Chapter 24
It has to be said that, as a large company, Serpent Staff Gene is really efficient.
After signing the contract that afternoon, Si Chen got the room card to his new apartment before leaving work in the evening.
It was the HR officer for the laboratory who came to deliver his room card. The room card wasn’t the only thing she brought with her. She also brought a string of smokeless electronic firecrackers.
The room card was placed in a red envelope, making it look very festive.
The HR officer ignited the electronic firecrackers and pops and crackles rang out in their research team’s little area. Workers of the nearby research groups poked their heads out to watch the fun.
The HR officer said loudly, “Today, we are gathered here to celebrate Si Chen’s, an employee of the Research Team 516, transfer from the R&D department to the Production department! Let us wish him a bright and brilliant future! May he attain more achievements for society. Let’s give him a round of applause!”
There was warm applause all around.
The HR officer’s eyes were filled with expectations. “Come, Si Chen. Come and get your room card. Let’s take a photo together!”
Si Chen: “…”
Her and Si Chen’s photo looked like some kind of propaganda shoot for an MLM company.
“It’s brand new and already fully furnished. No one has lived there before. Every floor of the residential building comes with its own dedicated steward. You can move in immediately. You can even just head straight there after work.” The HR officer said, “And since you’re an old employee there is no need for you to undergo the application procedures. We’ll handle the paperwork for the transfer. This month’s salary has already been settled. Tomorrow, please head to the Production department to report for work.”
He was about to leave the research laboratory where he had worked for half a year. After giving it some thought, Si Chen decided to invite his team to have dinner with him.
Because they didn’t get off work until nine o’clock in the evening, they had no choice but to have this farewell dinner at the cafeteria. It was charged to Si Chen’s employee card. Although it seemed a bit cheap, it couldn’t be helped as there wasn’t any other place they could have it.
His colleagues’ heart ached as though they were drinking bitter wine, crying as if they were marrying off their daughters.
“Why did you have to leave before our project was finished?”
“If they bully you in the Production department, you come back and tell me.”
“We will always be your original family!”
**
The HR officer hadn’t lied to him. The new apartment was indeed move-in ready. There were even pajamas in the closet.
It was just that it was a little hard to get used to a new apartment. It was three in the morning but Si Chen tossed and turned and couldn’t fall asleep. And so, he simply decided to get up and raise his little chicken baby.
He lied to the Eternal Life Abyss, telling it that it was time to eat, to get it to come out. Si Chen then caught it and forced it to read until seven o’clock in the morning. During that period, the Eternal Life Abyss tried to get out of studying by pretending to be sleepy and cute; unfortunately, it was too ugly and it failed.
Because it was his first day of work in the new department, Si Chen arrived at the company early, trying to make a good impression on the new boss.
Unlike the research laboratories located in the suburbs, the production department carved out and built an industrial park in a quiet place not far from the city center.
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.
He swiped his employee card and walked into the park. Following the smart navigation, he headed to his office.
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These included arcades, open-air cafes, cinemas, swimming pools. It was as though they were afraid to hold on to money in the Safe Zone.
Si Chen even saw someone playing with a boxing game machine by the side of the road.
The man was wearing metal gloves and his bare upper body was covered with wounds of various shades.
He threw a punch and a terrifying value, 1917, was displayed on the game machine’s screen.
Si Chen took a glance and confirmed that the unit of measurement that followed the number was “KG”.
The boxer was Xin Xiaocao from the Disaster Zone. He was of mixed race and had very fair skin.
Probably because Si Chen had been watching too intently, Xin Xiaocao turned sideways to look at him, bright smile on his face. “Are you new here? Do you want to have a try?”
Si Chen looked at the sweaty glove. “No, thank you.”
Xin Xiaocao didn’t insist. He put on the wife-beater than had been hanging to one side and followed behind Si Chen.
Surprisingly, not only did the two walk together all the way but they even winded up taking the same elevator.
Xin Xiaocao was a little puzzled. “Are you the company’s new front desk receptionist?”
Some time ago, the receptionist for the Scarlet Bird Group’s building resigned to give birth.
