Can Jiuluoyu Also Work As Customer Service In Wuxianliu? Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Cultivation

Zhang Yu sprang up from the bed with a carp jump.

If he wanted to undergo a complete transformation in a short time, relying only on the evening hours was far from enough. He deliberately woke up early for morning reading, adopting the strategy of the clumsy bird flying first.

Opening the secondhand textbook, Zhang Yu began to immerse himself in memorization with a low “moo.”

Starting the day with a session like this made him feel much more energized.

After morning reading, Zhang Yu found a shared bicycle and pedaled vigorously to work.

The company policy stipulated a nine o’clock start, but Zhang Yu arrived downstairs at eight-thirty, calculating the time carefully.

The area downstairs was as desolate as usual; not even a small tricycle selling breakfast was in sight.

Fortunately, Zhang Yu was already accustomed to skipping breakfast.

He walked into the Office Building, where the security guard was still missing, leaving Zhang Yu alone in the empty elevator lobby.

It was so deserted.

A strange thought suddenly popped into Zhang Yu’s mind: Was this huge Office Building completely devoid of other companies?

Wouldn’t the Property Management go bankrupt?

As he rode the elevator, Zhang Yu felt a slight tremor of fear. If the Property Management wasn’t making money, would they still maintain the elevator according to standard procedures? He hoped no malfunction would occur while he was inside.

After a short bout of overthinking, the elevator delivered him to his floor without incident.

Zhang Yu quickly darted out.

Arriving at the office, the other workstations were still empty. It was so cold and quiet that it wouldn’t be surprising if the place was haunted.

He opened his workstation, and the taskbar immediately began rapidly flashing red dots, growing like fish blowing bubbles.

Zhang Yu felt a little oxygen-deprived. Starting the workday with this much excitement—how was he going to survive the day?

Player 1: Dungeon B-937, is the boss cheating! The Player already used a hidden item, so why can the boss still accurately locate the Player!

Player 2: B-937! B-937! The boss is slaughtering Players wildly. Didn’t they say this Dungeon had a low death rate? Why did the boss suddenly go berserk!

Player 3: Help, help, help, help! Is this still a B-rank Dungeon? Where did this thing come from? How can the boss be this strong!

Player 4: The boss of B-937 is definitely suspicious! Can someone investigate the cause? There must be a bug!!!

Player 5: The boss saw me… How could this happen!

Dozens of Players were frantically sending messages to Customer Service. Zhang Yu only had ten fingers in total; even if he typed until the keyboard sparked, he couldn’t reply to everyone.

Not to mention, he still struggled to read some of the characters.

This was hellish.

Zhang Yu covered his face. He struggled to understand the messages for a while, relying on guesswork and inference. The general gist was that the boss was too strong, the Players couldn’t defeat it, and their fighting spirit was shattered.

Why did they have to contact Customer Service just because they couldn’t win? Zhang Yu’s expression twisted into a grimace. If they couldn’t win, what could he do? He couldn’t exactly give them a cheat device.

Customer Service Little Zhang: Dear, how about you exit first?

Player: If I could exit, I would have done it long ago!! Do you think I don’t want to leave!

Customer Service Little Zhang: Okay then [Rose]

Player: ??? I’m about to die, what are you doing???

Customer Service Little Zhang: How about this: since you can’t win, why not just join them?

If you can’t beat them, join them—a famous internet maxim. Zhang Yu decided to apply it flexibly.

The other party didn’t reply again.

They were probably convinced.

Zhang Yu thought this was a very logical approach, so he copied the formula and replied to several other Players. He was replying enthusiastically when he suddenly sensed something behind him.

Zhang Yu turned around and saw the Ghost Painter standing right there. He didn’t know when the man had arrived; there hadn’t been a single sound of footsteps.

“Morning!” Zhang Yu’s eyes curved as he greeted the Ghost Painter warmly.

The Ghost Painter leaned one hand on the desk, bending over to look at the screen, in a posture that almost seemed to embrace Zhang Yu. “Starting work so early?”

“I have no choice, there are so many pending tasks, I’m very busy.” Zhang Yu scrolled the dialogue box to show the Ghost Painter his work results. “I found that our company’s game has quite a few users. So many Players are online this early.”

Zhang Yu didn’t play games and only knew the top few titles. Before joining the company, he hadn’t heard of this game and assumed it was some obscure flop. He hadn’t expected it to actually have Players.

The Ghost Painter’s gaze fell on the screen, and his fingertip lightly tapped the desktop. “You told the Players to surrender and join the boss?”

“No,” Zhang Yu held up a finger to correct him. “I didn’t say surrender. I meant flexible adaptation.”

“Players and the game are antagonistic; they cannot join the boss’s faction.”

A flash of inspiration struck Zhang Yu, and an idiom slipped out: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

“I’m afraid that won’t work. Factions cannot be changed.”

“Why not? Factions aren’t like the sun, rising in the east and setting in the west without ever changing course. If they can’t win, can’t they just act? Put on a disguise, and it changes… at least from the outside.”

Zhang Yu’s understanding of games was infinitely close to zero. He had no idea how the game operated, relying entirely on his own free-form imagination.

