-1-

Today, the horror world numbered 198 and bus number 999.

It took Mr. T in the front row a while to regain consciousness.

...Even though he was the most experienced employee outside of M, even though he was the former head of the purchasing department with a lot of assets, he still couldn't adapt to death.

The pain and fear that death brings to employees cannot be compared with "work ability" and "salary level" at all.

No matter how much energy is diverted from the main system, it will still be painful when dying.

Pain, fear, despair of having no future...

In the face of the great death, rich or poor.

That's the fairest thing.

-2-

There is no normal person who is not afraid of death.

No undead would get used to death.

Mr. T will never get used to the death brought about by Miss M. This is why he gave up on pursuing her and stayed away from the system world to focus on procurement affairs.

He fully realized that the "madness" displayed by Miss M was not a temporary illness and could not be changed by preaching or scolding.

It seemed to be something engraved deep in her soul.

But…but…

Black hair and black eyes, with a calm expression, that figure that has stood in the distance since the creation of the world.

Even if it took thousands or tens of thousands of years, even if it ran counter to the timelines of all other worlds, even if the passage of time within the system could no longer be measured in years, even if the spirits of the dead who had lived for so long had blurred their memories...

That figure appeared in his dreams countless times.

That was his ex-girlfriend, the one he once loved.

-3-

She once possessed the most gentle smile at the end of all time, and the kindest soft light in all the world, as if she could guide all lost souls to find their own warm homeland.

She took over his last wish, smiled at him, and softly promised, "I will make it come true for you."

Curved eyelashes, long black hair, and pure eyes twinkling like obsidian in the moonlight.

So beautiful.

"The person I fell in love with was not like this at all..."

Now the girl with black hair and black eyes looks crazy and terrifying, as if she is the direct embodiment of death.

Mr. T murmured, "I don't understand why you have become like this...?"

-4-

Miss M threw the last of the wet tissue at him indifferently.

"I don't know you, let alone have seen you." She said coldly, "I've been telling you this countless times, idiot, from a long, long time ago."

"But you clearly told me..."

Idiot.

dross.

Miss M looked at the slightly depressed man expressionlessly, and the annoyance in her heart grew stronger.

As the employee who has been there the longest, her long past is so vague and she usually has no interest in looking back on it.

But the image that this man had just revealed in his extreme frustration...

Even if Miss M forgets herself, she can never forget.

...If this is why he keeps pestering her and won't give up...if he really doesn't have hysteria...

Idiot.

Yes, as you said, such a clear difference, such a strange change.

——Can’t you tell the difference?

-5-

Since you can't tell the difference, how can you talk about liking it?

The "deep affection" you keep emphasizing is just your own perception. Self-admiration is a dead giveaway.

It's just self-righteous, one-sided "admiration", you idiot.

...That's why I hate love and men. They are disgusting and hypocritical.

-6-

"Shut up, what does it feel like to be like this?"

Ms. M crossed her legs and said, "I'm the cutest lady in the world."

Mr. T: "...Is your madness getting worse, M? I told you to reflect on this..."

Miss M tilted her head. "Kneel down right now and kowtow to me and say, 'I'm a bitch for harassing ladies. From now on, ask for permission before speaking, and refer to yourself as 'bitch'. Otherwise, I'll immediately abandon the rescue and turn away. You'll die as a wild undead, and your greasy dreams will vanish forever."

Mr. T: “…”

How did this woman become like this! How! She became like this!

Mr. T said stubbornly, "Give up the rescue mission sent by the senior management staff. M, I remember you are not well off financially. If you do this, your salary will be deducted in full..."

Ms. M: "It doesn't matter. I only use my subordinates' salary cards now."

Mr. T: "...If you abandon the rescue mission, your rating will be lowered, and the main system will definitely order you to reflect..."

Ms. M: "It doesn't matter. My subordinates will write a self-criticism."

Mr. T: “…”

-7-

Originally, he heard someone say that "the head of the horror maintenance department was very friendly and friendly towards the new employees," so he thought her mental illness had improved a little and decided to come back and start over.

T did not seriously try to understand the rumored "subordinate". He was just a new tool guy anyway. Given his supervisor's level of qualifications and his history of conflict with M, it was only a matter of time before that guy was squeezed out of the maintenance department.

A supervisor like him would not take ordinary civilian staff with too little experience seriously.

It was obvious who to choose, and T didn't even feel the need to consider that guy as a competitor.

