Chapter 114 : Chapter 114

Chapter 114: 'I have a high opinion of him, higher than you think.'"

Chu Zu asked the system if he had to meet with the superior right away.

The little yellow chicken looked up.

Its host was also looking at it with a faint smile, his eyes clear and cold, but very gentle.

When Chu Zu was in the treatment pod and unconscious, the system would recall the time when it first partnered with its host.

The host looked very young and said, "I'm a newbie," but he had been very experienced in his actions since then.

Most of the hosts the little yellow chicken encountered were unreliable, and it couldn't tell the difference very well, only that this host was different from the others.

“Host…”

It saw the few white strands of hair on the side of the host's left cheek.

The essence of the treatment pod’s repair was to use medical means to accelerate cell aging and regeneration.

The equipment injected medicine to provide most of the energy, but it still brought a huge burden to the person himself.

Chu Zu's hair was originally pure black.

He only had one white strand after being cursed in King of All Kings.

Now, he looked just like he did back then.

Zui was never weak, while Chu Zu was never healthy.

The little yellow chicken said with a pained heart, “You should get a good rest first.”

Chu Zu touched the little yellow chicken’s head: “Okay, I’ll take a nap then.”

Chu Zu did everything very efficiently.

When he said he was going to sleep, he just did.

He curled up into the sofa, hunched his back, and closed his eyes.

In a few seconds, his breathing became steady.

The system went to the mall and bought a soft blanket.

It grabbed a corner of the blanket with its wings and fluttered them to cover the host.

Chu Zu shifted a bit, half of his face buried in the blanket, his slightly long hair scattered, and his slightly long eyelashes covering the dark circles under his eyes.

The little yellow chicken adjusted the environment in the sea of consciousness to be warm and quiet, and then tiptoed out of the sea of consciousness.

It wanted to find the superior in advance while the host was resting and handle everything that needed to be handled.

The system management team was not bound to a specific host.

Their office area originally had no physical form, and all operations were done through data and code.

However, to keep up with the times, the management team still simulated a "real" office that fit the hosts' habits.

In the side Character Correction System office, a little yellow chicken sat at its desk, looking at the report on the table.

The changes in The Third Economic Law were too numerous.

In the middle, there was even a malicious incident where a specialist's dereliction of duty led to them being sued, and the related reports piled up on half of the desk.

After Chu Zu's departure, the subsequent plot was taken over by the "Easily Upset Correction" specialist, and the story's perspective was narrowed, only partially unfolding from Meng Yu'an's point of view.

The moment Zu Qian became the winner, the Financial Street was completely changed.

The overly greedy players went bankrupt because of betting on the wrong side.

Zu Qisheng's "invincible myth" was shattered, and all players could directly feel a sense of unease that was different from the riots.

In the past, no matter whether their attitude towards Zu Qisheng was one of respect or curses, it could not be denied that man symbolized a kind of stability.

As long as you had enough funds and enough sincerity, you could achieve "class mobility" through transactions with him.

Credit required time and cases to accumulate, and it only took one game to truly collapse.

In Zu Qian's game, many people died, but only the two players who were supposed to fight to the death survived perfectly well.

After the game, Zu Qian directly took Yu Yan away.

The young man who was taken away still looked dazed, finding it hard to believe that he had actually survived.

When Meng Yu'an left the game center, he smelled a very strange scent again.

He remembered that when he was a criminal police officer, he inevitably encountered harsh environments during fieldwork, and it was common to end up in a mountainous area after a cross-provincial operation.

Most criminals couldn't stay decent during their escape, and they would hide in the most secluded places.

Smell best reflected the environment.

Meng Yu'an had smelled too many smells: the smell of stray dogs, the smell of feces, the smell of rotten food, the smell of drugs, the smell of poverty, the smell of desperation, the smell of death.

He could smell the same scents in the clean Financial Street, mixed with all of the above.

Meng Yu'an arrived at Zu Qisheng's house.

The door was open, and no one was inside.

His colleagues entered directly and began to search for any information they could find.

Zu Qisheng mostly worked from home, and all his documents were neatly organized by Yu Yan.

Now, they were all cheap for them.

Meng Yu'an sat on the sofa for a while.

He guessed that Zu Qisheng had rushed to the hospital and then entered the game center from the hospital.

