Chapter 72 Wage Slaves Shine Everywhere

Chapter 72 The Office Drone Shines Everywhere

Lin Jianyuan and his roommate spent the entire evening splashing around in the lake.

As dusk settled and the temperature began to drop.

It was, after all, the very end of summer break—summer’s last gasp. Playing in the water at night was a bit chilly.

And Lin Jianyuan hadn’t fully recovered from his cold—that’s right! He hadn’t gotten over it yet!

But he’d completely forgotten all about it once he started playing in the water today…

Just like a little kid.

Once he started playing, he went all out.

Dinner was at the hotel’s in-house restaurant.

This hotel was far from the city center. To provide guests with the best experience (and, incidentally, to make more money), the hotel housed several restaurants.

Every imaginable cuisine was available.

Their only commonality was their exorbitant prices.

In the past, Lin Jianyuan wouldn’t have even spared a glance at such restaurants.

But now, he listened with genuine interest as the waiter recounted the story behind each dish.

He even considered filming a vlog.

#MyDamnRichLife!

Stuffed and satisfied, they returned to their private villa.

Lin Jianyuan sprawled on the sofa, letting out a contented sigh:

"Ah~"

His roommate snuggled beside him, idly toying with his collar: "Still tired?"

Lin Jianyuan: "A little, but it’s not the cold making me tired. It’s from eating too much."

He wasn’t sure if it was just psychological, but he felt like he was already mostly better after his roommate’s "remedy" yesterday.

Playing in the lake today had healed him a bit more.

Mostly better + a bit more = pretty much fully recovered.

Lin Jianyuan embraced his "digestion-boosting wife," and the two of them slumped on the sofa, digesting together.

His phone suddenly rang.

"Ugh, please don’t let it be the Bureau again," Lin Jianyuan grumbled, already annoyed.

Picking up his phone, he saw it actually wasn’t.

It was Pei Shuo.

Lin Jianyuan answered in surprise: "Pei Shuo? What’s up?"

It couldn’t be that idiot Jiang Chen was causing trouble again.

Tch.

Somehow, the name Jiang Chen already felt very distant.

Working like a dog at that stupid company felt like a lifetime ago.

Yet, as soon as Pei Shuo’s voice came through, Lin Jianyuan’s memories came flooding back.

"Bro!" Pei Shuo called out.

Lin Jianyuan couldn’t help but chuckle: "What’s going on? Spill it."

Pei Shuo: "Nothing much, just haven’t talked in a few days. How have you been lately?"

Lin Jianyuan knew Pei Shuo had called specifically to check on him.

Lin Jianyuan gave his roommate a "it’s fine" gesture, then pulled him back into his arms and continued talking to Pei Shuo.

The Golden Retriever was, as always, warm and comforting, even just over the phone.

Or rather, the mere act of him making the call was enough to bring warmth.

Lin Jianyuan chatted casually with Pei Shuo for a bit, assuring him he was doing well.

He’d found a new job, and his boss was decent. Actually human. Compared to Jiang Chen, he was far more normal.

Of course, the boss was still a pain. There’s no such thing as a boss in this world who’s purely human and not awful at all.

The pay was pretty good too. Overtime? Yes, sometimes. But the pay was well worth it. Compared to before, it was so much better.

Most importantly, his wife worked at the same place. Going to work felt much happier.

"Ah…"

When Lin Jianyuan mentioned "wife," there was a noticeable pause on the other end of the line.

Only then did Lin Jianyuan remember—right, they hadn’t met his roommate yet!

Last time his roommate went to the company, he was in his super handsome, glowing state… Well, actually, it was an invisible state.

So everyone at the company thought Lin Jianyuan was losing his mind again.

A major misunderstanding.

Lin Jianyuan knew that if this misunderstanding wasn’t cleared up, they’d keep worrying.

Every time they mentioned him in the future, they’d probably sigh.

So Lin Jianyuan said: "Let’s find a time to grab a meal? I’ll bring my wife to meet you. This time it’s for real."

As he said this, Lin Jianyuan glanced at his roommate with a questioning look.

His roommate leaned over and kissed him, smiling: "Sounds good."

