Chapter 71, Chapter Eighteen: The Fantasy Mansion
Wen Ting hid under her workstation, trying hard to suppress her breathing and heartbeat.
Her workstation was at the far end of the office. Chaochao and DD ran out first, and when it was her turn, she was bumped by the crowd in the corridor. It was too late to run away.
She saw Ge, the uncle who died on the first day of the ghost story, his upper body split open vertically, revealing his bones;
Ge was previously a member of Group 7, Gulanda and Cathy, and also died on the first day.
The man, barely over thirty, was like a withered tree, yet lush flowers bloomed in every crevice of his body; his head was cut open a quarter of the way, and the abundant flowers eagerly burst forth from within.
It wasn't just the two of them; there were four figures in the corridor, swaying as they approached the crowd.
Corpses that had long since died and mysteriously disappeared suddenly reappeared, and some people were grabbed by them. What happened next, even though she was mentally prepared, still became Wen Ting's nightmare.
Gulanda, whose body was withered but covered in flowers, grabbed one of her colleagues.
It plucked a flower from its head and stuck it into the other person's head.
The flower stem slid off the man's head, failing to penetrate properly.
Gulanda tilted her head, looking at her colleague who had been paralyzed with fear for a while, her eyes filled with confusion.
Then, as if it had confirmed something, it grabbed his neck with one hand and used the flower stem to stab his head with the other.
The soft, vibrant green flower stem instantly transformed into a sharp steel needle, piercing straight through the skull.
Blood gushed out, the screams turned into screams of agony, and the man, stronger than Gulanda, struggled frantically, but could not budge the withered hand on his neck.
Gulanda plucked the flowers from her head one by one and forcibly plunged them into her colleague's skull.
From the third blow onwards, the men under her command stopped struggling.
He turned his head, his bloodied face facing Wen Ting, his pupils dilated and unfocused.
Gulanda transformed him into a second version of herself, and the flowers she plucked from his body quickly replaced them, with vibrant, fresh blossoms bursting forth from his depths.
The Ge series that follows it is doing the same thing.
He grabbed a colleague, his fingernails digging into her shoulder, tearing her apart lengthwise.
Blood was sprayed everywhere, turning the clean glass walls of the internet company into a mess and turning them red.
Wen Ting might have had time to run, but she simply didn't have the strength to run.
After making eye contact with another corpse, she immediately stepped back.
Instinct took over her body instead of reason; all she wanted to do was hide and leave.
This moment of cowardice cost her the chance to leave the office—it wasn't necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, because she heard screams from other floors, which meant that the "corpse monster" wasn't just on this floor. Even if she ran, where could she run to?
Thinking that she still had Gong Baidie, Wen Ting looked around and was shocked to find that the person who had been following her just now was gone!
She opened the game "Desktop Lovers" on her phone, but not only had the chibi version in the bottom right corner disappeared, the game app itself wouldn't load.
Staring intently at the icon for "Desktop Lovers," Wen Ting tried her best to calm herself down.
All the clues pointed to Gong Baidie, but there was also a common possibility that the "assessment day" restricted Gong Baidie and locked him up.
The name "Gong Feibai" flashed through Wen Ting's mind.
She never stopped being suspicious of the new director. Now, there's Gong Baidie. These two unusual people appearing in the same ghost story, with two out of their three-character names overlapping, suggests a close connection between them if this were a film or television production.
My mind is a jumbled mess, with all sorts of associations popping up one after another like bubbles in boiling water.
She has many ideas, but right now she needs to get through this crisis first.
Slow footsteps approached, and suddenly, she heard the door being pushed open.
Wen Ting covered her mouth and nose, shrinking her entire body under the desk.
The scene was familiar; it seemed like I had experienced it not long ago.
The sound of pearls colliding and squeezing against the iron chain echoed in her mind. She followed the sound and pondered deeply, but the fog blocked her way, and she couldn't recall the specific details.
Ignoring the inexplicable sense of déjà vu, the slow footsteps behind me grew closer and closer.
Wen Ting felt that it was only thirty centimeters away from her.
It stopped, like a cat that smelled a mouse but didn't see it.
