Rao Fei listened to the parting threats from those little child-like Weirds nearby and thought to himself, See, that’s the reason this simple gardener dungeon warranted a B+ rating.
Sometimes, certain things in the Weird World aligned with the Real World.
For example, behind bratty kids, there were always bratty parents.
But none of that was the main issue right now. The priority was that he had to strike up a conversation with the Weird who had just made a group of kids cry.
From his earlier observations, Rao Fei judged that the Weird in front of him was most likely one of the extremely powerful types. Otherwise, did anyone really think those little Weirds were on par with kids from the Real World?
However, the Weird before him seemed capable of communication.
Rao Fei subtly drew in a breath, stepped forward, and immediately plastered an extremely grateful expression on his face. “Sir, thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, when our manager shows up later, he might fire me on the spot. I, I… I really appreciate it. I truly need this job.”
General rule for players in Weird game dungeons: Every player who entered a dungeon had to fully embody their assigned role.
Su Ximu was still a student attending school, so he felt a bit unaccustomed to being addressed as “Sir” with such respect.
The gardener who approached to give thanks looked especially honest and down-to-earth. A closer look revealed some awkwardness in his body language.
He probably really needed the job and genuinely feared getting fired. He seemed grateful enough to drop to his knees and kowtow to the young man across from him the next second.
Faced with such effusive thanks, Su Ximu clenched his palms, stood up, and shook his head. “No need to thank me.”
Compared to the young gardener, who overplayed his role, Su Ximu’s demeanor came across as genuinely awkward.
Su Ximu simply wasn’t used to scenes like this, and he lacked experience in dealing with people.
Before university, health issues had forced him to take a long leave of absence at home. His studies had mostly been self-taught, supplemented by lessons from his distant cousin downstairs.
Even in university, his smooth rapport with his three dormmates stemmed from their easygoing natures.
Su Ximu sometimes felt like Wu Yang treated him as if he were a child.
Uncomfortable with such intense gratitude, the awkward youth parted his lips, eager to find an excuse to leave.
But on second thought, he forced himself to stay put. He didn’t follow up on the thanks or ask for any specific repayment. Instead, he stiffly changed the subject. “Can I ask you a few things?”
Rao Fei inwardly regretted not securing any commissions outside the dungeon but maintained his grateful and eager facade on the surface. “Of course, sir. Ask away.”
“Excuse me, are jobs like yours easy to find? What’s the monthly salary?”
“Sigh, you have no idea how intense the competition is across every industry these days. When I applied for this gardener position, ten others competed against me that day! As for the salary, it doesn’t compare to someone from a big business family like yours. It’s just barely enough to support myself and rent a tiny room nearby.”
“That same day, another group showed up to apply for security jobs. They fought so fiercely they resorted to biting!”
Rao Fei recalled how one of the Weirds had gone berserk, shedding its human skin without a care. The skin tore open bloody, exposing a body pieced together from various limbs. In the end, the other competing Weird became part of it.
Fortunately, the players who entered the dungeon with him were all veterans. There were no unlucky newbies who might panic, break the Rules, and get torn apart on the spot by the Weirds.
In the time that followed, Su Ximu asked a few more questions, all related to work.
Rao Fei gradually caught on. “You’re looking for a job too, right? You know, to experience life or something?”
Su Ximu considered it for a moment but didn’t deny it.
Seizing the opportunity, Rao Fei pressed his advantage and tried to demonstrate his value. “Tell you what—why don’t you give me your contact info? I’ll keep an eye out for you. If something suitable comes up, I’ll call you right away. Us migrant workers have our own networks; information travels fast.”
“Okay, thank you.” Called “sir” repeatedly, Su Ximu adjusted his wording in response.
He didn’t know the original host’s phone number offhand, but he could check it in the phone’s settings.
With the matters settled, further small talk would only grow awkward.
Rao Fei knew better than to overstay.
He had already gained plenty today. Not only was he still standing here in one piece, but he had also obtained contact information for what was at minimum an S-Rank Dungeon Horror.
Thus, he tactfully withdrew. “Then I won’t disturb your exercise anymore. The manager should be by soon for inspection. Rest assured, I’ll call you the moment I hear anything.”
Su Ximu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that he had made even more progress today than yesterday. It seemed no matter what abilities one possessed, they still required practice.
He waved to the gardener, who had already returned to his diligent work, then slowly strolled away from the green space.
His memory was decent. He followed the path beneath his feet and gradually found his way back to the main road home.
The journey back alone was far less quiet than the trip there.
Along both sides of the main road, villas partially obscured by landscaping trees occasionally erupted with crashing sounds, angry roars, and the heavy thuds of objects slamming down whenever tempers flared.
Su Ximu found the noises familiar—they sounded just like the commotion from that morning when “Big Brother” beat up “Third Brother.”
Only then did it dawn on him why the person on the phone had hung up on him after he called the police and even called him crazy.
He had assumed delayed police response was a local custom, but it turned out everyone in this world was just incredibly volatile.
Even the police had grown numb to it and saw no need to respond.
Moreover, the people in this world seemed extraordinarily resilient to beatings.
In that moment, Su Ximu wavered in his determination to find a part-time job over the holiday and support himself.
