Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 46: Salted Fish Survival Guide (Three more updates, please follow)

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Salted Fish Survival Guide (Three more updates, please follow)

In recent years, work stress has surged dramatically, and the ecosystem for salted fishes like me has become increasingly hostile.

Tang Qianqian, who aspired to be the Salted Fish King since childhood, has summed up an entire set of tips for slacking off, especially in the workplace. One must be mindful of the environment when slacking off. If you just sprawl out on the floor without a care from the get-go, not only will you fail to slack off, but you’ll be immediately commanded by the company to pack up and leave.

Therefore, the first step in a new environment is to find one or several reliable "big legs" to cling to—more importantly, these "big legs" are kind-hearted and willing to guide these poor, weak, and helpless little fishlings.

However, according to her recent observations, the structure of this industry is quite peculiar.

Apart from the reliable and unfathomably powerful senior, everyone else could only be described as preschoolers on a kiddie bus. Even their nominal boss, Mr. Da Jiang, whose Life Energy is only 2, had died once not long ago.

Perhaps over 99% of the intensity in Yunlong City’s industry is concentrated on that single senior.

So although her own Life Energy was on par with Mr. Da Jiang’s, since his battle record was 0/1/0, she currently had a slight edge over him and had made it into the top three of Yunlong City’s industry.

Her battle with the Red-eyed Demon, being not a matter of life and death, had yet to be included in the record.

This position was terrifying.

Tang Qianqian never dreamed that one day she would bear the heavyweight title of one of the industry’s top three tycoons.

She couldn’t be happy about it at all; it was far too dangerous.

If the industry were to experience turmoil, resulting in situations like "immediately entering the battlefield without even a moment of mourning for xx’s death," then she would be next in line to warm up.

If she gave her own life at Congyun Hotel this time, she could simultaneously rid herself of the "top three" label.

Then, both she and Mr. Da Jiang would have a record of 0/1/0, but Mr. Da Jiang would precede her in warming up due to his seniority and leadership role.

For her salted fish life to flow smoothly, a strong team was essential. The ideal scenario would be the senior and Yang Ping, who had recently been promoted to professor, leading the chaos ahead while she could satisfactorily complete her tasks with just a few "quacks."

Therefore, it wasn’t time to lie down yet.

Just like before she was smoothly recommended for an internship at the Extraterrestrials’ company, she was forced to forge a path for herself.

Especially in such an industry, where manpower was already extremely limited, each person had to play some role in the early stages of the venture.

Today was yet another day of being forced to try hard.

"You’ve come at just the right time; I’ve just heard some news from the paranormal enthusiasts."

Tang Qianqian said, "Almost all ghost stories about Congyun Hotel share one thing in common—their ultimate purpose is to create a certain monster or to add to the hotel’s mechanisms."

She had also carefully read through the condensed material sent by Jiuyue, in which the senior had thoughtfully summarized the "rules" corresponding to each ghost story. However, during the reading, she developed a question.

How did these dominant and recessive relationships come about?

Why would the people in the portrait paintings restrain each other, and why would Mr. Qian Congyun of Congyun Hotel be scared of the eyeless ghost weeping blood in the mirror?

This phenomenon is different from natural occurrences such as water beats fire, fire beats grass, and ice beats flying.

The deeper content was not answered in the records or ghost stories.

"I became friends with the paranormal enthusiasts in the hotel by treating them to several ’Congyun Thriller Meals.’ From them, I heard many stories about the hotel. If you rearrange all the ghost stories in chronological order, you can actually piece together this family’s history," Jiuyue said.

Tang Qianqian began to recount the stories she had heard about Qian Congyun.

As the founder of Congyun Hotel, he could be considered the source of all the ghost stories. His portrait hung in the most prominent place at the stairway from the first floor to the second, where every guest would see the founder as they went upstairs.

Qian Congyun was a local wealthy family. The predecessor of Congyun Hotel was his private residence. When the Extraterrestrials arrived, he adapted to the times and converted his private residence into an inn. Back then, Extraterrestrial technology had not yet spread widely, and decent accommodations were scarce, so this place became the most favored destination for Extraterrestrial visitors. Qian Congyun made many Extraterrestrial friends and was among the first to employ Extraterrestrial technology in the region. During the most prosperous times of his business, he renamed the inn to Congyun Hotel, ushering in a golden era for both the family and the hotel.

Qian Congyun led a life envied by all until an event in his later years cast a shadow over both his family and Congyun Hotel.

At the age of sixty-seven, he had an affair with a young and beautiful maid in the hotel, rumored to have fathered an illegitimate child with her. The scandal quickly spread, becoming gossip for people’s leisure time. However, the incident wasn’t wiped away by time. One month later, people discovered that the young maid’s eyes had been gouged out, her tendons severed, and she had been hung in her room.

Afterward, a deeply shocked Qian Congyun fell seriously ill and soon after departed from this world.

"How about that, doesn’t it feel like listening to a major family’s dramatic emotional entanglement?" Tang Qianqian said.

At this point, Tang Qianqian suddenly changed the subject.

"So what you’re saying is the eyeless ghost in the mirror was Qian Congyun’s lover," Yang Ping said.

Tang Qianqian nodded, "Qian Congyun felt that he had wronged his lover in life and couldn’t identify the murderer even until his death. Ashamed to face her even after death... This is just one example. All the relationships of restraint in the ghost stories are related to this family’s complex interpersonal relationships. If it were you, who do you think is the most likely murderer of the lover?"

"Qian Congyun’s wife?"

Yang Ping replied without hesitation.

Hiring a killer out of resentment is a common theme in such stories.

"You see, that’s the strangest part. The ghost stories of Congyun Hotel are almost the history of this family’s rise and fall, but among so many ghost stories in the hotel, there has never been any mention related to Qian Congyun’s wife. No name, no identification information, only mentioned in passing when unavoidable, and even then, only referred to as ’madam’ or ’lady’ and quickly glossed over."

"Mingyuan once said that most ghost stories contain fabricated or exaggerated elements, and moreover, many appeared only after Congyun Hotel became famous," Yang Ping said.

Yang Ping thought this was understandable since Qian Congyun and they were not from the same era, and all the urban ghost stories spread only after the Extraterrestrials’ demise.

Most of the ghost stories were concocted and spread by paranormal enthusiasts; it was impossible to trace every piece of information to its origin.

Tang Qianqian was noncommittal, "Do you remember what I mentioned earlier? Nearly all the ghost stories of Congyun Hotel are to shape a certain monster or add to the hotel’s mechanisms, but there’s one exception, ’The Disappeared Young Couple.’ Only this ghost story was hastily concluded, without mentioning the follow-up investigation by organizational members..."

"That’s because they encountered the lady."

The sudden voice from the doorway startled them both. The previously gloomy waiter in the lobby had burst in. She held a platter in her hands featuring the ’Congyun Thriller Meal’ that Tang Qianqian had ordered for Yang Ping.

The waiter said, "You must be with that gentleman from before. The lady doesn’t like couples, and she doesn’t like you either. Leave before nightfall for your own good."