Lin Jianyuan smiled too.

Pei Shuo on the other end of the line: "...Huh?"

Lin Jianyuan said softly, "I actually had an episode last time. Did it scare you? But my wife is real. She’s not a hallucination."

Pei Shuo fell silent for a moment on the other end of the line, likely too stunned and suspicious to speak.

Lin Jianyuan said, "Really, you’ll understand once you meet her. How about we play basketball together sometime? My wife really can play basketball. It’s just that her style is kinda unique."

She uses her liver to dribble.

She can also stretch her intestines upright for a slam dunk.

It’s quite a spectacle.

And this time, he has enough money to treat Pei Shuo to barbecue!

However much he wants!

No matter how many people come to eat!

The other end of the line was quiet for a while.

Then Pei Shuo laughed too: "Sure, bro!"

His laughter was bright and cheerful.

It instantly brought to mind his handsome, radiant face.

Truly a golden retriever of a warm-hearted guy.

Lin Jianyuan hung up the phone, feeling all warm inside.

—Come to think of it, is Pei Shuo still single?

That doesn’t add up. With such a great personality and such good looks, why would he still be single?

Oh right, Shi Shaoning still owes them a meal.

Maybe they could all eat together?

"Almost forgot, we still need to figure out our route again!" Lin Jianyuan remembered their delayed honeymoon itinerary and quickly took out his phone to contact the tour guide.

The tour guide was very patient and enthusiastically helped rearrange the itinerary for him.

Lin Jianyuan and his roommate huddled together, going over the route.

As they studied it, Lin Jianyuan suddenly said, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Roommate: "Hmm?"

Lin Jianyuan: "I feel like the terminal is going to ring any second now..."

They both glanced at the mobile terminal tossed in the luggage.

The terminal didn’t ring.

Lin Jianyuan chuckled to himself: "Alright, I guess I’m just traumatized."

Maybe it was the PTSD from years of being an overworked corporate drone.

Lin Jianyuan thought it over and still felt uneasy.

The security risks at the Containment Department were just too high!

Last time, a single "Hesitation" caused his wife to work insane overtime, and now there was another one called "Regret."

If these two teamed up and plotted something nasty, what then?

Lin Jianyuan stewed over it for a while but ultimately couldn’t shake the worry.

He said helplessly, "Wife, dammit, I’m about to do something stupid."

Roommate: "Why?"

Lin Jianyuan: "I actually want to go back and improve the security measures at the Containment Department. I can’t believe myself..."

His roommate couldn’t stop laughing.

Lin Jianyuan repeatedly reminded himself: I’m on vacation! Why am I thinking about the Management Bureau’s nonsense? Am I insane?

Still Lin Jianyuan: No, the Containment Department has such huge bugs—it feels like they could drag my wife back to work at any moment! Ahhh!

What kind of honeymoon vacation would that be? Unbearable! I won’t be able to sleep tonight!

And so.

With the face of a man with a seriously resentful look, Lin Jianyuan eventually dragged himself, half-dead, back to the Management Bureau.

Lin Jianyuan headed straight to the deepest part of the inverted spire, to "Regret’s" cell.

Before he even stepped into the cell, he heard the sound of repeated metal clanging from the darkness.

"Ahhh ohhh ohhh ohhh..."

Lin Jianyuan was startled and asked suspiciously, "What’s it howling about?"

Roommate: "No idea."

Hearing the roommate’s voice, the howling from the darkness grew even more frantic.

"Ohhh ohhh wuu wuu wuu don’t come don’t come don’t come don’t come! Here! Take it take it take it!!!"

Lin Jianyuan: "."

Roommate said innocently, "I didn’t do anything."

Lin Jianyuan chuckled, "You didn’t do anything this time, but you already did everything last time."

He reached out and pinched his roommate’s liver. "Baby, you’re amazing."

Roommate: "~"

"Regret" had one good quality.

It knew how to read the room.

Lin Jianyuan didn’t even have to say anything—it already knew what he wanted.

Lin Jianyuan got his wish: ten thousand Marks.

These mass-produced Marks were different from the one Lin Jianyuan had obtained.