He didn’t want to live as the original host in this house, enjoying everything that belonged to the original host—that was one matter.
But it didn’t mean dragging the original host’s body out to take beatings in pursuit of self-reliance was appropriate.
As the gardener had said, competition was fierce across industries, with applicants even resorting to biting during interviews.
The key point was that the biter who came out on top actually landed the job.
The novel repeatedly emphasized from start to finish that the original host Su Ximu’s brothers doted on him endlessly, and he possessed everything perfect in this world.
The original host probably had never taken a beating in this volatile world and might not be particularly tough.
If he went out to job hunt, got beaten by a competitor, and just then swapped back with the original host, he would truly have let the original host down.
Lost in these tangled thoughts as he walked, the youth’s ears twitched slightly. He shifted his foot a bit to the left, dodging a flower vase that flew out from a nearby villa window.
After evading various flying objects along the way and taking a detour midway, he finally made it home unscathed. Standing at the front door with hands in his pockets, he perked up his ears and caught the clamor from inside the house. A sense of foreboding washed over him.
The villa door stood ajar, allowing him to see straight into the living room from the entrance.
Third Brother had yet to return. The person seated on the living room sofa was Big Brother.
Directly across from Big Brother sat the source of the commotion.
A group of wailing children and the parents who had brought their kids to demand justice.
The Su Family was new to Wealth Avenue. Apart from the neighbor surnamed Niu to their immediate left, they weren’t familiar with the others.
The chubby kid leading the complaints cowered a bit at the man on the sofa, but the parents behind him bolstered his courage. He continued to sob through his fear. “He hit me! My pants got torn!”
The child next to the chubby kid, also wiping away tears, spoke in a venomous tone. “He said he saw my mom. When I asked where, he pointed the wrong way! That’s why I got home late!”
The remaining children were mostly over it, their tears having dried up after the matter of the missing candy. But after the ringleader and big sis boss exchanged words, they received a sinister warning glare and didn’t dare say anything else.
Su Xuanxiao rubbed his brow, irritated by the crying, and first addressed the father of the little girl seated closest to him. “So, what do you want to do about it?”
The man clutching the little girl’s hand spoke greedily as he yanked out her bleeding arm for everyone to see. “Compensation! We demand compensation! My kid got injured on the way back because he gave her the wrong directions. Look, he’s wearing your family badge—he must be from your family.”
The man handled her roughly, but the little girl cooperatively displayed her wound.
“How much compensation do you want?” Su Xuanxiao’s dark eyes grew even deeper.
The man faltered timidly but pressed on. “My wife is negotiating the tourism group profit split with Su Jianglou right now. We want an extra ten percent!”
Su Xuanxiao offered no reply. He turned his head to gaze at the youth standing in the doorway, who resembled a schoolboy caught red-handed.
A pocketful of red berries bulged in the youth’s pocket.
The book described the landscaping around Wealth Avenue as exceptional, with an orchard not far from the Su Family home where residents could pick and sample fruits.
Big Brother Su Xuanxiao had a fondness for the red berries in that orchard.
The berries were tricky to harvest. Su Ximu, who had detoured to the orchard on his way back, found it strange while picking. These things were so hard to get—how had the book described the original host filling an entire basket in moments every time?
Su Ximu had picked these berries mainly to apologize to “Big Brother” for calling the police on him that morning.
He was a newcomer and ignorant of local customs.
But now, confronted with this scene of “bullying” other children and having their parents show up to complain, he didn’t dare produce the berries.
Su Xuanxiao quickly withdrew his gaze, adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, and finally acknowledged the parents present. “If it’s business, let’s discuss it in the study.”
He rose on his own and headed to the adjacent room off the living room.
The little girl’s father sensed something ominous and hesitated for a moment. But greed won out, and he hurriedly followed into the study.
The study door closed automatically behind them.
An unsettling silence fell.
“Ah!!!!!”
A bloodcurdling scream made everyone in the living room jolt.
Inside the study.
The powerful Weird removed his glasses and tore the provocateur’s human skin apart with his bare hands, exposing the authentic burns that crisscrossed in dark red and black across the entire body beneath.
“Ah!!!”
“Don’t look at me!”
“Don’t look at me!!”
The Weird, stripped of its human skin, resembled a blurry mass of flesh. Its facial area showed no protrusions at all—the nose, lips, and ears had presumably been licked away by scorching flames at some point in the past.
It crawled across the carpet toward its torn human skin, struggling to stuff itself back inside.
In its struggles, it left another dark red stain.
The powerful Weird who had personally reduced it to this state strode forward from above. He turned his palm upward to reveal an ordinary-looking calculator.
“Your blood is corrosive. Carpet purchase cost: 163870.”
“Total of 200,000 exact. The invoice will arrive at your home shortly. Compensate within three days.”
The man finally managed to squeeze back into its skin and cease its trembling. He regained his wits. Shocked by the massive sum, he couldn’t help blurting out despite his fear, “Isn’t it 163,870? What’s the extra 36,130 for?”
No sooner had he spoken than the powerful Weird spread his hand. A snow-white bill fluttered onto the man.
【Compensation Bill:
Carpet purchase cost: 163870$, depreciation: 0$
Xiao Mu’s mental distress from false accusation: 36130$
Total: 200000$】
