Chapter 193: [Gold Medal Salesperson] Capturing the Boss
It quieted down outside.
“Li Yun” glanced at the corridor, then checked the time.
In truth, most of the hour had already elapsed.
When the one-hour mark arrived, the corridor lights flickered back on.
The ghosts outside had long vanished into thin air, and the world no longer felt quite so deathly silent—for instance, someone seemed to be vomiting next door.
Li Dao-peng materialized in the corridor, calling for them to come out.
“Li Yun” pushed her door open and walked straight outside.
Several other recruits stepped out as well, every single one of them sporting a rather ghastly complexion.
Under normal circumstances, being subjected to a pervert at one’s door—one who likely wasn’t even human—and tortured for an entire hour would indeed leave anyone looking like this.
Gazing at their pale faces, Li Dao-peng offered a satisfied nod.
“Now you know what you need to do next, don’t you?”
Know my foot.
They had originally assumed the special training would entail some training class or multi-level marketing brainwashing session.
Who on earth could have anticipated a scene like this?
“Since you understand, get back to working hard and don’t let customers file complaints against you—got it?”
As he spoke, he was already turning around to lead them back upstairs.
“Li Yun” suddenly picked up her pace, stepped forward, grabbed him firmly by the collar, delivered a swift kick to the back of his knee, and slammed him straight down onto his back.
Li Dao-peng crashed heavily onto the floor, thoroughly stunned by the impact.
The others failed to react in time as well.
“Li Yun! What are you doing?! Are you out of your mind?!” Snapping back to his senses, Li Dao-peng turned red with rage, the blue veins on his forehead throbbing violently.
Just as he attempted to push himself up, the person behind him pinned him firmly to the floor—it was Wang Chen-guang.
He even gestured to the others.
“What are you all standing there frozen for? Hurry up and lend a hand!”
Snapping out of their shock from moments ago, a few people rubbed their faces and swarmed forward, pinning Li Dao-peng to the floor together while someone slapped a hand over his mouth.
Wang Chen-guang looked at “Li Yun” and asked, “Sis, what do we do now? Kill him?”
The others: “…”
“Li Yun” shot him a side-glance.
“What nonsense are you talking about? How can we kill someone in a rule-of-law society? Let’s ask him a few questions first.”
“Li Yun” stood tall, looking down at Li Dao-peng lying on the ground.
“Boss, as long as you answer our questions properly, we won’t kill you.”
Li Dao-peng: “…”
He struggled frantically, yet with his mouth clamped shut, no articulate words could escape his lips.
“Li Yun” raised her hand slightly, gesturing for them to release his mouth.
“You bunch of lunatics! How dare you do this to me! Do you believe I won’t fire you?! Do you believe that with my connections, I can make it impossible for you to ever survive in this industry?!”
“I kindly offered you training! I kindly held classes for you! Your performance was so atrocious, yet I didn’t hold it against you—what kind of attitude is this?! Hurry up and let me go!”
A few individuals instinctively felt a trace of unease upon hearing those words.
Then they watched as “Li Yun” raised her foot and kicked him straight in the stomach.
“I told you: answer our questions properly and we won’t kill anyone. But if you refuse to cooperate… come to think of it, this location of yours is quite unique. Tell me, if you died down here, would anyone ever know?”
“Li Yun” crouched down halfway, her face curling into a sinister, twisted smile.
Seeing her act in concert with them, the surrounding group felt a sudden wave of having boarded a villain’s ship.
Li Dao-peng stared at her in sheer disbelief.
“You…”
“Alright, I don’t want to hear your drivel. First question: what was that thing outside the door during the special training? It wasn’t human, was it?”
The group turned their eyes toward Li Dao-peng in unison; this was indeed a crucial question.
Li Dao-peng’s expression contorted viciously.
“Let me go! There’s no way in hell I’m telling you any of that!”
“Alright then,” “Li Yun” let out a soft sigh, appearing remarkably easy to reason with on the surface.
Then, several strands of her hair abruptly began sprouting long, slender, pale-yellow vines.
