Forge a path to success.

Chapter 7 Salary and Benefits
"It's delicious."

Chu Hengkong finished most of the bowl of noodles and looked up to praise it.

Back at headquarters, Old Man Huaisu disappeared without a trace, leaving only his two new partners to explore the canteen together. There were only a few pieces of roast goose left, but the head chef was very generous, not only adding extra fried tofu and goose liver to their noodles, but also preparing a large plate of grilled squid. The large chunks of squid, coated in a rich sauce, and the sizzling oil on the edge of the grill made Chu Hengkong feel as if he were back in his hometown's street food stalls.

He quickly devoured the rice noodles and squid, then dipped a plate of unidentified green vegetables in the squid sauce. The satisfaction from the high-calorie food effectively dispelled the fatigue after the battle. Chu Hengkong leaned back in the wooden chair in the cafeteria, happily squinting his eyes.

"The chef's skills are excellent."

Across the table, Ji Huaisu felt this person was like a large animal; after eating, he would squint his eyes as if he were about to fall asleep at any moment. She turned her head and called out to the kitchen, "Chef, the newcomer is praising you."

"Ah! As long as you're satisfied!"

The cook jogged over, wiping his greasy hands on his clothes. He was a somewhat disheveled man, in his early thirties, still wearing a dirty baseball cap, with a book titled "Miscellaneous Treatise on Zhengxuan Herbal Medicine" tucked under his arm, seemingly having been studying it not long ago. Chu Hengkong recognized him; he was the one who had brought late-night snacks to the interrogation room earlier.

It's a pity that the better bowl was snatched by Ji Huaisu...

"Let me introduce you. This is Jie An, the team's head chef and logistics manager. You can send him any rare medicines or ingredients you come across," Ji Huaisu said. "This is Chu Hengkong, a newcomer who just transmigrated today and has temporarily joined the team as a combatant."

"Taking down a wanted criminal on your very first day, you've got a bright future ahead of you!" Jie An stepped forward to shake hands. "Which Dust Island are you from?"

Dust Island—Ji Huaisu had mentioned this term before. Judging from his nonchalant attitude towards time travel, it might be a concept similar to a "world" or "plane"...

Chu Hengkong remained calm: "Just an ordinary Dust Island. There are no demons, no tentacles, and no dragons."

"My God! There's still such a peaceful place in this world?" Jie An exclaimed exaggeratedly, genuine sympathy appearing in his eyes. "Dude, you're really unlucky... You should be able to realize that the cost of living here is a little bit higher than back in your hometown..."

"Don't scare the newcomer." Ji Huaisu glared at him.

"But once you're in the team, you've found your organization! As long as you don't cause trouble, Captain Huaisu will protect you!" Jie An said with a grin. "Unlike me, a mere cook, this is the backbone of the team. She's fearless and invincible; even demons would call her a hero. Remember not to offend her when you're on duty; it'll be bad for your life."

Ji Huaisu pretended not to hear and didn't bother arguing with this glib-tongued fellow. Chu Hengkong listened with great interest and asked, "And who is Mr. Ji?"

"You mean her father?" Jie Anle laughed. "He's not exactly one of the team members; he's the renowned Lord of Huilong City!"

Chu Hengkong was genuinely surprised; he hadn't expected that the strategist-like man was actually the city lord. He turned and asked, "The city lord's daughter working as a frontline patrol officer?"

"There's no one left in the team. The city lord's daughter should still be doing her work!" Ji Huaisu said fiercely. "If we weren't really short-handed, we wouldn't have hired you."

"Looks like I can start looking forward to income. How will our team's salaries be paid?"

"Just ask me about this; I'm in charge of the accounts too." Jie An shook his finger. "Regular team members usually receive a fixed salary, and after deducting various insurances and food and housing subsidies, they take home about 15,000 pearls a month. That's considered upper-middle class income in the city, enough for you to live a good life and save some money. However..."

Chu Hengkong perked up, knowing that the real action often followed the initial "however." Ji Huaisu chimed in, "Considering you're a semi-hired temporary member, you have another option. No basic salary, but a fixed 4,000 coins for taking down a small criminal gang; or the tax-deducted bounty for killing a wanted criminal like Hugos. What do you choose?"

