Chapter 78: Receiving Grace

Chapter 78: Granted Favor

Just as he was about to head to work, Zhou Anjin called Sang Xu and summoned him to the branch office in the Beijing suburbs.

Upon arrival, Sang Xu realized this was the location he had seen in the Qin family security captain’s memories. The company building was situated within a warehouse park, with extremely tight security. Before entering the warehouse, there were three checkpoints, each requiring palm print verification and a dynamic passcode. Security guards equipped with tranquilizer guns patrolled the area, and surveillance cameras were installed every ten meters.

According to the information from that security captain’s mind, this place’s security was jointly controlled by the five major families, with shifts taking turns. What could be so important that it was protected so tightly?

Zhou Anjin swiped his card and led Sang Xu into the building, saying, “Yesterday I asked Liu Jianguo, and he said you’ve been pulling constant overtime. You’re pushing yourself too hard. Generally, Outsiders who’ve just returned from the dream take a day off. Looking at your attendance records, you don’t rest at all?”

“Is one day a lot?” Sang Xu said expressionlessly, “Working tirelessly in the long dream, only to get one day off—and even that comes with half a day’s pay deducted. Yeah, I’m used to it.”

Zhou Anjin patted him on the shoulder and said, “I’ve arranged a new job for you. Your annual salary will increase by twenty percent, and your year-end bonus will be at least six months’ salary. You’ll be the lead programmer in the security department here in this park, responsible for maintaining the security system, and incidentally keeping tabs on your supervisor. Usually, you won’t have to do much—just give me regular updates on him.”

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Sang Xu shrewdly sensed that this job wasn’t simple. He asked, “Is this person particularly troublesome?”

“Easier than the Patriarch,” Zhou Anjin said. “The previous lead programmer went to the Mengzhou Research Institute last time he entered the dream. The original plan was for him to crack the institute’s security network and extract the data, but he didn’t return. Something happened at that institute—none of the Outsiders who went there survived. It’s even more dangerous than the ancient tomb you went to.”

Sang Xu: “—”

Probably killed by Shen Zhili. His head is now stored in his company.

“Your supervisor is named Ji Chengen; he’s the Director here. You’re a smart person, so don’t ask too many questions. Just do your job. Next time you enter the dream, you’ll follow him and join us for a grand sacrifice.”

Sang Xu listened silently, realizing that this “Ji Chengen” was no ordinary figure.

What the five families were protecting wasn’t the warehouse—it was this so-called “Director.” The destination for the next dream entry was most likely the Year-End Grand Sacrifice. Pretty good luck—joining the Zhou family’s team to attend the Year-End Grand Sacrifice would allow him to familiarize himself with the venue in advance and lay out plans, which was quite advantageous for Sang Xu.

Zhou Anjin paused briefly before continuing, “This time, you didn’t keep a close enough watch on the Patriarch, and my father is quite upset. My father always feels our family lacks advantages compared to the others because we don’t have any high-ranking elders. Things improved a bit after the Patriarch returned, but who knew he’d run off again? Last time my father attended a gathering with the heads of the other five families, he couldn’t hold his head up. Those so-called elders constantly flaunt their seniority and bully us juniors, and we still have to smile and appease them. It’s really unbearable. My father can’t change his way of thinking, but don’t worry—I still value you highly.”

Sang Xu lowered his head and said, “Understood.”

Zhou Anjin showed him his workstation, then went to the office next door. A nameplate on the door read “Director Ji Chengen.” Just as Zhou Anjin was about to open the door and enter, it suddenly swung open from the inside. A disheveled girl with reddened eyes ran out, bumped into the two of them, paused in surprise, then ran off tearfully.

The girl was wearing business casual attire, with a name tag on her chest that read “Secretary Xu Lan.” She was most likely Ji Chengen’s secretary. Sang Xu glanced into the room. The office was extravagantly furnished, not only with a desk and office chair but also a set of leather sofas and a huanghuali tea table. On the side near the window, a makeshift golf setup was spread out on the floor, and a Chinese-style curio cabinet displayed bottles of high-end red wine.

A man in a well-tailored suit sat on the sofa, looking about the same age as Sang Xu. He wore an exquisite custom-made suit, his hair slicked back. Sang Xu could tell that the pair of leather shoes on his feet alone was worth a year of Sang Xu’s rent.

