Chapter 172: Manager Qian’s Phone Call

The rain in Xinhai City had finally stopped.

A full week had passed since that torrential downpour.

The city, after a brief lull, quickly returned to its usual bustle.

Naturally, the incident became a favorite topic of conversation among citizens.

Across all major social platforms, discussions about the “Xinhai City Major Signal Outage Incident” remained at fever pitch.
All kinds of conspiracy theories spread like weeds.

“Brothers! I guarantee it—it was a solar flare eruption!”

“Oh, give me a break. Solar flares? In my opinion, it was definitely an alien invasion! I was near the scene—I swear I saw a gigantic glowing machine!”

“Heh, you’re all too young. This is obviously a live-fire test of a new American electromagnetic pulse weapon! Imperialism never stops trying to destroy us!”

In short, everyone had their own take. Chaos reigned, and the topic completely dominated the trending charts.

For an incident of this scale, trying to completely suppress it like before was obviously impossible.

Not to mention the thousands of convention-goers inside the exhibition center who had collectively blacked out.

So, after an emergency “script meeting,”
Xinhai City’s official media finally stepped in and delivered a definitive conclusion amid much anticipation.

[Official Notice Regarding Recent Abnormal Weather and Communication Failures in Xinhai City]

“…The incident was caused by the impact of a rare high-altitude meteorite. Strong magnetic field interference led to the paralysis of certain local communication base stations…”

“…As for symptoms such as fainting and hallucinations experienced by some citizens at the exhibition center, investigations by the CDC determined the cause to be mass food poisoning (a norovirus variant) resulting from improper storage of some ingredients in the free lunch provided by the organizer…”

“…Relevant departments have now imposed severe penalties on the convention organizer, ordering an indefinite suspension for rectification and a full refund of all ticket fees…”

This combo explanation was a bit forced logically, but under the banner of “science,” most citizens chose to believe it.

After all, compared to “evil gods descending” or “magical girls fighting tentacle monsters”—truths that sounded straight out of some trashy light novel—
“food poisoning” clearly fit better with everyone’s materialist worldview.

World peace was restored.

Life went on.

Everyone had a bright future.

Except…

Lin Yu.

“—AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

In the living room.

She was rolling around on the floor like a lunatic.

On the coffee table sat the contract wristband, projecting an electronic apology letter from the convention organizer.

The letter was written with utmost sincerity, filled with standard official expressions of regret.

But—

[Due to the force majeure that led to the unexpected termination of this event, the originally planned “Grand Prize” selection has been canceled. Relevant prize money and awards will no longer be issued.]

“Why the hell not?! Who the f*ck decided this?!”

Lin Yu sprang up, clutching an innocent pillow, pounding it furiously while grinding her teeth as she railed against the injustice of fate.

“Based on on-site feedback! I was 100% first place, okay?!
My money! My hard-earned money!!!

For this money… I even threw away the dignity of my ancestors for eighteen generations! I only dared to show up at the con in that humiliating skin because of it!”

They say when people are extremely angry, they’ll do anything.

Seething with rage, Lin Yu went on a spree and registered accounts on Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and a bunch of other platforms.

Profile picture?
Luna’s pitiful selfie.

Username?
Uniformly changed to [An Innocent Girl Screwed Over by the Organizer].

Then she began furiously posting:

[Avoid This Convention Organizer! Promised First-Place Prize Given to No One!
Scummy Organizer #GiveMeBackMyBloodMoney]

A tear-soaked rant, paired with post-transformation selfies for traffic, went up.

Thanks to the platforms’ recommendation algorithms favoring new attractive users, her post slowly started drawing comments.

Watching the steadily rising view count in the backend, and the comment section filled with indignant “simps” rallying to her side, Lin Yu finally vented a bit of her pent-up anger.

Hah… satisfying!

After venting, Lin Yu calmed down and started thinking about serious matters.

After all, a loss may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

This mission had been epic-tier difficulty.

She’d not only soloed the fight but also saved three seniors—by all logic and emotion, if the company didn’t hand out a six-figure bonus this time, it would be completely unjustifiable.

