I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 242

Chapter 242: Betraying and Disarming, Surrendering With Courtesy

 

After another detailed discussion on the second floor of the cafe, we finalized the general direction for the future development of the cafe.

 

Just as mentioned by Su Yunjin, due to the outstanding performance and remarkable influence of the cafe in its first month of operation, it attracted the interest of many foreign investors. Eventually, the investors behind Tongmeng Net chose the Xiongxiong family as the main investors, intending to establish a special underground cyber esports venue coinciding with the release of “Age of Aquarius.”

 

As for Xiongxiong, who happens to be the reader of my novels, Su Yunjin said it was just a coincidence. Or perhaps… a coincidence that was meant to happen. Strictly speaking, Xiongxiong cannot be considered a fan of mine on the Yae-Honeydew Novel website, she is actually a fan of the novel itself.

 

Xiongxiong has accounts on many novel platforms, reading books just for leisure. Apart from mine, she has joined a bunch of reader groups and doesn’t bother to specifically block any large groups. Usually, when she has free time, she wanders around, opening each group to see what’s going on, and if she finds an interesting topic in the group, she’ll chat about it. If she’s busy, she won’t even bother logging into QQ.

 

The reason she came to the cafe on its opening day wasn’t because she was my fan, purely… Xiongxiong’s family happened to be near Shenzhen City negotiating projects with Tongmeng Net and some industry leaders. She herself just happened to be visiting this city and heard about a new cafe opening, so she came over.

 

As for the “recruitment” aspect, Su Yunjin’s requirement was to have at least two “web managers” in addition to the “Age of Aquarius full-time streamer,” with the same conditions as the cafe maids: good appearance and cheerful personality. I noticed that having a “cheerful personality” seems to be a necessary trait nowadays for recruiting in many mainstream service industries.

 

“You have such high demands. If we hadn’t met at the beginning, or if I hadn’t attended that author conference, and you hadn’t seen me or recommended me here…”

 

When the meeting ended, I purposely stopped Su Yunjin and raised my most perplexing question to him, “What if the cafe can’t recruit people in the future, what should we do?”

 

This society is very restless now. Leaving aside salaries and such, just the matter of ‘being a maid’ will first and foremost be looked down upon by various people. So, for really outstanding-looking, well-built girls, the first job they would consider after reaching adulthood definitely wouldn’t be as a waitress. The cafe offers a high basic salary compared to its peers, which gives it a certain advantage. However, working in Nanqi District, this ‘retirement area,’ pulls this advantage down.

 

Finding a job isn’t just about looking at salary and benefits. Even though most people nowadays consider salary first when job hunting, the salary at the cafe… a basic of 4000, plus commission, eight days off per month, and meals and accommodation included, these points do indeed surpass the majority of job benefits in Shenzhen City. But some people would rather have a lower salary but live close to home or near their rented accommodation. No matter how good the conditions are, they wouldn’t want to come.

 

Some people are used to living at home, have a particularly good relationship with their parents, and just want to go home and eat with their family after work every day. But their homes are tens of kilometers away from Nanqi District, in areas like Canjing District, Beiyang District, or even the outskirts. It’s almost impossible for them to come to work in Nanqi District.

 

Furthermore, some people also pay attention to the environment around the company. Currently, Nanqi District is considered a ‘rarely visited’ area. Besides the sea and beaches and various coconut trees, there’s hardly anything good to see. The shops aren’t very well-stocked, and when you open food delivery apps on your phone, the variety is far less rich than in the city center. So, some people don’t want to come, feeling that it’s too quiet here.

 

So… I’m very curious, if I hadn’t been turned into a girl by Xiao Mo, hadn’t gone to the author offline gathering, if Su Yunjin hadn’t introduced me, and Ouyang Xue hadn’t recruited me and Xiao Mo, what would the plan be here?

 

This is not me boasting, because even now when I look in the mirror… the girl in the mirror is so cute that I even want to hug her. Xiao Mo, as a half-blood of the demon clan and the elf clan from another world, not to mention, both of us are considered “out of this world” in terms of appearance to the people on Earth. Moreover, because I was a man before and also a writer, I know a lot of jokes and pop culture references, having been a waiter for a long time, I also know the focus of my work.

