Chapter 26

Why

"A company this size and they're using fake plastic trees." Ah Ze muttered with a sour expression. "No class at all."

Superstitious enough to put up a fortune tree. Not superstitious enough to use a real one.

"I have a knife — do you want it?" A short-haired girl had been watching this situation for as long as she could stand. She stepped over quickly and lowered her voice. "Hurry up. The company's people are about to come down."

Her hair had a natural wave to it, and with the volume it had, her whole head looked gently fluffy.

Chao Musheng looked at it and found himself thinking, involuntarily, of a small lamb from a picture book.

"Yes please — thank you!" Ah Ze thanked her profusely, then looked at what was being extended toward him.

A nail clipper.

"A nail clipper is still a knife. Clipping off one leaf is enough." Curly Hair pressed it into his hands. "You're welcome."

"Thank...you..."

Ah Ze accepted the nail clipper with mild dejection, selected the smallest plastic leaf he could find, and clipped at it with full force. It didn't come off.

Devious tree. Plastic on the outside, wire on the inside. No wonder he hadn't been able to pull it off before.

"Useless." Curly Hair shoved him aside, grabbed the branch with both hands, and yanked — tearing off a leaf with half a wire still attached, which she dropped into his palm. "There."

"Thank you, Senior!" Hearing the daily quest completion chime, Ah Ze was so moved he could have adopted her on the spot.

People said there weren't many decent players. There were plenty of decent people in the world.

Chao Musheng, watching this entire operation unfold directly in front of him, began to suspect they didn't consider him an outsider at all.

Concerned about being taken for an accomplice, he quietly edged two steps sideways and put a little distance between himself and them.

A woman in a business suit emerged from the elevator, accompanied by two young employees, carrying a blue folder. "Hello everyone — I'm the deputy head of Human Resources. Please call me Sister Sun."

The moment Sister Sun spoke, the room went quiet.

She surveyed the assembled group with evident satisfaction, opened her folder, and continued: "I don't care what prestigious university you attended before you walked through our doors. Once you are at Kunlun, you follow the company's rules and regulations. Any intern who violates company policy will be dismissed by HR directly. No exceptions and no favors."

"When your internship period ends, the company will provide an honest evaluation of your work performance." Seeing no one push back, she gave a small nod. This batch at least understood basic conduct. No one was standing up to argue with her.

"All interns please sign in now and collect your ID badges." She pulled the intern roster from the top of her folder. "Xiao Wang — have everyone scan the code to join the intern communication group."

Ah Ze was queued behind Curly Hair. When he reached the sign-in sheet, he felt Sister Sun's eyes on him like a searchlight — his scalp crawled, his hand shook, and he produced a signature that looked like it had been written during an earthquake.

Sister Sun glanced at it. A brief, almost imperceptible frown, then she moved on to scrutinize the next person in line.

Chao Musheng was queued behind a fourth-year student from Jinghua — someone he recognized by sight but had never been close to. The moment the senior recognized him, he immediately assumed the posture of a mentor, and brought Chao Musheng in beside him for the rest of the wait.

The senior looked over the other interns with a critical eye. Whichever university these people came from, they weren't Jinghua. He felt equally dismissive of every competitor present — with the single exception of his junior Chao Musheng, whom he regarded with uncomplicated fraternal affection.

After Chao Musheng signed in, Sister Sun took his ID badge from Xiao Wang's hands, placed it in his personally, and gave him a brief smile.

She remembered this one. Young, but an exceptional record — international competition prize, national research project participation. The kind of talent that would be an asset anywhere.

Chao Musheng accepted the badge and thanked her warmly.

The more experienced players in the room noticed immediately. They studied Chao Musheng from the corner of their eyes, trying to work out whether he was a player or an NPC.

If they were all players — why was Sister Sun stone-faced for everyone else but handing this person his badge personally?

Was it just because he was the best-looking one?

A true player does not curry favor with NPCs through appearance alone. Hmph.

The senior, aware of the eyes on them, shifted to shield Chao Musheng slightly. He was very quietly pleased with himself.

Chao junior was Jinghua's finest. Of course Jinghua's finest was treated well wherever he went. Wasn't that only right?

"Musheng — do you know which department you're going to?" the senior murmured. "I heard there are a few other Jinghua alumni who got into Kunlun headquarters in a different intake from us."

"I don't know yet." He himself would have preferred a stint in the technical development division, but departments like that dealt with commercial secrets — Kunlun would almost certainly not put interns there.

Chao Musheng noticed the eyes on him, and didn't particularly mind them.

He was here to learn. Not to compete for position.

The senior, without hesitation: "With your ability, you'd get an excellent evaluation in any department."

Meeting his senior's sincere gaze, Chao Musheng: "..."

He didn't need to be believed in quite so thoroughly.

"This guy is genuinely something." Ah Ze murmured to Curly Hair. "He's barely walked in the door and Sister Sun's already giving him special treatment, and he's already made a connection with another intern."

