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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
"How was your sleep last night?" Tang Seng smiled and nodded at me.
"It was fine. I'm not picky about beds; I could sleep on a newspaper spread on the ground," I replied with a smile.
"And you?" Tang Seng turned to Sima Sanguang.
"I'm also not picky about beds. I could sleep even without a newspaper on the floor," Sima Sanguang chuckled.
"Haha, it seems you two are quite adaptable. By the way, that curly-haired guy is Sha Monk, and that old man is White Dragon Horse. You both know them, right?" Tang Seng pointed towards the curly-haired man in the distance and asked.
"Yes, yes, we know them!"
"I need to tell you both something. Due to company regulations, everyone who comes in has to go through a three-year probation period. Haha, doesn't comply with labor laws, right? Let labor laws go to hell; we don't follow that here. Anyway, I applied to Master Lin to cancel your probation period and promote you directly. But Master Lin didn't agree; it was decided that you'd have a three-year probation first, and then you can be promoted." Tang Seng looked at us and lightly cleared his throat: "This three years is important. You can only become our official employees after passing the probation assessment. By then, you'll understand what Dominion Villa is all about."
"What if we don't pass the probation?" Sima Sanguang asked with a smirk.
"That's a dead end!" Although Tang Seng was still smiling, there was clearly a cold glint in his eyes.
"Uh, can you explain what this probation period is about?" I quickly changed the subject.
"The reason for the three-year probation is to observe whether you might be spies sent by outsiders. During these three years, probationary employees can only live in the jungle outside; the conditions are extremely harsh... I can't say much about this because now it's only a three-year probation period. Therefore, your assessment will definitely take place within the villa. Based on my speculation, the company might use some special events to test you." At this point, Tang Seng smiled wryly and shook his head: "You two are too important to our team, so I'm not afraid to leak a bit of information to you."
"Actually, I really want to ask a question," I said as I lightly cleared my throat.
"You!"
"I've been thinking for a while now: why should I help you with this? What does what you're doing have to do with me?" I said with a smile.
"You want me to reason with you, or do you prefer that I don't?" Tang Seng did not get angry at my words; instead, he looked as if I should have asked this long ago.
"Please reason with me first," I replied with a smile.
"First, we rescued you from Kong Xuan, so we have done you a favor. It is a virtue of the Chinese people to be grateful and repay kindness. That's the first point!" Tang Seng raised one finger.
I acknowledged this point and nodded.
"Secondly, you have too many doubts in your mind that you want answers to. Getting those answers is simple; as long as you pass the probation period and become our employee, the answers will be provided immediately. This is the second point." Tang Seng cheerfully raised a second finger, forming a V shape with his hand.
I had to admit this point as well; after all, my curiosity was quite strong. I smiled and nodded again.
Tang Seng stopped raising his fingers and instead took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, handing one to each of us before lighting one for himself. He took a deep drag and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. "And then, what we are going to do is beneficial for the country and the people. You might be a bit confused now, but once you become a formal employee and learn the truth about everything, you'll definitely feel proud for participating in such an initiative. Well... that's the third point."
I looked around while holding the cigarette. "Tang... Master, let's skip the third point for now. Won't we get in trouble for smoking here? It seems like smoking isn't allowed at these kinds of parties."
"Who says so?"
"It's what they show on TV; Western-style parties are very particular about these things."
"Forget those Western-style parties; I'm Chinese." At this, Tang Seng couldn't help but puff out his chest and laughed, "There will come a day when Mandarin will be the universal language worldwide, and greetings won't involve handshakes but rather fist salutes."
Since Tang Seng felt that way, I joined Sima Sanguang in lighting up a cigarette. "Alright then, but I don't quite agree with your third point because I have no idea what your plan is about; benefits for the country and people seem like an illusion to me."
"Well, you'll naturally find out soon enough," Tang Seng said dismissively. "Let's skip the third point for now and talk about rewards instead. Assuming you've accepted this task, how much do you think the company will reward you once it's accomplished?"
"It should be several million at least," I pondered. Given Dominion Villa's substantial influence and my essential role in it, even if it wasn't several million, at least one or two million would be reasonable.
"Millions?" Tang Seng exaggeratedly curled his lip. "Add four more zeros, and that's the basic salary. This doesn't even include housing allowances, transportation subsidies, business trip allowances, high-temperature subsidies, phone expenses, and so on."
Adding four more zeros means hundreds of billions, right? Is that even possible?