When he saw Young Master Zhou, he quickly stood up, beaming with delight, and said, “Ah, Young Master Zhou is here! Please, come in, come in!”

“What was going on with that girl just now?” Young Master Zhou asked as he sat down across from him.

“Oh, that’s a junior accountant from the park. She made a mistake in her calculations, and I just gave her a scolding. Girls have thin skin—she started crying after just a few words.” Ji Chengen poured tea for Young Master Zhou.

Young Master Zhou seemed to want to say something but held back, only saying, “Be careful.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Ji Chengen nodded repeatedly. “Don’t worry, I won’t lecture them next time.”

Young Master Zhou motioned for Sang Xu to come over and introduced him, “This is the new lead programmer, Sang Xu. From now on, he’ll be working under you. Xiao Sang is hardworking and diligent—feel free to assign him any tasks.”

Ji Chengen smiled unctuously: “Someone brought over personally by Young Master Zhou—of course I’ll take good care of him. You can leave him to me with confidence.”

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before Young Master Zhou, who had other matters to attend to, took his leave. Ji Chengen accompanied him with a smile all the way to the underground parking lot, kept watching until Young Master Zhou’s car was gone. Once the taillights of Young Master Zhou’s car disappeared around the corner of the parking lot, Ji Chengen rubbed his stiff smile and instantly switched to a different demeanor, turning gloomy.

He adjusted his suit, brushed off some nonexistent dust, and turned to size up Sang Xu.

“I’ve heard of you,” Ji Chengen looked him up and down. “I heard the Patriarch was quite fond of you.”

“Not really,” Sang Xu said indifferently.

“True, otherwise he wouldn’t have left you behind and run off.” Ji Chengen stroked his chin and leaned closer. “Hey, why do you like men? It feels pretty disgusting.”

Sang Xu lowered his head and remained silent for a moment before saying, “You’re right.”

“—” Ji Chengen hadn’t expected that response and was momentarily at a loss for words. After a pause, he said, “How do you usually curry favor with the Patriarch? Show me.”

Sang Xu said nothing.

Ji Chengen examined his face—fair-skinned, with calm, lustrous dark eyes like pebbles settled at the bottom of a pond, exuding a tranquil and detached aura. At first glance, he seemed rather unassuming, but the longer you looked, the more intriguing he became. So the old man from the Zhou family was into this type. He couldn’t resist reaching out to touch Sang Xu’s cheek, but Sang Xu frowned and turned away to avoid it.

Ji Chengen sneered, “You’ve served the Patriarch—I thought you’d know better. The Patriarch is gone now—what are you worth? I’m your supervisor now. I suggest you think carefully about who you should be currying favor with.”

Sang Xu was silent for a moment before saying, “I have an illness.”

“What?”

“The Patriarch has AIDS,” Sang Xu said. “He infected me.”

Ji Chengen was startled and quickly stepped back. Even though he hadn’t touched Sang Xu, he still pulled out a tissue to wipe his hands.

“Get to work and stay away from me.”

Sang Xu said, “Alright. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Get out, get out!”

Somehow, the rumor that Sang Xu had AIDS spread like wildfire, and everyone in the work area avoided him. The programmers in his group also spoke to him stiffly. Not wanting to trouble them, Sang Xu had to explore the security system on his own while inserting the Trojan program he had written. At noon, he found time to return to Nightmare Company and performed Underworld Gazing on each of the heads Shen Zhili had sent over. Shen Zhili had sent another batch of useless heads to pad the numbers—he’d have to criticize him at the next meeting. After half an hour of viewing, Sang Xu found the Zhou family’s lead programmer.

Watching this person’s past, he discovered that he and Ji Chengen had a good relationship—they often went out for drinks and karaoke.

“Brother Ji, why is the Zhou family so good to you?” he took advantage of Ji Chengen’s drunkenness to pry for gossip. “Are you the illegitimate child of some high-ranking member of the Zhou family?”

“Illegitimate child?” Ji Chengen slurred. “Those old fogies aren’t worthy of being my dad. They’re wary of me—they’ve never been willing to teach me divine power. Damn them.”

“Then who is your dad?”