 

It can be said that Xiao Mo and I have a great deal of credit for the success of the cafe and its popularity online. If we hadn’t joined the cafe in the first place, then Ai Luodi and Lan Jiajia would definitely not have come, and would Su Yunjin still demand Ouyang Xue so strictly?

 

What makes me most curious is that the underground level of the cafe was already set up during the initial construction of the building. Since they were prepared a long time ago to recruit streamers for promotion after the public beta of “Age of Aquarius,” it means that the shareholders of Tongmeng Net must have discussed the criteria for selecting these streamers long ago. If the timeline had changed and I hadn’t come to the cafe, and Ouyang Xue couldn’t find girls like that… what would happen?

 

“Plans are always changing.”

 

Facing my question, Su Yunjin just smiled faintly, “Just like when Ouyang recruited back then, actually, there were girls coming to apply for the job every day. After Ouyang interviewed them, she would tell them to wait for the news. If it weren’t for you, Nuo’er, at least three girls would have been hired by then.”

 

“Oh?”

 

I was curious, “Then why didn’t you let them come later?”

 

“Ouyang discussed this matter with me. Originally, not many people had high hopes for the cafe project. Anime culture… *cough* *cough*… People in higher positions see anime culture as child’s play. Sending Ouyang here as the manager actually had a kind of ancient ‘exile to the frontier’ meaning.”

 

Su Yunjin gestured towards Ouyang Xue, who was already quietly sitting aside with a computer, starting to do calculations.

 

“At that time, Ouyang was particularly resentful. However, the reality was like this. Pretty girls didn’t want to come here to work. But because the wages were high enough, we didn’t reach the point of not being able to recruit anyone. At that time, Ouyang’s plan, along with ours, was that if it really didn’t work out, we could recruit people as soon as possible to get the cafe up and running, and then plan for the future.”

 

At this point, even the straightforward Su Yunjin sighed. “If it weren’t for you, at that time, Ouyang was actually planning to carefully select and recruit enough people by May, and then open in June. Her expectation was to accumulate popularity from June to September, consider expansion in October, and transition through the entire year of 2022. Once the popularity of the café was enough in 2023, we would boldly expand. If Ouyang could really make this project work in 2023, then we would tell her about the underground floor.”

 

“However, because of Nuo’er, a six-month plan was achieved in one month. And it was precisely because of Nuo’er’s appearance that Ouyang changed the cafe’s plan from ‘just getting by’ to ‘selecting the best’.”

 

I fell silent for a moment. “Isn’t ‘Age of Aquarius’ supposed to have its public beta in these months? Won’t Ouyang’s plan be too rushed?”

 

“Have you forgotten? The developers of ‘Age of Aquarius’ are in Shenzhen’s Craftsman District. My old man… *cough* *cough*… the CEO or investor of Tongmeng Net, can arrange for any delays in the launch.”

 

“What if Ouyang Xue can’t find suitable streamers?”

 

“Tongmeng Net has so many virtual streamers, so we can just have them switch to live broadcasting when the time comes,” Su Yunjin smiled.

 

“Of course, these are all worst-case scenarios, and now we can choose the best – Nuo’er, this is all thanks to you.”

 

“Yes,” wearing a tight jacket, with strange makeup and eyeshadow on her face, Xiongxiong was nibbling on an apple on the side.

 

“People from my family also said that they never expected the progress here to be so fast. Originally, our Apocalypse 3000 (TQ3000) was planned to start mass production in July or August, but now we can’t afford to delay.”

 

You guys…

 

I suddenly felt like I had “propelled the entire world forward.”

 

“Anyway, Nuo’er, try your best to find out if any of your friends are willing to be full-time streamers. I believe that friends of pretty girls are basically pretty girls themselves. Just like stand-ins attract each other,” Su Yunjin picked up his bag.

 

“Of course, don’t feel too burdened if you can’t find anyone. Strictly speaking, Tongmeng Net has many game streamers. We can just offer them salaries to come here and livestream. Many people are eager to do it.”

 

“That’s right, that’s right,” Xiongxiong, still munching on the apple, mumbled unclearly.

 

“Girls like angels are simply hard to come by. Don’t believe this guy’s nonsense. My family’s opinion of him is a rich second-generation who talks nonsense all the time and doesn’t know the hardships of life.”

 

“What… what…”

 

Su Yunjin said irritably, “I’m no rich second-generation like you. Compared to you, I’m just a stinky beggar.”

