"Next stop: Zebra Avenue, Dawn District."
"Passengers alighting, please prepare in advance. Mind the pedestrians and vehicles on both sides of the track..."
A sweet female voice chimed from the car's broadcast system.
Wang Xi looked up at the sound and glanced at the indicator screen. Cupid Housekeeping was located in the Dawn District, right at the end of Zebra Avenue.
So, he rose from his seat.
Soon, the railcar slowed to a stop. With a PFFT, the tempered glass doors slid open.
Wang Xi disembarked with a few other passengers.
The moment he stepped onto the platform, he noticed a group of people kneeling in the shadow of a round stone pillar.
They were men and women, mostly elderly or disabled, all wearing identical gray uniforms. They were prostrated, faces down, with their hands clasped and stretched forward in a begging gesture.
But instead of steel bowls, they held illuminated signs with QR codes.
This was a group of "Beggars."
Every era had them, but this one had an especially large number.
Disasters were frequent in the New World, and the average person's ability to withstand accidents was generally low. Although the government had some welfare systems in place, they couldn't keep up with the sheer number of people needing aid.
Countless people had their families torn apart or went bankrupt overnight. According to the laws of the Mountain and Sea Federation, those with nowhere left to turn could apply to beg in designated areas.
Wang Xi walked along the platform.
The beggars raised their heads one after another. Upon seeing the young man in a suit, they all revealed looks of supplication.
But none of them pleaded aloud; they just watched Wang Xi in silence. According to regulations, beggars were not allowed to ask for money verbally, or they would lose their begging permits.
Wang Xi looked at them, feeling their gazes—some hopeful, some desperate, some numb—and it left a sour taste in his mouth.
'They're all pitiful people, but there's nothing I can do.'
He sighed to himself.
"Sorry."
Wang Xi murmured under his breath, turning his head away as he quickened his pace.
The hope on the beggars' faces gradually faded into disappointment, and their eyes dimmed.
"Xuanxuan is hungry."
A little girl lying on the ground whispered. She was missing a foot and looked like a broken doll.
A white-haired old woman beside her quickly reached out, stroked the girl's head, and then put a finger to her lips.
"Shh, be a good girl, Xuanxuan. Don't talk."
The old woman comforted her:
"Remember the quiet game? If you don't talk, you'll get a sweet bun to eat."
"Mhm!"
The little girl quickly covered her mouth.
The old woman was amused by her granddaughter, her wrinkles bunching together as she smiled.
She looked toward the platform's walkway again, hoping for a handout. But the pedestrians hurried by, weaving through the morning sunlight, without sparing them a single glance.
The old woman sighed inwardly, hugging the girl as they huddled in the shadows.
Just then, a figure quickly walked back toward them.
BEEP!
The old woman and the girl looked up to see the young man from before standing in front of them. He was holding his phone and had just scanned their wooden sign.
On Wang Xi's phone, the detailed information and official certification for the girl and the old woman appeared.
The grandmother and granddaughter had suffered a disaster half a year ago. The girl's grandfather and parents had died, leaving them to become beggars.
Wang Xi silently transferred 200 Credit Points.
He then turned to look at the other beggars and scanned their codes one by one. Their information appeared on his phone; most had lost their families and were displaced.
Wang Xi transferred the last few hundred Credit Points in his account. It wasn't much, and each beggar only received seventy or eighty points, but their faces all showed gratitude.
Because it meant they could afford a few full meals.
Wang Xi didn't interact with the beggars. After giving them a kind and encouraging smile, he turned and left.
"Big brother! Thank you!"
Just then, the little girl called out to Wang Xi's retreating back. But she quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, looking annoyed with herself, as if worried that she had lost the quiet game and would go hungry.
Wang Xi didn't turn around, but the corners of his mouth lifted into a slight smile.
'One can't please everyone, but at least I can have a clear conscience.'
Though his last bit of money was gone, he felt at ease. Besides, he had been hired by the company, so he didn't need to worry about where his next meal would come from.
'These beggars are trapped by the struggle for survival. It's only right to help them when I can.'
…
…
Cupid Housekeeping had its own separate office building.
The tan-brown building was surrounded by a wall and iron fence. Inside, it had a lawn, a concrete plaza, and a parking lot—the whole setup was quite impressive.
After having his identity verified by the gate guard, Wang Xi went inside.
He crossed a long stone-paved path and entered the building directly.
But to his surprise, the office building seemed empty. In the magnificent lobby, only a single young woman in a black uniform dress sat at the reception desk.
"Hello, I'm here for my first day of work."
Wang Xi walked up to the reception desk and spoke politely to the young woman.
The girl had bobbed black hair and wore smoky eye makeup, giving her a rebellious vibe. But judging by her features, she was naturally quite attractive.
A work ID hung from her chest.
The name on it was "Jiali."
"You're Wang Xi, right? Fill these out."
The girl didn't even look up as she casually tossed a file onto the desk. Her eyes were glued to her phone, and she was cracking melon seeds with her teeth.
Faintly, Wang Xi could hear a man's magnetic voice coming from her phone:
"We've broken twenty thousand viewers in the livestream, my dear stinkers! Smash that follow button and give a thumbs-up, and we'll head into the Maze..."
Wang Xi then saw the girl cracking melon seeds with one hand while her other hand frantically tapped the phone screen, moving so fast it became a blur, making a soft PFFT PFFT sound.