Through the thin partition under the table, Wen Ting covered her mouth and nose with one hand, and with the other hand, she tremblingly reached for her waist and placed it on the unopened dagger.
She tried her best to cover her breathing, but she couldn't hide her heartbeat. If it had a keen sense of smell or a snake's heat vision, she would have nowhere to hide.
Footsteps moved.
Wen Ting's heartbeat seemed to freeze here.
She was on high alert, paying close attention to everything behind her.
Ten seconds, thirty seconds, two minutes...
Luckily, it left.
Its senses were no more acute than those of a human, and its intelligence was far lower than when it was alive. Unable to see any living creatures or hear any sounds, it walked away in confusion.
Wen Ting collapsed to the ground.
She remained hidden under the table, crouching until her hands, feet, and heart were numb, before quietly peeking out to observe.
A swaying corpse monster wandered at the end of the corridor. The other three had disappeared, but many corpses like them remained outside, along with slaughterhouse-like filth.
Those killed by the corpse monsters lay motionless on the ground, like time bombs, never knowing if they might become the next batch of monsters.
Wen Ting stepped back.
A transparent office isn't secure enough; she wants to find a more secure place.
It was at this moment that she fully understood the content of Article 6 of the Employee Code of Conduct:
[VI. The company designates the 1st and 16th of each month as performance evaluation days. No leave is permitted on these days. For each evaluation, except for the top five performers, any employee absent on the evaluation day will be considered to have resigned.]
"On that day"—if she was lucky, it was 6 p.m. when she got off work; if she was unlucky, it was before midnight. She couldn't ask for leave or leave the building to get "private time."
Is there any safe place in this ghost story?
Wen Ting could only think of that butterfly-shaped wall cabinet.
Want to take a gamble?
I'm betting she won't get caught by the zombies on her way to the director's office on the 13th floor; I'm betting the director's office isn't locked at this time, and I'm betting the director will open the door for her.
Most importantly, I'm betting that "Gong Feibai" is a good person.
Wen Ting gave up without hesitation.
Where is everyone else hiding?
Remembering that the intranet was still usable, Wen Ting quickly opened the OA system to check the group messages.
Several messages have already appeared in the group, with some people reminding everyone that they can hide in their rooms, lock the doors, and then use something to prop them open. These zombie monsters have very low intelligence, like zombies, and will leave if they encounter a door that cannot be opened.
An hour ago, Wen Ting replied in the group: "Everyone, please report the monster distribution. There's one near the safety passage entrance on the 12th floor."
After she posted it, a few messages quickly followed.
But Peter, who was the first to warn everyone to hide in the room, never responded again.
This is a bit strange. He's so enthusiastic that he's almost too nice, and he's in a locked room. He shouldn't have anything to do at this time, so he should be paying close attention to the group messages.
Wen Ting had a bad feeling and directly tagged him: "@Peter, how are you doing?"
No reply.
Wen Ting looked up and saw the employee handbook on Chaochao's desk.
The manual is still stuck on the page about employee conduct.
[VI. No leave is permitted on assessment days. Except for the top five performers, any employee absent on the assessment day will be considered to have resigned.]
Wen Ting's pupils constricted sharply, and she tagged Peter again: "Are you in the staff break room?!"
Her tone immediately drew the attention of others in the group, and someone replied, "I saw him go to the ninth floor."
"What's wrong?"
"What does Windy know?"
Wen Ting posted a picture of that page of the code of conduct in the group chat.
"[No leave or absence allowed]"
"I'm afraid if I stay in the lounge too long, it will be considered absenteeism!"
After a few seconds of silence, the group chat exploded.
"Damn it! I'm in the break room!"
"I just blocked the door too!"
"There are at least three monsters outside the lounge. Going out now will kill us!"
"Has anyone been in the lounge for more than half an hour? Come out and answer if this is true!"
During regular work hours, being absent for a short time won't be considered an absence. The art team needs to relax and unwind, and they aren't required to be strictly at their workstations, as long as they're present when needed.
However, if the departure time is too long, it is of course unreasonable.
Wen Ting didn't have time to check the group messages. She locked the glass door of her office, went back to her desk, and hurriedly sent a private message to Chaochao DD:
"Where are you? Are you alright?"