How many instances did you have to clear before you could operate this smoothly?

Curly Hair didn't bother responding. Her eyes were fixed on Chao Musheng.

Only someone like this was worth considering a rival.

"Hey — why aren't you saying anything?" Ah Ze stepped around in front of her. "Senior?"

"Be quiet." Curly Hair, noticing Sister Sun looking in their direction, grabbed Ah Ze by the collar and yanked him behind her. "Do you want an NPC to notice you? You've been talking nonstop since you got here."

"All interns have their badges now. Please consult the placement assignments posted in the intern group and report to your designated departments." Sister Sun's gaze swept the room one final time. "I have very little tolerance for poor timekeeping. I expect you will not be late or leave early during your time here."

Sister Sun was the group administrator. Assistant Xiao Wang handled the day-to-day chat.

[Xiao Wang: Welcome to Kunlun Enterprises, everyone! Please review the placement table and report to your departments as soon as possible. 〔confetti celebration emoji〕]

Xiao Wang's tone in the group was noticeably more lively, a pointed contrast to Sister Sun's severity. But nobody was naive enough to mistake him for a casual acquaintance — polite thank-yous came in first, then everyone checked their department assignments.

"This Xiao Wang seems pretty approachable." Ah Ze opened the table and saw his placement. "Customer service?"

Curly Hair read through the full list. Thirty interns total. Customer service had ten; logistics, two; sales, five; the remaining slots distributed across a handful of less prominent departments. Technical development and operations — divisions requiring actual specialist capability — had only one intern slot each.

She had been assigned to customer service too. It was a department where unusual events were common — but as long as you managed them carefully, the risk to your survival wasn't severe.

A player sent to technical development or operations without the right skills would be dead on arrival.

As Chao Musheng passed, she spoke. "Which department did you get?"

"Technical development." He asked politely in return. "You?"

"Customer service." Curly Hair felt a sudden, genuine sympathy for him. So the poor soul going to tech development was him.

"Customer service is a good placement too," Chao Musheng offered encouragingly.

It's some consolation at least, being placed in a non-core department. Better long-term prospects.

She seems like a hard worker. This is going to be rough for her.

Both of them smiled warmly at each other.

"Hey — he went upstairs pretty fast." Ah Ze watched Chao Musheng head to the elevator and turned to Curly Hair. "Where did they put him?"

"You seem to like him."

"He seems like a decent person."

"Get a good look at him now, then." Curly Hair pocketed her phone and let out a quiet sigh.

"Why?"

"Because you won't get many more chances."

Ah Ze tensed. "Is customer service that dangerous?"

Curly Hair: "..."

Sometimes she truly did not want to talk to idiots. It was bad for her.

"It's him who won't survive." She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Multi-player instances start eliminating players on day one. And that person's luck doesn't look good."

Luck was part of a player's capability, after all.

*

Kunlun had divisions across multiple industries. The technical development division was subdivided by sector into different workspace areas.

After checking in with the department head, Chao Musheng was assigned to Game Development Team Three.

Just the game sector alone had this many sub-teams. Add up the entire enterprise, and how many jobs did it provide?

He found Team Three's office with his check-in form, and smelled milk tea and coffee before he'd even reached the door. Under the relentless percussion of keyboards, occasional bursts of extremely colorful language were audible.

"Revise revise revise — if they're so particular about it, the art department can come and do it themselves!"

"They want the hair purple AND silver AND flowing AND individually defined — let them come look at MY hair. Is mine individually defined?!"

Chao Musheng knocked on the half-open glass door. "Sorry to interrupt — I'm the new intern."

Intern?

The whole team went quiet simultaneously and looked up.

Clear, luminous skin. No oiliness, no breakouts. Hair so thick it was practically an insult to everyone else in the room.

A fresh, untroubled young blade of grass.

"Xiao Chao?" The Team Three lead looked at the person in the doorway, surprised. "The department head just messaged to say an undergrad was coming to intern with us. I didn't think it'd be you."

From the moment he'd gotten that message, he'd been quietly cursing about it nonstop. Work was already hard enough without babysitting an undergraduate who didn't know anything. He felt genuinely disrespected.

"Senior?" Chao Musheng's face lit up. "Hi!"

Recognizing Chao Musheng, the team lead's mood reversed completely. "Come in, come in — let me introduce you."

"This is my junior, Chao Musheng — currently enrolled at Jinghua. Also a protégé of my advisor, which means he's sharp and technically strong." He brought Chao Musheng to the center of the room. "We'll be working together for a while. He's young — please look after him."

Currently enrolled and already here at headquarters — his performance at school must be exceptional. Advisor's protégé — good connections, probably heading toward further study, not a long-term hire.

Everyone in the room understood exactly what the team lead was communicating between the lines. Someone with this kind of trajectory — if they didn't get in good with him now, there might not be another chance.

The team gave Chao Musheng a warm collective welcome and set him up at the best window seat, the one with the most natural light.