Department head Song Qingyu swore that he would definitely find a beautiful receptionist to serve as the face of their group. He wasn’t going to allow the other groups to look down on their Scarlet Bird Group and accuse them of having no money.
Seeing Si Chen today, Xin Xiaocao was sent thinking. Chief Song truly hadn’t lied; the new receptionist truly was beautiful. Just by looking at his face, you could tell he must have spent a lot of money to recruit him.
Si Chen replied, “I’m currently assigned to Team 7.”
Xin Xiaocao was stunned. “What a coincidence, I’m also in the Team 7… Wait?? Are you the newcomer 1401827??”
**
In the empty office of Team 7 of the Scarlet Bird Group, there was only Si Chen and Xin Xiaocao.
The robot housekeeper, rolling on its little wheels, emerged from its corner, pulled out a water hose and started watering the flowers on the balcony.
Xin Xiaocao took a can of energy drink and put it on Si Chen’s desk. “There haven’t been many missions recently. Everyone had asked for leave and haven’t returned to work. My name is Xin Xiaocao and I’m the overseer assigned to you by the team.”
“We don’t have any fixed working hours but there are fixed tasks and projects in the company every month. So we still have to work for about ten or eight days each month. Missions mostly compose of going to the Disaster Zone to clean up alien species or collect resources. Occasionally, we go to other companies for business exchanges and trainings …” Xin Xiaocao rubbed his chin, “The rest of the time, you’re free to do whatever you want. But you have to always be reachable. If the company can’t find you for an urgent task, your work points will be deducted.”
Xin Xiaocao’s path of evolution was also mechanical transformation. By chance, their family won 50 million in the lottery and they invested in his turning into an Evolutionary.
He was now on the Third Step and was ranked 777th. A very auspicious number.
Although he’d left the Second Step a long time ago, Xin Xiaocao knew very well how difficult it was to get into the top 100 even for a low Tier given the very many Evolutionaries there.
That Si Chen with no background was able to make it to No. 12 was simply astonishing. It was hard not to wonder what heights he could reach if just given the proper resources.
In just a few days, the number of forces that have secretly inquired after information about Si Chen was astounding.
But Si Chen looked completely ignorant of the entire thing.
In truth, for this round, Serpent Staff Gene emerged as the winner, picking up a steal.
Xin Xiaocao smiled brightly. “Anyway, you’ll know after a few missions. Ask me if there’s anything you don’t understand!”
With that said, Xin Xiaocao included Si Chen into the team’s chat group.
The name of Team 7’s group chat was “The Donkeys of the Production Team”. There were 13 people in total.
Si Chen was reminded of his previous experiences in Laboratory 996. He felt that they were really a happy group of donkeys.
As a new employee, Si Chen needed to get his gear from the logistics team and Xin Xiaocao guided him there.
Because he was wearing a prosthetic eye, his left eyeball was directly removed by the company’s mechanic and in his presence, a chip was installed in it.
“I’ve granted you internal permissions. That means identity recognition, database access, access to the company intranet and so on. I’ve also upped the precision of your prosthetic eye’s recognition system. If it malfunctions in any way, remember to come and get it serviced.” The mechanic said casually, “This prosthetic eye of yours isn’t a combat type but it’s made of good materials. It’s been retrofitted and the alloy used is very good. It must have cost a lot of money, huh?”
Recalling how he came to possess this eye, Si Chen could only pretend to smile shyly. “Yeah.”
In addition, Si Chen also received three sets of work uniforms and a dedicated communicator.
The communicator looked like a round metal patch. According to the instructions, it was waterproof and fireproof and was ready for use once you stick it to your skin.
Xin Xiaocao had his stuck behind his ear.
Si Chen thought for a while lifted up the hem of his shirt and stuck it on his waist.
He didn’t like having any too obvious marks on his body and normally, his waist would not be visible to anyone.
The uniform was divided into an inner garment and a coat. The icon of Serpent Staff Gene was printed on it. It was suitable for different extreme environments and has certain protective capabilities, including blocking contamination.
