was nodding and bowing, an exceptionally bright smile on his face.
“Xiao Chen.” Seeing him coming, his team leader hurriedly said, “Let me introduce you. This is the head of the production department, Song Qingyu.”
In the Serpent Staff Group, apart from management, there are three main departments — the research institute, the production department and the marketing department.
The production department includes both the lower level mass production workshops and the upper level High-Dimensional organism collection team. This team is composed of Evolutionaries and is responsible for collecting materials from around the world to be used in their experiments.
Judging from the team leader’s fawning behavior, Song Qingyu must come from the latter.
Si Chen locked eye with Song Qingyu.
Caught off guard, a cold light flashed in front of Si Chen’s eyes.
From Song Qingyu’s fingertips, an extremely slender silk thread flew out. It was obviously supposed to be a soft thin thread but it was actually as cold and hard as a steel needle.
Si Chen instantly turned his head to the side, his neck turning almost 90 degrees. A twist like that would normally result in a broken neck.
The silk thread sank into the door panel behind him. The thick iron door made a muffled sound and a depression appeared.
If Si Chen hadn’t gotten out of the way, based on its trajectory, this thread would have passed through his left eye where the Eternal Life Abyss was living away from home.
Si Chen suddenly remembered what he had heard from Ji Chuyao before; that this Eternal Life Abyss had come from one of the heirs of the Song Family. And Song Qingyu’s family name was Song.
However, he quickly rejected this idea.
If the Song Family were really out for revenge, they wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble.
In short, Si Chen would have simply quietly disappeared from this world.
The slender thread was quickly pulled back by Song Qingyu, who nodded slightly. “Reaction speed is good.”
Most of Si Chen’s face was covered under the protective mask, which thankfully also concealed his vicious expression.
He said nothing and simply waited quietly. After all, Song Qingyu definitely didn’t come looking for him because he was desperately bored.
Sure enough, Song Qingyu continued, “I must admit, I was surprised when I found out that the 12th ranked player 1401827 is in our company. Especially since this player is just an ordinary employee and mechanically transformed.”
Si Chen’s was momentarily confused but quickly realized what must have happened.
1401827 is his UID on the Evolutionary Association’s official website. The only ‘player’ related thing that happened recently was his training at the virtual training ground in Ji Chuyao’s house.
Every time he went online, there would be a prompt telling him that the game was starting and every time the system protection mechanism was triggered, the words “game paused” would flash before Si Chen’s eyes.
To sum it up, Si Chen believed that he was the player Song Qingyu was referring to and that he was ranked 12th.
You shouldn’t blame Ji Chuyao for forgetting to mention it. In his eyes, this kind of thing was common sense; as common as “you will be hungry if you don’t eat”.
Si Chen’s official website UID was hidden but the team leader had registered his account information when he applied for the company’s paid study program.
Si Chen replied, “This proves that the company’s employees are valuable, which is a good thing.”
Song Qingyu nodded. “I agree.”
Given the atmosphere between the two, the team leader felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. “Ah, Chief Song, this is, what is this for?”
Si Chen just had an abortion! He can’t take such a scare!
Song Qingyu’s tone gradually relaxed. “Sit. It was just a simple test and I didn’t even use any strength.”
Si Chen glanced at the visible dent on the iron door panel. He was a little curious what Song Qingyu would consider as ‘using strength’.
Si Chen pulled out the chair and sat in front of him.
Song Qingyu said, “The company wishes to re-sign a contract with you.”
Si Chen: “I’m sorry, Mr. Song. I’m going to graduate school and I have no plans of renewing my contract for now…”
“Don’t be in such a rush to refuse. Just hear me out first.” Song Qingyu said slowly, “Your new contract come with a basic salary of 700,000 credits and no cap on your performance bonus. The year-end bonus is from six months’ salary to a year and eight months. Your monthly salary comes with one level five evolution fluid, one level five gene medicine and three level four gene medicines. And you can buy any product produced by the Serpent Staff Gene at the employee price.”
“On top of this, the company will allocate an apartment for you in the city center. It’s 120 square meters and it comes with three Safe Zone residency quota. You’re an orphan, without father or mother and you’re single. But if you are short of money, you can sell these residency quotas.”
It has to be said that this contract was much better than Si Chen’s current low-level research dog contract. It was even better than contracts received by the graduate students recruited by the company from the military academies.
Si Chen kept his face free of any expression. His team leader beside him, though, was now short of breath. Envy spilled from his eyes; he wanted nothing more than to agree on Si Chen’s behalf.
Song Qingyu carefully observed Si Chen’s expression. The surprise and excitement he was expecting didn’t appear.
Si Chen asked, “What are the conditions?”
