My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 430: The First Night on the Job

Chapter 430: Chapter 430: The First Night on the Job

The department store, cloaked in the darkness of night, seemed like a slumbering behemoth, with its sign-bearing entrance resembling the gaping maw of the creature.

Knowing full well he would be swallowed whole, Han Fei still braved his way through the entrance; he had no other choice.

The department store had three entry points named A, B, and C, as well as a dedicated cargo passageway for employees. As night fell, entrances A and B would shut down, leaving only entrance C and the employee passage accessible.

It was entrance C that Han Fei approached, the only place nearby still awash with light.

"Hello, my name is Han Fei, I’m the new..." No sooner had Han Fei entered when he heard the sounds of an argument—two security guards in uniform stood against a wall, as a middle-aged man wearing a store employee badge loudly rebuked them.

"I pay you to stand guard and keep watch, not to come here and play on your phones! Do you know more of our merchandise has gone missing? You’re still in the mood to play? If I catch you doing this again, you can pack your things and leave!"

The middle-aged man berated them mercilessly, without a hint of sympathy.

"We made our rounds, there was nobody on the third floor..."

"You act without seriousness, without proper form! I bet your patrolling was just going through the motions!"

"Say what you will, but don’t falsely accuse people," one of the guards responded, his voice escalating.

"Accuse you? As security guards, you didn’t even realize the surveillance was out of service for such a long time, is that your attitude toward work?" The middle-aged man appeared to be in his fifties, had a short temper, and his saliva sprayed as he shouted.

"The surveillance has always worked fine, it just happened to have a fault that day, what could we possibly do?"

"How convenient! Just happened to fail right when things got stolen!" The middle-aged man, with his large belly full of fat, retorted, "I can’t believe a single word you security guards say. I’ll say it again, if you can work then work, if not, get lost! Who do you think you are?"

"You..." One of the guards reached to grab the middle-aged man’s clothes but was stopped by the other guard.

"Going to get physical? Come on! There’s a camera right above you! Let’s see if the surveillance will ’just happen’ to fail this time?" The middle-aged man was not the least bit afraid, as the flesh on his chubby cheeks trembled.

Just as things were about to escalate into a fight, the guard holding back his colleague saw Han Fei. They grabbed each other’s arms, ignoring the middle-aged man, and proceeded with their flashlights into the depths of the store.

The middle-aged man, as if unsatisfied with his scolding, bellowed a few more words before finally turning to face Han Fei.

"You’re an entire hour late, and today’s your first day on the job." He glanced sideways at Han Fei, and upon detecting the faint mustiness on Han Fei’s clothes, frowned deeply, "I gave you this job opportunity out of pity, for you to afford your mother’s medical treatment, but if you keep this work attitude, don’t blame me for being unsympathetic."

Although Han Fei wasn’t the original tenant of the rental property, his heart still felt uncomfortable each time the middle-aged man brought up the matter of treating his mother’s illness and seeing him as pitiable.

This was a job entered into on equal terms, not charity bestowed by others.

Despite feeling irked, Han Fei still managed to show the middle-aged man the emotions he wanted to see—apology, self-reproach, fear of losing his job, and reverence for the middle-aged man.

Without uttering a word, Han Fei had already given the middle-aged man the response he sought.

Only the weak attempt to gain a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction by bullying those weaker than themselves.

The middle-aged man, stern in his tone, went on to severely criticize Han Fei a few more times. Han Fei behaved like a child lacking worldly experience, agreeing with whatever the middle-aged man said as if it was all sensical.

The man was pleased with Han Fei’s performance, unaware that the moment he turned his back, there was a complete shift in Han Fei’s expression.

If this were not within the Memory World of the Master of the Shrine, Han Fei would certainly show the middle-aged man the meaning of a ’Workplace Killer.’

"Come this way." The middle-aged man led Han Fei through a security door and up the stairs to the second floor’s corner: "This is where you guys change clothes and hand over the shift. Your colleague, a veteran employee, will be here soon. Learn well from him and get the hang of things quickly."

After saying that, the middle-aged man made a call and then left.

Han Fei waited for five or six minutes in the staff rest room when hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor, and a woman who appeared to be in her thirties walked in.

