Chapter 125

As the saying goes, food is the first necessity of the people. Immediately, the players decided to solve the problem of hunger first.

Lin Tu returned to her small cabin to fetch some iced orange juice and biscuits, placing them in the agreed-upon stall room at the scheduled time. Meanwhile, Guan Suixing and Yi Ying also went to the restroom together, following Lin Tu's instructions to feed themselves two chocolates each.

When they emerged from the restroom, all three had pale faces, as if they had just suffered a severe blow.

Yi Ying rushed back to the computer: "I remember now! Those customers were talking about the cartilage of human knuckles! At first, I thought it was disgusting, but somehow the more I listened, the hungrier I got, and the more I wanted to eat... Thinking about it now gives me goosebumps—it's so disgusting!"

Guan Suixing wasn't in much better shape: "I ate the chocolate, but I'm still hungry, right on the edge of starvation. I feel both disgusted and not disgusted by the food. I'm afraid that when I take calls at work, I'll get contaminated again."

This shouldn't be the case? Lin Tu recalled her experience of being instantly 'cured' after looking at a cabinet full of delicious food. Could it be a matter of the food itself? She couldn't help but think of that possibility—

The better the food, the stronger the mental impact and the better the effect. After all, the company's food was a mental attack, and it was only natural that magic would be defeated by magic.

Lin Tu said, "Go pick up the takeout first, then come straight to the Art Department on the seventh floor to find me. I'll prepare some other food for you to try."

The three players agreed, and after Lin Tu sent them her delivery tracking number, she headed to the restroom. When she reached the door of the first stall, she looked inside and was surprised to find the drinks and biscuits she had placed there were still in place.

Had Luo Yongzhi and the others not had time to pick them up, or couldn't they see them?

Lin Tu passed the stall and returned to her cabin.

After seeing something disgusting, the most comfortable thing was to drink some light, non-greasy juice. Fortunately, Lin Tu had stocked up a lot; the fridge had a whole shelf of orange juice, with even more packed in boxes outside. Lin Tu took out five or six more bottles of iced orange juice, opened a new box from the shelf, and replenished the fridge before heading to the time-frozen shelf to search for food.

The players likely weren't truly hungry but experiencing false hunger—a kind of mental contamination—so taking out large portions of food would be a waste.

After browsing for a while, Lin Tu picked a plate of pickled pepper chicken feet, which she had bought from a farmer's homemade batch at the market; she had bought both basins. She also grabbed two small cakes, one strawberry-flavored and one chocolate-flavored.

Carrying these items back to the office, she finally had time to inspect the office while waiting for Guan Suixing and the others.

It was a standard office layout, with a sofa and low table on one side, and desks and computers on the other. The only difference from real life was that there were no plants or decorations, and the only window was sealed with iron plates—if the lights were off, the office would be pitch dark.

On the cabinet opposite the window were several books, such as *The Thick Black Theory* and *Game Theory*, the must-reads for office workers. Lin Tu flipped through them for a while but found nothing special. She then searched the computer desk and found a book in a drawer titled *One Big Happy, Joyful, Beautiful Family Management Benefits*.

As a member of management, Lin Tu opened the book—

"First, you receive the company's gourmet food every day."

"Second, you may organize up to three meetings a day. Insert your employee badge into the meeting room computer in any office with a computer to look up people from your department or people you know, and invite them to meetings. During the meeting, no one who wasn't invited (or anything else) can disturb you. Meetings can last up to one hour."

"Third, you can clock in at any workstation as long as you carry your badge."

"Fourth, as the family head of the company, you may refuse requests from those of lower rank, and make reasonable demands of them. Especially during critical periods such as your marriage, illness, family member's death, or debt, requests such as loans or donations should not be refused. However, note that excessive requests may lower your rating among family members, which is detrimental to being selected as an excellent employee."

Lin Tu could try the fourth point later; she then turned her attention to the second.

She finally understood the purpose of the slot on the computer desk. She removed her badge and inserted it into the slot. A new interface appeared on the screen—

"Please select your meeting participants."

Below was a list of names, sorted by rank, so the first two names Lin Tu saw were "Company Vice President: Li Yujing" and "Design Department Head: Tang Yingyuan"...

Lin Tu: When had she ever known anyone of higher rank than the Design Department Head?

