Xu Xiye didn’t get too close. He merely coiled around a large tree in front of the company building and looked down.
A few people had gathered downstairs. A stout, middle-aged woman standing on tiptoe, a thin old man, and a woman in red with a child. The several of them occupied different spots, forming an arc as they stared at the things on the ground.
“What are you all looking at? Are they Outsiders?”
The stagnant atmosphere abruptly shifted. Everyone twisted their heads and stared fixedly at him.
Xu Xiye poked his head out and stared back at them.
Time seemed to freeze. The atmosphere was weird, but Xu Xiye didn’t find anything odd about it. It was normal for some people to have slow reactions.
Sure enough, after a short while, everyone moved.
The woman’s face tilted upward slightly, as if trying to see the person in the tree more clearly. “Oh my, young man, climbing so high. You young people sure are good at climbing. That’s right, we’re here looking at Outsiders.”
The old man also spoke: “These two Outsiders fell asleep on the ground. Young man, do you want to come over and take a look? They say Outsiders have many strange hobbies. That saying is spot on.”
The baby lying on the ground babbled a couple of times, expressing something unclear. But the woman in red voiced a different opinion: “Outsiders all like to sleep at home. Only Artificial Meat likes to run around and scream outside.”
Artificial Meat?
The few people were startled, their attention instantly pulled back. Smelling carefully, those two people did indeed have a faint, subtle fragrance.
Someone swallowed hard, their neck stretching out, looking as though they desperately wanted to take a couple of licks. It was fortunate that the two people on the ground didn’t wake up; otherwise, they might not have just fainted from fright but might have been scared to death right there.
Xu Xiye was also surprised to hear about Artificial Meat. Artificial Meat, as the name implied, was meat livestock possessing a human form. It was said this meat smelled and tasted delicious and was addictive—once you started eating, you couldn’t stop. Aside from that, it was also quite harmful to the human body, easily causing mental breakdown. It was a universally acknowledged harmful food.
Even so, many people still wanted to try it.
Everyone knows junk food is unhealthy, yet they still eat it.
Xu Xiye had only seen Artificial Meat on TV. He’d never encountered it in reality. He was curious. He wanted to go down and look.
He came down from the tree without shifting into human form, just a dark, mass-like shape drifting over. It was night, after all. Everyone was in weird shapes. Xu Xiye didn’t care about his own appearance.
The positioning of the few people below was perfect for Xu Xiye to squeeze in. He drifted between the stout woman and the old man, tentatively extending a smoky, mist-like tentacle to touch.
Warm.
Soft.
He extended another tentacle. Using both hands, he pressed one on each side of one person’s face on the ground. After pressing for a moment, he withdrew his hands to smell them, but was stopped midway.
The three adults and one child, whose full attention had been captivated by the Artificial Meat moments before, were now all staring at him.
The tiptoe-straining woman’s eyes nearly popped out. With deep, heartfelt concern, she said: “Young man, this stuff isn’t good to eat. It makes people go crazy, you know. You’re young, still growing. Don’t you dare do something foolish.”
“That’s right, that’s right. No matter how tempting, you can’t eat it,” the old man said while swallowing saliva, not sure if he was advising Xu Xiye or himself. “I heard it from my neighbor that her second aunt’s cousin’s husband’s boss went mad after eating Artificial Meat. The state of him, tsk tsk.”
“Go on, go on, hurry and leave,” both the older woman and man urged.
Xu Xiye paused, hesitating mid-air. Could it be that the older folks were so anxious to send him away because they wanted the Artificial Meat for themselves?
Everyone knew these older folks were at their most shrewd when scrambling for discounted specials.
But he hadn’t actually planned on eating it either. Xu Xiye defended himself: “I was just going to smell them.”
He truly didn’t intend to eat it himself. But even as an ordinary Corporate Slave youth, he couldn’t just stand by and let the elderly consume these harmful foods. So he didn’t leave.
Xu Xiye and the older couple stared at each other, entering a state of stillness.
