Chapter 600 Something’s Wrong

Chapter 600: Something’s Off

Facing the two headless humanoid figures entering the general office, none of the players were willing to step forward and inquire first.

They were eerie entities.

No matter how human-like they appeared, they were still headless eerie entities.

Moreover, although the work in the game was divided into different levels, no one had ever said that C-level tasks would be available every single day.

“W-What’s going on?” Zhou Shirong’s voice went dry at this moment, his eyes locked onto the clearly distinct colored clipboards.

Although Bai Qi, like him, was a new player who had only experienced one novice game, she was younger and clearly more assertive in her actions. She had already chosen to side with Pei Zhan the day before, obviously planning to take a different path. Zhou Shirong, on the other hand, was a middle-aged man in his forties who held an important position in a company in the real world. He was used to being flattered and found it hard to humble himself like Bai Qi did.

Zhou Shirong was well aware that although most of the players before him were much younger, they were all seniors who were stronger and more knowledgeable about the nightmare world and eerie entities than he was—not subordinates he could command.

So the only solution Zhou Shirong could think of was to diligently complete his daily C-level tasks and overtime, saving up points. Even if he couldn’t reach the soft pity, and the ability blind boxes he drew only slightly enhanced abilities he didn’t yet possess, that was fine.

As long as the green hills remain, there’s no fear of running out of firewood.

As long as he stayed alive, he could keep moving forward, right?

Zhou Shirong had always told himself this, until now, when he realized that Manager Jiao and the Headless Receptionist weren’t holding any white clipboards representing C-level tasks. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

“We’re short-staffed, so all employees must complete B-level tasks or higher.” The headless Manager Jiao glanced at Zhou Shirong, who had spoken, then turned his body toward where Su Bai was standing, his tone even carrying a hint of apology.

Su Bai didn’t know what had happened between the end of work the day before and the start of work today, but it was clear the headless humanoid in front of him no longer planned to assign simple tidying and cleaning tasks like the day before.

“May I ask if today’s B-level tasks are also about delivering coffee?” Wen Ya stepped forward to ask, then glanced at Pei Zhan, who was still ignoring everyone, his sword slung across his back, afraid the headless humanoid might say the building’s restroom cleaning was also understaffed.

Because of his weak condition, Su Bai was sitting obediently on the relatively comfortable sofa. He noticed Wen Ya’s expression, and a previously overlooked clue suddenly came to mind.

Cleaning the 44th-floor warehouse and dormitories, as well as delivering coffee to other floors, could all fall under the “Jiaoxiang Memory Coffee Company’s” scope. But why would cleaning restrooms on other floors be part of this company’s responsibilities?

Cleaning restrooms on different floors—how could that be anything but the building’s property management work?

Could it be that the task assigned to Pei Zhan the day before was really just the Headless Manager’s random grudge against him?

“Yes.”

The Headless Manager replied directly.

“Our company has many loyal customers in the building. To reward them, the company recently launched a super discount event, so orders have increased significantly.”

After explaining this, the Headless Manager gave the players a crucial piece of information: “B-level tasks cover floors 1 through 43, A-level tasks cover floors 45 through 55, and S-level tasks cover floors 56 through 66.”

Yesterday, Pei Zhan was sent to the 43rd floor, and Wen Ya to the 24th floor, both within the B-level task range, and they encountered no danger on the way.

Wu Hang, who took the S-level task, ran into some trouble on the 56th floor.

Now that the manager had made this clear, it was obvious the difficulty of the tasks was closely tied to the floors they were assigned to, right?

But yesterday, Su Bai, who took an A-level task, was kept on the 44th floor, which left some players puzzled as they looked at Su Bai, who still looked pale after a night’s sleep on the sofa.

“Miss Wen didn’t encounter any danger when she went to deliver coffee the day before,” Shen Guanlan said quietly from the crowd. “Maybe taking B-level tasks isn’t so bad; it could still increase our points.”

Even if Shen Guanlan hadn’t said it, the others had no choice.

Except for Wen Ya and Pei Zhan, as well as Su Bai and Wu Hang, everyone else took yellow clipboards from the manager and the receptionist.