Fifteen minutes passed, and neither of them responded.
Wen Ting wanted to send a few more messages, but she was worried that they were hiding. Most people would mute the group chat, but the vibration of private messages could easily reveal their location.
Thinking about this, Wen Ting even regretted sending this message.
She bit her thumb, her heart filled with anxiety.
As Wen Ting had feared, Chaochao and DD were in hiding.
The two men, one wielding a samurai sword and the other a long spear, crouched at the corner of the stairs. They could hear the footsteps of the zombies coming down from above, and they could also see the zombies passing by below at a glance. It was a pretty good spot.
"What...what were those things?!" Chaochao gasped for breath, gripping the stair railing, terrified out of her wits.
DD is slightly better off, "but it's probably going to be 'layoffs'."
"What kind of layoffs are these!" Chaochao cursed a few times.
DD interrupted her venting, "Judging from the rules, it's probably going to be like this all day. We'll at least get through six o'clock."
"Shift! There are still ten hours left!"
"Nine and a half."
Chaochao was too exhausted to argue with him, and the two of them stood there catching their breath for a while.
After a while, once her strength had recovered, Chaochao said regretfully, "The top five don't have to play this layoff battle royale. Windy is so unlucky. Hey, you tell me, after today, we'll be considered as those who have passed the assessment. According to the game rules, shouldn't we get some kind of reward? Like an achievement medal, or some points—I definitely suggest Windy add them to her luck stat."
"Shh!" DD suddenly straightened his back, signaling Chaochao to watch out above.
Thump, thump, thump...
The slow, heavy footsteps continued down the stairs, like zombies whose joints couldn't bend.
Terror rose in both of their eyes.
They crouched low and tiptoed down the stairs, their work badges dangling in mid-air.
The stairwell was completely exposed, with nowhere to hide. When they reached the next floor, DD grabbed Chaochao and pointed to the emergency exit door.
They had to leave the stairwell.
Chaochao placed her hand on the handle of the safety door.
She was careful enough, but the large iron gate still creaked open.
She froze on the spot, and the zombie sounds from above the stairs stopped.
Before the next breath, the slow footsteps quickened noticeably, thumping as they approached them, their excitement barely concealed.
Everyone was numb when Chaochao suddenly pulled open the safety door.
Two corroded human faces smiled at her from behind the door.
"Holy shit!" Facing two faces that resembled Kaneki Ken, Chao Chao was so frightened that she spoke in a clear and distinct voice.
Who is it?! This urgent task was assigned after work on Friday. Others don't even have time to draw a single character, and this senior artist is drawing twins!
What are you doing, rolling it up like that?! You're going to kill yourself with that!
"Run!" DD kicked the door shut, quickly drew his knife, and wedged the scabbard across the handle.
Bang bang bang!
Just as it got stuck, the safety door started to vibrate, and the twin zombies inside slammed into it with a muffled thud.
Chaochao, holding a gun, followed DD, her hands and feet trembling.
The katana DD is holding has a metal blade, but the scabbard is made of acrylic.
Judging from the sound of the door being slammed open, it was probably not very sturdy.
Sure enough, as the two ran down three floors, they heard the safety door break open and slam into the wall with a loud thud.
Bang—
It was like a death knell tolling over their heads.
The chaotic footsteps rushed in like a wave, and Chaochao hurriedly turned around to look, her whole body bristling with rage.
Oh my god!
At least four ghouls chased after us from upstairs, each one colorful and beautiful in its own way.
As expected of Green Forest's art team, I've never dreamed of creating a chase scene with such a strong artistic atmosphere.
She and DD ran like mad, their work badges flapping wildly from side to side, making Chaochao feel both pain and annoyed.
After her arm was hit by the sign again, she couldn't take it anymore and grabbed whatever was in her way.
"Don't take it off..." DD, who caught a glimpse of her movement, didn't have time to warn her before the blue ribbon was already off Chaochao's head.
She suddenly stopped, frozen on the stairs, gun in hand.
DD was also taken aback and stared at her nervously.
The rules never mentioned employee badges, but the pain of removing them was clearly a warning.
He took a half step back, his eyes filled with sorrow as he looked at Chaochao.