Fortunately, he wasn’t in human form right now, otherwise staring down two people on his left and right would be difficult.
In the silent stare-off, the woman in red, who had the most insight, spoke up: “The smell is very faint. It’s not necessarily Artificial Meat. They might just be Outsiders contaminated with the scent of Artificial Meat.”
The baby: “Ah-wu.” Right.
The people locked in the staring contest moved. They came to their senses and all agreed with the woman in red’s theory.
The smell of true Artificial Meat couldn’t possibly be this subtle.
So they really were Outsiders after all.
Xu Xiye didn’t have a good impression of Outsiders. He didn’t like their kind of shouting. Dawn was approaching. He still had to go back, get ready, and go to work.
The others felt the same. Everyone had their own things to do. Amidst the mutual staring, Xu Xiye eventually left.
As the light on the horizon gradually spread, Wang Xiaodian groggily opened his eyes. In a daze, he seemed to see a hand waving in front of him.
He was stunned for a second, then shot upright, retreating while screaming in terror: “Ah! Don’t eat me! Don’t eat me! I don’t taste good!”
Little Li also woke up then. With his eyes still closed, he scrambled toward Wang Xiaodian. “What happened? What happened? Is a ghost coming to eat us? Sob, I’m scared.”
The two flailed wildly for a moment. No ghost spoke up, and no ghost came to eat them. Once they calmed down, they saw a woman bent over, looking at them.
“Hello.”
“Y-you are…”
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jiang Wuning, a Weird Incident Investigator from A-City.”
Wang Xiaodian and Little Li stared at her blankly with no reaction.
Jiang Wuning’s smile remained the same. She then introduced the man and woman behind her. “Lu Neng, Li Qing.”
Only then did Wang Xiaodian and Little Li notice those two. They were similar in age, in their twenties. Compared to the smiling Jiang Wuning, Lu Neng and Li Qing appeared much tenser.
Wang Xiaodian caught the key point in her words. “Weird… Investigator?”
Jiang Wuning placed her hands on her knees, still bent over and watching them, silent, her smile unchanged in the slightest.
The silent atmosphere was suddenly a bit awkward. It took Wang Xiaodian a slow beat to realize she was waiting for them to introduce themselves.
“I’m Wang Xiaodian. He’s Little Li. We both came from A-City.”
Jiang Wuning looked at Little Li.
Little Li nodded stiffly.
“Really can’t say if you guys are lucky or unlucky. Lucky, to be pulled in so early. Unlucky, not to have been eaten yet,” Lu Neng remarked.
Li Qing was speechless. “Who gets dragged into the Inner World and can still call it lucky?”
Wang Xiaodian latched onto another key word. “Inner World?”
Jiang Wuning straightened up and glanced at Lu Neng. Lu Neng explained: “This place is the Inner World. No humans in the conventional sense exist in the Inner World. We call the inhabitants Anomalies, so this is also called the Anomaly World.”
Wang Xiaodian and Little Li shuddered simultaneously. The things they had encountered last night truly weren’t human.
“Then what do we do now? Can we still get out alive?” Just thinking of last night’s entities filled Wang Xiaodian’s heart with a persistent chill.
The Inner World was full of danger everywhere. No one could guarantee survival. That was why Lu Neng and Li Qing had been in a constant state of tension. But they couldn’t say that outright—mental state was a very important indicator in the Inner World.
So he used as gentle a tone as possible: “You can. Maintain mental stability, do things that fit the logic of your identity. When the time comes, there will be an opportunity to get out.”
Jiang Wuning looked at the two still sitting on the ground, especially Little Li. “You two do know what your identity is, right?”
Little Li had no real reaction. He looked completely terrified and hadn’t recovered yet. Wang Xiaodian seemed timid, but his mind was still clear. “Identity… work… I’m a new employee starting at Delicious Food Company tomorrow.”
Lu Neng: “Right. Identity is very important. It’s your protective shield. Don’t let it be stripped away.”
