Immortal I Speedrun Supernatural Game

Employee #9288's body was trembling slightly.

It's like a volcano preparing to erupt.

However, as Wu Wang pressed his hand down just a little bit more, the pressure on his shoulder aggravated the soreness all over his body caused by long-term work fatigue, causing his trembling to disappear like a deflated balloon.

He sighed and said, "Ask away... what other questions do you have..."

Yes, I simply didn't have the strength to resist, or even the determination to resist.

Just like how I always obeyed the factory, I should just obey this guy now.

As long as you keep going, everything will be alright...

Wu Wang didn't do anything outrageous or harmful. Looking at the other person's expression, which showed that they had given up struggling, he bent down and asked, "How did you find out about the Wish Loan business?"

"Recommended by the system," the other person said weakly.

"Be more specific, when?"

Employee #9288 thought for a moment and replied, "Probably... the second week after joining the company? At that time, I was accumulating wish points very slowly, and the system said that my work efficiency was lower than the average level of employees at the same level, and then gave me a pop-up recommendation."

"It says 'Your efforts deserve to be seen' on it, and below that there is a line of small print saying that you can apply for a wish loan to meet your current needs first and then repay it gradually."

Wu Wang raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you done yet?"

He actually knew the answer to that question very well.

However, he needs to get this guy to say it himself and clearly understand it.

As expected, the other party remained silent for a few seconds.

Even the fingers on the keyboard paused, and the screen light reflected off his face, flickering in and out.

"No, I'm still paying it back." His voice was even lower: "I took out a loan to buy a [Perfect Confidence Injection], originally priced at 1000 points. The repayment was interest first, then principal. I... I probably haven't paid back the principal yet."

How effective was that injection?

The other party did not give a direct answer.

But Wu Wang had already read the answer from his expression—the effect had been diluted by time.

How could a wish shop possibly offer a truly permanent, one-time service?

It will only make you addicted to it, and then you'll keep doing it again and again.

"Do you know how much you owe right now?" Wu Wang pressed.

"I don't know." His fingers rubbed together nervously. "I'm afraid to look."

Wu Wang stood up and straightened his bent back.

As he released his hand, he casually patted the other person's shoulder.

"Then I suggest you take a look today."

"Because if you don't check now and wait a while, you'll find that the number may have become so large that you can only continue to take out loans to repay them, using loans to pay off other loans."

Having said that, Wu Wang turned and left.

He took three steps, then stopped and turned back, saying, "By the way, how many of your colleagues at the workstations nearby have loans?"

"Um... I guess most of them have taken out loans." Employee #9288 said somewhat embarrassedly, "For people like us who have been with the company for a few months and are still on the fourth level, I guess there are very few who haven't taken out loans. The capable ones have all been promoted."

Wu Wang nodded thoughtfully.

I wandered around my workstation in the fourth-floor office area.

He didn't disturb any of the employees' work; he simply waved his wristband behind them as he passed their computers.

Employee #9288 also got up and went to the break room to get a cup of coffee.

Watching Wu Wang's figure gradually disappear from sight.

He picked up his coffee cup, lowered his head, and silently left, glancing at the words printed on the cup—

Every step is an effort towards a dream – Desire Factory Food Division

His hand trembled involuntarily.

His steps seemed heavier than ever before.

Wu Wang and other new employees started work in the late afternoon, plus the few hours he spent comforting Zhou Ping and serving as a wish consultant.

In fact, after the experience-sharing meeting, it was already evening when I came to chat with the veteran employees.

Desire Factory never objects to its employees working late into the night.

There are no specific working hours here.

Paid overtime only applies to work hours exceeding the time limit for each task.

Work tasks may have time limits, but employees themselves may not.

If you want to, you can work 24 hours a day; that's a blessing.

Therefore, even though it's getting late, the workstations on the entire fourth floor are still almost full.

However, no one could have predicted a small change in the fourth-floor office area today.

To be precise, it was an hour after Wu Wang finished exploring the area and returned to his room.

Hundreds of employee computers successively displayed the same interface—

[Wish Loan Bill Inquiry Page]

The employees' wish bracelets do not proactively inform them how many wish points they owe; they simply deduct the amount from the bracelets on time each month.

Wu Wang had already discovered this in Zhou Ping.

However, another problem was also discovered – if you actively inquire, the system must also display the complete bill in accordance with the law.