“The contract is for twenty-two years. During the first two years, you may attend graduate school with pay. For the twenty years afterwards, you must return to work in the Serpent Staff Group’s Production Department. The work of our department, simply put, is to explore the various Space Fold areas.”
“The production department conducts an assessment every six months. After the assessment, if you are promoted, your benefits will also be increased. There is no need to worry that your salary might decrease. The benefits of the different ranks in our production department are clearly stated.”
The entire office fell silent.
Si Chen didn’t reply for a long time. Song Qingyu said, “What are you concerned about? Although you are ranked high for your Step, you have no family to back you. You can rely on the company instead.”
“Smaller companies wouldn’t offer you as much, their capital chain would not be able to bear such risk.”
“And among the four major groups, I am confident that the other three will not offer better conditions, not even the Machine Core Group. After all, the Machine Core Group doesn’t lack mechanically transformed Evolutionaries. The reason why we’re willing to offer so much is because you’re already an employee of our Serpent Staff Gene and you’ve done exemplary work in the past. The Serpent Staff Group is your best choice.”
Song Qingyu thought that he was already being sincere in this negotiation. He didn’t even withhold any information in an attempt to mislead him.
Fresh blood is needed for the development of the company. Every year, Serpent Staff Gene would recruit hundreds of thousands of news “employees”. But these weren’t infusions of blood. They were batteries, to be thrown away once they’ve run out of power.
Some young Evolutionaries are born at the bottom but are blessed with talent and ambition. It can be seen at a glance that these people will achieve something in the future.
The company was offering this sky-high contract because what they were buying was not their present, but their future.
Si Chen said slowly, “Twenty years is too long. I don’t need the Safe Zone residency quotas. Change the contract to a renewal system.”
Who would say no to a better life? Si Chen didn’t work so hard to be an Evolutionary to be an ascetic.
Song Qingyu narrowed his eyes slightly. “This is worth thirty million.”
“It doesn’t matter. Change the contract to two years to be renewed yearly.”
Song Qingyu fell deep in thought. He sized up Si Chen, as if evaluating the other’s value.
Si Chen had a very open and frank look. No emotion could be seen in his, one silver and one black, eyes.
Song Qingyu gave a faint smile. “Two years but you won’t be allocated the monthly level five gene medicine and evolution fluid.”
To be honest, Si Chen didn’t care much. His absorption of these medicines was very slow.
Compared to saving up money to buy evolution fluids, better to let the Eternal Life Abyss eat more.
Si Chen replied, “Okay, deal.”
Song Qingyu turned on the computer and sent off instructions. After a while, the company administrator opened the door, contract in hand.
Si Chen carefully read the dozen or so pages, making sure that there were no legal traps. He then signed it directly.
This contract will be passed on to the Alliance’s information network. Once an employee breaches their contract, they will be apprehended and sent to the bureau to serve prison time.
After coming out of the office, he couldn’t help feeling weak.
Song Qingyu must be pretty high up on Heaven’s Stairway.
In front of him, Si Chen felt pressured in a way he hadn’t in a long time. The Eternal Life Abyss was also a little restless.
This restlessness referred to the Eternal Life Abyss yelling “hungry hungry” and “spider spider” over and over.
When he returned to his work station and the Eternal Life Abyss could no longer smell Song Qingyu, it sobbed hard, “Huhu huhu, Mom, spider, spider. Hungry!”
Song Qingyu must also have gone through biological transformation. And he had fused with a spider-like High-Dimensional Creature.
Si Chen replied coldly, “You can’t out eat that so stop thinking about it.”
…
…
Now that the contract had been signed, Song Qingyu got into the special car to take him back to the production department.
The administrator followed behind him, a little dissatisfied. “Why were you even that polite with him?”
“For a little nobody with no background, giving a little taste of sweetness ought to be enough. Where did he get the right to refuse?”
Song Qingyu glanced at him and said calmly, “What we want is an employee, not some dog that can turn on its master at any time.”
Translator’s note: I can’t help liking Song Qingyu just because he’s Song (Song Qingshi of Misvil) and Qingyu (Lin Qingyu of MTSF). I hope he turns out to be a good guy.
Thanks for the chapter!!!
What are wrong with dogs? They are so cute
Thank you for your translation 💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝 💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝
Thanks for the update 🤣❤️
welp, he looks pretty smart… let’s hope he won’t become an enemy
Song Qingyu gives me the creeps… He really feels like a spider in the center of his delicate web, waiting for butterflies and other insects to cluelessly get stuck in his trap.
Also, I understand his intentions, but he is so unsettling, somehow… Though I’m overly cautious and suspicious regarding characters with unclear directions. They might be helpful good guys, but it’s still better to guard against them, especially in Si Chen’s situation.
Thanks for the chapter!
thanks for the chapter!
I loved Married Thrice to a Salted Fish! Lin Qingyu is another MC that’s “not kind” that I loved.