Chapter 248: Factory Cafeteria, Premium Restaurant, Fleecing the Factory
In that instant,
the viewers from Dragon Country were green with envy!
[I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said this factory was a bad place.]
[Holy shit, 500 Ghost Coins a day! Where else can you find a job this good?]
[It’s embarrassing to admit, but I’m a low-level manager at a factory, too. Even if you convert Ghost Coins to real-world money, my salary isn’t as high as Yun Zhenyue’s.]
[Damn, so this factory treats its low-level workers like cattle, but the mid-level managers have it this good?]
[Weekends off, overtime pay, subsidies, and such high status that you can deal with subordinates as you please? If it were me, I could do this job for a lifetime!]
[Wait, hasn’t the factory’s upper management noticed anything wrong?]
[They already said the machine was fine. I’m starting to suspect Gu Yuan might have given Yun Zhenyue some kind of Ghost Artifact, which is why her loyalty test score was so high.]
...
「Meanwhile.」
With the exception of the Holy Nation, the viewers from the other three countries laughed in fury.
This was because their countries’ chosen partners were all toiling away on the assembly lines.
Their hands never left the machines, and their feet were rooted to the spot.
This was especially true for Han Sumei and Yamada Aiko.
The line leader for their section was exceptionally strict.
The two of them were working so hard their hands were practically smoking!
They hadn’t even had a single sip of water yet.
If they wanted to eat, they would have to work through the night and could only go after their shift ended.
[On what grounds? That loyalty score has to be fake!]
[Seriously! Yun Zhenyue just became a vice manager in a flash. It’s ridiculous!]
[I don’t get it. Gu Yuan clearly didn’t give that woman from Dragon Country anything. How did she do it?]
[Dammit! My Kangaroo Country’s representative, the partner of a mighty Great Evil, is stuck doing this kind of trash work.]
[Yun Zhenyue can’t be special. Could it be because of her partner’s influence? When Miss Sumi goes to get her loyalty tested, her score will definitely be high too. Maybe she’ll even land a high-level position.]
...
「Soon.」
Only Yun Zhenyue and Huang Ting were left.
Yun Zhenyue wasn’t wearing a work uniform; the ghost manager had said it was up to her.
She still needed to pin on her stars.
As a vice manager, the factory had also assigned her a private dorm room.
’I’ll deal with that after I get to the dorm,’ she thought.
"Ting."
The moment Yun Zhenyue spoke her name,
Huang Ting shivered.
Fortunes could change in the blink of an eye!
Yun Zhenyue’s status was completely different from what it had been just moments ago.
She was now a legitimate, high-ranking leader!
There was no way she could bear being called "Ting" like an equal!
"Yue, please don’t say that... I’m just a 2-star employee. I’m not worthy. You can just call me Huang or Xiaoting," Huang Ting hurriedly corrected.
Huang?
’That sounds like a dog’s name.’ Yun Zhenyue thought.
Finding it strange, Yun Zhenyue shook her head. "I’ll just keep calling you Ting."
"It’s all thanks to you being willing to show me the ropes. I wouldn’t have gotten this kind of treatment otherwise."
"Don’t worry. If you need anything in the future, I’ll help you as long as it’s within my power."
"Really?"
Huang Ting’s eyes lit up when she heard this.
She had only said it casually before, asking Yun Zhenyue to look out for her in the future.
She never expected her lucky break to come so quickly!
Now she had a big boss looking out for her!
’Won’t it be a piece of cake to slack off at work from now on?’
"So, uh, should we head back to the workshop now?"
"Your duty is to inspect the work and production, right?"
Huang Ting asked.
Their roles were clear now!
She no longer held the initiative as she had before and was now extremely deferential to Yun Zhenyue.
"Or should we go eat first?"
"It’s mealtime right now. The cafeteria will close if we’re any later."
Hearing this,
Yun Zhenyue realized she was hungry too.
The loyalty test had been mentally draining.
"Let’s go eat together then."
"By the way, can you pay with Ghost Coins at the factory cafeteria?" Yun Zhenyue asked.
Huang Ting shook her head. "Regular employees have to pay with their employee cards. The money is automatically deducted at the end of each month."
"But with your current status, you don’t have to pay for meals."
"The cafeteria has a special restaurant for mid- to high-level staff. I’ve never been. I really wish someone could take me to see what it’s like."
Yun Zhenyue understood what Huang Ting was getting at.
She asked tentatively, "Then I can take you with me, right?"
"That’d be great!"
Huang Ting’s eyes grew brighter and brighter!
She was fleecing the factory, not spending her own money, after all.
A free meal was a free meal.
No sooner said than done.
The two of them immediately changed their destination
and headed for the factory cafeteria.
...
The closer they got to the cafeteria,
the more ghost employees they saw.
This mealtime
was one of the few chances they had to catch their breath.
The moment they stepped into the cafeteria, their identity
shifted from being factory consumables to independent individuals.
Yun Zhenyue saw hundreds of service windows.
Hundreds of ghosts were lined up behind each one.
Those who arrived late would probably spend an hour just to get a meal,
eating into what little non-working time they had.
Moreover, the quality of the food was terrible.
A dish should be judged by its color, aroma, and taste.
Looking at the dishes the employees were carrying,
Yun Zhenyue saw that they possessed none of the three!
It was mostly stewed, rotten vegetable leaves, decaying chunks of meat, and a thin gruel made of some unknown substance. Getting closer, one could smell a pungent, bloody odor.
"You guys eat this normally?"
Yun Zhenyue asked with a frown.
"We do!"
Huang Ting’s expression was neutral.
"Most ghosts don’t need to eat anyway. It’s just that working too hard often leads to physical exhaustion, so they need to replenish themselves with dishes containing Yin energy."
"And even for food like this, regular employees are reluctant to eat it."
The extreme polarization in the factory once again shocked Yun Zhenyue.
The mid-level and low-level workers lived in two completely different worlds.
Nothing like this ever happened among the Nightmare Hunters.
Despite differences in strength, they were all friends who could talk and joke with each other.
’How could it be like this?’
The mid- to high-level staff could control the life and death of the low-level employees at will, and the disparity in their treatment was immense.
She shook her head.
Yun Zhenyue’s desire to destroy the factory grew even stronger.
’I can’t let this factory tarnish Gu Yuan’s reputation!’
"Let’s go to the second floor. That’s where the premium restaurant is!"
"I heard you can order from a menu, everything’s free, and you can even bring family and friends."
Huang Ting led Yun Zhenyue to the cafeteria’s staircase.
Two Ghost Security Guards were standing there,
one on each side of the stairs.
Yun Zhenyue showed them the five stars pinned to her work uniform.
She planned to change out of it after she finished eating.
The two Ghost Security Guards immediately shot her respectful gazes.
They paid no mind to Huang Ting, who was following behind her.
Even though this was the first time they had seen Yun Zhenyue,
they didn’t doubt her in the slightest.
This was because no one in the factory dared to impersonate a leader!
Getting caught meant immediate execution by the cruelest means!
"Please, come in..."
Yun Zhenyue nodded.
Passing ghost employees saw this and were filled with envy.
Anyone who could enter the second-floor restaurant was a real big shot in the factory!
A single word from such a person could cost them their lives!
Even the way they ate was extraordinary.
Just as the two were about to head upstairs,
a vaguely familiar voice sounded from beside them.
"Wait a minute!"
Maya, with her arm linked through the Ghost Section Chief’s, had just spotted Yun Zhenyue and Huang Ting about to go upstairs and couldn’t help but call out to stop them.
"You’re going the wrong way. That’s not a place you should be."