“Of course, the second one.” Chu Hengkong didn’t hesitate. This kind of work-from-home arrangement was more in line with his lifestyle than a fixed salary. “The government is really generous. Here’s the 100,000 for today.”

“Taking the money is no problem.” Jie An smiled slyly. “Please hand over Hugos’s belongings according to regulations first.”

Relic?

Hugos was badly injured but still alive; he clearly had nothing left to lose. So what Jie An was referring to must be…

"This?" Chu Hengkong pulled out Hugos's iron ring from his coat. This thing was originally as black as cast iron, but now it had turned white for some reason.

"This kind of equipment is called a relic, an item that contains specific memories. Most relics are somewhat dangerous and must be handed over in a timely manner according to regulations," Ji Huaisu said.

Chu Hengkong immediately put away the iron ring: "A government official with a large family and business has no reason to covet my little spoils of war."

"Judging from your appearance, I don't know who's greedy." Ji Huaisu scoffed. "If they want to keep the equipment, fine! The cook will do the math for them."

Jie An pulled a dirty notebook out of his pocket and started doing the accounting on the spot.

"Alex's pendant is considered your own find, so we won't count it for now. Just considering the Hugos case, your base reward is 100,000 Flowing Pearls, which is enough for you to live a life of luxury for a limited time for a month. You'll have a city-state ham sandwich with fresh truffle scrambled eggs for breakfast, a swamp wood oven-roasted goose with shark fin for lunch, and a stone-baked cheese risotto for dinner, with a variety of fresh seafood sashimi to choose from..."

The cook described the food with such vivid detail that Chu Hengkong heard Ji Huaisu beside him swallow hard. He quickly interrupted before he himself could feel hungry, "What if we don't hand over the iron rings?"

Jie An shook his head: "That's different! I'll give you a friend's discount price of 50,000 for this iron ring, so you'll have 50,000 left..."

"I have 10,000 left," Chu Hengkong said. "Transfer 40,000 to the shop owner's account as compensation for the shop and his emotional distress."

Ji Huaisu raised an eyebrow: "You, who are usually so stingy, are suddenly being generous at a time like this?"

Chu Hengkong smiled and said, "I used to be in a gang, and this is a family rule. If you break something, you have to pay for it thoroughly until the neighbors are satisfied. Because a gang can survive entirely on the support of the people in its territory. If it loses respect, even the strongest gang will disband, and the assassins won't get any jobs." "The newcomer has a high level of awareness! It seems that his old patron was also a powerful figure!" Jie An praised, "Then you still have 10,000 Flowing Pearls left. Don't even dream about beef and mutton, but you'll definitely have enough chicken, duck, and fish to eat. If you get hungry late at night, you can ask the senior chef for a 'aged soy sauce fried frozen egg rice'. For drinks, you can choose 'Huilongcheng fashionable sparkling drinks', and you can even have a roast duck once in a while. Life is pretty good."

"How can you describe street food fried rice with cola like that..." Chu Hengkong found this person quite interesting. "It's not bad, here you go."

Jie An changed her tone: "But! Every month, your salary has to have various housing provident fund contributions, insurance, and taxes deducted. After all that, your take-home pay is still..."

Jie An took out a small, transparent sphere and placed it on the table. Inside the sphere, a deep blue liquid swirled in tiny vortices. The so-called "flowing beads" looked somewhat familiar; those fanatical followers carried the same things, only slightly different in size.

“100 flowing beads,” Jie An said sadly.

Chu Hengkong accepted the pitiful reward and pondered for a moment: "What can 100 Flowing Pearls eat?"

"Forget about roast goose; you'll only get 'purely natural boiled organic noodles.'" Ji Huaisu grinned mischievously from across the table. "Think about it again. Are you really going to stick to that iron ring?"

"At worst, we'll just do a few more deals. I won't let you go!" Chu Hengkong's attitude was firm.

"Tch!" Ji Huaisu stretched out his hand. "Hurry up and give me the iron ring pendant and that book with long eyes."

Chu Hengkong shrank back warily: "If you can't reason with them, you just rob them?"

"What are you thinking? I'll take it to the workshop for a unified appraisal. You dare to carry things of unknown origin on your person? Aren't you afraid of being cursed and killed?"

Ji Huaisu raised her claws, baring her teeth in a threatening gesture, her two small tiger teeth gleaming coldly. Chu Hengkong was amused by this behavior, and for a moment he couldn't tell whether the person speaking to him was "Captain Huaisu" or a quirky female college student.

