Chapter 4: Cupid Housekeeping

"Next stop: Wildebeest Avenue, Dawn District."

"Passengers disembarking, please prepare in advance and be mindful of pedestrians and vehicles passing on either side of the tracks..."

A sweet female voice echoed through the carriage.

Hearing this, Wang Xi looked up and glanced at the information display. The location of Cupid Housekeeping was indeed in the Dawn District, right at the end of Wildebeest Avenue.

He rose from his seat.

Soon, the train slowed to a halt. With a soft hiss, the tempered glass doors slid open on both sides.

Wang Xi stepped off the train along with several other passengers.

As soon as he reached the platform, he noticed a group of people kneeling in the shadows of the circular stone pillars.

There were men and women, most of them elderly or physically disabled, all wearing identical grey uniforms. They knelt face-down, hands stretched forward in a posture of begging.

However, instead of steel bowls, they held light panels displaying QR codes.

They were "Supplicants."

They existed in every era, but were particularly numerous in this one.

The New World was plagued by frequent disasters, and the average citizen’s resilience against accidents was generally low. Although the government had a welfare system in place, it could not keep up with the sheer number of those in need.

Countless people found themselves destitute, bankrupt, or bereaved overnight. Under the laws of the Shanhai Federation, those with nowhere else to turn could apply for permission to beg in designated areas.

Wang Xi walked along the platform.

The Supplicants looked up one by one, and upon seeing the young man in a suit, they all instinctively displayed a look of entreaty.

Yet, none of them spoke to plead; they merely watched Wang Xi in silence. According to regulations, Supplicants were forbidden from verbal solicitation; otherwise, they would lose their eligibility to beg.

Wang Xi looked at these people, feeling the weight of gazes filled with hope, despair, and numbness. It left a sour taste in his mouth.

'They are all pitiable people, but I am powerless to help.'

He sighed inwardly.

"I'm sorry."

Wang Xi murmured, turned his head, and walked away quickly.

The hope on the faces of the Supplicants gradually turned into disappointment, and their eyes dimmed.

"Xuanxuan is hungry," a little girl lying on the ground whispered. She was missing a foot, looking like a broken doll.

An elderly woman with white hair beside her hurriedly reached out, stroked the girl’s head, and held a finger to her lips.

"Shh, good girl, Xuanxuan, don't speak," the old woman comforted her. "Remember the Mute Game? As long as we don't speak, we get sweet buns to eat."

"Mm!" The little girl immediately covered her mouth.

The old woman was amused by her granddaughter, her wrinkles bunching up.

She looked toward the platform passageway again, hoping for charity. But the pedestrians hurried by, weaving through the morning sunlight without even glancing in their direction.

The old woman sighed internally and curled up in the shadows with the girl.

Just then, a figure walked back in a hurry.

*Beep!*

The old woman and the girl looked up to see the young man who had left earlier standing before them, holding his phone and scanning their wooden plaque.

On Wang Xi’s phone, the detailed situation and official certification of the girl and the old woman appeared.

This grandmother and granddaughter had been struck by disaster half a year ago; the girl’s grandfather and parents had all perished, forcing them to become Supplicants.

Wang Xi silently transferred 200 credits.

He then turned to look at the other Supplicants and scanned their codes one by one. His phone displayed their information—most were victims of tragedy, left homeless and broken.

Wang Xi transferred all the remaining hundreds of credits in his account. Although it wasn't much—only seventy or eighty credits per person—their faces filled with gratitude.

Because it meant they could afford a few full meals.

Wang Xi did not converse with the Supplicants; he simply offered a kind, encouraging smile before turning to leave.

"Big brother! Thank you!"

The little girl called out to his retreating back. But soon, she covered her mouth again, looking annoyed, as if worried that breaking the Mute Game would cost her a meal.

Wang Xi did not turn back, but the corners of his mouth tilted upward.

*One cannot always achieve perfection, but one should strive to have a clear conscience.*

Though his remaining money was gone, his heart felt at ease. Besides, he had been hired by the company, so he didn't need to worry about his next meal.

These Supplicants were trapped by survival; helping them was just a small act of kindness.

...

Cupid Housekeeping had an independent office building.

The entire brown building was surrounded by iron fences, with lawns, concrete open spaces, and a parking lot inside—it looked quite impressive.

After passing the security guard's verification, Wang Xi walked in.

He crossed the long stone path and entered the building directly.

What he found strange was that the office building seemed empty. In the magnificent lobby, only a young girl in a black skirt uniform sat at the front desk.

"Hello, I'm here to start my new job."

Wang Xi walked to the front desk and spoke politely to the girl.

The girl had chin-length black hair and wore smoky makeup, giving her a rebellious air. But judging by her features, she was quite pretty.

A work badge hung on her chest.

The name on it was "Jiali."

"Wang Xi, right? Fill these out."

The girl didn't even lift her eyelids, casually tossing a file onto the desk. Her eyes remained glued to her phone, and she was cracking sunflower seeds in her mouth.

Faintly, Wang Xi could hear a man’s charismatic voice coming from her phone:

"The number of viewers in the stream has broken twenty thousand! My little stinkers, keep hitting that follow button and the like, we’re about to enter the labyrinth now, oh..."

Wang Xi immediately saw the girl cracking seeds with one hand while the other frantically tapped the phone screen, the speed turning her fingers into a blur, making *pop-pop* sounds.