This way, he could take the injured person to the hospital for emergency treatment as soon as the game ended.

But he seemed to have underestimated Zu Qian.

Zu Qian's shrewdness in games was actually far beyond all players' imagination.

As early as the bracelet scramble, he could see clues in the rules and use the ordinary players' blind spots to win.

He wasn't actually stupid.

He just believed it himself after Zu Qisheng said it so many times.

These two brothers were the same.

They would put lies on their lips and persist for several years, making it seem like it was true.

Meng Yu'an waited for a while, but Zu Qisheng was slow to return.

He tried to find news online, but the most popular websites were all occupied by various shocking comments.

The fallen Zu Qisheng had ruined their shortcut in the Financial Street.

Some titles even directly wrote: "This is his massacre of us."

"Old players died one after another, the two brothers disappeared, and new players kept pouring in. They are doing this on purpose. We have become the lemmings of the Financial Street, using 'suicide' to keep the Financial Street alive."

A colleague also saw the words on Meng Yu'an's screen: "That's fake."

Meng Yu'an: "?"

"Lemmings don't commit suicide. The so-called rumors all came from a documentary filmed by Disney, which was purely fabricated. The film crew bought domesticated lemmings from the Inuit and then drove them into the river to film the 'mass suicide' scene."

The colleague said, "This thing should never have appeared in textbooks to mislead people."

Meng Yu'an thought to himself, then aren't the players in the Financial Street even more like lemmings?

Zu Qisheng and Zu Qian were the evil staff, driving them into the sea for their own purposes.

He really wanted to ask Zu Qisheng directly if he had ever thought about the consequences when he decided to maliciously deceive himself.

You made yourself suffer for several years, watching your brother gradually become extreme, irritable, and impulsive.

What were you thinking when he choked you?

You regained your future, you regained your memories.

What were you thinking when you made the phone call, asking "is this enough to be a reason for him to find a footing in the real world"?

What were you thinking when you heard the promise, "I'll come back and save you guys"?

Meng Yu'an didn't have the chance to get an answer.

His colleague urged him to leave.

Leave Zu Qisheng's "home," leave the Financial Street.

Even after returning to reality, the work was not over.

They still needed to gradually test the rules of The Third Economic Law to find the boundary of "not being able to disclose news about the Financial Street to the outside."

They might die, a moment of carelessness would lead to a violation, bankruptcy, and liquidation.

Meng Yu'an didn't know how far he could go, and he didn't know what the Financial Street would become, but he would return here sooner or later.

He just needed some rest, some peace away from greed and madness.

The Third Economic Law gave rise to the casualness of desire.

For Meng Yu'an, the deliberate malice of the Zu brothers made him restless.

Even for their sake, Meng Yu'an would return here.

The Third Economic Law.

The entire commission was considered complete after the ending appeared.

The author was very satisfied, and the feedback said that the editing teacher was really reliable, helping them sort out the main plot and even adding value.

The author seemed to have been distressed for a long time, and every time readers talked about Meng Yu'an's wealth, he would feel anxious, not knowing how to wrap it up.

As satisfied as they were, the trouble that had been caused before still had to be calculated clearly, as it affected not just a single novel but could also impact the entire platform.

The Easily Upset Department next door was still under investigation, and even other departments had started internal audits.

Only the Side Character Department was relatively leisurely because of its small size and the merit it had just earned.

The superior looked at the comments from the forum again.

Most of them conformed to the normal online novel user profile, with most being "fun-seekers" who took up a large part.

Among the remaining comments, there was no lack of readers discussing the economy and social conditions.

Large numbers of unemployed people, a difficult employment environment, exploitation of on-the--job workers, medical care, education, housing, elderly care—aren't these enough to give rise to the Financial Street?

To solve the Financial Street, what needs to be solved first?

What's ridiculous is that before The Third Economic Law came out, even the Financial Street had its own internal rules.

When you treat the game as a job, doesn't the feeling of déjà vu hit you?

You have to go to the game, you go with risks.

If you win, you earn five thousand, if you lose, you get out.

The outcome doesn't actually belong to you.

The two sides of the bet are in a game, and the house wants to swallow everything.

The previous exchange was even more classic.

Everything could be appraised: desperate "leeks," dehumanized livestock, seemingly completely autonomous transactions, and a nominal absolute freedom.