Xin Xiaocao: “I heard that you’re going to take the postgraduate entrance exam. Then doesn’t that mean that you’ll be studying after just working a few months? But studying hard is the right thing to do. In general, the higher the better… ”
When Xin Xiaocao graduated from the military academy, he had his twin-cannon robotic arm installed. He was currently planning to replace both his legs with metal ones. Having already worked for a few years, he’d already saved up enough money. All that was left was to get them actually replaced.
Only that he’d heard that since the legs are so close to the crotch area, a replacement could easily affect his ability to reproduce. And so, his family hoped that he would get married first before changing to mechanical legs.
As they were chatting, Si Chen suddenly felt an electric shock coming from his waist.
This current wasn’t strong. It was like static electricity. But because it had been placed in a spot that wasn’t quite right, it caused him to shiver.
A string of messages appeared in front of Si Chen’s eyes.
[All members of Scarlet Bird Group Teams 7 to 15 are requested to gather at Parking Lot 01 of the Industrial Park before 3:00 p.m. Employees already in the industrial park, please prepare to set off immediately.]
[Work Assignment: Assist in the Space Fold area clean up]
[Location: Jiangchuan District, coordinates (11.471)]
[Civilization: Chaos Civilization]
[Transmitting detailed information…]
Xin Xiaocao also received the same message. He couldn’t help but gasp, “That’s just weird. Didn’t Teams 1 to 6 leave just two days ago?”
But when work comes in, corporate drones had no right to complain.
Xin Xiaocao looked at Si Chen. “Sorry about that but looks like you’re already off to work on your first day. During the mission, you can just stick with me. Don’t try to show off now.”
Most of the employees of the Scarlet Bird Group were mechanically transformed.
Data has shown that in the face of a chaotic civilization, the mechanically transformed Evolutionaries have a slight advantage — especially when it came to resisting distortion and mental pollution.
They were to immediately set off to their assignment. People arrived at the company’s waiting area one after another. The transformations of the people gathered were all sorts of varied and strange. Si Chen even saw a centaur pass by in front of him. His upper body retained the human part but the lower body was that of a mechanical horse.
Xin Xiaocao’s eyes filled with envy. “Do you have any idea how awesome that is? He assembled that in a Space Fold area. The cannons in that can blow a hole right through me.”
It’s strange, Si Chen couldn’t help but take a second look. “That’s really powerful.”
Si Chen was 180 cm and he didn’t think himself short.
But standing in this crowd, he was like a beautiful Omega in a group of Alphas.
In this era, because of gene medicines and male transformation, the physiological gap between the sexes have been infinitely smoothed out. There are even many women who are taller than him.
Xin Xiaocao must be very popular because in just a few minutes, many people have come to greet and hug him. Including that centaur.
The atmosphere in the waiting area was a bit somber. Everyone gathered together in twos and threes, speaking very quietly.
“Is there any other news?”
“Teams 1 to 6 haven’t come back yet.”
“They must have run into trouble… After all, it is a 5A-level Space Fold area.”
Probably seeing his doubts, Xin Xiaocao said in a low voice, “Actually, I have a nickname, Four Leaf Clover. That’s right. My luck is inexplicably very good. Back then, I was the one who’d bought that lottery ticket for our family.”
Xin Xiaocao looked very depressed. “We have great benefits at work. But every time we go on a mission, people die. There are 13 people in Team 7 but actually, only 6 are still alive. ”
Si Chen didn’t have time to answer.
Because the transport vehicle had arrived.
Translator’s note: Injecting chicken blood was an actual thing! Wow, I learned something new today and so did you (probably). I thought it was just a figure of speech for people that are so hyped up. To know more: here
That article was an interesting read XD
I’d only heard about it in passing but I didn’t realise it was so serious.
I didn’t read the article…just the thought…
Buffet is coming ELAbyss Baby! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
i had some doubts but to think people really do that 🤦♀️
I think it too much for me and I will not read this article
Chapter is a bit scary and omega verse arrive so unexpectedly, ahahah
Thank you for your translation 💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝
Thanks for the chapter!!
History is wild!
Didn’t they say that ther are 13 members in the group chat? So they kept the dead members in the grouo chat? 😭💔