He withdrew his surprised gaze and silently picked up a pen to fill in his information.

*Scratch, scratch, scratch.*

Before long, Wang Xi put down the pen.

"Here." He handed over the file.

Jiali still didn't look up; she didn't even glance at the document before deftly stuffing it into a drawer, then made a call on the desk phone.

After hanging up, the girl said simply:

"Wait here. Someone will come to pick you up."

*Pick me up?*

Wang Xi paused.

*Is this a pet dog? Someone coming to pick me up...*

"Miss Jiali, may I ask what my position is?" Wang Xi asked.

The girl kept her eyes on her phone and replied:

"That depends on who comes to pick you up."

"…Alright." Wang Xi raised an eyebrow.

He hadn't expected Cupid Housekeeping to be so strange, with job assignments handled so casually.

The waiting process was tedious, so he looked around to observe the lobby environment.

Soon, a large poster hanging behind the girl caught Wang Xi's attention. It featured photos of over a dozen men and women, each wearing a professional smile.

"Miss Jiali, are these company employees?" Wang Xi asked curiously.

The girl hummed in agreement and replied:

"Gold-tier employees from various departments."

"Gold-tier employees?" Wang Xi asked tentatively. "The bonus must be very high, right? Is it convenient to disclose how much?"

He was penniless now and quite interested in this.

"Nothing inconvenient about it." Jiali spat out a sunflower seed shell and said casually, "I think it’s a million credits."

*How much? One million!*

Wang Xi was stunned.

It seemed the benefits at Cupid Housekeeping were even better than he imagined...

His heart immediately began to burn with excitement.

"Is the Gold-tier status decided based on performance?" Wang Xi asked again.

Having been a product manager, he was quite confident in his performance capabilities.

To his surprise, Jiali waved her hand.

"Doesn't look at performance." The girl lifted her eyes for the first time, looking at Wang Xi calmly. "You just have to die in the line of duty."

"..."

Wang Xi’s smile froze.

*Good grief!*

The "gold-tier honors" hanging on the wall were clearly nothing but rows of memorial portraits!

No wonder it was a million!

Of course the compensation would be high!

"Oh, right."

Wang Xi suddenly remembered something, his eyes lighting up as he raised a finger.

"I think I didn't lock my front door..."

"You’ve already signed the employment agreement. Unilateral resignation requires paying a breach of contract penalty of two hundred thousand credits," Jiali said flatly.

"..."

Wang Xi slowly lowered his hand, his face deathly pale.

Actually, he had seen this clause when he signed the documents earlier, but he hadn't taken it seriously at the time.

Who would have thought that working here would cost you your life!

Forget two hundred thousand credits; he couldn't even cough up twenty right now.

"Don't wear such a miserable face. In this day and age, which high-paying job isn't dangerous?"

Jiali sneered and threw her phone down.

*Clang!*

The phone landed on the desk.

Wang Xi glanced down and saw the live stream screen tilted; a huge human face was pressed right against the camera lens—

It was a handsome young man.

But at this moment, his face was twisted, his eyes rolled back. A head was being held by an abnormally tall, thin figure in a suit; the neck was severed, dripping with blood.

At the feet of the thin figure lay several mangled corpses, all decapitated, the scene horrifying.

The dark shadow dragged the head, back to the camera, stooped, and passed through a doorway, disappearing into a dim and old corridor...

Wang Xi’s pupils constricted.

*Is this actually a live stream?!*

The comments flew by rapidly; he caught a few:

"A bunch of amateur heroes, they really dared to enter the labyrinth!"

"Good grief, Zhao Zilong had guts in every part of his body, but this is literally all Zhao Zilong... six people, all amateurs, not even ten cards between them. Look, they got wiped out."

"Stop talking, at least the streamer and his team died for the order of the New World."

"Laughing to death, just some trash playing with their lives for money."

"Suggest the Oversight Bureau raise the application standards for labyrinths."

"Offering three sticks of incense; rest in peace, streamer."

"..."

Wang Xi stared blankly at the phone screen.

At this moment, Jiali propped her elbow on the desk, resting her chin on her hand, looking at him with a playful expression:

"Just graduated? Got in through the back door, didn't you?"

Wang Xi gave an awkward smile.

The girl didn't continue her sharp-tongued remarks, but instead said:

"A friendly reminder: keep your wits about you when you're out working. Disasters are bizarre and unpredictable. Even if the Defense Force has lifted the alert, any accident can happen at any time..."

"Look, the colleagues on the wall are a cautionary tale," the girl said, pointing behind her with a faint smile.

"Also, wash up and disinfect often, exercise, and if you can improve your strength, do it... If it wasn't for the fact that you look decent, I wouldn't even bother talking to you."

"Alright, the person to take you is here."

Following Jiali's gaze, Wang Xi turned around.

A fat man in a suit and leather shoes entered the lobby and walked over quickly.

"You must be Wang Xi!"

The fat man smiled broadly and reached out a hand.

"I’m Lin Zhifeng, Deputy Director of the Cleaning Department. Just call me Brother Lin from now on."

"Brother Lin."

Wang Xi reached out and shook his hand.

Lin Zhifeng patted his shoulder and laughed:

"Even though you just started, there's an urgent mission from upstairs. Come with me."