"Zhu Wei didn’t give you any trouble, did he?" The woman, seeing the somewhat foolish-looking Han Fei, seemed to already know what had happened, "That guy has a bad temper, no matter what he says, you shouldn’t take it to heart."

"It’s nothing." Han Fei noticed that the woman wasn’t wearing a security guard’s uniform but the department store staff’s uniform, and he was a bit puzzled; he had thought that he was going to be a security guard for the store; "How should I address you?"

"My name is Huang Li, you’ve seen orioles before, right? They have a particularly pleasant call, I used to keep them at home." The woman was quite talkative, and she was the first reasonably nice person Han Fei had encountered since entering the Master of Shrine’s Memory World.

"You can just call me Sister Huang Li from now on." She opened the wardrobe, handing Han Fei a set of clothes, a key, and a staff badge: "The first floor of the department store is cosmetics and luxury goods, the second to fourth floors mainly sell clothing, the fifth floor sells various home appliances and toys, and there’s also a cinema, the sixth floor is all dining restaurants. The supermarket is on the basement level, and there’s also a café and a small bookstore there, just roughly keep these in mind, and don’t wander around at night, especially don’t go to the third floor easily."

"The third floor?"

"That floor sells women’s clothing, and we’ve been losing clothes recently; there have also been various things smeared on some of the new clothes. The leadership suspects that a thief has been hiding somewhere on the third floor during the day, and they come out at night to steal and vandalize." Huang Li asked Han Fei to change into the work uniform: "This has nothing to do with us; we just need to do our own jobs well."

"Sister Huang Li, what exactly is our job?" Han Fei truly didn’t know.

"Zhu Wei didn’t tell you? My God! The person didn’t tell you anything?" Huang Li stopped in her tracks, reevaluating Han Fei: "Then you’ll really need to think about whether you want to keep doing this job or not."

"Could there be any particularly dangerous professions in a department store?"

"It’s not exactly dangerous, just a bit troublesome, and you’ll always be on the night shift..." Huang Li said somewhat embarrassedly: "The owner of the department store made his fortune by dealing with second-hand goods, so after building this store, he specifically kept a 24-hour second-hand supermarket, near Exit C, and we’re responsible for cash register operation, organizing goods, stocking, and inventory. There are also several old good donation boxes where we collect unwanted old clothes and old stationery from residents nearby and donate them to children in mountainous areas."

"From the way you talk, the department store owner seems like a pretty good person."

"He often does charity work, that’s why it’s said good people get good returns, even Divine Spirits protect him, letting him make a fortune." Huang Li smiled: "Doing good deeds every day, even if good things don’t happen immediately, at least one will feel better for the day."

Huang Li led Han Fei to the most inconspicuous corner at Exit C, which might be said to have the worst location on the floor.

Using the key, Huang Li opened the door and also hung up the ’Open for Business’ sign.

"Today it’s the two of us together, once I’ve taught you everything, you’ll be on your own for the night shift."

Huang Li pointed to each area of the supermarket, told Han Fei where all the items were, and then taught him how to use the cash register.

Thanks to his terrifying memory ability, Han Fei practically learned everything in half an hour.

"You learn so fast! Did you do similar work before?" Huang Li recalled the scene when she had first arrived here, clumsy and knowing nothing.

"I’ve done part-time work in a convenience store."

"Then your shop manager must have been really pleased with you, right? Did he regret it after you resigned?"

"Heh, he did regret it a little."

Passing through various second-hand goods, Huang Li and Han Fei arrived at the back of the store, under a wall hung with second-hand clocks, Han Fei noticed an item wrapped in black cloth.

"What’s that?"

"I’m not too sure myself, looking at the inventory list, it seems to be called Divine Cage? Or Divine Box?" Huang Li lifted the black cloth, and Han Fei’s eyes instantly widened.

Under the supermarket wall crowded with clocks, there was a black shrine, and the small door of the shrine had been nailed shut with wooden planks.

"This is also part of our merchandise?! Will people actually come to buy it?"

"Yes, I’ve encountered some before," Huang Li recalled, "But it’s strange, all the customers interested in it come at night. You might encounter them too during your night shifts."