DD could already see the hem of the nearest zombie's clothes; he couldn't stay any longer and had to leave immediately.
Just then, a golden light enveloped the stiff Chaochao.
The golden light was dazzling, and DD instinctively closed her eyes to avoid it. Suddenly, a righteous and dignified shout rang in her ears—
"Floating Bubble Wall!"
DD opened his eyes. The golden light on Chaochao's body had dissipated, but countless golden bubbles blocked their way, forming a wall that stopped the charging corpse monster.
He stared in shock at the bubble wall, and in shock at the long spear that Chaochao had placed in front of him—the bare, unsealed spear had transformed into a golden magic wand.
Coupled with Chaochao's serious and righteous expression, and that slogan just now, DD felt his brain freeze for a moment.
The cheerful, seemingly clueless new colleague turns out to be a hidden magical girl...
No, don't do that. The compatibility between magical girls and rule-based ghost stories is like the compatibility between Lin Daiyu and the Gotham Joker—it's too much.
"What is this?!" Before DD could even complain, Chaochao's mask of justice shattered.
She glanced frantically at the magic wand in her hand, then at the magic bubbles in front of her, and then remembered the slogan she had just shouted—
"ah!!!"
She crouched down, her face flushed with shame, clutching her head. "Why! How did this get out! Who did this?!"
“Calm down…” DD tried to wake her up, but for a moment he didn’t know how to address her. He paused and hesitantly addressed her as, “Your Majesty the Witch.”
The witch, clutching her head in anguish, suddenly turned her head and stared straight at him: "...You saw it, you saw it?"
DD took a step back.
“Uh, judging from your signature color, you don’t seem like the type to kill someone to cover it up?” he suggested uncertainly. “Or perhaps you could cast an amnesia spell on me or something?”
"Speak properly! Don't joke with me!" Chaochao was so embarrassed and indignant by his reaction that she pointed at the golden wand and explained, "I don't know why this is happening! I've always been a normal human. This wand, this skill... Okay, I did draw some comics in middle school, didn't you?!"
DD shook his head.
He doesn't draw comics. He looked at Chaochao with a suspicious gaze and took another step back.
His gaze, like that of a delusional teenager looking at a will-o'-the-wisp, stung Chaochao. She broke down and screamed, "Aaaaah! I'm angry! I'm furious!"
"Calm down, Your Majesty!"
"Shut up! Who would call a magical girl 'Your Majesty'? You did this on purpose! Waaah, I'm quitting! I'm leaving this country!"
DD suddenly became serious: "Chao Chao, your magic wand has disappeared!"
Chaochao followed his gaze and looked down; the glittering, ornate magic wand transformed back into a bare spear.
The two exchanged a glance and then turned to look at the bubble wall.
The bubble wall was still there, with four zombies crawling on it, scratching and clawing.
Chaochao swallowed hard. "Don't you think the outer layer looks a little different?"
DD confirmed her idea, "The bubble has popped."
There are three layers of bubbles in total, and the outermost layer of neatly arranged bubbles has become pitted and uneven.
A sharp claw pierced the second layer, popping a bubble there.
Snap
"Ah!" Chaochao jumped away from the bubble wall, hugging DD and trembling. "What do we do? It's going to burst!"
"Try again!" DD encouraged her.
Chaochao tried her best, though she didn't know what she was trying to do. She quickly opened her eyes and yelled at DD, "It's no use! Either I'm out of mana, or it's on cooldown, I can't get it to work!"
Without a word, she shoved the gun into his arms. "You take it! It's your turn, one for each of you!"
DD was forced to confront him with a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, demanding, "What did you do before you transformed? How did you transform?"
"I don't know!"
"You took off your employee badge!" DD answered himself, his gaze sharp as he looked at the badge on his chest.
slap slap
Two more bubbles burst.
As the distance closed, the zombie became increasingly agitated, like a wolf that had smelled meat or a zombie that had seen people, its eyes fixed on the two people behind the wall.
DD gritted his teeth.
Let's take a gamble!
He then took off his work badge, and his neck immediately became sore and stiff, as if he had been hunched over his desk for four hours straight.
Chaochao reached for his phone.
She wants to record the embarrassing scene of DD transforming and shouting slogans, so that everyone is even and no one can threaten anyone else.