 

“I also think your demands are too idealistic.”

 

Ai Luodi, who had already changed clothes and was carrying a small bag, came out of the dressing room yawning, “Finding a bartender like Fei Luo is already a world miracle for Nuo’er. And you’re still talking about finding a girl like an angel. Indeed, it’s like a rich second-generation who has never been out in society and talks nonsense all the time.”

 

“Aww… even God Ai Luodi is saying this about me…”

 

“Why am I a god?”

 

“Don’t you know? Netizens secretly like to call you ‘God Ai Luodi,’ the god of sarcasm.”

 

“Well, thanks to those netizens then.”

 

Ai Luodi yawned again and walked down the stairs, “I’m going back to sleep. If Nuo’er really finds an angel, remember to let me know.”

 

“Why did the topic suddenly turn to finding angels… Can you guys be more normal?”

 

Lan Jiajia couldn’t help but laugh, “And Xiao Ai, remember to take a shower before going to bed. You can eat something light before bathing to fill your stomach a bit, don’t sleep on an empty stomach, and don’t play with your phone after getting into bed…”

 

“Yes, yes, why do you sound like my mom…”

 

After Ai Luodi left, Xiongxiong also picked up her bag.

 

“I’ll head back first. Nuo’er, remember to keep the graphics card safe. This reference design Tianqi 3000 is still considered confidential to the outside world…”

 

Then Xiongxiong bumped into a tall woman walking up from the first floor.

 

“Miss!”

 

With a swish, the two bodyguards who had been guarding the door since Xiongxiong, also known as Sikong Yue, entered the room rushed up, glaring at the woman. “You bumped into someone!”

 

“Ah… I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

 

The woman speaking had neat and tidy short hair, wearing a very simple T-shirt and hot pants. Perhaps because her chest was too large, the area just below her navel was hollowed out, and it seemed that when she was going downstairs, people below her height could see quite a bit inside when she raised her head.

 

It was the first time I had seen a woman with such an explosive figure.

 

Although the cafe had Fei Luo, Ouyang Xue, and Lan Jiajia, who all had large busts, Ouyang Xue and Lan Jiajia were of the naturally large type and didn’t like to wear overly revealing clothes. Fei Luo looked younger, and people’s first impression of her was almost entirely on her chest.

 

Furthermore, they didn’t have such obvious muscle lines on their bodies. However, the woman in front of me was different. She looked like she was into fitness, with very pronounced muscle lines on her stomach and arms, giving the impression that she could knock out a cow with one punch.

 

The first impression this girl gave off was that she looked about 25 years old. She had a demeanor similar to the luxurious villa area in the Honor District that Fei Luo had taken me to before. At that time, on the second floor of that villa area, there was a big-chested man with a single ponytail who had a similar aura.

 

“I’m really sorry, miss. My attention was entirely on those little girls behind you just now,” the “fitness girl” who bumped into Xiongxiong showed an embarrassed expression under the furious gaze of the two bodyguards.

 

“Are you hurt? I’m truly sorry, it’s my fault.”

 

It could be heard that her apology was sincere.

 

Next to them, I quietly took out my phone, opened the Tongmeng Net app, and entered the live broadcast room of the cafe. Although the cafe’s surveillance footage was live-streamed online 24 hours a day, there was a certain delay between the time in the live broadcast room and real-time. For example, although it was 8:52 in the morning, the time shown in the surveillance footage was 8:49, indicating a delay of three minutes.

 

Switching to the surveillance footage of the lobby on the first floor, as expected, the delayed footage showed the “fitness girl” entering from outside. Li Chen, the staff member on the first floor, greeted her, “Hello, the maids of our shop are having a meeting upstairs. If you have any orders, you can place them through the app or just tell me. Here’s our menu.”

 

The fitness girl took the menu and glanced at its contents in a perfunctory manner, “How much longer will their meeting last?”

 

“It’ll be over soon. Are you here to meet someone? Would you like to wait for a bit?”

 

Then, the scene showed the girl finding a seat downstairs until Ai Luodi went downstairs with her bag, prompting her to rush upstairs, accidentally bumping into Xiongxiong in the process.

 

At least from the surveillance footage, this person didn’t seem like someone who was deliberately causing trouble.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Xiongxiong first waved to the two bodyguards to signal them to leave.

