In a whitewashed office, two men, one in a lab coat and another dressed in semi-formal with an office tag hung around his neck sat with the same file opened on both their devices. Their expressions were serious and from the looks of it, they were going through someone's detailed records. To be more precise they were more than one person's.
The man wearing a lab coat had a nameplate on his desk written Yan Jing, research assistant. The air around him ascertained his prestigious position that the manager couldn't help but reduce his own presence lest he attracts unnecessary attention.
"And Candidate two?" asked Yan Jing while scrolling through the information but the man he was speaking to didn't respond. He raised his head and said again in an almost impatient tone, "Candidate number two."
The man was so immersed in his fear of this research assistant that he blanked out for a moment. Having been brought back to earth by that terrifying voice he stammered, "Uh, Fe-Fen Hao. He.... ahem, um climbed ten ranks up in the pa-past few months and suc-suceeded to um..... ah, complete the upgrade...."
The man quieted down after that, waiting for a response but the research assistant was looking at him with a WTF expression.
Yan Jing leaned in closer and said, "Manager Tang do you have a speech disorder? Because if you do our company's medical insurance covers a speech language pathologist..... So how about you take some time off indefinitely," said Yan Jing with his soft-spoken words not coming from a place of concern.
The temperature lowered in the office that closely resembled a psychiatric ward but manager Tang was sweating bullets. He heard rumours that the head researcher was even more terrifying than Yan Jing which made him grateful that he was dealing with him rather than his boss.
He hurriedly shook his head and forced himself to calm down so as not to anger this over Lord. "His um.... his medical records show he is in excellent shape but the only problem is that his, his family or rather his uncle owns a major cooperation which means he might not fit the recommended criteria."
Yan Jing didn't respond going through the finer details. There was an urgent need of new recruits with great potential and this Fen Hao fit the bill but his family might pose a problem. He decided to have someone investigate Fen Hao's personal life after this so he said, "Candidate three," while opening up a new folder.
"Um.... that's Jin Lin ranked first in the Asian server. His estrangement to both his parents and his medical records make him a perfect candidate but he is associated with subject x," said the manager feeling like today wasn't his best day.
The only subjects that managed to complete the upgraded dungeon didn't fit the selection criteria all but one. Only the heavens know how excited he was when he saw Jin Lin's profile. The boy was the perfect candidate only to find out that he was related to Jin Chen.
At the mention of subject x, Yan Jing raised his head with a bleak expression. Subject X a.k.a. Jin Chen was a legend among legends and one of their biggest assets. He felt like this decision was above him so he immediately stood up and said, "I will discuss this with the professor," before exiting the office.
The suffocating pressure in the room instantly vanished with the disappearance of Yan Jing. Manager Tang exhaled deeply while patting his chest. Just as he calmed his palpitating heart, Yan Jing took a U-turn back to the office door almost giving this manager a heart attack.
"Manager Tang, this is my office so...," said Yan Jing scaring the manager so much that he almost dropped the tablet in his hand.
He hurriedly got up and gathered his things while apologizing profusely. "So-sorry I, I will go. Sorry, sorry," he said dashing out of the office as though afraid he would turn back into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight. He didn't dare think of himself as Cinderella in the scenario but the carriage slash Halloween pumpkin.
Yan Jing naturally didn't know Manager Tang had been scared so much by him resulting in a drastic reduction in IQ. What does a damsel waiting for a man to rescue her when she had a fully functional brain and mouth have to do with this?
Yan Jing walked down the corridor after getting rid of manager Tang. He was heading to the professor's office which was at the far end of the corridor. Professor Z as they called him was a reclusive character with an eerie air around him twenty-four seven.
He was a genius among his peers but rumour had it that he lost face when his unethical practices were exposed to the world though Yan Jing wasn't one to judge. Besides what they were doing here was highly unethical so it really didn't matter.
The further he went down the corridor the quieter it became with zero coworkers roaming around. This was the professor's personal space which meant no one was allowed to aimlessly walk around near his office.
This was a silent rule that was easy to follow because no one wanted their head chewed off by the grumpy old man grouchier than the grinch.
Even Yan Jing had to prepare himself mentally and emotionally before entering Professor Z's office. The sound of his shoes echoed along the corridor overly dramatizing his current predicament.
He inhaled and exhaled deeply before swiping his access card to open the door. His heart jolted as though struck by lightning only that it wasn't lightning that scared him but the extreme darkness in the research lab with the only source of light being a flickering fluorescent light. The entire lab was silent making Yan Jing want to walk back out.
He felt like the first character to die in a horror movie the longer he stuck around. The hair at his nape rose as he softly called out to the professor.
He was about to turn back on his heels when he heard a loud sound of a body smashing against the bulletproof glass. His footsteps paused fearing he would piss his pants if he walked any further. Whatever it was it must be big to make such loud noises. Yan Jing was even beginning to think that thing must have eaten the professor.
Bam! Bam!..... Bam!