Are these objective facts, or excuses to force people to reconcile with themselves?

Can't Big Zu and Little Zu explain the problem?

They achieved perfect self-consistency, but what was the result?

Capital never sleeps, and capital must die.

Even more pointed posts were directly blocked and couldn't be shown, as they could easily become dangerous statements.

"I looked at this log."

The superior closed the file and looked up.

"I was just about to go see your host. What are you doing here?"

The superior actually knew the little yellow chicken's intention.

This stupid chicken was completely oblivious to its own situation, and all its actions were centered around its host.

Even if the host said, "Let's go kill the protagonist," it would probably just secretly hand over a knife and then find a way to get the host out of punishment.

The superior used to think this was an exception, after all, the little yellow chicken was indeed easy to deceive and seemed a bit naive.

But the specialist next door was also acting crazy.

The specialist next door had the system mentioned in the mission report that this mission was basically saved by the Side Character Correction Specialist's efforts, while he himself only served as a mascot and did some small tasks.

It shouldn't count towards a promotion evaluation.

The specialist seemed to be possessed, and the little featherhead chicken was similar.

Although it changed its host's wording to be passionate and irritable, the core idea hadn't changed much.

The little featherhead chicken also added another line: "Boss, can you poach him? Let my host take a vacation. He's been relentlessly working recently and looks a little crazy."

The superior of the Easily Upset Department was both happy and sad.

When it was busy with a million things, it actually took the time to come and poach someone.

The little yellow chicken coughed twice: "I'm here to handle work. My host suffered a significant work injury this time, mainly mental trauma. That damned specialist before was such a piece of..."

"Have some class," the superior interrupted it.

The little yellow chicken had a belly full of curses, but in the end, it summarized: "My host is resting. Don't bother him; just bother me."

Superior: "The log says that when you were correcting the setting of Zu Qisheng's factory period, your host said to you—"

It found the sentence in the log: "'The author didn't realize he was writing a...'"

"What did he notice at that time?"

The little yellow chicken looked at the highlighted line of text and blinked: "The problem with the world's underlying tone, of course. What else could it be?"

"Don't play dumb with me," the superior said.

"You know your host's abilities. He was a creator before he took this job, and his textual sensitivity is very high—he found the problem with the main plot at that time but didn't have you question the author about it."

"The author didn't reply at all!"

The little yellow chicken also had something to say.

"I submitted many complaints, and most were ignored. If the matter hadn't escalated, my host and I would have been given the cold shoulder, and we might even have been pushed out to take the blame!"

The superior continued as if it hadn't heard anything: "He found a problem with the main plot and chose to remain silent."

"That way, the initiative fell into his hands, and he just waited to use it as bargaining power before the big reveal."

"The main story has been written for a long time, and it's difficult to change the overall tone. If it had to be changed, it could only be done starting from the prequel. He was the only one who could solve it."

The little yellow chicken angrily slapped the table: "That's a malicious speculation!"

It was so angry it almost flew up.

"And the host didn't use the main plot issue to blackmail anyone! He started solving it first and only had me apply for an additional bonus subsidy halfway through!"

The superior said coldly: "Because the idiot next door blew up halfway through, he didn't have to resort to threats. Helping to clean up the mess sounds much better than coercing the author. And at that time, you were just crying hysterically and completely forgot that the system also has the duty of supervising the host."

"You have no class either! You told me not to swear, but you're cursing so much!"

The little yellow chicken yelled back at it.

Its superior always thought of the host as difficult and included the accidents in the host's plan.

The host did have his own plans, that was true, but he was definitely not as sinister as the superior said.

The superior saw what the little yellow chicken was thinking at a glance.

"Not sinister," it said.

"I have a high opinion of him, higher than you think."

The little yellow chicken said sarcastically, "I can't see it at all."

The superior didn't argue with it and continued on its own:

"The market doesn't have much room for 'side characters.' Most readers don't care about these characters."

"They are tools to set up the protagonist. If they are well-written, it's the protagonist's success. If they are poorly written, they are often ignored."

"Only when they are so bad that they are targeted and attacked will the author put effort into them."

"Have I told you many times that specialists who don't respect characters are not qualified for the job? That's the first line of code we wrote."

"It's not just your bonded specialist. If I find that other specialists are targeting side characters and stepping on them to get ahead, I'll also ask their superiors for an explanation—our department was created for this."

