Chapter 7 Salary and Benefits
“It smells so good.”
Chu Hengkong finished most of the bowl of noodles, looked up and praised.
After returning to headquarters, Father Huaisu slipped away without a trace, leaving only the two new partners to explore the cafeteria. There were only a few pieces of roast goose left at this point, but the chef at headquarters was considerate enough to not only add fried tofu and goose liver to the bowl of noodles but also a large plate of grilled squid. The chunks of squid, smothered in rich sauce, and the sizzling oil on the edge of the grill, made Chu Hengkong dream of the food stalls back home.
He quickly finished off the rice noodles and squid, then ate a plate of unidentified green vegetables dipped in squid juice. The satisfaction brought by the high-calorie food effectively dissipated the fatigue after the battle. Chu Hengkong leaned back against the wooden chair in the cafeteria, squinting his eyes happily.
“The chef is very good.”
Ji Huaisu, who was sitting across the table, felt that this person was like a large animal. After eating, he squinted his eyes as if he was about to fall asleep. She turned her head and called out to the kitchen, "Chef, the newcomer is praising you."
"Hey! As long as you are satisfied!"
The cook trotted over, wiping his greasy hands on his clothes. He was a somewhat slovenly man, in his early thirties, still wearing a grimy baseball cap. Under his arm was a copy of "Zhengxuan Herbal Medicine Miscellaneous Treatises," which he seemed to have been studying not long ago. Chu Hengkong remembered him; he was the one who had brought him a midnight snack in the interrogation room.
It’s a pity that the better bowl was snatched away by Ji Huaisu…
"Let me introduce you. This is Jie An, the team's head chef and logistics manager. If you come across any rare medicinal ingredients in the future, you can give them to him to handle." Ji Huaisu said, "This is Chu Hengkong, a newcomer who just traveled through time today and has temporarily joined the team as a temporary combat force."
"You've already killed a wanted criminal on your first day. You have a bright future ahead of you!" Jie An stepped forward to shake his hand. "Which Dust Island are you from?"
Dust Island, Ji Huaisu had mentioned this term before. Judging from his casual attitude towards time travel, this might be a concept similar to "world" or "plane"...
Chu Hengkong remained calm: "An ordinary Dust Island. No demons, no tentacles, and no dragons."
"Oh my God! Is there such a peaceful place in this world?" Xie An exclaimed exaggeratedly, with genuine sympathy in his eyes. "Brother, you are really unlucky... You should also realize that the pressure of life here is a little higher than that in your hometown..."
"Don't scare the newcomer." Ji Huaisu glared at him.
"But once you join the team, you've found your organization! As long as you don't cause any trouble, Captain Huaisu will protect you!" Jie An said with a playful smile, "Unlike a mere cook, this one is the backbone of the team. She's brave and invincible. Even the devil would call her a hero. Remember not to offend her when you go to work next time. It's bad for your life."
Ji Huaisu pretended not to hear anything and didn't bother with this slick talker. Chu Hengkong listened with great interest and asked, "Who is Mr. Ji?"
"You mean her father?" Xie Anle said, "He's not even a member of the team. He's the famous Lord of Huilong City!"
Chu Hengkong was genuinely surprised. He hadn't expected that the man who looked like a dog-headed military advisor was actually the city lord. He turned around and asked, "The city lord's daughter is working as a frontline patrol officer?"
"There's no one in the team. Even the city lord's daughter has to move bricks!" Ji Huaisu said viciously, "If we weren't really short of manpower, we wouldn't hire you."
"Looks like I can look forward to an income. How will our team be paid?"
"Just ask me about this. I'm also in charge of the accounts." Jie An shook his finger. "Ordinary team members usually receive a fixed salary. After deducting various insurances and food and housing allowances, they actually take home 15,000 Liuzhu a month. This income is considered upper-middle-class in the city, enough for you to live a good life and save some money. But..."
Chu Hengkong perked up, knowing that the real action often came after the "but." Ji Huaisu, standing nearby, chimed in, "Considering you're a temporary, semi-employed member, you have another option. No base salary, but a fixed pay of 4,000 Liuzhu for busting a small criminal gang, and a tax-deductible bounty for taking out a wanted criminal like Hugos. What's your choice?"