The Ghost Painter didn’t speak, tilting his head slightly as he looked at Zhang Yu.

The distance between them was incredibly close. Zhang Yu could even clearly see the slight trembling of the other man’s eyelashes when he blinked.

“Was I wrong?” Zhang Yu’s internal alarm bells went off. He secretly regretted getting carried away. How could he argue with a veteran employee? A newcomer should act like a newcomer—just obediently follow instructions and do the work.

“No.” The Ghost Painter curled his lips, a faint, light smile appearing. “Perhaps you are right.”

“I’m definitely doomed.” The blood-soaked Player hid desperately behind a wall. He could already hear the boss’s measured footsteps. “Tong Wei, you still have strength. You run quickly, don’t worry about me.”

Tong Wei grabbed the Player with one hand and held his gun with the other. “Damn it, why did we have to enter this kind of Dungeon at this moment!”

Yesterday, he had entered the Safe House for rest and accidentally broke his A-rank item. Before he had time to repair it, he was forcibly matched into this Dungeon. It was truly terrible luck.

“You run quickly, don’t worry about me,” the severely injured Player said with difficulty.

“Shut up!” Tong Wei roared, then efficiently lifted the man onto his shoulder and rushed out.

So what if he didn’t have an A-rank item? It was just a B-rank Dungeon. He had faced life and death so many times in Dungeons; what was there to fear now?

Before he had taken a few steps, the boss descended from the sky, blocking Tong Wei’s path with uncanny precision.

It was a colossal entity wrapped in smoke, making it impossible to see what was contained inside.

The moment the boss appeared, Tong Wei fired several shots without hesitation. The boss’s body merely trembled slightly, suffering no substantial damage.

Tong Wei took advantage of the brief moment the boss was stalled by the shots, using a speed-boosting item to rapidly flee.

Damn it, Tong Wei gritted his teeth inwardly.

For some reason, this boss knew the Players’ locations like the back of its hand. No matter how the Players hid, it could accurately root them out.

Many Players were already exhausted, becoming lambs for the slaughter.

Tong Wei ran a long distance before daring to stop for a brief rest.

The moment he stopped, the speed-boosting item, used to its limit, broke down, shattering into pieces with a snap.

“Tsk.” Tong Wei clenched his fists, veins bulging on his hands. He had a decent reserve of items, but he couldn’t sustain this level of consumption.

“Hey, hey.” A very faint voice sounded.

Tong Wei instantly became alert, raising his gun to look. He saw an unfamiliar face peeking out from the bushes.

It was a short-haired girl with a baby face.

“Don’t shoot, I’m a Player too.” The girl mustered her courage and jumped out. “I recognize you, you’re Tong Wei.”

Tong Wei looked at the girl coldly. “Don’t move. Stand right there.”

The girl stopped, wisely introducing herself. “My name is Ding Anna, I’m a new Player.”

Inexplicably, Zhang Yu’s self-introduction echoed in Tong Wei’s mind at the most inappropriate time.

Tong Wei: “…”

He must be going crazy.

Ding Anna was unaware of Tong Wei’s momentary distraction. She recited the lines she had prepared. “Did you receive the reply from Customer Service?”

Customer Service? Wasn’t that Zhang Yu? Tong Wei’s expression grew even darker.

“Many Players asked Customer Service for help, and Customer Service told us to join the boss if we couldn’t beat it,” Ding Anna said.

Tong Wei felt complicated. He couldn’t believe Zhang Yu had actually said something like that.

It was utterly ridiculous.

He had always maintained that life and death were fated; if you died in a Dungeon, you died. Don’t bother relying on Customer Service.

“Ignore him.”

“I think it makes perfect sense.”

Tong Wei and Ding Anna’s voices sounded simultaneously.

“What did you say?” Tong Wei frowned, thinking Ding Anna had been scared senseless. They were Players; how could they join the boss? Given the boss’s brutality, they would probably be torn to shreds the moment they surrendered.

“I’m serious.” Ding Anna gathered her courage and met Tong Wei’s gaze. “You are the strongest Player in this Dungeon. We need you to cooperate with us.”

“Us?”

“Yes, the Players who received the reply have already reached a consensus.”

“A laughable death throe. I will not be responsible for your lives.”

“But how do you know the boss is actually the boss?”

“What do you mean?”

“We suspect that the so-called boss is a Player in disguise. If he can disguise himself, so can we.”

Tong Wei was stunned. Details he had overlooked in the crisis surfaced. The background setting of the Dungeon involved summoning spirits. The boss had suffered severe school bullying since childhood but found no help. The school turned a blind eye, and even his parents only told him to look for reasons within himself.

After repeated despair, the boss became obsessed with dark arts, frantically researching techniques to invite spirits to possess him, attempting to use the power of demons for revenge.

But demons were not so easily controlled. After the successful summoning, he was possessed by a demon, becoming a monster without self-awareness, unable to realize his wish even in death.

Could there be a possibility… that the one possessing him wasn’t a demon, but another Player?

If that Player could possess the body, other Players could too. Everyone could enter the boss’s body together and have a party. Maybe they could even play a round of mahjong.

Tong Wei’s heart stirred, and he involuntarily grinned. “Ah, indeed.”