Ji Chengen hooked his finger, signaling for him to come closer.

He leaned in and saw Ji Chengen open his mouth, exhaling strong alcohol fumes. “I—won’t—tell—you.”

The two burst into laughter and continued drinking.

After the drinking session, Ji Chengen was too drunk to walk. The lead programmer helped him into the car. “Brother Ji, easy does it, watch your head.”

“What Brother Ji?” Ji Chengen mumbled, slouching in the back seat. “I’m not surnamed Ji—my surname is Sang!”

“Okay, okay,” the lead programmer fastened his seatbelt. “You’re something else. Whatever surname you want is fine. Be good now. Driver, please take care.”

Surnamed Sang.

Sang Xu felt a ripple of shock in his heart. Could Ji Chengen be one of the four children the Sang family had sent to this world? He hadn’t died—he had been captured by the Zhou family and raised in luxury in the Beijing suburbs. Presumably, the Zhou family had used some method to sever Ji Chengen’s connection to the life-lamps in Ghost Gate Village, leading Sang Zhengning to mistakenly believe this child was gone.

But wait, there were still doubts.

Last time, when the Zhou family obtained Sang Zhengning’s remains and forced Sang Zhengning’s spirit to divine Sang Xu’s whereabouts through bloodline connections, it showed that once the Zhou family found a blood relative of the Sang family, they could divine the others. This was also why Sang Liyou desperately fled into Emperor Min’s ancient tomb—he didn’t want his remains to fall into the hands of the five families.

Since the Zhou family had captured a child of the Sang family, why hadn’t they used Ji Chengen and Sang Xu’s bloodline connection to divine Sang Xu’s location? Sang Xu racked his brains but couldn’t figure it out. He returned to the boss’s office and spent a long time poring over Sang Liyou’s manual.

In the afternoon, Ji Chengen sent over endless requests. Before Sang Xu could even familiarize himself with the system code, he was forced to take on a heavy workload. Tickets stacked up on his work desk, too many to even glance through. The title of lead programmer sounded like a management position, but in reality, it was just glorified grunt work. Sang Xu delegated some tasks to the team, but everyone complained. Since they truly couldn’t keep up, Sang Xu had to grit his teeth and tackle it himself.

With the New Year holiday approaching, other team members, having families to return to, texted that they wanted to head out. Seeing how late it was, Sang Xu let them go and worked alone late into the evening. Looking up, he was the only one left at the workstation.

Sang Xu went to the break room to brew coffee. Just as he turned the corner, he saw Ji Chengen pinning a female colleague behind the counter.

Sang Xu turned to leave but, after a few steps, heard the woman pleading in a low voice, "Manager Ji, please don’t do this. I’ll scream for help if you keep this up."

"Everyone else has clocked out—who are you going to call?" Ji Chengen retorted. "Stop pretending. You parade around in such short skirts every day—isn’t it obvious you’re trying to seduce me?"

"I’m not!" the colleague protested loudly. "Let me go! I’ll call the police!"

"Call the police, my ass, you bitch... Damn it, how dare you bite me!"

A sharp slap rang out, followed by the woman’s cry of pain.

Sighing inwardly, Sang Xu turned back and patted Ji Chengen on the back.

"Who is it?" Ji Chengen spun around, startled to see Sang Xu. "Why are you still here?"

"Working on the tasks you assigned," Sang Xu replied. "Five tickets left."

Ji Chengen fell silent.

Sang Xu spoke humbly, "I’d like to discuss the upgrade direction for the security system with you. Could you offer some guidance?"

Both Ji Chengen and the female colleague were stunned. Was this guy out of his mind? Couldn’t he see what was happening? He actually interrupted Ji Chengen to seriously discuss work? Seizing the moment as Ji Chengen loosened his grip, the woman quickly broke free and hid behind Sang Xu.

As Ji Chengen moved to grab her, Sang Xu stepped forward, firmly shielding her.

"What are you doing?" Ji Chengen’s eyes turned dark and threatening. "Trying to play the hero?"

"This isn't right," Sang Xu said after a moment’s thought. "What if she reports this to Young Master Zhou..."

"Report? Young Master Zhou wouldn’t care," Ji Chengen sneered. "Do you even know who I am?"

