Before 5 p.m., Wen Xirou and the others finally completed the task assigned by the head of the Cleaning Department—clearing the lawn.
Recalling that Wan Qian had been absent during lunch, Wen Xirou clenched the severed finger and ring in her pocket, her concern deepening.
If Wan Qian had truly met with misfortune, she would have no choice but to hand over the severed finger and ring to the head of the Cleaning Department.
Perhaps, with this, she could also use this to obtain some clues.
The head of the Cleaning Department walked near the lawn and, upon seeing the neatly trimmed grass, revealed a satisfied expression.
"You did well."
The three of them, relieved by the praise, exhaled. Finishing their work meant they wouldn't have to worry about being kept for overtime.
After all, Farm Employee Code of Conduct, Rule 1 : "Overtime culture is not encouraged here, and employees are expected to leave work on time."
However, Farm Employee Code of Conduct, Rule 3 : "If they cannot meet the deadline, they may request overtime from their supervisor."
These two rules seemed contradictory—perhaps one of them was fake. Wen Xirou had no way of telling.
From a corporate perspective, overtime for employees was often the norm. But what if the farm owner deliberately went against the norm and hated employees working overtime?
Still, there was a loophole—if they ensured their tasks were completed on time, they wouldn't have to worry about violating either rule.
Unfortunately, this head of the Cleaning Department had no intention of letting them off so easily. He pointed to another patch of lawn nearby.
"You've all familiarized yourselves with the work today. Tomorrow, each of you will clean one lawn by yourselves."
The moment those words fell, the fat man couldn't help but speak up.
"Each person gets one? How is that even possible?"
Today, it had taken all three of them working together to barely finish this lawn before the end of the workday.
"Heh." The head of the Cleaning Department sneered at him. "Maybe you can find someone willing to swap jobs with you. Or perhaps you could get a leave permit from the farm owner. On your leave day, you won't have to work."
Getting a leave permit meant facing the ultimate boss of this haunted realm—the farm owner. Anyone with half a brain could guess how dangerous that would be.
Wu Hao immediately dismissed that option and decided to find someone to swap jobs with instead.
During dinner, Wu Hao asked the glasses-wearing man about his work.
"I work at the rice production base. It's full of toads. I just feed them and collect the rice grains that squeeze out of their pustules," the glasses-wearing man said honestly. Wu Hao listened, feeling somewhat nauseous, but he still thought it was far easier than his own seemingly impossible task.
"We'll switch jobs," Wu Hao said.
At dinner, Wan Qian was still eating in the office. Wen Xirou didn't see her in the cafeteria, and her anxiety grew. She counted and realized that not only was Wan Qian missing, but another intern was also absent.
Xiao Lin pulled Wen Xirou to sit at a table with Tian Fang.
"Has your roommate not come back yet?" Tian Fang noticed that Wan Qian was absent and asked.
Wen Xirou nodded slightly, unable to hide her worry.
"Yes, she was assigned to clean the farm owner's office this morning."
Tian Fang immediately thought that it was highly unlikely Wan Qian would return. But seeing Wen Xirou so anxious, she didn't say anything directly. Instead, she mentioned the other missing intern.
"The other one, she was assigned to clean the warehouse. While cleaning, she couldn't hold it in and went to the bathroom.
That guy who calls himself the head of the Cleaning Department noticed she had left her post, so after work, he kept her behind."
As she spoke, Tian Fang looked in the direction of Wu Hao and the others and asked, "What's going on with them?"
Wen Xirou turned her head and saw Wu Hao pressuring the glasses-wearing man and the fatty to switch jobs.
She didn't hide anything and honestly explained what the head of the Cleaning Department had said before the end of the workday.
Tian Fang frowned. In a thriller world filled with so many ghosts and monsters, it was crucial that players didn't turn against each other. Dealing with ghosts and monsters is exhausting enough, but having to worry about betrayal from within the group only increases the difficulty.
Liu Wen sneered, "Does he think changing jobs will make him safe?"
If the lawn-cleaning task couldn't be completed tomorrow, the glasses-wearing man and the fatty, who shared a dorm with Wu Hao, would be in trouble. By then, if Wu Hao was left alone in the dorm, he would also be violating the dormitory rules.
Wen Xirou didn't pay much attention to Wu Hao's situation. She was still worried about Wan Qian's safety. After finishing her instant noodles for dinner, she dragged Xiao Lin back to the dorm. To her surprise, when she opened the door, she found Wan Qian sitting on her bed.
"Thank God! Big shot, I'm so glad you're okay."
"I'm okay? Of course, I'm fine," Wan Qian said, confused.
Wen Xirou was so relieved that she almost cried. She hurriedly took a few steps towards Wan Qian, inspecting her from head to toe to see if anything was wrong. Fortunately, there was nothing amiss—no missing arms or legs, her eyes and ears were still intact, and none of her fingers were gone.
Wen Xirou even wanted to take off Wan Qian's shoes to check her toes, but fortunately, Wan Qian stopped her in time.
Big Shot is truly a big shot. After going through such dangerous situations, she was still so calm. Wen Xirou let out a sigh of relief but also felt a little ashamed.
She needed to learn from Big Shot, to have the kind of unshakable presence that remains calm even when faced with overwhelming fear.
Thinking back to how terrified she had been in front of that woman in the red dress earlier, Wen Xirou silently scolded herself.