Perhaps because it's mass-produced, it's not as powerful.

(Regret's entire body has been gutted.)

It can probably only exert a ten-thousandth of the power of Lin Jianyuan's original Mark.

But it's enough.

Lin Jianyuan got right to work sketching out the design for the circuits, planning the entire Containment Department's bronze circuitry.

—This incident is also recorded in the painful annals of the "Blood Thread."

This is equivalent to installing an additional security system. If any contained heretics try to escape, as soon as they approach the exit, they'll be repelled by the Regret Mark and forced into a "Xianglin's Wife" state for five minutes.

Perfect for making them face the wall and seriously reflect on why they dared to be so damn bold to try escaping.

After hearing his idea, his roommate gasped in amazement, "Do humans call people like you geniuses?"

Lin Jianyuan: "!"

Whoo!

Tail!

He desperately needs a tail right now!

Otherwise, how can he express his off-the-charts excitement!

Since he's still on vacation, Lin Jianyuan designed this circuit diagram in an extremely bare-bones (half-assed) way.

It's a basic series-parallel circuit.

Each cell corresponds to a separate switch, and there's also a main breaker, which can be set to all on or all off.

The more detailed design can wait until after the vacation to be handed over to professionals!

The most important thing to do now is—

Throw the switch!

Then get the hell out!

Make sure no one sees he came back!!!

Sneaking back during vacation to reinforce the cells! How unprofessional!

Has he got a death wish, liking work so much?

Of course, Lin Jianyuan alone couldn't possibly install all the secondary locks quickly without being noticed.

Fortunately, his roommate has enough intestines.

Even so, the intestine tango still takes time.

While waiting anxiously, Lin Jianyuan suddenly remembered something and headed back to Regret's cell.

In the deepest part, darkness darker than dark, the sound of metal clashing rang out nonstop.

Regret was still rambling to itself: "No, I shouldn’t have given him the Mark. Now I’ll *never* escape! I can’t even fight against my own Mark! Oh god, why did I do something so stupid? I’ve screwed myself! But what can I do? The Mark I gave away can’t be taken back. My Mark isn’t affected by regret! What do I do? It’s over! My Mark will *never* return..."

"Regret."

Lin Jianyuan approached the bottomless darkness.

Tipped his head back, eyes wide.

His pupils slightly dilated in the darkness.

"There’s something I want to ask you."

...

"All set?" Lin Jianyuan greeted his roommate with a smile as the intestine tango concluded.

"Mhm." His roommate extended an intestine to pull him in. "Ready to go?"

"Let’s go, let’s go." Lin Jianyuan quickly moved to meet him.

As expected, of course something went wrong.

"Lin Jianyuan?"

The director’s startled voice rang out not far away. "Aren’t you supposed to be..."

Swoosh—

Lin Jianyuan couldn’t care less about what the director was yammering, quickly grabbing his roommate and making a break for it.

The two returned to the mountain villa.

A call on his mobile terminal followed closely behind.

Lin Jianyuan: "#$%&!"

Lin Jianyuan expressionlessly dismissed the call.

Bzzt bzzt bzzt—

The communication rang again.

Lin Jianyuan dismissed it again.

Bzzt bzzt bzzt—

Lin Jianyuan dismissed it yet again.

Bzzt bzzt bzzt—

Lin Jianyuan dismissed it again and ag—

—Enough already!

Lin Jianyuan saw red, snatched the mobile terminal, and smashed it hard against the floor!

Unexpectedly, the terminal, upon hitting the ground, hit the switch by accident!

The director’s voice came from the terminal!

"Hello? Did you pick up?"

Even the chief was surprised, "I was thinking of not playing anymore after this round (game)."

Lin Jianyuan fell silent.

Lin Jianyuan looked up, took a deep breath, and said coldly, "Think carefully before you speak."

[He fell silent.]

The chief calmly thought for two seconds and said, "Since you're already here, well, could you write an incident report? Even an AI-generated one is fine. You can knock it out in two minutes."

Lin Jianyuan: "What incident report?"

Chief: "Where did the fountain on Taoran Street go?"

Lin Jianyuan: "..."