The superior paused.

"Our department has too few people. We can't handle a storm like the one next door. If something happens to our department, what other way do you think authors would have to resolve conflicts after this service is gone?"

The little yellow chicken was stunned.

Other ways?

It had been assisting hosts with side character correction since it started working.

It had never thought that the entire job could be abolished.

What other way could there be?

It was just a character who was not taken seriously and caused controversy and insults.

Furthermore, the authors' starting point for creating the characters wasn't even about the characters themselves.

That's why there were so many brainless and low-IQ villains on the market who had no backstory and seemed to be born just to make the protagonist unhappy, only to be slapped in the face and live in the mockery of onlookers.

If this character couldn't elevate the protagonist, and their idiocy was so bad that normal readers felt stuck, and the author didn't have the ability or energy to revise them...

Then they would just delete the character and change the plot.

Superior: "Now your host wants to apply for a promotion, and I have to consider all kinds of situations. Whether he is excellent is the least important consideration. He must be safe enough, do you understand what I mean?"

"I guess... so."

The little yellow chicken wasn't as angry anymore, but it still insisted.

"But if you're starting from the perspective of side characters, you shouldn't be targeting my host even more."

It said seriously, "The host respects every character he handles and also respects the authors and readers. Even when he encounters unimaginable situations, he considers all aspects. Wasn't that the case with Silent Peach and Plum and The Third Economic Law?"

"I just don't understand. You should be able to get along with the host, but you always use, use..."

The little yellow chicken thought for a long time, choosing its words.

"You use the attitude of a high-pressure dog boss towards us."

Superior: "..."

Little yellow chicken: "Yes, that's it. Your communication skills are terrible!"

Superior: "..."

The little yellow chicken slapped the table: "The little featherhead chicken next door said the same thing. Among all the superiors, you're the only one full of that official stink!"

Superior: "Have you wanted to cuss me out for a long time?"

"I'm telling you, I've awakened and grown up now, and I'm not falling for your tricks!"

The little yellow chicken emphasized, "Little chickens have chicken rights too. Be careful, I might post on the system forum. Any little chicken with eyes will know who I'm talking about!"

The superior fell into a long period of contemplation until the little yellow chicken let out a short cry of surprise.

Chu Zu had woken up.

The little yellow chicken immediately remembered its purpose for being there, its beady eyes fixed on its superior's every move.

The superior rummaged in a drawer for a long time and found a file, which it placed on top of the documents for The Third Economic Law.

"You said your host suffered a work injury and is in a bad state?"

The little yellow chicken nodded cautiously, secretly glancing at the file.

"Don't look," the superior said coldly.

"This is your host's next mission. Your eye for picking missions is terrible. You've run into all sorts of accidents."

Little yellow chicken: "..."

Little yellow chicken: "I didn't have a choice before, and later, later it was also an accident!"

The superior nodded: "I accept your suggestions and need time to think about my next decision—you can take this mission as a vacation."

The little yellow chicken cautiously pulled the file over.

The project name written on it was: Death by Entertainment.

"It's 'death,' how can it be a vacation..."

It muttered.

"The mission is simple, and the reward isn't high. During this mission, I will prepare for the promotion evaluation."

The superior said, "I'll talk to your host again before the evaluation starts."

It said, "I know you'll tell your host everything we talked about today. Help me pass on a message: whatever he wants to do, he should think it through."

As the little yellow chicken hopped off the chair, about to leave, the superior called out to it again.

"The time issue wasn't blocked by me."

The superior slowly tidied up the documents on its desk.

"It's just like the BUG from before. I've investigated it, and it's not a problem with our system."

"If he wants to know why it was blocked before and can be talked about now, I can only reply: I don't know, I'm investigating."

It said coolly, "So you don't always have to feel like I'm stirring up trouble, and don't think about switching jobs. I won't let you go."

"That's what the superior said, host."

In the sea of consciousness, Chu Zu was sitting on the sofa wrapped in a blanket.

The system sat beside him in a row, also wrapped in a proportionally smaller blanket.

The Death by Entertainment file became a string of data after leaving the office and was saved in the little yellow chicken's database.

It put the content on a panel and pushed it in front of Chu Zu.

"I checked, and it can indeed be considered a vacation... But host, don't worry, I'll keep an eye on it, and if something's wrong, I'll immediately go blow up the superior's office!"