He handed over the spoils and the Silver-Eyed Book. Ji Huaisu stuffed the three relics into a paper bag, yawning as she packed them up. Seeing that she seemed sleepy, Chu Hengkong suppressed his urge to ask about the relics. He stood up and reached out to the blonde girl.

"Please take care of me in the future, Captain Huaisu."

Jie An, standing to the side, gave a subtle look, and Chu Hengkong cursed himself inwardly. He had made his habitual mistake again; he had been enjoying his meal too much, and with a bit of oil on his right hand, he subconsciously reached out with his left, forgetting that his left arm was now a tentacle…

"I'm happy to protect you as long as you don't cause trouble, but if you dare to make any underhanded moves, I'll be the first to take you down."

He immediately tried to retract the tentacle, but the blonde girl casually grabbed the tip. She was wearing fingerless leather gloves, and her long, slender, white fingers inevitably got covered in the slime from the tentacle's surface, leaving them sticky.

Chu Hengkong was unusually embarrassed: "I have some paper here..."

"Do you usually wipe your hands after shaking hands with someone?" Ji Huaisu asked.

"This is not."

"I don't have that habit either." Ji Huaisu turned around nonchalantly. "Let's go! Taking you to the dormitory will call it a day."

"Thank you, Captain." Chu Hengkong immediately changed his form of address. He waved to Jie An, then followed behind his captain obediently, looking every bit the loyal follower, and seemed quite adept at being a bodyguard.

Jie An remained seated, watching the two leave the canteen. He was a veteran of the Resurrection Army, having worked for the city lord since before the army was even formed. The longer he stayed, the more people he met, and he could get a general idea of ​​someone's personality in just a few words.

This is an arrogant newcomer with his own set of logic for dealing with people, completely unwilling to conform to other people's rules. He even plans to bargain with Ji Huaisu—where does he get the audacity? It's too strange; how could such a proud person want to join an official organization? This kind of person is self-centered and stubborn, absolutely intolerant of being restricted by others; those gray-area businesses or pure black gangs are more suited to his personality.

But after all, Jie An was just a cook, and the city lord had a much sharper eye. He decided to remind Huai Su, that naive child, later, and slowly cleared away the dishes and turned off the canteen lights.

·
Snapped!
Chu Hengkong turned on the dormitory light. The standard single dormitory room had a bedroom and living room, fully furnished, though a faint musty smell lingered in the air. He looked around the room and noticed the chair in the bedroom was a bit shaky, and the corner of the bathroom was leaking. It wasn't exactly luxurious, but it was better than sleeping in the open.

He found a basin and placed it over the leak, turned off the light, and lay on the bed listening to the dripping water. He played with his phone with one hand for a while, confirming again that there was no signal and he couldn't connect to the internet. The moment his phone ran out of battery and went into sleep mode, he suddenly felt a strange sense of weightlessness, as if he were on a ship far from home, watching the familiar coastline gradually disappear into the distance.

That familiar world is gone; you've come to a new place.

Chu Hengkong put away his phone and closed his eyes. Summoning, tentacles, the great wizard, Ji Huaisu, demons, relics... everything he had encountered in the past half day flashed through his mind. Like a precise machine, he reviewed everything after his transmigration and silently began to make plans for the future.

The primary problem is this tentacle of unknown origin. The previous excuses were merely pretexts to delay amputation. If this tentacle truly is some kind of "imaginary demon," then we must be ruthless and cut it off… We need to prepare for both possibilities: in the next few days, we need to inquire about reliable prosthetic arms, and we also need to adapt to this new arm as quickly as possible… We cannot repeat today's mistake…

If the tentacle problem can be solved, then I need to focus on becoming stronger... There are too many supernatural forces in this world, and who knows what kind of mystical things they might be involved in. Only with power can I live a peaceful life. I also need to gather some basic information about this other world, and then...

I don't even know if I'll live to see the end, why think so far ahead? Let's take it one step at a time and just try to make tomorrow count.

"In short, I won't go back to the gangsters," the former gangster hitman vaguely thought.

There's no future in being a gangster.

Fragments of the past flashed through the darkness, and Chu Hengkong fell into a deep sleep. He slept soundly until the sunlight of the next day touched his eyes.

(End of this chapter)