Looking at the dozen or so items of employee guidelines, Si Ren felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
And the fact that white liquor was mentioned again—could there really be some benefit to it?
Having worked in sales before, dealing with clients was inevitable. Downing a couple of ounces of white liquor probably wouldn't be a big problem, but the real question was what to do if he ran into a DUI checkpoint.
Si Ren pondered for a moment. Since both Huang Quan and the employee handbook had brought up white liquor, he figured that if worse came to worst, he would just carry some with him for emergencies.
However, Articles 6 and 7 clearly conflicted with each other. Article 6 told him to trust his intuition, while Article 7 told him not to rely on it too much. What on earth did they want him to do?
Article 5 was even more ridiculous: he could pull over if he encountered a wedding procession halfway through his drive. A wedding procession in the middle of the night? That sounded creepy as hell.
*Knock, knock, knock.* A knock sounded at the door.
Knowing his delivery had arrived, Si Ren strode over to the door, took the food, and returned to his study of the employee handbook.
**II. Company Reward and Punishment System**
1. For every delivery task completed, employees will receive 1 point. Accumulating 10 points allows promotion to a probationary company employee (higher-level positions are not visible when points are insufficient). The higher the position, the more detailed the customer information and the better the benefits.
2. Positive reviews from guests add 5 points; negative reviews do not deduct points.
3. To prevent employees from slacking off, the company has newly launched a reputation value system. (Log in to the official website of Lingtu Company and search your name to check.) The initial reputation value is 100 points. Being complained about by a passenger once deducts 10 reputation points. If the reputation value falls below 50, there is an extremely high probability of triggering special customers. Getting a positive review from a special customer restores 20 reputation points. The company will randomly assign one special customer every month, and we hope every employee takes this seriously.
4. Aside from upgrading positions, points can be exchanged for any item. (Check the Lingtu Mall on the official website.)
5. Employees are not allowed to take leave on workdays.
Apart from Article 5, which made sense, the other four clauses left him completely baffled.
Why was there no mention of the punishment for a complaint from a special customer? And what would happen if the reputation value hit zero?
Yet, he had a strong premonition that if either of those two things unfortunately happened, the outcome would definitely be something he could not accept.
His eyes drifted down to Article 4, which interested him the most at the moment.
Points could be exchanged for *any* item? Was this company just bragging? Could he exchange points for a big Russian babe? What a joke.
Driven by curiosity, Si Ren logged into the company's official website and entered his name according to the instructions.
Si Ren, ID number 044, temporary worker at Lingtu Company. Reputation value: 90. Points: 1.
He curled his lip in disdain.
"Tch, so I drove a little fast. To file a complaint over that—I really have to hand it to you."
He then located the Lingtu Mall and clicked into it.
The official website only displayed two items; the rest were marked as unavailable due to insufficient position rank.
The first item left Si Ren in a state of frenzy.
The first item was cash: every 1 point could be exchanged for 10,000 yuan.
The second item was also money, except it was Underworld Banknotes.
To verify its authenticity, Si Ren clicked his mouse repeatedly, instantly converting his points into cash.
*"Ding-dong. Your [XXX] Bank account ending in 9414 has been deposited with 10,000 yuan, leaving a balance of 10,005.05 yuan."*
Seeing the text message, he finally believed what the company had said.
As for the Underworld Banknotes column, he didn't even bother looking at it. Only an idiot would trade points for Underworld Banknotes.
Wasn't 10,000 yuan in real money wonderful? How many underworld notes could this 10,000 yuan in cash buy? There was no need to waste points on them.
He grew more and more curious about this company, especially the Lingtu Mall.
"Looks like I'll have to be a bit more careful when transporting coffins in the future, and make sure the customers leave plenty of good reviews. Promotions and raises are just around the corner!"
As he fantasized about his future life of luxury and debauchery, he flipped through the employee handbook again.
Although he felt that the company's rules and regulations reeked of weirdness everywhere, these points were solid, tangible goods.
The only thing he still couldn't figure out was this "special customer"—what exactly made them so special?
After pondering for a long time without coming up with an answer, he simply gave up.
"Screw it. The handbook says a special customer is randomly assigned every month, so I'll find out when the time comes. Why waste energy overthinking it? Besides, pleasing a special customer adds reputation points, and failing to serve them well doesn't deduct any."
Si Ren put away the employee manual, took a couple of casual bites of his takeout, and washed up for bed.
In his dream, Si Ren was walking alone along a deserted mountain path, where numerous pairs of eyes were staring at him from the bushes.
Some of these eyes looked human, while others resembled wild beasts, but they shared one common trait: an extreme sense of aggression.
It seemed they were waiting for an opportunity—an opportunity for Si Ren to lower his guard.
He braced himself and sprinted wildly along the mountain road, while the owners of those eyes gave chase relentlessly.
After running for a long time, he suddenly spotted a wooden cabin up ahead.
Without time to think, he threw open the door and dived inside, then threw his weight heavily against the door to keep whatever was behind him from entering.
He cocked his ear to listen, and when it seemed the things hadn't followed him, he let out a sigh of relief before frantically scanning the interior of the room.
"Found it!" He hurried over to a cabinet and laboriously shoved it against the door.
He wiped away non-existent sweat from his forehead, when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something swaying from the rafters.
Looking closer, he realized it was a section of black rope. His intuition told him this rope was meant for hanging oneself.
Beneath the rope stood a square table, and upon the table sat a pair of black cloth shoes.
"What the hell! I'm easily scared, don't play like this. I didn't mean to offend, I just wandered in here by mistake. I hope you'll be the bigger person and spare me."
A burst of elderly coughing sounded from behind him.
*"Cough, cough, cough."*
Si Ren slowly turned his head toward the sound. His pupils contracted, his mouth wide open. He wanted to scream, but no sound came out; he could only retreat step by step.
*Thud.* Si Ren collided with the table beneath the hanging rope, and tripped up by it, he tumbled backward onto the floor.
"Young man, we meet again!" The person speaking was none other than the old woman he had seen burning paper money at the crossroads the other night.
Si Ren kept backing away, terror flooding his entire brain.
"Ma'am, let... let me go."
The old woman wore a bizarre expression, her tone filled with hypnotic persuasion.
"Young man, as long as you put on that pair of shoes on the table, I'll let you leave."
Si Ren turned his head and saw those black cloth shoes. Swallowing hard, he said with a crying face,
"My feet are a size 44, and those cloth shoes are maybe size 36 or 37. I can't possibly squeeze into them."
The old woman's face was purplish-gray, her long tongue lolling out, and her bulging eyes looked as though they might burst at any second.
"I said put them on, so put them on! One more word out of you and I'll kill you!"
As Si Ren looked at the old woman's appearance, a sudden thought struck his mind.
Could this old woman be a hanged ghost? People who hang themselves were said to stick their tongues out, and her complexion matched the characteristics of death by asphyxiation.
Was she trying to make him a scapegoat?