When Yue Shi returned to Tulip Security Company, the office door had been plastered with newspapers by some genius.
The broken glass in the corridor had been swept clean, but a few fragments remained in the corners, glimmering with tiny shards of light under the emergency lights.
The players hadn't dispersed; they were squatting on both sides of the corridor, standing, sitting, or leaning against the walls.
They were all waiting for the boss to return.
The moment Yue Shi's figure appeared at the end of the corridor, the crowd erupted from stillness into a frenzy.
They surged forward, crowding in front of Yue Shi and speaking all at once.
“Boss, take me as your disciple!” A player with the name 【Braised Pork】 pressed his hands together and bowed ninety degrees. “I can do anything—serve tea and water, clean up, commit murder and arson, or act like a hooligan. I'll do whatever you tell me to do.”
“Boss, I want to learn magic too!” 【Iron Egg】 squeezed up from the back of the crowd. “That move you just used was too cool, trapping people in a mirror. What kind of spell was that? Can you teach me?”
“I have drifted for half my life, only regretting that I have not met a worthy master. If Boss does not cast me aside...” 【Little Cucumber】 stood on his tiptoes and bellowed a classic line.
The other players looked askance at 【Little Cucumber】. Who would have thought this honest-looking fellow could say something so shameless!
The others immediately increased their efforts to flatter him, having no mental baggage whatsoever.
Their flattery was heartfelt because they felt this was just a game; there was no need to worry too much about dignity, face, or bottom lines when facing an NPC.
In the real world, they might have all sorts of identities and care deeply about external perceptions.
But in the Deep Red Continent, they could become anything. Flattery wasn't a disgrace; it was a strategy to win over an NPC, no fundamentally different from killing monsters and leveling up.
Yue Shi looked at this group of people and didn't want to speak.
A few slightly more rational players squeezed to the front. Their expressions weren't as fanatical, but the eagerness in their eyes was the same.
A young man in a grey hoodie asked, “Boss, can the company still keep going?”
“You just killed someone from the Investigation Bureau, a Special Operations Team captain at that. Won't they come looking for trouble? Will they shut down the company and arrest us all?”
Yue Shi looked at the young man and waited for a moment. After confirming no one else had any follow-up questions, he explained, “The company will operate normally. If anyone is uneasy, they can resign at any time.”
He didn't say ‘no one will come looking for trouble’—trouble would certainly come knocking.
He didn't say ‘I'll handle everything’ either; a villain wouldn't say something so responsible.
He was simply stating facts: the company would still open for business, continue paying salaries, and taking missions.
As for whether the players believed him or stayed, that was their business.
The crowd fell silent for a moment. A few players looked at each other, but no one wanted to leave.
They were only too happy to witness the chaos and participate deeply in the plot. Why would they run away at a time like this?
Yue Shi added, “If anyone wants to learn magic, that's fine too. This boss has always been generous.”
A windfall from heaven!
Deafening cheers instantly broke out in the corridor.
“Long live the boss!”
Some whistled, some clapped. All the fawning smiles turned into grins of ecstasy, and their testing gazes transformed into burning desire.
They crowded in even tighter, surrounding Yue Shi in the center.
“Boss, you're too cool.”
“I want to have your babies!”
“Why are you taking everything you can get?”
Yue Shi ignored this crazy talk. He waved his hand, and Ghost drifted over from a corner, appearing beside him with a expressionless face.
Yue Shi pointed at Ghost and said, “In the future, you can go to him for anything regarding magic cultivation. He will tell you the introductory rules. Only come to me if you encounter something he can't handle.”
The players' gazes shifted simultaneously to Ghost. Ghost looked at them expressionlessly, like a substitute teacher suddenly pushed onto the podium.
The crowd surrounded Ghost, firing off questions like a rapid-fire cannon.
Ghost told them directly, “First, commit one hundred bad deeds to lower your moral level. Then, I will teach you the basic cultivation technique.”
The players were slightly surprised. You need to be morally corrupt to practice magic? This is a damn evil art!
A second later, the players calmly accepted this setting, eager to go out and do bad things.
But before doing bad things, they still had many questions.
“What's the standard for a hundred bad deeds? How are bad deeds defined? Does stealing lollipops from kids count?”
Surrounded in the center, Ghost's expression changed from indifference to impatience.
Players were truly terrifying—more annoying than flies!
Yue Shi turned with a smile and went back into his office.
The door had been smashed and was now plastered with newspapers. Yue Shi ripped off the paper, ignored the mess, and sat down calmly. He tossed the Snow Leopard aside and began rummaging through his spatial storage.
Although he wasn't a hoarder, the items in his storage continued to pile up. it was filled with weapons he had collected along the way in various worlds and all sorts of souvenirs he couldn't even name.
There was also a pure human version of Yue Shi.
After searching for a long time, he finally found a box.
Inside the box was a single stone, the size of a pigeon's egg. Its surface was smooth like an ordinary pebble, but inside, a mass of liquid flowed slowly.
Half of the liquid was turbid and the other half clear. The two textures were immiscible, forming a slowly rotating vortex inside the stone.
This was one of his collection items, the 「Oath of Luoshui」. He couldn't quite remember its origin—it was either stolen or snatched.
One of its effects was to forcibly invalidate any established contract.
Whether it was a written agreement, a verbal promise, a magical contract, a conceptual restraint, or a divine curse, as long as one had the Oath of Luoshui, that contract was rendered useless.
Though there might be side effects.
Yue Shi held the Oath of Luoshui before his eyes. The clear half of the liquid shimmered with a transparent blue. He put the stone back into his spatial storage and scooped the Snow Leopard onto his lap, kneading it.
Did Qin Sansi think signing a contract would stop him from backstabbing an ally?
How naive!
Yue Shi had never had a moral burden or a contractual spirit. He would turn hostile at a moment's notice and would absolutely stab someone in the back.
The clamor in the corridor continued.
Ghost's voice drifted through the gaps in the crowd. “One hundred bad deeds, not one less. Stealing a kid's lollipop counts too. Never fail to do an evil deed just because it is small.”
The players' questions continued.
“Can we really learn magic after finishing a hundred bad deeds? Can you give us a sneak peek at the name of the spell we'll be learning?”
“Can someone beautiful and kind-hearted like me practice it too?”
“Will doing only 100 bad deeds affect the cultivation progress?”
Ghost was annoyed to death. Which demon orb asked that last question? If you think 100 bad deeds are too few, then go do 1,000.
The office door was drafty, making the newspapers rustle. Yue Shi listened to the sounds from the corridor, the corners of his mouth curled up.
Everyone is busy. It's good to be busy.
Rate on N.U.