Lin Tu suddenly recalled the voice that had appeared during the meeting and the face pressing on the ceiling, almost crushing the room. According to the "Art Department Head's Handbook," leaders might drop in on Design Department meetings at any time. So that "monster" was probably the vice president, Li Yujing.

Carefully, she scrolled the mouse wheel, afraid she might accidentally click "Invite" on the company vice president, just like when she had once almost accidentally liked her ex's new post while stalking Zhou Yi.

"Guan Suixing, Yi Ying, Hei Mawu..." Lin Tu read these names, a bit surprised. "Oh? Luo Yongzhi and Liu Sheng can also be invited."

After selecting these five people, Lin Tu clicked "Invite to Meeting" and then waited for the results.

About two minutes later, the office door was pushed open, and a startled Luo Yongzhi and Liu Sheng walked in, both dressed in cleaner uniforms. Seeing the office as bright as day and Lin Tu sitting behind the desk, they were utterly shocked.

"Sister Lin, isn't your workstation outside? Why are you sitting in the department head's chair! We won't get caught, will we?"

Lin Tu pointed to the badge on the desk: "I got promoted."

Luo Yongzhi/Liu Sheng: "!!!?"

About a minute later, three more people walked in and saw the other two in the office.

"Aren't you on the night shift?" Yi Ying asked.

"Yeah!" Luo Yongzhi was equally confused. "We went to the restroom to find what Sister Lin had left for us, but we couldn't find it. We thought it was a timeline issue. Then we heard the office announcement about a meeting, so we followed the voice all the way here, and found that night had suddenly turned to day, and then we were here."

"Pretty much the same for us," Guan Suixing said.

Then they repeated the same questions about the office, and after another explanation, their shock was no less than Luo Yongzhi's earlier.

All players: !? How come this suddenly felt like when Runtu saw his childhood friend become rich and felt like calling him "master"?

Lin Tu gave a general rundown of the benefits of her promotion, including the three daily meetings.

Hearing that they wouldn't be disturbed, the players all relaxed. At least for the next hour, they were absolutely safe from any "Help me cut a deal" messages.

By then, everyone was famished. Yi Ying had twice tried to reach for the takeout they had just brought, and Luo Yongzhi had swallowed hard several times, but fortunately, they both held back.

Lin Tu took the four takeout bags from Hei Mawu, placed them on the desk far from the players, and then handed out the five bottles of iced orange juice she had brought.

As soon as the caps were twisted off, a refreshing fruity aroma with a hint of sweetness and tartness wafted up, instantly lifting spirits. After a sip, everyone felt a bit more clear-headed.

Lin Tu then placed the chicken feet and small cakes on the table.

The pickled pepper chicken feet had a sour flavor and a sharp spiciness—the sour-spicy smell alone, before even entering the mouth, was like fine needles pricking saliva out of your mouth. The small cakes gave off a faint buttery aroma up close. For health reasons, Lin Tu had bought cakes with sugar substitutes, so they wouldn't make you gain weight easily, but the rich cream scent still made people unconsciously swallow saliva.

In that instant, the players felt healed—truly healed.

At the same time, Lin Tu pulled open the takeout bag, and a pungent stench hit her face.

Frowning, she covered her nose and looked inside. The food container had broken due to rough handling during delivery, and besides leftover food, there were maggots squirming inside. What was most disgusting was that some pinkish unknown debris was mixed in, and the maggots that had eaten that debris were abnormally excited and active. Their color, which should have been white or cream, was now a bright pink-red, and they had grown unusually long and thick—the largest was almost as big as Lin Tu's little finger.

"Ugh!" Yi Ying leaned over for a look, grabbed the desk, and started dry heaving.

Luo Yongzhi and Liu Sheng gradually realized what the maggots in the "takeout" they had seen on those abandoned tables looked like, and both turned deathly pale, like puppies kicked out of nowhere on the street.

Once the clouds parted to reveal the moon, everything suddenly made sense.

"This is so disgusting!" Guan Suixing, who hadn't been hungry to begin with, felt his appetite vanish in an instant. "Is this what Mingming Chicken feeds us?"

Yi Ying, thinking of her colleagues wolfing down their meals, nearly started dry heaving again.

"So the question now is—where do we find food?"