After all, based on his many years of understanding of M (who is now quite crazy), he knows that he has almost no interest in the opposite sex, and disgust is written all over his face. Even if he occasionally becomes interested, it will not last long.

——A cold-hearted woman who had been alone from the beginning to the end and rejected all his advances. T thought that the new person was just something new for her to play with.

...and what is this?

There's not even the "harmony" they've been rumored to have... They're stealing people's wages and adding to their workload...

M must have a grudge against that newcomer, so he is taking revenge on him like this.

It's not just that her mental illness has improved a little. Her attitude towards newcomers means her condition has worsened.

-8-

It seems that I made a misjudgment. It would be easier to contact that P directly... With a boss like this, there is no need to use any tricks to squeeze him out. Just have a good talk with him, and the newcomer will willingly resign on his own initiative.

Of course, for now, we have to deal with this crazy woman.

...Why did you become like this now, crazy woman?

Mr. T took a deep breath and said, "You know, M, although you have more experience, I am your supervisor in terms of position..."

Miss M raised her foot and pushed his head into the car seat.

The main point was stepping on the face and crushing it.

-9-

"Stop barking."

For a moment, the two veteran employees who had met again after a long time and could be considered old acquaintances stopped talking.

- Oh, it's not that I'm sentimental about the passing time. Miss M is smiling and gradually increasing the force she applies to her heels, while Mr. T is trying hard to save his life from under her heels.

...Shit! M used to only be able to afford flat-soled uniform shoes! Who paid for her patent leather pointed-toe stiletto boots, something that could be turned into a murder weapon? Don't you know that a mentally ill person can't even be given a fork?

There was silence for a while, the only sound in the air being the ominous squelch of heels and the sound of a bus running in the background.

Some passengers were whispering uneasily... Oh, I need to explain here that after Ms. M saw Mr. T's face clearly and threw a straight punch, she temporarily blocked out the perception of the people around her.

Otherwise people would have completely panicked the first time Mr. T turned into a mosaic.

-10-

However, logically speaking, a shield as powerful as Ms. M's should not be perceived by the human NPCs in the horror world...

"Sorry. First time interrupting..."

Politely avoiding their conversation, the student leaning against the window spoke again.

"But, can you please not insult dogs? Canines are adorable, and they shouldn't be used as insults. Miss, you can use other words to insult a stalker. For example, you could just turn this gentleman's name into an insulting adjective, like 'he's dead,' 'I have a nausea in my stomach,' or 'gutter oil is terrible,' and emphasize it."

Mr. T: He means to change my name to "disgusting", right? My name equals "disgusting", right?

-11-

Ms. M: “…”

Miss M gently lifted her heel.

She looked carefully at the gloomy male student sitting next to her——

I don't recognize the voice. It's just a pleasant one.

Her facial features can't be seen clearly because of the mask and baseball cap, but she looks just averagely good-looking.

He was wearing a uniform shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, and an ordinary uniform jacket with a school badge on his chest.

…No matter how you look at it, he seems to be an ordinary, harmless high school boy.

He is still the good boy type, his uniform jacket and backpack are very clean and tidy.

-12-

Perhaps noticing her stare, the student shifted uncomfortably, huddling deeper into his hood. The earphone wires sticking out from under his baseball cap swayed fearfully.

...Wait, headphone cable?

Xiao P is a young undead, and he has long stopped using next-generation wired headphones.

In the system world, all his headphones are wireless headphones. Sometimes he even uses data light spots to create floating halos and puts them next to his ears to listen to music.

Miss M had raided his headphone cabinet, and she knew that Little P definitely didn't have any wired headphones.

...Don't ask why the headphone cabinet was raided. The reason is that all the cabinets of subordinates should be searched and inspected by their superiors.

-13-

Miss M's interest grew stronger and stronger.

The student sitting here now clearly doesn't look like Xiao P in terms of appearance, voice, or temperament.

Moreover, if she remembered correctly, Xiao P, as a newcomer with less than fifty years of service, had no authority to directly intervene in this kind of supervisor-level rescue mission... Without her signature, he couldn't enter this world to participate in the maintenance...

-14-

But after staring for a long time, Miss M still smiled sweetly.

[Current students] do not represent [the students who spoke just now].

If he is really so harmless and autistic, how could he take the initiative to talk to a dangerous strange woman?

If I'm not mistaken... the hand that just handed over the tissue was much whiter than the hand of this student.

"I didn't hear you liked dogs."

The student shuddered and turned to look at her hesitantly.

"I'm sorry, you're telling me..."

