Chapter 14

On the second floor, in the conference room.

Li Yi, Zhang Gao, Zhao Xiaoxiao, and six other cultivators came to apply for the position of guide.

Supervisor Xu Ming said: “This recruitment for guides is unusual, so everyone who comes will receive two contracts. You may decide which contract to sign based on its terms and requirements, but regardless of which contract you choose, you must also sign a confidentiality agreement.”

“This matter involves the employer’s privacy, and we hope you understand.”

After speaking, Xu Ming arranged for his assistant to distribute the two paper contracts.

Everyone took theirs and read them carefully.

Li Yi also flipped through his. His eyes widened at once: “Nine thousand yuan per hour? That’s an insane rate—but the work hours are long, and you must remain undisturbed for six hours straight. If you stop guiding for any personal reason, your entire six-hour wage is halved.”

“This is the first contract. Let’s see the second one.”

“The second contract is pay-per-unit? One hundred yuan for each unit of cosmic energy guided, no upper limit, six-hour shift, with breaks allowed.”

“This is really hard to choose,” Zhang Gao muttered beside him.

Someone immediately nodded in agreement: “Definitely tough. Fixed pay of nine thousand an hour is already high, but the per-unit pay could earn far more—if you’re lucky, you could make tens of thousands an hour. But if you’re unlucky, you might not even clear three thousand, because capturing cosmic energy leaks from wormholes is wildly unstable.”

“The fixed wage isn’t risk-free either. Six hours of meditative stillness tests a cultivator’s stability. If you break meditation, your pay halves—better to sign the second contract,” Zhao Xiaoxiao said.

“Each has pros and cons. It’s up to you all to decide.”

The seven exchanged murmurs.

Soon, someone signed: “I’m not gambling. I’m signing the first contract.”

“Makes sense. Stable pay matters to me. I’m signing the first too.”

Watching several sign rapidly, Zhang Gao asked: “Li Yi, which contract are you leaning toward?”

“The second.” Li Yi signed his name on the second contract without hesitation.

He possessed a strange artifact capable of guiding vast amounts of cosmic energy—he wouldn’t let this chance slip away.

And he wasn’t worried the artifact would be discovered.

The artifact’s incomplete energy field was too weak; even Lin Yue, who had stood so close to him before, hadn’t sensed it. Others wouldn’t either. Plus, during work hours, he could secretly cultivate—double benefit.

The contract also stated that meals and lodging were provided during employment.

Seeing Li Yi’s decisiveness, Zhang Gao hesitated, then chose the first contract.

“Forget it. I’m not taking risks. I’ll take the first contract,” Zhao Xiaoxiao said, seeing most had decided. After a moment’s thought, she signed the first contract too.

Of the seven, only Li Yi chose the second contract. Everyone else chose the first.

After signing, Xu Ming said: “Your dorms are on the third floor. Each of you will get a private suite. Work hours are from midnight to six a.m. I’ll notify you half an hour in advance—be ready. Pay is daily, paid in cash. Please understand.”

Then, Xu Ming arranged for his assistant to guide everyone to their dorms to rest before work began that night.

Soon, Li Yi was assigned to Room Four.

The room was spacious, bright, clean, and tidy—far better than his home in the old district.

But he couldn’t stay long. Every few days, he had to return home, because his parents still lay in the medical pod, and he needed to occasionally replace their nutrient solution.

Still, he wasn’t worried about problems at home.

He’d installed cameras there, allowing real-time monitoring via his phone. The medical pod also had dedicated monitoring software to track its status. If an emergency arose, his phone would alert him immediately.

“It’s two p.m. Work starts at midnight. I can meditate a bit during this time—and get a free dinner too.” Li Yi planned meticulously, maximizing every spare moment.

But as he prepared to meditate—

Suddenly—

“Thud! Thud!”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Is Li Yi in?” Zhao Xiaoxiao’s voice came from outside.

“I’m here.” Li Yi opened the door to find Zhao Xiaoxiao and several unfamiliar cultivators standing there.

“You’re Li Yi, right? Hi, I’m Wu Zhen. We met earlier,” said a young man around twenty-five or twenty-six, with a shaved head, a white short-sleeve shirt, and a muscular build—radiating strong aggression.

“Hello. What do you want?” Li Yi nodded.

“We heard through Zhao Xiaoxiao that you signed the second contract in the meeting room,” Wu Zhen said.

Li Yi replied: “Yes. I think the second contract suits me better. Is there a problem?”

