New Times, New Hell

Chapter 2 - Talking about Labour Laws with a Ghost

Translated by: Zryuu

Edited by: Playerprophet

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Yu Zhengu was stunned by the words spoken on the other end, and took a long time to snap out of his stupor. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you clearly. Could you repeat that for me?”

So the old man repeated himself, and solemnly emphasised, “Comrade, I’ve never committed any outrageous acts before, and even if I can’t become human, then I should at least be able to become a cow or a horse or the like? Why would I become a pig?”

Yu Zhengdu, “……”

Yu Zhengdu pondered for about half a minute, then replied in earnest, “Sir, this is our office number. Please don’t use it for a joke.”

After he finished speaking, he hung up and thought, is square dancingand egg sales not enough to satisfy the elderly these days?

While Yu Zhengdu sighed about how public morals were degenerating with each passing day, he went downstairs for lunch.

Lunch break ended, and his new colleagues silently reappeared in the office.

Yu Zhengdu didn’t take the prank call in the afternoon seriously. He searched for several resignation letter templates online and prepared to collate them to send to Lu Lingxi before leaving work.

While he wrote his resignation letter, he browsed his WeChat messages. Something interesting should have happened, since his class’ WeChat group chat was active.

Anti-baldness Alliance:

Zhang Qingqing:【Fellow classmates, I’ve gotten an offer from Ox Factory, in quality control】

Classmate A:【Wow, congrats】

Classmate B:【those who haven’t found a job yet wail in anguish】

Classmate C:【Wail in anguish +1, and also expressing envy of Qingqing】

Zhang Qingqing:【What’s there to be envious about? If you guys wanna envy someone it should be Zhengdu ba, he got the offer from Nova so early. That’s the true cosmic factory】

Zhu Yan:【_(:з」∠)_ truth. Also, Zhengdu is the only one from our major who got an offer from Nova this year】

Classmate A:【I think so】

Hou Guangzong:【Hehe, I don’t think so? I got an offer from Nova too. I reported to work a few days ago, but I didn’t see Zhengdu】

Classmate B:【Wow, Guangzong got an offer from Nova too? That’s so awesome】

Hou Guangzong:&#k3010;It’s okay, I was just lucky&#k3011;

Zhang Qingqing:&#k3010;Didn’t hear you mention it at all before this, you’ve been a bit low profile oh~&#k3011;

Zhu Yan:&#k3010;Eh, then what about Zhengdu? He obviously got it during the campus recruitment last year, I even saw his offer email&#k3011;

Classmate A:【@Yu Zhengdu, Summoning-no-jutsu, show yourself, Curve Wrecker!】

Yu Zhengdu looked up from the resignation letter he finished and saw that he had been @ dozens of times in the group chat. He quickly browsed through the conversation, and when he saw Hou Guangzong’s “Hehe, I don’t think so? I got an offer from Nova too”, he just thought it was a little amusing. But he didn’t bother giving them an explanation.

Yu Zhengdu:【Un, not going to the cosmic factory, changed to another company】

Cries of surprise resounded through the class chat. All his classmates inquired about the reason, and there were some who asked him which company he was working at now.

Yu Zhengdu ignored the first question, and was about to say that he was ready to resign from his new company when an old man with gray hair rushed into the office. His gaze swept across the room, then he stammered as he asked, “Excuse me, is this Luofeng Management?”

This mini company didn’t even have a front desk. Yu Zhengdu’s seat was close to the entrance, so he leaned across his desk and answered, “Yes, what can I do for you?”

“I’ve finally found the place.” The old man’s eyes were practically brimming with excitement. He strode forward, took his phone out and shoved it up in Yu Zhengdu’s face. “Comrade, my name is Chen Kang, I received your text this morning……”

Yu Zhengdu couldn’t snap out of his stupor for a while. He subconsciously glanced at the old man’s phone. All he could see was the enlarged font of a text message on the outdated phone.

【Dear customer, your reincarnation time has been arranged. Please wait in line at Fu City’s Ancient Well Reincarnation Checkpoint on the morning of March 20, 2018 for your reincarnation. Your queue number is 1022. According to your accumulated merits and demerits throughout this life, you will reincarnate into a pig in a livestock farm. Please cherish the time you have left. If you have any enquiries, please dial the number: 000-xxxxxx. Luofeng Life Management Consulting Co., Ltd.】

Yu Zhengdu, “……”

Yu Zhengdu, “?????”

He read the message in disbelief twice before reacting — the words spoken by the old man in his call actually wasn’t a senseless joke.

And what would this imply?

This implies that Luofeng Life Management company, where he was employed at, was a fraudulent company! And it’s the kind of despicable company that wouldn’t even spare the elderly!

And their swindling method was particularly crude. They actually deceived an old man into thinking that he would reincarnate into a pig?!

Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help but marvel that such scam techniques still existed. He pulled the old man toward the entrance while saying in a soft voice, “Old sir, this is a scam text, you musn’t believe it. Hurry and go home.”

But that old man wouldn’t listen to him and said repeatedly, “No no, I have to clarify this. I’m reincarnating tomorrow, this is no joke……”

Yu Zhengdu felt a bit helpless. He has seen a lot of elderly like Chen Kang on the news. Due to their lack of judgment and fear of death, they often believe such cheaters without any doubt, and some even go so far as to obey them without question.

And the person in front of him was a living example. Yu Zhengdu was about to drag Chen Kang outside to persuade him when someone from the consulting department discovered that something was happening. That person stood up and asked, “What happened?”