Sigh… making money really isn’t easy these days…

Lin Yu slumped back onto the sofa, rubbing her neck, which still throbbed faintly.

“I almost f*cking died!
And I even almost—damn it! Luo Shaotian is no saint either! Acts like a righteous gentleman all day, but in the end? Trying to pry my wall with just three million yuan?!”

Thinking about that guy made her head start aching again.

Not long after she was attacked by that mysterious man in the white mask, Dawn Company’s logistics department had arrived.

The scene was sealed off. Memories were wiped.

The headless monster’s corpse was placed into a biohazard body bag and taken away as a key sample.

And Luo Shaotian, as a directly involved party, naturally couldn’t escape being taken in for investigation.

Fortunately, according to information Li Qing secretly passed on, the full set of tests conducted by logistics showed that there were no traces of “residual pollution” left in Luo Shaotian’s body.

That [Terror Abuse] mark that once turned him into a demon seemed to have never existed—vanished without a trace.

Hearing this result, Lin Yu breathed a sigh of relief, but wasn’t particularly surprised.

Based on his condition at the time, she could already infer as much.

“This is way too f*cking ridiculous…”

Lin Yu looked down at her palm.

“A kiss and I can just suck the pollution right out? What kind of physique is this? Northern Nether Divine Skill or what?”

To figure out what exactly was happening inside her body, she had voluntarily applied for the company’s highest-level comprehensive physical exam the very night she returned.

Judging by the time, the report should be out soon.

Just then—

Ding-ling-ling-ling———

The contract wristband’s distinctive ringtone suddenly rang out.

Lin Yu glanced at the caller ID, her heart tightening.

Manager Qian.

“Hello? Manager Qian?”

“Oh my, Xiao Lin! How’ve you been resting these past few days? Still holding up physically?”

On the other end, Manager Qian’s voice was as warm and enthusiastic as ever, carrying that spring-breeze-like friendliness.

“The company is very concerned about your health, you know… after all, the body is the capital of revolution—and the tool for making money!”

“Thanks to you, I’m still alive.”

Lin Yu replied curtly.

“Hahaha! As long as you’re alive, that’s good, that’s good!”

Manager Qian laughed heartily, then abruptly changed tone, becoming more serious.

“This sudden incident was resolved thanks to you turning the tide. If not for that final outburst of yours, our branch really would’ve suffered heavy losses—three major pillars gone. Director Bai is… extremely interested in your performance.”

“If he’s interested, cash it out. Don’t give me empty talk.”

“Haha, don’t worry—your bonus won’t be missing! Xiao Bai has already been repaired by the technical department. You can come pick it up anytime.”

“And also…”

Manager Qian paused.

“The results of the in-depth physical exam you applied for earlier just came out as well. Some of the data… is quite interesting. When you come over, let’s talk about it face to face.”

“Alright. I’ll head over now.”

“Mm, good. Oh, right…”

Just as Lin Yu was about to hang up, Manager Qian’s voice sounded again.

This time, his trademark smile was noticeably restrained, his tone turning low and subtle.

“In your mission report, you mentioned that… there was a mysterious man wearing a white mask and black robes who attacked you in that alley, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then did he… exhibit any abnormal behavior?”

“For example… did he say anything strange to you?”

Lin Yu’s fingers tightened sharply around the wristband.

Those three questions.

Those words had been echoing in her ears like a curse for days.

She had actually considered concealing them.

After all, the information hidden in that mysterious man’s words was massive—so massive that it stirred an instinctive fear and doubt toward the company she had trusted until now.

But…

Lin Yu hadn’t yet figured out how to fabricate a story, or how to probe carefully.

Facing a fox-like veteran such as Manager Qian, she wasn’t confident she could handle it well.

“Heh heh…”

On the other end, Manager Qian chuckled softly.

“Alright, alright. No rush, Xiao Lin.”

“I know it’s hard to explain over the phone. How about this… come to the company first.”

“Things like this… we’ll talk about them slowly, face to face.”

“Alright. Hanging up.”

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