"Of course the second option," Chu Hengkong said without hesitation. Compared to a fixed salary, this pace of earning money by taking orders was more in line with his lifestyle. "The government is generous. I'll give you 100,000 today."
"It's no problem to take the money." Xie An smiled slyly, "Please hand over Hugos's belongings according to the regulations first."
Relics?
Hugos was badly injured but still alive, and he obviously had no belongings to speak of. So what Jie An was talking about must be...
"This?" Chu Hengkong fished out Hugos's iron ring from his coat. It was originally as black as cast iron, but now it had turned white for some reason.
"This kind of equipment is called a relic, which is a prop that contains specific thoughts. Most relics are dangerous and must be handed in in a timely manner according to regulations," said Ji Huaisu.
Chu Hengkong immediately put away the iron ring: "As a government official with a large family and great wealth, there is no need for you to covet my little spoils."
"Looking at your expression, I don't know who's greedy." Ji Huaisu curled his lips, "If you want to keep the equipment, fine! The chef will calculate the bill for him."
Jie An took out a dirty notebook from his pocket and started to calculate the bill on the spot.
"Alex's pendant is considered your own find and is not included in the calculations for now. Just for Hugos's case, your base reward is a bounty of 100,000 flowing pearls. This amount will allow you to live a life of luxury for a limited month. In the morning, you'll have a City-State ham sandwich with scrambled goose eggs with fresh truffles. For lunch, you'll have roast goose wings in a swampwood oven. For dinner, you'll have a stone-grilled cheese risotto and a selection of fresh sea fish sashimi..."
The cook described the food so vividly that Chu Hengkong heard Ji Huaisu gulp beside him. He quickly interrupted before he got hungry himself: "What if you don't hand over the iron ring?"
Jie An shook his head: "That's different! This iron ring is priced at a friendship discount of 50,000 yuan, so you still have 50,000 yuan left..."
"There's 10,000 left." Chu Hengkong said, "Please transfer 40,000 to the owner's account for me to compensate him for the store and mental damages."
Ji Huaisu couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: "You are so stingy, but you are so generous now?"
Chu Hengkong smiled and said, "I used to be involved in gangs, and this is the rule in our family. If you smash something, you have to pay a lot of money, until the neighbors are satisfied. Because the gangs can survive only because of the support of the people in the territory. If they lose respect, even the strongest gangs will fall apart, and the assassins will not receive orders anymore."
"The new guy has a very high level of awareness! It seems the old patron was also a powerful figure!" Jie An praised. "Then you still have 10,000 Liuzhu left. Don't even dream of beef or mutton, there's definitely enough chicken, duck, and fish to eat. If you get hungry late at night, you can ask a senior chef to make you a 'Fried Chilled Egg and Rice with Aged Soy Sauce'. You can also choose 'Huilongcheng Fashion Sparkling Drink' for a drink. Occasionally, you can even enjoy roast duck. Life is really enjoyable."
"You can really say that the food stall fried rice and cola are so good..." Chu Hengkong thought this person was quite interesting. "Not bad, give it to me."
Xie An changed his tone: "But! Your monthly salary will also be deducted for various housing provident funds, insurance and taxes. After deducting these, your actual salary will be left with..."
Jie An pulled out a small transparent ball and placed it on the table. The azure liquid within swirled in tiny vortices. The so-called "flowing beads" looked familiar; the fanatics were carrying similar items, albeit slightly different in size.
"100 Liuzhu." Jie An said sadly.
Chu Hengkong took the pitiful reward and pondered for a moment: "What can I eat with 100 Liuzhu?"
"Eat 'pure natural organic noodles' and forget about roast goose." Ji Huaisu grinned wickedly from the other side. "Think about it carefully. Do you really want to cling to that iron ring?"
"At worst, I can just do a few more orders. I won't let go!" Chu Hengkong was firm.
"Tsk!" Ji Huaisu stretched out his hand, "Hurry up and give me the iron ring pendant and the book with eyes."
Chu Hengkong retreated cautiously: "If reasoning doesn't work, then you're just robbing me?"
"What are you thinking? I'll take it to the workshop for identification. How dare you carry something of unknown origin on your body? Aren't you afraid of a curse that will kill you?"