Wu Zhen smiled: “No problem at all. I just wanted to warn you in advance. You know, guiding cosmic energy is unstable—sometimes there’s a lot, sometimes very little. I’ve calculated that, on average, a cultivator can guide about sixty units per hour while meditating.”

“So we’ve reached an agreement: we’ll each cap our guiding at that average during every hour. That way, the employer won’t suspect we’re slacking, and we can sneak in some cultivation time—double benefit.”

“What number did you settle on?” Li Yi asked.

Zhao Xiaoxiao added: “Given how important this job is, we set it at around seventy, with a ten-unit buffer. What do you think, Li Yi?”

“So you’re telling me I can’t guide more than eighty units per hour?” Li Yi finally understood their intent.

“Exactly,” Wu Zhen nodded. “Since your contract differs from ours, I thought it best to let you know.”

“If I cap at eighty units per hour, my hourly wage drops to eight thousand. You’re getting nine thousand. That means I lose a thousand per hour,” Li Yi said.

Zhao Xiaoxiao replied: “Li Yi, don’t look at it that way. You gain extra time to cultivate—it’s a win-win.”

“To you, it’s a win-win. To me, it’s a loss. I’m desperate for money—I need to save a large sum quickly. This kind of pay-per-unit job doesn’t come often. I got this one only through a friend’s connection. I refuse your proposal.”

Li Yi rejected their plan outright.

“No room for negotiation?” Wu Zhen’s eyes narrowed, a faint glint flashing within.

Li Yi said: “I understand you want to slack off and collect pay. But I want to advance. Why else would I sign the second contract? I’m taking the risk too—if I guide fewer than ten units in an hour, I lose everything myself.”

“I’m betting my luck won’t fail—that I’ll hit a massive cosmic energy surge and earn a fortune quickly. If I follow your limits, when I’m unlucky, I lose on my own. When I’m lucky, I’m capped at eighty—watching money slip away. Either way, I lose. So... no negotiation.”

He stared intently at Wu Zhen.

Rejected twice, Wu Zhen, Zhao Xiaoxiao, and the others’ expressions darkened.

“What if I ask you to agree? Can’t you give us some face?”

Wu Zhen extended his muscular arm and placed it on Li Yi’s shoulder, his eyes locked onto him—no longer mere glares, but predatory glints.

Threat. Unmasked.

The others watched Li Yi in silence.

“I don’t want trouble.”

Li Yi glanced at the arm on his shoulder—he felt the palm tightening, increasing pressure.

Wu Zhen smiled: “We’re all out here for money. We don’t want to escalate things.”

Li Yi’s face remained expressionless: “Fine. I’ll give you face. I’ll agree to your terms. But next time you need something—will you give me face too?”

“Of course.”

Wu Zhen burst into laughter, clapping Li Yi’s shoulder: “Thanks, friend.”

The others exhaled in relief, seeing Li Yi had conceded.

“Li Yi, rest well. We won’t disturb you. Thank you for your understanding,” Zhao Xiaoxiao smiled.

“Let’s go.” The group, having achieved their goal, dispersed.

“Wu Zhen.”

But as they turned and took only a few steps, Li Yi’s voice rang out.

“What?” Wu Zhen turned instinctively.

The next instant, his face paled. Li Yi’s figure blurred forward—suddenly right before him. Then, a crushing force struck his waist.

“Crash!”

Wu Zhen flew backward, rolled several times, and slammed into the corridor wall.

“You dared ambush me? You’re asking for death!” He snapped back to awareness, fury surging—he instinctively rose to attack.

“Wu Zhen, watch out!” Someone suddenly shouted.

Instantly, Li Yi’s form surged forward again.

Wu Zhen’s pupils shrank. He saw a knee hurtling toward his face.

“Crash!”

A dull, heavy impact. Blood sprayed from Wu Zhen’s nose. His head slammed into the wall behind him. Dizziness overwhelmed him.

Before he could recover, another knee struck.

“I’ll kill you... Crash!”

Third knee. Fourth. Wu Zhen’s mind reeled. He felt hair yanked, his skull repeatedly crushed by relentless knee strikes.

“Stop... stop...”

Pain and vertigo robbed him of any counterattack. He raised his hands instinctively to block.

But Li Yi’s face was blank. He held Wu Zhen’s hair and kept striking.

The cultivator’s enhanced physique and explosive power turned his knee into a sledgehammer, hammering Wu Zhen’s body.

Zhao Xiaoxiao and the others stood frozen, silent, too terrified to intervene.

At this moment, Li Yi didn’t look human—he looked like a beast fighting for food, terrifying to behold.

Was this what happened when a quiet man snapped?

Or was this his true nature?