Immortal I Speedrun Supernatural Game

Chapter 708 Hero or Sinner?

When Wu Wang was first hired, he was only warned that he needed to replenish his wish points within 24 hours, otherwise he would be added to the "Inefficient Asset Watchlist".

This is just observation; whether or not to go to the talent incubation center depends on subsequent performance.

But now these employees have been directly added to the list of inefficient assets.

They didn't even have time to observe.

I was immediately notified to go to the talent incubation center within 24 hours.

Nobody knows why an employee who was normal in terms of behavior ratings and other aspects just a few days ago suddenly became like this.

But they all knew that their lives were beginning to count down.

"The three of you, would you like me to help you get to the talent incubation center?"

An employee gets off the elevator every time it reaches a new floor.

When only Lao Fan, Tie Jian, and Wen Xiaolou remained, the smiling man next to them asked them very considerately.

In response, Tie Jian simply said in a cold voice, "No need to trouble you, we will go by ourselves."

After saying that, the elevator arrived at a new floor.

He left without looking back.

Before the elevator doors closed, the smiling person bowed slightly and said, "Then please keep track of the time and don't be late."

Since its inception, Desire Factory has had its share of employees who, after being listed as inefficient assets, refused to go to the talent incubation center.

However, no one could escape this fate.

In these final 24 hours, employees will be immediately arrested if they leave the surveillance area, or if more than 24 hours have passed, the Smile Agents will be dispatched to them.

If all else fails, the factory has a last resort.

That is, the method that Li Shuang used before—

The wristband was used to kill the employee remotely.

However, this would greatly reduce the value of the employees, so factories would try to avoid using this method.

But it always has this method, like a Damocles' sword hanging over everyone's head.

Most importantly, apart from Wu Wang, no other employees or players are aware of this matter.

"Don't worry, I won't be late." Tie Jian's voice remained unwavering: "I'm already looking forward to it."

Snapped--

The elevator doors closed.

The car carrying Smiling Man, Lao Fan, and Wen Xiaolou continued up.

Tie Jian looked at this place, where the atmosphere was even more oppressive than the fourth floor. As soon as he got off the elevator, another smiling person looked at him. The pressure of being watched at any moment made him take a deep breath.

He used to be the one who monitored and interrogated criminals when he was working at the police station.

I never imagined that one day I would be stared at like a criminal.

Life is truly unpredictable...

He lifted his leg and walked towards the office area, looking at the densely packed employees working with their heads down.

Tie Jian began his operation.

He walked up behind one of them, patted him on the shoulder, and forced out what he thought was a friendly smile.

Amidst the other person's bewildered expression, Tie Jian said, "Keep it up, work hard, you're the best."

After saying that, he turned and left in embarrassment.

It's simply a matter of moving on to the next employee and starting to encourage them in the same way.

This action left the encouraged employee completely bewildered. He touched the spot where Tie Jian had patted him earlier, preferring to believe that Tie Jian had accidentally gotten coffee on his hand and was just wiping it off with his clothes rather than believe that Tie Jian was actually encouraging him.

"Damn it, is this guy crazy?"

After rolling his eyes, the employee continued to work diligently; he had a lot of work to do.

Perhaps with this big move at the factory, many employees will break down due to the high pressure. If you can hold on and pull yourself together, you might be able to climb higher!

One day, I will be able to become a smiler!

No more doing those arduous tasks that barely earn you any wish points all day.

How wonderful it would be if you could earn wish points just by walking up and down the stairs a couple of times every day, like the Smiling Person!

The vast majority of employees share his views.

After all, in their eyes, the smiling person is a senior employee who, under the guise of serving ordinary employees, is actually managing subordinates.

They have a promising career path.

Rather than a pathetic puppet devoid of humanity.

Naturally, some of the smiling individuals noticed Tie Jian's strange behavior.

But he did not step forward to stop him.

After all, although Tie Jian's behavior was strange, it did not seem to have any impact.

We can't just pin someone down and interrogate them just because they're encouraging a colleague, can we?

Besides, they've seen plenty of employees who gradually become mentally unstable after discovering they've been included in the list of inefficient assets.

The elimination system in the Desire Factory is quite cruel.

From the employees' perspective, those who worked hard and rose through the ranks to enter the talent incubation center for training either became "smiling" individuals with bright futures, or they simply disappeared from the scene.

This unprecedented, exceptional talent has entered the wishing well and fulfilled their wish.

Then there's no need to stay in the factory and be a miserable beast of burden anymore.

They have completely broken away from this social class.

