Chapter 61: Darkness Within Darkness
“But if you want to work here, you have to follow the rules of our convenience store.”
“The rule is—I am the rule. Do you understand?”
He finished with a roar, glaring fiercely at everyone like a madman.
“If any of you cross me, you’re done for. I’ll crush you to death with my gong, bit by bit!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he picked up his bronze gong and smashed it down on one of the newcomers who was fiddling with his hair.
Thud!
With a deafening crash as the gong clamped together, the newcomer’s head splintered like a watermelon under its blow.
“Did you all understand? If you don’t want to die like that, behave yourselves!”
Everyone was frozen, not daring even to breathe, terrified they might be next.
But at that moment, Qin Feng suddenly raised his hand.
“Boss Skinny, I have something I’d like to ask. May I?”
Ji Linmo’s heart jolted, and he quickly looked at the boy’s finger.
The instant he saw the silver glint on Qin Feng’s finger, Ji Linmo felt a heavy sense of dread.
This is trouble.
“Hm? What do you want?” Boss Skinny eyed Qin Feng arrogantly.
“I want to ask, how often does our convenience store receive restocks from outside?”
“Can the delivery workers leave the big mall and go outside?”
Go outside?
As soon as the words left Qin Feng’s mouth, Boss Skinny’s eyes widened, bloodshot veins creeping into his gaze.
He strode over to Qin Feng, his enormous eye taking up three-quarters of his face, pressing close to the boy.
“Newcomer, repeat what you just said?”
Staring into that massive, swirling eyeball, Qin Feng kept his sincere expression.
“I said, Manager, when do we deliver goods?”
“My Mandarin should be pretty standard, right?”
“Or is it that you don’t understand what people are saying?”
As soon as Qin Feng spoke, the whole room fell silent.
Everyone looked at Qin Feng in disbelief, thinking he must be mad.
Who would provoke an NPC in a game like this?
Boss Skinny had just said he was the rule! The death of that other person was proof enough!
Ji Linmo frowned deeply, quietly watching Qin Feng without speaking.
He couldn’t understand what Qin Feng was trying to do.
Even if he was anxious to leave, such actions were unwise.
“You brat, looking for death!”
Boss Skinny suddenly shouted, his fat shaking violently.
A chilling aura burst from the obese, one-eyed man, who stared at Qin Feng, rage flickering in his gaze.
But then he noticed the ring on Qin Feng’s finger, a glint of greed flashing in his eyes.
“Newcomer, you’ve angered me! If you don’t want to die, hand over your ring. I might reconsider…”
Boss Skinny sized up Qin Feng inch by inch, his enormous bloodshot eye rolling in its socket.
“You… want my ring?”
Suddenly, Boss Skinny noticed the boy’s smile fading.
Qin Feng’s eyes became hollow and icy. He tilted his head, fixing Boss Skinny with an unyielding gaze, speaking each word slowly.
“How dare you covet what is mine?”
Crackling sounds echoed, as if the film reel had jammed, and strange black shadows flickered across Qin Feng’s cheek, overlapping, distorting his figure.
“I am the only one who wears this ring.”
“I am the only one who can make him wear it.”
The terrifying, deep voice seemed to drift from the endless night, its indescribable authority making Boss Skinny shudder.
—In the darkness, a pair of eyes redder than blood seemed to be watching him.
He was being watched! He was being watched!
Boss Skinny’s eyes widened in terror, his bone gong trembling in his grip, and he suddenly collapsed to his knees.
It was a fear darker than darkness, more hopeless than despair—the most primal dread!
“Who… who are you?!”
Boss Skinny screamed in despair, but with a blink, everything was as if nothing had happened.
The boy before him was still just a boy, smiling gently as he looked at him.
“Boss, I really like this ring, so I can’t give it to you. Could you spare me just this once?”
Boss Skinny froze, cold sweat trickling down his thick back.
Was it an illusion…?
But the boy before him was so uncanny that even a fiend like Boss Skinny couldn’t help but tremble.
So Boss Skinny silently retreated several steps, coughing to cover his unease.
“Ahem, ahem!”
“You’re Qin Feng, right? Since you’re new, I’ll let you live… but don’t let it happen again!”
Qin Feng graciously accepted the concession, stepping down and assuring he’d never tease the manager again.
Boss Skinny scrutinized Qin Feng, and seeing nothing unusual, finally relaxed.
“Listen up, everyone!”
“This store values ability above all! Is anyone here willing to become deputy manager?”
“The previous deputy manager just died, so now we need an employee to be my assistant!”
He raised his sign—a deputy manager’s badge.
[Task Triggered]
[Become Deputy Manager of Monster-Eye Supermarket]
[Task Details: Become deputy manager, help Boss Skinny achieve at least 1.2x store performance]
[Task Target: Everyone]
[Task Success: Gain exclusive privileges of the deputy manager]
[Task Failure: DeathSent to the third floor]
Ji Linmo narrowed his eyes, studying the bloodstained badge labeled ‘Deputy Manager,’ and after a brief thought, raised his hand.
“I’m willing.”
Boss Skinny paused, glancing at Qin Feng, who made no move, and didn’t immediately agree.
One unsettling person was enough.
Anyone who could associate with Qin Feng couldn’t be much better.
“No one else?”
Boss Skinny anxiously scanned the room.
“Becoming deputy manager is something most people can only dream of!”
For a moment, no one raised their hand.
After all, the greater the power and reward, the higher the risk.
A careless mistake could mean death, and that was common here.
“Is there really no one else willing to be deputy manager?”
Boss Skinny’s gaze swept over everyone.
He refused to choose Ji Linmo or Qin Feng—neither of them were easy to deal with, and the pressure was too much for him.