Sima Sanguang gasped in disbelief. "Hundreds of billions? Tsk tsk, what if we add your subsidies?"
"That would easily exceed a thousand billion," Tang Seng exhaled a puff of smoke, looking quite enigmatic.
"Come on, who are you trying to fool?" I didn't care whether he was my department head or not; I directly shushed him. "There are so many people in the villa, each one worth over a thousand billion. Have you calculated how much that is? There has to be a limit to joking around... Uh... You aren't talking about ghost money, are you?"
Tang Seng chuckled lightly and said, "Do you think I'm joking with you? The money won't be given to you directly. First of all, no matter how much money you get, it won't mean anything to you if it's all at once. Second, if everyone had that much money, it would lead to inflation and currency devaluation, which is not what we want. So we have a way to ensure your money doesn't lose value while still allowing you to receive that amount."
I hesitantly asked, "Are you suggesting using precious items like jewelry or gold artifacts as substitutes?"
Tang Seng shook his head. "Those are just hype. For example, the current art auctions are merely a means of money laundering. Aside from gold as hard currency, everything else is just fluff. Even if you converted hundreds of billions into gold, you'd need several hundred tons of storage space, which you don't have, right?"
Sima Sanguang frowned and said, "That's not it either; what exactly is going on?"
A hint of pride appeared on Tang Seng's face. "There are ways to adapt. For instance, granting you permanent usage rights to an island or charging rights for a road—aren't those alternative methods? You could continuously collect fees from them, couldn't you? As the old saying goes, 'For generations to come, wealth will be inexhaustible.'"
Hearing Tang Seng say this left both me and Sima Sanguang speechless. Could we even continue this conversation? He was talking about dividing islands and roads with me; how could I respond to that? Was Tang Seng some kind of lunatic? Perhaps the entire Dominion Villa was a mental hospital filled with crazy people.
How could he have such unrealistic ideas? Well, it's best not to provoke someone like him; I should go along with it. I smiled and said, "I admit your reasoning makes sense. You mentioned two approaches earlier: one is rational discussion and the other is not. What would the latter look like?"
Tang Seng smiled slightly and shook his head as if he found my question childish. He reached out and patted my shoulder before leaving his hand resting there. A sudden chill flashed across his face as an immense pressure descended upon me like a mountain pressing down. My legs went weak as if I were about to kneel down; however, an innate stubbornness surged within me. Gritting my teeth, I managed to hold my ground.
Seeing me struggle so hard against it, Tang Seng's eyes glinted coldly as he applied more force. My bones creaked under the pressure as I gritted my teeth again, feeling beads of sweat rolling down my face while my whole body began to tremble violently.
Sima Sanguang felt something was off and quickly reached out to support me, wanting to lend a helping hand. Tang Seng let out a cold laugh, casually placing his other hand on Sima Sanguang's shoulder. The movement seemed slow, but Sima Sanguang couldn't evade it. In an instant, sweat poured down Sima Sanguang's face, and his expression twisted in agony due to the strain; it seemed he was also holding on.
Tang Seng's hand resting on Sima Sanguang's shoulder surprisingly held a wine glass, and the liquid inside showed no signs of movement. From a distance, onlookers would only perceive this as a department leader encouraging us with a pat on the shoulder.
The immense force crashed over us like waves from the ocean, one after another. Because of my persistence, my knees were being crushed under this tremendous pressure, which felt extremely uncomfortable. I was certain that if Tang Seng applied even more force, my knees would be shattered.
Tang Seng snorted coldly and suddenly withdrew his hand. Both Sima Sanguang and I simultaneously spat out blood. Sima Sanguang's face turned red and pale in turns; although I couldn't see my own complexion, it surely wasn't any better.
"This is what you call unreasonable. If you don't agree, I'll beat you to death!" Tang Seng's expression swiftly shifted from sinister to friendly as he smiled at us.
Neither Sima Sanguang nor I could respond; we were both too shaken from the adrenaline surge earlier, our bodies trembling and gasping for breath.
"You know what the trial period is," Tang Seng raised his wine glass towards me and downed it in one gulp before turning to leave.
"Damn, this person's strength is truly overwhelming," Sima Sanguang said with a bitter smile after a while.
"Yeah," I thought in astonishment, which far exceeded Sima Sanguang's. Aside from those reverse beings known as Demons, this was the first time I encountered someone among humans with such skills. It's worth noting that I had the energy of Devouring Soul within me, and yet I almost got crushed by him.
I am supposed to be the protagonist; how can I survive when even a supporting character is this formidable?
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