Under the astonished gazes of the group, the vines shot straight toward Li Dao-peng’s nose and mouth.
Terror flared deep in Li Dao-peng’s eyes as he struggled frantically.
“Boss, if you cooperate, I’ll chat with you like a normal human. If you refuse to speak, then I’ll just have to stop acting human.”
“Li Yun” wore an earnest, heartfelt expression.
“We’re doing this for your own good. Look at yourself—short, ugly, and running your mouth every single day like you’re begging for a beating. You were bound to get ambushed sooner or later anyway. Right now, we’re simply giving you a lesson in advance. Once you step out into society later, you’ll understand just how vital today’s lesson truly was. When that time comes, you’ll express your heartfelt gratitude for today’s lesson and feel thankful toward us.”
“What do you say?”
Li Dao-peng: “…”
What could he possibly say? The moment he opened his mouth, those vines would likely thrust straight inside.
Li Dao-peng could only nod in aggrieved defeat.
The others remained frozen in shock, staring intently at those two pale-yellow vines.
They desperately wanted to say something, yet found themselves at a complete loss for words.
“First question—the same one as before: tell me, what was that thing?”
“A ghost… It’s a ghost I paid money to hire! It’s just used to scare new employees into behaving themselves, staying put, and obediently working!”
As Li Dao-peng spoke, he desperately tried to dodge the vines hovering before his face.
The vines shifted slightly, coiling like a snake preparing to strike.
He didn’t dare make another reckless move.
“Holy crap! Money really can make a ghost turn the mill, huh?!” someone cursed from the side.
They had almost been scared out of their minds earlier.
“But that thing won’t actually harm you—it’s purely to scare you!” Li Dao-peng explained hastily.
“Then do you know where our memories went?”
“Memories? What memories? What do your memories have to do with me?!” Li Dao-peng looked at her in total confusion.
“Li Yun” narrowed her eyes slightly.
The man didn’t seem to be lying.
“Different question then: where did those ghosts come from, and where did you hire them?”
Li Dao-peng hesitated.
The slender yellow vine twitched, assuming an aggressive posture toward him.
Li Dao-peng opened his mouth in a hurry: “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Those are employees who suffered sudden death at my company! Every once in a while, new employees join my company, and many of these new recruits suffer sudden death. After they die, I discovered I could hire them to work for me…”
His voice grew softer and softer as he spoke.
Because the gaze everyone cast toward him was filled with pure, unadulterated hostility.
Someone even pressed down harder with their hands, forcing a pained shriek from his lips.
“Fuck, you really are a stellar capitalist, aren’t you?! Even after dying, they still have to slave away for you, huh?!”
Everyone felt an overwhelming urge to land a few solid punches on his face right then and there.
“Those new employees—is it always ten people every time?”
“Li Yun” showed zero reaction to his claims, keeping her eyes fixed firmly on him as she asked the question.
Li Dao-peng’s eyes flickered briefly, and he gave a subtle nod.
“Yes… ten people every time. Not everyone suffers sudden death—some people quit and leave, and those who don’t quit will…”
He didn’t dare make another sound.
“Li Yun” looked thoughtful.
“Understood. What about this basement then? What secret does this room hold? Why don’t the ghosts enter the room?”
Li Dao-peng showed reluctance, unwilling to speak, but the vine pierced straight through his skin, punching a hole straight through his earlobe.
Unleashing a blood-curdling shriek, he stammered out frantically, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
“I don’t know! I stumbled upon this place completely by accident! It was only after acquiring this location that I gained the ability to hire those ghosts to work for me! As long as I burn incense for them every day, they’ll work for me!”
“I don’t know about the room either! It’s true that the rooms are safe, which is why I brought you guys here—precisely because I knew the rooms were safe! I really didn’t mean to harm you guys!”
“Bah!” Wang Chen-guang delivered a hard slap straight to his head.
“You call this not trying to harm people?!”
New employees either quitting or suffering sudden death—if that wasn’t harming people, what was it?