Wen Ya and Pei Zhan instead directly chose A-level tasks. Although they couldn’t tell where Wu Hang had been injured the day before, the danger level above the 56th floor was clearly higher.

Given his current physical condition, Su Bai also chose an A-level task.

To Su Bai’s surprise, even though Wu Hang’s puppet shell had cracked after going to the 56th floor the day before, he still chose an S-level task this time.

Once the tasks’ content on the A4 paper fully appeared, all tasks at every level were indeed about delivering coffee to different floors.

As stated in the coffee machine’s instruction manual, B-level tasks involved delivering regular coffee to lower floors, A-level tasks involved delivering double espresso to higher floors, and S-level tasks involved delivering triple espresso.

Unexpectedly, although Su Bai wasn’t kept on the 44th floor this time, he was assigned to deliver coffee to the 46th floor with Wen Ya.

Pei Zhan went alone to the 49th floor.

If floor height truly correlated with difficulty, then the 46th floor should be relatively low in danger among A-level tasks, yet it was assigned to two people.

Su Bai subtly raised a hand to touch the key in his hair. He realized he was still being treated specially.

“Mr. Zhou.” Lu Jinyan suddenly appeared in Zhou Shirong’s field of vision, startling the latter. “Our task floors are close. How about we team up to complete them? I’ll go with you to the 15th floor first, and then we’ll head to the 14th floor together?”

As fellow newcomers, Zhou Shirong understood Lu Jinyan’s reasoning and nodded in agreement.

“Miss Bai, how about we…” Seeing Zhou Shirong and Lu Jinyan team up, Chu Qianren, who had a military bearing, also invited Bai Qi.

“I, I’ll pass. I don’t think the 11th floor will be dangerous.” Bai Qi, a pure newcomer who had only experienced one novice game, shook her head and refused Chu Qianren’s invitation, then glanced at Pei Zhan beside her. “If I can’t even complete a task on the 11th floor, Brother Pei will definitely keep his distance from me in the future.”

“Alright.” Chu Qianren nodded without further comment.

The headless Manager Jiao walked back to his office and closed the blinds. The Headless Receptionist also left the general office and returned to her position.

With no sight of these two headless humanoids, the players breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“By the way, Brother Pei, do you want something to eat or drink?” Bai Qi suddenly smiled and leaned close to Pei Zhan. “I’ll go buy some food and water, alright?”

Without waiting for Pei Zhan’s response, Bai Qi had already started walking out.

“That flattery is way too obvious.” Even Xiong Yi, who had also wanted to latch onto Pei Zhan’s coattails along with Bai Qi, couldn’t help muttering, clearly dissatisfied. “I’m an old player too, so why not ask me?”

“It’s still early in the game; everyone’s bodies can hold up. This young lady is really wasting points just to win Mr. Pei’s favor,” Shen Guanlan sighed softly, her tone gentle but tinged with a hint of emotion. “Maybe Mr. Pei is just too charming?”

Among the players, Pei Zhan and Wu Hang had the highest points. Compared to Wu Hang, who hid his true face and was “married,” Pei Zhan—equally powerful, a member of the Candlelight Association, and not bad-looking—was indeed the best target.

“Hmph.” Pei Zhan remained expressionless, only dropping a single line, “She has ulterior motives.”

“Maybe she really likes you?” Shen Guanlan smiled, covering her mouth with her fan, her eyes carrying an ambiguous glint. “Finding a pretty young lady who truly likes you isn’t a bad thing.”

“That Bai Qi is a bit off.” Su Bai leaned against Wu Hang, speaking only loud enough for him to hear.

“Hmm?” Wu Hang’s expression under his cloak was confused, as if he couldn’t remember who Bai Qi was.

“When the receptionist introduced the vending machines to the players yesterday, I heard it,” Su Bai said, closing his eyes to rest while Wen Ya hadn’t moved yet. “Different vending machines make different sounds when operated.”

“Now I can hear Bai Qi operating the vending machine,” Su Bai continued. Now that he was willing, he could hear sounds from farther away. “She did buy some food and water, but then she bought something from the weapon vending machine.”

“The lowest price for items in that machine is 500 points.” Su Bai’s lips curled slightly, his voice dropping even lower, his tone laced with interest. “Even Pei Zhan isn’t that generous.”