Chapter 73 – Beneath the Shaft

After taking Jiang Qianqian home, Zhu Hao drove alone to a quiet, unfinished building.

Someone like him, behind the wheel of a luxury car, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, showing up in a place like this, where trash was strewn everywhere and all kinds of foul smells hung in the air, was obviously anything but normal.

Yet Zhu Hao seemed completely familiar with the place. After getting out of the car, he walked straight into the building and made his way to an elevator shaft that had already been dug out, then looked down into it.

Clatter, clatter… A chunk of cement, nudged by the tip of his shoe, rolled into the shaft. But it made no sound at all.

Zhu Hao shone his phone inside, and the pallid light instantly illuminated one corner of the shaft.

The scene that emerged from the darkness was enough to make any normal person feel an icy chill shoot through them in an instant-maybe even scare them half to death.

A shriveled face gaped beneath the cold glow of the screen. Of its wide-open eyes, only one still held a cloudy eyeball, while from the empty socket on the other side, a rat startled by the light suddenly crawled out.

Beneath him and all around him lay piles upon piles of corpses…

No surprise appeared on Zhu Hao’s listless face. He calmly stared at the bodies for a moment, then climbed down. A short while later, when he climbed back up from the shaft, there was a small wad of paper in his hand, along with some mucus clinging to his fingers. Clearly, wherever that paper had been hidden, it was not somewhere the living were meant to touch.

Zhu Hao, however, did not care in the slightest. He hurriedly unfolded it and looked. A single line was written on it: Zelong Trading Company.

The words left Zhu Hao deeply disappointed. “Why is she still making me do things? I’ve already brought her so many people. So many. Why hasn’t she mentioned helping me yet?”

After a low growl of unwillingness, Zhu Hao took a deep breath and smoothed out the paper ball he had nearly crushed. He took out a pen and added another passage beneath the words “Zelong Trading Company”: “Understood. Also, I’ve run into some trouble recently. To gradually infiltrate Jiangnan Biomedical, I still need support in helping Jiang Qianqian and her father gain greater say within the group. For that, I first need to earn more of Jiang Qianqian’s trust and eliminate her cousin and uncle.”

After he finished writing, Zhu Hao folded the paper back up, then jumped back down into the pile of dried corpses…

When he came out of the unfinished building, Zhu Hao’s expression was perfectly normal. He glanced left and right, a cold glint flashing through his eyes. “Zelong, huh…”

The name Zelong Trading Company had probably been mentioned more than any other that day at every employment agency.

Because of the natural disasters, and because many roads and areas had begun coming under restrictions and lockdowns, the employment rate had recently taken a nosedive. Just as the agencies were worrying over it, a major deal had suddenly dropped into their laps.

“Zelong Trading does wholesale trade, right? Under these circumstances, companies like that should be the ones hit the hardest. Why would they suddenly need to hire so many people?”

“Exactly. A hundred people, and the requirements are really low. You could basically say there are no requirements at all… Honestly, why doesn’t he just place an ad in the newspaper?”

“What do you care? You’re getting paid, and you still have so much to say?”

Two employment agency workers were talking in low voices when a female college student, who had been standing hesitantly in front of the board and looking at the recruitment notice posted there, suddenly walked over and asked, “Excuse me, this Zelong company-is it hiring part-timers? I’m a freshman at Ningnan University.”

One of the employees looked up. After a slight hesitation, he nodded and said, “They are, but the interview is a little rushed. You’d have to go tonight. Can you manage that?”

The college student froze for a moment. She had never heard of an interview being held at night… Still, she nodded. “Th-that’s fine. Um, you can guarantee this is a legitimate company, right?”

“Of course it’s legitimate. You don’t have to worry about getting scammed here. You’re pretty cautious for such a young lady…” The employment agency staff member looked at the university girl with faint amusement, paying particular attention to her unstyled hair and plain clothes. Mm, she was probably from some impoverished area. The semester had only just started, and she was already thinking about doing work-study…

The university girl’s face flushed at once. Embarrassed, she nodded, then took the form the staff member handed her and walked out the door.

“How did it go, Fang Li? Are they hiring part-timers?” A pretty girl who had been waiting outside immediately came over and asked, her face full of anticipation.

Fang Li glanced at the girl and gave a shy little smile. “Mm, they’re willing to take people. It’s just that there’s still an interview, and it’s at night…”

“As long as they’re hiring, that’s good. Didn’t you say you wanted to lighten the burden on your family? Though if your little brother hadn’t suddenly fallen seriously ill at home, you wouldn’t have had to be in such a hurry… Wait, did you say the interview is at night?” The girl’s reaction was a little slow. She rambled on in one breath before finally catching on.

“It’s fine, Yuming. I’ll check things out from outside first. If anything feels wrong, I’ll come back. But from the introduction here, this company looks very legitimate. Maybe they just got some big urgent order and need extra help.” Seeing Qiu Yuming’s worried expression, Fang Li instead started reassuring her.

“But…”

“All right, all right. Aren’t you going to help out at that Senior Su’s lab tonight? You already promised them, so stop overthinking everything. I can take care of myself.” As Fang Li spoke, she blinked. “Besides, could you really bear not to go see that Senior Su?”

Qiu Yuming’s eyes went wide, and she reached out to tickle Fang Li. “What nonsense are you spouting? I’m going because Senior Yushi invited me, okay? That’s what you get for talking nonsense! That’s what you get!”

“Hahahahaha… Stop it, we’re on the street, don’t do that…”

… Thinking back to the conversation she had with her roommate Qiu Yuming outside the employment agency during the day, Fang Li looked at the address in her hand, then raised her head to look at the building in front of her. After letting out a soft breath, she walked over.

Standing at the entrance was a middle-aged man who looked quite well dressed. Fang Li went over and handed him the form, doing her best to speak politely. “Hello, my name is Fang Li. I’m a freshman at Ningnan University. I’m here today to…”

“Wait in the upstairs conference room for the interview.” The middle-aged man’s low voice cut her off.

Fang Li froze for a moment and looked at him in surprise, then nodded. “O-okay.”

Only after Fang Li started heading upstairs did the middle-aged man slowly move his eyes, shifting his gaze to her back.

“So young. She should be about the same age as my daughter, Moyun…”

But very soon, the middle-aged man suppressed that flicker of reluctance. Lowering his head again, he reached out to the next applicant. “No need to introduce yourself. The interview is in-“

“I know. The conference room, right?” The young man’s voice was so unusually calm that it actually startled the middle-aged man again.

When he raised his head to look, he discovered that the young man had already headed upstairs, leaving behind only a brisk-looking figure from the back.

The middle-aged man turned his attention to the form in his hand. “Hm? Lai Sharen1? What a strange name…”

Footnote:

1. Lai Sharen(莱沙仁): “Lai Sharen” is a Chinese wordplay joke. Although it looks like a normal name, it sounds almost the same as the phrase (lái shā rén), which means “here to kill” or “to come kill people.” The character is basically revealing his murderous intent through a fake-sounding name.