"Well. Classmate, do you like dogs?"

"I... can't say I like it that much..."

The student stammered, "I..."

-15-

If it was Xiao P—if he had somehow managed to "illegally travel through the world, fabricating the appearance of an ordinary NPC to board Route 999" and thus was able to talk to me—

"I...it's not that I like dogs..."

The male student whispered, "My ex-girlfriend... loves dogs."

Ms. M: "...classmate, your ex-girlfriend is..."

The male student whispered even more: "Class monitor. The school beauty of our school. ...But I think she dated me just to copy my homework. Ever since I...focused on dating and my ranking dropped...she dumped me and went to find a boy with better grades. ...Wow..."

Ms. M: “…”

-16-

Case closed, it wasn't Xiao P.

She leaned back in her seat expressionlessly, completely disinterested.

After all, that guy was a great magician with zero popularity with the opposite sex until his death.

Xiao P doesn't deserve to have an ex-girlfriend at all.

Not worthy.

-17-

——That was a close call.

It was almost discovered.

In his heart, Mr. P suppressed the male student who had just taken control of his body and spoken.

If he wanted to hide the truth from the two senior management employees, Mr. P should not have used his own appearance to intervene in the 198 world from the very beginning, let alone arbitrarily fabricated a fake character like a vest.

——All worlds are real, and any maintenance is not a game.

Everyone here is real and alive, and any fictitious things fabricated by employees will be immediately seen through by senior executives.

What's more, he has no habit of lying.

Mr. P just managed to arrive a few minutes early and used his undead state to strike a deal with the student who, in a moment of paranoia and caught up in urban legends, decided to board the No. 999 bus to win back his ex-girlfriend.

The student agreed to exchange his body with him during this period, and he would help the student win back the class monitor's ex-girlfriend.

Without this weird 999 bus, of course, there is no serious effort to get it back without any supernatural factors.

-18-

This action violated over 70 employee rules... and was concealed right under the noses of two supervisors...

There was nothing he could do. It was because he discovered that when he was transmitting background information to his boss.

Time was of the essence, and there was no time to notify the system to withdraw the rescue. It was even less likely to expect his boss, a psychopath who only cared about fun, to investigate those minor details... He had to come in person.

The immortality game... unexpectedly involves bus route 999... And that strangely familiar, unidentified fluctuation that I missed during the plague...

-19-

Of course, you should also keep an eye on Miss M.

Mr. P wants to resign on his own initiative, not passively.

If a boss casually rekindles a relationship with a senior manager-level colleague just because it's "interesting", his position will be very difficult.

It's not that she can't do it. After all, she is the one who can easily drag her subordinates into the hotel just because it's "interesting".

...Having said that, all kinds of surprising things happened at work today.

Miss M actually had such an ex-boyfriend... Even after confirming with every senior in the maintenance department and getting a positive answer ("Yes, they had a legendary love story"), he still couldn't believe it for a long time... Miss M's vision in choosing a partner was actually... Hmm...

Stop.

You cannot interfere with your boss's aesthetic taste.

However, this senior from the purchasing department is handsome, rich, and has a high status. He is indeed excellent in all aspects, but he personally feels that he is a little bit stale.

It’s so oily that you can fry popcorn chicken.

...But my boss really likes fried chicken popcorn, maybe he just likes this.

The boss's vision is never wrong. It must be his personal perception that is wrong. This senior must have many things that are worth learning from.

Um.

-20-

Standing behind the male student who was crying and muttering "my ex-girlfriend", Mr. P quietly looked through his eyes at Mr. T's back.

...Is it because of the suit? Does it make me look more handsome in a suit?

"Wuwuwu... Squad Leader Qianqian..."

"Please stop crying."

Mr. P, who was busy investigating intelligence, had to offer some words of comfort. He reached out and pulled out the mushrooms growing on the head of the heartbroken boy - this classmate was already so depressed that he was growing mushrooms -

"Since your girlfriend is only with you to cheat on you, you should be determined to stay top of the class from the start. Also, don't be too attentive. You need to maintain a comfortable distance. That's how you can seduce her."

student:"……"

Student: "Is this what adult love is like? It's so complicated and requires a lot of planning and strategizing." It's so difficult, I feel like I can't learn it.

Mr. P: "Ah, no. I don't have any experience in relationships. I was just applying my experience dealing with a psychopathic boss."

student:"……"

-twenty one-

The male student belatedly let out an "Ah".

It turns out that this gentleman had not talked to his boss and was not there to catch someone cheating.