CH 1.2

The door slammed shut behind her. Lei Lei staggered from being kicked. She looked up and found that this room was slightly darker than the previous one. There was a big sign in front of her that read “Finance Department”. She heard voices.

There was no other way, if it was the landmine genre then so be it, let’s go!

Passing the sign, Lei Lei immediately saw a huge desk. A beautiful woman sat inside. The three girls who came in earlier were still talking. Seeing her come in, they all fell silent.

Lei Lei walked up boldly, “Excuse me…”

The beautiful woman looked up and twisted her hair around a pen, “I’m the general manager of the Finance Department, the accountant, and the cashier… My name is Zhonghua Wuyan. You can call me Ms Zhong.”

Lei Lei hurriedly said, “Hello Ms Zhong! My name is Lei Lei…”

Ms Zhong stretched out her hand, “Hand it over.”

“What?”

“The registration fee, it’s 19,980.”

Lei Lei remembered. She hurriedly took out her card and handed it over.

Ms Zhong frowned, “Cards are not accepted.”

Fortunately, Lei Lei was well prepared. She took out a few stacks of money from her purse and handed them over, “Here is 20,000.”

Ms Zhong counted it and determined the amount was correct. She said awkwardly, “I don’t have any change…”

Lei Lei sighed, “Forget it.”

Ms Zhong was happy, “Young lady, you have great potential!” She appraised her, “Mediocre appearance.”

Lei Lei was nervous, “Is that not okay?”

Ms Zhong winked, “Wrong, this is the style of a female lead traversing through time. Haven’t you seen that pretty girls are always in a supporting role? Our interviews are mainly based on character and talent. If you really want to become beautiful, you can just enter someone else’s body.”

Lei Lei nodded repeatedly.

Ms Zhong beckoned to the three women next to her, “Come here for an interview!”

The three girls came over.

Ms Zhong took out a cheque, “This is 10,000. Which of you is willing to give up time travel?”

All three girls were delighted, “Me!”

Ms Zhong waved her pen, “Pass!”

The three girls said, “What about the money?”

“Did I say this money is for you?” Ms Zhong was annoyed and pointed at the small door next to her, “Go in and continue the interview.”

The three girls went in dejectedly.

Looking at Lei Lei who was left, Ms Zhong frowned and waved the cheque, “This money really is for you. Are you willing to give up your qualification?”

Lei Lei was delighted at first, then shook her head, “I want to traverse through time.”

Such strong principles! Ms Zhong frowned even deeper and took out another cheque, “This is a million, how about it?”

Lei Lei shook her head, “No.”

Ms Zhong sighed and asked without giving up, “Ten million?”

“Okay!” If she had ten million why on earth would she traverse time?!

It turned out, it was not that she was not greedy, it was just a matter of appetite. Ms Zhong was stunned for a long moment and could not help praising, “Sure enough, you have a good eye. A time travelling girl’s eyes widen when seeing money, the bigger the appetite, the better. You’re still the most promising!” She used her pen to write ‘excellent’ in large letters, then pointed to the small door, “You can go in to continue the interview.”

Lei Lei asked anxiously, “The cheque?”

“Here you go,” Ms Zhong said cheerfully, “But it’s fake.”

The third room was even darker, so dark that it was almost impossible to see people clearly. Only a blue light glowed in the centre of the room. The light shone on two beauties, one charming and the other cute. If it were not for the sign as big as a person next to her that read “R&D Department”, Lei Lei would have thought it was a nightclub.

The three girls from before were also here, in a daze.

“I’m the general manager and designer of the R&D Department, Shu Ke, you can call me Mr Shu.” Lei Lei was startled and turned around, finding that the voice was coming from a corner.

There was a person sitting in the corner.

Not a woman.

Not a man either.

Not even…

The main reason was that this person was covered in a halo of light from top to bottom. She could hardly tell if it was a male or female. His voice was gentle and majestic with a sense of clarity and mystery, like magic.

The person slowly spoke again, “In order to embody the fairness and authority of this selection process, our corporation specially invited two guests, Jinjiang special editors Su Su and Li Li Si, to join me as judges for this interview. You all must listen carefully to the questions.” He snapped his fingers to signal the start.

Lei Lei pricked up her ears.

In the blue light, the charming beauty Su Su on the left said, “All time traversing girls must recite poetry.”

Li Li Su, the cute beauty on the right, smiled sweetly, “So the interview question is to recite a poem about the moon.”

Sure enough, it was the landmine genre, thought Lei Lei secretly. She turned around. The other three girls were confident.

One girl said, “Bright moonlight above the bed…”

Li Li Su said, “Good poem! Good poem! One that must be memorised when time travelling! Great personality!”

One girl said, “When will the full moon…”

Su Su said, “Good poem! Good poem! Creative!”

One girl said, “A jug of wine among the flowers…”

The two judges discussed for a while and they both nodded, “Acceptable.”

It was Lei Lei’s turn.

It was too shocking. She would definitely never recite bright moonlight above the bed. Full of confidence, Lei Lei said, “The bright moon shines over the sea…”

Silence.

Mr Shu in the corner said slowly, “No creativity and no personality. Go back.”

Having come here determined to traverse, she had been pushed hard into the landmine genre and spent 20,000 yuan. Lei Lei was already full of anger. Hearing this, she was furious and rushed forward to grab Mr Shu’s front collar. She raised her fist, “I am definitely traversing today. Do you believe that I’ll beat you?”

“Believe… Believe, believe! Let go first—” He nodded repeatedly.

“Is there creativity?”

“Speak, speak calmly! Speak calmly!” He turned to the two judges.

Li Li Si said, “There’s creativity!”

Su Su said, “There’s personality!”

Mr Shu grabbed a sign and said, “Pass—”

The empty room was like a small plaza. The darkness was endless and footsteps echoed.

Mr Shu tried hard to climb on top of a tall apparatus, putting on airs as if finding the earth disdainful. He introduced the product, “This landmine genre has been designed and all things inside were specially set by me. It took immeasurable effort… Hmph, hmph…”

The two judges interrupted, “Since you insist on experiencing it, you first have to choose an ideal way to traverse.”

Lei Lei nodded, “What kind of ways are there?”

Li Li Su smiled sweetly and pointed to the side, “How about the most typical, a car accident?”

Looking at the big truck the height of two people, Lei Lei immediately imagined her bloody body being crushed by the vehicle. She backed away in horror, “No way, no way!”

“No rush, no rush,” Su Su patted her shoulder charmingly and pointed to the other side, “Then what about falling into water and drowning?”

Lei Lei found that she was a little breathless and retreated more, terrified, “No, no!”

Li Li Su handed over a sharp knife, smiling, “This is an ancient knife borrowed from the museum. You can use it to suicide.”

“Don’t want!” Lei Lei’s hand weakened and the knife fell to the ground with a clatter.

Su Su bent down to pick up the knife. She blew on the tip of the knife, “Then… murder?”

Woah, murder! Lei Lei backed away further in fright. She almost cried out “save me” but suddenly, a louder cry was heard, “Stop—”

In an instant, Lei Lei felt her feet sink.

Thunder was rolling and even more shocking was that in the empty room, there was a flash of blinding lighting. Lei Lei disappeared from where she stood.

Mr Shu leapt off the apparatus, “So annoying! Told her to stop, no, she deserved it!”

The two judges wiped off their sweat, “Traversing by lighting isn’t bad. At least we finally dealt with one.”