Chapter 15 - They All Look So Fresh and Tender

"Security department?" Xu Xiaoyou raised an eyebrow.Seeing the young girl’s gaze drifting towards her chest, her eyes instinctively glanced down, sweeping past the badge on her chest.

Name: Xu Nian.

Department: Security Department.

Employee Level: A.

She was a bit surprised, inferring from Xu Nian’s photo on the information card, he seemed very delicate, with a slender physique, an effeminate complexion, even appearing somewhat weak. Such a guy was actually transferred to the branch’s security department?

And the employee level was A, which didn’t seem low.

This wasn’t a good thing for Xu Xiaoyou.

In this city, cosmetic surgery had long surpassed simple facial adjustments, eye enlargement, bone reduction, nose reshaping—those were just child’s play. Highly skilled professional cosmetologists could directly change your face or even alter your gender.

A fugitive wanted by the authorities, or being hunted by gangs, for example, could get a ’new start’ from the cosmetologist, swapping out their face and using an unlucky person’s unrevoked information card to start life anew. It’s all pretty normal, which makes cosmetologists hold high societal status, often backed by many gangs.

So Xu Xiaoyou never worried about differences between her appearance or voice and Xu Nian’s. She was only concerned about encountering people familiar with Xu Nian within the company.

"Yes, is there a problem?"

Xu Xiaoyou noticed that the girl’s attitude towards her had changed, perhaps initially, due to Siren race reasons, there was a bit of admiration, but now it was replaced by reverence.

"I’m Aphra, from the design department, which is quite close to where you work, Xu Nian senior."

From the moment Aphra found out about Xu Xiaoyou’s department, she appeared somewhat restless.

Finger snapping is a common gesture someone makes when feeling anxious.

All of this was under Xu Xiaoyou’s watchful gaze; she remained silent, simply observing quietly.

At this moment, the elevator arrived. Aphra hurriedly said goodbye as she left, head lowered, quickening her steps to jog away.

This security department is definitely not as simple as previously thought, at least unlike those bear-like guards downstairs. Otherwise, the girl wouldn’t have had such a dramatic attitude change upon learning about this.

Stepping out of the elevator and walking down a corridor, per the signage, heading towards the department she was assigned to.

Xu Xiaoyou kept inner peace, a coin flipping dexterously between her fingers, from thumb tossing to pinky, then back again.

This was a habit she had when feeling anxious, similar to the finger snapping of the young girl—a psychological self-signaling technique she used.

In her mind, she assured herself that as long as she completed the coin flipping gesture, it could relieve anxiety and nervousness, avoiding more potential exposure.

Though it seemed unrealistic, over the long term, Xu Xiaoyou proved the efficacy of this self-suggestive technique.

The human advantage over other races is resilience.

Resilience in all facets,

Especially regarding emotional self-regulation.

Thinking this, Xu Xiaoyou scanned the surrounding scene.

There were plenty of shops lining the corridor: milk tea shop, restaurant, library, clothing store, cinema, there’s even a parent-child themed playground.

In the playground, one could see many female employees accompanying their children playing in the plastic ball pit.

The interior space of Cosmic Tower was a lot larger than she had imagined.

She used to have a skeptical attitude towards a certain rumor.

That Cosmic Heavy Industries employees would never step a foot outside the company gates once employed.

Though not as exaggerated, now it seemed this wasn’t completely unfounded.

Complete infrastructure, network coverage throughout the company building, meals, daily necessities all could be handled internally, harmonious and friendly employee relations, without concerns of security or pollution.

If daily bathing can also be resolved, this would simply be a man-made heaven for people from Corrupt Nest City.

Seeing it in this light, spending a lifetime here doesn’t seem so bad.

But...

Only captive beasts would stay docile in a cage built by others.

Xu Xiaoyou raised her head, spotting the C11 sign above, she paused momentarily in front of the door, adjusting her facial expression to a ’looking friendly’ degree before pushing open the door.

Making a good impression on the first day of work was really important.

"Uh ahhhhhhhhh!"

A muscular man roared, bare-chested, muscles twitching as if the mountain rose from the ground, a 130kg barbell being gradually pushed upwards.

"Come on! Don’t stop!"

The person beside him shouted excitedly, arms thick as oxen, holding a dumbbell as big as one’s head, chest muscles tensed like violent waves!

"Are you a fluffy little lamb? Don’t you stop at this point!"

The bald muscle-head yelled with intensity, hot breath spewing out, all over sweating and steaming.

"Stopping now, do you want to disappoint yourself?"

"Mom said I’m the toughest man under heaven!"

Xu Xiaoyou silently closed the door.

Coming back to her senses, her expression was unprecedentedly solemn.

Did she just...

Come to the wrong place.

What kind of hellish scene is this?

Was that just a gym?

What’s up with these glistening, juicy muscle heads?

What are these muscle brothers up to?

It must be her hallucination, it must be.

Once again, Xu Xiaoyou pushed open the door.

"Ah~!"

"The last one... came out."

Finally, someone noticed the flustered girl in the corner, one of the bald muscular men stood up to greet her:

"Hey, are you a newbie? Sorry, did we scare you with our passionate scene just as you came in?"

Xu Xiaoyou subtly dodged the man’s hand that was about to pat her familiarly.

The way these muscle men greet each other, she couldn’t imagine if it were Xu Nian, with his frail body, how tightened his sphincter would be facing these robust men.

She took a deep breath to calm her internal composure, not responding to the bald man’s words.

Choosing to remain silent occasionally isn’t a bad idea.

"A newbie, introduce yourself, then?" Someone joked lightly.

"You look weak and frail, like a gust of wind will knock you down, malnutritioned?"

"Like a girl, how come you’re just like Andrew when he first arrived? He used to be skin-and-bones, couldn’t even reach my waist."

"Ugh!" A two-meter-tall muscle freak stood up, sounding a bit shy, "What are you talking about, I’m different than before alright?"

"Newbie, join us for some iron-pumping, after pumping iron, you’d transform into a true man!"

The crowd jested, the bald muscle-headed man stepped in:

"Come on, everyone, stop joking with the newbie, don’t scare them off. We need more people in the security department."

The laughter ceased, Xu Xiaoyou’s face was almost blackened.

Is it really okay for her to be here?

The girl didn’t mind, the bald muscular man then didn’t pay much attention:

"Look at you, such a frail build. How come the company decided to assign you to the security department, and you’re with Group C. Follow me now."

The man walked ahead without waiting, Xu Xiaoyou hurrying to follow.

Passing through a dim corridor, the shadows behind gradually swallowed by darkness, the noise faded, the environment quieted, in the silent darkness were just their crisp echoing footsteps.

There were a few potted plants placed along the sides of the corridor, tender and half-human-height, typical office decor, looking quite elegant.

"You’ve come quite early, newbie, I heard that a batch of new people will join the security department today, probably arriving in the afternoon. You’re lucky, having such a gentle and kind senior to wait for you to get familiar with the work environment."

The bald man tried to find a topic, seeing the girl behind him still holding a straight face, silently, he stopped ’trying his luck’.

"What a pity, looking fair-skinned but such a shut-in jar..."

The two finally arrived at a place resembling a regular office, overhead fluorescent lamps flickered, illuminating a girl fiddling with something at the workstation.

"Hey, Gloss, got a newbie here, come greet them will you?"