But the long gun remained calm and collected in DD's hands.
He took off his name tag, and a flash of icy light appeared on the samurai sword in his hand.
DD vaguely sensed something; after the flash of the blade, blue and white patterns resembling waves were engraved on the blade.
He swung his sword down at the corpse monster behind the bubble shield, creating ripples in the air.
The tranquil sound of water suddenly erupted into a roar, and a huge gray-blue whale shadow appeared out of thin air, crashing down from the ceiling towards the corpse monster!
The surging waves exploded beneath the corpse monsters. Chao Chao stared in disbelief as the enormous whale phantom smashed the four corpse monsters into a pile.
They looked as if they had been crushed by a hydraulic press; their bones and flesh were crushed into a pile, turning into charred corpses, and they never moved again.
DD staggered, exhausted.
Chaochao grabbed him and shook him violently, shouting, "It's not fair! Why are you so handsome! Why!"
DD was weak and powerless in all four limbs, and was suddenly pulled down and sat on the steps by Chaochao.
His forehead was covered in sweat, and the ripples on his samurai sword disappeared, returning to their original form.
“But…” he said with difficulty, “my energy expenditure is also greater than yours.”
"That's not fair!" Chaochao protested. "I'm willing to expend energy too! Why is it that yours is Blue Whale Roar, while mine is Balala Energy!"
"It's not a blue whale, it's a combination of a sperm whale and a tiger shark," DD corrected her.
"A combination of a whale and a shark?" Chaochao snapped out of her anger. "So, that was your whale just now?"
DD shook his head again, "Sajiroko extracts elements from great white sharks and killer whales. These four are all different. Moreover, Sajiroko is a human, so the elements are mainly reflected in clothing and makeup."
Chaochao still didn't see any difference. DD took a breath, leaned against the wall, and slowly stood up. "That was a piece I created in college. I don't draw comics, but I like to draw fusion creatures. This one took me the most effort to complete."
“Me too,” Chaochao chimed in. “Looking at Elsa now, her drawings seem pretty cliché, but she’s the character I’ve drawn the most, for four whole years. Maybe it’s because she left such a deep impression on me that I inherited her skills?”
"Thank goodness," DD said expressionlessly, "I almost thought it was a magical girl special."
"What are you doing! You just called me 'Witch's Lady'! Let me tell you, a magic wand, like a transformation device, is a symbol of faith and honor!"
DD didn't deny it, but he noticed the phone in Chaochao's hand that was recording: "...What are you planning to do with that phone?"
Chaochao was taken aback, then guiltily turned off the recording. "I was just checking how the others were doing!"
She looked down at her OA system and abruptly changed the subject, "Wow, look, when we were running, Sister Windy messaged us to ask how we were doing. Judging from this, she should be safe too."
DD didn't dwell on the recording; instead, he started looking at the OA messages.
After letting Wen Ting know he was safe, he scrolled through the group chat again and said to Chaochao, "We can't stay in the lounge for too long. Let's go find Sister Windy and meet up."
Chaochao agreed, "Let's go, let's go! It's not safe for me to be alone. I wonder if she's gained superpowers. Hey, what do you think I'd be like if I had a skill?"
As DD walked, he thought, "I've been with Windy for a year and a half, and I've never seen her particularly like any particular role."
"Aren't there several character-themed items on her desk? Those must be her favorite characters."
"No, those are all given to her by the company. She never buys merchandise herself."
DD thought for a while, "It might be Zhaoxia. When Zhaoxia's turnover exceeded 20 million dollars, I saw her hiding behind the monitor, smiling and playing with Zhaoxia dolls."
"Cool, Zhaoxia's skills are not weak!" Chaochao snatched back the spear and excitedly gestured, "When the time comes, we'll form a triangle, and we'll name our team Wen, Wen Chao... Wen Zhaodi?"
Didi blocked the gun that she was waving around, saying, "You'll get scolded."
"How about 'Emperor Wenzhao'? Does the company have anyone named 'June'? We want to recruit him, preferably as a nanny."
Emperor: "..."
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Author's Note: Wen Ting: I'm saying, isn't this unit a bit too much...?
Art is an explosion!
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