Those who are listed as inefficient assets and then put into the talent incubation center are given one last chance by the factory to see if they can stay.

This kind of junk disappeared afterward, because it was completely eliminated and driven out of the factory.

They will never have the chance to pursue their dreams again.

Although both involve entering a talent incubation center, the two are vastly different.

So, let alone encouraging colleagues, I've even seen people who have had a mental breakdown on the spot, running around naked and laughing hysterically.

In a sense, Tie Jian's encouragement even played a positive role in maintaining the morale of other employees, which can be considered a beneficial action for the factory.

They watched silently as Tie Jian encouraged each of them to walk on.

Tie Jian was well aware that his actions would attract attention, and he also knew that such encouragement would seem to others, even to the employees being encouraged, as if they had lost their minds.

He was so embarrassed he felt like he was digging a Barbie dream castle into the ground with his toes.

But it has to be done.

We must reach out to as many employees as possible before dawn!

Wu Wang, I hope you truly are our hero, and not the sinner who sent us all to the guillotine...

During the encouragement, Tie Jian's thoughts also returned to a few hours earlier.

He and Lao Fan and others sat at their workstations, nervously pretending to work.

When the bracelet received the notification from everyone, he subconsciously looked at Wu Wang.

It was probably the police department's intuition.

Even though the other person was still sitting at their workstation at that time, Tie Jian still felt that the accident at the talent incubation center was related to him.

This idea was only confirmed when the Smiling Man came to arrest and interrogate people.

A smiling woman, whom I've never seen before, walked straight towards me, bypassing the employees who had been inexplicably coughing three times at the same time during the day and were being interrogated.

I thought they were going to take me to a room in an office area for interrogation.

As it turned out, this person simply led himself into the restroom on the fourth floor...

And it's the women's restroom!

When the other party led him to the door, Tie Jian was so frightened that he almost turned around and ran away, fearing that it would cause some misunderstanding.

But as soon as the smiling woman opened her mouth, Tie Jian knew who she was.

"Oh, you're afraid I'll drag you inside and then falsely accuse you, huh? Don't worry, what I pull out is bigger than yours."

In this tense environment where everyone is on edge, Tie Jian has only ever met one person who can still joke and banter.

However, the other party was a man.

Looking at the smiling woman's curvaceous figure, he said incredulously, "You...you are Wu Wang?"

Sure enough, the other person nodded, and her beautiful face twisted and transformed into Wu Wang's face as he stared in disbelief.

Just two seconds later, it quickly reverted to a female face to prevent anyone else from noticing anything amiss. This was clearly not a method that could be explained by science, almost shattering Tie Jian's worldview.

No wonder this guy always laughs and jokes when facing pressure from the factory.

So he was cheating!

Afterwards, Wu Wang explained the factory's plans for a major cleanup.

Furthermore, it was explicitly stated that in addition to people with supernatural abilities like him being screened out, a large number of employees near inefficient assets would also be liquidated.

The fourth floor is definitely the hardest hit area.

According to Wu Wang, at least half of the employees here will be sent to the talent incubation center for disposal.

That's thousands of lives!

Even if they know that the Desire Factory has been around for countless years, the number of employees they have directly or indirectly dealt with is definitely more than this, possibly even tens of thousands.

However, the number of lives lost in theory is far less direct and shocking than the experience of disaster befalling oneself.

Tie Jian clenched his fist tightly.

He said through gritted teeth, "Do you have a solution? Not just one that lets us get away with it, but one that lets most of us get away with it."

To this, Wu Wang simply laughed and said, "Then what else would I be here for? This is what I do, buddy."

After saying that, he took two things out of his pocket.

One is a slightly dazzling rhomboid crystal.

One is an orange with a grayish-white sheen.

Wu Wang said, "I have already analyzed and modified these two things."

"Now you have two choices—"

“You can touch the crystals, and you will be enveloped by the intense desires and emotions within them. This will not affect you personally, but from the factory’s perspective, the value of your desires will become extremely high, as high as three or four stories.”

"In this way, the purge will definitely not eliminate you. In fact, since those employees upstairs who have never been in contact with me, the crystal, are far less valuable than you, you might even be able to rise rapidly in rank."

This is the only possible screening criterion that Wu Wang and Bai, after calculation, determined for the data model that the factory used to build the large-scale cleaning.

That is the value of desire.

Because the players are outsiders, their desire to buy items in the Wish Shop is far lower than that of ordinary employees, so the value of desire they can bring to the factory is pitifully low.

Using this as a standard, the difference between players and employees can be identified most quickly.

