Then, "ding-ling-ling," the phone rang.
Li Pan was stunned for a moment and touched his ear.
"Ding-ling-ling."
Indeed, the phone was ringing...
But hey, could this kind of landline ring without a phone line?
Or was it actually a communicator, deliberately designed in a retro style?
A phone disguised as... a phone?
Are these rich folks really that bored???
Impatient, Li Pan reached out for the phone and picked it up, looking up for a camera,
"Hello, is this M Company? I'm here for the job, didn't Big Bear contact you? What kind of test is this?"
Then he heard a very familiar voice on the other line saying to him,
"Pick up the phone, come in."
A door opened.
"Hello? Hello? Who are you? What's with all the secrecy? Should I leave the gun at the reception?"
"Who's with all the secrecy, should I leave the gun at the reception..."
Li Pan shouted twice and like a crossed line, he could only hear his own echo; presumably, the person on the other end had cut the communication. Not wanting to keep waiting there, he shrugged, hung up the phone, and holding it in his hand, walked inside. After a few steps, it suddenly dawned on him.
Wait, the man on the other end of the line just now... That sounded like his own voice. Could it be...
Tsk, even voice print is imitated, and you say it's not a prank test. Probably during hiring, hackers have investigated everything up to my ancestors eight generations back, in fear of letting a spy or secret agent into the premises. These corporate dogs are really cautious in their actions.
So, carrying the phone, Li Pan went through that door and entered the company's interior, only to see utter darkness on both sides of the corridor, completely empty, as if suddenly he was in the void, surrounded by neither glass nor walls, only lit by the dim light overhead, like stars guiding him further into the depths of a dark universe.
It might have been an illusion brought about by the darkness, but Li Pan felt that the space inside here far exceeded the building itself.
Yet Li Pan quickly shook his head, pulling himself out of the illusion of space.
After all, he was very self-aware; he was just a provincial earthling who had crossed over from the countryside, and he had long since become accustomed to all sorts of high-tech from various earths in the Otherworld, not to mention that there were hundreds more impressive earths above 0791. Nothing to fuss about.
Thus, Li Pan followed the guiding lights, making his way to the end of the corridor.
At the end of the corridor was a door with a nameplate that read 'General Manager's Office.'
Freaking hell, this hands-on approach. A warehouse hiring an intern even needs the general manager to conduct the interview?
"Manager, hello, I am Li Pan here for the interview."
Li Pan knocked casually, and the door opened.
He went in and saw the typical big office you'd see in TV dramas, with the enterprise park's panorama view through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the B Twin Towers and the restaurant and swimming pool below the overpass in the distance—all pretty normal for an office.
"Manager?"
The chair behind the office desk was facing the side of the window. Li Pan called out twice and went over, but there was still no one in the chair.
Damn it, what's the deal??
"Ding-ling-ling."
"What the heck?"
Then the person on the phone, using Li Pan's own voice, said to him,
"Lift the nameplate on the desk, don't put it on the suit."
Nameplate?
Then he saw the nameplate placed right at the center of the desk, the size of a playing card.
'TheM company
0791 Branch
General Manager
Li Pan
Internal line 0791001'
What the heck? Taking the prank this far is a bit much, isn't it? Ah, it couldn't be that reality TV program, could it? The one where they give poor people a few million pretending they won a lottery to experience life, and then, once the show is over, take the money back and leave that poor sod in debt forever...
The voice on the phone started up again,
"The General Manager has the right to enter all rooms.
The General Manager has the right to use the filing cabinet.
The General Manager has the right to use the fax.
The General Manager has the right to use the landline.
The General Manager has the right to order suits.
The General Manager has the right to turn off the lights..."
"Hey hey hey, what's all this nonsense? I came to check the warehouse! I'm not here to apply for the General Manager! Try to mess with me, and I'll destroy you!"
The phone kept talking regardless,
"If the General Manager is deleted, the role will be taken by the next in rank among the official employees.
If all official employees are deleted, an intern will act as the General Manager.
If the whole company is deleted, a General Manager will be randomly chosen off the street.
THEM, the Monster Company, cannot be without a General Manager."
"...the company... cannot be without a General Manager..."
This time the echo came from Li Pan's own mouth.
"Wait, deleted, you mean... died? What about Big Bear..."
Li Pan instinctively tried to call out the system to reach the other party, but found that the name had disappeared from his contacts.
Deleted
From the phone, 'his' voice came through, without a trace of fluctuation.
"TheM, 0791 subsidiary, all official employees have been deleted.
Li Pan, the only intern, is elected to act as the interim General Manager.
Pick up the nameplate on the desk, don't put it on the suit."