I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 313

Chapter 313: A Tower a Hundred Feet Tall, Where One Can Reach the Stars

As usual, when I arrived at the café, I first placed my personal items in the staff lounge. Then I took the maid outfit to the bathroom to change, styling my long hair into convenient and simple twin tails.

I switched to elf mode, put on cat ear headphones, took out my phone to adjust some settings on the café’s app, checked the compatibility of the headphones and the small program, grabbed my notebook, and headed out to start counting the number of cats in the store.

First, there’s the biggest cat in the café, Dingman… Okay, Dingman is here. No need to count this one, as this big guy has been following me since I came in and even stayed by the door while I was changing clothes.

Next is Nuomi. I remember Nuomi usually likes to stay in the big round platform in the middle of the cat tree… Got it, Nuomi is present.

Then there’s Building 3. Building 3 is easy to find, this cat is always aloof and only likes the cat bed behind the small chair by the window on the second floor… Sure enough, here it is. Since we found Building 3, its little follower, Mosquito Bite, should be here too… Yep, Mosquito Bite is here.

“……”

Tasks like finding the cats in the morning and evening typically take about twenty to thirty minutes. In the beginning, because we weren’t familiar with the cats’ habits, we often had to run up and down the café and record frantically in our notebooks.

Now, with the check-in system that Ouyang Xue has improved, we just need to open the phone app, spot the corresponding cats, and tick them off.

Anyone can do this cat check-in. If someone has the free time and feels like doing half of it, that’s fine too.

For example, if Li Chen sees Dingman and Nuomi playing on the central platform on the second floor at noon, he can record on the app, “Dingman and Nuomi, June 8, 2022, 12:28 PM, licking paws on the second floor service desk.”

If Chef Wang sees Dingman running to the kitchen for meat in the evening, he can write, “Dingman, 7:50 PM, begging for food in the first-floor kitchen.”

This way, if we can’t find a cat at some point, we can use these little notes to trace the cats’ movements. If all else fails, we can check the cameras.

Of course, the morning and evening roll call for all the cats is mandatory, we have to be responsible for the cats in the café.

“And next is Du Fu… Hmm, Du Fu is here. Li Bai… Li Bai?”

While patiently helping with the roll call on the second floor, I couldn’t help but appreciate how comprehensive the cat check-in system created by Ouyang Xue was. At the same time, I felt a bit regretful that Ouyang Xue would be leaving for a position in the commercial district in a month.

Initially, this cat-finding task was particularly torturous because none of us were familiar with the cats’ temperaments and personalities, nor did we know their favorite spots. We had to use the simplest method: go to the places with the most cats, check off the cats we saw, and then, after eliminating the cats in obvious places, we would use the list on the app to check each one individually.

Now, things are much better. We’ve figured out most of the cats’ habits and preferences, and we generally know where they’re likely to be in the morning and evening.

Basically, when we go to a place, we can guess which cats might be nearby, significantly reducing the time needed for the roll call. Usually, when the shop is quiet in the morning and the cats are not very active, we can finish checking all sixty cats in about ten minutes.

“Did Li Bai have a poor appetite last night?”

When I got to Li Bai, I noticed Ai Luodi’s note: “21:30, automatic feeder activated, Li Bai showed no significant reaction to the cat food, sleeping on the third cat tree.” I pondered this for a moment, then went downstairs and found the third cat tree.

Li Bai was there.

“What’s the matter with you?”

I grabbed some probiotic snacks from a small shelf nearby, crouched down in front of Li Bai, and tried to pet the cat’s head, gently feeling the temperature of its ears.

No fever.

Li Bai is a silver shaded cat and comes from the same owner as Du Fu. They’ve known each other for at least four years. Many people in the shop can’t tell Du Fu and Li Bai apart, but for someone like me who sees them every day, it’s easy to distinguish between the two.

Du Fu looks somewhat silly, while Li Bai has a bit of… well, a poet’s demeanor? Anyway, if the two cats are together, the one that looks sillier is Du Fu. However, if you need a specific detail, Li Bai has a small, inconspicuous heart-shaped mark on its rear end. If you can’t tell them apart otherwise, you can look for that.

Both Li Bai and Du Fu are very gentle cats; you can pet them anywhere. But they are also both quiet and reserved, not the type to meow for treats or approach people. They don’t resist being petted by customers and will eat the snacks they’re given, but their personalities are quite laid-back.

In today’s popular terms, they’re like, “I’m just chilling, whatever. Do you have fish treats? If so, bring them over. I’m too lazy to move.”

So, if another cat showed “no reaction to the cat food,” I might be a bit worried, but with Li Bai… that’s just how it is.

“You’re not sick, are you?”

After checking the temperature of Li Bai’s head and ears, I held its head with one hand and used the other to open its mouth to take a look inside.

There were no obvious signs of inflammation, and its mental state seemed fine, so it wasn’t illness.

“Not eating actively, must have some issues in mind,” I remarked, opening the snack packaging and offering it to Li Bai.

The big cat immediately purred and leaned over to lick the snack as soon as it saw it. With one hand free, I added a line to the information tracking in the café’s mobile app: “June 9, 2022, 8:11 AM, Li Bai showed no signs of fever upon examination, mouth is normal, mental state is good, ate a bag of probiotic snacks.”