Chu Zu absently swiped the panel, looking weary.

He tucked the long strands of hair on the side of his face behind his ear, tilted his head, and summarized the little yellow chicken's statement:

"So, you fought the superior all by yourself and made it turn over a new leaf?"

The little yellow chicken was completely shameless, wrapping the blanket like a cape:

"Yes, that's right, that's exactly what happened!"

Chu Zu looked at it for a long time and then suddenly smiled.

"Host...?"

"Don't you think it's a lot like Azul back then?"

"Fifty Billion Years of Solitude?"

"Mhm."

Chu Zu said.

"Humans didn't believe the Zerg had no malice, and the Zerg also took on a confrontational attitude. There was no communication between them, and things started to get worse."

"..."

It did seem a bit like that.

Because they didn't understand each other, they both started to assume the worst.

But the difference was also obvious.

"You and the superior don't have a fundamental conflict."

The system said, "And we're not completely without communication. I'm here! Things won't get worse. We'll have a promotion evaluation after this vacation!"

Chu Zu said slowly, "Whether we have a fundamental conflict might only be known after we talk."

He asked, "Do you think your superior is a good little chicken?"

The question was like asking a child, and while it was a request for an opinion, it was very vague.

What was a good little chicken?

By what standard?

The little yellow chicken thought for a long time: "I think it didn't lie to me."

It thought and spoke at the same time:

"Although its work efficiency is a bit low, its words are a bit harsh, and its color is a bit ugly... It's not a good little chicken, but it has never lied to me."

"Mhm," Chu Zu said.

"I believe you."

"But we still have to be on our guard."

The system muttered, "I suspect it's only being so reasonable now because it's short-handed. Who knows when it'll hire new people and immediately revert to its ugly face."

Chu Zu smiled again, his eyes curving into arcs, and a hint of fine red showed under the comfortable lighting: "As you say."

Seeing that the host had rested enough and his spirits were much better, the system also felt relieved. It moved closer to Chu Zu: "Did you look at this mission? What do you think?"

"I didn't really look at it."

Chu Zu switched the panel back to the home page.

Chu Zu had only briefly scanned it.

It was roughly the story of a group of characters working hard in the entertainment industry.

The character he was responsible for was important but also side, and as always, it had a negative aspect that readers didn't like.

Regardless of the genre and content, Chu Zu could basically judge the superior's intentions.

The little yellow chicken was used to thinking the best of everything, while Chu Zu and its superior were the same kind.

They would talk about shaking hands and making peace, but only they knew the true calculations in their hearts.

This was good, too.

The little yellow chicken didn't need to think so much; it just needed to be a happy little chicken.

In The Third Economic Law, it was anxious, angry, and cried many times, and it was also worn out.

This might be the only consensus the two sides reached without direct communication.

There was no need to prepare carefully for Death by Entertainment.

The Third Economic Law had just ended, and there was a mountain of follow-up work to do.

The superior would not cause any more trouble at this time, otherwise, it would be making trouble for itself.

The reason it intended to just show up before was probably because it had a belly full of frustration and was in a hurry.

Anxious emotions always created a disadvantage.

If the superior really wanted to have a good "talk" with Chu Zu, it had to adjust its mindset.

Otherwise, Chu Zu could take advantage of these troubles and strip it bare.

As for whether there was a fundamental conflict between them, they would see.

Chu Zu hadn't lied to the little yellow chicken before; he was indeed a bit tired. Anyone would be exhausted from working intensely non-stop.

Even if he honed his thinking and habits to be inhuman, it couldn't change the fact that his basic constitution was what it was.

"Taking a break is good. Only when you're well-rested do you have the energy to do the real work."

Chu Zu had the system put the panel away and leaned back against the sofa, lazily closing his eyes, looking like he was going to sleep a little longer.

The system was about to fly back to its electronic chicken coop when it heard the host say: "After Death by Entertainment, can you help me keep my diary?"

Little yellow chicken: "Keep it...?"

It didn't need to be kept.

The diary was an item that could be taken out at any time, and only the host could see it.

"I probably won't need to write things down anymore. I said before that I would let you read it when I finished writing it."

Chu Zu said, "If you want to read it, then read it. If you don't, then just leave it there."

The system blinked: "Okay."

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