Wang Xiaodian: “Okay, okay, thank you. I’ll remember.”
Li Qing was clearly much more impatient by nature. “Are you two planning on sitting on the ground forever?”
Wang Xiaodian hurriedly stood up, pulling Little Li up along the way. Their legs had been too weak from fear earlier, and afterward, questions had flooded their minds one after another. They hadn’t even thought about the fact they were still on the ground.
It was almost time for work. People were trickling into the building. Their gazes lingered on them. At first glance, they looked no different from ordinary people; but a closer look revealed a distinct eeriness.
Wang Xiaodian and Little Li visibly tensed up.
“Want some candy?” A slender hand opened in front of them, holding a few fruit candies wrapped in colorful, shiny foil. Wang Xiaodian looked up. The owner of the hand was smiling at him.
It was Jiang Wuning.
“Want some candy?” she asked again. “Sweetness helps ease the mood.”
A beautiful face, an appropriate smile, caring words. Wang Xiaodian, who should have felt relieved, inexplicably shivered.
“N-no… thank you. I don’t really like candy.”
Jiang Wuning turned to Little Li. “Want some candy?”
Little Li mostly followed Wang Xiaodian’s lead and also refused.
Wang Xiaodian finally pinpointed where that strange feeling came from. Jiang Wuning’s smile, plastered on her face the entire time, had never once changed.
No one could do that.
There was no way Lu Neng and Li Qing hadn’t noticed something so obvious, but they didn’t comment on it. Besides, they weren’t ordinary people to begin with. Thinking this far, Wang Xiaodian suppressed the suspicion and shock that nearly slipped out.
Stay calm. Maintain mental stability.
Jiang Wuning smiled, her gaze falling back on Wang Xiaodian.
Just as Wang Xiaodian didn’t know how to react, a pleasant young man’s voice interjected: “Are these candies? They’re very pretty.”
Everyone’s gaze shifted over.
The newcomer wore an ordinary shirt and jeans. His hairstyle was also utterly ordinary. But his appearance and aura were so beautiful it was Anomalous.
It was a delicate, obedient kind of good looks that made people subconsciously lower their guard and feel goodwill.
“Hello, I’m Xu Xiye. An employee of Delicious Food Company. You are all Outsiders, right?”
“Right, we’re new here. You like these candies? You can have them all.”
“Really?”
“Of course.” Jiang Wuning handed him the items.
Xu Xiye took them. Five in total, all in different colors. He peeled open a pink wrapper. Inside was a hard candy of the same color. As he popped it into his mouth, strands of sweetness spread, making him narrow his eyes involuntarily.
The unwrapped candy foil in his hand caught the morning sunlight, refracting rays of light.
Pretty. Shiny.
He hadn’t initially wanted to come talk to the Outsiders. But those candies were very beautiful, and he wanted them. The woman holding the candies had worn a warm, enthusiastic smile the whole time, not at all off-putting.
Xu Xiye put the remaining candies, along with the already unwrapped foil, into his pocket. Only then did he say to Jiang Wuning: “Thank you. Very tasty. You’re a really enthusiastic and good person. I’m sure you’ll pass the probation period.”
“Little Ye.”
“Brother Zhang? Morning.”
“Morning.” Brother Zhang was the male colleague sitting next to Xu Xiye. They walked into the company together, chatting. “Those people are the new hires? All Outsiders, huh.”
Xu Xiye nodded, generously taking out a candy to share with Brother Zhang. “Given by an Outsider. Tastes pretty good.”
Brother Zhang didn’t stand on ceremony. He took it and popped it in his mouth. “Crunch, crunch,” it was gone in two bites. “Not bad.”
Xu Xiye hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping. “Brother Zhang, isn’t it not great to eat it with the wrapper?”
“It’s fine, I can digest it.”
“…I guess you’re right.” That’s what he said, but Xu Xiye actually wanted that shiny candy wrapper. Oh well, forget it. He had more anyway.