 

Then she quickly adjusted her clothes, lowered her head to look at her chest, and then glanced at the abdominal muscles and “chest muscles” of the fitness girl. “So big…”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Nothing, I’ll just leave first.”

 

Under the puzzled gaze of the fitness girl, Xiongxiong walked downstairs and left the door with the two security guards.

 

“Why are you here?”

 

At the same time, I noticed that Yin Xiamo beside me emitted a hint of ‘killing intent’.

 

“Have you forgotten the previous promise?”

 

“No, no, no, you misunderstood, boss.”

 

The fitness girl looked over here, “Can I call you boss?”

 

Boss?

Since when did Xiao Mo have such a follower?

As she approached, I noticed that the fitness girl’s right eye seemed to have been hit by someone, with some blurry bruises around the eye socket, looking somewhat ridiculous.

 

“Wow, look who it is?”

 

At the same time, Su Yunjin, who had already packed up and was preparing to leave, also noticed the ‘fitness girl’.

 

“Our lovely Miss Zhao from the Zhao family! What wind blew you here? Let’s make it clear first, our café just had some food hygiene issues, and a few big, burly men ended up turning into ‘jet warriors’ after eating here. Oh, it’s quite a coincidence, I remember those gentlemen seem to be someone’s subordinates… Oh no, no, no, in a civilized society, we shouldn’t call them subordinates, let’s call them disciples.”

 

Miss Zhao from the Zhao family?

Is she Zhao Yue? The one Xiao Mo met at the “underground boxing arena” before?

 

“Why are you here too?”

Seeing Su Yunjin, the “fitness girl” looked somewhat surprised.

“Yunjin, are you in charge now?”

 

“I’m an adult now, of course I have to take charge. What’s wrong, age discrimination? You’re not much older than me.”

 

Su Yunjin raised an eyebrow. “Zhao Yue, our café is full of junk food, burgers, fries, cola, milk tea. What would you like?”

 

“I’m not interested in arguing with you.”

 

The girl referred to as Zhao Ming turned to Yin Xiamo. “I’m here to find her.”

 

“I remember we already negotiated the terms before.”

 

Yin Xiamo replied coldly, “You promised that the Zhao family would no longer have any involvement with us.”

 

“I’m not here on behalf of the Zhao family today. I came alone.”

 

With a hint of anxiety, the girl continued, “You can check the surveillance footage, I really came alone.”

 

“She’s quite strong for a human.”

 

At this moment, Fei Luo, dressed as a maid, stood next to me holding a broom, speaking in a lowered voice, “Basically, she’s at the peak combat level for ordinary human females. If she were male, she’d probably be even stronger.”

 

“Huh?”

I instinctively asked, “What does ‘peak combat level’ mean?”

 

“In our world, there are many people who are not interested in magic or martial arts. They don’t cultivate magic power or focus on fighting spirit. They just exercise every day for longevity. Even if she were placed in our world, her combat power would be roughly equivalent to that of two ordinary men.”

 

Fei Luo explained, “Her demeanor when speaking is very calm, her lower body is stable, and her physique is suitable for combat. She belongs to the type with very good talent and is willing to exercise. Do you remember the old man Xiao Mo talked to that night on the second floor of the big house in the Honor District? She would have a good chance against that person too.”

 

Really? This Miss Zhao from the Zhao family… can fight against that kind of man?

 

“So, are you here today representing yourself only?”

 

After hearing the fitness girl say she “doesn’t represent the Zhao family,” Yin Xiamo fell silent for a moment. “Do you want to have breakfast here?”

 

“No, boss. After you beat me last time, I figured it out. The people in the family are too hypocritical.”

 

Under Yin Xiamo’s gaze, Zhao Yue spoke with a fairly sincere tone. “Can I join you?”

 

Yin Xiamo was taken aback. “This is a place for being cute, for the second dimension. You can curse a couple of times at most, but no fighting.”

 

“No, what I mean is… Can I come work for you guys? I think those two security guards you hired are useless. If something happens, they probably won’t do anything. It’s better to hire me. If there’s a problem, I’ll handle it. I can come during peak hours every day to help you with the store, as long as… as long as you, boss, occasionally teach me a couple of moves.”

 

The girl’s tone was somewhat urgent.

 

“I can work for free. I don’t need money.”

 

“……”

 

……