Chapter 63: An Immersive Journey

"Ding-dong—" The elevator arrived at the sixth floor.

The trembling security guard let out a long breath. The single minute spent inside the elevator had felt like an entire century to him.

Wiping cold sweat from his forehead, he turned to the group behind him. "We're here. Go to the room at the very end and look for a guy with three mouths named David Chen. I won't be taking you inside."

"Thanks." "T-Thank... you..."

Stepping out of the elevator, Yan Jing and Mantou offered their thanks.

Before they could even finish, the guard frantically mashed the button, shutting the doors on them.

Seeing this, Old Liu immediately passed the blame to Chen Nian, figuring he was the one who had terrified the guard.

Chen Nian ignored Old Liu, letting the old man—whose fists had been swirling with literal wind just moments ago—chatter away beside him.

Yan Jing trailed at the rear with Mantou, observing their surroundings.

This floor appeared to be an office area. Partition walls divided the winding corridor into small rooms, and the name and rank of the occupant were posted beside each door.

Most were Grade D.

Finally, the group stopped in front of a Grade C1 door.

Pasted to the right of the door was a headshot of the room's owner: three toad heads squeezed together.

Knock, knock, knock!

Yan Jing stepped forward and knocked.

"Leave the takeout at the door!!!"

A flat, hoarse voice rang out from inside.

"We're tourists with temporary passes, here to discuss work assignments," Yan Jing said.

A few seconds passed.

Bang!

The door swung open from the inside.

Standing in the doorway was a massive toad.

He had two huge, fan-like webbed feet, and his dark skin was covered in dense warts. But the most eye-catching thing about him was what sat on his neck.

Exactly like the photograph, he had two additional heads flanking the middle one.

"Come in."

The toad leaped backward, landing squarely behind his desk.

Only then did the group notice that he wasn't alone in the office.

Beside one of the desk legs, a lock of fine hair and a snow-white hand gripping the wood were exposed.

Stumbling upon their superior's office affair on their very first day reporting for duty... Yan Jing felt they were truly having a lucky day.

"Hello, sir. We're here to report in." Yan Jing pointed to the badge on his chest. "The security guard earlier already had us choose our respective jobs."

"Mm. I'm David Chen, supervisor of the Human Resources Department. I'll be handling your personnel management for the few days you spend in the Tower."

Finishing his introduction, the toad propped his webbed hands under his chins, his expressions turning serious.

"Rest assured. As temporary tourist staff, your lives will be in absolutely no danger—so long as you do not violate the employee bans or slack off on the job."

"I just don't know if you're all ready for an immersive experience."

"Absolutely no problem," Old Master Liu said, brimming with confidence.

And so...

"Then get the fuck to work!!!"

The toad roared. He pulled several uniforms from beneath his desk and chucked them directly into the bewildered old man's hands.

"You, greeter on the right side of the first-floor main lounge!"

"You, the bar counter at the Rose Bar on the third floor!"

"You two, handle restroom sanitation on the first and third floors!"

"Fifteen Points a day. Do it if you want; if you don't, get out!"

With that, he slammed a few booklets onto the desk.

"These are your Employee Handbooks. Now, immediately, right this second! Get to work!!! If you aren't at your respective posts within thirty minutes, all your Points for today will be deducted!"

The group was driven out of the office.

On the way to the elevator, the companions—having just suffered a completely senseless chewing out—had very different reactions.

"That guy is almost at the Second Tier," Chen Nian analyzed, his eyes calm. "An entity nearing the Second Tier is only a Grade C in this Tower. The combat power here might be stronger than we imagined."

Old Liu, on the other hand, looked surprisingly excited. "The way that punk just acted was exactly like the managers back in our world. This Domain has managers too?!"

"How did I never notice this before? I've decided—I want to be a manager!"

"That might be a bit difficult."

Yan Jing instantly poured cold water over Old Master Liu's grand ambitions.

Pointing to the Employee Handbook in his hand, he said, "In the Grade E ranks, every promotion costs 500 Points. At Grade D, every level up costs 1,000 Points. And at Grade C, every upgrade costs 5,000 Points."

"From E3 to E1 to D5 to D3... all the way to Grade C1 requires a total of 14,000 Points."

"At 15 Points a day, even if you only eat the basic employee meals and don't spend a single point elsewhere, it'll take two and a half years."

"The catch is, it's basically impossible not to buy extra food."

"You guys probably noticed it too, right? The longer we stay here, the hungrier we get."

At Yan Jing's words, Old Liu—who had been bursting with motivation just a second ago—rubbed his belly, his expression turning serious.

"True. I'm getting hungry much faster than usual."

He stroked his beard, muttering, "No wonder that guy chose to eat people..."

As soon as he said that, both Yan Jing's and Chen Nian's eyes flickered.

Just as expected. They had all noticed.

The woman behind the toad's desk earlier was most likely already dead.

It hadn't been some office romance.

The toad had simply been sneaking a snack.

The stench of blood inside that office had been thick enough to turn stomachs.

Yan Jing flipped to the first page of the Employee Handbook. Three employee bans were listed.

The first strictly prohibited employees from eating each other.

The second prohibited eating customers or their food.