"Computer login password is your intern ID number." The team lead wasted no time on ceremony and immediately assigned him work.

Everyone else: "..."

The team lead just gave the intern actual work? Was that subtle hint about not treating him like a long-term hire just something they imagined?

*

Secretary Liu, walking past Team Three's office with his employer, heard the ongoing noise from inside.

The loudest team on the entire floor.

He glanced carefully at his employer's expression. Nothing readable.

He peered through the door. Several people had gathered around one monitor.

"The color rendering on this is incredible."

"Xiao Chao, take a look at this section of code."

"Whoever recruited Xiao Chao for this company has a gift for identifying talent."

Secretary Liu, seeing that none of the technical staff had noticed the CEO's presence, had to rap his knuckles on the door frame.

Knock knock knock.

No response. No one looked up.

He gave up on subtlety and clapped his hands.

"Secretary Liu?" The staff finally noticed him, and turned. "What brings you to our department?"

Why would someone from the CEO's office turn up in technical development?

"The CEO is doing a walkthrough of departments today." Secretary Liu looked at the room. You lot are the loudest team on this floor. "If you're encountering any difficulties at work, please feel free to raise them."

The CEO's here?

Everyone, seated and standing alike, straightened up and looked toward the door.

Chao Musheng stood up with the others, glanced at Mr. Xu walking in, and said nothing.

Mr. Xu's gaze moved through the room and found Chao Musheng across the heads of the people between them.

Chao Musheng raised the corners of his mouth in a polite, composed smile.

Mr. Xu's eyelid flickered almost imperceptibly. He returned a slow, measured nod — and promptly redirected his gaze.

He appeared to genuinely just be doing a department round. He said a few words of acknowledgment, then left with Secretary Liu.

After the CEO left, the team was buzzing.

"I can't believe the CEO came to see us personally."

"That's the closest I've been to him in the entire year I've worked here."

Chao Musheng murmured to his team lead: "Senior — does everyone admire the CEO this much?"

"Great benefits, great pay." The team lead had just received a private transfer from Secretary Liu. "That's what keeps people here."

"The CEO just transferred a personal bonus to me for the team. I'll post it in the group — help yourselves."

Team Three had fifteen members including Chao Musheng. The team lead posted fifteen red envelopes in the group.

"Is one of those mine?"

"Secretary Liu said the CEO specifically asked for fifteen. Obviously there's one for you."

Chao Musheng collected his with genuine pleasure. A very decent amount, too.

Well. The CEO was a good person after all.

The team settled back to their computers, working and filling Chao Musheng in on company gossip simultaneously.

"The fortune tree in the lobby — it gets either drowned or stolen, every year without fail."

Chao Musheng: ?

Being drowned was understandable. But why would anyone go to the effort of stealing it?

"A rumor went around the industry a while back — nobody knows who started it — claiming that Kunlun had exceptional feng shui and that was why the company had lasted a hundred years. Some CEOs believed it and actually sent people to steal the tree."

"The facilities team was in the company group chat swearing about it every few days. In the end, the CEO got tired of watching plants get abused and arranged for two plastic fortune trees to be placed by the entrance. The thefts dropped off after that."

Probably because feng shui practitioners always say artificial plants have no vitality and are bad for financial energy. After the switch, thieves decided it wasn't worth taking.

Chao Musheng: "..."

So that was the story behind Kunlun putting plastic trees in the lobby.

Using superstition to defeat superstition. Not only saving innocent real trees from a bad fate, but cutting costs for the company in the process.

Mr. Xu had accumulated considerable merit.

*

At lunch, the team brought Chao Musheng to the company canteen. The spread was generous enough to make his eyes light up, and he loaded his tray with genuine enthusiasm.

An employer this good to their staff deserved every bit of the fortune coming their way.

Ah Ze, who had spent the morning being difficult-customerred and micro-managed into the ground, trailed into the canteen behind Curly Hair with very little life left in him. He looked at all the food and swallowed. It looked so good.

But he didn't dare eat it.

He collected a sad little plate of vegetables and went to sit in a corner. His face was, at this point, approximately the same shade as the greens.

He looked around. Across the room, Chao Musheng was sitting with a group of yellow-name NPCs — all of them relaxed and cheerful, one of them proactively passing him a drink, treating him with complete and obvious familiarity.

"Curly." Ah Ze watched Curly Hair pick through her own plate of vegetables, and murmured: "Didn't you say he was done for? How is he not only still alive but... fitting in with the NPCs like that?"

"Look — someone just brought him chopsticks. And a fruit bowl."

Meanwhile the NPCs in customer service wouldn't even give him the time of day. His department head had told him, with very little tact, that his emotional intelligence was insufficient for managing client relations.

Curly Hair stared at Chao Musheng swimming effortlessly through a sea of NPCs, then looked at the colorful, fragrant, abundantly generous meal in his bowl, and began to question the foundations of her worldview.

Don't ask her why.

She would like to know why too, for the love of—