He averted his astonished gaze, silently picked up the pen, and began filling out his information on the documents.
SCRITCH SCRATCH SCRITCH.
Before long, Wang Xi put down the pen.
"Here."
He handed the file over.
Jiali still didn't look up. Without even glancing at the file, she deftly stuffed it into a drawer and made a call on the landline.
After hanging up, the girl said simply:
"Wait here. Someone will come to collect you."
'Collect me?'
Wang Xi froze.
'Am I a pet dog, waiting to be collected...?'
"Miss Jiali, may I ask what my position is?"
Wang Xi asked.
The girl, still staring at her phone, replied:
"That depends on who comes to collect you."
"...Alright."
Wang Xi raised an eyebrow.
He hadn't expected Cupid Housekeeping to be so strange. Job assignments were this arbitrary?
The wait was terribly boring, so he looked around, observing the lobby's environment.
Soon, a large poster hanging behind the girl caught Wang Xi's attention. It featured photos of a dozen or so men and women, all wearing professional smiles.
"Miss Jiali, are these the company's employees?"
Wang Xi asked curiously.
The girl grunted in affirmation and replied:
"The star employees from each department."
"Star employees?" Wang Xi asked tentatively. "The bonus must be pretty high, right? Would you mind telling me how much?"
He was now penniless and quite interested in the matter.
"Nothing to hide," Jiali said casually, spitting out a melon seed shell. "I think it's a million."
'How much? A million!'
Wang Xi was stunned.
'The benefits at Cupid Housekeeping are even better than I imagined...'
His heart began to burn with excitement.
"Are the star employees selected based on performance?"
Wang Xi asked again.
As a former product manager, he was quite confident when it came to performance metrics.
But Jiali waved her hand dismissively.
"Not based on performance." For the first time, the girl lifted her gaze and looked at Wang Xi coolly. "You just have to die in the line of duty."
"..."
The smile froze on Wang Xi's face.
'Holy crap!'
'That's not some wall of honor! It's clearly a row of memorial photos!'
'No wonder it's a million!'
'Of course the compensation payment is high!'
"Ah, by the way."
As if suddenly remembering something, Wang Xi's eyes lit up, and he raised an index finger.
"I think I left my front door unlocked..."
"You've already signed the employment agreement. If you quit unilaterally, you'll have to pay a penalty of two hundred thousand Credit Points."
Jiali said flatly.
"..."
Wang Xi slowly lowered his hand, his face ashen.
He had actually seen that clause when he was signing the papers just now, but he hadn't thought anything of it at the time.
'Who knew working here could get you killed!'
Forget two hundred thousand Credit Points, he couldn't even come up with twenty right now.
"Don't look so miserable. In this day and age, what high-paying job isn't dangerous?"
Jiali scoffed and tossed her phone aside.
CLANG!
The phone landed on the desk.
Wang Xi's gaze fell upon it, and he saw the livestream on the screen tilt, a huge face pressed close to the camera—
It was a handsome young man.
But at this moment, his face was contorted, his eyes rolling back in his head. His severed head was being held by an unnaturally tall, slender figure in a suit, its neck broken and dripping with blood.
At the slender figure's feet lay several mangled corpses, all of them decapitated. The scene was horrifying.
The dark figure clutched the head, its back to the camera, and ducked through a doorway, disappearing into a dim and dilapidated corridor...
Wang Xi's pupils contracted.
'What the hell? This is a livestream?!'
The bullet comments flew across the screen, and he vaguely glimpsed a few:
"A bunch of amateur Heroes, they actually dared to enter a Maze!"
"Holy crap, they say Zhao Zilong was full of courage, but this group was full of Zhao Zilongs... Six people, all amateurs, with less than ten Cards between them. See? A total party wipe."
"Cut them some slack. At least the streamer and his crew sacrificed themselves for the order of the New World."
"LMAO, just a bunch of scumbags risking their lives for cash."
"The Overlook Bureau should raise the application standards for Mazes."
"Tipping three incense sticks. RIP, streamer."
"..."
Wang Xi stared blankly at the phone screen.
Just then, Jiali propped an elbow on the desk, rested her chin in her hand, tilted her head, and said with a teasing look:
"Fresh graduate? You get in through connections?"
Wang Xi gave an embarrassed smile.
The girl didn't continue with her sharp tongue. Instead, she said:
"Just a friendly reminder: be extra careful when you're out on a job. Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. Even if the Defense Team has already given the all-clear, any kind of accident can still happen..."
"See? Our colleagues on the wall are a cautionary tale."
The girl pointed behind her and smiled faintly.
"Also, shower and disinfect often, exercise more, and improve your strength if you can... If you weren't decent-looking, I wouldn't even bother telling you this."
"Alright, the person here to collect you has arrived."
Following Jiali's gaze, Wang Xi turned around.
A heavyset man in a sharp suit had entered the lobby and was walking over quickly.
"You must be Wang Xi!"
The fat man said with a wide smile, extending his hand.
"I'm the deputy manager of the Cleaning Department, Lin Zhifeng. You can just call me Brother Lin from now on."
"Brother Lin."
Wang Xi reached out and shook his hand.
Lin Zhifeng clapped him on the shoulder and smiled.
"You may have just started, but management has an urgent task. Come with me."