The third prohibited snatching other employees' meals in public.

Three bans, and all of them were about eating.

According to the handbook, employees would face penalties under a few specific conditions: receiving multiple complaints, repeatedly failing to meet performance standards, or violating the bans.

For Yan Jing and his group, however, the risk of receiving complaints wasn't a real concern.

"This tour is a lot more interesting than I expected," Old Liu said, bobbing his head.

"Let's split up and assess the situation first," Yan Jing said. "Old Chen, you and Old Liu head down to the first floor. Mantou and I will go to the third. The handbook says lunch break is from 12:00 to 13:00. We'll meet up at the Employee Cafeteria on the fifth floor then."

"Keep your walkie-talkies on. Contact me immediately if anything comes up."

"Got it."

Everyone, Chen Nian included, had already tacitly agreed that this was no simple vacation.

...

Now dressed in their employee uniforms, Yan Jing led Mantou to the third floor. The decor here made the area look like an entire street composed exclusively of bars.

There were quiet lounges focusing on live music, alongside packed dance clubs full of people.

Dazzling lights scattered through the glass walls and fell onto the deliberately darkened floor, highlighting a mysterious and seductive atmosphere.

Faint music with heavy drumbeats bumped from behind some of the glass partitions, making the projector lights strobe and flash to the rhythm.

"Mantou, you go report in first. Don't worry about me."

Arriving at the door to the sanitation department, Yan Jing noticed her hesitation.

"O-Okay! Y-Yan... Jing... you... be careful... If any... anyone... bullies you... Y-Yan Jing... come... tell me..."

Mantou clutched Yan Jing's hem tightly, her face full of worry.

Yan Jing smiled and patted her head. "You too, Mantou. If anyone bullies you, remember to tell me on the walkie-talkie. We'll beat them up together."

"Mm... Mm..."

Mantou walked off, looking back at him every few steps.

Yan Jing watched her enter the sanitation department before turning back to the bar street.

Moving together with her would have been ideal if possible. But he needed to prepare for the Dungeon next, and having her around would genuinely be inconvenient for some of those tasks.

Rose Bar

He soon found his workplace. Looking through the glass wall, it appeared to be a quiet lounge.

The storefront wasn't large, and there wasn't a single customer inside.

A woman dressed as a hostess was asleep face-down on a table, while a little boy clutching a guitar sat in the corner with his back to the room, emitting a faint crunching noise.

The harsh sound didn't even have a melody.

Yan Jing pushed the door open. "Ding-a-ling—" The wind chimes above the door rang.

"Hello, I'm the new bartender."

The startled hostess froze for a moment before her face twisted into a panic.

"Why did I wake up?!"

"I was eating something so delicious in my dream!"

"This is bad, if I'm awake I'll get hungry."

"I have to go back to sleep right now... so hungry... so hungry..."

She muttered to herself, acting as if she hadn't even noticed Yan Jing.

In a panic, she grabbed a nearby chair and swung it directly at her own head.

But Yan Jing caught her wrist and blinked. "Um, could you tell me where the boss of this shop is before you go back to sleep?"

"Boss?" The hostess looked confused. "That's me."

"That's perfect."

Yan Jing took the chair from her hands, smoothly grasped her right hand to shake it, and smiled. "Hello, boss. I'm the new bartender. My name is White One."

He pointed to the newly issued name on his badge.

"Bartender..."

The hostess still seemed a bit out of it. She stared blankly and mumbled for a few seconds before finally snapping to her senses.

"The higher-ups sent a new bartender?! Oh, thank god!"

She immediately rushed behind the bar counter, pulled out a small blackboard, and began inspecting it closely.

"It really is you! Junior bartender... tsk, why is it a tourist temp?"

Realizing that Yan Jing was just a tourist here to experience a single day of work before leaving, she instantly deflated.

Yan Jing leaned in, looking at the blackboard in her hands.

The chalk writing on it seemed capable of changing at will, functioning exactly like a tablet screen.

"What is this?" Yan Jing asked.

"This is the Tower's Points system."

Perhaps because Yan Jing wasn't a professional bartender, she had returned to her sluggish, exhausted state.

"The electronics in Old Sin City are always breaking down. Through this system, we can communicate with our superiors and use Points to exchange for the items we want."

"May I take a look?"

Yan Jing took the tablet from her and opened the Points Mall on it.

Meal: 5 Points

Deluxe Meal: 30 Points

Overlord Meal: 70 Points

...

Single Room: 15 Points per night

Deluxe Single Room: 50 Points per night

...

Bar Owner: 300 Points. Redemption requires Grade E1. In addition, corresponding rent must be paid monthly. Otherwise, the shop will enter the recycling queue and can be purchased by others at any time.

...

Complaint Exemption Ticket (One Day): 50 Points

Penalty Exemption Ticket (One Time): 100 Points

Sick Leave Ticket (One Day): 10 Points

Extended Experience Ticket (Ten Days) (Tourist Staff Exclusive): 200 Points

...

Yan Jing's gaze landed on the single rooms and the meals. Thinking of the upcoming Dungeon mission, his eyes flickered.

Points. He had to earn Points in advance.