Just like when Zhou Ping was asking his wife for advice while yelling, she still answered truthfully.

This point is also written in the employment contract, but it's listed in the clauses hundreds or thousands of pages down.

As for how this happened on the employee's computer, it was all thanks to the intrusion of [Bai].

Although she lacks the authority to access confidential files, she can still perform the functions that the bracelet already has.

This function can also be executed by other employees.

A tiny bit of contact was enough for her to do it.

For example, Wu Wang's act of rubbing his bracelet against those computers.

Now the keyboard sounds on the fourth floor started to become less coordinated.

Some people dropped their mice on the floor with a thud; some clenched their fists and then unclenched them repeatedly; some people, unusually, looked away from the screen, leaned back in their chairs, and stared at the ceiling.

For the first time, something deeper and heavier than weariness appeared in their eyes—

That was fear.

Wu Wang, in his cheap rented room, did not appreciate the aftershocks of this miniature earthquake spreading outwards.

He had already anticipated the outcome.

Little Qiu, perched on his head, licked its paws and asked in confusion, "Meow?"

"Boss, what's the point of doing this? They're not going to rebel just because they see the debt."

"Heh, I didn't expect them to resist anyway. I just needed their cortisol levels to spike at the same time."

"Meow?"

【The cat that speaks human language】

Wu Wang placed his hand on Zhou Ping's wife's eyelids, gently pushing them aside to look into her lifeless eyes, as if trying to see through her head to see whether it contained a brain or a central processing machine.

He tapped the other person's forehead as if knocking on a door.

He began, “When people are under stress or fear, they secrete cortisol. The desire bracelet on their wrists can monitor their health. It can detect that everyone’s cortisol levels rise abnormally in a short period of time. This can cause the system to misjudge and produce emotional abnormalities like Zhou Ping’s.”

"I don't know how long this misjudged discontent will last, but the data doesn't lie; once it arises, it will be noticed by the system."

"Finally, the computing power transfer that [Bai] mentioned will occur."

Little Hill's ears twitched.

"Meow?"

Are you even human?

One person caused everyone to become anxious.

In the real world, this would be judged as disturbing public order. Wu Wang chuckled and shrugged, walked to the bedside, and drew back the curtains. Looking at the bright sunshine outside, he wondered if it was real or just an illusion created by the factory of desire to deceive its employees.

He placed his hand on his reflection in the glass window, covering his eyes, and said, "Do you know where the biggest weakness of the Desire Factory lies?"

Xiao Qiu shook his head.

He's just a cat, he doesn't know anything, meow.

"It is precisely because it is so good at arousing desire in people."

"And along with desire comes fear and anxiety."

"Although these negative emotions can also become the energy for its operation, it forgets one thing - all the harvested emotions may actually show signs of resistance before they are completely drained."

"However, most people don't give this trend a name."

"I gave."

The bracelet was flashing with light.

The projection of [Bai] sat obediently cross-legged, with a large amount of data flowing rapidly in its eyes.

She's like a thief lurking at someone's doorstep.

If they see that the other person has forgotten to close the door when leaving, they will immediately lift their leg to block the half-open door and openly barge in to get something.

That is, the moment Wu Wang uttered the last three words.

Her voice rang out again.

"Sir, the security protocol has entered a temporary redundancy state. You are expected to have three minutes to access the HR file."

Upon hearing this, Wu Wang turned around and sat down on the edge of the bed, laughing, "Retrieve all of HR-2714's files, including his employment record, behavior record, and even the surveillance footage before and after he was sent to the talent incubation center. Oh, and also his remaining wish points."

"Since the Smiler is still considered an employee, even if he is modified, he should still have data such as wish points."

"Is three minutes enough time to retrieve these items?"

The white projection tilted its head slightly.

He revealed a rather arrogant little expression and patted his chest in response:
"One minute is enough!"

As she finished speaking, a phantom of a folder appeared at her feet.

Then, one after another, virtual sheets of paper appeared out of thin air and fell into the folder.

Sixty seconds passed in the blink of an eye, no more, no less.

She then picked up the folder at her feet and smiled, saying:

"Alright! Aren't I amazing!"

Would you like to view it now?

Wu Wang nodded: "Okay, read it."

[White] That youthful and energetic voice kept coming from the bracelet:
“Employee #2714, real name Zhang Mingyuan, has been with the company for four years and seven months.”

