After some thought, he begrudgingly decided to let the Demon King off the hook—for now—though he did so with obvious reluctance. At the same time, he couldn’t shake a faintly bizarre feeling: Why did it seem like… Zhou Yanxing was being jealous in a roundabout way?
But Secretary Chi was an NPC, while Zhou Yanxing was a romance target. The two of them being involved together just didn’t make sense.
Unless the game developers had lost their minds—or a bug had slipped through.
Then again, Zhou Yanxing was always cold and sharp with Secretary Chi. He was probably just overthinking it.
“You too,” Zhou Yanxing suddenly turned his gaze on Chi Zhan, shifting the target of his criticism. “What kind of reply was that to my message yesterday?”
Chi Zhan was completely baffled.
“…What?”
He’d replied “1” in the group chat like everyone else. Wasn’t that the correct response?
Or should he have replied “2” instead?
“……”
Zhou Yanxing looked like he was at a loss for words. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed Chi Zhan, clearly out of patience. Chi Zhan had come in empty-handed and left the same way, like he’d just taken a pointless lap—and yet, he had the nagging feeling he’d missed something important.
“Come with me at noon. We’re meeting a client,” Zhou Yanxing added offhandedly.
“Okay.” Chi Zhan instinctively turned his head. He thought he’d spotted something on the desk…
Just as he was about to take a closer look, his office phone rang. Chi Zhan strode over quickly to answer it.
Of course, it had to be Bai Gongzi.
Maybe yesterday’s events had been too awkward—today, Bai Gongzi opted to call instead. Still, Chi Zhan had to admire his tenacious perseverance.
“Yes, you left your gift here yesterday. I’ve already mailed it back to you. It should arrive soon.”
There was a pause, then Bai Gongzi asked, “Do you know what Zhou Yanxing usually likes to do in his spare time? Any hobbies? Where he goes on weekends?”
That was outside Chi Zhan’s professional scope.
His understanding of Zhou Yanxing was probably on par with the players—barely anything at all.
All he knew was that Zhou Yanxing was a workaholic, constantly holed up in the office, either in meetings or traveling for business. His schedule was always packed. But as for what he actually liked? Chi Zhan had no clue.
He hadn’t been here long, and apart from the Favorability Panel, he had zero insight into Zhou Yanxing’s personal life. Only his friends would know that kind of thing.
But… did Zhou Yanxing even have friends?
Chi Zhan seriously doubted it.
After racking his brain, he finally scraped together a few of the CEO’s personal preferences:
“He goes to the barbershop pretty often.”
“He doesn’t like bitter coffee—has to have milk in it.”
“And… uh… for underwear, he prefers black…”
A wave of chilling pressure surged from behind him, and Chi Zhan’s fingers froze mid-sentence. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zhou Yanxing standing silently in front of his desk, expressionless.
Caught red-handed. Again.
“……”
Zhou Yanxing, are you a damn ghost? How do you walk around without making a sound?!
On the other end of the line, Bai Gongzi was still rattling on, “What? Secretary Chi, your voice suddenly got so quiet—I can’t hear you at all!”
Zhou Yanxing yanked the phone out of Chi Zhan’s hand. After a beat, he said, “And happy birthday. No personal calls during work hours. Goodbye.”
Polite, but cutting.
“Secretary Chi,” Zhou Yanxing turned back to him, voice so eerily soft it made Chi Zhan break out in goosebumps. “What exactly were you talking about with him just now?”
***
Zhou Yanxing’s cold expression was already scary. But when he deliberately lowered his voice like that, he could terrify the entire company.
Chi Zhan instinctively steered away from any words that might provoke the Demon King’s wrath.
“Bai Gongzi just asked about the gift shipment and, um, inquired about you a little… I really didn’t say much.”
Zhou Yanxing’s eyes were sharp and icy, as if he could see straight through his lies.
Chi Zhan fell silent.
“What did I tell you before? Secretary Chi, it seems you’ve forgotten everything.”
Chi Zhan almost raised his hand to swear his innocence.
Caught between Zhou Yanxing, the players, and his mission objectives, he felt the full weight of being squeezed from all directions.
He was being crushed alive.
Corporate life was hell.
Word of Zhou Yanxing scolding Secretary Chi spread quickly throughout the building, but most employees were used to it by now. After Zhou left, several coworkers came over to console Chi Zhan.
“Don’t take it too hard, Secretary Chi. That’s just how President Zhou is. Picky temper, bad attitude—if you’ve lasted this long, you’ve already outperformed 99% of your predecessors!”
…Why did that sound so familiar?
“Sometimes I wonder if it’s just because he’s been single too long, y’know… cough, cough. You get what I mean.”
I think so too.
“I swear, the Demon King Zhou—before you, he already fired over a dozen secretaries. One wrong look and you’re gone. Being his secretary is seriously high-risk.”
But then—
“He fired over a dozen secretaries before?” Chi Zhan asked.
“Yep.” Xiao Jia, a colleague, nodded. “The secretary works most closely with President Zhou. A lot of people just couldn’t handle his personality and quit on their own.”
“You can…resign voluntarily?”
It was like a new pathway had suddenly opened in his mind.
He dug out the NPC guidelines again. Sure enough, it only said: If the original identity is terminated, the NPC will be recycled. Severe violations may result in deletion. It never said he couldn’t quit on his own.
But if he resigned… Where would he go?
The apartment he lived in was company-provided. It was valid for the duration of his employment. If he quit, he’d have to move out immediately. And yesterday, he’d already blown most of his paycheck on that streamer.
Impulsiveness was a devil.
Sure, being impulsive felt great in the moment—but keep it up, and you’d end up in a crematorium.
On closer thought, aside from being moody, petty, stealthy, emotionally unavailable, and totally uninterested in dating…
Zhou Yanxing actually wasn’t that bad.