"I’ve heard you’re an orphan," Sang Xu said calmly. "I don’t think your deceased parents would want you doing something like this."

The words seemed to strike a nerve. Ji Chengen stiffened, adjusted his sleeves and collar, shot Sang Xu a venomous glare, then turned and walked away. The woman repeatedly thanked Sang Xu, who brushed it off and returned to his desk to continue working overtime. He worked until 9 p.m., took the subway home, and arrived at 11 p.m. The next day, he woke at 7 a.m. to go to work. As soon as he reached his desk, he saw Ji Chengen approaching with the same woman from the previous night.

"Everyone, listen up," Ji Chengen clapped his hands and announced loudly. "This morning, I received a report that our security department’s lead programmer, Sang Xu, intentionally lingered in the work area last night and harassed a female colleague after hours. Xiao Ling, tell me, was it him who harassed you yesterday?"

Countless eyes turned toward them. It felt as though Sang Xu was being pierced by needles from all directions, like a pincushion.

Sang Xu looked at Xiao Ling, who kept her head down, avoiding his gaze.

"Xiao Ling, don’t be afraid," Ji Chengen said in a feigned gentle tone. "The company has a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual harassment. Just answer me: was it him?"

Tears streaming down her face, Xiao Ling nodded.

The room erupted in murmurs, and the surrounding gazes turned into sharp blades, as if ready to tear Sang Xu apart.

"I didn’t harass her," Sang Xu stated. "You did."

Ji Chengen’s face flushed red. "Bullshit. How dare you turn this around? Why were you staying so late? The surveillance footage caught you."

"Working overtime."

Ji Chengen scoffed. "Why is it that no one else works overtime except you? Did you even apply for overtime? I think you were just waiting for a chance to harass female colleagues." He pointed toward the door. "Sang Xu, you’re fired. Get out."

Expressionless, Sang Xu packed his bag and left the work area. His phone kept buzzing. When he checked, it was flooded with messages in the work group chat, all discussing the sexual harassment incident. Everyone was outraged, condemning him for his low morals—first trying to ingratiate himself with higher-ups and now harassing a female colleague. The company forum was also filled with criticisms. Some mentioned his infectious disease and called for the company to disinfect the area where he had worked.

Just as he stepped out of the company building, still checking his phone, a man ambushed him from behind and punched him. The man was muscular, tall, and his fist felt like a sandbag. Sang Xu was knocked to the ground, his head buzzing as if surrounded by bees. Through the haze, he heard the man roar furiously, "You damn pervert! I’m Xiao Ling’s boyfriend. How dare you lay a hand on my girlfriend? Next time I see you, I’ll beat you up again!"

"Stop hitting him!" Xiao Ling rushed over to restrain her boyfriend, repeatedly apologizing to Sang Xu. "I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! The director forced me. He said he’d fire me if I didn’t accuse you. Mr. Sang, you’re highly educated—finding another job will be easy for you. Please change jobs and forgive me."

Dizzy and disoriented, Sang Xu felt as though the world was spinning. He slowly got up from the ground and stood still for a while until his surroundings stopped swirling. By the time he regained his composure, the two had already left.

It seemed to be an overcast day, the entire world shrouded in a gray haze. Everything appeared blurry to Sang Xu—perhaps due to the head injury affecting his vision.

On the bus, he leaned his head against the window. The dim light outside flickered across his face, and the wind, now gentle now brisk, brushed against him like the fluttering wings of a pigeon. He began to feel weary, his body sluggish, even his shadow feeling heavy. Reflecting, he realized he hadn’t rested in a long time, constantly on the run like a perpetual motion machine.

Was it his fault? Perhaps he shouldn’t have meddled so much. Perhaps he shouldn’t have become part of the Sang family.

Now that he had fallen out with Ji Chengen, Zhou Anjin would surely replace him. He wouldn’t be able to accompany them to the Year-End Grand Sacrifice.

He had messed up.

What should he do? Outside, cars rushed by, their sounds seeming distant, as if from another world. Suddenly, he felt very cold, the winter chill turning to ice, freezing his chest. The faint daylight fell on his face, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that everything was a nightmare from which he couldn’t wake.

He couldn’t help but wonder, Zhou Xia, where are you?