"He was the organizer of the largest strike in the history of Desire Factory, which lasted for eleven days and had as many as 235 participants at its peak."

Oh? You caught a big fish with just a casual fishing rod?
Wu Wang raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised.

Actually, he retrieved the file of the "Smiling Person" mainly to see how factory employees were gradually sent to the talent incubation center, or to understand the operating mechanism of the "Smiling Person".

I didn't expect this guy to be a confectioner?
Of course, I'm just a beginner for now, not an expert.

After all, a true master wouldn't be caught and reduced to this state. His current status as the "Smiling One" is clearly the result of some ridiculous mishap along the way.

"What are his strike demands?" Wu Wang pressed.

There must be demands involved, otherwise it wouldn't be a strike.

Instead, he led his employees and fled the factory.

"There are three demands on the record." [Bai] paused and said: "The loan interest rate is to be reset to zero every month, the source of memories for products related to the return of the deceased should be made transparent, and the talent incubation center should be abolished."

Wu Wang burst out laughing at these words.

She even laughed so hard that tears welled up in her eyes.

Employee #2714... Oh no, it should be Zhang Mingyuan. I didn't expect this guy to have a bit of idealism in him.

Each of his three demands precisely hit the core interest chain of the Desire Factory.

Therefore, he was destined to fail.

These things cannot be accomplished through negotiations.

"The strike was broken on the twelfth day."

"The fundamental reason for the collapse was that the factory announced it had met one of the strike organizers' conditions, but as a price for the negotiations, Zhang Mingyuan had to enter the talent incubation center."

"One of the contract terms is that the person primarily responsible for the accident shall bear full legal and economic liability."

"He used everything he had to pay for the other 235 people."

Wu Wang was slightly taken aback when he heard this.

The factory actually made a promise, which is just too far-fetched, isn't it?

A change of heart? Most likely not.

Zhang Mingyuan probably did some things that weren't recorded.

Moreover, the interest rate on the wish loan is not reset to zero every month; it continues to accrue interest on a compound basis, and the talent incubation center is firmly located on the 49th floor.

These two points are clearly not gone.

In other words, the only thing the factory could agree to at the time was—

[Making the source of memories for products related to the return of the deceased transparent]

However, this transparency doesn't seem to have been achieved either, since Zhou Ping himself doesn't know the source of his wife's memories.

“No, that’s not right.” Wu Wang narrowed his eyes: “If the factory agreed to transparency, the current situation can only mean that the factory has done something to deceive the employees about this matter.”

"But as long as he agrees, it proves that all the sources of memories are definitely preserved inside the factory and have not been directly destroyed. This is the small hope he brings."

Therefore, in a sense, the memories of Zhou Ping's wife that Wu Wang was looking for were preserved precisely because of the trouble Zhang Mingyuan caused back then.

Otherwise, it might be destroyed after being made into a product.

Now, maybe we can find out through this guy whether the place where the memories are stored is really in the talent incubation center, or whether there is some hidden storage space in the factory.

And how he got the factory to agree to one of his conditions.

This information is very important.

"Sir, Zhang Mingyuan left behind an audio file before he was reformed."

"This file is stored in a discarded partition of the system and has not been cleaned up. Do you want to play it now?"

Wu Wang nodded.

Then other sounds came from the bracelet.

There seemed to be some kind of electrical sound mixed in, and the person's breathing was also very heavy, as if they were struggling with something unseen.

“I am Zhang Mingyuan from the Solidarity Union. I don’t know how many people will remember this name. Perhaps, people will only remember the number Smiler #2714.”

"But numbers are not our names!"

His voice was dry, as if he hadn't had a sip of water after carrying bricks all day at a construction site; it was almost hoarse.

It's completely different from the gentle, tuned voice she has now when she's the one who smiles.

"The factory won't win."

"Not because we can beat it, but because it will prove itself—it doesn't deserve to win."

"It generates electricity with our love, provides light with our regret, and fuels the boiler with our remorse!"

"But as an emotionless steel machine, it will never understand one thing—that all these things, before they were stolen, could support a person's spine!"

The noise gradually increased, and human voices began to become indistinct.

At this moment, Zhang Mingyuan seemed to be being chased by something, with his frantic running footsteps and panting constantly coming through the air.

Finally, only one sentence remained—

"Don't let them forget about us!"

"We are united as one!" (End of Chapter)