I put my phone down and casually plugged it into the charging outlet. A wave of indescribable excitement secretly surged within my chest: ( Everything is truly... getting more and more interesting. )
After that, I began packing my luggage... though calling it "packing" was just a fancy way to put it, since I didn't actually have anything to bring along. I hadn't really bought any belongings since I arrived here anyway.
The moment I stepped out of the room, I bumped into Yashu, who was heavily carrying a rather large bag stuffed to the brim with clothes and personal items. Looking at her and then back at myself, I suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. She had prepared all sorts of miscellaneous things, while I, in the most literal sense, was carrying nothing but my bare body.
Together, we prepared a simple lunch, eating while patiently waiting for Manager Ming to return so we could say our goodbyes.
Time passed slowly, and in a flash, it was already around one or two in the afternoon. I was lying lazily on the bed, idly scrolling through the items for sale on the Travel Together app, when my ears suddenly picked up a strange noise coming from the living room outside.
I immediately sat up and cracked the door open a sliver to scout the situation. At the same time, the door to the opposite room belonging to Yashu also softly opened. As soon as the two of us poked our heads out, Manager Ming's figure instantly caught our eyes, causing my heart to skip a guilty beat.
Yashu was the first to speak, actively stepping completely out of her room:
-"Mr. Ming, we want to... move over to our friend's place to work."
Hearing this, Manager Ming frowned, his gaze sweeping across the two of us with sheer suspicion:
-"Why the sudden desire to move somewhere else all of a sudden?"
Looking at his feigned innocent face, I cursed inwardly: ( Why? Is it possible that you yourself don't even know the reason clearly? )
Yashu's brain instantly kicked into gear, quickly making up an excuse:
-"Well... a major issue suddenly came up with our family back in the countryside, so the two of us temporarily cannot stay here to work anymore. We are truly sorry, sir."
After hearing her reason, Manager Ming fell silent for a moment, then gave a slight nod, slowly uttering a sentence:
-"Hmm, if that's the case, then go ahead. It's fine."
Even though his mouth said "it's fine", my senses were feeling an invisible pressure and a supreme anger violently swirling in the air. This was the first time since interacting with him that I saw the manager fail to maintain his usual gentle, saintly demeanor. His face at this moment was gloomy to a terrifying degree.
-"So when do you two plan to move?" - Manager Ming suddenly asked, his voice icy cold without a shred of emotion.
-"Um... if we pack up and leave right today, would that be okay, sir?" - Yashu hesitantly asked back, her ten fingertips already clutching tightly onto the hem of her shirt out of sheer anxiety.
-"What about the salary then? Is that new employee not even going to take his either?" - He asked, his sharp eyes suddenly shifting, aiming straight toward my room.
Realizing that I could no longer keep peeking and dodging behind the door, I took a deep breath and actively stepped all the way out into the living room:
-"No need to take it is fine, sir. My family's situation in the countryside just hit an extremely critical accident, their lives are hanging by a thread, so we are forced to leave right away and cannot delay any longer."
Manager Ming said nothing, slowly striding closer to me. The dense, invisible murderous intent radiating from his body made my spine run freezing cold, and my feet instinctively took a step back in defense. However, he didn't make a move. Manager Ming only coldly extended his hand, brutally shoving a thick stack of money into my palm:
-"Take it, this is the salary for your past days of work."
I lowered my head slightly to look at the bizarre stack of currency in my hand, my brows furrowing slightly:
-"This amount... seems to be a bit too much compared to my working days, sir."
-"If I tell you to take it, just take it to care for your family." - The manager replied in a cold tone, his deep voice carrying no warmth at all.
I forced a strained smile, trying to keep my voice from trembling:
-"How embarrassing... Then I'll take it, thank you, sir."
Saying that, Yashu immediately tightened her grip on the straps of her handbag. I also quickly dashed back into the bedroom, bent down to pull the teddy bear - the defensive Gem object that the ghost girl had given me - out from under the bed, and hastily grabbed my phone along with the charging cable.
The two of us hurriedly and frantically fled toward the main door. Before stepping completely outside, both of us still didn't forget to turn our heads back, trying to force a smile and wave our hands to appear as friendly as possible:
-"Goodbye, sir, we are leaving now!"
Just a few steps after walking out of the shop, as if a thousand-pound boulder had been lifted off us, we immediately put our heads down and ran like the wind. Our legs pedaled frantically on the main road; neither of us dared to look back, let alone linger in that devilish place for even a single second or minute longer.
The silhouettes of my and Yashu's backs grew smaller and smaller until they completely vanished from Manager Ming's sight.
In a dark corner where no sunlight could reach, the smile on the manager's lips completely vanished. He slowly flipped his palm open, revealing a card embroidered with strange, eccentric patterns that was emitting a strong scent of fresh blood to the point of nausea [ This detail is in chapter 26! ]. Manager Ming stared intently at the card, his whispering voice grim and cold as if echoing from the underworld:
-"The experimental mice have gone far. The future has derailed, a new discovery."