However, if the factory selects ordinary employees with similarly low value of desire, it will certainly get rid of them as well.

Instead of keeping these employees who can't provide much return, it's better to send them to a talent incubation center and squeeze out their last bit of value.

This is also why Wu Wang said the fourth level would be the hardest hit area.

"Then...the fourth level still exists, doesn't it?" Tie Jian's voice was somewhat low.

In response, Wu Wang raised an eyebrow and said, "Yes, but you'll definitely be fine."

Yes, if these people are transferred to work upstairs because of their high desires and values, then there will also be people upstairs who will break down and be transferred down because they cannot withstand the current high-pressure environment.

The fourth layer will not disappear.

It's just a different group of people.

Replace him with a new employee like him and a disillusioned person like Lao Fan, and replace the people upstairs who were once smug and used any means to climb the ladder.

That sounds pretty fair.

They might even feel a little secretly pleased.

"Don't rush, didn't I say there were two options?"

"You can also touch this gray orange that looks like it's about to rot."

"In that case, you will also be covered by the emotions it carries, except that what is covered here is the inefficient and unexploitable value of desire."

"Because it's already been squeezed and is almost turned to ash, it's waste produced by the factory itself. No matter how much screening and scanning is done, the only conclusion is that it's waste."

"I reckon it will immediately become an inefficient asset."

Upon hearing this, Tie Jian was completely dumbfounded.

He instinctively asked, "Then isn't that a sure way to die?"

Suddenly, Wu Wang's expression turned strange.

He revealed an extremely dangerous smile and said, "Yes, but it has another effect—it can also cover people who have had physical contact with you with this waste value, and the other party will also carry the spread effect."

"One tells ten, ten tell a hundred, a hundred tell a thousand."

"If the number of people infected is large enough, exceeding the factory's expectations, then it will be less likely to take action to eliminate you."

"After all, the factory still needs the desires of its employees as fuel to keep running; it can't afford to fire all its employees at once."

This plan caught Tie Jian's eye.

Yes! That way everyone will be safe and sound!

He almost immediately wanted to touch the grey orange.

However, his mind, honed by years of experience in handling cases, worked relatively quickly, and at the same time, he realized another crucial issue.

"What if... we don't reach the expected number?" Tie Jian asked hesitantly.

Yes, all of this is based on the premise that the number of employees the factory needs to handle exceeds the number it uses to operate itself.

If we don't reach that number in a short period of time.

And yet, they themselves become inefficient assets...

"Then you can only go and die."

Wu Wang's voice was completely flat.

To him, talking about death was as mundane as talking about what he was going to eat later.

At this moment, Wu Wang felt as if he were holding the red and blue pills from The Matrix.

Choosing the crystal is like swallowing a blue pill, continuing to indulge in the wonderful dreams created in the factory.

It can avoid all current threats.

Choosing the grey orange is like taking a red pill, signifying an awakening to confront harsh reality.

He risked his own life to make a desperate attempt to save everyone.

Tie Jian's expression suddenly became complicated, and he struggled to look up and stare directly into Wu Wang's eyes.

With slightly rapid breathing, he asked, "Why?"

Why did you present us with two completely opposite methods?

"If...if you only take the grey oranges..."

He had already guessed that Wu Wang would then approach other employees for the same conversation.

What Tie Jian couldn't understand was—

If Wu Wang had never revealed the crystal from beginning to end, only taken out the gray orange and concealed the risks... no, even if he had told the truth about the risks, he felt that there would still be someone willing to risk everything to save all of this.

For example, himself.

Tie Jian will not hesitate to take the gamble!

The emergence of crystallizable substances means that a seemingly better and more secure option for an individual has appeared.

This, however, caused him to waver slightly.

Should one protect oneself, or take the risk and try to change everything?

Human nature was put to the test at this moment.

In response, Wu Wang simply peeled a candy, popped it into his mouth, and looked at the group of employees sitting in their seats outside the door, trembling with fear.

He squinted and said, "Because I want you to make your own choice."

"A drowning person can't expect someone to come and rescue them forever. Maybe, driven by the will to survive, they'll frantically pull and thrash like a water ghost, eventually pushing the person trying to save them underwater?"

"The best way to get ashore is always to save yourself."

"If most of you just want to float on the water, waiting for the waves to be lucky enough to wash you ashore, then you can't blame anyone if the storm sweeps you away."

"I will watch you die, and then walk out alive."

"Now, make your choice."

Having said that, Wu Wang stretched out both hands forward at the same time.

Like a demon from hell flicking its tongue to bewitch people... (End of Chapter)