Once Li Bai finished the snack, I stood up, threw the trash into the nearby bin, and continued with the roll call for the cats in the shop.

Occurrences like these have been happening almost every day at the café for the past two months.

Our attitude towards the cats is to conduct a comprehensive check every morning and evening, to assess their mental and physical state, and to ensure no mischievous cat has escaped or hidden somewhere strange before starting or ending work.

“Alright, all the cats are accounted for today!”

Around eight thirty, all the cats’ names on the app had checkmarks next to them. I put away my phone and made my way to the basement.

“No way, did you really hit the target?”

“Bro, let’s just give up. This foreign girl is a real genius, there’s no way we can win.”

“I can’t accept this, can’t even beat a girl. It damages my reputation as a professional gamer. One more round, just one more, then I’ll go home and rest… Oh my! It’s 8 o’clock? Did I play all night?!”

“Excuse me, both of you, I understand Mandarin (Chinese).”

The basement was just as lively as when I left yesterday, with hardly any change. It still exuded a vibrant atmosphere, filled with LED lights and high-end computers running at full power. Despite several air conditioners, there was still a hint of warmth in the air.

“Oh my! I got a rare item! Look at this light, it’s like a wormhole teleported me to a life planet. Hahaha!”

“I got one too!”

“Sorry, sir, smoking is not allowed here. If you can’t resist, there’s a ventilated restroom over there.”

“Oh, okay, sorry, it’s just… instinctive.”

I was relieved to find that the air in the basement was well-maintained. Several exhaust fans were working at full capacity, and under Su Yunjin’s supervision, no one was smoking.

Of course, running air conditioners and exhaust fans simultaneously… that’s going to hike up the electricity bill.

“You guys are going to become immortals,” I joked, walking up to Su Yunjin in the central control room.

“Did you not sleep all night?”

“No, I managed to get sleep for three hours in between.”

Su Yunjin, sporting a pair of blurry dark circles under his eyes, explained, “It’s mainly because of this new game… it’s so much fun, everyone here is obsessed with it.”

“Isn’t it just a completely random game?” I was puzzled.

“It’s still in the testing phase, and everyone here is a professional player. Shouldn’t they figure it out after playing for a few hours?”

“No, even the professional players haven’t fully grasped it. There are just too many random parameters. No one can understand what influences the outcome.” Su Yunjin pointed at a small light bulb on the computer screen.

“Take this, for example. In the game, all the lights in the store are the same brightness, but one player wants purple lights for their house, but not too purple or too red. They searched for a special kind of rock for hours in a special area of the game. Another player helped them by getting metal from a different area. Even after making hundreds of light bulbs, they still couldn’t get the exact shade of purple they wanted!”

“I have a feeling that once this game enters the public testing phase, the in-game market ecosystem will explode. For example, if a tycoon likes green light bulbs, they might not even be able to make them, no matter how much money they throw at it.”

Su Yunjin put on an expert expression. “But what if a newbie accidentally stumbles upon a small planet, comes back, casually makes one, and produces a green light bulb? They’ll probably strike it rich when the tycoons come knocking.”

I pondered for a moment. “That might happen initially, but as the game progresses… with more players, won’t green light bulbs become more common?”

“The lifespan of light bulbs will decrease. Once they’re used up, they need to be replaced.”

Su Yunjin chuckled, “Nuo’er, you’re underestimating the development team of this game. They’ve learned from the experience of ‘Journey to the West‘, and there are dozens of sociologists and economists overseeing it. The production and consumption in the game undergo strict calculations. There won’t be a widespread problem of overabundance causing price issues.”

Ah… I don’t really understand all these things, but since you, as the general manager, said so, then okay.

“Is Gabriel alright?” I glanced worriedly at a certain angel who was still playing games on the side.

“She’s fine. When the time comes, we just need to train her for a few days to adapt to the live broadcast environment and know how to create program effects. She’s simply perfect.”

“That’s good.” I nodded. “There’s one more thing. I have two friends…”

“Sure, they can come.”

“Huh?”

“You said you have two friends, right? They can come to work anytime.” Su Yunjin didn’t seem interested in letting me finish.

“You decide their salaries, Nuo’er.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet!”

“No need to say more, Nuo’er’s friends, I’ve already seen it all. Whether they come to feed the cats, play with the cats, do odd jobs, or even just stand as mascots, they’re all welcome.”

“Isn’t this a bit…”

“It’s about the delivery person we mentioned earlier. Since we’ve always outsourced our delivery services and couldn’t guarantee speed and quality, I have two friends who used to do this job, so I thought I’d have them come over and work as full-time delivery staff.”

“Male friends?”

“They’re girls.”

“Quite rare, girls doing delivery. But as I said, Nuo’er, your friends are absolutely fine.”

Alright then.

It seems this guy really is planning to hand over the management of this place to me completely.

“Oh, by the way, since you’re here, there’s one more thing.”

As I was about to head upstairs, Su Yunjin stopped me. “Ye Yuqing has applied for assistance from higher up. The government is preparing to do a brief report and publicity for us, but the maid culture might be a bit tricky to present. If you have time, Nuo’er, could you design a set of standardized staff uniforms, something simple, for us to use in the promotion?”

“As for the maid outfits, let’s save those for when we have events at the café. We’ll just wear the regular staff uniforms for now.”

“……”

……