Yu Zhengdu quickly guarded Chen Kang by standing in front of him, “Nothing……”

Before he finished speaking, he heard Chen Kang shout in a hurry. “Comrade, there’s something wrong with my reincarnation text——”

Why can’t I stop this guy no matter what? Yu Zhengdu sighed. Now he just had to fight face to face with the evil forces. He was prepared to righteously condemn his colleagues when he felt a chill surge through his body. His vision blurred, and in the next second, he saw that Chen Kang had ran in front of him in an instant. His figure even seemed a little translucent.

Yu Zhengdu, “……??”

He was stunned for a moment before it dawned on him that Chen Kang had ran straight through his body.

Yu Zhengdu stared at Chen Kang running towards the consulting department in a daze, “Comrade, this is the text I received——”

The colleague from the consulting department welcomed him warmly. “Please show me your ID card.”

Chen Kang took out an ID card and handed it to him. The colleague verified it for him. “Please hold on for a minute, I’ll check your file.”

As he spoke, he moved the mouse and checked the information on his computer for awhile, then apologised to Chen Kang. “I’m really sorry, there was a bit of a problem with the formulas in the Life and Death Account which miscalculated your merits and demerits. According to your life experiences, you should reincarnate as a human in your next life, and you’ll be born into a rather well-to-do family.”

When Chen Kang heard this, he was overjoyed and said excitedly, “Really?”

That colleague nodded. “Really really. I just amended the result. I’ll send you another text later. Please feel at ease and go back to preparing for your reincarnation.”

Chen Kang thanked him endlessly for his kindness. After the two exchanged pleasantries for awhile, the colleague probably felt embarrassed and insisted on sending Chen Kang out of the company.

It’s just that, the two of them passed straight through the company’s door to leave.

Yu Zhengdu maintained a dazed expression as he witnessed the entire process. After he saw his colleague and Chen Kang pass through the wall together, he finally found a little bit of his voice and looked at his other colleagues. “Did you guys see that strange scene? Or was I hallucinating?”

His other colleagues looked up, and when they heard this, they all looked at one another before shaking their heads. “Nope, everything’s normal.”

Yu Zhengdu, “……”

After hearing the commotion outside, the beautiful and young boss Shang Que came out of his office to take a look. He asked, “What’s the matter?”

Yu Zhengdu turned around to look at him. Perhaps it was because he had suffered too big of a shock, but he now displayed exceptional calmness in the face of what he had just experienced. “Boss, I think I encountered a ghost.”

Right after he said this, the colleague who sent Chen Kang off came back. And of course, he returned by passing straight through the door.

No ripples could be seen on Yu Zhengdu’s face. He even tugged Shang Que’s sleeve rather forcefully. “Boss, did you see that?”

But all he saw was how Shang Que’s expression didn’t change in the slightest as he said to that colleague with displeasure, “Kang Jin, why are you passing through walls again? How many times have I told you that since we’re working in an office building in the human’s world, we have to seem more human. Don’t bring over your ghostly habits.”

That colleague didn’t expect to be caught on the spot by the boss, and he was so scared he almost lunged over straight away to hug his thigh. He shouted in horror, “Aaahhhhh boss! I didn’t do it on purpose, I just forgot about it in the moment. Please don’t eat me ah……”

Yu Zhengdu, “……”

Kang Jin was so frightened his ghostly apparition seemed to blur. It was only after he was reassured that the boss wouldn’t eat him before he sighed in relief and shrunk his neck back to return to his workstation.

Shang Que uttered a hng in dissatisfaction, then turned back to Yu Zhengdu and asked with the concern of a capitalist, “Isn’t it a little exciting?”

Yu Zhengdu flashed him a stiff smile that wasn’t lacking in manners. The boss’ words were really veiled, was this just a “little” exciting?

Shang Que explained without the slightest guilt, “Originally, I had intended to tell you the truth after you got used to the working environment……”

Yu Zhengdu looked at Shang Que’s face, so beautiful that it didn’t seem to belong to a mortal, and suddenly felt like this was all really absurd.

He thought that he should be afraid, but for some reason, he still had the energy to bargain. He asked, “Boss, can I quit?”

Shang Que stared at him silently. After a while, he said slowly, “You could have at first. We are a very humane company……”

When Yu Zhengdu heard this capitalist that might be a ghost or some other monster say the word ‘humane’, the sense of absurdity that overwhelmed him felt even stronger.

Shang Que rubbed his two thumbs together gently, “But you’ve already signed the labour contract. Before the contract expires, it’ll be better if you don’t quit……”

Yu Zhengdu was baffled, but he still struggled for his rights and interests. “According to the provisions of the Labour Law, even after signing the contract, employees can still resign at any time……”

He spoke without much confidence. A nagging sense of strangeness kept bothering him as he talked about labour laws with a ghost.

Shang Que shrugged. “There isn’t any problem according to the laws of the human world, but what you signed was a contract of the underworld. Look at it like signing a contract with ghosts. If you forcibly nullify it before completing the contents of the agreement, it’s very likely you’ll suffer a backlash.”

Yu Zhengdu bravely rebuked, “You guys did it on purpose ba. With that kind of clause, shouldn’t you notify the labourer before letting them sign the contract?’

Shang Que blinked. “Weren’t you the one who urgently requested for social security?”

Yu Zhengdu, “……”

Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help but diss, “Can such a……company get social security?”

The ellipses had concealed a few sensitive words.

Shang Que nodded as a matter of course and said seriously, “We are a proper company that has a file in the Industry and Commerce Bureau.”

Yu Zhengdu flipped out.

Socialism is too fucking amazing, even the ghosts are so hardcore.