Ji Huaisu raised his paw and bared his teeth in a threatening manner, his two small fangs flashing coldly. Chu Hengkong was amused by this behavior and for a moment couldn't tell whether the person talking to him was "Captain Huaisu" or a quirky female college student.
He handed over the spoils and the Silver-Eyed Book. Ji Huaisu stuffed the three relics into a paper bag and yawned as he collected them. Seeing that she seemed a little sleepy, Chu Hengkong suppressed the urge to ask about the relics. He stood up and held out his hand to the blonde.
"Please take care of me in the future, Captain Huaisu."
Jie An's eyes were subtle, and Chu Hengkong cursed himself inwardly. He had made his usual mistake again. He had just been eating so happily that his right hand was greasy, so he subconsciously reached out with his left hand, forgetting that his left arm was now a tentacle...
"If you don't cause any trouble, I'll be happy to protect you. If you dare to make any small moves, I'll be the first to kill you."
He immediately tried to retract the tentacle, but the blonde carelessly grasped the tip of the tentacle. Her slender white fingers, wearing fingerless leather gloves, were inevitably stained with the slime on the tentacle's surface, leaving a sticky mess between her fingers.
Chu Hengkong felt a little embarrassed: "I have some paper here..."
"Are you in the habit of wiping your hands after shaking hands with others?" Ji Huaisu asked.
"Not really."
"I don't have this habit either." Ji Huaisu turned around nonchalantly, "Let's go! I'll take you to the dormitory and call it a day."
"Thank you, Captain." Chu Hengkong immediately changed his address. He waved to Jie An and then followed behind the captain, acting like a loyal follower and apparently being quite good at being a bodyguard.
Xie An sat there motionless, watching the two men leave the cafeteria. He was a veteran of the Resurrection Corps, having worked for the City Lord since before the corps was formed. Having been there long, he'd met many people, and could easily gauge a person's personality after just a few words.
This was a newcomer, arrogant and conceited, with his own logic and no desire to conform to other people's rules. He even tried to bargain with Ji Huaisu. Where did he get such audacity? It was strange; how could such a proud person want to join an official organization? This kind of person is self-centered and stubborn, and cannot tolerate being restricted by others. Only those gray area businesses or pure black gangs would suit his personality.
But after all, Jie An was just a cook, and the city lord had a much sharper eye than him. He decided to remind Huaisu, that innocent child, later, and slowly cleared away the dishes and turned off the lights in the cafeteria.
·
Bang!
Chu Hengkong turned on the lights in his dorm room. It was a standard one-bedroom, one-living room, fully furnished, though the air lingered with a faint musty smell. He looked around the room and noticed the bedroom stool was unsteady and a leak in the bathroom corner. It wasn't exactly luxurious living, but it was better than living in the open.
He found a washbasin to pad the leak, turned off the lights, and lay on the bed, listening to the dripping water. He fiddled with his phone with one hand, reconfirming the lack of signal and internet access. The moment his phone ran out of battery and went into hibernation, he suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of weightlessness, as if he were on a ship far from home, watching the familiar coastline slowly disappear into view.
The familiar world is gone and you have arrived in a new place.
Chu Hengkong put away his phone and closed his eyes. Summoning, tentacles, the Great Wizard, Ji Huaisu, demons, relics… everything he had encountered in the past half day flashed through his mind. He reviewed everything since his time travel like a sophisticated machine, silently making plans for the future.
The primary issue is this tentacle of unknown origin. All those previous excuses were merely excuses to delay amputation. If this tentacle truly belongs to some "fantasy demon," it must be ruthlessly amputated... We need to prepare for both scenarios. We'll inquire about reliable prosthetics in the next few days, and we'll also need to adapt to this new arm as quickly as possible... We can't make the same mistake today...
If the tentacle problem can be solved, I must focus on becoming stronger... This world is full of supernatural forces, and there might be some mysterious things. Only with power can I live a stable life. I also need to gather basic information about the other world, and then...
I don't even know if I'll live to see the end of this, so why think about things so far ahead? I'll just take it one step at a time and just live a good life tomorrow.
Anyway, I won’t join the gang, the former gang killer thought vaguely.
There is no future in being in the underworld.
Fragments of the past flashed in the darkness, and Chu Hengkong fell into a deep sleep. He slept soundly, sleeping until the next day's sunlight brushed against his eyes.
(End of this chapter)
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